School Choice

Every year, we consider whether we want to homeschool for another year--it's very much a year to year decision around here (OK, honestly, sometimes it's day to day!). With the way our school systems are set up down here, we have to be thinking about it before the school year is even half over--to put the kids into public school for the next year, we have to enroll them in January/March, or else we are probably not going to get into the public school we would like (even if it's the closest one to us). Usually, we have gotten to this point in the year and have not been interested in changing our situation.

This year, though, that has changed. We are in our sixth full year of homeschooling (which sounds like a long time to me!), and I'm getting tired and discouraged, and a bit overwhelmed. I am strong in believing that homeschooling was the right choice for us up to now, but at this point, I'm thinking we're ready to move on, both for my benefit and more especially for the children.

We haven't decided yet, and just thinking through it for the past few weeks is alternately stressful, liberating, overwhelming, depressing, and a little bit hopeful. If we choose public school, we have just a few more days to get their names in for the lottery. We are actually considering private school as an option, too, for a variety of reasons (the main question being which child to sell so that we can afford it...just kidding! But if they are in school, I might even be able to work some! which, in turn, might help pay for that option).

Obviously, there is a lot more going on in my head than just the above, but it's too much for a blog post (and will get too overwhelming to put on paper!). I just wanted to share in a general way that this is going on, and if you are the praying type, I'd appreciate your prayers as we make this decision. In the next week and a half.

Merry Christmas 2010

I wondered if I should put this blog address on our Christmas card or not this year, since I've fallen into a pattern of unfortunately rare updates, but I decided I wanted to keep it if I could, so I guess my New Year's resolution will be to actually get here and get some content up for you!

It's been a good year for our family, for which I am thankful. Andy decided at the beginning of the year that in addition to completing his MDiv through Fuller last year, that he would go ahead and pursue ordination as a "teaching elder" in the EPC as well. In May, he took a series of written exams (you don't even need to ask, of course he aced them); in June, he and I flew out together to Denver for our "regional" presbytery meeting for the oral exams. And this fall, our church had the ordination service and now I'm married to Reverend Andy Cornett. Which makes us both laugh a lot...not because it's funny, but because it is. His job isn't changing, his calling to ministry isn't changing...but now he has a title. It's funny on the one hand, but I will say that I am very proud of him.

The children have thrived as well...we continue to homeschool, and they seem to learn and grow in spite of their teacher. I counted on my fingers and realized that somehow this is my sixth year of homeschooling, which seems like I ought to have a better grasp on it by now than I think I do. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to challenge them where they can take it, help them where they need it, and to watch their minds grow. And, I confess, having the flexibility in our schedule is great, because Andy's work (and mine) don't always quite match up with a public school schedule. We started early because it was too hot outside to play, and spent December with a bit lighter schedule than otherwise because I was designing Christmas cards for clients! They also continue in soccer and ballet, and really enjoy all of it.

My photography business has rolled right along, and I continue to learn new things about running a business, taking pictures, and internet/web stuff, oddly enough. I've met new people this year, and taken new pictures of old clients, and kept myself reasonably busy. I also inadvertently stumbled into helping our friends Mark and Mylissa redesign the Habitat for Hope website, which was both fun and a challenging way to learn a lot in a short period of time.

If I try to say too much more here, I'll never hit publish on this, so I'm just going to leave you with a sequence of images showing what happened on my first attempt to capture the kids for our family Christmas card:




I'm sure that I don't need to explain that we ended up doing a "take two" on our family Christmas card session. I'm really thankful that my clients' children handle this better than my own!

Merry Christmas to any of you who visited our little blog, and a very happy New Year as well!

"Lucky Me:" Michael Chabon and me on Father's Day

A Father’s Day quote from Michael Chabon. This one comes from his amazing volume of essays, Manhood for Amateurs: the Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son. In lamenting the low bar for fatherhood in our culture, he homes in on the humility of the work:

“The daily work you put into rearing your children is a kind of intimacy, tedious and invisible as mothering itself. There is another kind of intimacy in the conversations you may have with your children as they grow older, in which you confess to failings, reveal anxieties, share your bouts of creative struggle, regret, frustration. There is intimacy in your quarrels, your negotiations and running jokes. But above all, there is intimacy in your contact with their bodies, with their shit and piss, sweat and vomit, with their stubbled kneecaps and dimpled knuckles, with the rips in their underpants as you fold them, with their hair against your lips as you kiss the tops of their heads, with the bones of their shoulders and with the horror of their breath in the morning as they pursue the ancient art of forgetting to brush. Luck me that I should be permitted the luxury of choosing to find the intimacy inherent in this work that is thrust upon so many women. Lucky me.

When I read this, I thought first of my own experience over the last 10 years and the marvel of my wife and children. But close behind, I thought of the mystery of the Incarnation and what it says about the fatherhood of God. That he would choose to enter this world in all its follies and failures and so bind himself to our blood and bone to redeem every inch of it – surely, surely this whispers the truth of the word: Father.

rebuilding

Last week we experienced a wonderful gift--a family within our church gave us the use of their family beach home in Sandbridge, Virginia, for a vacation. It was unbelievably wonderful. Basically, our days ran something like this:

1. get up (unbelievably early for some reason, no sleeping in on this vacation)
2. drink coffee
3. eat breakfast
4. go to the beach for a few hours
5. come back to eat lunch at the house
6. nap
7. go back to the beach for a few hours
8. eat one of andy's fabulous dinners
9. watch another episode of "How I Met Your Mother"
10. crash

Exciting times, yes? We loved it, every single minute! There was not a lot to do except enjoy the perfect weather, and contemplate small matters, and build sand castles. This part really fascinated me, because every time we went to the beach (twice a day), we (I use the term loosely here) built another sand castle, knowing full well that the next high tide would obliterate it.
This fact alone really intrigued me, because honestly, I hate having to redo certain jobs every. single. day. Like unloading the dishwasher. Washing dirty clothes. Loading the dishwasher. Sweeping dog hair off of the floor. Shaving my legs (TMI? Sorry about that.). And here we were, blithely doing work that we knew, without a doubt, would be destroyed within hours.

I wondered how God feels about the work that he does in our life sometimes--whether he gets excited when we make spiritual "progress" in an area, like prayer, or reading our Bible, or serving others, even while he knows that in a day or a week or a month, we'll get distracted or bored and move on, only to be reignited in another day, week, or month, and do it all over again. Does God enjoy our baby steps of trying to build godly lives? Even though our selfish hearts will often wash away the work, so that it has to be done again? Does he view it like I view dishes? Or is he more like Andy with cooking yet another delightful meal (thank you, Lord, that he enjoys it so much)? Or is he like my children, building sandcastles, doing the same work again with joy?

on courage

I was reminded of this quote while listening to an NPR story this morning about fears of a terrorist attack via a nuclear device. The admonition still stands today.

Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented; and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways . . . It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists had added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance but a certainty . . . Let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (any microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

- C.S. Lewis, writing on the atomic bomb (citation forthcoming)

on St. Patrick's Day

Several years ago I was sitting in a class on early church history when we came to the story of St. Patrick and the gospel going to Ireland. As my teacher read from Patrick’s Confessions, his words gripped me and moved me to tears. I went and got her notes and copied down this excerpt. These words and the legacy of this amazing, humble man have continued to minister to me over the years. May they pierce your heart as well!

“I, Patrick, a sinner – a most unlearned man – tirelessly I give thanks to God, who has revealed himself to me, an unworthy man. He has bestowed upon my heart me the gift of limitless faith, so that in these latter days I may carry out his divine work, and even though I have not led a life of perfection, I am not ashamed in his sight. And I give unceasing thanks to Him for he has been lenient to me, for I have been a careless fool. But He has lifted me up beyond measure even though I was unworthy and the least of all his servants. Truly I owe a great debt to God for through me has redeemed a great people who are newly coming to faith. Although it was against the wish of some of my elders, I was guided by God … it was God who prevailed within me and withstood them all so that I might come to the Irish, and I am prepared to give my life freely in God’s name. I sought the Lord and he delivered me from all my fears. Look to him that you may be radiant with joy and you may never be ashamed.”

Patrick, Confessions
(the final lines are from Psalm 34:4-5)

300 words on Avatar

A disclaimer: I’m a sucker for panorama, spectacle, and sheer wonder, so it took me some time to wake up from an immersion in the Avatar ride. The technical magic and imaginative splendor are beyond my abilities to review. How appropriate that this film ends up first on the list for Into the Dark this year because on one level the film concerns the discipline of seeing. Before you judge the film with instant likes and dislikes, loves and hates, take some time to consider how it sees the world and what it says. If memory serves, early on in the film Jake gets a lesson from Norm on the nuances of the verb “to see” in the new language. To Jake, saying “I see you” is simply recognition of an object: like a “yeah, you’re there.” But to the world he is about to enter, “I see you” plays on different levels of “seeing:” discerning, knowing, grasping, comprehending, seeing from deep inside. That verbal shift hints at the clash between two cultures at the heart of the film: one mechanical, imperial, individualistic, and thoroughly modern – another spiritual, tribal, communal, primal and pre-modern. The former can’t see anything but an object to mine; the latter “sees” the living connection at the heart of all things (and the latter are Na’vi – “prophets” in Hebrew, “seers” even). The point is that we all need to wake up to what we’re doing and what we’re missing. It’s a fair criticism, even if I don’t share the pantheism at its heart.* Nor do I share its polarization.** Jake’s musing narration doesn’t diminish the fact that Avatar tells its story with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. But again – I loved it.

grace and peace - Andy

* That’s a whole other post; holler if you are interested.
** That’s also another post. Suffice to say, reality is a lot messier and we’re all complicit in the way “we” live.

He came here

Last night we hosted a light-hearted post-Christmas party for our student ministry leaders at New Hope. Before they came I tried to think of a few short words to say: something on how our time spent seeking out students seems weak and foolish, yet it contains the magnificent secret of God's gracious love that seeks us out and is with us in Christ. After everyone left and I was washing dishes, I remembered this quote I ran across recently from Karl Barth:

“At this point everything becomes clear or unclear, bright or dark. For here we are standing at the centre. And however high and mysterious and difficult everything we want to know might seem to us, yet we may also say that this is just where everything becomes quite simple, quite straightforward, quite childlike. Right here in this centre, in which as a Professor of Systematic Theology I must call to you, ‘Look! This is the point now! Either knowledge, or the greatest folly!’—here I am in front of you, like a teacher in Sunday school facing his kiddies, who has something to say which a mere four-year-old can really understand. ‘The world was lost, but Christ was born, rejoice, O Christendom!’… ‘God became man for thy good, O man. ‘Tis God’s own Child that binds Himself to thine own blood.’”

It brought much joy to me last night: may it do the same for you as well.
(HT: More Than 95 Theses)

on work

"Let the church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade – not outside it.”

– Dorothy Sayers, via Scot McKnight in his book, The Jesus Creed

more madness, please

"[Mark 10:42-45] is a kind of managerial madness that is the very foolishness of the kingdom of God, which Jesus demonstrated in his own life … the good news deconstruction bears to the church is to provide the hermeneutics of the kingdom of God. The deconstruction of Christianity is not an attack on the church but a critique of the idols to which it is vulnerable, any one of which is toxic to the kingdom of God ...
But what, then, is the kingdom of God? Where is it found? It is found every time an offense is forgiven, every time a stranger is made welcome, every time an enemy is embraced, every time the least among us is lifted up, every time the law is made to serve justice, every time a prophetic voice is raise against injustice, every time the law and the prophets are summed up by love. From time to time the figure of Jesus, or fragments of his figure, appear here or there in individual lives, showing up sometimes in people who burn with a prophetic passion, sometimes in people of inordinate compassion and forgiveness. When this happens, we are likely to mistake such people as made or weak, which in a sense they are – mad with the follow of the cross, weak with the weakness of God."
-- John Caputo, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, 138.

Here’s to more madness is my life – in our lives – in 2010.

the 2009 booklist

As the year winds down, I thought I’d share a list of what I’ve been reading. Once again, it’s heavy on books for Fuller coursework (though that period of my life has officially come to an end: the diploma arrived in today’s mail). I realized I never published last year’s list, so a few of these might stretch back to the fall of ’08 Here they are, in no apparent order, and apologies for the ones I’ve forgotten:

Rick Bragg: All Over But the Shoutin’
John Caputo: Philosophy and Theology
John Caputo: What Would Jesus Deconstruct?
Neal Stephenson: Anathem
Jurgen Moltmann: The Crucified God
Wilfred Thesiger: Arabian Sands
Christopher Moore: Lamb: the gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal
Margaret Feinberg: Scouting the Divine
Francis Chan: Forgotten God
Malcolm Gladwell: Outlier
Karl Barth: Dogmatics in Outline
J. Beilby& T. Eddy, ed: the Nature of the Atonement: Four Views
Thomas Oden : The Word of Life (Systematic Theology vol 2)
T.F. Torrance: The Mediation of Christ
Peter Rollins: How (not) to Speak of God
Craig Detweiler: Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century
Tim Keller: Prodigal God
Megan Whalen Turner: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, the King of Attolia
K. Barth & E. Brunner: Natural Theology
Vinoth Ramachandra: Subverting Global Myths
Gustav Aulen: Christus Victor
Patricia Wilson-Kastner: Faith, Feminism, and the Christ
Sam van Eman: On Earth, as it is in Advertising
Jeff Arthurs: Preaching with Variety: How to Re-create the Dynamics of Biblical Genres.
John Calvin: 2/5 of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (in process this year)
Peter Kreeft: Between Heaven and Hell
The Shack: William P Young
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food
Clark Pinnock: Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit
Paul Fiddes: Participating in God
Graham Buxton: Dancing in the Dark
Henri J. M. Nouwen: The Return of the Prodigal Son
Miroslav Volf: The End of Memory
David Augsberger: Hate Work
Gordon Oliver: Holy Bible, Human Bible
Andy Stanley: Communicating for Change
N. T. Wright: Surprised by Hope
James K.A. Smith: the Devil Reads Derrida
Henry David Thoreau: On Walden

Favorites?
1) John Caputo’s Philosophy and Theology – eminently readable, a delight, and a compelling case for the “and” in the title. I’ll be recommending this for some time to come …
2) Torrance’s The Mediation of Christ – freeing, beautiful, dense yet rich, draws you deeper into the heart of Christ’s incarnation and atonement. But I can say the same about Moltmann's shocking The Crucified God.
3) Neal Stephenson’s Anathem – a sprawling voyage into an alternate universe with enough math, philosophy, and adventure to please.

Resolutions for 2010? More fiction and poetry, as my diet has been a bit one-sided. And please, do share your own favorites!

Into the Wild

Over the last few days I sat down to watch Into the Wild. I'd read the book years ago, and coming on the heels of some things this week, the film got me thinking and I wrote some things down, Here they are, for what it's worth.
--
This past week I watched the film Into the Wild (dir. Sean Penn, 2007). If you are unfamiliar, it’s taken from Jon Krakauer’s book which tells the true story of the young Chris McCandless. After college, Christ renounces his life, renames himself Alexander Supertramp, and journeys into the wilderness (in all senses) and an eventual, tragic death at 24. I got into a discussion at work about it, with comments of “how selfish, what a waste, senseless” etc. Yes and no. Even if we allow that it’s a selfish waste, I can still admire the struggle, still sense the challenge it presents to our own lives and world. In Alex’s case, I can’t help but think that his struggle was just off-course enough to mean an endless beating against the wind, a tack into its teeth. Sure, the art of elimination knifes off all the stuff and junk that clutter and cloud our inner worlds – call it society, people, money and materialism, idols, desires, careers, what have you. But when everything is stripped away in the name of truth, what’s left?

In the end, truth can be as merciless a tyrant as any other, leaving you weak, pale, pitiful, and cold. It, too, demands your death, but it remains to be seen whether your death will bring any life. Or will it be just the final, too-familiar flameout of a once-brilliant torch? Closer to the heart of things, I think that the very part of us that has to be better, be right, be moral, alone be strong, alone be true – that part has to die as well. If it doesn’t, it becomes another petty god, a sham-idol in the jam-packed temple of humanity. And idols don’t give life.

It’s not the wild that kills the devil in me – but I think Alex/Chris knew that. It might reveal it, make me face it, but merely being in extremis doesn’t bring liberation. The real liberation comes when all our strivings only further tighten the cords further and we realize that we have to die in order to live. The truth is, someone has died for me and that alone gives me the power to die to myself and live for others. Without love, truth – however piercing, however beautiful – is only so much noise. Someone far wiser than I wrote that truth is not known unless it is loved. I think of some of Alex’/Chris’ final words: “in God’s name someone help me please …” In God’s name, someone has helped us, someone has loved us – and showed us the fullest extent of that love. God help us all.

(cross-posted at Facebook)

the great exchange

"Let us then rejoice in this grace ... for what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the Son of man, so that human beings might in their turn become children and heirs of God? Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace."
-Augustine

Christmastime is here!

You know how I know that? Because I seriously just put a million Christmas cards into the hands of our friendly postal worker. It's got to be some kind of record in that the cards were not even in my house for 24 hours. UPS brought them at lunch yesterday and they were gone this morning. I can't take any of the credit for the speedy turnaround; it's all the kids. They have been anticipating the card assembly process for weeks (why, I don't know). So yesterday afternoon I was frantically sorting through Outlook, trying to export a long list of people to a document of labels in Word (yes, I printed labels and trust me, the USPS is thanking me for that one!), during which process I somehow ended up with about ten Word windows open (Dear MS: honestly, printing labels from one of your programs in another one really shouldn't be all that hard, and I'm actually considered to be fairly computer savvy, so if I struggled with it?), but I finally emerged victorious over the process. The assembly line was rockin', too. And if you suddenly realized that you moved this year and didn't give me a new address, I hope the USPS is forwarding your mail. And please do give me your new address because I'd like to know that I can rely on my address book.

Actually, I have really been looking forward to the cards this year as well, because I had fun designing them, and my heart almost melted when I opened the box and saw how well they turned out. It didn't hurt that they have three of the cutest children ever on them.

I was going to make this post the 2009 update post, especially since I've done so badly with that this year, but since I've gone on a crazy ramble already, I'll just post some of the outtakes from our Christmas pictures (note the new dog, Judah). If you already saw these over on my own website, well, then, you saw them.

On Cooking: #3 in 50

I see we should be around day 15 of 50, but alas – it is only day 3. So I’ll just list the new things made in the meantime – delicious things, but things that I got too busy to blog about: rabbit stew with homemade dumplings, sautéed chicken with porcini sauce, broccoli with buerre blanc, braised lentils, the ever-present frittata combos in our house, a sweet potato/Israeli couscous dish I will never repeat, oriecchette with mushrooms, and oven-roasted beef tenderloin (new method for Thanksgiving). That brings us to …

White Chicken Chili. I love this dish, but have never been satisfied with my attempts at it. So I reached for the Jan/07 recipe in Cooks Illustrated (my cooking education and companion). Highly recommended.

As in war and armies, you go to cook with the ingredients you’ve got. I had only boneless/skinless thighs instead of 3# whole breasts (which meant so skin for browning or bones for stock). I also dropped the anaheim/poblano/jalapeno chili combo quantity by 1/3 (after all, I have children to think of) and subbed in 4 tomatillos. Since I was short on chicken I dropped in one length of andouille sausage for that optional kick. After making it a day ahead to blend flavors, I served it with the following toppings: scallions, limes, cilantro, minced jalapeno, and sour cream.

We ate almost the entire pot (plus some cornmeal biscuits). Michael’s response – “woo-hoo-chakalaka-boom-boom!”

love to you all - andy

(cross-posted at Facebook)

On Cooking: #2 in 50

So I am a week late, but here we are. As a reminder, my goal is 50 new recipes over 50 weeks to expand the ol’ home repertoire. Sound easy? try it sometime. Week #2 was Baked Lamb Shanks (also via Cook with Jamie, p. 162). Lamb shanks, sage, thyme, butter, garlic, salt, pepper – all piled on top of finely sliced carrots, onions, and leeks, then wrap in foil, tip in a glass of wine, and cook for 2.5 hours. Witness the raw ingredients:


(props to Ela for taking the picture for her dad: my hands were filthy, and we can work on her focus).

So what was so fun about this recipe:

1) It’s lamb! I love it, but this is the only the second time I cooked it. I couldn’t resist the noise: “what’s this bleating of sheep in my ears?”

2) It’s meat. Ok, I love meat: all the Cornetts do. But we, like most Americans, eat too much of it, so I’ve been cutting down our portions. The two times I’ve cooked meatless, I’ve endured long, mournful glances from the children before one of them gets up the courage to ask, lips trembling, “Dad, what happened to the meat?” Lamb shanks don’t give you a ton of meat, but just enough.

3) It’s the first time I frenched a bone: something I’ve wanted to do, but never really had the excuse. This was fun, and not as hard as I expected.

The end result was delicious: I tucked in with a good will, and I think the others all tried some. But let’s just say it’s not a meal fit for a sweltering August night in south Florida. Think early December, up north, with cold winds outside and steaming potatoes alongside the toasty packages on a platter.

In other cooking news, let me share two recent developments. After a hearty dinner of a homemade Tuscan Bean Stew, Michael pushed back has half-eaten bowl and said: “Dad, can’t we just have canned soup next time? I mean – can’t we just trust Publix?” Oh, Michael – you don’t want to trust canned soups. Second, I have decided that my current guilty pleasure in cooking is pancetta. Expensive? Salty? Fatty? Yes. Delectable? Oh yes. In small amounts – omelettes, pastas, arugula salads, and more – it’s both worthwhile and economical.

Love to you all - andy

(cross-posted at Facebook)

On Cooking: 50 in 50

Some of you know that I love to cook. I’ve tried to analyze why: it’s the creative outlet, it’s the routine, it’s the necessity, it’s the joy of fresh whole ingredients, it’s the satisfaction of doing well at something others enjoy – and yes, it’s because I love to eat.

But lately I feel like I’ve been in a rut. So two things are happening: (1) I’m making a list of new recipes, and (2) Robin signed up so for this 2x/month organic co-op fruit-and-veggie box which will force me to use things outside my normal repertoire (like the fresh globe eggplants I turned into “Operation Grilled Baba Ganoush” last night – don’t think that campaign went over very well).

That means I have a goal of using 50 new workable recipes this year (I cook for my wife and kids, after all!), trying out one new dish in each of the 50 weeks. I’ll keep a running log for you of what I’m cooking, where it’s from, and how it went. It has the added bonus of stretching me to write about something outside my normal zone. And if it helps inspire you in any way about what you put on your table, then so much the better!

Just a teaser from this last week: summertime tagliarini(via Cook with Jamie – a 447-page effort by Jamie Oliver). Think smashed pine nuts, copious olive oil, lemon juice and zest, flat-leaf parseley, parmesan, pecorino, sea salt and pepper, and hot fresh pasta. Killer good.

Love to you all - andy

(cross-posted at facebook.com/AndyCornett)

if you missed hearing it in person...

Andy recently had the unusual opportunity to preach from the pulpit in our sanctuary. I personally thought he did rather a good job (I know I'm biased but I do not think I err). I am not sure how to link directly to the file itself, but the sermon is available online if you would like to listen to it. Here is the link to the online sermons. Currently, Andy's is three down from the top: his sermon was titled "Every Picture Tells a Story".

New Orleans

What can I say? The spring was really busy, and so far, the summer has been, too. I have no other excuse for my neglect. If you are still with me, thanks, and if not, well, I'm sorry.

Andy spent two weeks in Orlando in June to finish out his MDiv. That's right, I said FINISH OUT. He's sitting at the other table working on his last assignment as I write this, and then he'll be done. This spring/summer felt like quite a pile of classes! He came home late one Friday evening, and early the next morning, our whole family, plus my dad, were in our church parking lot and getting ready to drive to New Orleans with 30+ high school students. My first work trip in years.

My work this year was different, though--I was going along as the photographer, not just for our group, but for the whole camp. I feel like I could say a lot about the trip in general but for now I'll just (hopefully) share a slideshow that I put together for the last night of the trip.

Actually, if you have ten minutes instead of five, watch this video first:



Ellison (from Son Servants) showed us this one night so we could get a reminder of what the city looked like in the days following the storm. The music is Bruce Springsteen's "My City of Ruins" and I personally got chills watching it. Katey and Abbie, from the Son Servants summer staff, suggested the Chris Tomlin song "God of this City" for our video, and I really love the juxtaposition.

completely random

Many apologies for neglecting this poor blog for so long. There's really just no excuse for it! The spring around here has just been kind of nonstop busy and I think all I will do here is just share a really random, stream of consciousness kind of list of what's been happening around here:

• Andy is almost done with his master's degree. I feel like he's the Little Engine That Could. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." He had a class in January, is currently flying to Houston for four Friday/Saturday classes, and will be in Orlando at RTS for his last class. Which is apparently two classes. It's added just a bit of chaos to the spring.
• I've been taking a lot of pictures. It's been fun.
• I've also been a featured photographer for the company which produced my blog theme. Really really fun, although it has resulted in some extra email.
  
• My dad is in Ireland right now. With my uncle.
• Andy planned and executed a major drama/presentation/something with his students in April. It was kind of an exploration of who Jesus is, called The Jesus Journey. Michael had a migraine, so the kids and I left early, but it was well received.
• I dropped my camera last week as I was climbing out of the car after an evening at the beach. The camera was fine, the expensive lens which was attached to it was not. Shipped it off to Canon the next day for repairs. About half of the cost will be covered by my insurance, which is awesome. State Farm has been fabulous and fast.
• I replaced my desktop a month ago and have given my "old" computer to the kids to learn on. The graphics card on it went bad just two days ago. If it had been my primary computer right now I would be freaking out. Thankfully it is even still under warranty and a new card is on its way.
• The line to our icemaker/water dispenser is apparently leaking somewhere under the fridge. And has been for a while. Oh snap.
• The kids and I are all just about ready for school to be done this year.
• We adopted a new puppy from the local humane society just over a month ago. His name is Judah. Oddly enough, it took us about two weeks to realize how closely he resembles Emma. For now. Supposedly he will be rather a large dog. Larger than Emma. So far, he is mostly very sweet, and he loves to be wherever we are, especially if we are in the kitchen (not just for cooking; he also loves to be underfoot when I'm unloading the dishwasher, making an already challenging task slightly dangerous). The only issues we've been having are related to the differences between puppy play (wrestling, jumping, nipping) and children play (squealing, running, squealing). Mostly, though, he is a darling, more or less.
• The kids, my dad, and I are all going with Andy on the high school work trip to New Orleans at the end of June. We are really looking forward to it. (I am going as a photographer/pseudo adult leader; my dad is going because between the two of us, one can be working and one can be with the kids, and therefore we equal one "real" adult.)
• I bought a really cute sundress at Target last week (told you this would be random).
• The kids have been watching Star Wars and Star Wars related shows for way too long. We are about ready to burn it all. And if it's not Star Wars, it's Bionicles. I at least have a frame of reference for Star Wars, but Bionicles? Seriously? Some of us are quite tired of Star Wars and long for the good old days when they were just trying to decide between VeggieTales and "Mommy's video".
• Andy and I are finally watching the last season of Battlestar Galactica. I was avoiding picking it back up for a while, and unfortunately know some of what happened thanks to a spoiler article about something else (but NO I do NOT know yet who the final Cylon is, so please do NOT tell me).

Time to take Judah for a walk and let the kids begin the bedtime/unwinding process. Again, many apologies for the prolonged absence.