I Love It

Precious time with Aiden and Jonathan this morning. Abby decided to sleep until 8 which is unheard of, so it was a little more laid back.

There is only one boy in the history of the world, including literature, who has more puppy-sick disease than Jonathan, and that is Billy from Where the Red Fern Grows. I've been wanting to read it out loud to them for a long time, but was trying to wait until they were ready for it. Today I decided we had waited long enough. So we read Ch. 1-3. I closed the book and both boys immediately jumped up, exclaiming, "I want a dog, mom! What can I do to save up to buy a dog?" Bless his heart Jonathan has decided to save up for a fishing pole so he can catch fish, cook them, and sell them to people. I don't have the heart yet to tell him about business licenses, commercial zoning, and food safety laws. I wish it was as simple as he thinks it is! I know someday this sweet boy will get his heart's desire: a dog. It does give me a great idea for his birthday coming up: a fishing pole!

The boys were feeling ambitious so we started doing some chores. Aiden wanted a little music on to get us in the mood. He chose his current fav, "Joyful Noise" by Flame, featuring Lecrae and John Reilly. It's this amazing Christian rap song introduced to us a few years ago by our super cool cousins Claire and Jorden. (Because you all know we don't know much about Christian music less than a hundred years old. :) It's God-glorifying worship, like Dominic Balli. Everyone should know about it. It's a joy to hear my son sing it's lyrics:

Angels surrounding His throne and

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain

The whole earth is full of His glory

All nations bow to his name

His majesty fills the heavens

Our hearts give thunderous praise

Declare the Lord is forever

Make a joyful noise in this place.

Chores? Not so much this morning. Just a lot of hanging out and being together, dreaming, planning, and singing. The kind of stuff I wouldn't trade a million dollars for.

The Gastronomical Me

Some books are just delicious. The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher is one of them. Though not a Christian writer, I have never read anyone that can describe the very Christian connection between the table and fellowship like she can. My favorite book in this 5 book anthology is The Gastronomical Me, a memoir of her early years.

She describes in beautifully vivid detail her grandmother's "violently active cannings" of summer fruit. How her grandmother, stirring the boiling fruit, "stood like a sacrificial priestess in the steam, 'skimming' into a thick white saucer, and I, sometimes permitted and more often not, put my finger into the cooling froth and licked it."

She describes visiting her great-aunt's house in the high desert of Los Angeles, with the "war-time crews of old men and loud-voiced boys picking the peaches" that would later that day be made into pies using butter cooled in a nearby stream.

And so on...into adulthood and her table gatherings in Dijon, France, and her many meals on ocean-crossing voyages. In her forward, she explains, "I tell about myself, and how I ate bread on a lasting hillside, or drank red wine in a room now blown to bits, and it happens without my willing it that I am telling too about the people with me then, and their other deeper needs for love and happiness...there is a communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk."

These are some thoughts I will take with me to our Saturday night feast and to the Lord's Table.

March 2011

Here's a bit of what we've been up to in the last month.

Our dear neighbors the Georgescus moved to England for 7 months, taking Geneva's BFF and Jonathan's "little brother" with them. We're so happy for them though. How cool would it be to live in Cambridge for a summer?! Especially when a royal wedding is coming up. So fun!

We've taken a few field trips: LA Cathedral (their tapestry "Communion of the Saints" is absolutely amazing). Joni and Friends Headquarters (Joni herself showed the group around and told her story. We love this organization!). And finally, the family went to the Reagan Library for Colonial Days this past Saturday.

The tooth fairy has come 3 times in the last month. All Jonathan wants for Easter is his two front teeth. Geneva lost her tooth in the bath--and found it! Jonathan (ahem....his parents) lost both his front teeth before they made it under the pillow. Somehow the tooth fairy still knew just where to place the goods. All's well that ends well.

We are really enjoying the spring in our new home. The windows are open, the backyard hosts daily picnics with many stuffed animal guests, and when the gladiators come home from school, the picnic area becomes an arena. Sprinklers rarely spray without children running through them. The seeds are sprouting in our garden and we hope to invite you all over for Caprese as soon as our tomatoes and basil are ready to harvest.