i bought a bike

To anyone who has given me money for Christmas or my birthday in the past year, thank you. Here's what you all got me:
I've wanted a bike for about a year, but I knew I wouldn't use it until Athan was a little older. It feels so good to be working out again, trying to take care of my body. I won't run unless I'm being chased (my joints don't do well with all the impact), but I am really enjoying my daily rides.

Plus, it looks like this where I ride:



The hills are killer, but the view is worth it.

clarifying discussion

i found some good blog exchanges about the article i linked to in my last. if you're interested, go here.

my thoughts: i thought Verhulst did a good job in her article to pointing toward greater freedom in parenting. go ahead and read the "experts". read Dobson and Sears and Ezzo. ask your mom. ask your mother-in-law. watch your friends and learn.

then YOU decide. you won't line up with any of your sources 100%. contrary to the tone of the typical book or article on parenting, that's ok. put together what works for your family, and go with it, guilt-free.

and on days when the guilt is overwhelming, read things like this.

a link, at least

every parent or parent-to-be should read this article. and, if you have time, this book.

here's to escaping the tyranny of scrutinized motherhood and "perfect" parenting.

just to have something new

When I wait a long time to post, I begin to feel pressure that the next one be really, really good. But it might not be, so I don't write. So here's a new post just to break the silence. Now maybe I can just write something. Pressure's off.

a medical problem?

i'm creatively constipated. there's a bottleneck in my right brain caused by lack of sleep and time and the existential dread i feel as the holiday season threatens to come again. i can't decide what to get anyone for Christmas. i can't decide which of the 34 ideas for blogs i should choose. i can't decide what to fix my daughter for dinner. all of the options for all of the above seem urgent about winning the race out of my brain, thus the traffic jam.

i think Morgan has eaten 5 PBJs this week, so far you're all getting Ale 8 for Christmas, and evidently i can only manage a barely-clever blog about not knowing what else to blog about.

this is my effort to take a mental laxative. i'm gonna go make Morgan some mac-n-cheese. i'll try for a better blog next time. :)

my Bibles...

i got the idea for this post from Chad (here), who reports that it is a current trend in the blogosphere to write about your bible (or bibles). i don't have the time to chase all those links, so i'll just have to trust him that we're not the only two. :)

there are 2 special bibles in my life. the one in the picture is my burgundy, bonded leather Zondervan NIV Thinline i have carried for years. i think i "borrowed" the bible from my Mom's collection when i was in junior high (without much protest from her - i suspect it was one of her many failed attempts to lay aside her clunky study bible), and i've carried it since then. i study often from other translations, and defense of the NIV is not the hill i'll die on. even if there are better translations out there, this bible feels like an old friend that isn't just set aside for the newer/bigger/better thing. it also has quite a story of its own:

it survived the turbulence of belonging to a teenager, including a fire (i left a candle burning too near the stack of books/papers it was in - the gilded edges of the pages are now blackened edges), a puppy (that used the corners as a chew toy), and being left in almost every pew or chair i sat in for years. in high school, i left it sitting the bumper of my pick-up. it fell off, and i backed over it, causing most of the new testament to separate from the binding and fall out. still, it was my bible. so i sent it off to be rebound. the underlines and notes in many places reflect my immature faith of that time, as well. that could be a whole different essay...

for the next few years my bible primarily collected dust, only to be rattled to life as the customary sunday morning accessory on the rare occasion i went to church. then, through a series of bad decisions with big consequences (including calling off a wedding, among others), this prodigal son returned home. my bible became more than a paper weight. i was starving for the Word, and the Life i found in it rescued me from me. my enthusiasm for Scripture has waxed and waned since then, i confess, and even in writing this testimony, my memory prompts me to return to my first Love...

the other special bible in my life is actually not mine at all. it's my mom's - the aforementioned clunky study bible (NIV with the o-so-early-80's dusty rose cover). when the bottom fell out of my life, i knew to look to the Lord via Scripture for something solid and lasting because i had seen my mother do so for years. it is the only possession of hers i hope to inherit someday because it speaks to the legacy she has given me more than anything else ever could. in all the ups and downs and plains of her life, she has pointed me (and countless others) to the One the Scripture reveals.

what are the important bibles to you? leave a comment or let me know if you post about your bible.

chapel

a choir of international students and spouses sang a simple little chorus in chapel on thursday. something about living and walking in the Light. we sang it in English, Spanish, and one of the African languages (I couldn't begin to guess which one).

i cried. not sad tears. happy tears. celebratory tears. it felt so eternal. "every tongue and tribe and nation..." including me, for which i'm thankful. so much bigger than me, for which i am also thankful.

i guess that's all this post is about. the gratitude. i wish you could have been there...