Don’t Stop Learning

I’m kind of a nerd.  I like words a lot.  Grammar jokes tickle me to an extreme.  It is embarrassing, really. I own and wear this shirt.  And I laugh every time I read it.  I am that big of  a nerd. 

 

I think most people have pet peeves.  I think nerds have their own set of pet peeves.  Or maybe not.  Maybe it is just me.  Either way, this is my nerdy pet peeve.  “You use big words. Stop it! I don't want to learn them. I want to be simple. Not high falutin’”

I get this more than I like.  And I obey.  I try to use words that are less exact because I don’t want to get yelled at for using a more beautiful and precise word that the hear-er may not know or like.  But on the inside….

 
So, you are done learning ?!?!?
But you are alive!  Why?  I can think of two options.   First, you have more to learn and there is a possibility that you might need to acquire new words to allow for and to express more mature or broader thoughts, ideas and concepts. The other option is that you truly have no more to learn beyond what you absorbed in high school and you are here only to apportion your prodigious and amaranthine knowledge on the world. Those big scary words that you don’t like to use aren’t words that you don’t know; you just like to be approachable to the bourgeois class.  You are a magnanimous philanthrope !

I know it would be wrong for me to try to judge which of these options is reality in your individual case, so I’ll leave it to you.

You gotta Love Words!

For posterity.

Madi: Do you know what extraordinates me? Whenever I think of creation I think of my children's Bible because I used to read that story all the time. I loved the pictures so much. But now I know about cells and amino acids and organs and the cow's four stomachs and think how much God had to really make when he created the world. It isn't just the pictures that I like of birds flying and fishing jumping out of the sea. That is extraordinary.

There is nothing better than inventing new words. I invented one myself yesterday when my daughter was teasing me about being afraid of the dentist.  I told her that I am not afraid.  It is just sensible to avoid people in the business of causing others crippifying pain.  That is my new word. 

Speaking of words, I asked the kids what was the difference between disturbing and creepy. This is the answer I received:

Creepy is a ghost story. Sitting next to a naked guy is disturbing.

And a final fun with words inspired by my hilarious kids: Playwright or don’t play at all.

Little Green Men…or Grey, if you are so inclined

Somehow during school we got to talking about aliens.  So the question came up. Are there aliens? This led to the next question. Does it even matter?

The world is so big. The distance between planets, solar systems, galaxies. We are just little dots in both a time and a space that seem infinite. Does that make us insignificant?  If course not!  We were made to be in relationship with the One Who made us. That is all that matters. So what if we are the only beings on the only planet orbiting the only sun?  So what if there are countless species of aliens on countless planets and moons across vast stretches of space—or even countless universes?  We can be at the center of the universe or in a tiny pocket that the universe has forgotten. None of that matters when we are face to face with the love of our lives.

What seems to matter is from where we get our identity.  Is it about being in the center?  Being the biggest?   The first? If so, then you can feel pretty unimportant when you compare yourself to all creation.  If, however, you know your identity is connected to your Creator, then however much else He chooses to create has nothing to do with your worth.  He said you were worth the Blood of His Son.  What more needs to be said?

When we got married, my husband asked what we would do if I were to realize I were homo- or bisexual--we are weird and have conversations like that, ok?  My answer was simple: who cares?  Would it be ok for me to cheat on my husband with a man?  No. So how would it be ok for me to fool around with a woman? I am face to face with Brian, my husband, for whom I vowed to forsake all others. All others.

The same is true with God. No number of aliens--even zero--will change my purpose in life. I was made to love and glorify Him. My place is secure.

My Son’s Writings

I gotta do some bragging.  My son’s writings this week have given me great pleasure and I want to share them. 

First up is his blessings poster.  Our Advent traditions have gotten off to a rough start, but I am trying to incorporate some of our plans into our day in spite of circumstances.  The blessings poster is a new one, and both kids had fun doing them.  I was impressed at the depth and breadth of their appreciation.  My daughter listed the precious people in our lives and made her poster so pretty with her artistic flair.  These babies are going on the wall! Here is the list from my son.

• Timothy (our rabbit)

• My creativity

• Bailey and Ava (our dogs)

• The games we play

• Our dad for being a hard worker and loving us

• The ability to keep in touch with family far away

• A wonderful year

• The off time we have to be together

• The park up the street

• School to help us follow the paths given to us

• Our toys and books

• Everyone in our church

• That even in hard times we’re given what we need

• To know that we are saved

• So many reasons

• The deli where we can meet and help people

• That Bailey has made friends with Timothy

• To be able to give in so many ways

• That we’re given all these things we don’t need

• That we have doctors to heal and officers to keep us safe

• That something happens every day to look forward to

• Good music that we listen to often

• A world where we are connected enough to know what’s happening

• Fun snow days!

• The sledding hill

• Our great neighborhood

• God’s protection

• The material to make great things

• The good food in our pantry

• That mommy can stay home

• That we have so many blessings

• A good weekly schedule

• The freedom to express our faith

• People in our lives to help and love and to receive help and love from

• Our car that’s lasted so long

• Our wonderful school program

• That our house can hold us and anyone who comes to it

• The shows we watch together

• The trips we go on

• A family full of love and respect

• Every day we spend as a family

• Schooling Rylee

• Money to afford what we have

• That we always have someone to look to for comfort

• People and things that came along to remind us to not get distracted

• Foundations class, where we have so much fun

• The privileges we get and the trust we have throughout the family

• Things to keep us productive (smelly markers)

Isn’t that cool?  Another assignment was to give three silly excuses for missing a Christmas party.  Here is My son’s paper.

 

I’m sorry I missed your Christmas party.  I would have come, really, but something came up.  My pet gopher grabbed my pie recipe and buried it.  He has so many holes, and I had to go through all of them before I found out that it never even went into the ground, but instead got blown by the wind out of my gopher’s mouth and into a neighbor’s yard.

So then I had to go to all my neighbors and find out which one’s yard my recipe got blown into.  The owner of said yard turned out to be away, so I decided to climb over his fence and grab it myself.  But that didn’t work because my neighbor has twenty-seven cats who, when they saw me, panicked, clawed me up and ate the recipe.

Then I had no recipe anyway, so I had to go back to the store from which I got the recipe and ask for another one.  But when they started writing the recipe out for me the power went out.  And then the nice worker there couldn’t write the recipe because she couldn’t see what she was writing.  So then we decided that she should go to my house and bake the pie herself, if I could bring her to the party.

But then, while making the pie we needed eggs.  I pulled out the carton and dropped it, breaking every single egg.  So then we would have had to go to the store to get more eggs, except that the power was out at the store where the eggs were.  So we then figured it wasn’t worth the trouble.  I drover her back to her own home and then returned to mine so I could sit down and write the letter.

 

He is a funny dude. Finally, this is a short essay about what he most anticipates this winter.  True to his form, he cannot select just one thing.

It is December, the first month of winter.  It’s very cold, and it gets dark quickly, so some adjustments have to be made.  But there are also some things I’m looking forward to that can’t be done any other time of the year.

One of the biggest things I’m looking forward to is sledding.  There’s a great sledding hill just behind our neighborhood that we visited multiple times last year.  We don’t have any sleds, but we know friends who will happily bring them if they can use them with us.

Snow is another thing I’m looking forward to.  We have some right now, but it’s only a couple of inches, so it just gets in your shoes, and is very, very cold.  What I’m really looking forward to is lots of snow!  My sister and I have built snow forts and trench systems in the past, and played on  huge mountains created when the driveway is shoveled.  A lot of people don’t like this neighborhood because they say it gets too much snow.  But more snow is more fun!

And of course there's Christmas.  We don’t have a lot of money for presents this year, but I think that’s a good thing.  It helps us remember that we’re actually celebrating Jesus, instead of presents.  Also sweet doggie Bailey just came back from the hospital, so she’s Christmas present enough.

This summer was the best summer I can remember.  This winter is also going to be great as we get together with friends and celebrate God’s grace.  It’ll be great! 

China!

We have taken another step forward in our trek through the Eastern Hemisphere and have entered the country with such a long history: China!  My kids saw, way back on Box Day, my kids saw the beautiful China Treasure Chests, but were not allowed to peek inside.  On our first day of studying China, we opened them!  What excitement!  They sure packed a lot into those little boxes and my kids oohed and ahhed all over them. 

Now we have something neat to anticipate each week as we use each piece of treasure.  We will decorate a traditional fan, build a section of the great wall, use a traditional calligraphy brush and ink stone, work with a beautiful map…  So cool!

 

Box day!  We got the supplies to this year’s school back in June.  We had to finish up the year we were doing before we could being this new adventure—which we did in October.  Now we are in week 11 and exploring China!

 

Each child has his and her own treasure chest, so they will be able to use all the contents to the fullest, infusing each activity with their own unique style and personality.  Have I mentioned that I am LOVING this school year?  (I could drop kick the stinking workbook and encyclopedia, now more than ever, and wish there were a better way to attain the vital information regarding each country, but every rose has its thorn, yes?)