A little of this, a little of that...

A little pizza? How 'bout a LOT of pizza! Tonight the kids asked Adam to make his deep dish, Sicilian style pizza. It's AMAZING.
However, supper wasn't until about 6:30. I got snackin' hungry about 4:30, so Julia and Adam made us a little snackin' plate, with pepperoni, cheese, summer sausage, and crackers. It hit the spot. Julia loves to make little notes.
Here is the FINALLY-FINISHED PUZZLE. It took us months. Anna and I worked on it the most. It was only a cheap WalMart puzzle, but the picture was very nice.
Lacey, who sleeps most of the time.
Julia has been enjoying the Christmas houses now that they are lit. She rearranges the accessories and holds Sandy there to show her all the loveliness. Today I did remove the background foliage, ahem, IVY.

Christmas Books

Last year I started a great Christmas tradition: I bought myself books. Remember?

I've decided to do it again this year! Today I spent a little time on Amazon, so I could find good prices, and get their free shipping. Here are my choices:

A Thousand Days in Venice, by Marlena de Blasi

Housekeeping, A Novel, by Marilynne Robinson

Dakota, a Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris

I'm careful to buy books that I believe I'll love long-term, enjoy seeing on my shelves, recommend and lend to friends, and read again myself. I know I love de Blasi's books; I bought one last year, I've read her A Thousand Days in Tuscany, and she's a drifting romantic. I also got a Robinson book last year, Gilead. I truly enjoyed that book. (warning: Adam did not.) Whereas de Blasi tells a warm, casual tale and is strong on emotion, Robinson's writing is pure, fine craftsmanship. The Norris book was recommended to me recently by a friend; when I read about it, it sounded intriguing. When I read a few sample pages on Amazon, I felt I'd enjoy her style.

I found last year that giving myself books I'd carefully chosen was a great idea. It was a Christmas gift that I enjoyed for the next 6-9 months, as I slowly wended my way through those writer's worlds. I expect the same this year.

If you have a great favorite, please leave a comment. I'd like to know!!

Full of Thoughts

I realize I haven't written in several days, and it's not because I'm not thinking -- my mind is full of thoughts. My thoughts are scattered and my feelings fluctuate. I read about political events and ruminate on them. Is Obama ruining the nation? Is Palin a lunatic? Will the spending ever be checked? Do I think we need healthcare reform? I contemplate Adam's job prospects and wonder if we'll be moving to South Dakota in a couple of months, or if we'll still be here. Can I be happy to move? Will it perhaps be a lovely place to live? Can I bear to leave my home and friends here? I homeschool the children -- their arguments and bitter answers to each other cause me pain. But their bright intelligence and quick learning please me.

Life is full of opposites, and sometimes full of contradictions.

In the middle of all this swinging, I find I do best if I can be still. Study the politics for what is RIGHT. Leave the moving to God and trust in Him. Be consistent in my teaching and press on.

I love autumn above the other seasons, and I love the Christmas season best of all the year. Yet often it happens that trials and disruptions occur at this time of the year, to upset the joy. I want to keep the joy, abide in the stillness, hold fast to the eternal verities of beauty and peace found in the celebration of God Made Man.

I'm slowly memorizing Isaiah 40. I've done the first 9 verses, in no real hurry. I doubt I'll do the whole chapter; it's very long. But memorizing, and doing so deliberately, causes me to dwell on the words and their meanings. What should we be doing? Comforting God's people -- our message is for his people. What words of comfort can we give them? God is coming! His glory will be shown when he comes! You -- you people, are as fleeting as the dried grass of autumn, blown away by winter winds. Again, we're told -- we the New Jerusalem -- to get on a high hill and proclaim to God's people that He is here!

How much time do we spend with other missions and other messages? Do I look for opportunities to tell to my fellow-believers HOW God is clearly present in my life, today? Isn't this what a testimony is? We stand before other Christians and remind them, "God is present, working in my life. Let me tell you how." And we do.

So, I'm telling you -- God is here. He is at work. I can feel his delving, sometimes hurting, fingers, digging deeply into my life. I've felt it before, and I recognize his hands. I see the impression of his fingerprints in these doings. The trials of life often become his most precious gifts to us, later. The timeless One comes into time and does his work. That's what Baby Jesus did, and God is still about this work, this coming.

He is here.

And it begins!

Today I decided to bake a loaf of cinnamon bread, and to get out my handful of buildings that constitute the Christmas Village. It lives on our front window sill:
Julia enjoys rearranging all the buildings, trees and people, and it's at a perfect level for her to sit on the floor. Please note the nice ivy forest we're growing on the window pane.... Well, we will be cutting that ivy back AGAIN, very soon. Here in the South, the ivy will take over if you turn your back on it for a few minutes.

The season is beginning! If I wait until after Thanksgiving, there just WON'T be enough time to enjoy it all!

Making a Mountain

I have never found a blue so stunning as the Carolina sky in the autumn. These pictures were taken yesterday, when Adam finished raking the front yard. We had quite a leaf farm going!
The October sky is perhaps bluer, but yesterday was glorious outside. Peter helped Adam a little during our lunch break.
Anna snuggles with Sandy.
The Leaf Mountain by the street is the largest on the block. We have a yard of trees, and the oaks aren't finished yet! I called once for Julia, and she came popping up out of the leaf mountain. She said Adam had dumped a huge load of leaves on her -- she loved it, of course.

Evaluating a Presidency

These days, I never watch TV. We don't get television reception, and so I spent a lot of time on my laptop, and I get my news online. I like this; I have a feed reader with Google Reader, and it gives me an assortment of articles from various news agencies -- everything from Fox to CBS, to Reuters to the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. There are articles from various news outlets across the country. This is much more well-rounded than watching just ABC news every evening at 6:00.

And since Obama's presidency has been hailed as a new and different type of governance, I've watched carefully, and with some angst, as he's plunged forward into his first year. Now I basically disagree with Obama on most points of ideology. However I'm more concerned lately by the decisions he's, err, NOT making --

What are we going to do in Afghanistan? It seemed to me that it was the War in Iraq that was questionable, uncertain, undefined, but that Obama, in his campaign, knew exactly what he wanted to do in Afghanistan. Didn't he? He sounded so confident. Now, well, we heard that he'd decided to send in 40,000 troops. Then, that he hadn't decided that at all - did he change his mind? Doesn't he know? We're told that he wants to make the right decision, and must think through all considerations. But hasn't he had time to do that in the past TWO YEARS of his campaign and presidency? If he doesn't know now what we should do there, when will he know? The warnings of 18 months ago, that this man was not prepared for the responsibilities of the office, are sounding in my ears again.

And what about Copenhagen? Is he going, or isn't he? Now I don't agree with the liberals about all this MAN-MADE global warming stuff, (oh, excuse me, they've now adopted the name "climate change," since the latest statistics show that the warming trend isn't really, um, trending!) but you would think that the president would have ALREADY MADE UP HIS MIND about whether he's going. Or, if he really is undecided, please don't tell us!! We don't want to KNOW if our president can't decide about such things! It only worries us!

Yikes.

We did get one decision though. Did you hear that the master-mind behind the 9/11 terrorist attack on NYC is going to be tried in a civilian court, in NYC? Obama has decided this. Mr. Mohammad won't be tried by a military tribunal, but in the more lax and convoluted court of the state. In NYC. Can you immediately hear the defense screaming for a change of venue? As Mr. Giuliani noted, this will give the defense all the various opportunities to evade justice that a civilian court does. If this man is somehow acquitted, how will that reflect on Obama?

Even though I did not vote for him, and I do not approve of his presidency, I must say that the way Obama is conducting himself is a point of concern and disappointment to me. If I have to have a president whom I don't like, I'd at least prefer for him to conduct himself decisively, nobly, and consistently. Obama, I find, is none of these.

Far from the Home I Love

That song from "Fiddler on the Roof," when Tevye and his daughter part ways at the cold train station, is always the most heart-breaking moment for me. It's a beautiful song: a simple, lyrical melody with simple, clear words.
I took this photo last night as the setting sun was just letting go of the tree tops in our back yard. They are golden. I love living in the North Carolina woods.

Some of you may be wondering what's happening with our job situation. Adam is still working at our church, but the presbytery committee did not decide yet about whether they will allow him to candidate for the position permanently. We don't know when they will decide. What he is making at the church is just barely enough for our basic expenses, and we are dipping into our savings for things like dental work and field trips. Adam knows that, much as he would be willing to wait for many months to find out whether the committee will vote in his favor, our time is running out. And after our resources are depleted, the committee might decide against him, and we would really be in a bind, with no work at all.

All that to say, Adam has been contacted again by a small church in South Dakota, about being their pastor.

South Dakota.

Now, for those of you who live out west, or far away, this might not sound strange, but to this southern girl, South Dakota is far, far away. Far away from the home I love. Far away from my dear parents who only live about 2 1/2 hours from me now. Far away from the wooded Appalachians, from the blueberry farm, from dear friends, and from my boy at college. It makes my heart hurt to think of going so far away.

We have moved a lot. I've lived in Iowa and Massachusetts. I've roamed around in the Southeast from Mississippi to North Carolina and in between. We long to settle somewhere, but honestly -- one hopes to settle in a place that feels like home. Home has hills and forests and pine trees and balmy fall days and wishes of snow.

But I do believe that God has an opinion, a preference, in where we are. He has work that he has chosen for us to do, and no one else. That's why he's moved us around as he has, and it must be why he is (possibly) moving us again. It's not a Done Deal yet; Adam will need to be examined, and to go there and preach, and the church would need to accept him. But it dizzies my head to think how soon I might find myself setting up house in a flat, frozen landscape. Or as one friend described this area: Cold and Desolate.

I used to leap into adventures; I longed to travel -- anywhere, everywhere -- just to GO. But I'm not that way anymore. Now I long to stay. So, if you pray for me, please pray that God will soften my heart and make me willing, even eager, to move where and when he says "Move!"