Tree Day

Yesterday we went and cut down our Christmas tree. It was a gorgeous day. It became too warm to wear a jacket, there was intermittent bright, clear sunlight and showers, and we saw three amazing rainbows.

It was a nice relaxed day (it's getting easier as the children age!) that started with pumpkin pie for breakfast, included watching "Elf" together, and ultimately decorating the tree.

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a great Thanksgiving here in OR, wonderful food and company. Probably our last one here. We savored it. The pictures didn't turn out that great, but here was our prayer (please ignore the punctuation inconsistencies, no time to correct--time to get kids in bed):

Thanksgiving 2014

Psalm 136
Reader: Give thanks to Yhwh, for Yhwh is good.
All: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: Give thanks to the God of gods.
A: Yhwh's love endures forever.
R: Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
A: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: to the one who alone among the gods does wonders.
A: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: who with wisdom made the heavens
A: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: who floats the land upon the waters
A: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: who made the great lights
A: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: the sun to be lord of the day
A: Yhwh's love endures forever
R: the moon and the stars as lords of the night
A: Yhwh's love endures forever . . .

A Prayer
R: Thank you for our health
A: May we be instruments of your healing.
R: Thank you for an abundance of food.
A: May we remember to care for those less fortunate
R: Thank you for family and friends.
A: May we be friends to those without.
R: Thank you that we can express our gratitude to you without fear of reprisal.
A: May we never be those who suppress the faith of others.
R: Thank you for your acceptance of us all.
A: May we extend your restorative justice to those on the margins, especially the orphans, widows and sojourners in the land.
R: We remember the Pilgrims and the generosity of the Native Americans to them.
A: May we likewise extend your generosity and kindness to sojourners in the land we occupy.

Anticipating a New Face

The photo used at the top is old. It was taken 1.5 years ago at Pleasant Land Farm. With both sadness and relief I'm ready to announce that it appears this coming Monday will be our last full day owning that property. Yes, we are about to close and will no longer be the holder of two mortgages. Hence the relief. The sadness, well, just look back at some of the pics. It truly is a 'pleasant land.' And we miss our farm and our goats and the fact that by some climatological anomaly, despite the rest of WI and that city having bird-sized mosquitoes in incalculable swarms, our little piece of Eden had none. Alas, we haven't actually had our feet on the property now for 13 months, but I can still feel the air and smell the creek and hear the frogs. The barn is no longer there, hit by a tornado earlier this year. But that allowed us to drop the price on the property which helped finally to sell it. And, we are happy that we like the family to whom we are selling it. I've even tried to plant the seed to restore the pasture land to native prairie as was our intent.

Our summer here has been full, and I'm sure we'll decide on a suitable photo to replace the one at the top of this blog page. We flew back to the midwest to visit both my and Heidi's families in IL/WI and NE, respectively. It was great to see family and friends. Heidi was able to make it to a dear friend's bridal shower and see many old and wonderful friends. The kids did a great job flying and their growing maturity has inspired us to do more things away from home. You'll be seeing some of those photos over the next couple of days.

All three are growing and learning so much; it's incredible to be a part of this part of their of their lives. I love having more time with this new job to be home with them. They are each so unique, but they all have a wonderful love for knowledge, truth, inquiry and investigation and experimentation. We are trying our best to encourage and nurture this, and trying to navigate participating in their own development without stifling their individual interests and perspectives is liberating (I write with mild trepidation) and fun. One of their favorite movies is "Prince of Egypt," and another is "The Miracle Maker." So J comments one day that he has decided he loves Jesus, but he doesn't like Jesus' dad, because "that's who made the little boy die." The images from the 10th plague include an Egyptian boy carrying water to his home, probably 4–5 years old. The terrifying glowing white mist enters after he does and one hears a crash of broken pottery and a limp arm hangs suggestively from the doorway. I decided Yhwh is big enough to defend himself and just said something like "Yah, Jesus is great."

Lazy Summer Days

Well, not intentionally so. A little over a week ago I had an accident. I typically ride my mountain bike to work: 6.2 miles. One morning I got all the way to the parking lot of the hospital and decided that day I wouldn't slow done as usual coming around a rarely used blind corner. Of course at that moment a grounds mechanic came out of a hidden door, I stopped abruptly to avoid hitting him, and flew over the top of my bike. The only lasting injury was severely strained left hand ring and pinky finger. Lots of swelling and very little movement permissible without excruciating pain. Ironically, the man I avoided hitting was my neighbor. So, my usually busy with so much yard work to do weekends have been more laid back and I've been able to spend more time with children, which we all love.

Today, Aedyn asked to get the microscope out. We looked at plant leaves and could see their nuclei and chloroplasts. When we decided to watch bakers yeast to see if we could watch cell divisions in action, we waited and watched the cells grow larger, but never saw a complete division (although we did see some nuclear duplications, but cleavage took to long). At one point A was checking it and said, "no cell divisions, just brownie motion." (FYI, it's Brownian motion, I hated to correct him (-: .)

Justice and Eliyah are both into making up their own songs nowadays. The other night at bed this was Justice's:

"O holy Spirit, graceful Wind
  Peaceful Spirit.

Jesus died, but now is alive.
Jesus loves the little children,
they are precious to him.

Holy Spirit . . . [Mom, does the holy Spirit love the little children?] [Yes].
Holy Spirit."

I think it was better than what memory serves, but that gives you a sense of it.

Eliyah is a slow eater. We try to remember that this is healthy habit, but on occasion we leave the table before she is done. The other night we came back to clean up to find her having been on her own for a couple of minutes. She exclaimed in exasperation (she is her mother's daughter: everything is big and full of drama!): "I was sitting here and everybody left to the wind, and I was all alone for weeks and weeks (crescendo)!"

Peace to you all. I am able to type this now with 9 digits: pinky still out of commission.

O, and because what you really want is pics of the kids:

1. Aedyn doing his Mento's experiment (learning the concept of 'nucleation')

2. The kids with their cousins on Eliyah's 4th birthday.

Dr. Frankenstein's Creation (who are we to call it a Monster!)

Under the topic of interesting things my children say: This morning Aedyn and I were reading his new book on human anatomy and function (at a child's level, not one of my texts) and he says, while looking at what appears to be a functional MRI scan of the brain visually stimulated: "I need to get a brain. I don't want to kill anyone, so I'll have to get it from a dead person. I can use it on my Mama-bot." (Mama-bot is a conceptual work he has in progress over the last 8 months—it is a robot he wants to build, and of which he has developed many models, that will do all of Mom's work for her. It has many iterations.) We are very protective of what they watch and read, so: No, he knows nothing of the work of Dr. Frankenstein.

Yesterday we went to Jacksonville for the Souther Oregon Chinese Cultural Association (SOCCA) Chinese New Year Parade. The kids enjoyed the dragons and the floats. The weather was warm (60°–65°F) and sunny. During the parade we had a couple "yes-our-children-are-homeschooled" moments. This was their first encounter with cheerleaders:

Cheerleaders: We say 'GO,' you say 'FIGHT.' GO!

Crowd: FIGHT!

Ch: GO!

Cr: FIGHT!

A look of horror mixed with disbelief crosses Aedyn's face.

I: It's OK, Aedyn. Some people use the word 'fight' when they talk about doing your best in a game. They don't really mean fight.

A little while later, they experience their first marching band.

A: OOOOH! Wind instruments!

The surrounding parents were entertained.  :)

Here are some fotos.

Children's Compline

One of our influences over the years has been the prayers of the Northumbrian community. You can see their links to Evening Prayers (Compline) at the side of this blog. A couple of years ago I modified them (greatly, trying to capture the essence but making them simple and brief enough for children). That product sat on my computer desktop waiting to be printed all this time—a little commentary on my ability to procrastinate. Anyway, I recently printed it up and we've been using it. Eventually, I'd like have the kids illustrate it and in a few weeks, when they have become more familiar with them, add parts as is traditionally done at Compline. I have included the text below for any of you who have children to use as you wish.

Sunday

The Ita Compline

Father, may our lives be focused on you.
King Jesus, may we follow you.
Spirit, may we be strong through you.


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

Monday

The Aidan Compline

God you are great.
May we like mirrors reflect your love, justice, wisdom, generosity and hospitality.


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

Tuesday

The Cuthbert Compline

O God, may every part of our lives, from our toes to our head,
Be yours entirely, O Father, Son and holy Spirit.
Be our safe shelter tonight.


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

Wednesday

The Felgild Compline

Calm us, Father, and help us to be still.
We rest today’s play and work in your care
And ask that you give us peaceful rest to be ready for tomorrow: in which we will show our love for you and for our neighbors.


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

Thursday

The Ebba Compline

May the Father be in our sleep
May the Messiah be in our dreams,
May god’s Breath be in our rest.


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

Friday

The Boisil Compline

Father, protect us,
Jesus, direct us,
Spirit, strengthen us for your work.


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

Saturday

The Patrick Compline

The peace of the joyful Father
The peace of the hopeful Messiah
The peace of the graceful Wind


The peace of all peace be ours this night, in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit.

A New Home

So, last week our offer on a new home was accepted. Mind you, we offered quite a bit lower than what they were asking for it, but at the upper limit of what our budget could afford. There was never even a counter offer! Our realtor did a great job, evidently, telling them about how that was the only house the kids kept talking about, how cute our kids were, what a great family we are, etc. So, despite the fact that we were below what they had said was their bottom line, they felt we were the right family for the house. Yay. Some pics below.

One of the best aspects is the beautiful view, but we were so intent on getting pics to help us plan projects and maintenance, etc., we forgot to get some. It's a wonderful place to visit, and we have some pretty awesome guest quarters. Just sayin' . . .