Spring Break: End of the Road Trip

We made it safely home. The boys are with their mom now. I miss them already--it's a big adjustment after being in close quarters with them for a week.

The drive was uneventful in a good way. There was really light snow off and on at times through South Dakota. It had been almost 70 when we went out--and it's supposed to be in the 70s again this weekend--but most of our time was cold--at least at night. We played a few rounds of finding the alphabet in order on road signs. We ended up with 41 state license plates, 4 provinces, 1 Native American tribe (Cherokee from Oklahoma) and some US Government plates. We thought that all but 9 states was pretty good in a trip just across one state. We even saw at least 4 Alaska plates (but no Hawaii). I had the boys work on their math as we went by figuring out what percentage of the states we had found (ended up with 82% as they can tell you). We also ended up seeing a total of 162 different Wall Drug signs (99 on the way out along Interstate 90 from Worthington, Minnesota, to Wall, South Dakota, and 63 heading back east from Summerset to Wall).

All in all, despite colder weather that only allowed us one night in our tent, we had a great trip. I hope to return to do some more intense hiking some day. The landscape is beautiful, from rugged mountains to forests to grasslands. Saw a lot of wildlife we don't see here (bison, pronghorns, prairie dogs, mule deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep--we saw all the large mammals except mountain lions and elk). And most importantly we had fun together as a family.

Spring Break Wandering Day 3

We survived a chilly night, but it wasn't that bad when we awoke. Still, the park ranger seemed skeptical that the boys would do well sleeping in a tent tonight with a winter storm coming through and I decided she was right, so we packed up camp this morning. We drove north through Custer toward Mt. Rushmore. Three tunnels along the road perfectly framed the four presidents in each. There were also three pigtail turns on the road.

We arrived at Rushmore and added a few more states to our list of license plates we've seen along the trip. Mountain goats awaited us within the park.

As we left we weren't sure where we'd spend the night do we just drove and made stops to climb rock formations and watch wildlife (I saw a marmot but was too slow for a photo).

We ended up in the town of Hot Springs for the night. After some bison burgers we walked along the historic downtown, sampling mineral water from springs.

Spring Break Adventure Day 2

We left our cheap but cozy (and with a hot homemade breakfast) motel and traveled on to Custer State Park. On the way we saw 68 more signs for Wall Drug for a total of 99 along I-90. We added a couple more states to our list of license plates we've seen as well as another province.

We had a lovely day. The weather nearest 70 degrees and we planned to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. We drove the Wildlife Loop, taking in pronghorns, mule deer, bison and prairie dogs. We did some hiking through trails a foot deep in snow. We climbed rock formations.

We got a nice campsite along a babbling creek. Its sounds are lulling us to sleep. Unfortunately a winter storm is supposed to move into the area tomorrow night so we may be looking for affordable lodging tomorrow night.

Spring Break Travels Day 1

He is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Our day started at church remembering the resurrection of our Lord. We went a little earlier than usual and did the traditional service rather than the contemporary as we normally do. An organ and brass instruments seem fitting for Easter morning.

After lunch we finished packing the car and got on the road to enjoy our spring break week. Destination: the Black Hills. The boys have never been.

Our first (and only) stop of today was at the (in)famous Corn Palace in Mitchell. Being a late afternoon on Easter Sunday everything was closed of course, but we enjoyed seeing the murals made from grains. It was nearly 60 degrees ans the sun was out (it had been in the 30s when we left Minnesota a little after noon) so we stretched our legs a little. And we enjoyed a pb&j sandwich before getting back on the road.

We crossed the Missouri River and found an affordable hotel for the night. We hopefully have a short drive to the Black Hills tomorrow where we plan to camp the next couple of nights.

Music and Almost-Ten-Year Olds

Anders has been taking violin lessons for about a year now. There's a great organization, Hopewell Music Cooperative North, that provides free and reduced lessons to qualifying students in North Minneapolis (click on that link if you feel led to donate). Nils has recently started taking piano lessons with them, too. While practice isn't their favorite thing, they're both pretty good.

Anders had his first concert yesterday. Hopewell started up a Children's Festival for Minneapolis (there's a big one in St. Paul). His beginning orchestra group played a few songs. He's had opportunity before, but he's inherited his father's shyness. I remember as a child, being afraid to go up front of church for the Christmas program. I think I even backed out of taking palm branches up front on Palm Sunday once.

Thankfully, he went through with it this time. And though he was nervous--who isn't?--he enjoyed it. 

I think It gave him a sense of pride. He's a first born who I think has that sense of perfectionism; he can get down on himself and be afraid to try things at which he might fail. I'm familiar with those qualities, I hate to say.

It was his last time for beginning orchestra; tonight he started with the regular orchestra group. He's one of the youngest ones there, and I think it'll be good for him to have some older students and adults to learn from.

Music is good for both of the boys. Finger dexterity improves, math skills improve, self-esteem is built. I think they're discovering the joy in playing for other people and giving them the gift of music.

I recognize that not everyone has musical talent. There are members in my family who are notorious for not being able to sing on pitch. But I also know that music is still a part of their lives. Every once in a while I pick up my guitar and play. Not often enough. I need to make more time for it. Playing music is relaxing and speaks to the heart. It's never too late to start, either. One of the women in Anders' orchestra group tonight is probably around retirement age, I would guess. She started violin just a few years ago.

Work

We spent the weekend, like usual, at Covenant Pines Bible Camp. Over Memorial Day weekend they have a Work & Worship camp where families and individuals go and help get the camp ready for summer while having a lot of fun. While many churches go from the Twin Cities area, our church kind of makes it our church retreat.

I had attended a similar camp with my family growing up in Iowa. It was a good memory for me. So before we even attended our church, we were going to Work & Worship. It's where we met our church, actually. 

The Benedictine monks use the phrase "ora et labora" to describe their calling. It's how our church refers to the weekend. It means to pray and to work. Work and worship.

Our pastoral associate spoke on Sunday morning at camp. She used Psalm 127 as her text.

Unless the Lord builds the house, / the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, / the guards stand watch in vain.

In vain you rise early / and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—/ for he grants sleep to those he loves. 

Children are a heritage from the Lord, / offspring a reward from him. 

 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior / are children born in one’s youth.

Blessed is the man / whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame / when they contend with their opponents in court.

She reminded us that God is at work. No matter where we're at. Whether we're working at a Bible Camp or at a gas station. If we're not working alongside God, that work doesn't matter.

Then the Psalm switches to talking about children. An odd transition. Maybe. I wonder if it's not getting at the importance of viewing our parenting as worthwhile work. That if we see where God is at work in our children's lives and join in, we will find rich blessings. 

(Now, I know the church unfortunately often elevates marriage and families and disregards singleness which Paul lauds as the higher calling, but I don't think this Psalm intends to diminish  being single. I think the children thing is just an example. Possibly. Maybe it's not even related. But no matter what your relational status, God wants to you to rely fully upon Him and not your own efforts.)

My oldest son wanted to paint this weekend at camp. So we found a job painting. It turned out to be inside, instead of out--which was maybe okay since it turned out to be really hot, and we probably would have ended up with bad sunburns. He took a few breaks, but worked alongside me most of the day. My younger son joined for a short time, too. 

For some reason I can't always get them to work with me at home. But at camp they're much more willing. It was good to get to talk with them as we worked. It wasn't necessarily deep conversation, but it was getting to know them more. In the afternoon, the oldest and I went out in the woods behind the building we were painting and took a peanut break--just sitting and eating some peanuts together. 

On Sunday there was a lot of free time. Both the boys wanted to try a new activity called "crate stacking." You simply stack milk crates as high as you can while standing on top of them. I was proud of my oldest for wanting to try it. He doesn't often want to try new things--especially activities with a potential for failure. But he did it and did great. 

One of the hard parts of parenting is that you never know how your kids will turn out. No matter how much you invest in them, they're still independent souls who will make their own decisions one day. They might not always be the right decisions, either. 

We can only trust that by investing in where God is at work in our children that He will build the house.

The Week

Here's how this week has played out so far:

On Wednesday my wife flew to Pennsylvania to work at her research site for 10 days. She flies home on Friday and then back out to a different venue on Sunday for three more days. So she'll be home for two out of fourteen days.

On Thursday, my class at school left for an overnight camping trip (in cabins, but no electricity or running water, so it was primitive for most of the city kids). We had two days of outdoor education. The weather cooperated, and it was nice to be outside in spring weather. My youngest son's class also was on the trip, so my oldest spend the night with friends.

Those friends invited us over for supper and a movie on Friday night, so it was nice not to have to come home after a trip and make a meal. Friends are a good thing to have.

I also discovered a cold was setting in that night. I can't tell you how many tissues I've gone through.

Saturday started with my oldest son having beginning orchestra and my youngest having hockey at roughly the same time. So I dropped of my oldest with his violin at the church where they practice, then ran my youngest over to the ice arena to get all his gear on. Then it was back to the church to finish hearing my oldest, and then back to the ice arena to finish watching my youngest play. Thankfully this was all about a mile apart at most.

Saturday was also Free Comic Book Day, so after practices were finished, we visited a few comic book stores for some new reading material.
 
Today we decided to venture out to the local May Day Parade. It's the largest in America, I'm told. It's put on by the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater which helped volunteers make all sorts of creative masks and costumes.  It's not like anything I've ever been to before. The fresh air was good, though. And there was a fun spirit of welcoming in spring. After the long winter we've had, we need it--and after the long week of rain we've had, the sun was good. I think my youngest has a little bit of a sunburn on the back of his neck.

At church tonight I went to a session that looked at haiku as a way to pray the Psalm we were reading. The busyness of the week necessitated some good, quiet prayer time. Meanwhile, the cold is still raging. More prayer needed.
We didn't get in any good Star Wars-themed activities for Star Wars Day (May 4th--as in May the Fourth be with you--get it? terrible pun, I know, but it's nationally recognized). But the boys donned their helmets for a bedtime photo.

May the Force be with you--and me--in the week ahead.

Ashes

Last week we kicked off Lent with Ash Wednesday. At the service we had the opportunity to go forward to receive the imparting of ashes on our foreheads or palms if we chose. In doing so we heard the words, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in dying we rise."

The lenten season is usually associated with Jesus' temptation in the wilderness by Satan preceded by 40 days of fasting. We go through these 40 days of Lent to identify with Jesus' time in the wilderness as well as His preparation for the cross.

It also reminds of us of our mortality. Which isn't usually our favorite thing to think about. 

Tonight our pastor said we were going to do something different during Lent this year. During the blessing--the last song we sing--she will be having ashes available each Sunday during Lent. Along with the lenten associations already mentioned with the ashes, it also reminds us that God makes all things new.

My 9 year old went forward of his own volition tonight to receive the ashes. He had chosen not to go with to the Ash Wednesday service, but thought he'd get his forehead marked tonight instead. I was proud of him for doing so. I gave him a wink while he was in the line.

I didn't get a good chance to ask him about going forward tonight. I don't know what he gets out of it; I don't often know what I get out of it or if I understand the lenten journey much. I guess that's why it's a journey. I hope its the beginning of a good journey for my son as well.

Guest Blogger: Anders' Week at Camp

A few people have wanted to hear about Anders' week at camp, so I thought I'd let him share. It was the first time he got to go to camp for a whole week by himself. It was actually pretty easy to put him on the bus, knowing he'd have a great week, but we were all happy to have him back home. I'll be transcribing (and putting my own comments in italics). 

* * * * *

Camp was awesome!!!

One of my favorite things was the blob. The blob is where there's a person at the end of a big floating thing filled with air and a person who's going to jump onto the back. And when the person jumps onto the back, the other person goes flying into the water.

The things that we did every day would be chapel. We also had a day game like whip-n-strip which is a game where every person had a sock in their pants. There were four teams and each team had a cone in a circle, and the first team to get all four cones in their circle wins. There was a tricky part where if someone pulled your sock,  you had had to stand and wave your sock until someone came to save you. (Think four-way capture the flag where you can get caught at any time--it's not as lewd as the name sounds.)

One of the really fun night games was capture the duck, which was pretty much capture the flag except that it is pretty much always girls against boys. There was a girl's duck that was a yellow rubber duck and a boy's duck which was silver with a few red feathers.

Another one of my favorite things was the red shark. You had to pay one dollar at lunch, and then they had a floaty thing that looked like a long, red shark. You could put seven people on it, and it was pulled behind a motor boat, and they tried to flip you over. (He seems to have spent most of his time on the water--it was a really hot week. He passed his swim test easily.)

Cabins were usually little brown, small house-looking things. Inside were walls made of stone and bunk beds made of wood. Luckily I got to stay in one of the new cabins that had a bathroom in it; it was a lot nicer and more comfortable.

Two of my cabin mates were from my church, so all three of us felt more comfortable. Our counselor and LIT (Leader-in-Training) were really nice and fun. I became friends with all of the people in my cabin, which was really nice. I guess that also helped make me feel more comfortable. (Covenant Pines Bible Camp shared pictures and videos on their facebook page each day. It was fun to pick out Anders in activities throughout the week. When he got home, we went through them together and he talked about all his friends from the cabin. His counselors were great. One was the college student who was working there all summer. The other was a high school student who was going through the Leader in Training program so this was his week to be an assistant counselor. Anders was very impressed with him. I got to meet him at the bus pick-up stop. An all-around great guy.)

Chapel was probably different than it sounds. Instead of just sitting there reading your Bible and singing some hymns, they had some verses of the week that they would put into songs and they had some actions. That was really fun. They also had lots of other fun songs where you got to go up into the center of the chapel and jump around doing crazy actions. That was also crazy fun.

One of my two favorite songs was a song based on the music of the Power Rangers theme song. Another was in the music of the Ghostbusters theme song. The Power Rangers song was Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me"--he's been singing this one and doing the actions quite a bit).

During free time, sometimes I would go swimming with some of my friends. You had to have a buddy. Sometimes I would go up to the canteen and gift shop with my friends. You didn't' have to have a buddy there. Other choices were the climbing tower that has a big zip line at the top of it, the playground which might have a ga-ga ball game, or sometimes there could be a neucom game (at the volleyball courts). You could also go up to Fireside and play some board games or card games. There was the craft hall where you could buy material to make friendship bracelets or necklaces or stuff like that. You could also paint rocks, which was free. One of the rocks I painted was a s'more. I found a small square rock which I painted the tops brown and the inside white with little specks of black.

My cabin got to do something called "Outcamp" which is where sometime at night we would pack up and hop onto the trailer and have a hay ride to somewhere over in the forest. It was really fun looking at the stars. We got to make lots of s'mores (that weren't made out of rocks) and tell funny stories. Most of them were about wetting our pants as campers. We got to sleep in a big kind of house on stilts. It didn't have any beds. It was just the sleeping bags you would put down on the ground. It was still pretty comfortable. The cabins that got to go that night were cabin 21, which was us, and cabin 20.

* * * * * 

He's already planning on going back next year. He received several letters from different family and church friends throughout the week--I was thankful to see them in his suitcase. A few of the letters even contained some spending money. All he bought was a few snacks from the canteen and a picture of all of the campers. I believe he also gave a little to the missions project (clean water for kids in Africa), but he wished he had bought more and he wished he had bought a few things from the gift shop. It's a lesson in budgeting, calculating what things cost, and spending wisely. We honestly haven't done much work with that yet.

Unfortunately, we discovered that his shampoo, soap, toothbrush, and toothpaste were still on the bathroom counter after we dropped him off on the bus. We sent an email encouraging him to borrow some from friends and see if the gift shop had extra toothbrushes. He didn't do this, of course. So a shower was the first thing on the agenda when he came home. He did fairly well at changing his clothes--better than many of his peers at least. I washed plenty of socks and undewear, several shorts, but shirts was probably what he changed the least (there were plenty of clean ones in the suitcase). 

He said he really enjoyed the speaker in chapel, but hasn't said much about what he learned. But he had a great time, as did his friends who went with him. Thanks, Covenant Pines staff, for giving him a great week. (Also, the pictures were taken by the staff at Covenant Pines)

Scenes From a Sleepover

Our oldest son turns 9 tomorrow. For his birthday, instead of throwing a party with nine friends (we've been letting them invite one friend for each year of age), we let him have his first sleepover. We mutually decided two friends was a good starting point (which made it easier to plan, but harder for him to chose who to invite--friends were going to get left out, which is hard for him, but it was also the Fourth of July weekend, so not everyone was available anyway).

It was all fairly simple. Any free time was spent playing with Legos or looking at Pokemon cards. We didn't plan much, other than the obstacle course, which our youngest son made sure happen. Low-key, but fun and enjoyable: that's our motto.

Eating some yummy grilled food outside.

Followed by a birthday fruit-cicle with a candle in it.

A obstacle course has become almost mandatory. Complete with water hazards. Which ended up in a water fight, of course.

The boys just changed into pajamas after being wet. They had a little time playing on the Wii together. Then they watched Swiss Family Robinson. They were pretty tired out by that point, so they got some decent sleep! (Having been up late the night before for fireworks may have helped this, too.)

After breakfast we decided to go to Home Depot to partake in their Kid's Workshop.

So happy birthday, to our robot-and-clone-trooper drawing, empathetic, soccer-ball kicking, bicycle-riding, swimming-and-diving, comic-book-reading nine-year old. It seems like yesterday that we were driving to the hospital in Lake City, Iowa. I can't wait to see how you grow in the next nine years!

Ashes to Ashes

My son went with me to the Ash Wednesday Taize service at church tonight. He had expressed interest in it earlier in the week when I mentioned it (he hasn't gone to one before). Tonight he was a little resistant to going (it may have had something to do with the Valentine's Day cards my wife brought home from Target tonight that contained mustache tattoos). I drug him along anyway (he has a tendency to not want to do something when it's actually time to do it).

He sat and drew during most of the songs and scripture, but he tends to listen well that way. I think he sung most of the chants as he drew. And he was interested in going up to have the ashes crossed on his forehead.

I asked what he thought of it on the way home. He liked it, but he wasn't sure he got all of it. But who among us does? Even in understanding the meaning behind all of it, there's a lot of it that eludes us on this side of the grave. Which is good. Mystery keeps faith alive.

He liked the candles. He said he wanted to paint a picture of the ones hanging on the wall (so I took a picture of them for him). As we were leaving he also spent some time looking at the crown of thorns and the icons of Jesus that were in the front of the chapel.

* * * * *

On Monday morning I woke up to news that a friend from church had died. He was the father of a good friend of ours. I've only known him for less than three years. I had hoped to get to know him better. He was the kind of man you wanted to be around. He had joy. He had happiness. He had wisdom. He was an outdoorsman. He had an air of mystery to him.

His death came suddenly--and thankfully, fairly painlessly. But it was too early (or so it feels on this side of Heaven).

We gathered together at church last night for our Shrove Tuesday pancake supper (fine--we just call it Pancake Tuesday). It's an old tradition, a way of using up all the rich and fattening (hence Mardi Gras--Fat Tuesday) food in your pantry--butter, sugar, eggs, milk--before Lent. We pile on the traditional sugar with lemon juice, fruit and whip cream, Nutella and whip cream, or whip cream and whip cream. Sometimes we have pancake flipping races.

Last night we gathered outside afterward and had a short prayer service for the burning of last year's palm branches, creating the ashes used tonight. Afterward we said some prayers for our friends who had last their husband, father, grandfather.

* * * * * 

We begin the Lenten journey by hearing the words

Ashes to ashes,
Dust to dust,
In dying we rise.

We are reminded of our mortality ("you are dust"). Death is before us. We can't escape it. But their is hope. We have a choice. Eternity stands before us. 

Tomorrow, as friends gather for the memorial service for our friend (I unfortunately can't get away from work to be there), they will likely hear reminders of this. They will celebrate the life of a godly man who is with his risen Savior now.

Along with our mortality we hold before us in Lent our identification with a suffering Savior. This is the intent behind "giving something up for Lent." We fast (if we do) in order to hold before us the journey Christ went through to the cross. It is a journey of death, a journey of life, a journey of love.

* * * * * 

I'd love to hear your comments on what Ash Wednesday means to you.

Requiem for a Tadpole

Just over a week ago I wrote about Anders' new tadpole. After much deliberation, he ended up choosing the name "Kitty" for it (since it's a leopard frog and he likes irony).

Maybe I shouldn't have written about the tadpole and how pets teach us about life and death. My wife just noted how I foreshadowed it's demise by doing so. If gods of fate exist, I apparently taunted them with that post.

A couple nights ago, my wife and I were noticing the tadpole wasn't moving. Now, it's not easy to tell with tadpoles if they're alive or not. They don't move much in the first place. It's also not easy to detect movement on something the size of a pencil's eraser. The next day it was evident that the little guy hadn't moved from the spot he had been in previously.

We had carefully approached this with Anders, knowing he would take it with great sensitivity. As we were looking in the water together and I was noting that Kitty wasn't moving, he just said he didn't want to hear any more--acknowledging the possibility, but declaring that he wasn't able to deal with it at the moment.

We finally got around to having a funeral tonight. He didn't want to go the route of flushing it down the toilet or anything like that. He wanted to bury the little amphibian in the yard. Which of course isn't really possible in Minnesota in February.

So he and I walked out to the garden. He shoveled down as far as he could--still hopeful that he could reach dirt, but only hitting ice beneath the snow. There we placed Kitty. I said a little prayer on Anders' behalf. He wanted to say a few words. I wish I had a better memory to be able to repeat what he said. It dealt with missing Kitty...how Kitty was a good pet...how he hopes his next pet will live longer. It's probably for the best that I can't remember his eulogy verbatim. Those are sacred words best left for the moment.

Anders took it all fairly well. He shed several tears, of course. We explained that it wasn't because of anything he did--that tadpoles seldom make it to the frog stage--though I think he has some self-blame. He's disappointed that he's allergic to cats.

* * * * *

My wife visited a pet store the night we suspected that Kitty had passed on. I confess that the thought of just replacing Kitty with another tadpole crossed my mind. They didn't have any in stock.

The lady at the pet shop told my wife that it is very rare that a tadpole lives long enough to become a frog. This, of course, is something that the sellers of the tadpole habitat don't tell you. We'll maybe try to find a tadpole in a pond this summer, or just a grown frog.

Rethink it if you're ever considering buying a tadpole habitat for a child. Stick to sea monkeys or ant farms. It seems with smaller animals, you're better off with something that comes in numbers.

* * * * * 

Anders asked something about if Kitty would be in Heaven. We talked about how after God created animals--and everything He made--He said it was "good." We decided that all good things would be in Heaven.

I think there's a place for Kitty in Heaven. I think God would even enjoy having the fun of having a leopard frog named Kitty around. I think God would delight in the life of a frog (and pre-frog) as Anders did. I believe God loves life--even the life of a miniscule little tadpole.

May we do the same.

A Mortality of a New Pet

For his birthday this past summer my oldest son received a frog habitat from my parents. We waited until summer travels where done to order the free tadpole that came with it (which of course, we had to pay shipping on, of course)--actually, it may have been more like October when I got around to order it.

Apparently, the tadpoles only hatch/ship in the winter and spring months. It just arrived today (it doesn't seem to me that shipping a tadpole in January in Minnesota is the best idea, but it arrived just fine).

Anders couldn't sleep tonight. He just came down a little after 9pm. He was worried about his tadpole (which he spent his reading time thinking up names for in bedtime). It's supposed to be in non-chlorinated water, which we didn't have on hand so we melted some snow to use instead. He's worried it's going to die.

* * * * *

Several years ago a friend left us a baby painted turtle that wandered into their house. Anders called it "Muddy" thinking initially that it was a mud turtle. We had it for a few weeks before it died.

Anders is a sensitive child. Most movies make him cry. He has a caring, tender heart. He cried most of the day that Muddy died. That's one of the hard parts of having a pet.

Allergies and asthma exist in our household so we haven't had pets around. I grew up on a farm and all of our pets were outdoor pets (with a few rare exceptions) and we tamed a couple outdoor kittens when we lived on a farm when Anders was very little; I don't want to deal too much with having a pet in the city. So, the tadpole will be our first household pet.

I hope it teaches him some responsibility--feeding, changing the water, etc. A tadpole/frog isn't a very cuddly pet, obviously, but I know he'll come to be attached to it. At some point we'll have to deal with death, which is always a good thing for a child to learn about and discuss.

He hasn't experienced the funeral of a close relative or friend since he was young. He's already fretting about his tadpole dying. He knows about death on a more-or-less impersonal basis. He hears about it on the news. It's come up in church--especially at Easter. We seldom address it with children, but I think it's always good to not hide the fact of our mortality. It is best to teach children how to live in the face of death, rather than denying it exists. It isn't easy--tears will be shed at some point. I think, however, that that sadness shows us that death isn't meant to be the end of it all. It's an opening discussion for the afterlife.

However long this tadpole lives, it's going to give us a few lessons in life--as well as joys and tears. All because of a little frog.

Celebrate

Pipers in the parade

It's been a week of celebrations.

Wednesday, of course, was Independence Day. We left home early to head out to Delano (home of Minnesota's oldest and largest 4th of July parade) where some friends live on the parade route. They invite family and friends over for a day of watching the parade and eating. This year the host along with his father and some friends got together and played some blues songs in the alley behind their house in the afternoon. Despite nearly 100 degree temperatures, we all had fun.

On the way home, we stopped at a lake to cool off for a quick swim (along with a couple hundred other people). Then we headed down to our old stomping grounds in St. Louis Park for fireworks with friends and friends of friends. We still love watching them there--you get to sit up close and personal, and they're really good fireworks for a smaller suburb.

Yes, that would be our child in a Canada
shirt on Independence Day

Yesterday Anders had friends from school over to celebrate his birthday. We (as usual) went simple and set up a pool, slip-and-slide, and a sprinkler in the yard for the kids to cool off with on yet another hot day (all week was upper 90s with at least one day in the 100s). My wife made a superb ice cream cake (we made the kids eat fruit first). Water balloons may have also been involved.

Today was Anders' actual birthday. After breakfast in bed (a tradition) we headed down to the Mall of America (I tried to persuade him to do something outside--the zoo or anything besides the Mall, but he wanted to go to the Lego store and we had four tickets for rides at Nickelodeon Universe). After a new Lego set and getting to ride a few things, we headed across the street to Ikea where a birthday lunch of Swedish meatballs had been requested. 

Picture by Anders

Pizza was requested for supper, so we sacrificed and cranked up the oven to make a couple homemade pizzas (Anders' half was ham and pineapple--his favorite), but ate outside which was slightly cooler than the kitchen by that point. We ended the evening with some archery (Beth had made him a quiver for his arrows for his birthday) and a dip in the lake (both boys have gotten good at swimming despite having only gone a few times this year).

Tomorrow we're off to celebrate another birthday party--this time for one of Nils' classmates.

The 8-year old

There is much to celebrate...(including the cooler weather that rolled in last night)

Asthma, Genetics & Sin

My son got an asthma inhaler today. It wasn't a big surprise--my wife has used them since she was little, so we were just waiting for one of the boys to need one. Anders has been coughing a lot at night and in the morning when he's in bed. He started doing it more during the day. So we got him into see his doctor today.

It's not confirmed, but that's the suspicion. He's supposed to use the inhaler for a month and see how things are. I didn't get to go to the doctor, so I wasn't in on everything. It's a bit scary, even though we were expecting it. And my wife has had it, so it's nothing new to her. But it's still not what you want for your kid.

When I think of asthma, I think of the book The Lord of the Flies and the line, "Sucks to your ass-mar, Piggy." For it does suck. While it's not as hard to deal with like Anders' best friend who has diabetes, it's still not fun to have. And it sucks that those bad genetic traits get passed on to our kids who have no choice in the matter.

Of course, there are worse things we pass on to our kids. I know my kids have gotten plenty of my sinful tendencies. I'm trying to work on some of my bad habits still, and all the more as I see my children doing them. I'm all the more conscious of my sins when I see my children falling into the same patterns. I don't want them to go down some of the same roads I have gone down. I want them to be better than I am.

Thankfully, there's a cure. Thankfully, God loves us, the Son died for us and the Spirit transforms us each day.

Tough Questions

We had our small group (Chapter House) at our house tonight. We meet two Tuesdays each month. Because there were five Tuesdays in March, it's been three weeks since we met. The boys have been asking for weeks when the next Chapter House will be. We all like the time together (we evaluated it tonight and all came up with that same sentiment).

After eating, the kids went upstairs and watched a movie while the adults talked and shared. Tonight it was The Prince of Egypt. Near the end of our sharing time one of the kids came down to let me know Anders needed me. She said he was scared (he gets quite sensitive during movies).

I went up; he wasn't scared. He was sad that all the babies had to die during the tenth plague on Egypt. At the end of the movie he asked why God had to kill all those people. I didn't know. And I told him so. I mentioned how He gave Pharaoh many chances to listen to Him, but Pharaoh didn't. Anders said that killing everyone wasn't right. I agreed. I don't know why all the firstborn children had to die.

I don't know why God liked Abel's sacrifice better than Cain's.

I don't know why God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It seems like a pretty heartless test of faith.

I don't know why Lot's wife got turned into a pillar of salt for looking over her shoulder.

I don't know why all the Canaanites had to be wiped out instead of relocated when the Israelites moved in.

I don't know why all the innocent children had to die because of Herod's fear when Jesus was born.

I don't know why Jesus bothered to invite Judas to follow Him.

There are plenty of things I don't know about the Bible. I can come up with my own guesses, but the Bible doesn't answer everything clearly.

There are also things that I don't like in the Bible.

I don't like that James 5:16 says, "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (NIV). I feel that if my prayers (the context of the rest of the verse deals with healing sick people) don't do anything, then I'm not a righteous man (which may be the case, but still...).

I don't like that Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (NIV). There are far too many times when it is me who is living--not Christ--so what does that mean for my faith?

I don't like that 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (NIV). I've got plenty of old me still around. I don't often feel like a new creation. So I question whether or not I'm in Christ.

I don't know how to talk about the Bible's stance on the sinfulness of homosexuality with friends who feel that they were born gay. I don't know how to answer their question of why God would make them that way if it is a sin.

I could go on and on about things in the Bible I don't understand or that I don't like. And that's not a bad thing. We should have unanswered questions. There should be things that make us feel uncomfortable. If we read blindly without questioning anything, then we're not really interacting with a living and active text like the Bible claims it to be.

And still, for all the hard stuff in there, there's a lot of stuff I love. Especially the good news parts. The parts where God says He loves me, forgives me (even if I don't fully understand why at times).

And I think God can live with my questions and with me not liking everything that's in there. Hopefully Anders will be able to live with my not knowing how to answer all those questions that arise as well. Maybe he'll be the one to come up with some good answers.

Anders' Assessment of the First Day of School

For more about Anders in 1st Grade at the Montessori School, click here.

A Six-Year Old and Legos

Today was Anders' 6th birthday. We had his party in the morning (Beth had to work in the afternoon. We met back near our old neighborhood in St. Louis Park at Oak Hills Park. It has a wonderful splash pad. So we started there (thankfully it was already in the 80s by 10am and the rain held off until late afternoon). Some of Anders' best friends were away and couldn't be there, but he still had a good group of kids come from school and our churches.

We started at the splash pad, then the kids wanted to move on to the playground area. We ate (just PB&J, popcorn and juice), had the cake and opened presents.

Anders wanted a Lego theme (because his best friend Noah had one a few months ago, and also because he wanted Legos for presents, I think--at least that worked out well for Noah). Beth made a great Lego cake (well, I made the cake, but she did a terrific job of turning into blocks).

One of his friends creatively wrapped their present in a giant Lego brick (a box with construction paper). Very cool.

He did get a lot of great Lego sets--as well as many other great presents he's excited about (a game, a Star Wars figure from Nils, an Iron Man figure, a roll of paper to draw on from MorMor...). He's already gotten two sets built.

And now he's down to bed for the night--worn out from the day and probably dreaming about Legos. (Oops, I was wrong. He just popped his head downstairs.) We're grateful for the great friends he's made in the two years we've lived here. And we're more grateful for the kid he's turning out to be (not that he doesn't have plenty of areas of growth we're working on, but overall he's on the right track) .

When he woke up this morning and came into our room, we grabbed his baby book and had fun looking at it. God is good.

Man Cannot Live by Pancake Alone

Yesterday at breakfast Anders was having blueberry pancakes and blueberry-pomegranate juice. He kept tearing off a chunk of pancake and dipping it his juice. As he was doing so, he kept saying, "This is my body broken for you."

Some kids play with their food, others have communion.

School's Out for the Summer

Today was Anders' last day of school. His class went on a field trip to ride the street car between Lakes Harriet and Calhoun. Nils and I got to go along. They enjoyed riding the rails (though after the first time up and back on the track, Anders was ready for something else).

We're grateful that Anders has had a great first year. He had a great teacher (thanks, Miss Lehman) and made a lot of good friends (which are going to be hard to leave when we move--thankfully we're still really close). And we're grateful Anders has had a good experience so that Nils is interested in school and education.