Avery is 6 months old today. She let mommy celebrate by giving her a fabulous day!
She got to wear her new dress from Roxie, she went to the nursery for the first time and slept the whole time, she devoured her Avocado and tried sweet potato (not a huge fan yet, at least compared to avocado), she took a really nice long afternoon nap with no crying despite teething issues lately, she posed for a photo shoot, and she fell asleep on time, again with no crying! She just definitely is the most perfect baby in the world:)
Avery likes to flap her arms around when she's excited. She can mostly sit up by herself now, and everything goes into her mouth (pretty sure part of teething, with variable fussiness). She sleeps around 11-12 hours a night with one feeding before mom goes to bed, and she luuuuves when dad gets home from work! She's slowly trying new solid foods, always has to hold the spoon, and really likes her sippy cup of water. She also loves touching all the pages when we read books.
Tim and Jesse Marble started a book club. I'm happy (slightly embarrassed?) to say this is the first book club in which I've successfully finished a book. Probably because it was less than 200 pages.
Great Gatsby! For our discussion evening, everyone was charged with bringing an artistic rendition describing some impact the book had on him/her.
For example, Jesse made an amazing slideshow featuring some of his favorite Fitzgerald quotes. Check it out:
Tim wrote about the Eyes of Dr. Eckleberg and the theme, Does God see?:
A gray man behind a sooty window
Turns his eyes out to ashheaps and the pale, enormous eyes of
Doctor T.J. Eckleburg
“I spoke to her,” he mutters after a long silence.
“I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God.”
His ashen face close to the windowpane
repeats “God sees everything”. (Fitzgerald)
God sees everything. Does he? We are both simultaneously soothed and discouraged by this thought. We want to believe that He is watching even if just “from a distance”. The notion of a constant Presence in our lives alleviates our nervous fear of loneliness and assures us that at some level that we matter. This is comforting, except of course when we’re acting in a way that we're embarrassed by. This could be the willful sin, or even an impulsive lie. Then in our subconscious there is the dreaded looking over our shoulder, hoping no one saw that. We are angered when friends face endless or unjust difficulty. Inwardly we shake our fist and challenge the open sky saying, “Don’t you see this?” But already we are at the main point and that is this - we know that God's “seeing” must be more than just that, it necessitates action. The notion of a god who watches is comforting sentimentality. However, unless his awareness is connected to decisive divine action we find God to be as dimmed and irrelevant as Fitzgerald’s Doctor Eckleburg.
I kind of established a smorgasbord of party mood/character reenactment with candlelight, fancy dress, fine drinks and dessert.
Red velvet (beet juice for coloring!)
We partook of (hard-boiled) East and West Eggs.
kind of a symbol of life's reality in East and West Egg?
Finally, I shared one of my favorite images from the book:
"The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted [Gatsby/Gatz] in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious embrace. For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing." (Ch. 6)
What a 'promise.'
What an evening. Join us in April for Jane Eyre (if you dare)....
We finished the week with a visit from our Boston friends, Pete and Miriam. Even though we only had 24 hours with them, we dined richly with good sunshine, food and fellowship, reflecting often on the truth, genuineness, and reconciliation that great feasts bring. In fact, at times the table has served as more of a platform for healing and sharing the gospel than the church has. Keep feasting with one another!
We've had a great couple of weeks around here! After my girls' week in Tacoma with Roxie, Meag spent her Spring Break out here with us. We enjoyed great conversation, yummy meals, homemade breads and granola in many forms, shopping in Boulder, live bluegrass, and some hikes to see Red Rocks. Here are some shots from the hikes:
Today was superb. I had my family all to myself: me, Tim and Avery. Trapped by two colds, one in the blizzard outside and the other in Tim's nose, we were left to our playtimes, cookings and sleepings throughout the day.
mmmm, kale!
Our Boston guests were delayed in their arrival today, so we'll enjoy them tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a sweet taste in my mouth - of good food and friendship, of Tim's awesome dadness, of Avery's cuteness and excitement over her first "solid" meal today, of last week's time with Meag, of an encouraging sermon online about the realities of life's depressions and God's nearness. Life is a gift.
A few weeks ago, we made our first visit to Estes Park. Even better, we made it with the Broweleits! We rented a couple cozy cabins, got snowed on a bit, and (briefly) hiked around Rocky Mountain National Park.
Gruntner loved it and did wonderfully, as always.
Snuggle time Me with Annabelle and Lizzy along the trail.
At times driving along, it felt as though we were almost reaching into heaven.
Our good friend, Alecia, in Boston asked us to compose a song about John Henry. John Henry is one of her favorite tall tales. The hammer-swingin', steel-drivin' man swung in a battle against the newest technology of the time - a steam driven engine. It was man versus machine. Who could tunnel faster through a mountainside? As the legend goes, John swung that hammer so hard he died. Abby and I wondered as we wrote, would John Henry be saddened at the sight of the 21st century? Would he cringe at all of our technology and ease? We have achieved great efficiencies and wonderful entertainments, but have we lost some simpler, and perhaps hidden, joys?
I was complaining to my family the other day about how many times Avery had woken up the night before and how long it took to shush her back to sleep. Woe is me, my sleep was disrupted! How tired I was! In the name of love...
I continued to remark that no one really knows about these seemingly endless nighttime sacrifices, unless I tell them, since they were all sleeping soundly. Think of all the moms out there and the sacrifices they make, night after night. Mothers, unite! We need one GIANT NAP!
Sure, there's some sacrifice there. Tim agreeingly quoted Dostoevsky, who wrote that it is much easier to willingly sacrifice oneself to some noble purpose where one will be remembered, but the hidden sacrifices, like day to day loving and serving of your family, are the hardest.
OK. Outside myself for just one moment, I am reminded of the most humble sacrifice I can think of: Jesus. His death was nothing noble, valiant, sensible, or respected at the time. His life was a service to humanity, but who took notice? And although He had each of us in mind as He was giving Himself to die, we really don't fully, truly understand His love or our benefit from such a sacrifice.
Hello, conviction! Thank you Lord for your example. I've got a long way to go!
"The woman said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep' " (John 4:11).
I recently read this devotion by Oswald Chambers and it resonated with me. So often we have misgivings about Jesus, although we won't always acknowledge it:
Have you ever said to yourself, "I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God's Word, but He can't really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!" When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality - that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another.
These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, "Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?" Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, "It's easy to say, 'Trust the Lord,' but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water - no means to be able to give us these things."
And beware of exhibiting religious deceit by saying, "Oh, I have no misgivings about Jesus, only misgivings about myself." If we are honest, we will admit that we never have misgivings or doubts about ourselves, because we know exactly what we are capable and incapable of doing. But we do have misgivings about Jesus. And our pride is hurt even at the thought that He can do what we can't.
My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly - "Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in your abilities, but only in my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it."
The months keep flying by! Muncher is growing strong. She is pretty much "sleeping through the night" from about 7 to 7 (or 6), with a feeding around 10pm. She can also fall asleep on her own anywhere, which she wonderfully demonstrated on our recent 6 day trip to Tacoma. She's the best baby EVER!
