What shall the new addition to the family compound be named? Anyone? Anyone?
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
What's in a Name? A Rose by Any Other Name...
What shall the new addition to the family compound be named? Anyone? Anyone?
Saturday, September 1, 2012
...at the Grocery Store- Jim's Food Center
I am reminded why I feel so blessed to live in a small town where there is one grocery store. Today, as I am in the check-out line, the mother of one of my son's friends is checking out in the other. Our carts are filled with treats for each other's son...
On the Scouting Path...
On the Scouting Path…
Our family had
always been involved in Scouting as we were moved to different places around
the country, but I knew the older our sons became, the harder it would be to
keep them involved. There were other
priorities, distractions from so much that we loved about Scouting. As parents in the modern world, we believe in
the ideals of Scouting: duty to God,
self and others. Our sons are not
perfect, but we wanted to affirm the positive as we sought to help them
eliminate the negative from all of the societal and peer pressures around
them. We believe that Scouting helped us
to actively support our sons in building good character that promotes active
and confident leadership in their Faith lives, respectful citizenship to help
make our society and world a better place by doing a good turn daily and
understanding and appreciating God’s beauty in nature. The merit badges that they earned were
examples of the skills and knowledge we felt they needed to know and be able to
do before they left us to go out into the world. As parents, we couldn’t do that on our own.
Scouting gave us
more than we can ever repay, and that is why I try to stay involved even now
after both our sons have achieved Eagle Scout and have moved away to
college. As a family who moved to a new
community in 2006- 1,500 miles away from
friends and family, we didn’t know anyone or anything except that we wanted our
boys to be involved in Scouting. God
blessed us with an active Troop 208, and it gave us an identity, a sense of
purpose and a strong network of support.
Colin and Ian now have a dozen sets of parents watching out for them
instead of just one set. These amazing
people are like family to us and to our sons even now as they are away at
college. In their college experiences
and in their lives, Scouting has given them the credentials and skills for
success. Both of our sons were accepted
into elite programs at an excellent University and their part-time jobs
flourish, I believe, because of their Scouting habits. They see themselves as citizens of the world
and seek to travel and serve others as they learn and earn their degrees. More importantly, we pray that their Scouting
experiences will empower them to continue to be successful, independent men,
who will someday be proactive fathers and leaders. As we try to be blessings to others around
us, we too have truly been blessed by Scouting in our lives.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
In Room 115
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| How to Build Community |
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| The Human Pass
When my former high school classmate Holly posted this collage about Community,
I thought of Adam. I took this picture
of my colleague Adam when he bopped into Room 115 on Friday and said that he
was a human pass (for one of the students who came late). It just hit me! A human pass… wouldn’t that be nice if we
could be that for one other.
As a teacher in a high school, it would be easy to go into my classroom and close the door... close the door on the outside world and community as a whole. Even then I could create a classroom community with my students or I could live in my own little kingdom. The higher calling, I think, is to create a classroom community that transcends any walls or barriers of space or time. Where I am weak, Adam is strong. The ancient African proverb is true... it really does take a village to raise a child. |
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
St. Johnsbury, Vermont and Randolph, Nebraska
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| Sign for St. Johnsbury's Farmer's Market |
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| So many people eating the right things! |
Sometimes, I feel like there are these forces that are converging on me. Let me explain.
Force #1: My Swedish Family: When my healthy and vibrant Swedish family came this summer, I listened to many discussions and debates about how to eat right as we shared so many meals together over the three weeks that there were here in the United States. We all want to be healthy and live well, but we have a better chance of doing that if we are fueling our engines in the right way. My cousin Katherina was concerned about how much sugar and bread we consumed as a part of our everyday diet. I vowed to eat better and get back into my exercise regimen.
Force #2: My Summer Eating habits on the road: Well, 18 pounds later into the summer, Derrick and Colin had arrived from Nebraska. As we were making our way into the latest Batman movie, we took an interesting aside into the back parking lot of the Star Theater in downtown St. Johnsbury. The old Grandpa's Cigar parking lot was now host (okay maybe it's been there for years and I just didn't know) to a Farmer's Market with tents as far as the eye could see. I was mesmerized... Check out of the youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcIZzoYnj9I&feature=em-share_video_user) about this little piece of heaven. Here there were farm fresh veggies and crafts, and it gave me hope. Not only did I know that I had to start eating better, I had in front of me the proof that I could access this healthier food, if I really wanted to make a difference in my eating habits.
Force #3: Meanwhile back in Randolph even in horrific drought conditions, our friends the Pfanstiels were kicking off the pilot year of their foray into starting a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Pfanny's Farm- Abundant Life CSA. You can read more about it at http://www.localharvest.org/pfannys-farmabundant-life-csa-M39163. Community Members can buy shares in their farm and get a heaping bin of farm fresh goodies throughout the summer. I didn't buy a share because with Colin and Ian in Omaha for most of the time now, Derrick holding down the fort in Randolph and me off in Vermont, we couldn't use a whole bin either. As soon as we returned from Vermont, there was Julie offering a sample of their farm goods online, and I jumped at the opportunity. When I started delving deeply into this bucket, I found vegetables that I hadn't even heard about since my grandmother was alive. Swiss chard really? Beets... why didn't I like those again? Those fresh vegetables brought back memories of food my Grammie Catherine used to make... priceless. The hours we spent talking in her kitchen as she canned are the foundation of any wisdom I ever had...
Force #4 Friends: My College pals eat right and they know why they do it. As I am serving up the hamburgers and hot dogs at the cabin this summer, they were sneaking off to the barbeque to grill up some ... eggplant. Excuse me? As a matter of fact, once I came into the kitchen and found my girlfriend's son, Nathan staring at all of the donuts, muffins, and cookies. When I asked him if he wanted something, he confess that he wanted to try it all because they get to eat stuff that's "bad for you" at his house. OUCH! Hey, I am glad I could give him a little life experience in the kitchen of a sugar junky who is about to go through rehabilitation!
... And last night Pfanny's Farm- Abundant Life- CSA offered a workshop about preserving food. What a gift! Not only now, can we eat better, but we can eat better year round. And have fun while learning...
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| Anthony Shearer stirring up some trouble in the back! |
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| We have a winner! Tyler Harder shows off Stephanie's potatoes. |
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| Julie Pfanstiel teaches as she inspires! |
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Cleveland, Ohio
As we rolled back to Nebraska
cross country this August, a bit of a family feud erupted around which side trip or excursion
we would take. We've done The Field of Dreams (http://www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/) and baseball games galore, but my plea, as always, was
for Niagara Falls (http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com). Unfortunately, since
I was the only one who brought my passport, I would be the only one allowed to
walk the Nik Wallenda tightrope across to the Canadian side of the falls. Immediately this was perceived as a problem!
Now, because Ian was in Omaha, and Derrick and Colin were in the car, their
votes to stop at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio overpowered
my single, yet passionate vote for Niagara Falls. Truth be told, Ian would have voted with them
anyway. Okay, so it was with the
dejected pout of a pregnant possum that I drove us in the "The Forest
City", "Metropolis of the Western Reserve", "Sixth
City", "The Rock 'n' Roll Capital of the World", or
"C-Town." You know, Cleveland,
Ohio (http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home).
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| Cleveland, OH |
Lola, the GPS, led the way. As we approached the side Boulevard for
parking near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (rockhall.com), we saw it was
beautiful. On the shores of Lake Erie,
the city was absolutely radiant. I knew
that there was something synchronistic about this visit. Not only was it Wednesday night at 6 PM, and
the Museum usually closed at 5:30 PM all summer long on every night BUT
Wednesday night, as I made my way around the corner to the front of the
triangular building, I was sure that I heard these lofty lyrics floating across
the hot humid air. “Get tired of travelin
and you want to settle down./I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin,Get
out of the door and light out and look all around./Sometimes the lights all
shinin’ on me; Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been./ Truckin, Im a goin home. whoa whoa baby, back where I belong, Back home...
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| Special Exhibition at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
Speaking of the call of the mythical Sirens, here we were truckin’ on
our way home from Vermont to Nebraska and immediately, I was transported back to
the Summer of 1989 at Foxboro Stadium.
My BFF Kathy had convinced me that we had to attend this Grateful Dead
show. The sociological implications
alone would be worth the price of admission and implications there were. I was stunned to see how these people, some
of them even couples with children, lived following the Dead from show to show.
It was an opportunity I will never forget and am so grateful (sorry about this one, really I am) that I had
a chance to experience it. So while Derrick
and Colin were captivated by the Beatles, (Jackson) Browne and Bruce displays, I
was captured by the Dead. Stay with me
here…
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| Summer of 1989 |
A highway is really an apt metaphor for the passage of time (Isn't it ironic that we are even leaning on our cars in these pictures) and the
different seasons of life. As we
connected with friends over the course of the summer, I was reminded of how
they continue to influence my life... in my eating (for example… high fructose
corn syrup = bad, eggplant = good), in my thinking and in my dreaming. As with my extraordinary sisters, I am
surrounded with this incredible group of inspirational women who have been
through so much in their lives, tragedy even touched our close-knit group again
this summer, but they remain principle-centered and faith-filled role models
for me. They fill me up and are signs
for me of God’s love in the world.
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| Summer of 2012 |
With that being said, Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” lyrics jog through my head because the song uses similar road of life imagery. “Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels/I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels/ I look around for the friends that I used to turn to pull me through/ Looking into their eyes I see them running too/ Running on-running on empty/ Running on-running blind/Running on-running into the sun /But I'm running behind …”
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| Running on Inspiration... |
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