Sword Saints

Wednesday haiku

Trying out Tumblr
for their cleaner iPhone app
and their free price tag.

Wednesday haiku

In dark morning hours
her sleepy eyelids flutter,
her hand finds my beard.

Fear not

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
    "Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" (Luke 2:8-14 ESV)

I always tend to brush right past the "Fear not" (or "Do not be afraid" depending on the translation) in the account of the nativity. But as we've been reading through the Christmas story with the kids during Advent, I've noticed that the lad has really latched onto the angel's "Do not be afraid."

"What does the angel say?" I ask every night when we read.
"Do not be afraid!" he replies with a smile.

That is a good word. Do not be afraid! We will see no good news of great joy if we are still afraid and trembling. There will be no peace if we stay in the fields and ignore the word of this outrageous sign of a swaddled baby sleeping in a feeding trough. But fear not: There is good news of great joy. There is peace. I'm going to Bethlehem to see this thing for myself. Will you come with me?

In need of convergence

I've fallen into digital overload. I've got Flickr and Picasa pages for pictures, YouTube and Vimeo pages for videos, Facebook as kind of aggregator for everything, a Twitter account, and this (tumbleweeds and crickets) TypePad site. Then I decided to add a Posterous site for ease of crossposting things like pics and videos of the kids to the various other sites. And finally I went ahead and added a (currently unused) TypePad Micro site to the mix.

I like Posterous for the one-post-goes-everywhere thing. But it's become just one more site to manage. I kind of like the idea of TypePad Micro (post-by-email, Twitter and Facebook integration) as a way of coming back to TypePad. I can post videos there, but it leaves YouTube and Vimeo out in the cold. (EDIT: I can post videos, but it doesn't automatically embed them. Advantage, Posterous.)

So, a question for all you friends and family who want to watch the kids grow up: what is going to work best for YOU? And a question for the digerati: any advice on how best to converge?

Wednesday haiku

Chasing thankfulness
amidst stress and little sleep
and house construction.

Down with the wall

German class, sophomore year of high school. We watched, mesmerized, as giddy Germans shouted and danced and took pickaxes and hammers to the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall. That probably would have been a couple days after the momentous event that happened twenty years ago today, when the Berlin Wall crumbled, at least figuratively, and the Iron Curtain began to disintegrate. But I do remember watching the celebration right there in the classroom.

Six years ago we vacationed in Germany but did not make it to Berlin or any other parts of what had been East Germany. The sense we got, though, was that the reunification process was ongoing, somewhat painful, and very, very expensive. It was, and probably still is, a mixed bag.

And here we are, twenty years later. The twentieth anniversary has come and almost gone, and I've yet to see even a mention from any of our own government officials. That's hardly surprising, given our slow but inexorable slide toward the same type of system that built the Berlin Wall.

An open letter to Chloe on the occasion of her baptism

Dear Chloe,

At your birth your mother and I gave you the name
that means "Blossoming Full of Grace".
"Full of Grace" is from your great-grandmother,
that as you peer into the past
you might glimpse grace upon grace.
"Blossoming" is all your own,
that as you face the future
you might imagine how grace will grow and flourish.

At your baptism your mother and I give you the name
of the Trinity:
the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit,
the name that causes the blossoming of grace in our lives.

The name of the Father who created us and loves us
and made you to blossom in our lives,
who keeps His covenant promises
and would adopt you as His own.

The name of the Son who as God became man,
and suffered and died and rose from the dead for us,
the name above all names, the "yes" to the promises of God,
He who would redeem you as a daughter of God.

The name of the Spirit who hovered over the face of the waters,
who comforts and helps us,
and opens our eyes
and greens our hearts that grace might grow,
and would give you new life in the Son.

May the name we gave you at birth,
Blossoming Full of Grace,
always remind you of the name we gave you at your baptism.
Chloe, may your life blossom full of grace in the name of the Trinity:
the Father,
the Son,
the Holy Spirit.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

Love and blessings,
Mommy and Papa
30 August 2009

Wednesday haiku

Reclaiming The Blade
turned my mind to my swords of
wood and the Spirit.

The best laid plans

Oh, yes, I had these grand visions that I would post something, even if only a little bit, every day this week. And I ended up with Monday-Friday bookends. So it goes.

I got to plink around with iPhone development a couple days this week, though. And I finished a book this week. And I ran two mornings this week (oddly enough, also Monday-Friday bookends). And I listened as the lad's vocabulary doubled over the course of the week, with words like beluga and coffee and yellow entering his repertoire daily. This is life. And life is good.

Twelve

In the past twelve years, I have aged twelve years. Physically, at least.

In the past twelve years, I have lived in Atlanta for a little more than eleven of them.

In the past twelve years, I have been out of school for ten of them.

In the past twelve years, I have visited nine different countries. Eight if you don't count the one in which I live. Seven if you also don't count the one in which the only stop was at an airport.

In the past twelve years, I have lived in six different homes.

In the past twelve years, I have worked for five different companies and was laid off twice.

In the past twelve years, I have owned four automobiles. Three of them were Mazdas.

In the past twelve years, I have welcomed two children into the world, one of them on this very day.

The past twelve years would have been incomprehensible, nay, even impossible, apart from my one incredible, beautiful, talented, and loving bride. Happy twelfth anniversary to my incomparable Margo!