This is I. She likes to go for walks with her brother T. She also loves to play drums (and does a great job imitating rhythms). She has a sister in first grade and a big sister in Africa. She always wears butterfly earrings, but they never match.

I get to hang out with her on Tuesday afternoons. She brings other little girls from her class with her. We are all trying to get to know each other.

She also has/had leukemia. She still goes in for chemotherapy on Mondays. She is really tired and weak on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you think about it, say a prayer for her.

love.

Life is Good

Hello All!

Micah here. It has been almost 2 months since Carter and I were married. It is hard for me to convey how fast it seems like that time has gone. It seems like only yesterday I was watching her walk down the aisle while tears of joy streamed down my face. I'm happy to report that God is continuing to bless our lives and fill us with joy.

Today has been an amazing day. We woke up early to go to church at 9. Worship was great today, the sermon was great, and we got to see our friends the Greiwe's off (they are heading back to Turkey this week). We came back to the house and I worked in the kitchen while Carter took a quick nap. What was I doing you ask?

Making homemade Meatloaf. And Corn on the cob. It was delicious. God in his infinite wisdom decided to put two amazing cooks under the same roof. Last night Carter made home made peach cobbler from scratch. Amazing.

We've been trying to buy all of our produce and food from locally grown sources. The meat came from a farm just outside of Indy. The corn was from a farm in Indiana. The peaches were from Michigan (it was either that or South Carolina). It is amazing how wholesome the food is. I feel refreshed after we get done with a meal, instead of falling into a coma like I do with fast food.

After dinner I mentioned to Carter that we should both cook one Sunday and have a few of our friends over for dinner. If you are interested drop us a line.

So that was the first half of my day. Now for the second half.

I've been blessed professionally in the last few weeks as well. Photography is my passion and tonight I will be on the field as a photographer during the first Colts pre-season game of the year. It also happens to be the first Colts game to be played in Lucas Oil Stadium

Note the emphasis on the word Colts. The first ever game played at LOS was Noblesville vs. Fishers on Friday night. I had an all access pass for that game as well and got quite a few good shots. The game was put together by the Peyback Foundation as a way to raise money for underprivileged youth. It was a very interesting/strange/exciting feeling to be standing 3 feet from Peyton as he casually strolled around the new field. It was an amazing experience and hopefully excellent practice for tonight's game.

Pictures below are from Friday's game. Stay tuned for shots from tonight.

go in peace
micah

Reconciliation

I was looking through some friend's blogs when I ran across a link for this music video. I'm always on the lookout for "famous" musicians doing good things with their music to share with my students. We have positive music sharing time throughout the first nine weeks.

There was an organization in this video that caught my eye called Homeboy Industries (http://www.homeboy-industries.org/). In the video it was a white man surrounded by a very diverse group of men cheering and flashing various (peaceful) hand gestures.

After researching the organization I learned that a priest, Father Greg, started it to bring reconciliation to rivaling gang members, to educate them and find jobs for them. They even have an attorney on staff who fights for these men!

Father Greg is bringing humanity and compassion to a group of people who know and have experienced very little of it themselves.

It reminded me of being in Uganda in the Music for Life Primary School with former African Childrens Choir members from Uganda and Rwanda. There were children from both the Hutu and Tutsi tribes.

I heard the principal say that it is possible that some of the Hutu children's parents murdered some of the Tutsi children's parents. He mentioned that God was bringing reconciliation between the two tribes in his school. That in Rwanda when Tutsi survivors are united with Hutu rebels who tortured their families and given the opportunity (by the government) to retaliate, the Tutsi people are choosing forgiveness over revenge.

It brings new understanding for me in regards to having peace in my heart.

peace.

Yael Naim - Far Far

I was introduced to Yael Naim by a good friend on a bike ride...you may have heard her song "New Soul" on 92.3 in Indy. I also hear it is on some apple product video, but we don't have a TV hooked up right now-and haven't for quite some time-so I'm not up to date on those types of things.

Anyway, her self-titled album is a beautifully orchestrated of acoustic instruments mixed with her sweet voice. The songs in Israeli are interesting and hold your attention while the songs in English are melodically interesting, well written, and cleanly recorded.

Micah and I have listened to the album a few times in the past 2 days and both highly recommend it! (Which is something coming from a couple music snobs like us...)

peace.

Kinderchildren

I get to teach today! I had 4 classes this morning and will have 2 classes this afternoon. On a "normal" Friday I will also have a lunch duty and a 45 minute "special" class. I think it will be a kindergarten instrument class in the fall and folk dancing in the spring. :)

I had the most delightful children today. I just LOVE teaching the kindergarten children. They are so alive and joyful. We sang songs and did the chicken dance. I hear it was a hit, though one girl (who kept interrupting me) told her teacher, "I think I've had about enough of music class for the year." :) AND there was a boy who cried for his brother the whole class.

So, there you go. I had 2 kindergarten classes this morning and two unhappy campers. I'll take that as a successful day.

peace.

back to school, back to school...

My teaching schedule is still a mystery to me on the 2nd day of teaching.  This is not unusual, it is just hard since one of the many reasons I became a teacher is because I love children.  And not having my own classes in which to see them makes this difficult.

So today I decided to help in a kindergarten classroom that is without an assistant.  It was awesome!  I loved getting to spend time with the kids, getting to know them, hear their funny stories (they were on a Grandpas with beards kick this morning), and see their faces light up when they discover something new.

I met a boy who has two siblings in our building that are behavior issues with academic struggles.  He was bright and vibrant and fun.  He was polite and loved to learn.  And he has the most beautiful almost black because they are such a deep brown color of eyes. 

I met a little boy with aspbergers who would respond to me if I talked to him.  He has glasses and wears a very serious look on his face.  He is smart and organized.

And I met a little girl who reminded me what it means to love like Jesus.  She is bald from the chemotherapy treatments she receives for leukemia.  She is shy to the point where her parents call her a "selective mute."  And while I didn't pressure her to talk, I persisted on loving her to a point where she could be comfortable asking for her needs.  About 2 hours into the morning she came to me and started telling me about how the doctors put her to sleep so that "it won't hurt."

It just was a wonderful moment to have a little girl going through such devastating circumstances share those with me.  So I can be a part of her journey and love her through it.  Like Jesus who is loving us through this journey.  He will not forsake or leave us.

I love my job for lots of reasons, but mostly I love getting love kids like Jesus loves us.

peace.

Weight Watchers

Well, it is the first day of school with students and I'm STARVING so I'm about to head to lunch. It has been a whirlwind of activity the last few weeks with getting back into the groove of school and seeing friends. Even though I see Micah in the evenings, I miss him. During the summer I would have lunch with him a few times a week and we could e mail throughout the day. But times, they are a'changin'.

But back to a hungry tummy...I blame it all on Micah. You see, I don't struggle with my appearance in the mirror. Most people see themselves a lot larger than they really are-but I see myself much skinnier than I really am. And as long as my clothes fit, I'm a happy camper. UNLESS I step on to the scale, then I get all frustrated by the numbers flashing at my toes.

So, I have done weight watchers several times and have only been really successful the first time (I lost 30 pounds and kept 20 of it off!). I have tried 2 or 3 times since, but haven't really been successful or completely dedicated to the cause.

Right now, I am on weight watchers. I was on it before the wedding and then just dropped it for a few weeks afterwards for the honeymoon festivities. I decided to start back up 2 weeks ago and found it incredibly difficult to be married and be on weight watchers. When Micah wants a big bowl of ice cream and I get a half cup of the low fat kind, it is a little depressing.

Sunday evening I begged Micah to give me permission to go off weight watchers before going to hang with the girls.  He loves the way I look, but knows how down I get on myself about the scale.  I was so upset that he wouldn't support my decision to leave the weight watchers lifestyle and left the house frustrated.

When I got back to the house, Micah was entering points into the computer as he explained to me that he joined weight watchers as well.  It was simultaneously the nicest and most horrible thing anyone had ever done for me!

So now we are on our 4th day of weight watchers and all is well-even though Micah needs to eat ice cream every night to fill up his points value for the day.  I get 24 points a day and he gets 35.  The last two nights he has had 24 points left at dinner time.  That is the equivalent of 3 servings of ice cream with all the syrups and whip cream your little heart can fathom...I enjoy watching him eat his sundae while I drink my diet soda.  

Today I have used 3 points so far and am going to go fill up on 5 more now!

peace.

As We Forgive...

I heard about this on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR today...anyone want to organize a screening with me?

www.asweforgivemovie.com

I tried to download the trailer, but an error kept appearing...sorry.

peace.

This week...

This past week was a big one for Micah and me...Micah likes to refer to our stumbles as trifectas because they always seem to come in sets of 3. Like the time I got upset with him for playing garage band instead of calling me or the time I talked to my roommate for a good 5 minutes while he was on the phone and then quoted scripture to him when he was sharing a struggle with me...all understandable stumbles that were magnified by their trifectaness.

It's really a classic story...an extreme extrovert (me) marries a moderate introvert, where is the happy ground in this? How do we balance my desire to see everyone multiple times a week with Micah's need to have quiet time at the house to reenergize?

I don't really know the answer, but we are working our way through it. I have a feeling it is going to be a lot of touch and go and week to week assessment, but I can let everyone know that we worked through it unscathed...yes, some tears were shed, but once we really heard and understood each other's needs...well, we have both had moments that certainly surpassed our initial, "how can I possibly love you more than I do right now?" moments.

The shifting and shaping and growing of love is pretty grande. (British spellings always seem to add gravity to a sentence...)

So, almost a month into it, I can share with everyone that our love has grown immensely and we become more and more excited to live into the life God has planned for us...now if we only had the blueprint...

peace.

our children

I have had several conversations recently about what it means to be a mother and who our children really are...Micah and I are blessed to be a part of a community that desires to give the lonely and abandoned a family, a community that seeks to love the "least of these."

We have seen multiple families adopt from places as close as Reilly Hospital or as far as Ethiopia and India.  We see their families love them as children of God, as if they have given birth to these children themselves.  I even just got done reading our friends' (and marital counselors) blog about their three year pregnancy waiting for baby Grace to come home from China.

And yesterday, I read this:

But being born Israelite in the flesh, Jesus insists, in not of concern.  God's people do not grow by having sex and making babies.  They grow by the Spirit of God weaving into and renewing identities and hearts, making them beat with love.  As with Abraham and Sarah's children, it is the child who is born of miraculous means and God's initiative who carries the blessing.

In addition to these words from Shane Claiborne, comes this footnote:

The people of God are created through a multiethnic gathering, as opposed to mono-ethnic progeny, is evident throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and is not just a New Testament theme.  The exodus was more than just the Hebrews but was enjoined by "a mixed crowd."

Reading these thoughts yesterday gave new breath for me what it means to have a family.  I am not being so bold as to say that everyone should adopt, but I believe that God has created me to do so since the first time my ability to have children was questioned at age 15.  

My interpretation of someone else's interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures seems to point to the notion that God created us to be a wide collection of people since the beginning, since He scrambled us at Babel.  He desires for our dinner tables to be filled with a rainbow of people and for us to love each as He loves them.

Children without parents are born of miraculous means.  A child born in Africa without proper health care, is born of miraculous means.  Children who survive the birthing process and are sent to orphanages are born of miraculous means.  And those who get to be their parents receive miraculous gifts.

peace.