Balance and Passion

My older daughter Mallory graduates in December with a BA in Mathematics...she just finished her "Abstract Algebra" course (Modern Algebra) with a 100 average. Yep, 100 average, when most in the class failed or scraped by, and while I didn't fail or scrape by back in the day, I did need a LOT of tutoring and hand-holding to get my brain to think about those things the first time around! I'm really not that smart. She's so much smarter than I was in math. The student has definitely outgrown the teacher.

And yet...when we were talking this week about what *exactly* gave her the edge in math in high school, when I screwed around with her textbooks year after year, and she never used the same curriculum two years in a row, and I don't think we ever finished any book, and she only used Cliff's Notes and about 3 chapters of Jacobs Geometry for Geometry (!), she said, "It was the consistency." ROFL!!!

I honestly believe that mathematics is more real to her because she just did it every day, along with reading and writing, in pretty much the same fashion she did reading and writing. I know I couldn't "dig in" to tough literature every day, and I certainly couldn't write a research paper every week. So, when her reading got heavy, her math got lighter. When the math topic needed "digging" the reading slacked off to lighter works. And when she was in the year of the novel at age 13, when she wrote ridiculously long passages just for the joy of writing...well, I don't think we did much math that year at all.

She's very balanced as a result. You know, as beautifully talented in art as math. Reads voraciously. Writes wonderfully.

But whatever she did...and whatever she does, she does with a passion for it. I have never seen her half-heartedly attempt anything. She lives with her whole heart. She gives with her whole heart. She loves with her whole heart.

Passionately balanced. I think it's a pretty great way to live.

Garden Gifts

Summer Gardening

Oh, how delightful it is to walk in the garden in the early morning! No wonder Genesis is full of God's pleasure in creation, and God's delight in walking in the garden.


I have spider friends guarding my veggies now, and have noticed a dramatic reduction in the pest population. If only I could issue banana spider invitations with the first planting...


Rattlesnake Pole bean guard...



Yellow Pear Tomato guard...

I am so proud of my tomatoes...I grew these plants from seeds!

Enjoy your summer!

Harry Potter in our World

We all attended the midnight premiere of the newest Harry Potter movie--Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We've done this every movie, since the very beginning...all four of us, in wizard robes, going out to dinner or to Wal-Mart to parade our little family of extroverts and then off to the movie.

Last night, Maggie's Trelawney costume was good enough for 2nd place in the local radio show competition, beaten out only by Mad Eye Moody. I find it hard to believe he "became" the character the way she did. Mallory's Ginny is a perennial favorite, and who could I be besides McGonagal?

A lovely time was had by all.

My birthday is fast approaching

I have arrived (nearly) at the end of the year where my age was the answer to the ultimate question in life. It was definitely an amazing year! I watched a child turn 16, a young woman (I don't think I can call her a child anymore) turn 20, my husband retire after serving his country for 22 years (and 8 days), and saw a 23rd wedding anniversary come and go. I began a new job with a great group of coworkers who humble me with their witnesses every day. I got to know a group of young people who are bright, curious, and funny, and began developing a relationship with them that I hope lasts for eternity.

So, to new adventures in the coming year...a graduation, a wedding, a new start for my firstborn. New staff in our school. New college courses for my younger daughter. And probably a flying RV-10 in the family! Here's to forty-three...

Summertime

Today was my first real day of summer. We took last week to "vacate" and it was lovely. We are leaving again Friday for another short camping trip, and then we will visit family, and family will visit us. Suddenly it is BASIC Blowout season, and then I'm back at work at least parttime in order to get started on the busyness of class planning.

But today, I meandered about with ideas, with good books, with quotes, and with some light housecleaning. And the never-ending organization that I enjoy--nothing like relocating a few piles to make you feel productive.

Oh, and I started two new blogs: Math Marathon and Creation Exploration. I'll use these for my math and science middle school classes next year to continue our "further up and further in" studies.

Summertime. The living is definitely easy.

Lenten Prayer for Spiritual Renewal

GOD, heavenly Father,
look upon me and hear my prayer
during this holy season of Lent.
By the good works You inspire,
help me to discipline my body
and to be renewed in spirit.

Without You I can do nothing
By Your Spirit help me to know what is right
and to be eager in doing Your will.
Teach me to find new life through penance.
Keep me from sin, and help me live
by Your commandment of love.
GOD of love, bring me back to You.
Send Your Spirit to make me strong
in faith and active in good works.
May my acts of penance bring me Your forgiveness,
open my heart to Your love,
and prepare me for the coming feast
of the Resurrection of Jesus.

LORD, during this Lenten season,
nourish me with Your word of life
and make me one
with You in love and prayer.

Fill my heart with Your love
and keep me faithful to the Gospel of Christ.
Give me the grace to rise above my human weakness.

Father, our source of life,
I reach out with joy to grasp Your hand;
let me walk more readily in Your ways.
Guide me in Your gentle mercy,
for left to myself I cannot do Your will.

Father of love, Source of all blessings,
help me to pass from my old life of sin
to the new life of grace.
Prepare me for the glory of Your kingdom.
I ask this through our LORD Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one GOD, forever.

Amen.

The Lenten Journey

Preparing for a season of repentence and meditation is daunting. I always feel inadequate to the task of LENT, the all-caps (in my mind!), Orthodox practice of fasting, prayer, penitent hearts and service. The season leading to Easter, the true Celebration of the Christian faith, is a time of year that I realize what a hopeless mess I am. How desperately I cling to the Cross of Christ, and what a disaster I make of things when I try to make my own way. You'd think Lent, taken with this large dose of castor oil as it seems to be, would be depressing and to be avoided, but I always receive such a blessing from the lessons Christ teaches me in the season.

A few years ago the girls and I walked a section of the Appalachian Trail. Thirty miles in five days, with three nights on the trail. I remember thinking, "Why, that's not so bad. We'll walk 8-9 miles the first day when we are rested and strong, and then it's just about six miles per day. Easy, peesy." And then we actually did it. And it was HARD. Harder than childbirth. Harder than anything, in fact, that I'd ever done in my life. Less than two miles in, I figured out that I'd overpacked my backpack. Shortly thereafter, I realized I was not wearing adequate footwear. And long before that first night, I was praying I'd just survive. As I stumbled out of the woods that final day, exhausted, pale, spent...I said that I'd NEVER do such a thing again. But I wouldn't trade anything for the experience, and I am actually planning to go again this year.

LENT isn't that hard physically, but when I approach it correctly, and navigate it fully, I can end feeling just as spent, and just as rewarded spiritually. The LORD shows me beautiful vistas, glimpses of His plan for my life, and humbles me, and fills me. I greet the Risen Savior at the Cross, and my Hallelujahs are more real, not the echos we hear in this shadowland.

And so, I begin my Lenten Journey 2009 with both some things I will give up, and some things I will add to my pack for the trip.

I plan to:

(1) Fast on Wednesdays throughout the season (from February 25-April 8).
(2) Add readings from the Daily Office Lectionary to my daily Bible reading.
(3) Add traditional prayers, practices and meditations to my daily routine.
(4) Abstain from all beverages other than water, to draw my mind away from things of this world to the characteristics of God's nature and His purpose for my life.
(5) Declutter my possessions, and focus on what is really important and valued in my life.

"The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of GOD, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of GOD. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." --John 1: 9-14

Last Sunday of Epiphany

"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your GOD commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your GOD, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the GOD of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD your GOD, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates." --Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (ESV)

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to GOD acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our GOD is a consuming fire." --Hebrews 12:28-29 (ESV)

"'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.' Then a voice came from heaven: 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.' The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to him.' JESUS answered, 'This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." --John 12: 24-32 (ESV)

O LORD, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. AMEN.

Community

I am in awe when I consider the community of peers I have stumbled upon in my new(ish) work situation. Not only is it humbling to realize what spiritual warriors they are, and comforting to know that they lift me and my needs before the Throne of Grace regularly, it is also challenging to recognize the strength of mind, character and diversity of interests they represent. They are called to this work with purpose, filled with joy abounding, and demonstrate love for me and for one another without ceasing.

We grumble, yes. We moan over the chaos, the paperwork, the deadlines. There is some eye-rolling, some modicum of heavy sighs. But through it, despite it, and perhaps because of it, there is community.

I love the scripture from Hebrews 12 about being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. It is because of that cloud that we should run the race marked especially for us with perseverance. With Christ as both our Finish Line and our Prize, we witness each other's races. We bring encouragement to each other's lives.

Community challenges. Community cheers. Community creates a renewal of spirit, a rededication to the purpose, passion and plan for our lives, and a reawakening to the Voice that calls us through the valleys--and up the hills!--of our races.

"Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Mamaw

My grandmother had open heart surgery two weeks ago, and has been recovering "well" for an 88 year old woman. Last night, my sister called to let me know that Mamaw had taken a turn for the worse. Her bypasses were failing, they'd performed an emergency stint, and the doctors were pessimistic. She's frightened. She's hurting. She's 800 miles away.

I'm so grateful I got to see her on Christmas Day, and then again on the Saturday afterwards at her house. She was more frail than I remembered, and hindsight being what it is, certainly feeling the effects of multiple coronary blockages. But I know it brought her joy to have all the grandchildren, and great-grandchildren gathered together.

Mamaw lived less than an hour from me when I was a child, and was the grandmother I got to visit every month. I spent lots of time with Mamaw and Papaw, and even worked for them in their grocery store long before I could have worked anywhere else. My fondest memories of that summer include hoop cheese and saltines, and learning that vanilla extract is bought by alcoholics in a dry county.

My Mamaw was a strong young woman, opinionated, proud, capable, and active. She's the world's greatest cook--her biscuits are divine--and I take credit for encouraging her to resume quilting in her last 25 years of life. (Her first quilt in years was the one she made for my wedding gift, upon my request.) This afternoon, the girls and I were talking about Mamaw's upcoming birthday in March, and had discussed making her a quilt...we figured no one makes a quiltmaker a quilt. I don't think we'll get that chance.

I love you, Mamaw.

Thoughts...could be disturbing!

I made a decision to begin a blog. It's amazing I've waited so long. I've had an email address for nearly 20 years now. Long before most of my family or friends, I was pecking away on a mainframe computer in a math department five thousand miles away. I have read others' blogs, happily keeping up with their lives, watching their children grow, reading their ideas on all things political, marital or immaterial.

Now my thoughts will be available for your perusal. You may be sorry. My thoughts run the gamut from quiltmaking to best book choices to mathematics and science research and all sorts of educational materials, to fashion for first ladies and newest adoptions by movie stars, and all things musical, particularly containing Neil Patrick Harris. Disturbed yet? Give me time.