I was up late with a cranky little bear and I saw the tail end of a PBS special on them. They were performing “The First of My Lovers” and it was AMAZING. The music was breathtaking but what made it “beyond words” was the two soloists had the most joyful expressions on their faces. That joy would have been incredibly contagious throughout the concert hall and I wish I lived in Austin, TX so I could see them perform.
Monthly Archives: August 2010
Me? A Hipster Christian?
Taking a cue from Rich, I took this quiz. My result was:
Your Christian Hipster Quotient: 66 / 120
Low CHQ. You probably belong to the purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, Hawaiian shirt-wearing Christian establishment, even though you are open to some of the “rethinking Christianity” stuff. You seem to like edginess in some measure but become uneasy when your idea of Christian orthodoxy is challenged by some renegade young visionary who claims the virgin birth isn’t necessary.
Yeah… I’m totally into traditional worship and would probably be Antiochian Orthodox if I wasn’t Lutheran. You know… incense (oh wait… allergic to that), standing for 3 hours (oh wait… can’t do that either because of the fibro), bowing/kneeling, acapella music, 1500 year-old liturgies…
I’m sure some Orthodox wear Hawaiian shirts.
I also would rather burn a copy of The Purpose-Driven Life than read it.
The World Is Ending
When I was doing dishes this morning, I felt someone tap on my foot.
Daniel is now mobile.
I’ve gerry-rigged two baby gates together to take care of the entrance to the kitchen. At some point this week, we’ll head to Kids R’Us and get a baby gate that can span that space.
Weighing in on the Mosque at Ground Zero
There are two mosques down the hill from my in-laws on opposite sides of a busy street. One is Shi’a and one is Sunni. Both have schools and cultural centers. (It was actually interesting when the Sunni one held a car wash because the 13 year old girls advertising it were jumping up and down in their head scarves, long-sleeves, leggings, and flip-flops while across the street some middle school cheerleaders were holding a car wash of their own and jumping up and down in tank tops, shorts, and flip-flops.) Anyway, both are model neighbors and totally chill with the fact that there are other people who don’t share their beliefs around.
Enter the sitch at Ground Zero. While it’s a bit of a different situation because of the events of 9/11, the Muslims using the building have been using that space for awhile now. They were interviewing a couple Christian pastors who know the imam and they’ve said that he’s down-to-earth and totally into blending with the community. His wife is very chill and I feel like it’s a different situation than it would be if he was anti-American and anti-Western. It’s honestly no different than building a JCC or a Christian church in the building.
I’m really a bit angry at a lot of the protestors that are fighting the building of a mosque. If you’re going to blame all Muslims for 9/11, then you should blame all Christians for the shooting of abortion doctors or all Catholics for the abuse scandal. Nineteen people do not represent a whole religion. Adherents of a religion only know what they are taught and I think at this point, it would be better to allow a mosque with a mentally-balanced imam to show what Islam truly is and what it isn’t.
And seriously, I have been treated better and shown more hospitality by Muslims at mosques I’ve visited than I have by my fellow Christians. I’d rather encourage their attitude than the attitude of my less hospitable brethren.
Homeschooling?
A few nights ago as I was trying to get Daniel back to sleep, I was trying to get myself back to sleep by planning out how I’d homeschool Daniel for kindergarten. The reason I’d thought about it is that Daniel is developmentally delayed and I was having OMG-is-he-going-to-have-learning-problems?!?!?!? worries. Jon and his sister Joanna were both homeschooled and turned out fine and I was pondering the idea of just homeschooling him for kindergarten or something so he could learn to read, learn his letters, learn his numbers, learn basic addition, etc.
It might be all the “Your Baby Can Read” commercials that bombard us on Qubo but I do worry about Daniel being ready for school, especially since I have no idea where we’ll be once he hits school and what will be available to him as far as preschool and all that.
I was having visions of creating math flashcards out of 3×5 cards, some kind of poster with the letters of the alphabet, and just a bunch of things. We’ve got a pretty decent amount of childrens’ books thanks to my mother-in-law who gave me a huge gift certificate to Amazon.Com for that purpose last year.
For my readers who homeschool your kids: why did you decide to do so and what do you use? There’s no definite plan to homeschool Daniel but I’d love to know what’s out there.
Protected: Grumping (VII)
A Modest Proposal
Hey peeps in the Big Brother house:
I have a modest proposal:
SEND RACHEL HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously… that girl is EVIL.