7 quick takes

one

We've been trying to finish watching Ben Hur for nearly a whole month. And we had to re-rent it each time. And every time the internet caused Matt to resort to frantic profanity, except the one section when a friend happened by unexpectedly and providentially and showed us how to make the internet go farther, as it were. And every time we turned it on, all the children would start shouting at the screen. One of the loudest, most fraught movies I've ever had to endure.

The thing that impressed me most, besides Charleston Heston, was how an ordinary American of today, excepting everybody at Good Shepherd because even the youngest among us are biblically literate, would not be able to follow the plot of the movie. Jesus is alluded to all the time, but only at the end does he come into focus. And you have to know about the regulations surrounding leprosy to know what the problem is there. So much knowledge is assumed to make the movie go forward that we in the church today don't assume any more because so few people have any of it.

Of course, there were varying levels of interest in our own small family attention abilities. Romulous felt like there should have been some actual fighting. Elphine couldn't handle even the illusion to the crucifixion and had to leave the room. Gladys and Alouicious just chattered away all the time.

Marigold and Fatty Lumpkin raged with excitement at the end, screaming and shouting and jumping, 'JESUS IS DYING ON THE CWOSS. JESUS IS DYING ON THR CWOSS.'

two

Last Sunday I did the Sign of the Cross in Catechesis and Marigold in particular wrestled profoundly with the wonderment that Jesus isn't any longer on the cross. At first she thought I was kidding, but then she went back over it and over it. Last year it was Gladys who surprised me. In the simple sign--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--she gathered up the two natures of Christ, the Trinity and the Atonement and said them all very simply to me as she made the sign. As an idiot adult, up to that point, I hadn't really gotten the point of this particular presentation because, well, who knows, I'm a Protestant, I only do it on Sunday morning, I don't think carefully about everything I do, and also I hadn't been in with the three to six year olds before so I hadn't had a chance to see what all the fuss was about. As Marigold made the sign again and again on Sunday the waves of foolishness washed up once more against my shadow shore. 

three

I think it's time for The Baby to have a proper blog name. I believe I'm ready to retire Fatty Lumpkin, much as I have loved it. She's just not Fat any more.

 

But nor does she fit under the Lady Elaine I had played with previous. Right now I'm leading towards Edna of CinderEdna, the neighbor of Cinderella. CinderEdna, or Edna for short, tried sitting in the cinders but got bored and so went about earning some extra pocket money cleaning bird cages and mowing people's lawns so that when it was time to go to the ball, she had already put a dress on layaway and had the presence of mind to take the bus. We'll see. I'm going to try it out for a bit, reserving the right to change my mind as she grows and changes.

four

The past many weeks I and a few others have been doing odd little jobs to "beautify" the Parish Hall at Good Shepherd in light of the the glorious new wall and Children's Area or Department or whatever it is we might end up calling it. I say Odd Jobs only to refer to the work that I myself have done. The work of others is much weightier and involved. The people painting all the trim, for example, and the lovely Lady who worked from 10 in the morning, last Saturday, to 10 at night covering these bulletin boards to make them all go together. 

And then a very kind and wonderful person drilled through the concrete wall so that they could be beautifully hung. None of these things was I even a tiny bit equipped or talented enough to undertake and I'm so grateful for all the care and vision and interest and hard work of everyone who does anything in the church. Its extraordinary how many people you can find at any given hour, in the church, doing something interesting and clever.

five 

Speaking of the opposite of that, interesting and clever I mean, today I'm just going to be cleaning my house. As is so often the way, while I have been over fussing at church, my own house has vomited out the contents of all it's cupboards and everything has to be put away or we will all be buried and die. The children won't enjoy this, tragically, but they will have to help a little, as breaks from the toil-some labor of learning stuff out of their school books. What a miserable existence they enjoy, they will tell me, how they suffer. 

six

But, as I said before. The Bishop is Coming! The Bishop is Coming! Should I make a pumpkin pie or have Elphine make an Apple Cake? If only the garden hadn't frozen over and all the flowers died. I will say nothing more of the weather, so great is my bitterness and despair. 

seven

Here is Gladys' rendition of me sad about the weather.

Have a great weekend (if you want to, if you like that sort of thing, don't let me tell you what to do) and go check out Jen.

7 quick takes

one

My mother is working on the making of fancy pancakes (crepes) for breakfast with the girls (the boys are at Man's Bible Study) giving me time to "workout". Fortunately I remembered that I haven't blogged in like four days so the "workout" will have to wait.

She has a tiny special pan for each girl and she is teaching them how to pour in the batter, swirl and then flip the pancake. And she does it all calmly without screaming. But then they all listen to her because they know she means it. Unlike me, where they have worn me down to a shrivel of my former self. Even the dog regards me with a supercilious eye and barks wildly at me when when I desperately cry 'No! Stop Barking! Please! For the love of Somebody or Other!'

two

The general obsession with Calvin and Hobbes is reaching disturbing proportions. Gladys has been drawing God in her copy book as a Sun. In the beginning of the book she drew God like this.

God is in the sky looking down on all he has made. 

Then she switched to drawing him as a Sun. Then she joined in her syblings devotion to Calvin and Hobbes in which, you might remember, Calvin once is turned into a sun who wears sunglasses. Now God looks like this for Gladys.

I can't begin to say how much I love this.

three

Continuing on with Gladys, Matt has owed her a lunch out for a while. She picked out her clothes the day before and then got up and got dressed about six in the morning, but then when they were finally ready to go, she couldn't bring herself to smile for me.

I agree with her. Smiling sometimes diminishes the grandure and importance of a moment.

I agree with Matt too that he looks partially insane in this picture. I'm pretty sure it's because of the hat but I can't be sure.

And here is their lunch.

four

Despite what this blog may indicate, Gladys doesn't consume my every waking moment any more than any other child. She's turning out to be a drama queen just at the moment her older sister is becoming a little more grounded as a person. Elphine can carry on a conversation now without squealing or falling over which, while pleasant, is not great blog fodder. Same with all the others. Honestly, I'll take it. Calmish, moderately rational, occasionally obedient, basically cheerful, emotionally uncluttered children. Some may call it average boring mediocrity. I call it a decent, orderly, satisfying day.

five

The three oldest girls are going on a sleep over tonight and so Gladys and Marigold are busy gathering up stuff to take. They are also practically shaking with energy and hope and are breathing heavily. What are the chances of a little school work before they finally get to go......bets anyone?

six

I, on the other hand am turning my mind and heart to the fact that the bishop is coming in a week. Meals need to be organized. The church needs to be decluttered. Matt has a big pile of things to organize and do. And also, I'm starting Pageant rehearsals the Sunday he's here so there's that. Fortunately again, the Wait but Why blog  has two great posts on Procrastination the reading of which will save me from all the realities just enumerated above. So much to be thankful for in this month of thanks giving.

seven

These are the days of book writing. Everybody seems to be doing it. Even people who don't blog. People who have an old fashioned pen in the hand and a notebook in the lap. Novels, sketches, memories. Elphine and Alouicious themselves are busy writing a stack of comics. If I was a better person I would be happy about this but the problem is, the only reason I know about the explosion of the whole world writing a book is that I Too, am busily tapping away at little sketches of this and that. And the more I work on them, the more I'm swallowing down ungodly jealousy about everyone else. But I've found a great remedy for this, and no, it's not working harder and writing more. It's watching book promotional videos of terrible books I hope never to read and which offend everything I hold as good and true and right. As a gift for the weekend, I give you this.

Have a great weekend and go check out Jen!

7 quick takes:

one

It's my usual Friday morning of lying here covered in children knowing that I should get up and feed them but once I do that the cascading work of the weekend will begin to tumble forward and I won't come up for air until Monday morning. 

two

And you know, that's how I feel on Tuesday morning--just a few more minutes before the Sisyphean tasks of the work week begin. Because once Tuesday starts there's not breath until Friday but Friday starts its own more particular and exhausting climb towards the top.

three

Sunday, of course, is the pinnacle. You climb towards it all week, in various ways, reach the summit sometime during the morning, and come rolling down all the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.

four

The rhythm of the week is good. The climbing is paced and reasonable, though hard. It's not, as per the new Kevin DeYoung book which Matt is supposed to blog about but probably can't because he hasn't read it yet, 'Crazy Busy'. Such a helpful distinction--reasonable busy vs. crazy busy. Maybe I'll blog about it for him.

five

Without the rhythm--each day it's own appointed set of activities and tasks--I do it think it would descend into 'crazy' and I wouldn't even make it to Sunday. The rhythm carries me along, well, along with God, so that I don't completely loose my mind. Rhythm is such a nicer word than Routine. I hate the word Routine. It makes me want to run out of the house into the street screaming and waving a huge insanity flag.

six

This is how I wish I really spent all my time. What is this creature for? And why does he get to stay here while I get up and muscle up breakfast? And why is he always grinning at me like that? He should at least have to pull a little wagon with a lot of stuff in it. Or something.

seven

This hymn really sums it all up.

7 boring quick takes: first week of school edition

one

It's possible that our first week of school has been a success. I remain cautiously optimistic about even getting through today in a moderately industrious manner. This morning Elphine came down to breakfast carrying her school bin and announced that she had already done a bunch of stuff. She named what it was but I couldn't really hear what she was saying due to me not being fully awake.

two

I'm pretty sure I enjoy homeschooling but its hard for me to know right at this moment due to not being fully awake.

three

Pretty sure I'm not fully awake because I dreamt much of the night I was being prank called as I was having to repaint my living room an 80s like burgundy. So exhausted from all the talking and painting all night and then nothing to show for it.

four

The first day of school (Tuesday) I was harangued into making for breakfast what I made last Christmas--some sort of Egg in Ramikan Tapas. 

You sauté green pepper and bacon and corn and some other stuff, I don't know what, and put it in the Ramikan with a little cream and then you crack an egg in, put a sprinkle of cheese on, and bake it. Pretty good. Relatively low on the Complain O Meter.

five

I think I've fallen into a tick of complaining all the time about how the children complain all the time. They don't actually complain and whine that much because they're not allowed to and my tolerance for it is at an all time low. I would count just not eating the whole egg as complaining about it, or, asking if you have to do the whole page of copy work counts as complaining, even if you ask with a smile. Obviously those kinds of things happen all the time, but I've categorized them in my own mind as a whine and the offender is met with one of those little Dr. Evil 'Zptf, sounds.

six

It's so nice and serene in my school room when there's no one in there doing school. Me and Elphine's Cat, Frances, we just so enjoy the quiet and the clean.

seven

And I'm really enjoying that Elphine has made breakfast two mornings in a row and that Alouicious made lunch yesterday. This year is going to be different because of the overall greater age and competence of the children. For instance, I was finally able to put up the nice calendar low on the wall knowing that Marigold and Fatty Lumpkin could be rationally persuaded to leave it alone. And I can say things like, 'sweep the floor' and it might be basically swept, maybe. It's sort of amazing. I haven't experienced anything like it in ages. And then, of course, the substance of the work is more interesting to me this year. After so many years of this

it's so interesting to be working with a child who has this

Bin full of interesting things to read and write and learn. And now, strangely, it's 8:46 and everyone is working busily away, dressed and in their right minds, and I am sitting on the couch in a heavy sweater with a vat of tea Still Trying To Wake Up. For the love of all that is good and holy, somebody get me a coffee bean to chew on or something!