lofty aspirations

meanwhile, back at the ranch…

while we were parading
about fifth avenue,

my big hunky husband
was toting 2×4’s
and sawing + routing +
generally making
*magic*
in the girls’ room.

(it is magical;
it far exceeded my expectations,
which were really high.)

tuesday night, 10:06pm
unloading wood from the home depot run

(thanks for loaning us your ride, generous friends)

nathan + abe
get it done.

wednesday morning breakfast,
still designing.

i save most of his little scraps of paper
(esp during the main house renovation)
with sketches + measurements
that then become awesome realities
in my life.

when i’m old,
i’ll sit in my favorite rocking chair,
flipping through old post-its
and tattered looseleaf
remembering all of the projects
of our dreamy life together, babe.

thanks, mi amor;
and keep sketching.

j’ adore the yellow stripes.
cheers, em + meg.

the girls help carry the dismantled pieces
of their bunk bed upstairs to happily pass on
to their new owners, lyd + ez.

cory was visibly nostalgic
(choked up, perhaps? nah, just sawdust surely)
about dismantling
that sweet bunkbed one final time;

he and my dad and scott built that
dear bed eight yrs ago in our 118st apt;
morven and hannah were its first residents,
(hi, girls),

and we even built a moveable crib side that
lived under the top bunk but slid down
into a twin-sized crib, if you will,
for cutiepie little henry
w/ big brother nathan on top,

it was an awesome ride, bunkbed;
happy trails in the cho household.

when the frame was up,
he encouraged everyone
to take a ride
while he did dips and curls himself
and grinned ear-to-ear,
as he pointed out,
it didn’t even squeak,
it was so tight.

yay, physics.
yay, secure frame.

i promise i saw an actual light bulb
turn on above cory’s head
when he realized the Main Design Concept
for the girls’ loft
and it goes like this:

lag bolts.

here’s one line of the wiki-entry
about those dreamy suckers:

lag bolts are designed for securely fastening heavy timbers
(post and beams, timber railway trestles and bridges)
to one another, or to fasten wood to masonry or concrete.

railway trestles?
should be good enough for our loft.

so, the loft actually hangs from the ceiling;
the only bit that touches the ground
is the bottom of the two ladders.

it’s lagged-in to the house joist,
as it were.

(carpenters/engineers, do forgive
my layman’s treatment of this situation;
i’m just calling it as i see it.)

a coat of paint on thursday +
voila.

(did i mention that i broke my
wide-angle lens in the beginning
of september?

thus all of the close-up shots for
the past 2 months.

so i’ll have to wait for someone to
come over with a wide-angle before
i can show you the actual loft.

oops.)

we had put the girls to bed in our
room as cory was still hard at work
in their room come wednesday night,

so,
the two of us slept in the loft
the first night
and
it felt like christmas.

i almost couldn’t go to sleep
for the excitement in my stomach.

it’s two twin beds that kiss eachother,
head-to-head,
so you can just reach your little hand up
and drift into dream land
hand-in-hand
with your loft mate.

dreamy indeed.

thanks, love.
yay, girls.

betsy’s side is already full of today’s treasure:
sparkly purses + henry’s yankees hat.

for now, we have their play kitchen + table
set up under the loft along with
the yellow couch.

in the future,
i envision a white erase board (or two?),
a longer kid’s table w/ little chairs,
a school set up (we love playing school),
and possibly a chair-and-a-half
(that folds into a twin bed for guests)…

the most memorable part
of the building for me:

when we had to bring the
2 pieces of wood that comprise
the bed platforms
in from the front entryway,
through our apt,
downstairs to the girls room,
through the laundry room and
into the work room.

they’re quite big – 4′ x 8′?
and thick – maybe .75″?

(which equals h e a v y)

em + meg were amazing.
and it took all four of us
working hard to maneuver and handle
the situation. whoanellie.

and when we got to the workroom,
we hoisted them up on the table saw platform
and realized that wasn’t going to work,
so we left them on the platform and
used the hand saw
(read: deafening. oy.)
to cut them down to size.

imagine our excitement when
we dropped those turkeys into
place in the waiting frame,
*whoosh*
perfection.

‘I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.’
psalm 4:8

veteran’s day parade

the 90th annual veterans day parade,
fifth avenue,
new york city.

thank you, service members + families.

and a special thanks to
my little brother, scott,
(usmc pilot, hmx)

and
cory’s little brother, jacob,
(usna grad currently @ mit).

waytogo,guys.

hot chocolate was an important part of the day.

by the third hour of waiting for our turn to march,
we were eating goldfish out of our hats
in desperation.

and spending obscene amounts
at the local hot dog vendor.

i was sustained entirely by
emily, anne marie + margaret’s
good humor.

these darling girls were perched in the
back of their red convertible the
entire three-plus hours we waited.

just itching to wave those pageant arms
and greet the crowd.

time to shine, baby.

up fifth avenue
from 27th to 58th st.

eli’s feeling it.

by the time we actually
began marching,
henry’s flag didn’t even have
a stick left,
as he had been playing with it
for three solid hours.

honor, betsy + daniel
were such troopers.

go, ez!

(i loved that we walked by the
christmas windows @ saks and lord+taylor.)

eli

42nd + 5th

i choked up at this point,
when the firemen were cheering
for the boy scouts.

2nd story observers

henry, eli, adam + ezra

(see the 3 mama’s behind?
that’s how we rolled.
am, me + madge.
and i’m talkingtalking in every shot,
oy.)

when we marched by st patrick’s,
archbishop dolan and another clergyman
(and not a few security personel)
were out front in their beautiful black robes, waving,
and
daniel asked if it was batman.

i could hear the 30Rock
opening music playing in my head.

we were followed by motorcades
of pageant girls and the drivers
kept honking their horns in
parade-speak cheering

which mainly just felt like normal
pedestrian harassment to those of
us walking in front of them.

more:
hey, lady, outta the way!

less:
yay, veterans.

i’m so proud:
this is the one photo
that i’m not wide-mouthed yapping in.

we did it!

a morning’s prayer

guard me from distraction, Lord;

prevent me from duplicity
as i face you
in your scriptures.

our God is a God who saves,
from the Sovereign Lord
comes escape from death.

psalm 68:20

grandma carole + grandpa glen

congrats, kleinknecht + wilbourne families
and
hooray for baby jack.

oh, those divine cheeksies.

 

the office

not the show, silly,
cory’s real office.

apparently they paste up
big posters to announce
their new releases?

i should try that
at home.

i can see it now,
sexyposters in our hallway
that say,

‘have no fear,
mom did all of your laundry.’

and

‘lasagne on tuesday.‘

ps – congrats, locus team.

mental ratatouille

the bits + ends of conversations
that are rolling around in my
mind today include:

on parenting,
‘we’re not their savior
and
they’re not our righteousness.’

on christianity,
‘community is formed through
common service.’

on friendship,
‘…learning to limit myself
for the benefit of others.’

on community,
‘to live counter-culturally in the city
seek to live a
relationally-intentional
slower-paced
life.’

kathryn’s baptism

i love it when they get to the part
where they ask us to respond:

‘do you as a congregation undertake the
responsibility of assisting the parents
in the christian nurture of this child?’

we do.
we do.

congrats, david + felicia.
congrats, sweet kathryn isabella.

so nice to have mr. grant here
all of the way from sydney.

felicia’s uncle + aunt and david’s dad;
we’re so glad they could come.

what a special day as a family.

awwww, newlyweds.

on repentance

my favorite report from the boys’
camping weekend came as cory
and i were cozied up
telling stories last night,

and he mentioned that
the three of them
‘really butted heads’
the last 30 min of the wknd,
as they were packing up
and getting all of their
gear ready to go home,
but
that they apologized quickly
and
forgave each other.

that’s huge in my book.

esp. cory and i have lately
been begging God,
as individuals and as parents together,
to teach us how
to confess,
to repent,
to forgive.

quickly + repeatedly + often + genuinely.

i want to learn to do it well,
but in my pride,
i resist, resist, resist.

i mistakenly believe that
when i confess + repent,
God and/or the person i’m confessing to
is going to grab the mic and shout,
‘that’s right, you did that and that
and here are six more things you did
soooo baaaadddly.’

that confession leads to condemnation.

instead of the truth,
that it leads to freedom.

last week, nathan, chose this verse
to write + post next to he light switch
in our hallway,

‘for I did not come to judge the world,
but to save it.’
Jesus, in john 12:47

thanks, lovey.

‘but with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.’
ps 130:4

‘God’s kindness leads you toward repentance…’
romans 2:4

‘Jesus said, ‘does no one condemn you?’
‘no one.’
‘neither do i,’ said Jesus,
‘go on your way.
from now on, don’t sin.’
john 8:11.

fingers-crossed i’ll be quick
to repent as i head out into today.

ps -
phase 1 of the girls’ room
is well underway.

photocredits: caroline

try-as-we-might,
we cannot get that goofy
halloween tattoo to
come off of her
rosy cheek.

pps -
now that the paint is up+dry,
i got a word of advice from wendy
that i badly needed 2 days ago:

‘yellow is tricky.
always choose it from
the white card.’

that’s what i needed to know.

alas, i will choose to embrace
the yellow that i have chosen.

lovely, sunny (albeit a bit *bright*) yellow.

human popsicles

the boys and cory,
a tent,
two nights + one day,
with a low of 45 tonight =

hope it’s a great boy scout camping wknd
and
glad the girls and i are all
snuggled indoors.

ps -
bethany’s learning to cook.
(good news)
and lisa’s her teacher
(even better news)
and we benefited deliciously
from the first lesson.

corn chowder with bacon
and
pb+j bars, a la ina garten.

pps -
what’s that smell, you say?
smells like paint?

that’s right.
something got stripe-y today, folks.

mad thanks to meg + em,
my painting partners in crime.

a ticker-tape kind of day

canyon of heroes, 1996.

they’re selling cheesecakes @ fairway
with this logo on the top of the
actual cake.
betsy finds them amusing,
i think they look crazy.

michael + sara

cory + ted

parade route @ 11am

ps -
the boys made signs to hang on
our apartment door to
celebrate the occasion.

nathan’s said,
(cute, hand-drawn yankees logo on the left,
words on the right)

‘yankees rule’
and
‘who’s your daddy?’

you should’ve seen me choke,
wha?!

and nathan was completely
confused by my
‘that-is-highly-inappropriate’
response
?

surely nathan wishes cory
had seen the sign first and
spared him a, ahem,
brief-but-candid
speech about a woman having
sex with two people and being, well,
uncertain as to who the child’s
genetic father might be.

apparently,
pedro said it.

(‘i tip my hat + call
the yankees my daddy.’)

oops, i didn’t know that.

i might’ve overreacted.

he drew a different sign.

pps -
this is our 5th ticker tape parade
since moving here in ‘96.

go, yankees.

counseling 101

i don’t know what cory said,
but those word were
magic.

ps -
from an email from good friends
traveling in southeast asia;
‘burmese cates’,
cracking me up.

‘Speaking of which, we went to this little tiny hilltop village in
Myanmar like 100 people in the whole village.  A family invited us in
for pickled tea and while we were sitting around chatting and eating,
little by little about 30 people slowly and casually filled their
living room.  It was like the village nightly gathering spot because
they were the only family with a TV.  Everyone sat around chatting and
watching together and the family was serving everyone tea.  We decided
they were the Burmese Cates’, everyone seemed to “have a key” and was free
to walk in and out as they pleased.    And even though everyone was
staring at us the entire time, we also felt very welcome, like we
belonged.  Pretty sweet.’

love you guys,
be safe.

pps -
we don’t have a telly,
but i can work on my
pickled tea recipe.

ppps -
three words:
ticker.
tape.
parade.

see you there.

nospacebarneeded

henry’s message to cory:

DAD = #1(soismom)DadisgreatHEtellsMETHINGS I DIDN’T KNOW!! (but!!!!!itNOTso prettyifyougetintroublewith him. no offenseDAD)

saucy liturgy

the other night,
an teasingly-alarmed henry announced,

‘i got sauce on the creed.
sauce on the creed!‘

spaghetti sauce on the apostle’s creed, that is.

let me rewind for a moment:

1. i love a good project.

2. when we’re in colorado
for the summer i tend to take on
a project i wouldn’t attempt here,
in my real life.

3. two years, i made
our a-z hymns books, vol 1 and vol 2.
and last year, i made our
redeemer family songbook.

4. this summer, i made placemats
that take us through the matins (morning) and
evensong service,

introducing them in an elementary way
to a special part of God’s work in
our lives, daily spiritual disciplines.

henry reads the opening collect aloud.

(as importantly,
see sara’s famous sausage pie?
you want to go to there.)

circus side – evensong

starry goodmorning – matins

the evening service, in a nutshell,

a one-sentence invocation,
(‘o Lord, make speed to save me, make haste to help me’)

a collect,
(almighty God,
grant that we may love the things that you command
and desire the things you promise;
that whatever the circumstance our hearts may be
fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. amen.)

the apostle’s creed,

and a closing collect
(o God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels,
and all just actions do proceed—
give us that peace that the world cannot give,
that our hearts may be set to obey your commandment,
and by your protection we may live in peace,
through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior. amen.)

the morning service is similar;
a one-sentence invocation,
realize his presence,
ask for his nearness,
repent for coming to him for anything
other than his beauty,
pray aloud one of three verses i printed (psalms),
pray the Lord’s prayer together,
and a closing collect.

praise be to the Lord,
to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.
psalm 68:19

ps -
in general,
we end up using these goofy placemats as
placemats more than order-o’-services.

at this point, we go through the service
maybe 3 out of 7 nights.

the other nights we’re just
shooting the bull  enjoying eachother
and then we read catherine vos.
(they almost beg for that book,
they love that book.

it took us 18 months the first
time we read through it;
this is only our 2nd time through.)

and i haven’t figured out if the
matins part is going to be
helpful or not,
because the morning is
cory’s time to shine.
(aka. engage us sleepyheads
with the word of the living God.)

no extra-anything needed there.

anyway,
it’s there if we ever want it.

inspiration

a rousing ‘thank you‘
to nathan’s sunday school teachers
last night;

that scroll project was so inspiring
that the boys spent the majority of
their morning-before-school
making additional scrolls
(read: chopsticks + paper + tape)
and filling them with scripture.

albeit, henry’s were more of
a graphic novel version of
scripture.

love it.

and yes, we wore
baseball hats to
school today,
it seemed appropriate.

go, yanks!

ps -
random monday train ride reading:
steve jobs’ stanford commencement address, 2005,
stay hungry,
stay foolish.

26.2 mi

off to volunteer @ the marathon;

go, runner friends.
go, boy scouts.

ps -
settlers = genius.
via merritt,
via wired.

favorite day of the year

i love the time-change
when we gain an hour
to enjoy this
Lord’s day.

the soundtrack to our
cheerycrafty morning:
high school musical.

cory + bets are downstairs
watching, giggling (b) and dancing (c + b),

a great way to enjoy
the sabbath, indeed.

(we are not our own,
we were bought with a price,
let’s glorify the Lord
by boogeying down together, no?)

reenacting their hsm dance for us.

sabbathday yardwork?
we might be pushing it.

ps -
get ready for some
rad worship together tonight;

word on the street is
we’re singing
‘come christians, join to sing’
‘in the presence of a holy God’
and
‘here i am to worship‘
+
scott’s sermon on
hope for the church.
(hebrews 10:19-35)

an evening’s prayer

‘o Lord,
open my lips
and my mouth
will show forth
Thy praise.’

thy praise,
not my praise.

may the words of my mouth be
few, sweet, honest,
wise and life-giving.

few
(because i don’t need to show off),

sweet
(because i’m happy enough in grace
to be filled with love for anyone i meet),

honest
(because i’m not scared of human approval),

wise and life-giving
(because i’m learning from God),

at home,
at work,
with friends,
with strangers.

thanks, tim.

‘absolutely necessary’

bonhoeffer totally nailed it.

check him out:

‘when a family lives close together
in a constricted space
and the individual does not have
the quietness he needs,
regular times of quiet are
absolutely necessary.

‘after a time of quiet,
we meet others in a different and fresh way.

‘many a household fellowship will be
able to provide for the individual’s need
to be alone, and thus preserve the
fellowship itself from injury,
only by adopting a regular order.’

tim encourages us to consider
three parts to a daily quiet time:

1. bible study – read a passage of the Bible
and try to get the gist of
what it means.

2. prayer – talk to God by praising him,
confessing sins, and
asking for things.

3. meditation – a cross between prayer and Bible study,
a blend. to ‘pray the truth into the heart.’

meditation being, perhaps, the most crucial,
‘praying scripture until the Truth
bursts forth in our hearts.’

‘absolutely necessary’,
i love it.

eat more chikin

wha?

my parents are wha?

camped out overnight @
a chick-fil-a in denver
to win wha?

free meals each week for a year?

it’s 28 degrees there now.
they’re in a winter storm warning +
expecting 20+ inches of snow.

they crazy.
and adorable.

love you guys.

hi, julie, kristen + brandon;
wish we were there to
whoop you @ the bean game
play games with you.

ps -
they have to stay there until 6am to win.

they’re hearty-folk + i have no doubt
they will win.

and you know what i’m going
to be using when we’re there
next august?

ohhh, yeah,
that free-chick-n card.

pps -
you know cc was the actual
c-f-a cow in the 2008 calendar, right?

famous, he is.

dude, did you get free chicken for that gig?
i might need to borrow your
free chicken card.

getaway

the mama’s stole away to
for our annual
worth-its-weight-in-gold
24 hrs in p-town this past weekend;

prayer, tears, perspective, laughter;
and that was just the
car ride there.

thanks, friends.

and a huge shout out to my mom + cory,
james, tim, jordan + jason,
for manning the homefronts.

he came right up to the house,
love it.

how cute are her pumpkins
in her flower urns?

too clever, j.

a two-product day

jeepers.

today’s rainy+humidity combo
meant that after putting
pretty-please-hair-stay-down product
in my wet hair this morning,

i hesitated,
headed back to the mirror,

and grabbed a second dollop of
cory’s product, too.

+  = 

and i doubt even that
gel-ly-double-shot
will prevent my
hair-as-a-weapon up-do.

hope you brought your golashes.

from eden to zion

mom + nathan just burst through
the door returning from the
open forum on the east side.

here’s what i heard:

nathan:
tim did this whole sermon on, like, new york
and how a lot of people come here to gain something
and that’s really not how you should do that.

and he did a lot of talking
on how a city is made
and what it needs
and how it thrives.

my mom:
what are the four things it needs?

njc:
political stuff,
economical stuff,
homes and residential stuff,
and
safety.

my mom:
and how did he define a city?

njc:
a dense population that can walk.
like, a mixed-use zone that you
can walk to wherever you need to go.

the world started in a garden
but it ends in a city.

ps -
mom was raving about
michelle + mindy + george
(she didn’t know the other two singers, sorry)
and
their songs.

sounds spectacular.

she said mindy sang
‘another hundred people’;
love it.
love her.

and george sang,
‘there’s a boat that’s leavin’ soon for new york’

and michelle sang
‘the girl in 14G’
oy! fab.

some people are just
too talented
for their own good.

pps -
come on, yankees!

cozyrozy reading snuggle

a post-co-op-preschool
snuggled up reading time
with my mom and betsy,
perfection.

ps -
i was off duty for preschool today
so mom and i grabbed the train,
hopped off at christopher st
and sauntered our way uptown.

two hours,
four cups of coffee,
popping in and out of
every store that caught our eye =
superperfection.

benediction

some ‘good words’ for this friday,
as we put the week to rest +
chill-ax a bit this wknd:

‘may the Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father,
who loved us and by his grace
gave us eternal encouragement + good hope,
encourage your hearts
and strengthen you
in every good deed + word.’
2 thess 2:16

‘may the Lord
direct your hearts
into God’s love +
Christ’s perseverence.’
2 thess 3:5

ps -
have you seen ‘a serious man’ yet?
the new cohen brothers movie?

they totally nailed it.

i only laughed maybe four or five times during the actual show
but came away thinking it’s one of the funniest,
most brilliantly written + cinematically spot-on
shows i’ve seen.

lincoln plaza cinema;
you want to go to there.

pps -
congrats, boy scouts.

adam, eli, ezra, harry, taj, kino, nathan, henry…
hooray + way to go.

and welcome, mitch.

fall award ceremony

ppps -
i hope i haven’t mentioned that

is in our boy scout troop, right?

because that would be tacky of me.

friendly natives

thursday’s reasons

reason no. 86
on why i love our cvs
across the street:

when we skipped up to the window,
our sunshiny pharmacist said,
‘hello, betsy!’
and
b replied,
‘i’m betsy, and i’m three-and-a-half!’

to which lydia added,
‘and i’m lydia, and i’m three-and-a-half!’

and charmingmegan followed suit
by responding,
‘i’m meagan, and i’m twenty-eight!’

as she handed us
henry’s amoxicillin.
(sayonara, ear pain)

reason no. 885
on why i love our neighborhood:

when i popped in to the carpet store
(aka. rosenhaus + sons)
to return a sample he loaned me,
alan
(aka. mr. rosenhaus) said,
‘you’ll see me later,
i’m delivering something
to your neighbor upstairs
this afternoon!’

i love that we’re known in
relation to our neighbors.

reason no. 284
on why i love fairway:

not only do i like seeing the staff,
but it’s a great place to run
into neighbors +friends
and catch a quick chat.

(you know i’m looking for you,
right?
i might look like i’m actually
scanning for broccoli,
but the truth is
i’m looking for friends
who are shopping at the
same time as me.)

reason no. 389
on why i love new york:

when i was out front washing the
boys’ windows this morning
(in excited-preparation for my
mom’s arrival this afternoon),
i only received
ONE
criticism-guised-as-a-suggestion.

three ‘hello’s’ from passing neighbors
and
only one
‘you-know-you-should-use-
newspaper-and-not-your-dust-cloth, right?’

those are nice odds there, 3:1.

i would expect it to swing the
other way, like,
2 hellos and
2 critiques.

everyone’s a critic in ny.

even if they’ve never
actually
washed a window.

ps -
did you catch that?

my mom’s coming today.

mom’s coming today,
hooray.

pps -
grandma,
i can’t even guess how many times
i’ve made your apple cake
over the past 13+ yrs here
in new york.

it’s always a crowd-pleaser.

love you.

my grandma freiheit’s
fresh apple cake
via my lovely gretchen.

perspectives on science + christian faith

it’s not often that cory
wholeheartedly embraces/endorses
a book.

(i rave,
he endorses.)

so, i’m loving watching his response
to francis collins’
‘the language of God.’

he devoured that sucker
this weekend,
nodding his head
the whole time.

yesss.

ps -
collins + his book come out of
the same healthy dialogue
that founded the asa,
(american scientific affiliation)
a forum for scientists + theologians
that has been pivotal to c’s
understanding/worldview as a christian physicist.

pps -
speaking of books we
wholeheartedly endorse
(aka. rave about)
have you picked up ‘counterfeit gods‘ yet?

jeepers,
get it quick.

ppps -
let’s round out this
book rec moment
with this gem:

leap over a wall, by eugene peterson.

i snagged a copy from winnie as
the brave study leaders of the
monday@allangels mom’s group
is using it this fall.

a look at the life + screw-ups + faith
of our dear david.

i’m trying to make myself stop writing
but my fingers are adamant that i can’t
stop until i include:
‘a praying life’ and ‘love walked among us’ by paul miller.

and on the lighter side,
everyone needs a little shot of
adam gopnik now and then.

‘paris to the moon’ and ‘through the children’s gate’, anyone?

i’m finished.
i promise.

an open letter

dear val-pak staff,

i’m a big fan.

alas,
i’ve just used my last
‘$10 off $100 purchase @ fairway’
today.

and there were no new fwy
coupons in the most recent
pak.

?

i’ll eagerly await the next
blue envelope you send my way.

warmly,
kjc

ps -
massive props to michael +
jordyn + sara-via-scott +
my thoughtful neighbors
who rifle thru
their paks*
and give me that
helpful piece of
slipperycoupon paper.

* and their friend’s paks, apparently,
judging by the fact that mk
miraculously produced
seven coupons for me.

of which i happily used every.single.one.

the right reverend scott crosby

what a pleasure to be a part of
yesterday’s ordination celebration;
chris said it best,
‘it feels like christmas!‘

the par-tay before hand +
the ordination itself =
a special mark of God’s presence + work
through the crosby family and
in our community.

tim’s pastoral prayer,
scott s’s charge,
tuck’s charge,
abe’s prayer,

and a
standing
ovation
from the congregation.

three cheers
for our godly pastor, scott,
and our sparkling pastor’s wife, anne marie,
and our loving ezra + cheerful honor.

uncle bob

raise your hand if you’ve had
one of cindy’s infamous buckeyes.

oy!

‘it was he who gave some to be apostles,
some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists,
and some to be pastors and teachers,

to prepare God’s people for works of service,
so that the body of Christ may be built up
until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’

ephesians 4:11-13

a fall weekend

can you hear us chanting, ‘lisa! lisa!’
in hopes she was on this particular train.
(she wasn’t.
but she was on the next one.
whew.)

2:26pm
children coloring

3:26pm
adults coloring

cory’s famous flapjacks

you know what day it is
when breakfast looks like this:
the Lord’s day.

a reminder of the feast that is to come.

. welcome, ezra + blaise .

congrats, kat + corey.

here’s seriously wishing we were
there to hug + celebrate with you guys.

biggest brother, xander.

big sister, bryn.

big brother, koen.

it feels like just yesterday
kat and i were co-counselors @ kanakuk,
sitting on the front porch
praying for our locker 10 girls,
begging God to work in their hearts,
in our own hearts.

hip
hip
hooray, my friend.

and w.o.w!

love + desire

a morning’s prayer.

‘almighty God,

grant that we may
love the things that you command
and
desire the things you promise,

that whatever the circumstances
our hearts may be fixed
where true joys are to be found,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

amen.’

ps -
overheard:

‘i’d be really surprised if this shows up
that i have exposure to tv
because i haven’t watched any
since vacation.’

-henry to cory,
upon leaving the pediatrician’s office
where he had just received
(and mis-heard kind dr. ward)
a tb shot.

handy-holdy

remember in ps 133
where it says,

‘how good and pleasant it is when
brothers live together in unity.’

(i’m thinking about how bitterly
david’s own sons fought?)

the reason it’s so ‘good’ and ‘pleasant’?
because it’s so unusual.

fighting – usual
selfishness – usual
bitter dissent – common

not fighting – miraculous
others-serving – supernatural
unity – extravagant gift from the Lord

last night i was celebrating
a nine-block walk home from church
of unbelievable
unity.

thanks be to God.

ps -
and a lovely morning
in the garden w/ john john;
bookends to the
loveliest of sundays.

fly in again soon, friend.

olivia’s chut tol

it feels like yesterday that
we first got to know daniel
(9ish yrs ago),

it fees like yesterday that
he and ashley started dating
(and michael + justin + patrick + cory
were groomsmen,
dancing the night away;
what a party),

it feels like yesterday that
we enjoyed ourselves immensely at
ashley’s baby shower,

but now sweet olivia chang
is one year old.

on the east river.

smell the bulgogi?

bubble guns

every few minutes
something would go
cruising by.

which will she touch first?

-book or pen, successful scholar.
-money, wealth.
-string/thread, long life.
-rice, never go hungry.
-(closed) knife, culinary skills.

the book they laid out was supercute:
bee bim bop
by linda sue park.

mr. chang + d’s brother, peter.

mrs. chang

he’s convinced she touched
the cash first.

(string second,
she finally ended up with the book, though.)

our precious olivia,
it feels like just yesterday you were born.
we thank God for your little life
and pray He is near to you all of your days.

with mrs. teague + the changs

punch balloons

d’s lovely sister, joanne, worked so hard
on the amazing food;
she and olivia have a special
auntie-niece relationship, it’s obvious.

sacha

i am so proud of these two.

now, straight to church we go.

of balloons and kisses,
she’s a sweet one to travel with.

mr. magictrain conductorperson,
straight to betsy + lee’s, please.

ps -
huge thanks to em for keeping betsy,
we just didn’t think she could make
it (emotionally sound) through
3 trains there,
3 trains home + then to church.

so now, the day after,
she keeps asking,
‘when’s olivia’s party?’

she’s currently wearing her backpack
(with pictures she drew for olivia)
and is getting on her ‘party dress.’

um,
we might have to invent
a fake party just to
satisfy our sweet boo.

the source

‘the great message that we have…
is that God loves us not because
of what we do or accomplish,
but because God has created and
redeemed us in love
and has chosen us
to proclaim that love
as the true source of all human life.’

thank you, wise henri nouwen.
(in the name of jesus, p. 30.)

10:02am
cory-as-sled

ps -
i’m just glad all 3 of my boys
aren’t sour at me for
accidently scheduling their
respective dental cleanings for
8am on this sweet saturday morning.

supersorry about the
chilly top-o-the-morning walk
followed by crack-of-dawn
openwide + swishthisflouride.

they were surprisingly enthusiastic
when they came home
about their new toothbrushes +
one ironman sticker.

whew.

pps -

thanks, michael.

the giggles

or whatever you call it
when a grown(ish) man,
a grown(ish) woman,
and a 10 yr old boy
are laughing their guts out
snuggled up on the couch
on a rainy friday night.

[do guys 'giggle'?
because it really sounds like it.]

‘if your pants are on fire
being a liar becomes
less important’

‘hey, 9th best is still pretty good.
you made a couple crucial mistakes when
i was younger, or you’d be even higher.’

‘but haven’t we all?
it’s just weird how it’s so much more obvious on you.
oh yeah, happy birthday’

ps -
as we all know,
at the end of a long week
it doesn’t take much to
make us laugh really hard.

we’re really tired.

pps -
have i mentioned lansky’s?

maybe it’s because it reminds us
of conrad and whitney,

maybe it’s because it’s totally cool
and literally at the end of our street
(70-71 + columbus),

maybe it’s because they have
$.50 sliders + $.50 sloppy joes
and $3 drinks,

maybe it’s because of all of the
flat-screens with the yankees game on,
(how sweet was last night?)

maybe it’s because of old mr. lansky
in his 3 piece suit,

but it’s become our
new favorite average-joe date night.

see you there.

ppps -
check out the lansky’s page
if even just to hear the music.

we weren’t made to go it alone

i’m unbelievably impressed.

it was such a pleasure to be a part
of last night’s renew campaign event.

the gallery (82nd + columbus, naive art),
the people  (leaders abounding),
the catering (the cornmeal/chevre/date bites were heavenly),
tim’s talk (my heart was burning as he spoke),
heather’s testimony (thank you, h),
the mad coordination skills (wow, molly + samuel),
the overarching masterminds (howard + team),
that music (steph + kevin + crew),
the prayer team’s relentless pursuit of the Lord’s guidance,

amazing.
amazing.

i can’t wait for the event on the 29th.

and if you’re signed up for that one,
get excited.

i thought i would be triplemilkshake nervous
about emceeing (never done that before) and
giving my testimony,
but you know what?

not at all.

and i actually loved every minute of it;
thanks for giving this rookie a go at it.

here’s the gist of the testimony
i gave last night:

we came to new york 13 yrs ago
expecting to have the city serve us
(aka. get a good grad degree +
go look for a great job elsewhere)

while here,
i was confronted with the radical
(obscene, really)
idea of god’s free grace in Christ.

which caused a problem for me.

a rather large problem.

so we’d schlep over from columbia to hunter
and schlep back on the m4
and i’d spend the better part of sunday afternoon
arguing with cory about the implications of
said
grace.

what do you mean it’s not about my obedience,
about what i bring to the table?
and
how dare tim preach that.
really, how dare he?
why should i obey then?
what about all my ‘obeying’
(that i’m so proud of + so concerned about)

shall we keep on sinning so grace may abound?
is that crazytalk?
(romans 6:1)

about 6 mo after arriving and getting involved
in a (really great) fellowship group,
we began to host and lead part of the group
and i joined the diaconate,
so those two + the community of our
christian friends
were the perfect lab for me to wrestle
and struggle with what i was hearing
and trying to figure out,
my own crisis of faith.

and they were so kind to me (thank you, friends)
and i wrestled (2 yrs ish?) until
it
washed
over
me.

the gift of God’s free grace in Jesus Christ.

how dare he.
how dare he.
and thank you,
He did.

my changed heart (not surprisingly) resulted
in a deep love for the community of God
here in new york,
for his people living out this
messy, broken life that we’re called to as christians.

and the realization that i was messy
and that it was okay to be broken
made me (for the first time)
a better neighbor.

no need to ‘tidy things up’ externally or internally
in order to win God’s favor,

but as a direct result of his love
changing my life
i wanted to reach out to others.

and when it came time to take c’s
tidily-matted-and-framed degree
and find that be-all-end-all job in nuclear fusion,
well,
we wouldn’t have left this city
where we see God actively at work
if you had offered us
the nobel prize.

(i say ‘us’.
we all know who ‘us’ is.
don’t worry,
i’m not in danger of winning a
nobel prize any time soon.)

so we stayed.
eagerly-so.

and had our children
and raised our family here.
and have hosted+led fg’s for 13+ yrs now.
and jumped two-feet-in into the
family ministry on the west side -
mom’s group, preschool co-op,
overlapping lives with the other
very normal, very amazing people who
are offering their hearts + lives
to God and to us
on a daily basis

and we’re seeing his Kingdom come.
His will, not our own, be done.
humility instead of power,
confidence instead of doubt,

the tension of the christian life.

anyway,
i think i said something along those lines
last night.

and i loved that there were real people
in the crowd who were in fg with us
over the years
(you know whose eyes i had to avoid
because they were tearing up,
ahem, sara.
ahem, ellie.
i prayed i wouldn’t cry.
so there.)

God is at work in nyc,
there’s no doubt about that.

and the idea of seven-day-a-week ministry space
in our respective neighborhoods,

press on, redeemer.
bravo.

as they lead us onward into the
third decade of rpc’s ministry,
we couldn’t be more excited.

ps -
steph + sean + the other talented artists
of the redeemer singer/songwriter initiative
have so graciously donated their talents
as part of the renew campaign.

not only are they performing at a of the
leader’s receptions and at church on sundays,
but they are making an album as
part of the campaign with proceeds
benefitting hope for new york.

‘in the city’ will be available in mid-november
(release party tba) and all of the songs
were written in and about the city.

remember the one from two sunday night’s ago?
heeelllloooo.
wow.

and steph’s song that she wrote and performed last night,
‘we weren’t made to go it alone’
will be on there, of course.

hotdog.
can’t wait.

and thank you to the talented artists of redeemer.

godly counsel

a friend gave me
these two verses today:

‘…then you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.’
john 8:32

‘…and God is able to make all grace abound to you,
so that in all things at all times,
having all that you need,
you will abound in every good work.’
II cor 9:8

and another friend
spoke these wise words
to my heart:

remember how much we’ve been given
and how little we deserve,
how it is constantly available – now and always -

move forward in love – like Christ did for us -

and she prayed for a
‘quick forgetting’ of painful events,
and a long remembering of
Christ’s sacrificial love for me,
for us.

jeepers;

i’m deeply grateful for godly friends
who take the Word of God seriously.

(and they take me
with a grain of salt.)

of cheddar bunnies + cereal bars

the bedtime prayer of
a five-year old who is
responsible for bringing
morning snack for all of her
classmates every day this week:

(she chose very carefully +
has been very premeditated about
this whole affair)

‘dear Jesus,
i bless that you will
help my classmates
to like the things
i’m bringing for
snack time.
amen.’

?
she’s always preferred to say
‘i bless…’ instead of ‘i pray…’

throughout today,
i’ve prayed for her little friends
to like the snack, too.

and

prayed that her heart
will long for God’s approval
as much as she cares
about her friends’ approval.

8:26am

city trip tips

i can’t believe my good fortune
in hearing about
these two:

the new metro card easypay express

i’ll never visit a kiosk again.

nor will jordyn tease me about
my handful of coins for the
busride after using my last swipe;
hey, i’m swiping for four now.

(so you can imagine how far my
$20 metrocard takes me;
not.very.

b’s still free for another minute,
but since mta rides go by height,
caroline already gets ‘carded’ on the bus.)

and

hopstop.

how to get from here to there
via bus,
via subway,
via bus + subway + walking,

and exactly how long that’s going to
take me.

it’s like an urban version of mapquest.

now, i’m looking for the button
on the website that
lets me add children to the trip.

+ 1 preschooler, add 18 min.
+ 1 preschooler and 3 school age children, add 28 min to the trip.

i digress.

juvenile

overheard:

h’s friend somehow gets to talking about eunuchs.
h: eunuch? what’s a eunuch?
friend:  someone without a peepee.
h: oh, caroline’s one!

(said friend’s mother jumped in at that point
and tried to clear things up a bit, but called
to let me know that h might come home
saying some crazy stuff about c + eunuchs.)

do it herself:

on our way out the door for church last night,
betsy stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a
sandwich-size ziploc which she tucked into
her cutelittlechurchbag.

nathan and i were puzzled,
so we questioned her about it.

um, betsy, what’s with the ziploc?

b: for the cookies.  at the end of church.

(um, i think you’re supposed to eat them
on site, you know, fellowship-style.
but we’re going to roll with it, girly.
way to be prepared.)

ps -
i didn’t want to mention that i
killed
in last night’s game
since whitney said ‘humility’ is part of
a good settlers’ strategy.

i took her advice on ore (a 9)
and it happened to be on a wheat, as well.
(scratchy city)

though they both were 9’s
(against whit’s ‘number diversity’ guidelines)

but i also hit two 4’s (wood + sheep)

and somehow i couldn’t
special build
fast enough.

i’m trying to keep the
winners-grin
off my goofy face.

thanks for the tips, whit.
i did you proud.

and, way to play, michael, em, lisa, nathan + cory.

pps -
cory called me ‘crazy nerdy’
for the way i described
my settlers win right there.

i really don’t care.

he’s jealous.

vision

in prep for a little training class tonight,

i get to sift through a lot of the
mother’s group vision information
and be reminded (explicitly)
of what i know in practice (implicitly),
erstwhile making tingles
run up + down my spine;
God is at work
among us.

‘mission:

to experience Christ in our midst,
ministering to and through the mothers and children
to the end that our lives, our families,
and our neighborhoods are changed.

‘experience:

mothers and children meet weekly for Bible study,
worship and prayer in order to facilitate and foster community
and connection among families who otherwise might feel isolated
or overwhelmed as they embrace living and raising children in the city.

out of this formed community emerges a congregational life
among west side families.

we celebrate Christ’s redemption by
providing for the physical needs of brothers and sisters
who are suffering in our midst,
helping our neighbors,
serving poorer communities through acts of mercy,
celebrating together through special events,
and raising up new leaders
through discipleship and training.’

rockonwithyourbadself, west side.

siete

a few spritely games
+ cupcakes
in honor of our friend,
henry.

happy bday, lovey.

she singlehandedly decorated the cupcakes.

the chicklet relay

daddy-as-heckler

team 1 – 127 chicklets
team 2 – in their exuberance,
they started eating the gum
before we could count it.

we’ll call it a tie.

who’s ready for some
coke explosions?

grab the mentos, baby.

+     =  

a split-second before
cory gets a stickyshower.

ye olde balloon-tied-to-ankle game

(remember kristie’s annual bday game bashes
in central park? this one was my fav.)

appealing to the ref.

dodge it.

of whoopie cushions + bubble gum.

‘be happy, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.’
ecclesiastes 11:9

’seek the Lord while he may be found,
call on him while he is near…’
isaiah 55:6

‘how can a young man keep his way pure?
by living according to your word.

i seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.

i have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.’
psalm 119:9-11

crouching caroline, hidden henry

nathan drew a pattern,
he and grammy went to the fabric store +
picked out the material,
and she went to work.

voila,
play capes.

we love them, mom;
thank you, thank you.

letting them fly in the wind.

ps -
caroline’s worn hers,
over her jacket+backpack,
to school every day this week.

supergirl, indeed.

inscription

the last settlers game
with whitney + conrad;
it was a tear-jerker
(wait, that didn’t have anything
to do with the game)
and
a doozie.

the lowest score was 7
and 3 (4?) of us were
sitting at 9 just waiting
to pounce.

way to go, conrad.

(you know i just needed one more brick
and i could’ve done special build for
a settlement. boom. ten on the table.
alas.)

11:46pm

and they were headed to the
brooklyn bridge after leaving
our place +
then they had to leave at 4am
to catch their west-bound flight.

be safe, friends.
we love you.

conrad – green
whit – white
cory – orange
lisa/bethany – blue
meg/dan – red
kj – brown
jules – cheerleader

ps -
their farewell inscriptions
on our settlers box:

‘may all your settlements
become cities.’
conrad

‘diversify,
be skeptical,
and be humble about your lead.
ore is most important.’
whit

(aka ‘chancho’ on asobrain.com;
look for her.
but be prepared to lose.)

let there be light

‘um, honey,
it’s really dark in here.
is there anything you can do about it?’

the view out our back door yesterday.

can you hear the tap-tap-tap of the hammers
followed by the
sshhhh-smack of the bricks
falling out to the ground?

(right next to mk’s apt)

ix-nay the self-flattery

‘…in his own eyes
he flatters himself
too much to
hate or detect
his own sin.’
. psalm 36:2 .

some of the best advice i’ve
received was to set aside
a time each week
(for me, it’s actually every-other-week)
for extended confession + repentence
before the Lord,
a ‘repentance retreat’, as it were.

it’s true,
my own heart is deceitful above all

and

i flatter myself daily
into thinking my sin
isn’t really that serious.

Lord,
in your kindness,
bring me to repentance.

‘the heart is deceitful above all
and beyond cure.
who can understand it?’
. jeremiah 17:9 .

acts of service

community-minded living
(aka. self-sacrificing for the benefit of another,
others-awareness)
shows itself in both the
big and small
gestures of life.

a few things i’m awed by from yesterday,
a normal but far-from-ordinary day:

-before hailing a cab for herself + her son
after mom’s group,
a young mom looked around + asked,
‘who needs a free ride uptown?
who can join us?’

-a friend called to say she
was running to fairway +
did i need anything?

-another friend saw me wince
in pain and insisted
on running across the street to
grab some ibuprofen on my behalf.
(we were out.
and, boy, did i need that.)

-a friend distracted a cryingfrustrated betsy
while i collected our things so
we could head home from the playground.

by the time i returned with our bags,
b was happily swinging
as my friend continued gently pushing her.

(which gave me another minute to
enjoy the adult company)

-i watched as someone pull the full trash can
out from under the sink
at the end of fellowship group last night,
tied it up,
put a fresh trash bag in
and carried the full bag outside.

these people take
philippians 2 seriously;
i have so much to learn from them.

¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love,
if any fellowship with the Spirit,
if any tenderness and compassion,
²then make my joy complete by being like-minded,
having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,
but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests,
but also to the interests of others.

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

-philippians 2:1-11

seasonal clash

…in the best way.

why the water was still on
at train park this morning,
i’ll never know
[this being sept 28th + all],
but
hot dog

and
jump in.

(yes, we’re in long sleeves.
because it’s fall.
but if the sprinkler wants
to pretend it’s still summer,
far be it from us
to argue.)

let’s be frank

conrad + whitney [frank], that is.

it’s ripping my heart right out
to let the vibrant mr. + mrs. frank
go.

they’ll end up in idaho,
after 3 months in southeast asia.

with passionate charades like that,
you can see why his team won the game.

[we were passionate, too,
don't get me wrong.]

exhibit A.
late saturday evening,
3 grownups in the chair

exhibit B.
mere hours later,
4 not-so-grown-ups in the chair.

those chairs just invite snuggling.

ps -
c + w,
we’re so excited about your future
and we send you off with prayers
[and tears]
and a vision for what God will do
in and through you two;
the next community that gets you
doesn’t know what’s going to hit them.

luckyducks.

i’m trying hard to be optimistic
about this whole leaving-thing.

loveyou.