the wife whisperer

cory whispered a
helpful,
significant
prayer in my ear
this morning before left.

he prayed that
the Word would be
loud
in my heart
today
so God would
be obvious &
His way would
be clear.

thanks, love;
i needed that. 

friday distraction

let’s pretend we’re in third grade
and play with an acronym
(i meant to post this last friday,
thus the ‘thanks’ acronym.
cheeseball, i know):

T-shirts that toy with convention

Heads of state graphic design
killer posters
i’m just wishing the gomez nyc set
wasn’t sold out.
another run?
(brittany got one of the very last ones)

A WaMu commercial
congrats, cory cavin! (aka. mr. carrie love)
(he’s in the olivegreeny shirt
spritzing people)
this one is currently airing on comedy central

‘…Not the british isles.‘
leave it to the economist to
tell it like it is.

K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid)
tada: the diaper micropod.
a diaper, some wipes, a little pocket for your phone, voila.
(they should make it in orange or lime)

Switch.
light switch.
i’m not sure i’m buying this one.
but you could convince me.

it’s a lightswitch/hook to encourage
people to use less electricity.

i’m just not sure that
“i’m sitting here in the dark,
but, hey, my coat isn’t laying on the floor!”
works for me.

plus, wouldn’t you keep catching your arm
on this as you walk past the wall?

ps – i should tell you what cory cavin is really famous for right now.
those chick-fil-a lovers among us?
he’s this year’s cow in the chick-fil-a cow calendar
no joke. i would’ve definately thought that thing
was computer generated, but noooooo.
he wore that cow costume & fat suit for shoot after shoot,
and one time they even strung him up in the air
on astor place to get the rock-star-suspended-in-the-air shot.

after they shoot cory, they photograph a real cow
and photoshop that cow’s head onto cory’s cow body.

who knew?

pps – okay, who has enough coordination to do this?
breakfast on the go.

happy weekend, amigos.
kj

trick or treat birthday-style

the best non-party party we’ve ever had:
we invited friends who live close by to
come and ‘trick-or-treat’ our house
for betsy’s birthday.

(the idea:
if you ring our bell &
say ‘happy birthday, betsy’
we’ll give you cupcakes)

so, between 3-4:30pm yesterday,
betsy squealed with glee everytime
another set of friends showed up
at the front door to sing ‘happy birthday‘ &
to eat a birthday cupcake with us.

at 5:30pm she curled up,
put her head down and
went
to
sleep.

now that’s a fun birthday.

thank you, meghan, for making it all work.

thank you,
daichendts, kingstons,
jennings, harris,
crosby + morgan families,
for making a newly-minted
2 yr old so happy.

acquiring a new skill set

we’ve hit a new stage.

cory said in the suburbs it’s called
the ‘chauffer‘ stage.
and that in the city
it might be called,
‘chauffering without a vehicle‘
or
‘how in tarnation do i get kid 1 to place A
and kid 2 + kid 3 to place B
(while kid 4 naps) simultaneously?!’

we’re somehow entering a new part of this stage,
and i have very immature skills &
very few tricks
and it doesn’t feel very good.

in fact, it feels quite bad.

he did offer helpful encouragement,
‘maybe you should call chris or stacy,
or someone who is farther along in this
and get some advice.‘

point taken.

i just wonder how many tearful days
it will take before i get my feet under
me a bit.

(surely someday the arithmetic of
ballet+cubscouts+mom’sgroup+artclass+…
won’t throw me,
but will be like, yawn, been there done that.
four kids, schmore kids. got it down.
right?)

sous chefs:
the girls helped make chili for a crowd last night,
fellowship group, specifically. 

all a twitter

so, our mom’s group bible study girls
came over for a little ‘mom’s night out’
and then they left
and i can’t sleep
because i’m still thinking
of all of the fun conversations
and wishing the night could’ve
gone on for another two hours.

thanks for nothin’, guys.

or thanks for a Really Fun Night,
is more like it.

jen r, pamela, karen g.,
renee, ava, rochelle,
chris, karen c. anne marie,
laran, patti, jordyn,
rachel & kara:
what fun.

(and they represent 29 precious kiddos;
sleep well, sweetpeas,
and thanks for letting mom slip away)

coryzon.com

disclaimer: cory does not endorse this list.

he was suspicious when i was questioning
him on his favorite reads of this year.

but i am going to tell you what
i would buy him for christmas
if he didn’t already own them.

“books on cory’s shelf that i
know he likes &
if i were looking for an interesting read
for a similarly-minded
male friend for christmas,
these could be a safe bet”:

1. genius, about richard feynman
2. the book about tesla (i’ll have to look it up)
3. voodoo science, fraudulent science, fast read
4. the scandal of the evangelical mind, the most approachable in his collection of m. noll books
5. survivor, by, chuck palahniuk.
you might need to skip a few pages here & there.

ny times’ notable books of 2007
ny times’ 10 best books of 2007

alive

q. how do i teach nathan, henry, caroline & betsy
to love Lord
without being
tripped up by
our own hypocrisy & legalism?

thankfully,
His grace & mercy,
melts my guilt,
pride &
even my humiliation.

‘the chief thing to be attended to is,
that it may be a spiritual service;
and the great evil to be dreaded and guarded againast
in the exercise of every duty
that returns frequently upon us,
is formality.

if a stated course of family-prayer
is kept up as constantly in its season
as the striking of the clock,
it may come in time to be almost
as mechanically performed,
unless we are continually looking
to the Lord
to keep our hearts alive.‘

-j. newton
’select letters of john newton’
p. 90

a book that my favorite tuck bartholomew
put in my hands several years ago.

i’ll never forget his reading aloud
the last paragraph in the book, p. 191,
in the middle of a staff meeting,
the gist of it being:
thwart & confound our best planning
unless it is what you would have.

4 parts of prayer

henry’s cough meant that he
couldn’t sit thru church last night,
so we sang the first four songs
and then he & i slipped out.

when the rest of the fam came home,
nathan summed up tim’s sermon for me:

ps – henry thanks you for not praying last night;
he did stay home from school today.

pps – right after this,
nathan acted out roz performing
the lord’s prayer. at one point he said,
‘i don’t think she could’ve sang any louder
if she wanted to!‘ and he danced all around
the living room belting it out, roz style.

birthday ballerina

she’ll be two on thursday;
a bit of early practice
with grandpa & grandma c. and uncle jacob

thanks, scott & katie, for the lovely flowers
+
thanks, mr. & mrs. chang and ashley & daniel, for the cake

ps – betsy thought it was funny
that nathan blew out her candles.
cory didn’t.

pps – prayer note:
nathan would like us to pray that
he has a good day at school tomorrow.

henry would not like us to pray
for his cough
because he is hoping to stay home
from school tomorrow.

sleepaway adventure

opening night at the paris
to see ’starting out in the evening’,
a stay at the hilton,
and a leisurely saunter thru the park
to return home this morning;
a perfect vacation-within-16-blocks-of-home.

thanks, dick, barb, & jacob, for quite the gift.

boxoffice cory

we popped into the apple store, fao schwartz &
crate + barrel, had coffee, sketched floorplans
(always thinking of the next reinvention
of our square footage), and still made it in
time to get good seats in the theatre.

the unicef snowflake


i could get used to waking up to this view of central park.

we ordered room service and
watched ‘no reservations’
which affirmed our love
for the original, ‘mostly martha‘.

cups & saucers

i love seeing stacks of dirty coffee cups
& saucers on my kitchen counter.

saturated tea bags,
a little mound of sugar spoons
all ready to be tidied up
but reverberating with the
conversations of a moment ago.

thank you, friends, for yet another lovely
thanksgiving day of conversations & laughter.

dad & mom cates, jacob,
cynthia, chris w, meghan,
cade & melissa, hisaya,
carol, kristie, eduardo,
ryan a, charis & ryan s,
+ the six of us
=
scrumptuous company

when caroline realized that she and cade
had the first two & last one letters of
their name in common, she clutched his
placecard to her heart as she went to bed.
special friends, indeed.


dora is betsy’s plus-one @ the kids’ table.

a moment of silence as the pie hits the table;
carol practices her blowfish impression.

ps – don’t get me wrong about the dirty cups & saucers;
they go above & beyond to load and unload
and reload the dishwasher;
the clean-up momentum is a sight to behold.

pps – we let the boys stay up for game time.
after watching us cackle thru several rounds of ‘celebrity,’
henry decided he could jump in.
he had heard us bantering in the previous
round about a well-known former baseball player,
so with his big kindergarden handwriting,
he made his contribution to the next round:
derrick strawberry.

cory & carrie,
balloon handlers extraordinaire
(did you see them in the parade?)

spectacle

thanksgiving eve
@ the radio city
christmas spectacular

caroline might have fallen asleep for a bit of it,
but henry’s eyes were w i d e open and
drinking it all in.

will friend is in the house

this answering machine message
today gave me serious chills:
(in the best way)

“hi, it’s jenny
and we have a sweet
baby boy

william john friend

8lbs …oz
he’s great
and i feel good
and we’re just so happy

love you” 

can’t you just picture her there?
my friend of so many years,
the happy mother of three beautiful children
in a cozy hospital room
in oklahoma city
with her handsome chris by her side
and a precious boy in her arms.

oh, the Lord is generous indeed.

wish i was there,  jf

thanksgiving day worship

here’s how we’ll worship
for a few moments
as a group
before we enjoy
thanksgiving dinner together.

thanksgiving readings & hymn

here it is as a word doc
if you want to cut & paste
any part of it:
thanksgiving readings & hymn

last year we sang the doxology,
and i’m sure there are many other
appropriate harvest hymns.

and if you want to remember the
tune for the hymn,
here it is at one of those
goofy cyber-organ sites
that actually i love.

outtakes

luckily, we have a few more weeks
to keep trying to get a family photo
where at least 5 of the 6 of us
are looking at the camera.

or at least not looking like clowns.
or something like that.

and koen isaiah booker
is home from the hospital
enjoying his snuggly family.
yay

and baby boy friend should be
joining the world momentarily.
go, jenny

ps – free jane austen font

ww fever

r+p have fueled a new addiction:
the west wing.

of course, many of you have known
these characters for years,
so it feels funny to just now be
introduced to toby, c.j., sam & josh.

but here we go.
we’re on episode 3 of the first season
and they’ve loaned us season 1-6.

we’ll have to ration them.

it does make citywrites work
go so much faster with an interestingdistraction.

nathan and i bet a quarter
on whether or not the tree @ lincoln center
would be up already,
since it’s nine more days until the lighting.

type-a personalities will be so pleased;
the tree is up & waiting.

and nathan is twenty-five cents richer.

ps – donna & ellison leave on nov 28 to
go pick up their baby girl, emma luying.
hip hip hooray

he gets me

we saw american gangster last night &
give it 4 stars.
cory flinched at the druggies-with-needles shots,
and i flinched at russell crowe’s confused accent (wha?).

thank you, jules, for manning the fort

in one of the evening’s conversations,
i floated a beta-version
mildly-labor-intensive house idea to cory.

today, i asked him if he had given
any thought to my proposal,
if he was liking the vibe.

he paused and then gently responded,
“i was going to wait until you brought
it up a few more times to
see how you actually felt about it
and then weigh in on it.”

hmm. that boy knows me well.

saturday afternoon
birdhouse planning session

in the workshop

hanging the finished product

vacancy
(best rates in manhattan)

luif

is it working?
did you recognize our new acronym?

lighten up, baby, it’s friday.

5 1/2 things to distract you from the
huge pile of asap work on your desk:

5. i want to wear this font like a jacket.
it’s just so cozy. feel script @ veer.

4. i worked with them on a project;
you know those people who just reek of hip-ness?
and it makes you aware of your acutely un-hip-ness?
avro|KO

3. cory turned me on to the sports guy
and though, oh, 70% slips right past me
i’m amused, nonetheless,
and can amuse cory by throwing around
my (faux)currentsportsknowledge.
which makes him love me, i know.
(i can hear him now,
‘iloveitwhenyoutalksportstome,babe’)

2. this one’s for cory.
i started reading this techno guy
awhile ago and this one has me cracking up.
rands in repose.

1. the muji store opens today
and they’re giving reusable bags
as gifts if you head down there asap.
wendy & i use their photo albums,
love them.

before now, you could only get their
goods at the moma store (or online).
see you there.

and

0. (i should’ve started at 6) etsy.
that sweet online community where you make or find
cool things to sell to other people who are
making or finding cool things to sell to you.
look around you.
make a craft.
post it &
sell it, baby.

etsy shops i like:
modern printed matter
orangebeautiful
100s of sparrows
you get the idea.
now start designing!

happy friday, amigos.

ps – you must tell me when you
start your etsy shoppe.

pps – henry was up late last night
drawing things to sell in his etsy store.
he didn’t make it thru the first one.

happy birthday, ethan & ted 

holiday

dahling,
i had a holiday today.

my angel husband
took the girls to the preschool
at his work (thank you, credit suisse)
and i was
Off
Duty.

smartiepants thought it was hilarious
that i was so busy saying goodbye
that i locked myself out of the house
in my nightgown.

i dropped the boys off at school
and was in the garment district
before the metal grates were up.
a leisurely walk to the village,
an hour in the strand,
a coffee & a read at city bakery,
a turn thru h&m, daffy’s + sephora,
a saunter up to 24th & park
to chat with cory’s colleagues
and then a
lunch date with
this handsome stranger.

coffee at the shake shack,
18th street paper stores to
pick up some of morven’s
wedding goodies,
a pop into books of wonder &
then back up to pick the
boys up from school.

have you ever seen a shorter
line at the shake shack?

the elegant white building
second from the right
is where ‘daddy preschool’ is,
right across the street from
madison square park and
just a block from cory.

a jolly holiday, indeed.

indoor sledding

they call one game ‘mailman‘
and the other game ‘bootiebumpers;’
there’s evidently a difference
but i still can’t make out what it is.

this game can last up to an hour;
a satisfying hour for the matron of the home
who is busy Getting Things Done
and enjoying the laughter soundtrack.

betsy will squeal along in encouragement
but that girl is too smart for them;
she steadfastly resists their pleas for her
to join them as the ‘driver,’
“comeon,betsy!comeon,betsy!“

storytime

the girls and i are snuggled up
on my bed reading.

their choices:
madeline, toot & puddles, and
this is london.

my choices:
good & angry, by turansky & miller
and
peacemaking for families, by ken sande

i think the next several years of my
life will be spent reading and rereading
books on family conflict & communication.

now that’s something to look forward to.

(i can never remember if
sarcasm comes thru online)

“what causes fights and quarrels among you?
don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
you want something but don’t get it.”
james 3:1-2

“when faced with conflict, we tend to focus
passionately on what our opponent has done
wrong or should do to make things right.
in contrast, God always calls us to focus on
what is going on in our own hearts
when we are at odds with others. why?
because our heart is the wellspring of all
our thoughts, words and actions, and therefore,
the source of our conflicts.
‘for out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft,
false testimony, slander.’ (matt 15:19) “
-peacemaking for families, p. 16

betsy gives up,
cory keeps going

ps – jennifer is cracking me up.

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 commandments,
and by your protection
we may live in peace,
through the merits of
Jesus Christ our Savior.
amen.’

and as tim quoted
hudson taylor yesterday,

‘Lord Jesus,
make thyself to me
a living, bright reality.’

ps – template update:
i added the hudson taylor quote
to my weekly calendar
which i print out on
cardstock & 3-hole punch
to slip in my notebook.
tim encouraged us to pray it
frequently throughout the day.

a patriotic jaunt up fifth ave

nathan marched in the veterans’ day parade today
with his cub scout troop;
he’s carrying the american flag
as they pass in front of st. patrick’s cathedral
(see saks fifth ave to the right?)

henry marched as support staff

week in review

‘behold,
how good & pleasant it is
when brothers dwell
together in unity.’
psalm 133:1

clearly, i take pictures of the
happy parts of the week,
the parts where the ‘brothers’
are actually dwelling in gigglyunity.

the less-than-happy parts of the week
aren’t photo-chronicled,
so much as written,
in frustratedconcerned script,
on my heart
and in my notebook
and oft-discussed with the Lord,
and with cory.

(it’s a thick notebook)

adam & nathan teach laura all she knows about pokemon

preschool music; abby, jane & caroline pray before class

julie & daniel visit from connecticut, eli & jane

we were glad for every opportunity to get to cpw
this week to run on the marathon grandstands
still waiting to be hauled away.
loudloudloud!
acceptable loudness,
a rare treasure in the city.

betsy plays nursemaid to baby laura; daniel & meghan

rain rain go away

all soccer games in the [soggy]
north meadow were cancelled;
bummer.

but it means henry gets to play his
first solo settlers of catan game
with us. and he’s killing us.
he’s the sheep king with
3 cities & a 2:1 port.
ouch.
cory, nathan & i can’t hold out much longer.

baby boy booker update:
koen isaiah is his hame, sweetiepie.
he’ll be in the nicu for 10 days at least,
for a full course of antibiotics.
sonogram yesterday looked good.

big grateful tears
when i read morgen’s
gladi gladi day post.
what a redemptive, significant work.
(her family, the kleinknechts,
helped start redeemer
and are mainstays in our church)

ballerina dreams

smashing mag. lists 40 free fonts,
with some good modern ones.

lighten up, it’s friday

i’m still working on the acronymn, luif,
but it’s just not taking off like
i would have thought.
luif!
come on, it’s so catchy.
admit it.
lighten up already.

anyway, you know i try to
distract you on fridays.
to get you to slack off for a
few random moments of
unnecessary
distraction.

mischevious intentions disclosed,
here’s today’s 8-point rabbit trail
of utterly unimportant information:

1. gawker is selling these shirts…

“new york:
if you can make it here,
you probably have a trust fund.“

“yes, i am quietly judging you.”

2. these would be fun to make:
word search gift tags
(i’d put the person’s name in the grid
and then circle it in orange)

by debi vanzyl

3. i love me some bing crosby christmas
do you think cory will notice if i put
up the christmas decorations early?
scroogiecates makes me wait until after
thanksgiving (just ’til that saturday, thankgoodness)
but who are we kidding?
gracious home has had theirs out for 3 wks now.
i want to move in it’s so pretty over there.

4. crate & barrel goes hip:
how happy are we that cb2 has opened a store?
great design & killer prices, like ikea.

but, unlike ikea,
1. you don’t have to leave the city
and
2. pronunciation isn’t an issue.
(kj to ikea employee: i’m looking for faktum.
i mean, baktum. no, bakenn i think it’s
bakken. or gulliver.
anyway, it’s a TABLE about yay-high…oye)

5. creepy carpet
boontje is famous for great designs,
but this one is slightly creepy in my opinion,
a felt cut-out rug:
‘little field of flowers rug’ by tord boonjte

i can’t think of anything besides,
‘i bet there are crumbs in there’
and
‘how do you vacuum that thing?’
and
‘if i was a bug, i would definately
choose this as my new home’

6. alarm clock rug


to turn it off, you have to put both feet on it.
i can think of a few people who would benefit from this…

7. diy wallpaper
a store in lisbon painted on a black & white mural
and lets the customers color it in

you could draw a 3×3 frame with marker,
draw in your own mural &
let your family/friends color it in.
could look cool.

8. henry had to run get a paper bag to put
on his head, “it’s a hat, mom! that’s so funny!”
to take a ‘funny’ photo. hmmm.
to a five year old, i suppose.

hardy har har

stretching our legs
after school

usually, you roll down a hill.
but they decided to just ‘roll’.

tilt your head (or your laptop) to the left:

mr. nixon told him this one
in math class yesterday

“joe plants the seed”
evidently, papa taught him this joke,
but i had never heard it before.

a kiss & a smack

baby boy booker

hiphiphooray!
corey & kathy have a new baby.
a sweet boy.
who will be named soon.

12:17am today
9lbs 2oz, 21 inches

please pray for cutiepie
as he’s in the nicu and
they’re running all of the tests
and picking & poking
our little blue bundle.

hang in there, little buddy.
and mom & dad.

xander & bryn
aka. big brother & big sister

i’m ‘lime’

i’m trying to ‘go green’,
but i’m not there yet.

so ‘lime’ it is.

with a desire to make steady
steps in the green direction
of thoughtful consumption.

i have 2 reusable grocery bags
(the kind that are light enough to
schlep to the store w/ children in tow
yet sturdy enough
to carry things home without tearing)
and 10 fairway plastic bags w/ paper liners.
(my weekly grocery run requires 12-13
shopping bags to tote our 4 gallons of milk,
9lbs of apples + other groceries)

so i tuck the fairway bags inside the reusable
cute ones (one from kara & one from whole foods)
and feel like i’m at least making an effort.
as i collect other reusable bags,
i’ll recycle the f’wy bags until i have
all cloth-ish bags.
right?

i’d love to hear other
eco-friendly habits you guys have.

cute grocery tote
from charles & marie via swissmiss

brittany has a way of making
normal life so interesting.
caroline, jane, betsy & henry
crowd around to watch her
open a work package.
then she rewrapped her cell phone
inside & let nathan call it so they
could hear it ring and open the
present all over again.
lovethewayshethinks.

ps – i do live in an apartment,
don’t own a car
and regularly use mass transportation.

maybe that’s enough to get me from
lime
to
spring
but not quite
kelly.

pps – brit’s first issue of victoria
just hit newsstands. nov/dec issue.
congrats.

spin doctor

scene:
c & kj trying to eke out a few more minutes
of snuggly shut eye while the kids,
unadjusted to the time change,
are scooting around the house,
laughing + wrestling, at 6:30am this morning.

henry, enter stage left:
“i think we should have the electronic man
come to our house when he’s in the neighborhood
so he can take a look at the computer
since nathan made me
push it off the top bunk.”

it’s all in how you present it.

urban carpool

with rachel & holly @ 73rd and broadway.
can you see trey’s head peeking out behind baby logan
(snuggly in his stroller sleepingbag)?
and sweet sacha on the right.
gas-free carpooling, no less.
the walk to mom’s group is 1.3 mi each way.
and it was a crisp day, mid-50’s and sunny.

happy birthday, brittany
love you.

scripture, literally

at the end of bible reading this morning,
cory asked the boys what was their
favorite part of what he read (proverbs).

nathan: ” ‘don’t be like the horse & mule
which have no understanding.’
eeeee-awwwwww, eeeeee-aawwww”

henry: i like it when he said,
‘plunge my heart, O Lord,’
like a toilet plunger.

and betsy is mastering,
‘jesus, you’re my firm foundation’
which she belts out at song time
and wanders around the rest of
the day humming her version of.

jen’s scrumptuous cooking for us in princeton
this weekend inspired this tian
for our dinner last night.
potato, eggplant, tomato + onion,
mist some olive oil on top,
splash with s+p,
grate a bit of fresh parmesan
and voila.
i roasted them for an hour &
served with porkchops.

cynthia & meghan joined us,
a cheery, delicious evening.

sugarcoated

how many new bakeries can
our little neighborhood hold?

believe it or not,
magnolia is joining the pack.

ps – congrats, morgen!
(and glen & carole)

catechism

the boys and i were reviewing our cat. q’s
this morning and i kept choking up.

q22. what is a sacred covenant?
a22. a relationship that God sets up with us
and guarantees by his holy word.
gulp.
He initiates & He guarantees the fulfillment.

q38. can you go to heaven with this sinful nature?
a38. no, my heart must be changed before I can
be fit for heaven.

q39. what is the changing of your heart called?
a39. the new birth or regeneration.

it melts me.
and listening to nathan & henry
saying it to me, double yum.

ideas for teaching the catechism to children.

catechism resources .
we use big truths for little kids, by susan hunt.
a few years ago, we stole carol herring’s idea &
made an catechism sticker chart out of the
front & back of one piece of foam core (2′ x 3′)
which we still use
(i wrote q. 1-63 on the front of it and
morven wrote 64-141 on the back.
we love seeing your handwriting, m.)

text of the children’s shorter catechism
this one is a tiny bit different from the one
provided in the hunt book.

i don’t think henry understands bunny ears.
you usually don’t give them to yourself, hon.

cjc

this is dedicated to the one i love:

ps – atlantans: check out sid’s new store
(brittany’s good friend) which has already
been written up in daily candy.

pps – ?
henry just asked me how to spell “blinding ghostly insect”
wha?

henry, houston, hank, nathan & trey
burned holes in that slide tonight

i.will.not.be.left

when the boys + cory leave
every morning,
betsy stands sobbing at the door
too sad for words
to be left behind.

as c was beginning the
exitshuffle this morning,
we noticed betsy’s new strategy.

shoes on.
(by herself)
pink new balance running sneakers, check.
i.will.not.be.left.behind.today.

nice work, girl!
too bad you had to stay home with me, anyway, though.

alter ego

one of the random jobs that i do
with citywrites is that i write + send
birthday cards to the children of employees
wordwide on behalf of the c.e.o. of
an international company based here in new york.

effectively,
i forge this man’s signature
several thousand times a year
and have done so for the past few years.

so when i skim thru the
times’ headlines and see his name,
i get this jolt.

i don’t know said executive,
but i get this funny feeling when
the media talks about him,
kind of a personal feeling,
or a defensive feeling
(if it’s not good press).
?

my weird moment for today.

princeton excursion

a night away
with the girls
and without our sweetpea families;
soul refreshment, indeed.
(thank you, jason, tim, james, jordan & cory)

we’ve been meeting together as a
redeemer mom’s group
for how many years now, four?

wendy, kara, kj, cayley & jen;
5 families, 16 children,
there’s a lot of prayer needed
to keep this circus going strong.

“the Gospel…says this:

you are a sinner,
a great, desperate sinner;
now come as the sinner that you are,
to God who loves you.

He wants you as you are;
He does not want anything from you,
a sacrifice,
a work;
He wants you alone.

‘My son, give me thy heart.’ prov 23:26
God has come to you to save the sinner.
be glad!
this message is liberation through truth.
you can hide nothing from God.
the mask you wear before men will do you
no good before Him.

He wants to see you as you are,
He wants to be gracious to you.
you do not have to go on lying to yourself
and to your brothers,
as if you were without sin;
you can dare to be a sinner.
thank God for that;
He loves the sinner but He hates sin.”

-dietrich bonhoeffer, life together, p. 111

circle one: work or not work

there are times in my week
where i think to myself,
‘the next 2 hours
are either going to work
or they’re not going to work.’

then i pray that the Lord will be with us,
think thru the plans one (ten?) more time
and then
i
get
ready.

yesterday afternoon, it worked.

picking the boys up early from school,
waking the girls early from naps,
n to the kramers (thankyou,m),
b to carrie (adoreyou,cjl)
and h & c to dr. ward’s for their
simultaneous animal–er, annual–check ups
and then pick up in reverse order.

dinner was such a happy affair
partly because i was so relieved
at how well the dance went.

and also because we were celebrating
with our favorite pick-me-up dinner:
warm fairway baguette,
rotisserie chicken +
sushi.
we’re all happy then.

oh, and did i mention the pumpkin?
we passed 4 gorgeous pumpkins
set out for the trash on various streets
so we chose our favorite & lugged it home.
(we made betsy walk; it was so big it had
to ride in the stroller. she was delighted.)

so tonight, while i’m away, they get to
carve a post-halloween pumpkin
with cory.

henry’s already begun drafting
his idea for faces.
option 1: rock star
option 2: bandit

i think today is going to work.

lisa, we love the girls’ polka dot shirts you sent; thank you, fashionista.

the shoe-line before the boys
go out the door to school
and the girls’ friends come for
co-op preschool.
boys coats, check.
girls socks & shoes, almost-check.

i know ava said they were
renovating the bldg next door to hers
but i had no idea it would
be so extensive. the ligh’s window/apt
is just up to the left (6th floor)
of this photo. oye; what a project.

all you have to do is breathe

i admit it.
i am that woman.

the woman who goes around
on winter nights
after her children have fallen asleep
and
rubs vicks vaporub on their
little chests,
in hopes that the menthol action
will keep the colds at bay.
(and partly out of olfactory nostalgia
for my mom & grandma)

last night,
long after everyone was in dreamland,
i was making the rounds
and after i souped nathan up,
i reached over to put some magic on henry’s little chest.

at the first touch of my fingertip,
he sits bolt upright
looks me dead in the eye
and says
‘i hate that stuff!’

nice.
(not to worry,
i gave him a little dab anyway)

strikin’ the boy band pose
down by the water
eli, nathan, henry & adam

remembering mr. weber

our love to the weber family;
sarah was my sweet sweet college roommate.
they are the most loving, exuberant, godly family.
the dallas cowboys remember john weber

pre-pre-advent

last november & december,
we started memorizing
col 1:15+ with nathan & henry.

(we opted for that instead of
the matthew or luke
traditional ‘birth of jesus’
which they can learn later.)

that’s what we’re working
on again this pre-(pre-)advent
season again this year.

it’s early & dark
and nathan and i are
snuggled up on the couch
under n’s duvet,
he’s rereading harry p. #6
and
i’m reading col 1.
gulp.

the invisible God made visible.
Christ is both the agent and the goal of salvation,
He himself is not created,
His resurrection makes him the
creator, sustainer & then redeemer.

what a way to start a friday.

colossians 1:15+
“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For by him all things were made,
things in heaven
and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers
or dominions or authorities;
all things were
created by him
and for him…”

cynthia

morven

girls holding on

mental soundtrack: bette middler singing ‘fly’

a quiet day

welovejulia

karate kids

hear the squeals?

apple cake

it’s time.

get your apples,
your knife &
my great-grandmother’s recipe
(typed by my own grandmother’s
beautiful 93-year-old hand,
this morning,
from clay center, kansas,
which she then emailed to me,
because i ruined my copy.
she’s so savvy):

“APPLE CAKE RECIPE

2 c. chopped apples unpeeled
add 1 c. sugar and mix
(kj’s note: let sit for 2 minutes)

add 1 unbeaten egg and
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 c. cooking oil
1/2 c., nuts (walnuts)
1/2 c. coconut (optional)

Sift together
1 1/2 c. flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
(i  add 1 or 2 Tbsp sugar to the dry mix)

mix together and put in geased 8×8 pan
bake for 40- 50 minute at 350*
(i wonder what the asterisk is for?)

Serve plain or with topping or ice cream.

This was grandma’s recipe and will freeze good.
I love you,
Grandma”

i’ll take her word on it freezing well;
we’ve never had a bite left to freeze.

i’ve made this our fall fellowship groups for 11 years now.
and i still remember the first time i made it at our
112/broadway apartment before our second fg mtg.
i was so nervous & excited as to who the Lord was
going to bring through our door to worship together.
and here we are,
many autumns & many apples later,
worshipping the Lord together
and thinking of my godly Grandma Freiheit.

swap?

i have a 33″ x 39″ wood framed mirror
and
am looking for a (framed?) mirror
about 22″ x 26″

do you have one tucked under your
bed & want to swap?