Another weekend in Pinetop-Lakeside

One thing we miss from Illinois is snow.  It never snows in Phoenix, though it has hailed twice.  Fortunately, all we have to do is go a few hours north, where the elevation is 6,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level and there is snow in some areas.  The route we took to get there, Taking 60 East from Mesa to Show Low is magnificent most of the way.  Everyone has heard about The Grand Canyon and it truly is breath-taking.  But the canyon lands we passed through between Globe and Show Low are also amazing and beautiful.  The really interesting part of the trip is that 90% of the drive was spent without seeing a bit of snow.  Then, for the last hour, we would see bits of snow on the side, in the shady areas.  It wasn't until we got into Pinetop proper that we saw a consistent bed of snow, but even that wouldn't have given us much hope for more if we hadn't been watching the snow report for Sunrise Ski Park.  Sunrise is about 40 minutes from Pinetop as you head east toward Greer.  It has downhill skiing/snowboarding hills, sledding hills and cross-country skiing trails.  The previous weekend, our Young Life leaders took their students to Sunrise for a day of sledding.  Our original plan was to spend three nights and two days in snowy bliss.  We stayed at a cabin in Premiere Vacation Club at Roundhouse in Pinetop.  The cabins looked like double-wides with a facade of log cabin pine.  Each cabin had a little porch near the front door which remained unused.  The inside was very nice, but whenever I looked at the wrought-iron light fixtures with antler motifs in them, I heard Gaston from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" singing "I use antlers for all of my decorating..."  We didn't spend much time in our cabin.

The cross-country trails in Sunrise Ski Park were not groomed for classical cross country skiing, which involves forming two grooves into the snow to guide the skis so that all you had to do was focus on going forward.  Instead, it was groomed for skate skiing, which was great for Eric, but not so great for beginning skiers, like the kids.  Furthermore, the skis that Sunrise Rentals had for the boys really were horrible--1/4 inch thick plastic sheets with some buckles to hold their boots to the skiis.  By the end of the day, when they were tired, those plastic sheets weren't strong enough to keep their shoes straight, causing so many problems, especially for my youngest. Skiing in Arizona is a lot different from skiing in the north because the temperatures get in the 40's and 50's by mid-afternoon.  We all started out in the morning with light winter coats, hats, and gloves because the wind was gusting.  However, within thirty minutes, most of us had shed everything but the jacket.  I was wearing a long-sleeved bicycle jersey with pockets in the back that soon became stuffed with hats and gloves from me and a couple of other kids. I probably looked like either a hunchback or Aunt Fanny in "Robots".  We had fun and challenges throughout the day.  We skied twice for a couple of hours each time with a break in between for lunch and hot cocoa at the ski lodge.  The cocoa break allowed us to watch downhill skiers and snowboarders.  At least one of the kids wants to return and learn how to snowboard.  The afternoon session was a little more challenging, with sticky, slushy snow, a long initial climb, and then a descent down the same hill at the end.  John had to stop halfway through the loop and walk, dragging his skis and poles behind him.  Eric and Elizabeth were the only two who skied all the way back down the hill to the parking lot.  By the time we reached the hill again to go down, my legs were shot from not exercising regularly.  The whole time there was only one other cross-country skier on the trail with us and we met up with him two or three times during the day.  It was a good day.  That night, we realized that we should have brought sunscreen and pain relief medication for the sore muscles.  The next day, instead of sledding, we decided to utilize the club's pool.  It was lovely--heated to just below skin temperature with a hot tub that helped our aching muscles.  After swimming we packed, checked out, and headed home.  Below are some pictures from our trip:

Driving along 60 East

This is the start of a section of road flanked by rounded columns of rock standing on end that seemed like people lining the road to encourage you to keep going.










I loved catching a glimpse of the canyon lands and trying to get a pictures. If you don't like heights, like my husband, this view creates different feelings.  His eyes were glued to the road for more than one reason.







This rounded rock formation reminded me of scenes from "Cars."  It seemed as if we drove all the way around it, though I know we couldn't have.  The blurry bit in the front is a bit of plant sticking up.  All of these pictures were taken from the passenger seat of our Chevy Suburban.








Another beautiful rock formation.  So many of them point up to the sky, as if they want to direct our eyes to the One who made them.










Skiing Pictures

Here is my oldest.  If you have spent winters in the northern parts of the U.S., it just seems wrong to be cross-country skiing with only a long sleeve t-shirt, but if you bundled up as if you were skiing in Minnesota or Illinois, you would overheat.  For me, the biggest challenge was remembering how to ski.  I loved pushing myself into the classical lunge on the straight paths, but had some moments of panic as I had to re-learn how to snowplow downhill with a curve.  Everyone fell going downhill at some point--even Eric, my expert.

Three kids waiting for the youngest to catch up with them.  This was at the top of a long hill.  This was taken during our afternoon run, when the snow was sticky, which made it easier getting up than if the snow had been really slick.  Kyle is wearing a light jacket, Elizabeth has a jacket wrapped around her waist in case she gets cold, and Jessi is wearing fleece.  No one is wearing mittens or hats because they aren't needed.

John skiing up at the end of the climb.  Behind him is the downhill ski slopes.  I think this climb took most of his energy.  Eric stayed with him to encourage him going up.  John is also wearing a light jacket with no mittens or hat.

This is a picture of the whole gang, including Eric.  He is wearing skate skiis.  Skate cross-country skiing is just what it sounds like.  You push your legs in the same motion as when ice skating while wearing long, wide boards on your feet instead of short, thin blades.  You can see the "V" marks Eric has made in the snow.  All the kids LOVED cross country skiing, especially Elizabeth, who is the small red dot farthest from me.  We are thinking of making this an annual pilgrimage, though we might try getting some skis for the boys at pro shops in Pinetop  until they are big enough to get decent boots and skis from the Sunrise facility.

Adapting

We hit our three year anniversary of my husband being laid off by Motorola and will be celebrating our third year of living in Arizona in April.  The house we found was and still is, beautiful.  The people who lived before us did a great job of updating it to present-day standards.  And yet, I am starting to want to make it mine.  It all began when we were getting ready for Christmas doing "Christmas cleaning."  Christmas cleaning involves the refrigerator and blinds and other "extras."  The blinds were awful, but the worst ones were the blinds by the window at the sink.  Food from dishes had been flung far up the blinds.  As I tried to get the food off, I discovered that some of them had been stained.  "Why would someone put up blinds in a kitchen window that doesn't have privacy issues?," I asked.  My husband agreed with me and off came the blinds, making the kitchen with its low ceiling and rust red walls a little bit brighter and giving me an unobstructed view when I sent my kids out in the back to play.  As an added bonus, I have a window ledge to put things, once I figure out what we should our could put there.  But even before this, little ideas were starting to blossom in my head.  Okay, some of them are big ideas requiring a lot of work and maybe even a lot of money.

One idea would be to change the kids' rooms into kids' colors and maybe change their closets as much as I can.  The girls want a sea theme and the boys want a space theme. The girls need help in their closet to help keep things more organized and I have ideas, but not lots of time to work out the details.  I would love to change my bedroom from  mocha brown to something that goes with our new coverlet.  I have also dreamed from the moment we found the house of putting plantation shutters over the windows in our bedroom that overlook the living room (yes, you are reading that correctly) for both privacy and sound reduction purposes.  In reality, if money were no object, I would replace them with stained glass windows custom fitted and able to be opened when desired.  If I could, I would convert the sliding glass doors in the family room that are currently covered with bookshelves into french doors with a security lock to prevent young children from getting into the pool area without adult supervision.  I would also change the windows in the dining room into french doors with security locks because it, also would have access to the pool area, where we now have a dining set in the pool area, thanks to my grandma.

Raised beds built by MWH*

Most of our efforts this year will involve the outside.  We are in the process of converting part of our side RV pit into a raised vegetable garden.  Because Arizona is part of  opposite world, February is the best time to begin planting for a spring garden.  By summer, the sun will have burnt everything to a crisp.  Then, we can start another garden sometime in September or October.  Over two weekends, I worked with my son, Kyle and Eric shoveling the rocks covering the dirt into a big pile.  Last weekend, Eric bought the wood and some weatherproofing stain to build the bed.  This weekend, he will finish installing the irrigation system that is essential to growing things in Arizona.  Then, we have to buy a truckload of dirt and some plants and seeds to start it.  As the season progresses, there are plans to put up a sun shade to screen the plants a bit, since this area gets a lot of sun through most of the day.  The previous owners loved palm trees and we have 27 in our front and back yards, mostly in the back.  I love the palm trees in the back because they provide a lot of shade in the pool area, but less in love with the front ones.  I would love to replace one set of three in the front with a cocktail tree--grapefruit, oranges and lemon trees planted together to make one big tree.  I would also love to replace some bushes in the back with rose bushes, which also seem to thrive surprisingly well in Arizona.  We will see how much gets done this year other than the vegetable garden.

*MWH = My Wonderful Husband

Bridgetender Quarterly Update

We made it through another nine weeks of school with a week-long break at Thanksgiving to see the Minneapolis relatives and a partial break in October to see the Memphis relatives.  Here is a summary of what we learned this quarter:

History:
Tapestry of Grace is our program for both History and Literature.  We read through The Great Depression through WWII.  Elizabeth learned about FDR and Joseph Stalin in depth and Kyle and Jessi learned about Winston Churchill in depth.  John and I read through _American in the Time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt_.  The kids all learned about Anne Frank, Corrie Ten Boom,  and the Holocaust.  We also learned about Japanese internment.  We worked on a timeline of WWII, starting with initial German aggression in 1937.  We ended with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, prompting the end of the war.

Literature:
Elizabeth enjoyed reading _The Lord of the Flies_, _Our Town_ and _The mportance of Being Earnest_, and _The Red Pony_  by John Steinbeck.  Jessi and Kyle read _Mr. Popper's Penguins_, _Mary Poppins_, and _Homer Price_.  John read a lot of classic stories, like _Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel_, _A New Coat for Anna_ and _Madeline_.

Math:
We are still a Math U See family.  Elizabeth finished Zeta, which is mainly math with decimals and percent and started Pre-Algebra.  We are trying to get her motivated to work extra hard in math so that she can get through the lesson in record time and hopefully catch up by summer time.  Jessi finished Delta, which is high level multiplication and division, and started Epsilon, which is fractions.  She is also behind in math, mainly due to problems with long division.  Kyle is on track to finish Math U See Gamma by the end of the year.  John is doing well in Alpha, though he needs a little extra work to catch up.

Writing:
My friend, Tina and I are having a friend teach creative writing this year to all the kids twice a month as part of our co-op.  She worked with the three oldest of our kids and two of Tina's kids on writing a newspaper and creating a radio drama.  The kids really enjoyed the exercise and are learning a lot.  Elizabeth is very creative in her descriptions.  Jessi likes the human interest stories and Kyle likes fact-based articles. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows our kids.  She also taught John and Tina's daughter some basic storytelling techniques.  All the children loved learning from Miss Jenny.

Science:
Elizabeth got through eight modules of General Science covering The Scientific Method, the History of Science, and overview of the basic studies of science.  Jessi and Kyle  worked with Tina's oldest kids going through all but the last two chapters of Astronomy.  John started reading _Christian Liberty Nature Readers Book 1_ with Tina's daughter.  When we finish Astronomy, we will be learning about marine life.


Spanish:
We have a Spanish-speaking friend come twice a month to help us learn, mainly by speaking it.  He taught basic conversational questions and instructions that I could use with the kids.  The biggest problem in this area is getting me to talk in Spanish, since it isn't native.  I think attending a bi-lingual church is helping in the matter, at least for me.

Fine Arts:
The kids are taking classes once a month from an art teacher.  There have been some creative things from the Tapestry of Grace curriculum, like making posters and collages and play-dough scultpures.  The  kids also like checking out drawing books at the library and working on them without any help from me, probably because I wouldn't be much help in the area.  I like their independent spirits.  The primary art form of choice currently is manga.  Elizabeth is getting quite good at it.  My efforts at music became rather stalled this quarter.

I spent a few days reviewing the schedule I have with the kids to make sure that I spend an equal amount of time with them and add time for me and time with them individually.  God has been really gracious in showing me a potentially really good plan.  Another revelation is that there might be a better way to manage all the papers they create than three ring binders, which are currently NOT used by anybody.  I switched to seven pocket file folders for everyone.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Maybe Christmas, he thought... doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more!  (_How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ by Dr. Suess)

In year's past, we have prepared with cookies and other things and celebrated Christmas for the whole month of December--mainly the preparing part.  This year, we decided to try to keep gifts simple and prepare our hearts for remembering the Advent of Christ.  We did an advent wreath on Sundays and, as much as our schedule allowed, kept up our Advent calendar.  Eric found an Advent daily devotional that he read at dinner.  I tried a different Advent devotional, though I probably should have focused on something else because after two weeks, the kids had memorized the Christmas story.  In terms of preparing things, we limited the preparation to one day of decorating in early December and baking whatever cookies I could the week before Christmas, when we didn't have school activities.  We just baked three different kids of cookeis, based on family preferences.  As a family, we spent one night decorating gingerbread cookies and making a gingerbread house which was extra fun because my husband is such a goofball.  On Christmas morning, the kids eagerly checked their stockings and then, more leisurely opened their gifts.  The kids did not receive any toys from us--two of them are getting a little old for toys.  However, everyone enjoyed the gifts we were given and a lot of thought went into many of the presents.  Everyone received a surprise and we all got what we wanted.  We spent the day hanging out together and getting the dinner ready.

Benefits:
1.  I did not cry once in frustration or stress in trying to "do it all."
2.  I did not "share" my stress with others because there was a lot less of it and between God and me, it was easily handled.
3.  Post-present clean up was minimal and there was no extra work involved in trying to find room for things.
4.  I felt the peace of God, which passes all understanding and made sure to pass it on to my family.

As an early Christmas present and confirmation to keep up the good work we started this Christmas, Elz came up to me on Christmas Eve and told me that this was the first year she really felt Jesus in our house.  Mission accomplished.

"Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."  1 Peter 1:17-19

Real life examples from the Bible

Yesterday, God brought to my attention the fact that sometimes the Bible speaks simultaneously in terms of poetical imagery and down to earth facts of life.    While walking the dog yesterday, this tree caught my eye and I had to take a picture.  It isn't a very good picture, so I am going to describe it.  A lemon tree died and for some reason, the people living there decided to leave the stump.  From that stump, a branch sprouted and from that branch leaves and fruit have blossomed.  The passage I remembered from seeing it is Isaiah 11:1-5.  I am going to copy both the NIV version for its poetry and The Message translation for its down-to-earth practicality.

NIV (1984)
   A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; 
   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 
   The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, 
   the Spirit of counsel and of power, 
   the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD—and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

   He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
   but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
 with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
   He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
    Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The Message:
A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse's stump, from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him, the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding, The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength, the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.  Fear-of-God will be all his joy and delight.  He won't judge by appearances, won't decide on the basis of hearsay.  He'll judge the needy by what is right, render decisions on earth's poor with justice. His words will bring everyone to awed attention. A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.  Each morning he'll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots, and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.


Of course, this passage really is talking about Jesus, about his lineage, coming from the line of David, son of Jesse and about his character and his work.  But isn't it a comforting thought that God takes something dead (or is it only mostly dead?), whether a tree or some part of our heart and causes it to bear fruit?  And isn't it wonderful of Him to give us concrete reminders of His power and His love?


Happy Advent!  Six more days until Christmas

An Excerpt from _Beholders of the Rising Sun_ by David Plaep

Very many thanks to my BIL and SIL, Daddin' Around and Just KT, who I believe gave me _Beholders of the Rising Sun_ by David Plaep when Eric and I were either just about to be married or our first Christmas as a family of three.  If they didn't, whoever did, please forgive me for my faulty memory and know that it is really you that I am thanking.  I remember reading it that first Christmas Eve.  Several times, I had to put it down to let some of the thoughts really sink into my poor, pitiful, brain.  It helped me appreciate Christmas in a whole new way.  I have read it several times since then and I would like to share a section of it with you.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have, and may you have a blessed Advent season.

"The Word become flesh and made his dwelling among us..." (John 1:14)


The power of the Most High overshadowed Mary and the Word became flesh.  In that moment, a parting....
By the words of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, we know that there is only one God:


"Hear O Isreal, the Lord our God the Lord is one."


However, at the beginning of the Apostle John's Gospel, God reveals an additional, mysterious truth about Himself:


"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."


The Lord is one--but the He is also intimately plural.  


The relationship that our intimately plural God experiences stretches far beyond our understanding.  In fact, like little children who have only the most vague idea that Daddy and Mommy are also husband and wife, we may not even give a thought to the private live of our intimately plural God.  Like little children who cannot possibly understand the unique and mysterious pleasures of a man and woman in one-flesh relationship, we cannot comprehend the depth of pleasure and love that Father, Son and Spirit have always enjoyed together.  But the truth is, passion and desire are written in God's name:


"...the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." (Exodus 34:14)


Jealous..God's name is Jealous!


In his name, His eternal nature--such passion, such intense feelings!  The astonishing revelation in this name, Jealous, is that God has always lived an intensely passionate life.  This was true before anyone or anything was created.  


Throughout eternity, Father, Son and Spirit have been profoundly happy together; delighting in their perfect Goodness, Purity, Power and Beauty.  Their love for each other burns intensely; exquisite desire for each other--deep, everlasting pleasure.  More than anything else in the universe, this perfect love that our intimately plural God has always lived in should be jealously guarded.  It should never be disrupted.  And yet...


...The Word became flesh...


Father, Son and Spirit approached the womb of Mary and stood at the threshold of unspeakable pain.  In the moment when the Most High overshadowed Mary...a parting.  A painful, tearing in the life of God; in the way the Father, Son and Spirit have always lived.


God with God became God with us--to eventually become sin for us


In the moment when the Most High overshadowed Mary, the first groans of the Spirit--too deep for words--lifted in lament from this fallen world.

Letting go

The first weekend in December was an incredibly difficult weekend.  My Grandma Carmichael held an estate sale to get her house ready to sell.  She had lived in that house for about 50 years, spending most of her married life in it.  She and grandpa had helped design the house and it was lovely.  There is a porch between the carport and the house that has a roof and skylight so that you can sit outside in the middle of Tusconian summers and be comfortable.  It had orange trees, a pecan tree and a "fruit salad tree", producing grapefruit, oranges and lemons.  She hadn't been living in it quite a while, having moved to retirement housing five years ago after her house was robbed.  She had been renting it at "blessing rates" to help missionaries and others who needed low cost housing.  The problem is that renters don't treat a house as their own and renting tends to be more trouble than any money generated.  As much as she hated to do it, she knew that it was time to let go.

The sale was a success in that she made money and almost everything was sold.  She had done most of the work preparing for the sale, pulling things down from the walls and out of closets and cupboards, pricing them, letting friends and family chose from her stuff weeks before the event as a blessing.  I had gone down for a day before we left for Thanksgiving to grab things she had made, like quilts and afghans and a few pictures, as well as some stuff for the patio.  I also decided to take the china that belonged to her mother, wanting to keep it in the family as long as possible.  I asked her at the time how she was coping with it all.  I think at the time, she was too busy pricing things to have it really absorb.  The day of the sale arrived with a threat of rain coming down all day, though it stopped by mid-morning.  We set everything up in the carport, the porch and opened up the dining room where most of the furniture, pictures and linens were kept.  Within minutes of putting up the signs, even before she had returned, people were coming up to the house checking out the stuff.  There were hagglers and stragglers and browsers for two days.  I think then, it must have really started to hit her because, for the first time in my life, I saw her get REALLY upset about some things.  I was getting upset because my kids were in one room doing some school and watching movies and people were going beyond the boundaries of where things were and poking into all rooms.  One lady emerged from a bathroom where we stashed anything we didn't want to sell clutching a quilt my grandma made asking what it cost.  She seemed upset when we told her nothing in the bathroom was for sale. I had to put up signs telling people that nothing in the kitchen was for sale and to keep out of the rooms where we had things.  The hardest thing to see sold was my grandmother's bedroom set, the one that she and grandpa had shared during their 50 year marriage.  It sold for far less than the worth of the memories.

Before I left town to return to Phoenix, I stopped by to see my other grandmother, Nana, living in a nursing home and slowly succumbing to Alzheimers.  My favorite time to see her is actually in the afternoon, when she is in her bed flitting between sleep and consciousness, when we can have "conversations" uninterrupted by other Alzheimer's patients.  With her sunken cheeks and toothless smile and wispy white hair surrounding her face, she  reminds me more and more of a female version of the old man who cleaned up Woody in "Toy Story 2" and who also played chess against himself to win back his dentures in a Pixar short.  She no longer speaks coherently, though there have been times when I believe that she has understood what I said but replied in a new language created by Alzheimers.  Each time I visit, I mention people she should know to see if there is any sign of remembrance.  Her eyes still lit up when I talked about her mother and dad, whom I remember from my childhood.  They lit up when I talked about my mother. But I remember when those eyes  used to twinkle and dance with mischief and joy, not dully shine through age-glazed eyes.  I showed her pictures of my kids on my iPhone and she watched, entranced, though I doubt she knew who they were.  She got confused when I started talking about my husband, Eric, because her memory is of my cousin, Aric, who died many years ago as a young man.  She started talking in her new language and out of the jumble of words, there were a few that seemed to indicate that she remembered him and that he had died.  I showed her a picture of my Eric on my iPhone and told her that this was to whom I referred and watched the light in her eye dim with ignorance, even though she had attended our wedding and held several of our kids in her arms back when her mind was (nearly) whole. Each time I visit, I make sure to tell her how much I love her and miss her and how I will see her soon.  Saying good-bye is especially tough because I don't know when or if I will get the chance to see her again.  The one wry comfort I had as I left was that she was probably going to forget I existed within moments of leaving her, cutting the pain of "good-byes" short, at least for her.

As I left, I realized that, as hard as it is to let go of houses filled with memories, it is even harder to let go of the people who filled them.  My time with both grandmas is much shorter now than when I was a young, single woman or even an older, married woman.  Nana is literally living on borrowed time with an anuerism in her aorta that was supposed to have killed her three years ago.  I even see my other grandma slowing down as she approaches 83 years of life.  I know that I am not the only one going through this process of letting go and I know that I will most likely have to go through it again with my own parents and my in-laws in another twenty years.  The really good news in all of this, however, is bound up in the current season--Christmas.  It is a time when God initiated his last covenant, which would undo the death and decay ushered in by sin from the time it started in Adam and Eve and it started with a baby--new life to bring us new life.

" Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God."  1 Peter 1:18-21 (The Message)