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A numbered list of minutiae

edie — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:07:31 +0000

1. By day, I’ve been teaching my girls and then traipsing to dance classes and then over to the old house to get it ready to sell. I love that house. I will always love that house. It’s like visiting an old friend—who’s wearing a really cool turquoise dress. By night, the kids have enjoyed some adventure swimming.

2. My new kitchen installation has been delayed a bit but is set to go in on June 1st.

3. Taylor’s home from college and is enjoying lake life with his friends. Caiti wrote me the most endearing card for Mother’s Day–that I keep by my night stand and read over and over.

4. I’m slowly but surely adjusting to my new life. There are so many things to love. Soon I hope to do some fun projects around this place. For now, it’s seems mammoth enough to grocery shop and make dinner and do laundry (and school and sell a house and design a kitchen, etc etc etc)

5. The girls and I are in the middle of book 6 of the Harry Potter series. I’ve said it before but I am deeply indebted to Jo Rowling.

6. I’ve been listening to lots of CD’s from the homeschool conference and oh my word—–such good stuff. I’ve learned so much about my kinesthetic learner from Stephen Guffanti. I’m ordering his book soon, ”Does my Child Really Have ADHD.”

7. I’m tempted to attend the CCLE conference in June. Gene Veith will be there and the topics look fantastic. I could so be a conference junkie.

8. I’m reading A Little Book on Joy by Matt Harrison. What a fantastic read—very joy inducing!

9. I’ve been listening to an amazing 2 hour bible study on Leviticus (from the Issues Etc 24) and it may be one of the best bible studies I’ve ever listened to. Who knew that Leviticus was so chocked full of goodies.

10. As our school year winds down, I’m debating our summer plans. How much time should we take off if any? I like the idea of summer vacation but shouldn’t it be a couple of weeks long instead of a couple of months? Don’t we now live in constant summer vacation at this lake house? What camps should we sign up for? What books should we read? Can we master the math facts and have fun doing it? After listening to Andrew Pudewa‘s talk on mastery learning, I realize that we’re conditioned to learn things and then forget them. I spent 20 years in school doing that and I hope I can create a different paradigm for my kids.

11. I apologize to those of you who have emailed me that I haven’t answered yet. I’m not on my A game but I’m trying catch up. Some of you are trying to decide about homeschooling for next year and you’re torn about what to do. Here’s my 2 cents. I’ve never done anything in my life (including medical school) that has so changed me and challenged me as homeschooling. I am profoundly thankful for the opportunity to do it and I am learning everyday, often by my mistakes. To do it right, you must lead by example and my example setting is so incredibly flawed. I am more in tune with my children than ever, which can sometimes be disturbing. Why? Because when you see them clearly day in and day out, you see your own struggles and sin manifested in them. It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing yourself for what you really are. But just like with our spiritual life, the redemption is sweet. We fail miserably and we forgive and start over the next day. It’s all at once beautiful and tragic and profound. I say, if you’re pondering and thinking and researching about it, just do it. You won’t regret it.

12. Lastly, I’ve been pondering boy names. I don’t know why. No, I’m not pregnant. Let me repeat, as much as Steve and I would like more kids, it’s probably not possible and I’m NOT PREGNANT. However, if I were, I think I’d name him James Elijah Wadsworth. James: after my daddy. Elijah: after Elijah the prophet Wadsworth: after his daddy. And his nickname would be Jack after C.S. Lewis (whose nickname was Jack). His initials would be JEW and Christ was a Jew, ya know.

So there. That’s my numbered list.

And if anyone has seen my mojo, I’d really like to get it back please. This barely surviving business is for the birds.

Love ya and thanks for all your well wishes and your ‘for goodness sakes would you blog something’ remarks!

good news/bad news

edie — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:37:38 +0000

The good news is: I finally finished my asymmetric plate wall in my dining room. My dear sister, who was here for Mother’s Day, even approved. And she’s not usually a fan of anything asymmetric.

The bad news is: I fear I may be channeling Mrs. Roper from 3′s Company. I’ve taken ‘house dress’ to a whole new level.

TMI?

edie — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:51:12 +0000

I’m blogging today over at Melissa’s place. I’m talking about motherhood and vulnerability. Oddly enough, in my real life, I’m getting my first mammogram. I will soon be the expert in vulnerable now won’t I? Doctors make the worst patients but after your urgent pleading (Darby) I’ve also scheduled my yearly preventive health exam.

In other health related news, I started a new high protein (NO CARBS, NO SUGAR, NO DIET SODA) diet 2 weeks ago. I was feeling awful all the time. Can anyone say “too many major life changes in one year?” I don’t metabolize sugar correctly and if I start on carbs early in the day, I’m on a bouncy ball all day with cravings and emotions and the like. I was VERY skeptical. I have the willpower of Winnie the Poo. But for some reason, this has worked for me. It’s called the Ideal Protein Diet and you can only get it through a physician. You only stay on the very strict portion (phase 1) for a few weeks. I’ve lost almost 7 pounds and 5 inches and really feel better. I didn’t go to the doctor seeking a diet. I went because I felt run down and stressed and tired all the time. It’s not a miracle diet but it works for me because I’m a carb-addict. Funny thing is, when I was in medical practice, I specialized in helping people make lifestyle changes; losing weight, smoking cessation, stress reduction and all sorts of behavior modification. And now I’m in need of a little lifestyle tweaking myself. There’s no shame in that. We all need help sometimes. It’s okay to be vulnerable.

People often ask me why I never talk about health on this blog. I was trained very traditionally in an MD program but found myself much more intrigued by alternative approaches to wellness and prevention. I firmly believe that what we put in our bodies is most often responsible for our health outcome. If I ever go back into medicine, I’ll likely retrain to do alternative medicine. So, I don’t talk about traditional medicine because there’s only s portion of it I believe in. And I don’t talk about alternative medicine because I haven’t properly educated myself in it and so much of it is so darn new age. I guess I’m in a holding pattern so until I get it all figured out, I’ll continue to talk about my children, my faith, my favorite books, and my butter-laden recipes.

Now, head on over to Melissa’s where there will be no mention of protein or mammograms or butter.

Slipping

edie — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:58:35 +0000

Where have I been?

For starters, I’ve been a little preoccupied with life. I had a wonderful visit with Taylor and Caiti. We found Caiti a gorgeous prom dress and despite my desperate pleas, Taylor did not let me cut his hair. The girls and I went to see Alice in Wonderland, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And if you missed it, Nester has a hilarious post about slipcovers which you should read. I was supposed to go to her house and help with the slipcover-fest and couldn’t make it so she photoshopped me in at various places. And then complained that I was absolutely no help whatsoever. I missed seeing Kristi and missed meeting Tiny Twig. I did however, upon inspiration from my friends, begin a little slipcover party of my own. I’m about 3/4 of the way done and I love it so far. It’s such a great solution for thrift stores chairs that need rescuing.

I also have a great story to share with you soon. I’ve given sneak peeks on Twitter. Hope you have a great Sunday!

and the winner is……….

edie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:41:32 +0000

cherry picking last summer with Grandma at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Vicki’s farm.

The winner of the Pleated Poppy’s yummy stuff is……

Mott from the The Courtyard Gate.

If you will send me your address by email, I’ll make sure you get your ‘loot’. Congratulations my friend!

In other lifeingrace news:

1. I’ve been spring cleaning. I took four bags of stuff to Goodwill from my laundry room.

2. I’m trying to finish Hamlet by Friday for bookclub. Wish me luck.

3. I’m reading a fascinating book called The Hidden Key to Harry Potter that explores all the christian symbolism in the books.

4. I could probably finish Hamlet by Friday if I wasn’t reading three other books at the same time.

5. I received a ‘Beautiful Cup’ award from Internet Cafe for having a ‘unique and artistic’ blog about faith. I’m very humbled and grateful. I think ‘unique’ be another word for quirky! Thanks to whoever nominated me.

6. My girls and I are in such a good stride with our schooling. I’ll update soon. I’m already thinking of starting a bookclub for them this summer based on an idea I got from a book I just finished called The Thomas Jefferson Education: A Home Companion.

7. Happy Birthday to Grandma Evadne. We love you!

when are you coming to visit?

8. I’ve been making lots of bread. I need a whole post to tell you about it.

9. I’m hoping to plant some grass seeds today to have fresh grass for Easter decorations.

10. I’m a little behind on Read the Bible Through in Three Months. I hope to finish by Easter. I highly recommend it and it usually takes a little less than an hour a day.

catching up

edie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:36:57 +0000

i enjoyed my brief media fast. if you’ve never

‘unplugged’ for a few days, you should try it. it’s harder and easier than you think.

i kept a paper journal–which was kinda fun.

i wrote down 7 or 8 ideas for new blog posts. you can take the girl away from her blog but you

can’t take the blogger outta the girl, i guess.

i was able to spend a litte more time in books…..

and a fair amount of the night hours on the sofa watching the olympics with a mighty handsome fella {who just so

happens to be a former hockey player}……

i planted a teeny little herb garden…..

and stood by watching while hank helped em play the piano and daddy taught el to play chess.

the girlies and i snuck away to the craft room and painted and sewed…..

we studied marco polo and made chinese farmer hats…..

i sat amazed as the littlest one got pretty darn good at chess—she even challenged taylor to a game….

i made 2 lemon pound cakes and shared one with a friend. I used a plain pound cake recipe

and then added the zest and juice of one lemon—then made a lemon glaze using

the juice of one lemon, a little heavy cream and about 3/4 c of powdered sugar. Mmmmm!

we were thrilled that this one came home and since she’s loves to cook, she and i made

thai food and homeade iced brownies. she asked for a kitchen aid mixer for christmas. now that’s

a 17 year old after my own heart!

we got to see all these lovely people {minus the santa hat and the christmas tree} for birthday gatherings

and guess who forgot her camera? i’m slipping. but i did spend a inordinate amount

of time reading the manual for my nikon. and i used a highlighter

and made notes in the margin. yes i did. this may be further evidence

that blogging is good for me.

so there you have it.

i missed you all and will definitely not be able to catch up on everything in my reader.

if there’s a blog post I missed that you think i should read, let me know.

if you’ve ever made notes in the margin of an instruction manual, i’d like to know that as well :0

and if you’re a local blogger, my friend patty and i are having a blogger’s luncheon

this friday at timeless elegance tea room from 11-1 in their

upstairs private room. this is a first for us so

if you plan on coming, let me know by comment or email. we’d love to have you.

if you already rsvp’d on facebook, then we’ve got you counted.

today, i’m making this wonderful lengthy version of chicken and dumplings. should be fun!

Our Good Samaritan

edie — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:40:36 +0000

I woke up Saturday morning with a raging head cold. I’ve used {roughly} 11,234 ‘puffs with lotion’ tissues, a full tube of chapstick and bottle of kids’ cold medicine. Too bad I don’t know a good doctor. Adding insult to injury, the Vikings got beat, my dirty wet dogs are ruining my school room and my new fangled bangs look like ‘Farrah Fawcett meets Joe Dirt’. I had forty seven posts in my head on Friday and today—I’ve got nothing. So I’m reposting from last January on a timely subject of the good samaritan. The devastation in Haiti has left us all feeling desperately hamstrung with what to do and how to help. We sometimes pat ourselves on the back for our ‘good samaritan-ly’ works. I hope this post will rescue us all from ourselves and free us to see who the Good Samaritan really is.

What were you taught about parables? Earthly stories with heavenly meanings? True enough I guess. But why would Jesus speak in parables? Why didn’t he just give us a clear cut list of what He wanted us to do? Jesus himself answers that question when he say, ”….so that you can know the mysteries of the kingdom”.

According to one of my favorite teachers Bill Cwirla,

‘He will hide the kingdom of God in earthly stories…and you won’t ‘get it’ until you get Jesus…..these parables are a crisis of faith and unbelief and you will not ‘get them’ until you get Jesus and who He is and why He came. “

This is what I love about the Lutheran theologians, they cut right to the chase when interpreting the scriptures. Where is Jesus in this parable? Jesus said ‘these are the scriptures that testify about me,’ so they look for Him—-relentlessly. I was always taught to look for myself in the parable. I was taught that they are little proverbs or stories of advice on how I should live. So the parable of the Good Samaritan would be translated something like,

“You should be a Good Samaritan too and help your neighbor. So what kind of a neighbor are you?”

Is this how you were taught to interpret parables? Inserting yourself into them at every turn?

The story of the good samaritan can be paraphrased as follows.

A lawyer (expert in the Torah) asks Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life. (Although we’re already in trouble because isn’t an inheritance a gift). Then Jesus asks him what he thinks he must do.

He says, “Love God and love my neighbor”.

Jesus says “Yes, do this and you will live”.

Jesus knows the lawyer can’t DO that but Jesus is a gentleman and will let us live by ‘the law’ if we choose.

The lawyer ‘wanting to justify himself’ says ”Well who is my neighbor?”.

And then Jesus tells the parable: A priest and a Levite,on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, pass a nearly dead man who has been robbed and beaten and left to die. They pass him by for various reasons (per Jewish law they would have been rendered unclean for priestly duties) and he’s helped by a Samaritan (not bound by Jewish law) who puts him on his own donkey, bandages his wounds, takes him to an inn and pays his bill. (paraphrased from Luke 10:25)

Imagine my surprise when I hear a wonderful gospel interpretation of the parable that goes like this:

Christ is our good Samaritan. He has found us along the road of life, beaten and robbed and desperate. He rescues us, bandages us, saves us and takes us to the inn (the church) and pays our debt. Pastor Cwirla even takes the terms of the parable in an allegorical way to say: Think of Jesus as our good Samaritan. He literally becomes our neighbor in the incarnation. He takes on our flesh and is bloodied by our sin. The punch line of the parable is that he frees us from the law. The hero of the parable is Jesus. And because the Samaritan is not bound by the law, {as are the lawyer and the priest and the Levite} he is free to serve others willingly. In other words, Christ became my good Samaritan and died to save and ransom me—-to free me from the law—-so that I am now free to serve others.

Wow, why have I never heard this before? Where have you been all my life Pastor Cwirla? I’ve been wondering around in the wilderness of legalism far too long: trying to measure up, secretly trusting in my own faith and sincerity, trying to earn my salvation and hoping that my striving would be sufficient. Strive no more. Our Good Samaritan is not shackled by the law. He fulfilled it, conquered it and delivers to us grace upon grace. Our Good Samaritan has come to our rescue.

You can listen to this Christ-centered teaching here.

Is this a new interpretation for you? Does your heart sing for joy at the thought of Christ being your good Samaritan? I’m wowed. Again. Thank you Pastor Cwirla and thank you to Issues.

**I also encourage you to occasionally post from your archives. It gives you a chance to edit and correct previous work (this one was atrocious the first go-around) and gives your new readers a look at your archived material. And while we’re on the subject of blogging, tell me whether you like the little side bar I added this weekend? Or would you prefer one column and thus, larger pictures? Your input is helpful as I work to make the new site helpful and easy to navigate! Thanks.

Happy Birthday Malachi

edie — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:41:34 +0000

This is Steve’s oldest son Malachi {with his girlfriend Alex}. Today is Mal’s birthday. We miss him so much and wish we could be with him today to celebrate! We’ve found it gets harder and harder to spend time with your grown children when they have real jobs/responsibilities. We were looking back at old pictures yesterday and growing nostalgic. Mal is quite an artist and tech-y genius; as a matter of fact, he’s one of those gifted right and left brain people that make me envious. I can’t help but see his dad in him. And after looking at cute pictures of he and Emme holding up oranges for eyes, I think we’re gonna have to call and beg him for a visit.

Happy Birthday Mal! We love you!

p.s. the first picture stolen from Mal’s (or was it Alex’s?) facebook

Forty Schmorty

edie — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0000

This is the sunrise that greeted me on my fortieth birthday. I have a good feeling about this decade. But if ’40 is the new 30′, 40′s gonna need a little help. 40′s gonna need a healthy amount of beautiful sunrises…….

and a lot of 5 hour energy drinks. 40′s gonna need a few more anti-wrinkle creams and plenty of visine or maybe a little more sleep. 40 may, in fact, need comfortable shoes. I’m not saying that 40 isn’t the new 30—I’m just saying that 40 needs a little help.

Gina, JamieKnoxville and I had lots of fun this weekend. We started out in this cab trying to go to Anthropologie—only to be taken half way to some museum. NO NO NO. This is not a trip for museums. This is a trip to see what 40′s made of.

Finally, we made it. We tried on hats and marvelled at how wonderfully EVERYTHING is embellished at Anthro. I bought the hat, wore it around in the hotel room and decided that I looked a little too Minnie Pearl. Which reminds me that some day we should talk about Hee-Haw. But not today. Today, 40 has some things to prove.

But first let me say that I could haul a cot into Anthropologie and live there. It’s the perfect combination of artsy/homey/fortyisthenewthirty. I love it there.

Then we made our way to Atlantic City (very near Jamie and Mark’s place) for dinner at Bobby Flay’s steakhouse. It was great ambiance, there were no apple martini’s involved, and the food was divine. Take note of the rose head band and the wonderful Anthro hat—which looks amazingly lovely on JamieKnoxville.

Then we made our way to Caesar’s Hotel in AC. Very chic. Right on the ocean. Beautiful upholstered headboards and a handy Starbucks. We spent $20 on slots and the rest of our fun money on a very wonderful pair of jeans. 40 needs the help of good jeans. It’s just a fact.

The next day we had a wondeful day at JK’s and Mark’s place. We got to snuggle this furball (a habanese/szhitsu mix named Rocco). I know. Stop. The. World.

And then we spent the better part of the afternoon watching the wild man in the kitchen. Mark made homeade mixed berry pie (with a homeade crust—which I will share with you soon) and homeade fettucine and meatballs. WITH HOMEADE PASTA. He was a little leary to let me near the pasta maker—–did I say he gets a little wild in the kitchen? But now I’m hooked. 40 definitely needs a pasta maker.

We drove back to Philly to catch our flight home and did a quick drive by of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I was so lonesome for Stevie and the girls and couldn’t wait to nestle back into my wonderful life. I did manage to make a good start on my ’40 list’. I’m almost finished the book ‘Till We Have Faces’—which will need a post all its’ own. I spent an afternoon (okay at least a good hour and a half) in Anthropologie. I slept til 6:50 (which I’m gonna go ahead and count as 7) and I started the ‘read the Bible in 90 days’ schedule.

Thank you all so much for your kind and funny birthday wishes. I’m so thankful for you all. You make writing this blog so much more fun than it would be otherwise. There are so many of you that I can’t wait to meet in February at Blissdom.

A huge thanks to Gina and Jamieknoxville and Mark for making my birthday so much fun. A huge smooch and thanks to Stevie for encouraging me to go and to my mom for completely spoiling my girls (they gloated about how much soda they drank and how much tv they watched!)

40 is fabulous so far!

Photoshop and Lounge Pants

edie — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:22:00 +0000

I’m sitting in my lounge pants, drinking the world’s best coffee, in my very quiet house (all kids are somehow briefly gone), desperately trying to figure out how to use my new Christmas present (photoshop cs4). It’s kinda complicated—with a very steep learning curve. Any suggestions?

So far, with Cindy’s help, I can make a simple collage, resize it, posterize it, and fiddle with the saturation and exposure. I was able to add text an hour ago and can’t seem to make that work at the present moment. Maybe by next Christmas I’ll have the hang of it. Hope you get to spend lots of time in your lounge pants today! Stevie was kinda disappointed that he didn’t get a new pair so I may have to venture out later. We decided we either need a new exercise and diet regimen or some new lounge pants. I vote for lounge pants.