Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Onward and Upward!

Spring of Eighth Grade Year

Monday, June 10, 2013

Just don't call me late for supper!

Where is Ethan? We are praying over dinner and someone special to me is not here.

Where is Ethan? He was indisposed. You were indisposed, but it is sad to me to think that you would not be with us around the table, if you were in the house at dinner time.

We prayed again, when you came to us, some ten minutes into the meal. Be there, my dear boy. You are a special and dear part of our family and a needed participant in our beseeching God for His blessings. It is a blessing to participate in the family with you as a part of our lives. Later on, you burnt your finger and it was a pain for you. I sympathize with your pain and it really hurts my heart that you are hurt. I do hope that you realize that the pain in my heart for your burn is not as bad as the pain in my heart for you missing the prayer over the food together. We come to God very rarely in the day as a family and it is around the table. As we traverse the earth, our time together will be a memory in our minds for longer than we are together. These times of unified prayer are a treasure and a communion with God that you will never see in the same dynamic again, even if you have a family of the same size. I don't want you to miss what heritage God has left for you. It is a spiritual privilege. Keep it and treasure it and be at the table in Heaven, with the real determination of soul.

I'm gonna sit at the banquet table, one of these days
Be There.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Sherlock Holmes has birthed a meticulous sleuth in my Ethan.

It's not angels that God puts in charge of creation, my boy rebuffs me. It is God who does the water cycle and the rock cycle, etc., etc. Oh dear boy, I am so grateful for your verbal reproofs, it gives me fuel for prayer for you. Reality as it is seen is very clear to young men. The songs and promises of God that mother sang to you in youth seem to fade into the "mythology"{your word} of the reality that we live in. As the ideology of youth fades into the excitement of manhood, don't put that file of mother's stories too far into your cabinet mind. What is real? What is mother teaching you in her mystical way? That you will dicifer for yourself, over time. I love the man that you are becoming. Wedded to truth, so young. Rebuffing fallacies as they come from your mother's mouth. Don't miss the mystery that you can't understand, while studying the truths revealed.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

The next exciting adventure of Sherlock Holmes as read by my dear and rambunxious reader, Ethan.

I do look forward to the sweet sound of your constantly changing voice, left delicately on my MP3 player. The story is engaging. The thoughtfulness that this is something that your mother would delight in is appreciated by me. I do listen, or I have listened to the first of your podcasts for me. I was surprised that amid the tumult of last evening's family dispute, for lack of a better word, perhaps feud, more aptly describes it, that you could concentrate to leave me a podcast is intriguing. We big family people have an uncanny ability to catapult ourselves outside of some of the most tumultuous circumstances, when necessary. I don't know if you did it on purpose, or just weren't aware of the tumult, or uninterested. In any case, your present is well received today and I will listen with engagement. I love you dear boy.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Grand Prix!

What an adventure was this year's Grand Prix. Ethan spent the entire first day of the prep time, designing the vehicle that he wanted to carve out of the block of wood. The joys of being thirteen is knowing that this design that you will create could win or lose the AWANA Grnad Prix. I love the enthusiasm. I love the determination of the dear boys, that God has given me. Ethan could hardly wait for this occasion. Precious little, really excites the thirteen year old mind. He is not like earlier days, when an hour laughing at a good book was enough to delight him. The videogames and the pressures of adolescence dull the emotions and it is fogged up, but every once in a while the glee of boyhood sparkle in his eyes and he is his old self again. Grand Prix was that for my Ethan. The guarded excitement was upon us and we had to go to the provided sessions for building the vehicles. Ethan forgot his design at home. Sadly, we sent Dad, to get it, but he was unable to find it. {later, we found that the design had bunched itself between the drawer where it had been placed.} Now, what to do? Now, back to the drawing board for the frustrated designer. He diligently set to try to recall the original design. Of course, there was the frustration and tears of a son of mine who is emotional about such things. I am sorry that I gave them my delicate emotional state, but it is providence and through the tears he designed again. Thank God, an encouraging Pastor came alongside and gave just the right encouragement that got my boy over his hill of frustration. It got done. This was the design he was aiming at. Now, to the jigsaw... Encouraging gentlemen showed my fine fellow the steady hand that would carve out of wood the thoughts of his mind. What a lesson in delivery he learned. What a blessing, to have people aiding the molding of my boy's character, in this session. He didn't win, but the lessons learned will carry him through the years of his life, with strength and persistence and the asking of others for help, you can enter and complete the race, as well. Few people know how much the attention of others is cherished in a big family. The glances of reality, not just part of a group, but an individual with real and individual aspirations. Sometimes, it is one person's glance that ignites the spark that carries the car across the finish line. Thank you AWANA.