Mangrove Maze Reflection

I've been reading about Christian simplicity lately... the idea that God's call to us, and the example of Jesus, is to journey lightly on this earth... to put all our trust in God's providence... to aim for the "success" of a relationship with God, expressing it not just with material goods, but in our treatment of the Divine, our neighbors, and the earth...

a big part of Christian simplicity is the idea that I can be content with what has already been given to me... this hits home, as I often dream of "owning" land- even just a backyard... and yet Kaden can spend 3 hours in our boring place, eat lunch outside and then after waking from an inside nap, he will immediately beg to go outside again. He is finding joy where he is, blooming where he's planted...

and so I've started to enjoy our shared land more lately. Visiting marinas without coveting the boats. Visiting parks without planning our own backyard playset. Dreaming about a small compost on the side, planning the potted garden again. This quest to be outside, to enjoy the sharing led us to a little preserve not far from our home.

It is one of my favorite places. Kade was a bit skeptical at first, and wasn't too fond of walking the whole boardwalk trail. I'm not sure he noticed the fiddler crabs we tried to point out, and he didn't seem impressed with the trio of pelicans that flew overhead when we reached the river.

He's a bit young yet, for me to explain how mangrove roots are the one of the coolest things on earth. How they can survive like shown here, in the air, and also when submerged. How the mud and muck gather within their maze during the tides, gradually building islands or re-building shorelines. How, when underwater, they provide a nursery for fishes and crabs and other good living things.
Still, he is awed when he looks up, seeing all sorts of trees whose names neither of his parents remember. He is silent for a bit, listening to the wood creak when the wind comes through, and then jubilantly yelling "I HEAR SOMETHING." What, we ask, do you hear? He doesn't answer us, but just smiles before running down the boardwalk again. Aye, my brilliant lad, I hear Her too.

A Cable Channel just for Me and My Friends

Why hello, thanks for stopping by! It's so nice to have someone else to avoid housework with... this is actually one of those periods where there's more going on in actual life AND my brain than I can "post up" (is that like when you cowboy up?)... and yet I'm actually going to talk about Facebook.


Yeah, I know. Either you're on there already, and maybe read this blog a few weeks late because FB and its instant status updates are how you *really* keep in touch.... or you've heard of this FB thing and might log on someday soon (and you're probably related to me). If it's the latter, it's safe to say that you are not a "digital native", which means that you grew up with the internet and google and FB as part of the growing up package. I am not a native (only one of the ways I show my soon to be middle aged self), because the internet came out when I was in college. I text, but not tweet. I blog and Facebook, but can't write HTML or create JAVA and webpages and the like. Here's the thing: I like my internet to have some usefulness.


Which means that I'll surf to learn stuff, but when we start talking about social networking, I think... why? At first it was fun, finding out what folks were up to or hearing the daily updates of my neighbor. I didn't need the news or the weather reports, because my friends' status updates would tell me what I needed to know. But the "friend list" grew, and grew, and grew. And people I see in real life were getting offended that I hadn't seen their vacation photos: "I put them on Facebook, didn't you click thru?" Um, no, because I missed that day. And everytime I log in, I see so many other interesting things that I forget about your photos until I see you again, and... well, then, isn't this awkward. Again.

See, here's the odd thing about facebook or twitter or social networking (odd for me, at least). It's like each of my friends has a personal TV cable channel. And when I log in, I see the "guide" that rotates the most recent or most "popular" (as defined by FB) updates and notes. But what if I never log on about the time you, my favorite friend, are posting? How do you control (like DVR) your favorite feeds?

These are rhetorical questions. Because even if you can give me an answer now, it'll be different in a month or two. So we have this layer of having to continually adapt and learn a new system to access similar information. And then add to THAT all the market research/info sharing/access permitted by companies. It makes no difference if my own profile is on lockdown and I never use gaming apps because for every friend who does so, THEY are sharing MY info.

So, what's a hermit wannabe like me to do? I considered jumping ship entirely, and scuttling the account. Every time I get close, something GOOD comes out of FB, like a new friend saying hi or a volunteer contacting me to donate something, or a nephew posting photos. Connections. Someone said to me the other day that our whole life is about trying to restore the connection we had in the womb. I'm not sure if I'd state it quite like that, but yeah, connections.

How do we maintain our connections, nurture our relationships in today's virtual society? How do you use online tools to create your friendship world? Are you seeking to reinforce existing, everyday relationships? Connect with long distance family and friends? Broaden your circle to people you haven't met and likely won't spend much time with geographically? It's all quite interesting...

My Heart is His

and his dads too :)





Well, no matter what these photos show, today was clearly Kaden's First Valentines Day. They had a party at his daycare, and he came home with a paper lunch bag full of cards, candy, stickers and tattoos, and other fun stuff a pencil and playdoh and fun Annie's organic bunny snacks! He was so excited, and that was BEFORE he ate any candy. I think we should be able to stretch this out all week. Then we can use the dollars Grandma gave him to go buy more candy 75% off :)

Super Day for EVERYONE

It seems like we've been here before...

Click back to that blog and you'll see the 2009 SuperBowl, in which the Steelers beat someone in the final seconds. (Also, a very cute pic of our niece, who celebrates her 2nd bday today! Happy Birthday littlest E!)

But THIS year, you'll notice the team has grown. Not only is our star QB actually running his own plays...


But Jim's folks are visiting! Hurray!


Now, we're off to the neighbors for a par-tay. And it seems like the Steelers are in the Big Game more often than not, and we'll certainly all be cheering HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE GO. But win or lose, any day filled with friends and family (especially long distance ones) is a Super one!

Typical Week

If I don't have cooking tasks for Kaden to help with, he entertains himself by emptying cupboards and crawling in and out of them:


Even off the water, the sunsets are awesome around here:

Giving me the 'bulldog look' when I say it's his last cookie:


And this is a bonus for all you northern folks... Come visit and we can walk along the waterfront (bring a sweater in case it dips below 70 degrees):