A first born son...

.... for a first born son.

Announcing the 'early' arrival of Kaelan Eli - the stunningly adorable new life that has just increased the world population by one - swiftly changing the status of every single family member to which he is connected and enlarging hearts to dangerous proportions.

             Welcome to our world you wonderful little world rocker.

Like many before you, you are born to a specific plan and purpose.  May you grow to be as beautiful inside as you are right now on the outside.

 But listen up now.  We've brought in your cousin James (otherwise known as J.B.)

for comment on this extraordinary event...  

Well, there you have it - limited vocabulary and all.

 Cousin James is almost four months ahead of you in this family scenario - and he is obviously pleased 

(it's written all over his face) that you have finally made your appearance and that you are (quite clearly) 

his equal in charm, gender 

AND good looks.  

Size?  

Don't sweat it.  You'll measure up in no time!  

When a child is born...

This post is dedicated to my sister Pauline, 

who became a grandmother earlier this month and who 

now knows intimately, 

the vast sweeping 'rebirth' of the heart

that the process brings to bear...

I will never EVER forget the weekend of our own grandparental coronation....

Inexpressibly glorious!

Three live births in one summer weekend, and one little body laid to rest.

...followed close by even more delightful little lives entering the family flock...

Seven with three in heaven.

Awaiting one little one still in his womb.... :)

And what's a 5th birthday anyway when we have all of eternity?

I can't help it.  

I have to finish this post with the words of yet another song playing in my heart.

God of My Fathers by Andrew Peterson 

from his incredible album Counting the Stars

God of my fathers

Huddled in the harbor

Every man an ocean from his home

Their captors could not keep them

When they heard the drums of freedom

The dream of a kingdom

In a land they've never known

And God of my fathers

Strangers in this country

Pilgrims on these dusty roads

Across the great plains

In the bellies of the steel trains

To stake a new claim

In that wilderness of hope

Like my fathers I am looking for a home

Looking for a home beyond the sea

So be my God and guide me

Till I lie beneath the hills

Then let the great God of my fathers

Be the great God of my children still

God of my grandfathers

Gone these many years now

I guess they're shining like the sun

And I envision them

Grinning at the finish

And they smile and they smile,

'Cause they love to see me run

CHORUS

Now we're counting stars and counting sand

Little feet and little hands

We're counting joys

We pray you'll know them

As you knew us when you wove us

As you hold us

Hold them, please hold them

Like their father, they are looking for a home

Looking for a home beyond the sea

So be their God and guide them

Till they lie beneath these hills

And let the great God of their father

Be the great God of their children,

Let the great God of my fathers

Be the great God of my children still

Counting the Stars

You must introduce yourself to this artist, singer-songwriter, published author extraordinaire.

You must and that's that!  :)

Be blessed.

Springy things Part 2

Changed the pilgrim road on the blog header.

(thanks for the subtle nudge Lilly!)

I like the new picture.  It appears more trail than road - and I like the blue whatcha-ma-callit stuff forcing its way up through the earth.  Our own woods along the south side of the house are very inviting too.  Soon I will see trilliums by the thousands dotting the forest floor.  

I had an awesome Sunday today.  After worship, we celebrated our baby's 21rst birthday en masse.  

I LOVE en masse occasions, full of fellowship, food, family and....

                                         Ringlets???

 Ah yes.  I had asked the peeps to come over after having tried the 3rd generation foam rollers and finish the balloons off.   Like.  Love.  Adore.  Even li'l leapster slept on those things!  *sigh*  

But now it's time for bed. The sun has gone to sleep 

and so must I.

First and Finally The Raison d'etre of Washington, DC

Whew! At long last - the final post on Washington, D.C.

This whole thing started when I stumbled across an online advertisement for C.S. Lewis'

The Screwtape Letters put on by FPA

aka Fellowship of the Performing Arts starring Max McLean.

The closest live theatre show was in Washington DC and its year long run happened to be finishing right around my birthday. Too easy. Barry and I were going to hop in a car and drive into the sunset for this date night (or two or three).

Well.

The kids got wind of it and faster than you can say, "you like Lewis too?" we were scheming ways to get down there all together. Hence, my grandiose birthday celebration.

Low-key intention and budget blown to smithereens in one fell swoop.

I LOVED it.

I am eternally grateful for this 'forger of family ties' type of experience.

... and Barry?

You're the best.

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre, which received a Peabody Award and multiple Audie awards for excellence in broadcasting and production, was granted the rights to dramatize "The Screwtape Letters" as a feature length audio drama. Production began in 2008 and a fall 2009 release was announced. Andy Serkis, known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, provided the voice for Screwtape.

The Plot Overview (as found on Wikipedia)

The Screwtape Letters comprises thirty-one letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, a young demon named Wormwood. Screwtape's letters contain advice for how to turn Wormwood's "Patient", an ordinary man living in war-time England, toward "Our Father Below" (Devil / Satan) and away from "the Enemy" (God).

After the first letter, the Patient converts to Christianity, and Wormwood is given a severe rebuking and threatened with the "usual penalties" at the House of Correction for Incompetent Tempters. A striking contrast is formed between Wormwood and Screwtape during the rest of the book. Wormwood is depicted through Screwtape's letters as much closer to what conventional wisdom has said about demons, i.e., wanting to tempt his patient into extravagantly wicked and deplorable sins and constantly writing about the war that is going on for the latter half of the book. Screwtape, on the other hand, is not interested in getting the patient to commit anything spectacularly evil, saying that "the safest path to hell is the gradual one." He sees a demon's primary goal to befuddle and confuse, rather than tempt.

Lewis's use of this "correspondence" is both varied and hard-hitting. With his own views on theology, Lewis covers areas as diverse as sex, love, pride, gluttony, and war. Lewis, an Oxford scholar himself, suggests in his work that even intellectuals are not impervious to the influence of such demons, especially in regards to being led towards placated acceptance of the "Historical Point of View."

In the last letter, it emerges that the Patient has been killed during an air raid (World War II having broken out between the fourth and fifth letters), and has gone to Heaven. Wormwood is punished for letting a soul 'slip through his fingers' by being handed over to the fate that would have awaited his patient had he been successful: the consumption of his spiritual essence by the other demons. Screwtape responds to his nephew's desperate final letter by assuring him that he may expect just as much assistance from his "increasingly and ravenously affectionate" uncle as Screwtape would expect from Wormwood were their situations reversed, paralleling a situation where Wormwood himself turned his uncle over to Satan for making a religiously positive remark that would offend him.

Dawn to Dusk Part Two

It was a full day starting with a respectful stop at the Lincoln Memorial - a slow saunter through the Museum of Natural History with Darwin's much touted spin on ancestry (Pfft!) and finishing with a stroll by glittering nightlight to Chef Geoff's --- Aaron and Catherine's winning recommendation for a final family feastage (word newly coined :)

I have a thing for old vintage movie theatres. Great classic films MUST be seen in great classic venues. It harks back a fond memory of watching Becoming Jane in Hamilton's Westdale theatre with a bunch of girlfriends....a mix that simply 'goes' together ... like popcorn and butter. Y'know what I mean??

I also have a thing for coachlights (especially gas lights) and lamp-posts. I think it has something to do with an image I have of Lucy meeting Mr.Tumnus the faun on her first magical trip thru the Wardrobe into the land of Narnia. Long before the movie ever came out - C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia were part of my highly revered collection of books. The hardcover book I own has a number of crude but obviously memorable ink sketches - the lamp-post figures large in that mental image of mine!

Lewis said that the first Narnia story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, all came to him from a single picture he had in his head of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels through a snowy wood. In that way, Tumnus was the initial inspiration for all of the Narnia stories.

(fun facts from a die-hard Lewis fan)

Here's my beautiful kids --- as I've recorded more than once, the very best part of this birthday celebration was the fellowship I could enjoy with my beloved and our children, together in one place. I am reminded of so much undeserved goodness.

Oh yeah - we sent the riffraff to the far end of the table.

I think this was some kind of a protest pose. I dunno. Maybe he was just hungry.
Our resident family counsellor, letting his hair (??) down.

Dawn to Dusk at the Museum of Natural History