QuidNunc/QuidTunc?

God’s Work of Art

mdiber05 — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:38:00 +0000

I get a little rattled inside when people say that God is being “full of himself” if what he wants from us is to see his glory. Let’s say that the human race is God’s work of art. How does that reflect on the artist? We bomb each other, enslave each other, cheat on each other, lie, steal and all that stuff. On the other hand, what brings us joy? Holding a baby, seeing spring return after a cold winter, watching a horse run fast, the smell of good food cooking and being shared among people who live in peace with one another, enjoying an undeserved kindness; the list can go on and on. You would add things that I don’t think about. Does all this come from the same Artist? This is a difficult thing for us to think about and wrap our minds around. It would call for an unusual artist to paint his picture in such a way that as you gazed upon it, you could see evil turn into good; watch hate turn into love; war turn peace; brokenness turn into wholeness. If you did see such a picture, it would be amazing. I think that if I saw it, and found out there were more I would want to see more. In fact, if there were a gallery, I would love to visit it often. I would call this art awesome, amazing, and certainly have plenty of good things to say about the artist. There is such a gallery. I call it the Bible. But it is not limited to the Bible. I have a few pictures I keep pinned to my wall to remind me of the amazing work this artist does.

The first one is of my brother and his wife. To make a long (and painful) story exceedingly short, he cheated on the wife of his youth, got a divorce, married the other woman, who died in a car accident. (Remember I said the short version). When he broached the subject of reconciliation with his first wife, she asked him what he thought that looked like. He told her that she should come and live with him and he would take care of her the way he should have the first time. They remarried. I keep a picture of the two of them looking at each other on my refrigerator and tell their story whenever I can. They would call it the glory and grace of God.

Another is a couple in our church. By their own admission, they had wasted their lives and felt convicted that they needed to get to church. They literally wandered into ours and found Love. Such love that when our pastor told them that pirating a cable was stealing, they stopped. When he told them they couldn’t participate in Communion and continue to live in an unmarried state, they got married. They have been ‘in the back’ for too long and they are not going back. Life is far from easy for them but they set an example to all of us what trusting God looks like, especially when it is difficult and inconvenient.

A third one is more church family. One young couple took in a foster daughter with twin babies. They come to church with her and sit where most of the young families do…. Near the door! She is watching a family closely enough that she asks them to adopt her babies. That was about four months ago. Every time I see these parents they look like it is such an honor to have these babies. It stretches them in many ways, but I always see the look on their faces and I am in awe.

If an artist signs his work, we become familiar with the kind of work they do. Why would we begrudge God this honor? Surely he is a difficult Artist to understand sometimes. Most artists are. Sometimes we are in the middle of a work and the transition is painful and difficult to see beyond. That doesn’t change the fact that there will be a finished work. There are two things that amaze me. One is that I can “let my light so shine that men will see what I do and give glory to God” and when God looks down on me, he sees Jesus, his beloved Son. If he can make this happen while we are still creatures of the earth, it is amazing grace.

The Old Farmhouse

mdiber05 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:26:29 +0000

I just saw this as a title to a poem by L.M. Montgomery and it made think of a house my family lived in when I was young It is usually the house in my dreams. For my parents, it was not easy to live in. Mymom would empty mice traps every day. My dad told me once he and mom had never lived anywhere where the house was so cold. They grew up simply on MN and MI. I think if my husband said to me “Shall we live here?’ Iwould say No Way.
But for me as a kid, the memories are all different. When you came in the back door there was a little mud room. My parents put a chest freezer there. Then there was another little room lined with windows and Dad had his desk and drawing board in there. We had a big kitchen with an oil (?) stove at one end for heat. The dish cupboards had glass doors. We ate in there. I think the washer and dryer must have been in there. We would conjole the fussing child that her smile had gone under the dryer! When I read books esp about pioneering women, I picturd this kitchen. We used to spit on the heating stove and watch it sizzle. When I read about keeping baby animals warm it is behind that little heating stove. We heated bricks on it, wrapped them up and took them to bed with us. That is, if you weren’t lucky enough to get the hot water bottle. Ths living room was not pristine, but it is ‘the parlor’ of my stories. It is where Eliza Jane threw the blacking brush at Almanzo. My memory is where my Dad played on the floor with us. Mom said he would come home from work still full of energy. There was a small bathroom off the living room where I can remember going into to wipe the milky looking furniture polish out of my mouth. Old enough to remember. Mom and Dad had a bedroom down there with a crib for fhe current baby. I remember Dad teaching me how to tell time in there because I could count by 5′s. So I make sure my little students can count by 5′s.
There were two rooms upstairs a large one and a small one. I had just one brother and the girl population increased while we lived there so the girls had the big room. There was a hole in the floor to let downstairs heat rise up througb and also through which we lowered ourselves or our friends to see how far we could get. The floor was bare linolleum so in the winter we moved fast so our feet wouldn’t freeze.We must have had at least 3 beds in there. It was stark. Cou try people don’t expect to be in their bedrooms much. Like sitting there and writing blogs before they get out of bed! Even though my parents were quite country, they had a habit of eating breakfast in bed on Sunday mornings and at least sometimes, Dad cooked it. If we wanted to do something special for them we would cook it for them and take it to them. I’m starting to wander. Maybe next time I ‘ll do the outside of that place. It’s just as good and I am glad to get this written down.

My Dear Friend…..

mdiber05 — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:15:08 +0000

…..freshly dusted and cleaned. It is currently 99 years old and will reach 100 in good grace. It was manufactured in Baltimore by a family business called Stieff…. like the bear. I sold a good console when I got this.

I was afraid I would miss it but I didn’t. It has a lovely full tone and I keep it fairly busy.

mdiber05 — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:47:22 +0000

I wrote this on early February and learned how to write and store a document on my Kindle but not how to copy and paste one. Now I know how to do that!
I think Ive figured out how to blog from my Kindle , but Ooooo the writing is teeny tiny! So this will be short till I figure somethngs out. Got my Granny glasses on!
This week was the first in a while where it was nice enough to walk to school. When I get there I am good and warm and unafraid of the day! On the way home this country girl likes to wander around the city. I stopped at a couple antiques stores, greeted a neighbor walking his dog, stopped and had tea with a friend, went to the chocolatier and got a good bar of chocolate called Nut Nirvana for my nut nirvana, met a neighbor on the way home as well and we finished our walk and got in a little chat together. There are days I think I love living in the city. If I find myself so clever as to be able to get in a picture easily there is one of…….oh I ‘ll let you figure it out!
Can’t do it yet. I have to get it stored on the K first. Did find the normal size text. I think the other one was about a 5!

A Gray Day

mdiber05 — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:26:58 +0000

A gray day pretty much means an empty head. And if you dispute that, think of what your brain does on a sunny day. It twitters like a bird and beckons you to more and more. A snowy day at the end of a rainy month of March feels a little like doing pennance or an endurance test. Endurance? Well I’m not dead so I get an A for enduring.
Have you ever tried writing something with an empty head? It takes creativity, I tell you. If I had something to say I wouldn’t be writing this way. So here is my life.
I went to my first Seder on Saturday. I actually learned and sang some of the songs! I watched a lot of Jewish music on Youtube. There is a Jewish woman church who planned it. She is one of the most interesting people I know. There were several in our church who participated. It was a great time and I loved listening to Susan talk. It was all interesting. The history of anything makes the now so much more relevant. Think about that one.
Yesterday we had dinner with Aunt Lee and Uncle Buzz. They live in a retirement community and they have friends they regularly share their Sunday meal with so we joined them. It was so nice to sit there and have a leisurely Sunday meal. I can’t remember the last time. We always eat at church and I love it but it is not leisurely! We hadn’t seen them since Joel’s mom died so we had a lot catching up to do.
On St. Patrick’s day I went to a Celtic Vespers at a church in the city. Well, I meant to. I thought I would go against my grain and be early for a change. I got the time wrong and got in on the last 15 minutes. So if you wonder why I am always ‘skinning the cat’ (as Miss T would say) for some people it just doesn’t pay to be early.
Looks like the snow is going away. Maybe the sun wil come,..

Birds aresinging in the morning!

mdiber05 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:21:50 +0000

I don’t much like waking up in the dark but hearing birds hail in the day can make it worth it! Yesterday I went to school with my head twisted around a little bit and started my prayer saying “In Jesus’ name….” and then hit a big giggle fit! Later I tried to say ‘stop’ but spit out pots and tops first! Every morning we record theweather and I have taught the kids to say ‘We’ll weather tbe weather whatever the weather whether we like it or not!” As I was working with the kindergarten one of them quoted me saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun” and I added “And before you know it, you have turned 50!” Happy Birthday DeAnn!

A Day wih Miss K

mdiber05 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:44:45 +0000

On Friday Mary came for lunch with the girls. Mary often comes on a Friday but usually Miss K is at school and I don’t think that I have seen her since before Christmas! So I asked if she wanted to spend the night. She did but wasn’t sure she could without her pajamas and Grandad’s Tshirt didn’t comfort her. Well, Mary and I had planned to go shopping so after lunch and a short nap we got our shopping done and parted ways. MK and I went to the GW for pajamas… and little modeling.,…

We found great jammies, a pink top with hearts and purple bottoms with stars! We took them home washed and dried them, put groceries away, fixed supper while she played the piano for me and then we went to Elena Sneller’s benefit concert. Miss K is a fine singer so this was up her alley but we did get out the finger puppets after a while. We came home and got into nice clean jammies and snuggled in bed with books until we were too tired for them and went to sleep….

In the morning I made her pancakes like my mom fixed them for my kids. We tried a puzzle but she thought it was too big. Then I announced I was going to get dressed and we were going to market. She thought it was the end of fun. I told her going to market isn’t the same as going to the store. About then my dil called and she had seen a dear friend of mine was involved in a car accident. K and I scramlbed as fast as we could out the door and went and stayed with her until she left the scene and then we went to market. In the square outside of the market someone was hula hooping and had several on the ground. K picked one up and was on her way!

After a while I asked if she had ever done this before and she said Once. I let her go at it for a while and then Joel came on his bike. I went into the market and did my shopping and she had upped her game while I wss in there. She had counted her way up to ten swings, then 28, then 75. At that she let out a big shriek and we were done. The hh lady said she was giving the other kids tips! Time for lunch and home again. It was too fun!

Found it!

mdiber05 — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:27:26 +0000

Oh I think I have done it and found how to post from my kindle! I have to go to the app. It’s easier than easy. I just told Joel thtat I type on the ancient Toshiba laptop because I like the keyboard, save it to USB, post it from the laptop that is hooked into Internet and then when I get out my kindle I post it to FB. What century do I live in? It made me feel like the days when I could exchange mail with my sisters in Europe instantly and couldn’t get heat and hot water fir the shower at the same time because of my ancient boiler. I’m sure a man thought of that piece of efficiency!

Snow Culture

mdiber05 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:29:23 +0000

Today I am trying to do a ten minute run on the blog. They are usually short.

I am trying to cool my temper from yet another street cleaning ticket. I keep a routine of driving on Wednesday mornings, but then we cancelled school over the inclement weather and fell out of the routine and bam! A street cleaning ticket. If we had actually gotten snow they wouldn’t have come by! That’ll teach us!

Okay. So today I have been thinking about the reactions to weather between the ‘West’ and ‘East’. I grew up and spent some of my adult years in Iowa where it gets truly cold in an extreme sense but maybe not as drastic as the Arctic Circle. In those climes there is a ‘cold culture’ that goes with it. You expect really cold weather and if you are smart you buy an engine block heater if you want your car to start every time. You never let your gas tank get less than half full. The road crew is budgeted for and at the ready. It all goes with the territory. You should have a weather resistant coat and boots by the door. I always wore gloves in the car. I didn’t want to get frostbite if the car broke down.

In the East, the cold is a fickle thing. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you have it coming and it veers off to the north or loses it punch coming over the mountains. So why budget for a ‘maybe happenin’? I am sure the road crew truck drivers are not the ones responsible for giving the ‘go’ sign or they would be out there before things got into a royal mess. But that is the way it is. And then there are the types who think they have a right to go out every day, snow or no snow. I remember shoveling our little street and people kept driving through packing it down!!! Then the oil delivery truck got stuck at the end of our block and everyone that tried to come through we said, “Can’t get through here!” Salve for my ticked off nerves!

I am sure there are meteorologists and school district principals who are hiding their heads today thinking this day has got to top all miscalled days. Maybe they won”t have to make it up. Maybe the kids won’t get into too much irreparable damage by the time Mom gets back home. Timezup.

Good times at school

mdiber05 — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 02:50:50 +0000

One day at market I told a friend I was teaching kindergarten. Her response was,”You lucky duck! Some people have all the fun in the world.” Well, I loved teaching Latin as long as I did and maybe under certain circumstances I would do it again. Some things just light my fire. But yes, teaching kindergarten is pretty gratifying.

In our little school we have 5 kindergartners 5 first graders and 2 second graders. I teach all of them new songs and a bi-monthly music study. I also teach first grade poetry. Once a month we take them on a nature hike and then there is snack and recess. This post should probably be about 3 posts and I am writing mostly with parents in mind but anyone else can listen in. I’m afraid most of my pictures look like we play all day. We don’t . We work hard. We play well!

So … starting with the funny story of the week. In Kg we have been reading Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel. We have been reading about Very Tall Mouse and Very short Mouse taking note of words they can read or figure out.. I point out to Avery that all of the ‘very’ business is part of his name. I said ‘You are a very-” and without a moment’s hesitation he added,”smart kid!”

I have instituted Dominoes! Not with the same rigor or necessity of keeping kids busy while the teacher does something else , but they are working away. One reason I do it is to teach them to see the words as quantities. Aforementioned child settled into his one day and said, “This is like real work.” He is not the only one who has something to say. Two others were able to add by 10s with just a nudge of help. If I show them how to do something they act like , “Oh yeah , we get it.” And for the most part, they do, with a little practice. Sometimes we play Chutes and Ladders. It’s all about counting!

In poetry the routine is pretty much copy, draw and memorize. We have been working on Cats by Eleanor Farjeon. I made some magnet words for them to practice with and sometimes the other grades like to get at it.

Then I went to a local nursery and saw this kitty sitting on the shelf .Cats sleep anywhere…. even in the garden center!

Well, it’s not all work and no play!

Blow up the balloon……..

And blow the cup off the table!

Hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day!