Two-year old linguistics

An interesting observation from the speech of our two-year old:  She only needs one word for questions.  None of this “who, what, when, where, how” stuff for her.  She get’s by with just one word: “Huh?”

For example, if she wants to know if it’s time for breakfast, she’ll say, “Eat breakfast – huh?”  Or if she’d like to know if you’d get her some water: “Some water in sippy – huh?”

And it’s important, if you’d like to speak the language properly, to insert the pause indicated above by the hyphen.  You could almost use a period for a full stop: “Going to church.  Huh?”

There are, of course, times when the exact definition of “huh” is determined by context.  But on the whole, there is very little confusion about meaning.   It’s all quite efficient.  And so we were wondering… Are there other languages that get by without all of the question words, or is this exclusive to the land of toddlers?

(Just overheard: “Take kitty bath - huh?”)

Growing up

Middle Daughter (five-years old) has been at my parents’ house for the week.  This is a good thing for everyone.  My parents get to hang out with a granddaughter.  MD gets one-on-one time with a beloved adult (or adults), which is important for her as a middle child.  The other two daughters also get increased parental interaction, if they want it, but also more quiet,which they also appreciate (especially Oldest Daughter).  And Ordinary Spouse and I get to relax a bit.  There is a noticeable difference between parenting three and parenting two.

My mom asked my wife if she had said anything to MD about what to eat.  (Now we have a rule here at our place that you have to try one bite of everything, and on treat nights (when we have dessert) there are required minimum servings before you’re “treat eligible”.)  My wife thought back, and recalled that she probably said something to the effect of “Grandma might serve different foods than we have here, and you should try at least one bite before you say, ‘I don’t care for it.’”

So it turns out that my mom had asked MD if she wanted to go grocery shopping for some foods that she liked, and MD said,”No.  That’s ok, Grandma.  I’ll eat whatever you make.  Just put ketchup on it.”

I’m so proud of her.  She’s growing up.

Just a lazy Saturday

This post will probably not interest anyone except my family.  We’re just hangin’ around the house today, doing some odds and ends, and starting our packing for our travels next week.

One of the fun and frightening things about owning a house is doing the work that needs to be done around it - ”fun” because you feel like you’ve accomplished something when you get a job done.  Maybe you got to use power tools.  Maybe there’s some “coolness” factor to doing something that not everyone knows how to do.  But “frightening” because, to be quite honest, I don’t know how to do one quarter of the stuff that might have to be  done at one time or another.

Anyway, I re-sealed our porch today.  I had the power washer out early (there’s a cool tool!), and after everything was dry, I laid down a new coat of sealer.

Now, I know that no one really cares to read about me, so let me just throw this in for good measure.  When I came in, my oldest daughter was performing a dolphin show in our living room.  And I offer the  following quote (something you don’t hear every day):

Get the blowholes ready, dolphins!

And one more quote with very little context.  This one came from the youngest daughter right after she climbed down from a bench.

I plopped down, bench.  This ploppah plopped.

Ah – such a cute age.

Small joys… the best day of the summer

My wife and I have a running joke about the “best day of the year”, which we define as the first day of a long vacation.  Often, I’ll take an extra vacation day, just so I can spend some time at home (or close by) doing whatever I want, before we leave for wherever it is that we’re travelling.  (And it seems like our vacations always involve travelling somewhere.)  Frequently, the “best day of the year” comes at the beginning of the Thanksgiving or Christmas break.

Well, today is the “best day of summer”.  Work is complete for the week.  I’m about to shut down my computer.  I have the weekend and Monday to do odd jobs around the house and pack up the van before we hit the road on Tuesday:  Mennonite convention, a stop at my parents’ place, and a family reunion at Laurelville.  Woo-hoo!

And here’s your gratuitous video!

 

Columbus 2009 – Preparation

As I mentioned previously, I’m looking forward to the Mennonite convention in Columbus next week.  This past Sunday, I sat in on the youth class in our congregation as they were discussing their trip.  One of things that they discussed was the question: “How do you prepare for convention?”  This isn’t a question of how many changes of clothing I need to pack, but rather:

• How do I open my ears to hear God’s voice?
• How do I enter into the worship services?
• How do I choose which seminars to attend and make myself receptive to learning?
• How might I profitably use my free time?

I found the question of preparation to be an interesting one, since it hadn’t occurred to me previously.  I had considered preparation from a logistical standpoint (How do I optimize or maximize my experience?), but I hadn’t considered the spiritual perspective.

One way that I’ve now begun to prepare is to reflect on the theme for the week: “Breathe And Be Filled”.  By reflecting on this, I’ll be able to join with others who are thinking about the same thing - all of us preparing in unity.

The theme comes from a post-resurrection encounter of Jesus with his disciples:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

(John 20:19-23, NRSV)

So, we see that the theme comes from a moment of healing.  The disciples, who had been living with fear, receive the Holy Spirit so that they may have peace and courage.  But why?  Not so that they could comfortably remain in a locked house.  They were being sent out.  I think that this is a beneficial thing to remember.  The highs of conventions (which I’ve always experienced) are not ends unto themselves.  The peace and courage that we receive is in preparation for getting out of the locked house.

Kind of like Powdermilk Biscuits, only better.

We have a plan!

Here is today’s story from home, courtesy of ordinary mommy:

The Oldest Daughter begged me to teach her how to play chess. We played twice.  By the end, it was a grand narrative, with her pieces consulting each other for each move:

We have a plan!
My pawns and me
Are on a journey.

Columbus 2009

I hinted earlier today that summer vacation is about to begin.  Next week, my family will be travelling to Ohio for the biennial convention of the Mennonite Church in the United States.  I’m looking forward to it.

Time to begin again

One of my friends has been encouraging me to find out about the emerging church (emergent church, emerging Christianity? – I don’t know the preferred terminology).  I have been typically skeptical, as is my nature, but I’m interested in hearing about and being involved in anything where God’s Spirit is present and giving life.  However, this blog is not about the emerging church movement.  (Someday, I’ll get to that.)

Healing, part two

Well, now… this is interesting.  I didn’t mention it in my previous blog, but Megan Ramer’s meditation on healing was strongly influenced by writings by Jan Richardson.  And so it is instructive that my Ordinary Spouse shared this insightful quote with me today, which comes from Jan’s blog:

Our healing must be linked to the healing of others. Healing is not solely a personal endeavor, this passage tells us; it occurs in the context of community. We seek it not only for ourselves but as part of the flourishing of the wider world. Our wholeness is bound together.

Community.  It is never the easy way.  But it is the way to being whole.

Healing

I’ve been absent from my blog for three weeks now - an entry here and there, but nothing real substantive.  It reflects the mix of emotions in my life (and my congregation) since our unfortunate meeting on Pentecost Sunday.  I don’t have anything profound to say today, but I need some way of working through my own thoughts and feelings, and this helps.

Yesterday, in our worship service, I realized that I haven’t truly been “present” in our congregation for three weeks (since Pentecost Sunday).  A bit of an explanation is in order, and so we take a tiny detour…

Even though I haven’t warmly embraced the enneagram (which is probably explained perfectly well by my enneagram type), I’ve learned that one of my tendencies is to focus on and minister to the needs of others, sometimes at the expense of my own needs.  After our congregational meeting three weeks ago, I organized a mid-week prayer vigil at the church, and the next Sunday I was the music leader.  My wife and I also hosted a small worship service in our home.  Last week during the other intervening Sunday, we were at a family reunion.  And so, even though I’ve been at a number of church-related services, my focus was always outward toward others, and not toward myself.

And so, yesterday, as I was sitting in our service (and not needing to be responsible for any part of it), I suddenly just felt really sad – a feeling of mourning that I had put off.  I felt my own pain, I lamented for how things might have been different, and I realized how much hurt still remains.

I’m grateful for the meditation that we shared at the worship service in our house this week.  The topic was healing, and it came from a sermon by Megan Ramer, who is the pastor at Chicago Community Mennonite Church.  She shares that, no matter what the source of our hurt and pain, we each have the opportunity, or rather the responsibility, to seek our own healing.  Sometimes others cause us pain; sometimes we cause our own pain; and sometimes we cling to pain “because it’s oddly comforting to suffer those wounds, because it helps us to believe a particular story about ourselves, or [because of] any other mysteriously, uniquely human reason.”  (I’m especially thankful for those words, since I’m often guilty of the behavior they describe.)  In any case, God desires our healing and will heal us if we seek it.

My way forward is to seek healing.  I want to identify my wounds and envision how they might be healed.  I also want to be open to the possibility that the wounds that I identify may not be the wounds that God sees, and that healing, when it arrives, may not appear as I had expected it.

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4. 6-7)