When Patrick did my job for a week...

Camille thought he might need her bear.  She's nice like that...

Now this is romance...

I haven't been posting a lot lately.  Life's been a bit crazy.  I know...you can't relate.  ;o)

I worked three days last week, and I am working Mon-Fri this week.  Patrick took a week of leave to stay home with the girls.  They are getting some great bonding time with daddy, and we don't have to pay a babysitter....nice.

Yesterday they went to the grocery store, Home Depot, Panera for a snack, and the park.  Today, they went to story hour at the mall followed by lunch at Chick-Fil-A (this was after doing laundry and cleaning up last night's dishes of course).  When I came home, they were sitting on the steps outside waiting for me....

My husband They had worked so hard...

I am SO sure I don't want to know what she put in that cup...

Camille:  What is this really meant to be?

...a hat of course.

They couldn't wait to show me this...

This is WAY better than flowers or candy (not that those things are EVER a bad idea).  I was squealing with joy when I pulled in the driveway.  I love Adeline's cheesy-so excited grin here.  What a way to set the tone for our evening.  Sweetie, I can learn so much from you...

A Case for Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"

(by Patrick, on the eve of the RPCB Women’s Book Club 2010-11 selection meeting)

                First, the negatives:  1)  The length.  I “read” Atlas Shrugged in 2008 by listening to it on audio while driving to and from work.  It had the feel of a 200, maybe 300 page book.  So I was flabbergasted when Lynn brought home AS in the flesh -- a 600-page, small-print tome (she almost capitulated to my entreaties to read it).  2)  What you’ve heard is true.  Objectivism, Rand’s system of ethics which is illustrated by AS, is antithetical to Christianity, and to Western Civilization, for that matter.  Whittaker Chambers, ex-communist, reviewing AS for National Review in 1957, pulled no punches, saying Rand’s “shrillness is without reprieve,” hearing it in the echoes of the worst totalitarian regimes of the 20^th century.  Rand, through AS’s heroine Dagny Taggart, exalts promiscuity, one reason why AS is met by some aversion in Christian circles.  (But, book club, if you can stomach “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” surely you can stomach Atlas Shrugged.)  

                And one can go on.  So why read it?  First, it is widely regarded as one the most important books of the 20^th century.  Second, reading AS, if anything, will contextualize the “Who is John Galt?” bumper stickers that are starting to appear around Bowie (ah…you’re sold!).  But the primary reason (which is behind the latter two) is that AS, for all its “shrillity,” is an effective explication of what I would call extreme libertarianism (though Rand shunned that word).  The economic bent espoused by Rand in AS is apropos today, especially with midterm elections looming.  If you maintain a grain of cultural competency these days, then you are bombarded by a constant stream of statements (some overt and some covert) that illustrate the far left of political philosophy (embodied in a socialist utopia), with the result (I think) that the American populace is pulled by degrees farther and farther to the left of center, where it historically occupied the right of center.  Over the last 80 years, this shift has lead to a monstrous welfare economy, and an implicit, unchallenged assumption that we need the government’s help in all, but especially economic, circumstances.  Now we quietly hand over a large portion of our personal property in taxes, while the government grows larger and more overbearing, the latter illustrated by the fact that, for the first time in history, legislation was just passed that REQUIRES private citizens to spend their own money to purchase a product or face heavy penalties (the “individual mandate” of Obamacare).  Atlas Shrugged offers a still fresh discussion of liberalism’s economic converse. If we must listen to the ramblings of Fool A, then let’s also give Fool B a hearing.  Then we’ll be better able to navigate the middle.  In my limited reading, I haven’t found such a discussion, stated so effectively, anywhere else.  And so the advantage of AS, as I see it, is that it gets us asking questions that have not been asked, by Americans anyway, for a very long time.  It helps us to conceive of a counterpoint to the propaganda we are spoon-fed everyday by a liberal media and culture.  It helps us to conceive of the dignity of conservatism, which is based on the dignity of the individual, while rejecting (as we must do if reading as a mature Christian, or with the guidance of a parent) those elements of Objectivism which are manifestly evil. 

Let me return to my first disclaimer:  if you are put off by the book’s length (and I would have been), then I suggest you read John Galt’s 100-or-so-page monologue toward the end of the book (can’t quote page numbers here…sorry).  This is a concise explanation of Objectivism.  Or do like I did and listen to the novel on audio.  Or, book club, make it your 2011 summer reading. 

Next week:  The Case for Green Eggs and Ham

Their father...

I didn't do a Father's Day post.  Why?  I don't know....I never like the pressure of doing a post on a specific day.  However, I do want to take a moment for a special shout out to this amazing man.  Our girls adore you, and so do I.  Their faces light up when you come home from work (as does mine).  We are blessed beyond measure and hope you know every day that we love you and are thankful you are ours.

Reason #21789 why you're an amazing dad...

Our Garden...

Patrick was inspired, by Wendell Berry's The Art of the Commonplace, to plant a garden.  We (read 90% Patrick) spent hours clearing the grass and tilling the soil.  We (again, read Patrick...with a little help from Adeline) planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, zuchinni, summer squash, five types of peppers, and peas.

Adeline had such fun helping to plant everything...

especially the peas...

About a week after we planted our lovely garden, our neighbor said the man that did her termite treatment (we had just been treated as well) suggested we not eat anything from our garden for 2 years!  It never even occurred to us, but yes, they do shoot chemicals into the ground around the perimeter of your house....so much for organic gardening.

nice.

We Patrick had to transplant everything.

To give this story a happy ending, I will say that our veggies are looking great and we planted some pumpkins and sunflowers to decorate (not eat) in the fall.  Patrick had a great attitude about the whole thing (a lesson for this checkitoffthelist mom).  He even wakes up early to water everything in the morning.  So glad SOMEONE in this house has a green thumb.

A review by Patrick

I am not a fan of modern Christian music.  I think that most of it is anthropocentric, trite, cacophonous noise, lacking a sense of reverence and transcendence.  Alas for Rich Mullins (RIP).  But for all his lyrical artistry, even he is starting to sound worn (and, lets face it, so 1990’s).  Sara Groves is very, very good.  (Real men indeed listen to her all the time, then tell the world on blogspot.)  But one gets the impression at times that her God is some mystical entity, with fuzzy borders, more often named “Hope” than “Jesus.” 

            And I have never been a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman.  I think his lyrics have always been sound, but there was always something just a little too Nashville about him, like we should all get funky and jump around to guitar music (e.g. “so sink or swim I’m divin’ in,” etc). 

            A month or so ago I happened upon a favorable review (somewhere) of Beauty Will Rise, and I decided to download it.  I had already heard the tragic story.  Chapman’s 6 or 7-year-old daughter accidentally struck and killed by her teenage brother backing the family SUV out of the driveway.  As a father of two girls, I cannot imagine.  The grief ended Chapman’s music career, though, as it turned out, not permanently.  He’s re-emerged and blessed us with these 12 songs, all speaking to the tragedy and his and his family’s journey through it.  They all speak poignantly to the journey through the valley of the shadow of death.   Has anyone not been there before?  Is anyone there right now?

Out of these ashes, beauty will rise

We will dance among the ruins,

 we will see it with our own eyes

            The first song is Chapman’s admission that right now heaven for him is reuniting with his daughter, plain and simple. 

Heaven is the sound of her breathing deep

Lying on my chest falling fast asleep

As I sing

He later tells the story of his daughter’s becoming a Christian just days before her death.  He speaks of his family’s reuniting with her in heaven, and how in that moment, her brother will finally realize that everything is okay.  Then he speaks to the modern day tax collectors and sinners.  If God can meet him where he was, then you are most certainly not beyond his reach, though you may be lying in a bed you made for yourself in Sheol.

God’s love is all over this album.  It has been a great comfort for me.  I highly recommend it.

-----Patrick

Building Frosty

Finally we had "packing snow"

A wrestling haiku

(Patrick guest posts...)

Adeline and I were enjoying our nighty wrestling match when the following thought occurred to me, in rhyming haiku, no less.  (Calcaneus is the heel bone.  Two heel bones make calcanei)


Adeline let fly
both of her calcanei
bruising my left eye

Date with Daddy

Mommy was in meetings all day for Aunt Lisa, so daddy spent the day with me. He took me to the Strasburg Railroad. It was so fun!!! This is when I first saw Thomas the train coming...

Here's me and my daddy....mommy likes those plaid shorts. ;o)

Mommy sent crayons and books for me because she wasn't sure how I would do with the 45 minute train ride, but I loved every minute! Daddy didn't need to get out anything else for me to do.

I have the best daddy in the world.

This is me with Sir Topham Hatt...

Daddy wants me to try new things, so I am being very brave here.

Thanks daddy. It was the best day ever.

....and now I want to wear my Thomas shirt EVERY day!!! Mommy says it is in the laundry a lot, but I always find it as soon as it is clean. ;o)

A daddy and his daughters...

and sometimes when you try to make them pose, you end up with this...

My birthday...

Patrick told me he had something planned for my birthday. He would take care of all the details including childcare. I LOVE surprises! I told him I was planning to wear a dress. He said I had to wear shorts. I wanted to wear flip-flops. He said I should wear sneakers. Really. Are you sure? My mom and my friend, Nancy, both thought I would have fun. I am hard to surprise but..... I. had. no. idea. There aren't many things that make my "fun" list that involve the specified attire. I started guessing in the car. Patrick was laughing at my meager attempts. We started heading for the city. um....I'm running out of ideas.

We took a tour of Washington DC on segways! Oh. My. Word!!! You have GOT to do this!!! They are the most amazing invention ever!

It was fun to have our picture taken in front of some of the standard tourist attractions after living in this area for so many years.

Oh, and did you notice....more plaid shorts. After all, it was my birthday.....