Christmas Letter, 2014...

December 12, 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, here we are again.  Another year has gone by, seemingly faster than the last one.  For our family, 2014 has been blessed and busy.

I (Lisa) graduated from Northwest Nazarene University in May with my Master's Degree in Theology/Spiritual Formation.  I am currently spending most of my time homeschooling the kids, working with a youth worship band, leading our local quiz program, and trying my hand at writing fiction. 

Phil is the Associate Pastor at Durand Church of the Nazarene.  He has been busy working on curriculum development and upcoming small groups, preaching, and being actively involved in the spiritual formation of youth and young adults.  In his spare time, he fixes our vehicles, which break down at the most inopportune times, and plays life sized Tetris and Jenga, with our possessions, in the garage of our "temporary" rental house, which has less than 1,000 square feet of living space!  

     

We didn't take a vacation this year, but Phil, Lisa, Seth, and Grace spent a week in Nashville, this summer, for Q2014, and we've done plenty of traveling for other quiz related events, as well.  This fall, Caleb joined us in his first year of teen Bible quizzing, and, as a family, we took first place at the Tennessee Decades Quiz in September, which was amazingly fun!  We also traveled to Ferguson, MO, for the all star quiz in early December and are just enjoying the time we have with our many friends from all over the country, whenever we have a chance to spend the weekend with them! 

Seth turned 14 in September, which is a little surreal.  He is becoming such an incredible person, often putting the needs and wants of others ahead of his own and definitely focusing on serving others whenever possible.  He continues to excel at Bible quizzing and art, and he is happy as long as there is a steady supply of video games, pizza, and donuts!  We're not sure how much longer we will be able to afford to feed him! 

 

Grace released her first EP, "This is Grace," in October.  The whole process was incredible, and it's pretty amazing to have a professional recording under her belt at age 13.  Yes, 13.  That propels us into the "household with multiple teenagers" category.  I can remember when the kids were little and people would offer sympathy, knowing that the teenage years were coming.  I didn't understand it then, and I don't understand it now.  We wouldn't trade our teenagers for anything in the world.  They are a joy to us.  Grace also continues to excel at Bible quizzing and spends much of her time composing music and enhancing her piano and vocal skills.  And she checks her Facebook account... a lot...

Caleb continues to keep us all in line.  He turned 10 this year.  He is still playing piano and also began taking guitar lessons this fall.  Caleb has had a couple of top 10 finishes at district Bible quizzes, and he is a very valuable part of the team when he travels with us to invitationals!  It can be a little tricky to be "in between," not a teenager, like his older siblings, and not a little kid, like his younger siblings, but he actually says that he likes being in the middle!  We think it's because he gets to enjoy the best of both worlds! 

Ian will turn 8 the day after Christmas.  He continues to be the spice of life at our house, reminding us that not everyone in the world is an introvert, and there are some people who simply need to talk to others all day long, every day!  Ian is remarkably creative and is always coming up with new games and ideas.  He is invaluable when it comes to keeping Miah entertained with his natural rhythm and comedy.  Ian loves animals, and especially dinosaurs, and is likely to share random facts, regardless of the context.  This is sometimes awkward (does everyone really need to know about how to determine whether a mosquito is male or female), but mostly endearing.
      

Princess Miah is 4 1/2 now.  How time flies!  She is so sweet and loveable, and she really brings our family together, particularly since she is practically royalty in this house.  Miah spends her time reading stories, drawing, and planning spectacular, fancy balls (which really means we all show up in her bedroom and eat plastic food and dance).  She dreams of going to Disney World, since that's where Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins live.  She makes us smile, a lot.

We hope that as Christmas approaches you will all have some time to share with family and friends and to reflect on the reason we celebrate, and may the coming year be one of the best ones yet!

Much Love,

Phil, Lisa, Seth, Grace, Caleb, Ian, and Miah

Romans 12: 9-13

"Love must be sincere.
Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be devoted to one another in love.
Honor one another above yourselves.

Never be lacking in zeal,
but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.
Practice hospitality" (NIV).

So We Spent the Weekend in Ferguson...

Last week, I had a strange phone conversation.  It went something like this.  The person to whom I was talking was going on about the terrible events in Ferguson, MO, and it was obvious to me that the only information available to this person was the sensationalized media.  This wasn't the strange part.  Almost everyone I know had conversations like that last week.  The strange part was when she said, "Now I know why you homeschool your kids," as if, somehow, that was what was "protecting" them from being another statistic in a case like Ferguson, or from being a part of a violent demonstration, or whatever... 

It took absolutely everything I had to refrain from announcing our plans to spend the weekend in Ferguson.

I'm going to be completely honest with you.  When I looked into the sweet face of my four year old, in 2005, I couldn't bring myself to put him on a bus, because I was afraid that something terrible might happen...  like another broken arm or another school shooting.  There was some amount of fear that went into our decision to homeschool (at least from my perspective).  I could hardly drop my kids off in the nursery for an hour without panicking.  If you've ever seen "Finding Nemo," I was Marlin.

But as the years went by, some very fundamental things changed for me.  And, at this point, homeschooling our kids has nothing to do with fear.  It has to do with spending as much time as we can helping them to learn and grow in the understanding of who God has created them to be and then finding ways to send them out into the world, so they can share God's love with other people.  It's spiritual formation.  It's story sharing.  And it works.  As a side note, our kids are also getting a very good education, both in the foundational subjects that everyone needs to understand and in the individualization that can take place, allowing each of them to explore their own talents and abilities to the fullest.  I have the utmost respect for public and private school educators.  I have no idea how they make it work for the large number of students in their care.  

Ironically, this post didn't start out to be about homeschooling.  It just took a little turn due to that conversation I had last week.  

What I really want to share, today, is what happened in Ferguson.  On Friday, we left home early in the morning to meet with around 200 of our best friends from across the country for the 35th annual St. Louis District All Star Quiz.  I don't think there was a team there who didn't arrive feeling something like the passengers who finally make it back to the platform after a high speed, inverted roller coaster ride.  But we're a family, and this is what we do.  And, quite frankly, there is no way that the leadership of this quiz family would have allowed the quiz to go on if there was any imminent danger to the participants.  We take care of one another.

So often, in the midst of competition, we run around spitting numbers out at each another as we duck through another doorway to try our hands at another 20 questions.  These are called statistics.  And they matter.  But not nearly as much as quizzing matters.  Because, you see, quizzing is not really about those questions.  It's not really about the score at the end of the round and who takes home the biggest trophy.  Sometimes I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

These are the things that mattered most, this weekend:

1.  As mentioned above, we got to be with our friends.  Real friends.  The kind that have seen you at your worst and love you anyway.  The kind you can be yourself around, and, even if they think you're crazy, it's OK.

2.  We were located in a place where there were so many people who love their community that we actually were not able to get into the spaces where food was being prepared for the people of Ferguson.  This was, in many ways, terribly disappointing, because we wanted to help.  However, it also put into perspective the immense ways in which the Church of the Nazarene cares.  How often can you show up to help somewhere only to find that there is no need?  Actually, I have never seen that happen before.

3.  We were there when another team needed help changing a tire, at midnight, in the pouring rain.  And by "we", I mean Phil.

4.  And, we were all there to pray when a friend was taken, by ambulance, to the hospital.  And, prayer matters.  A lot. 

5.  We raised over $300.00 for the community of Ferguson, and we raised over $300.00 for the translation of quiz materials in other world areas, so that others can know the joy of memorizing Scripture for the purpose of spiritual formation and for the purpose of fellowship with their closest friends.  

And after all of that, I'll just bet that there is someone reading this who is still asking, "Did you win?"  I want to cry for you, really.  But the answer is yes.  Yes we did.  We didn't bring home anything that said first place on it, this weekend, but everyone there won at life.  And that's more important.

L.

Dear House,

Seven years ago, on the day before Thanksgiving, we pulled into your driveway and began our journey here.  I could not believe that you were mine.  Tomorrow, on the day before Thanksgiving, we will pull out of your driveway and end this journey.  And I am reminded that the things we think belong to us usually don't... at least not forever. 

 

It's been a good trip.  We built a life here, and I'm glad to take the memories with us.  Walking through you, I can see scenes from our life.  So many people we were glad to know.  So many happy moments.  I wouldn't even trade the difficult ones.  I know you're an inanimate object, but somehow you also feel like an old friend.  It is hard for me to look around and see a collection of empty rooms.  I have taken everything that wasn't nailed down, and let's face it, I took some stuff that was, as well.   

But I am leaving you one memory of us:

And the chalkboard.  I am leaving you the chalkboard, because I can't figure out how to get it off the wall:

I hope you will soon have new inhabitants that love you as much as we did.  I wonder if they will walk in, declare you the house of their dreams, and then begin to repaint and remodel.  I wonder if they will outgrow you.  If they do, I hope another family will come... and another... and another...  I hope more babies come home here and more children grow up here.  And I have asked God to bless you, from top to bottom, and to bless the people that live here in the days and years to come.

I have to stop writing now.  I wish I could stop crying.

Love,

L.

Mockingjay Part 1, A Review...

So... last night I settled into a seat in a crowded, but not full, theater, with a lot of pretty funny perfect strangers around me, who did some whistling... and yelling... and gasping.... and watched the premier of Mockingjay, Part 1.  It was a little bit of a different experience for me than the first two films, because I did not have time to re-read the trilogy before I went to see this movie.  This morning, I am trying to determine if that had something to do with the fact that I found Mockingjay, Part 1 to be the best of the three adaptations, so far, hands down.  But I don't really think that was it.

Spoilers to follow...

First, let me say, that content-wise, they got this one right.  I was terribly disappointed when the first two big screen installments took a series that had a grand total of one swear word spread over 1,155 pages and peppered the films with profanities and the misuse of God's name.  I'm not going to get into all of that, again, because if you really want to know what I thought about it, you have probably already read my previous reviews or you can look them up now.  It was mildly surprising, and definitely a welcome change, that they finally decided to cut it out with this movie.  Can we thank new screenwriters for this?  I hope so.  Knowing that they filmed Mockingjay, Part 1 and Mockingjay, Part 2 together, I am hopeful that I'll be able to have the same kind of experience next fall.

They have, again, avoided the addition of any overt sexual stuff in this movie.  I found it interesting how they chose to present Finnick's story of what is essentially human trafficking  during Peeta's rescue.  Not that that's any different from how this happens in the book.  It's not.  But while reading the book, we were not privy to the information about how Peeta was rescued, so it feels as if Finnick's story takes a bit of a back seat to everything else that is going on, simultaneously, on the screen. 

 

Clearly there are some violent scenes.  I don't think anyone would expect anything different, and, in fact, there would be no way to show the horror of civil war without these.  So, some reviewers might give a cautionary warning about the violence, but I am not going to do so, except to remind you that this is not a film for children.  I can't say what age I would recommend for this type of depiction of war.  It's not for my kids (as a reminder, my oldest is 14).

 

But...  I can recommend this movie, without hesitation, to adults.  Well... almost without hesitation.  I did not feel that I could recommend the first two movies, so to recommend this one is, essentially, to recommend that you begin in the middle of the story, without a guarantee that the end will be worth watching...

And now, the storyline.  I felt like this film was far more detail oriented than the others.  The little things matter to me.  For example, they found the right cat to play Buttercup.  I'm not sure, exactly, what to do with the plot hole that is caused by switching cats, but the one I saw yesterday was definitely the right one.  How many of my readers are laughing at me right now?  Never mind.  Don't answer that!

I think they also got most of the one-liners in there that I would have considered essential.  Another re-read, and I may have to recant that statement, but I'm pretty sure I was going to be OK with the movie as long as Finnick said, "I takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart," which he did.

I thought they handled The Hanging Tree amazingly well, although I think non-readers of the series might be a little confused about where this song came from.  I loved the lake.  I wish they'd bothered to use it in the first two films.  And... the pearl.  Again, confusion for non-readers.  Does Peeta even give Katniss the pearl in the second movie?  Because I almost think that's something I found conspicuously missing, and now, here it is.  Little things like this made me feel like, throughout this movie, they were sort of trying to fix the things that were botched in the first two.  I would definitely welcome some commentary on that.

Effie...  here you are in district 13!  I really liked what they did with Effie, although I am still a bit disappointed that Katniss' prep team has been all but missing, throughout.  I understand that you can only develop so many characters, and they have had a lot of characters to develop, and I am just about ready to give up the prep team for this reason, but I am concerned about the missing scene where Katniss finds them chained and mistreated in what is, essentially, a dungeon in District 13.  District 13 was a little too happy, and President Coin was entirely too likeable in this film.  I'm trying to figure out where they're going with that.  Is it for the shock value later?  I'm not sure.

I think they cast the new characters for this movie very well.  Pollux was always a favorite of mine in the books, and he was exactly how I imagined him.  Boggs was fantastic.  It did just occur to me, though, that Katniss doesn't step on his nose in the movie.  I think she should have, but as long as she vomits all over him, next time, we'll call it good.

I have seen some reviews that describe this movie as slow moving, a two hour long preview, etc.  In my opinion, the whole franchise would have been better off if they had split every book into two parts or made every movie four hours long (it's not unheard of... consider Lord of the Rings).  The slow moving, detail oriented story is what we all spent hours upon hours reading, isn't it?  Most of what frustrated me in the first two movies, they have corrected here.  Still...  there is no fixing the disconnects, because of what was missing in the other films.  Anybody want to start begging for re-makes of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire?

One last thought.  Haymitch.  Does anybody think they might be intentionally leaving out all of the details of his life, at this point, because there really is a prequel in the works?  To this point, I have seen nothing about this, and as far as I know, I'm the only one asking, but come on...  The story would be amazing...  You would think that with the revenue that would be all but guaranteed this would be floating out there somewhere...

And, that's it.  Go have some lamb stew for lunch, or something.

L.   

Family Picture Time...

Here they are, this year's edition of family portraits that happen after most of the leaves have fallen.  At this point, I've decided that we will never, ever get a nice, full colored, fall picture.  Whatever.  At least I love the people in these shots!

L.

Quizfest 2014...

I'm going to be honest.  When I saw the list of teams, I thought, "Wow!  This is going to be a tough tournament!"  And, it was, because many of the best quiz teams across the country were represented.  I thought, "Wow!  I just hope they have fun and, maybe, place a little higher that last year (8th)."  I shouldn't have shortchanged them...

Individual Results:

Samantha, 8th place Novice:

Seth, 9th Place Experienced and Grace, 1st Place Experienced:

Durand A entered the tournament seeded 2nd.  Semi-finals with Olathe and Blanchester was tough, but they pulled it out:

"We haven't won anything, yet..."  Gearing up for finals and trying not to get too excited, because a semi-finals win can do that to you, which can be a real danger:

Finals with Blanchester and Avon Parkside (always nice to have friends on the other seats):

Last Question:

And, here are your Quizfest 2014 Champions!!!

So... How about dinner? 

L.

PS  As a side note, the scholarships earned, this weekend, took Grace over the $10,000.00 mark!  Sweet!

Birthday Parties...

... are so much fun!  Grace had a spa themed sleepover to celebrate her arrival to the teenage years!  What a great group of girls!  They had a lot of fun with manicures, pedicures, and facials, and we had a pretty steady flow of food all night long...  Chinese... chocolate fountain... cake pops...  In addition to her new laptop, Grace also got lots of fun presents, including all kinds of spa stuff, socks, a neck warmer, a video game, a bracelet, and two new fish (they came home with us on Wednesday, see earlier post)!  A late night movie and these girls were off to sleep...  quietest sleepover I have ever experienced...   

L.

Welcome...

Vivian and Amadeus...  Our new fishy friends...  They are so funny!  For the first several hours that we had them, they must have still thought they were in the bags from the store, because they wouldn't swim very far.  Thank you Leara, Angel, and Kelsay!  They were the perfect birthday gift for Grace!

L.

Happy 13th Birthday, Grace...

Well, she's finally a teenager (even though it seems like she's been one for years)!!! 

Thirteen is a party year at our house, so Grace's birthday was pretty subdued.  She did pick out donuts for breakfast, after her guitar lesson, and she chose to have Gus' breadsticks and Wendy's Frosties for dinner, because she has wanted to dip a Gus' breadstick in a Frosty her "whole life"...

A few presents, although there's still one more for her party...

Couldn't be more proud of the person she is.. and is becoming... if I tried...

I love you, Grace!  Happy Birthday!  Love, Mama.

Miah Doesn't...

... make it back to hug the lions very often anymore.  So, I thought I'd better snap some pictures while I could:

L.