Mercifully we haven’t had the wherewithal to hook up cable into our new house and are stuck using the shiny tv for Netflix and Amazon, and the occasional XBox game that is hopefully not saturated in violence. This means it will be impossible for me to watch the Republican Convention every night. I will be forced, as I was last night, to first take a walk, and then to patter about on Instagram, and then to read some pages of... Read more
This is about where I am as I consider the number of boxes before me that still need to be emptied and their contents burned in the small bonfire of my vanity. Matt has filled our bedroom with books. You probably think I’m being hyperbolic. Perhaps I am, except that everywhich way I turn I am banging my toes on them–piles of them arranged liberally around the floor intermingled with odds and ends, shoes, and spaghetti-like computer cords. Meanwhile, because... Read more
[Note about my poor tiny podcast whose link I broke yesterday, here it is again. Now back to regularly scheduled blogging.] He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world. – 1 Samuel 2:8 Hannah’s Prayer, a very clever person observed yesterday, is really... Read more
Starting to get back into the groove of regular life. Lots more unpacking to face down today, but! We have calmed ourselves enough to do up a little Podcast. More than half an hour of chatting about racism, abortion, politics, pride, humility, and how much we love our new house. And here is one excellent article about homeschooling, and here is another one. And here is something political. And here is something that I hope is true. And here is... Read more
Woke up ready to write seven lovely things about this house, or seven meltdowns I’ve had this week, or seven ways not to pack and move, but then, as per usual, I clicked open my tablet and Matt had very thoughtfully sent this gem. Maybe he was saving it for himself, but it woke me right up, and since I don’t have anything to add to any national conversation about politics, race, or terrorism, I’m going to have some words... Read more
Spent a significant portion of yesterday in the car, birthday shopping and shuttling people various places (feeling terminally middle class), and then another portion of the day with my headphones stuffed in my ears, unpacking boxes and listening first to Bleak House (36 Hours for the Win) and then to podcasts of people explaining the phenomenon of Pokemon Go. My phone is slowly fizzling out, so there’s no way I’m downloading anything at all that isn’t a podcast or a... Read more
Beginning to feel like it might someday be interesting to blog about something other than driving around in a car or moving boxes. Life has narrowed down to the single fact of Owning Stuff. Kind of chaffed, reading Matt’s commentary on James to him as he tore down ceiling tiles in the kitchen, internally sobbing over the idea that I am but a breath, a breeze that dies away, and that none of this will last into the next world.... Read more
“What should I write about?” I lately, as in this very moment, inquired of Matt. He is trying to read the bible or something. I tried that for a minute but started to go right back to sleep. The bible is a wonderful cure for insomnia. But that’s not my problem. My problem is that it’s actually morning, and I actually need to stagger into the day. “I don’t know,” he said, “my mind is numb from exhaustion.” And there... Read more
Going to move all the big stuff today, which means sleeping in the new house from here on. This doesn’t exactly equal “moving” because there are going to be a lot of things that don’t move today, and I’m going to be over here a lot of hours rounding them up and shuttling them over. But! First we move the cats. Very first thing. So as to avoid the horror of losing a cat and spending six or so weeks... Read more
As practically everyone has noticed, this was a rough week for news. Anger and violence between black and white are growing to be as ubiquitous as terrorism. Or that’s what it feels like, and what our twenty-four hour news cycle has wrought. Every day America descends into ever greater tribalist division. You pick your group and you stick with it, no matter what. And because the average American feels pretty enlightened, this kind of factionalizing is a surprising turn of... Read more
Preventing Grace
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