Where we've been. . .

In May and June life picked up the pace. I almost feel like listing all the crazy things that have consumed my days in those crazy seven weeks- but I won't. . .for fear that I might get exhausted and never finish this post. So I will talk about two major things that have consumed my time. One happy, one sad.

One sad thing . . . that has consumed our time is the sudden hospitalization of Dan's mom, Joanne. At the beginning of May she had to have emergency surgery to remove nine feet of dead intestine. We almost lost her and her recovery has not been easy to say the least. Watching your parents (who have been the source of wisdom, strength, and leadership in your family) slowing lose their ability to function and be independent is so hard. Al and Joanne moved in with us for several weeks while Dan and I remodeled their master bed and bath and cleaned up the kitchen and dining room. We also did many other projects (water heater, plumbing, clean out motor home and storage shed, etc.) We finished this part of the project on June 17th and moved them back in one day before our much needed vacation in the Caribbean. Joanne still struggles with adjusting to her unstable digestive tract but we are thankful for every day that we still have them here with us.

One very happy thing. . . is that my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! We decided to make it a celebratory weekend. "The sisters" came from the north and we all rode to Laguna Beach in a limo for a very fancy dinner on the water. We then had dessert at the Montage while the sun set and then off to Disneyland to watch the fireworks. Sunday we had an open house and many of our good friends and family were on hand to celebrate the anniversary. We had great food and watched an amazing video that Ben put together. I feel so incredibly grateful that I have parents who are committed to each other and their family. They are loving and self-sacrificing, and always put God first in their lives. Needless to say it was a weekend I will never forget!

The juxtaposition of joy and sorrow is such a profound aspect of life. Isn't it?

To finish this post I will share (in part) one of my favorite poems of love which I feel very much applies to my parent's marital example:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
-William Shakespeare

A Fun Memory!

This past weekend I had a blast with all of the Northern California relatives! The last time I saw many of them was in August 2006 when Andy got married. This post is for Uncle Dean who loves to remember the infamous "Crab Pot Adventure"! For those of you who were not there, Andy's wedding was in Washington State.
We were staying on the shore of the sound where you can row out and drop crab pots. Free crab!!?? The young men in the family decided it would be great to stick a pot in the water and boil up a crab feast for all to enjoy; so after leaving the pots underwater for several hours Andy, Bob, Ben, Dan, and Jake all decided to take the row boat out to bring in the crab feast! Only. . .it was a little harder to row than they thought. Finally, Andy decided it would be easier to row all five of them himself! I can still hear Uncle Dean roaring with wild laughter at the sight of four grown men being rowed by the young and muscular Andy. After they finally made it back to the dock they unloaded their mighty catch only to watch the very law-abiding property manager throw crab after crab back into the water because they were females or too small to keep. (Only 1/16 of an inch too small!!!)


When all was said and done there were two crabs left to boil up- and they were delicious! Thanks for the memory! (P.S. This post is dedicated to Rachel who inspired me to post again!)

Perspective

Ever since I have returned from Easter break my life has been consumed with work and responsibilities. I felt burdened by the extra hours I spend on work instead of doing recreational and social activities. A few days ago as Dan and I were driving somewhere I was complaining in my head feeling very defeated and frustrated to the point of self-pity. At a red light on a street near our house a middle-aged man in a wheel chair was wheeling himself across the crosswalk. They had just graded the street for repaving and the sidewalk was a good 4-5 inches higher than the street and he could not get his chair up on the sidewalk. Since he had no companion to help and no legs below his knees he threw himself onto the pavement and dragged his now lighter chair with great difficulty onto the sidewalk. He then attempted, several times, to pull himself back into his chair all while dozens of people stared at him waiting for the light to turn green. My cold, bitter heart broke.

Similarly, a few months back I was frustrated with the amount of times our worship leader made us stand and sit during the church service. (I find it distracting but he likes to keep us awake.) The sixth time he had us stand I rolled my eyes at Dan and begrudgingly pulled myself to my feet. In silent protest I didn’t focus on the song but turned around to look at the clock on the back wall only to meet eyes with a young man in his thirties in a wheelchair. He smiled at me as he cheerfully sang the words to the song– confined to his chair– nature having taken away his option to stand and worship. I’ve never since complained in my heart about standing in church.

A few weeks before this we were in church again on a Sunday morning and our music pastor was having us sing, “Our God is an Awesome God” which I felt was a very over sung piece of music. Annoyed and distracted I looked around remembering something I had heard another share in my bible study a week earlier: “It helps me in my worship time to look around and see others worship God knowing the difficult things those people are dealing with and personal trials they have overcome.” My eyes then fell on a third-grader who was born with a birth defect that kept him from speaking until very recently. This 11-year old stood next to his dad enthusiastically signing the words and loudly singing in his gruff, raspy voice “Our God is an Awesome God”. The power and weight of the words of this song hit me fully and immediately. Annoyance turned to remorsefulness and my complacent heart was moved to joy.

It is amazing how our perspective on our situation in life can change when we take our eyes off of ourselves. It is in our nature to be self-focused and I welcome the reminders that God positions in the way of our self-pity and self-admiration to help us gain a truer, clearer picture of life.

I miss vacation. . .

Well. . . since in my blog poll nobody wanted to hear about work in our lives and work is pretty much all Dan and I have been doing I haven't had much to blog about. The rest of our Newport vacation was so amazing. One of my favorite highlights was having burritos at the little park in front of The Montage. That hotel is amazingly beautiful! Tonight in preparation for our Saturday "work on the house" day I bought a few herbs to replant my herb pots. I picked lavender and rosemary in honor of our Newport vacation. (The Marriott has it planted everywhere!) Oh, yeah we are trying to rehome our cute bunnies. I love them but we had to demolish their roomy home last summer and they need more attention than I can give. If you know of someone who wants them let me know!

Newport Coast - Days 2-4

Well our vacation is progressing nicely. On Tuesday Ben, Lindsay, Rachel, Caleb, Joe and Kristy came out and we all walked to the beach, ate dinner, and played games (Super Mario Party). Joe and Kristy had to go home to paint the Kitchen and write a master's thesis (good luck with that Joe!). The rest of us stayed and woke early to go play at Crystal Cove beach where Caleb had a blast shoveling sand and running around on his little legs. Then we came back to the room for lunch and Ben and Lindsay went on a Marriott timeshare tour of the Villas where they were compensated for their time with $150 gift certificate to South Coast Plaza! After the tour and Caleb's much needed nap we all went down to the Grotto pool to relax in the water and sun. We then all went to Ztejas for dinner at South Coast Plaza (compliments of Ben and Lindsay). I had the pecan crusted chicken salad with spinach, goat cheese, and warm bacon vinaigrette. It was fabulous! We all had fun watching Caleb down everyone's french fries (with ketchup on every bite) and then we walked around the mall and Uncle Dan took Caleb on the merry-go-round. It was funny to watch Caleb's death grip on the pole when he knew it was time to get off. Day two was a good day!

Day three was a quiet one for most of the day. Dan and I relaxed alone until Kenny and Betsy Clark and little Lily came for a walk on the beach, a little dinner, and a round of Chance (our favorite card game). This was a nice way to wind down a relaxing day.

This morning Sam and Kristen are arriving- in about 15 minutes! They are the beach bums in the family and truly enjoy a good beach holiday. I'm sure a visit in to Laguna will be in our near future. Happy Thursday!

John Adams

One of the many things that Dan and I both enjoy is studying history. Of the trips we have taken together, Washington D.C. has been one of our most favorite places to visit. I love the idea of standing or walking where people did hundreds of years ago. (In LA we don't have too many places that have this quality.) This past week Dan and I discovered a seven part series on HBO produced by Tom Hanks on the life of John Adams. Paul Giamatti plays John Adams and Laura Linney plays Abigail Adams. The series is based on the research of biographer David McCullough who wrote a biography on John Adams and much of his research comes from the many letters that John and Abigail wrote to each other over their lifetime. The series has been praised for its historical authenticity. Those of you interested in the start of our country or history in general should definitely check this series out! The White House website has tons of great historical information too! Watch the trailer here and the making of here.

Theory of Knowledge - Does God Exist?

Most of you probably know that I teach literature at La Mirada High School, but I also teach this very interesting course called Theory of Knowledge. It is basically a philosophy seminar course where we spend time in discussion addressing a central question: how do we know? Here is our official course description:

Theory of Knowledge – Instructor: Mrs. Shackleton (Non-Honors Credit – UC approved elective credit) This philosophy seminar course encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself, to try to help students make sense out of what they encounter both within and outside the academic community. Students will investigate the origins, processes, and limitations of human knowledge and will discuss how logic, sense perception, emotion, and language are used to discover knowledge in the areas of mathematics, natural sciences, human sciences, history, the arts, and ethics. This discussion-based course is designed to raise questions rather than answer them. It encourages students to make connections between their core content classes and understand the ways in which personal views, beliefs, and judgments influence knowledge claims. Students will be taught how to write a basic philosophy paper and learn how to effectively communicate their ideas clearly both orally and in writing.

Right now we are in the middle of our chapter on religion. The chapter is basically divided into three sections: arguments for the existence of God (theistic point of view), arguments against the existence of God (atheistic point of view), and a third section called “should the existence of God matter?”. The awesome thing is there is going to be a debate between Dinesh D'Souza (a theist who is a fellow at Stanford University) and Peter Singer (an atheist who is at Yale University) on the existence of God and it’s meaning for human flourishing. I am so excited for my students to see this debate as it will challenge them to think more critically and have reasons to substantiate and support their beliefs. You can check out the rest of Biola’s Apologetics events here.