strike up the band

Dylan is now a second year band student, and he has considerably expanded his knowledge of percussion.  In fifth grade, percussion students focused on the bells, but in sixth grade he has added snare drum, bass drum, crash cymbal, suspended cymbal, wood block, triangle, and sleigh bells.

He is not quite as excited about band this year, mostly, I think, because he has a different band teacher than he had last year.  He is pretty sure he gets his original teacher back next year, as he transitions into marching band in seventh grade.

The fifth and sixth grade band concert was a few weeks ago.  He played bells, snare drum and triangle in this year's concert.

Dylan is in the back row, just to the right of the director, wearing a white shirt and dark tie.

Sixth grade percussionist

Dylan rarely gets dressed up, so I wanted to capture the moment.  Just before I took the picture, he had his hands full of drumsticks, mallets and music, so I told him to lay it on the ground, except for his drumsticks, for a picture... to which he vehemently protested, "No, Dad, give me my mallets, too... I played bells and drums tonight!"  Sorry, Dylan... you're right, percussion isn't just drums!

another happy birthday

This is one of those short snippets of life that I never want to forget. 

I've mentioned before that my youngest, Benny (age 3 1/2), is developmentally delayed, and although growing, his verbal skills and vocabulary are behind most kids his age.  One big example is vocabulary to express emotions.  As previously written here and here, he knows what "I'm sad" feels like, but he communicates it, "I sorry".  He also knows what "I'm happy" feels like, but he communicates it, "happy birthday!"

This weekend, Jen was away with her Mom on a women's retreat with her Mom's church.  I was in charge... which means I put aside many of the projects that often distract me, and focused on just being a Dad a little more than I usually do. 

Saturday was unseasonably warm in northeast Ohio... like 70-degree-range-two-months-earlier-than-normal warm!  Saturday evening, I got the fire pit out of the shed and set it up for the first backyard fire of the season.  I was sitting around the fire with all the kids, with Benny cuddling on my lap (the ONLY safe place for Benny to be when a fire is burning!)

Benny looked up at me and sweetly asked, "Dad... this a happy birthday?"

Yes, Benny, not by the calendar, but the moment feels a lot like a happy birthday to me!

sap's a risin'

Last Sunday was a beautiful day (as is this one, as evidenced by the fact that I am blogging outside... in my shorts... in mid-March... in northeast Ohio!)  One of the metro parks in our area hosts a maple sugaring event each spring.  We have wanted to go for several years, and finally made it this year.

Sap's a risin'... a typical early springtime sight in northeast Ohio.

There were live demonstrations of maple sugaring techniques beginning in the 1700's...

1800's...

Sampling raw sap straight from the tap.

Zachary giving the 1800's auger a try.

Lily's turn.

The buckets were empty, but normally each side would weigh over 20 pounds.  They offered Dylan a job carrying sap for 10-11 hours a day for 25¢ per day... 1800's wages!

30¢ per pound in the 1800's!

Enter the 1900's... maple syrup $1.50 per gallon.

The 2000's... gas augers and plastic tubing that connects trees together in a "pipeline" to a central collection.

Boiling down the sap at the central collection.

43 gallons of sap = 1 gallon of maple syrup

Free samples!  I don't think I've ever had real maple syrup before.  It was delicious!  Jen was all set to purchase some... but the $30 per half gallon price tag deterred her!

Small fishing lake at the park.

Appalachian music

that took guts

My oldest, Dylan, is in a challenge reading class this year.  The kid can read well above his grade level, and he often chooses a pretty broad range of both fiction and non-fiction.  Recently, his reading class had a project called, "The Wax Museum", for which they had to read a biography and "perform" as a talking wax figure of the person they studied.

Sometimes your kids really make you proud.

This was one of those sometimes.

Dylan originally chose Mark Hall, lead singer of the Christian music group, Casting Crowns.  Great choice... except there isn't a lot of biographical content written on Mark Hall.  One evening, he was telling me about his choice to do Mark Hall because it would be a way to bring God to his public school, and that he was bummed that it didn't work out.  (Did I mention that I was proud of his choice?)  He wasn't sure who he would choose, since this first choice didn't work.  I told him I had a half-dozen, or so, biographies of Christians on my bookshelf that he was welcome to use, if any of them interested him. 

He hadn't really heard of any of them (Umm... Billy Graham?), but he thumbed through my books, and Jim Elliot, missionary to the Auca Indians of Ecuador, caught his attention.  Dylan read about the life of Jim Elliot, and was quite impressed... and was happy that pictures showed him mostly in a t-shirt, so it wouldn't be too hard to get in character!

He chose his "frozen pose" as standing while reading an open Bible.  When someone hit the "button" on his display, he tucked the Bible under his arm and told about his (Jim Elliot's) life.  When he was done with his memorized monologue, he went back to his reading pose.

He and I took a walk one evening, after the project was done, and he started telling me about what he learned from the life of Jim Elliot... which is pretty heavy stuff.  You see, Jim Elliot was killed in Ecuador at age 29.  I could tell the project had really impacted Dylan.  He also told me that some kids made fun of him for having a Bible at school... but, "it was worth it."

Whose kid is this?  I don't think I had that much guts at age 11... hmmm, do I now, for that matter?

he said what?

I heard a word in church this past Sunday that I don't believe I have ever heard in church before!  What's more, it was spoken by my Pastor... from the pulpit, no less!

And, the word was...

Lent.

Some of you may be scratching your head about now... wondering why this is such a big deal.  Well... it's just that I grew up with a Baptist background.  I have always attended Baptist (or Baptist-similar) churches, and, from my experience, Baptists don't do Lent.

Now, if you regularly partake in the Lenten season, please forgive my possible ignorance in this post... I'm no expert on the subject (see above).  But, I have to give props to my Pastor for bringing a "foreign" concept to the pulpit of our church.  It caught my attention, and I've given it quite a bit of thought over the past few days.

I think that there are two main approaches to religion, and, even more specifically, to Christianity... performance and grace.  Performance based is the mindset akin to "impressing" God.  Grace based is the realization that there is nothing we, as mere mortals, can possibly do to impress God.  I subscribe to grace based Christianity.  I believe that there is nothing we can do to earn our way to God.  All I can do is accept the grace he freely offered when He gave His son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of mankind.  Therefore, any "good works" are performed out of gratitude for what has already been done on my behalf.

That said, I still often find myself falling into the trap of performance based Christianity... doing things because I think I should.  But, herein lies the beauty of Lent for a Baptist, like me... since we don't normally do Lent, there are absolutely no preconceived ideas or expectations.  Elements of our regular worship practices can become habitual, almost ritual.  But, stepping a little out of our norm once in a while can allow us to get a fresh perspective.

This was the point my Pastor was making.  His entire sermon was not about Lent.  It was actually from the 11th chapter of Mark's Gospel, where Jesus is found cleansing the Temple. 

(15) On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, (16) and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. (17) And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (NIV)

The point being made was that the Temple area and the "worship" that occurred there had become something it was never intended.  In many ways, the genuineness had been lost and perspective and right motives needed restored.  The same thing can happen with individuals.  Hence, Pastor suggested changing our normal "routine" once in a while to gain a fresh perspective... perhaps Lenten participation as one possible way to prepare the heart for the upcoming Easter holiday.

Ah, Easter.

I have addressed my frustrations with the Easter holiday in a previous post.  It ties in very well with this post, if you have the time to read it.  If not, the crux is this:

"I think a big part of my Easter frustration is due to the fact that my church background has focused so much more heavily on the Resurrection and tended to gloss over the Crucifixion. And why not? Resurrection is happy... crucifixion is not. But, how can you fully rejoice in the Resurrection, without first sharing in the sorrow of the cross?"

I believe Resurrection Sunday is the holiest of days for the Christian.  And yet, I think many of us do it a great disservice by not preparing our hearts through the events leading up to the Resurrection, or by doing it in such a routine way that the significance and genuineness have been lost.

Technically speaking, Lent has already begun.  I mean no disrespect to those of you who adhere to a more strict practice of Lent, but since it is not a regular part of my faith practices, I don't feel the need to adhere to as strict of an iterpretation of the observance as others might.  But, I am considering it... perhaps a "modified" version this year... or observing it another year... or, maybe not at all.

He said what?

Lent?

Yeah... and the cool thing is... he made me think a little out of the box.

the quilt

If you've never read "Pearl", a tribute post to my maternal Grandma, it lends a great introduction to this post.

When I was designing and implementing the renovations of this house, the stairway was one area that I felt must be reworked, for a few different reasons.  One was pretty obvious... it had a sloped ceiling that was originally built like a funnel.  Yes, a funnel.  It was wider at the top of the stair and head clearance decreased as you came down the stairs... to the point that I had to duck my head at the bottom of the stair.  Structurally, it was a pretty big challenge to rework the head-banging header at the bottom of the stair to maximize headroom and still adequately support the floor above.  Additionally, the only place for a closet in the bedroom above the foyer, was to extend it (with a stepped floor in the closet) out into the stairwell.  It wasn't easy, but I pulled it off.  It's still a little tighter at the bottom than I would like, and I could probably still bang my head if I were to try hard enough (maybe sprinting down the steps), but you can only do so much with the "bones" of an old house, it's tons better than it was, and the space is comfortable.  The result (hard to photograph) is this.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I got artsy and curved the foyer ceiling into the sloped portion where the closet above juts out into the stairwell.

The short sloped section is under the closet in the room above

The artsy curve where the foyer ceiling breaks to the sloped ceiling

The second reason was not so obvious.  The home we owned before this one did not have a sloped ceiling in the stairway, and I liked the openness.  The open stairwell was the perfect place, devoid of direct sunlight, to hang an art masterpiece... if I owned a masterpiece, that is.  And... it just so happens that I do own such a masterpiece.  I specifically designed "the Gallery" with this masterpiece in mind, to the point of making sure the electrical plan included an eyeball spotlight highlighting the gallery wall.

So, what is the masterpiece that I had in mind for the Gallery?  Glad you asked... let me show you!

Mom to three, Grandma to six and (although she never met any of them) Great-Grandma to fifteen (if I counted correctly), my Grandma Pearl was a pretty simple, homespun lady.  She mostly wore dresses, nicer ones to church and "house dresses" for everyday, the majority of which she sewed herself.  With her sewing skills, Grandma was also a quilter.  As such, she decided (when I was very young) to make a handmade quilt for each of her grandkids, as an eventual wedding gift.

This was no small undertaking.  No two of these six quilts were alike, and every stitch in them is hand-stitched with love.  My Grandma has hours and hours invested in each quilt.  As she finished them, she stitched a small hand-written note in the corner of the underside, which contained the grandchild's name, her name, the quilt name, and the date finished.  She then stored them away for our future weddings.

She pretty much finished them in birth order.  Just to document how much time she invested in these quilts... I am the second oldest grandchild, and mine, the "bowtie quilt", is marked as "finished 1980"... I was twelve in 1980!

The Bowtie Quilt

The really cool thing for the grandkids is that, although she bought fabric for the "background" color, many of the other squares (the bowties, in my case) are remnants of other sewing projects... many of them the dresses she wore.  The photo below, for example, is the fabric from one of the house dresses I distinctly remember her wearing very often.  I don't think she had any way of knowing how priceless these gifts would become... priceless masterpieces!

Notice the stitching... 100% hand-stitched with love!

The tragic part of this story is that my Grandma lost a valiantly fought battle to cancer in 1985... before she had the opportunity to present any of these wedding gifts.  I was going into my senior year of high school.  She managed to complete five of the six before her death.  The sixth one was partially completed, but sadly, she just ran out of steam before she could get it completed.  My youngest cousin had to enlist the help of a surrogate quilter to honor the memory of my Grandma, by finishing what she began.

So, this morning, I placed the masterpiece in the Gallery... the spot in my home that was specifically designed to display my Grandma's quilt.  I'm pretty sure Grandma would be humbly honored to know that her handiwork is prominently displayed in the Gallery. 

Miss you, Grandma... thanks for the memories!

"The Bowtie Quilt" at home in the Gallery

"The Bowtie Quilt" under lights in the Gallery

scary cool

I started a new job this past September in the Underwriting Department of one of our nation's major insurance companies.  It's a new experience for me to be working for a larger company, but I'm settling into the "cuberhood", and striving to excel in my new position.

My company is pretty proactive with various health initiatives throughout the year.  Whatever they are doing must be working.  My health insurance benefits commenced immediately, so I began paying my contribution toward the premium in September.  October was our open enrollment period, so I had to re-select my coverage options, even though I had just made the selections a month before.  Guess what... the premium decreased!  Decreased!  Yes, that's right, it got cheaper!  What the heck...

So, proactive health initiatives look pretty good to me... sign me up!

One of the initiatives is Destination: You, in partnership with GobalFit.  It involves a step tracker that attaches to your shoelaces and records the date, time and number of your steps throughout the day. For incentives to get out and move, my company has established goals, contests and prizes centered around the step tracking program.  Since walking and hiking are among my favorite activities, this is right up my alley!  I signed up and my tracker was delivered to my cubicle last week.

It's a pretty cool setup.  There is a data access point at the entrance of my building.  Every time I walk past this access point, wearing my tracker, the data stored in the tracker is automatically transmitted and downloaded to my account on the GlobalFit website.  I can log on at any time and see my activity and compare it against the average of the company participants.  It's all automated... all I need to do is walk.

Cool... but, scary at the same time!  I find myself wondering how else this technology could be used?  Am I the only one that thinks this way?  With all the technology that we carry around these days, what information about us does it contain, and who could potentially download our information "automatically"?

I'm pretty sure my step tracker is harmless fun... and I am having fun with it.  The main company goal is 2,000,000 steps from July 11, 2011 to July 11, 2012.  Since I was hired in September and got my tracker in January, I'm just a little behind... OK, I'm half a year behind.  So, my personal challenge is to see how close I can get to the goal in just half the time. (I DO like to walk!)