No Communion?

Church had just finished. It was a non-communion Sunday. Evelyn realizes it's the end of the service already and, noticing something important was missing, says "We didn't have Communion!"

How do you answer that?

Small Town Denist Horror Story

I had a filling fall out and thus had to find a dentist that could take care of this problem as soon as possible. The next small town over had a dentist that took our insurance so that's where I went. The dentist's office was off the town square and it wasn't very busy when we got there. No other people waiting. After filling out some paper work the dental assistant, an old lady wearing lipstick much too bright red and gruff, old dentist, a husband and wife team who were about seventy years old, led me back to the room. The lights were off everywhere. This was a little weird, but maybe they were just being environmentally conscious, I told myself. Little did I know that must have been the sign post reading: The Twilight Zone. The little room had an ancient looking pinkish-brown dentist chair and the wood paneled walls were covered with posters and newspaper clippings hung with yellowed tape that were older than I was. The dentist took some x-rays, cleaned my teeth and that was it. He didn't fix my tooth. Instead he said he would fix it at a next appointment and by now I felt a little trapped; he already had my paperwork and x-rays, so I went home still having a hole in my tooth.

The next appointment he told me there was a cavity to fill as well and he could do all the work this same day. Back down the dark hall we went to the dark room where they finally flipped on the lights. They got me all set up, dentist's bib and all, and then they gave me some numbing shots. As the dentist began to get his drill ready he realized that it wasn't working. Oh, great! Here I was at some dentist's that didn't seem like they expected patients - could they at least turn the lights on like they were expecting me? - and now the ancient looking equipment was jammed. He took quite a long while to finally get the drill in working order and now I was quite suspicious of it's ability to work properly. He got to work drilling and filling. The first tooth went fine and I began to relax a little. And that, my dear reader, is when the Novocain wore off! Yes, he had spent so much time fixing his drill that the numbness was already wearing off!! The pain was like nothing else I've ever felt and not even bearing a child could compare. In the midst of the drilling there was no opportunity to talk and tell the dentist that you're feeling pain. I could have opened my throat and screamed all I could, but my children were with my husband in the waiting room. I didn't want them to hear that and worry about Mommy. So I bore it, sweating palms, white knuckles and tearing eyes, and simply prayed my heart out. Finally the dentist stopped to rinse my mouth with water and I jumped on the opportunity. I told him, "That really hurts!" And if this was not the Twilight Zone things might have worked out in my favor. He told me, "Don't worry, I'm almost done." He went back to his work as if I had not said a thing. Now I felt a desperate panic but there was nothing more I could do since he was already in my mouth again. So again I prayed through the pain and fear. And finally it was over. I stiffly walked out to the waiting room and saw my kids and Ben and I tried so very hard to keep it together - it really must have been the adrenaline or either I was still in a state of shock. They wanted me to make another cleaning appointment and at that point I was willing to do anything to just get out of there. My heart was still racing. I made the appointment with the firm intent to blow it off later.

We all went out to the car and got in. I was finally out of there and I felt so much relief compared to the pain still ringing in my tooth that I fell apart and sobbed. Ben and the kids were worried and perhaps a little confused. I didn't want to cry; I didn't want my kids thinking that dentist's offices were bad places where they hurt you and made you cry. When I could finally choke out all the things that had transpired, Ben jumped out of the car and went back in the dentist's office to tell them we were never coming back. He was really a knight in shining armor in my eyes at that moment.

This is why we drove about an hour into the city to find a dentist for Evelyn. The dentist was wonderful and nice and Evelyn had a positive experience. And you know, they actually had the lights on.

This Week at the H's

My parents are coming out to visit us from Ohio this Friday. We're really looking forward to that especially since we were not able to take a vacation this year. So they'll be here in less than one week and I think that's how long it will take me to clean the house up. Not that the house is that messy, I just don't have much motivation to stay inside and clean when the weather has been so nice. I suppose luckily, or unluckily depending how you look at it, some rainy weather is predicted for this week. Maybe I'll get everything sparkling in no time yet!

Evelyn is going to be starting Kindergarten so this week she has two different appointments to go to. The first one is to the dentist out in Bellevue, you know one of those city-like places. I'm so glad we found a place that seems like it will be good with kids and, well, professional. I've already had one small town denist horror story (I'll have to tell you that story later); no need to repeat that for Evelyn. The day after her dentist appointment she has an eye doctor's appointment. Her doctor is one of our parishoners and a really nice lady. Evelyn couldn't read the bottom half of the eye chart at her regular doctor's appointment. We're thinking that she will probably need glasses. :(

Such Reading and Talk

He who seeks the inner kingdom of God and a living communion with Him, will naturally seek to remain continually in the thought of God. Turning his mind towards Him with all his might, his one desire will be to read only of Him, to speak only of Him. But these occupations alone will not lead to what is sought, unless accompanied by other, more practical activities. A certain type of mystic talks only of these occupations: the reason is that such teachers are people of theory and not of practice. There is some exaggeration on this subject in Roman Catholic instructions concerning spiritual life, and this is not without danger.

This practice of reading and speaking of God will, used on its own, create a facile habit for such things: it is easier to philosophize than to pray or pay attention to oneself. But since it is a work of the mind, which falls so easily into pride, it predisposes a man to self-esteem. It may altogether cool the desire for practical effort, and consequently hinder sound progress by a flattering successfulness in this mental activity.

For this reason sound-minded teachers warn their pupils of the danger, and advise them not to concern themselves too much with such reading and talk to the detriment of other things.

Theophan the Recluse

Illustrated Jesus

The Illustrated Jesus Through The Centuries by Jaroslav Pelikan

It's the sort of book I drool over. The type of book I pour through constantly - religious art and history, thoughtfully written by the author and a true feast for the eyes. It was a gift from my husband who bought it from the Ft. Wayne Sem.'s bookstore. It still has the little price tag, printed in red and blue ink, on the inside cover. It's the book I go to first when I need to look up reliable information on the topic. The other books in my art library just don't measure up when it comes to the theological and historical understandings of these Christian works of art. I really appreciate the way the chapters are divided, each one devoted to a different approach to portraying Jesus, for example Jesus as The Rabbi (ch. 1), The True Image (ch. 7), The Light of the Gentiles (ch. 3). Each chapter includes art from different periods of Christian history. Pelikan emphasizes the theology first and from there illuminates the art works. Rather unlike other methods which I find most distasteful, the study of the painting and seemingly deriving a theology from that single painting.
An over-all excellent book!

Happy Fourth!

We don't have much in the way of plans for the fourth of July but we have been having fun outside in the nice weather already. Dominic found a tree frog on our porch. We typically have a tree frog that inhabits the porch in the summer. The eatin' is pretty good for frogs - the porch attracts a lot of bugs for some reason. A couple of years ago Evelyn found one and named it Teeter and this year Dominic got to name his frog. It's name is Army, named after it's camouflage (which in this case didn't work so well). Anastasia, do you know much about frogs? Anyways, here are some pictures of the kids and Army. Happy Fourth of July to all of you!

It's Not Easy Being Green

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
There is a danger in the green philosophy that one might go so far as to believe that you can change the earth's birth pangs to nothingness. I daresay, watching some of these shows on TV that being green is almost a religion to some people. I like to thing of being green as offering ice chips to the earth as it labors and yearns for our Lord's second coming. Our being green is not going to stop the labor process but it can at least lovingly and with mercy help to alleviate some of the pain until the fullness of it's time comes. (That's just my own odd way of thinking about it.) So in that vein, we do a bunch of small, paltry things (see below) to be conscientious about the environment. There's always more that we could be doing to be green, like shopping for fruits and vegetables from the local Farmer's Markets - on my list of things to try next, but it's a beginning. What sorts of things do you do to be green? (p.s. You can tell that picture is from my flower bed because of the weeds in the background which I tried unsuccessfully to blur out - ha, ha!)

Laundry:
I usually wash the laundry in cold water (with a few exceptions). It would be nice to get the clothesline fixed up so I could hang some laundry out to dry - although with the strong winds we get out here I might be concerned about the clothes blowing away. I can still remember helping my Nana put her clothes out on the line. They're good memories and ones I wouldn't mind creating for my own little ones.

Appliances:
As far as kitchen appliances, if I can do it myself I try not to use something I have to plug in to do the same job. I mix things by hand, or chop and dice by hand, use a manual can-opener and so forth. We unplug most of the appliances we aren't using at the time, like the coffee maker, toaster, etc. The washer, drier and refrigerator are all new appliances in the parsonage and are Energy Star. Our computer is Energy Star also and it even goes to sleep and uses less electricity when we're not using it.

Lights:
Turning the lights off seems like a simple solution here but that's easier said than done when you have little ones in the house. They need lights on when they go to bed and they leave the lights on in general. We've converted to florescent bulbs and we haven't had to replace any light bulbs yet! I usually like to rely on natural light from the windows during the day and keep the lamps off until it starts to get dark.

Garbage:
Out here in the country we have the option to burn our garbage. I'm not sure it's any better to burn your trash - I know burning plastics releases toxins in the air. Composting is also an option. We don't have a composting box so we don't do that. My Nana used to have a compost heap where she dumped scraps but I don't think a heap is realistic for us. There are too many raccoons and possums that would be willing to spread it all over the lawn. We recycle what we can, mostly just plastic soda bottles and glass bottles. We recycle batteries too - of which we generally use rechargeable.

Gardening:
The plants in our garden are appropriate for our zone. They are for the most part drought tolerant which is good for them because I rarely water them (the garden hose wouldn't reach even if I choose to!). I *try* to keep the flower beds weeded so they don't have to fight for the water. We don't spray chemicals for pests. We don't buy mulch - nature takes care of that for us. The fall leaves do nicely enough for winter protection and they compost in the Spring. We have a big yard and it would be nice to section off a portion to not have to mow - but that's not too realistic since our parsonage is right next to the church and it wouldn't do to have a shaggy yard right next to the church yard.