Share the Wealth

Today is Chinese New Year's Day, and the kids got lycee (bills in red envelopes) yesterday and today. Hannah's immediate reaction upon discovering the envelope's contents yesterday was to give me one of the two bills. And she did so excitedly! Here, Daddy, one for you! Today, she did the same thing! I don't know why but I'm overjoyed thinking the best of her, that her instinct is to share, or that she knows that Daddy buys most things she enjoys, I'm not sure. I'll post when I know more. : )

especially i do!

lately, when i'm putting the pooklet down and am exiting the room, he's been saying, "I love you, daddy." and then, with quick delivery, he adds on, "especially i do!"

LA LA LA!

As the grown-ups prepared to sing last night, Numgat ran to a box of toys, trying desperately to get it from the shelf. I was confused at her urgency until she pleaded "La la la!!" and I realized that she wanted to participate with her toy microphone.

a lesson in Christological Economics

As I got to my bus stop this morning, I saw John, a fellow I'd met a short while back. I'd been thinking lately about evangelizing those whose paths I intersect, but because John is mentally diabled, I'd avoided this with him for unsubstantial reasons.
But this morning, God governed my reason, and I asked myself, 'Does God love this man any less than the other prospects for evangelism I find more attractive?'
I remembered that I suffer a lack of boldness for which I've been praying.
Here's a chance, I finally thought, to train myself in evangelism with one who would certainly not respond in a way that might discourage me.
And even after arriving at the inescapable conviction that I was to reach out to John for Christ's sake, I yet resisted it a bit, commenting, in my first attempt at conversation, on the weather.
But then I asked him what he had planned for today at the program he attends.
He said bocce, and then I remembered that he likes bowling, so I asked him which is harder.
Then, after confirming the program is Monday through Friday, I asked him what he does on the weekends.
Watch TV. Sports.
Do you go to church?
No, I want to! he said with more enthusiasm than I'd heard from him up till now.
I invited him to our church, took down his number and address, and we boarded the bus.
As I returned to my audiobook 'Basic Economics' (a pitiful alternative to proclaiming the message of God's salvation), I felt satisfaction in my heart that I'd done the godly works for which I'd been set apart in Christ, rather than absorb myself in fleeting selfish pursuits of knowledge.
For in the economy of the church age, the purpose of the believer is to facilitate a personal culture of humble deference to God's power and purpose.
And so I returned to the words of Thomas Sowell, this time as if endowed with divine implications:

"... because scarce resources have not been allocated to their most valued uses."

the delightful pooklet

4.14.11

i love a sleeping pooklet. I also love the way he says, "sorry, daddy!" when he accidentally bumps me or something.

A Sit-In

4.15.11

The Numgat this morning wouldn't let me leave for work, protesting my departure with a sit-in, or, rather, a sit-on, leaning on my knelt knee with her back to me and her arms out ready to stop me from rising.

I could still hear her crying outside from the sidewalk in front of our house.

pay attention

as i bathed the pooklet the other night, i thought about the olden eras when there were fewer distractions. did parents relish with more patience time with their kids doing mundane things like giving baths? the idea appealed to me.

i thought about my eagerness (above most everything else it often seems) lately to process my photos in lightroom, and realized that it fosters an underlying impatience i have with the little pook and the things with which i should bear in his development.

this comes on the heels of a discussion the wife initiated about neil postman and a thesis she wants to write about the short attention spans of today's youth, and the hindrances to committing to developing thoughts, and expressing them in written and verbal communication.

what a reminder that we need to slow down and examine what is consuming our time, and, at times, our very selves.

to ride on the heights of the land

"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

- Isaiah 58:13-14

What is the application for those on this side of the new covenant? If we are wishy-washy on setting aside an actual day of the week, what other device do we need to re-member (ourselves to) God and the covenant He's established? God not only deserves the honor but promises delight to "the heights of the earth" for His people who act in accordance with their sanctification.

Crucial to the sabbath is the concept of holy rest and with it the profound absence of doing that's so hard for the busy to submit to.
Reflecting on the sabbath makes me realize how reluctant I am to give up my plans for a weekend day and "desist from (my) own ways... seeking (my) own pleasure." For even pragmatism can become a stumbling block if, despite the practicality of "catching up" from the week, it obscures the habit provided by God of honoring Him and partaking in the holy.

Love and Logic Parenting

just saw some YouTube clips of 'Love and Logic,' and absorbed these new goals for our parenting:

- Speak with excitement about your job (if only to your spouse/another adult) in the hearing of your children. This is also helpful in promoting education e.g. "I'm so glad I went to college so I could get this job."

- Speak with excitement about what you learn each day (Also a good inter-spouse habit). For me, this took form yesterday as relating what I've been learning in 1 Kings 8 and Nancy Pearcy's book 'Saving Leonardo.'

- "Energy Drain". When The Pooklet whines or disobeys, we moan "Energy Drain!" and tell him that (whichever disagreeable behavior of his) drains Mommy and Daddy of their energy (and this makes it hard for us to play). "What do you think you can do to put energy back in Mommy/Daddy??" we ask him. Then, and most crucially, we suggest something helpful, rather than responding with a Love and Logic no-no: Telling the child to do something (Stop it! Come here! Hurry up!), which is usually ineffective. The only thing I could think of doing the first time I tried this, was to tell him to go to his room and count to 10, which he gladly did, probably because it seemed like a game. But it interrupted the annoyance and, most importantly, directed me to do something constructive rather than harsh, generic, and emotional.

- Empathize with your child's sadness. We've encountered this before from other sources in the way of matching your child's emotional state and stating/restating the reason for his woe. This is another handy device for thinking instead of acting out of annoyance and, sometimes more importantly, more effective at stopping the immediate problem.

mousy! there's a mousy!

numgat trotted into the bathroom and spotted the Zhu Zhu toy, exclaiming, "Mousy! There's a mousy!" Then, she picked it up, walked it over to me, and made it give me a kiss.

Numgat helps herself to some pretzels

I was getting the kids ready for bed the other day, and my attention was on the Pooklet. After dumping him into the bathtub, I went looking for his little sister to ensure she wasn’t up to any trouble. I headed to the kitchen area, and heard the sound of the pantry door and a plastic bag. By the time I got to the pantry, there was no trace of her so I swiveled around, tuning in to the sound of padding feet, just in time to catch a glimpse of her little head walking back toward the hallway. I hurried after her and caught up to her heading back to the bedroom/bath area. She was holding a pretzel in each hand, contentedly munching on one of them. I grabbed them from her, admonishing her above her ability to reason for taking food without asking.

Still, it was the funniest thing to me that she just went and helped herself to a snack when the whim struck.

Time for Change

Numgat just whined and said, "Change!" indicating that she had a stinky. So I said, "OK! I'll give you a change. Let's go!" and she promptly led the way to the bedroom, where she lay down in change position.

Never before has she clearly indicated and submitted to a change.

prayer

Another prayer/poem that arose out of Bible Study Fellowship homework, based on Isaiah 24:14-16a

Lord Almighty,
You give the sinner hope.
my hope is in you before the trials.
The joy of Your justice will come.
I rest and rejoice in Your righteousness.
Make my joy complete for my heart laments the godless.
But I look to the future and smile
and pray your glory displaces all sorrow.
I will acclaim with every nation
when the harvest is complete.
Enlarge Your kingdom, O God,
our Banner and our Salvation.
May the chorus of Your redeemed cry out,
every language lift Your name.
Until our tears are wiped away,
may we shed them for your fame.

rar?

last night as i was putting the Numgat into her car seat before leaving SF, she held up her stuffed tiger - the one that makes a roar sound - and said "Rar?" It didn't register to me at first, as I was hurriedly strapping her in, but she kept repeating it imploringly as she held mr. tiger up to me.
Only later as the wife acquiesced to the Numgat's demands in the backseat as we drove home did I realize that my daughter was asking me to play the tiger sound because it delighted her so.

rar! rar!

Numgat Initiative

As is my habit when the Numgat wakes from her nap in the Pack 'n' Plan in our closet, I came to get her first by opening the closet door and turning on the light so she would at least know her freedom was imminent and stop crying, while I made a quick stop in the bathroom.
However, before I could finish in the bathroom, to my bewilderment, she sauntered in, greeted me, and casually tossed her empty bottle into the sink (where we toss the day's used bottles), and sauntered out.

I guess this is less surprising given that yesterday after putting her down in the pack 'n' play, I found her sitting on the changing area portion, having climbed up to it.

I guess her transfer to the Pooklet's old crib came none too soon.

Jesse Tree

At the wonderful wife's prompting, we've initiated a family devotional routine each evening for the month of December. it consists of a little scripture, a bit of devotional material, and the unwrapping of an ornament (which the wife made) that goes on the "Jesse Tree." each ornament represnets a symbol of God's covenant with His people.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to record my daughter's adorable (although distracting) behavior during last night's devotions: As I read aloud, she scurried back and forth between me and my backpack, bringing me items from it like my name badge, saying "Daddy" as if to let me know that they belongs to me.

Two kids enter, one kid leaves...

last night was the first night our two kids shared the Pooklet's room (The Pooklet's been in his big boy bed now for about a week).
when mommy put the Numgat in Pooklet's old crib, she pointed back to our room and said somewhat anxiously, "Hannah sleep there." but, after a brief cry, it took.
after a 4am change and bottle, however, she sat up and started talking to her pig-pig, so i broke in and took her out so she wouldn't wake her brother. However - and here is the real proof that the sleep experiment was successful - she hadn't even woke him with her initial 4am cry (which woke me down the hall through two closed doors).
she ended up sleeping in our room from 4:30 on, but all in all, this was a good sign of things to come.

I, however, couldn't fall back asleep.

prayer encouragement

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been praying more and longer than perhaps ever in my life. The Praying Church Sourcebook continues to be a source of ideas and inspiration to me. Today I read about Second Baptist Church in Houston, which, I believe, we visited once when unexpectedly laid over on our return trip from Costa Rica. Their Sunday school attendance grew from 800 to over 5,000 because of prayer. They have members praying 24/7 in a room on their campus, with a phone anyone can call in on at any time with requests. I like commitments like this. It reminds me of the story I heard of Spurgeon's church, which had a basement full of prayer warriors during his sermons.
Pastor Cho of the 1,000,000 member church in Seoul, Korea encourages us to pray for very specific requests because God's answers come more noticeably and offer greater testimonies to His greatness. Personally, what I like about praying detailed requests is that it makes it more exciting when you're praying because it paints a better picture. The more facets of the request I consider, the more vivid the picture, and the more it heightens interest, urgency and passion in the prayer.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords

My mom sent me this link today, and it was just what I needed. I'm going to go listen to our CD of the Hallelujah Chorus now...

identity

Part of my homework for BSF was to share what we'd sing to God and although it wasn't intended to be a literal song, really, I thought it was a good opportunity to praise Him with another attempt at hymnody.

The content coincides with the chapter we discussed yesterday in my Sunday school study of The Reason For God by Timothy Keller. The chapter, "The Problem of Sin," explains how sin is essentially finding one's identity in anything but God.


The rain outside my house
tapped softly on my door
My treasured comfort You would douse
I feared if I explored.
So I kept myself in safety dry,
among my idols near,
and studied rain in holy books,
my wisdom lacking fear.

I danced in puddles from Your rain
and stole from You delight.
Upon Your gifts I placed my stain
of pride in copyright.
Were man to know enough to pray
that You would yet entice us
He’d call on You from pleasures’ sway
to save before a crisis.

You turned my puddles into flood
and wet my eyes with joy.
I’m changed forever by Your blood
to be what You employ.
Don’t haste to wipe away my tears.
Your Name deserves reknown.
You’ve paved the way, dissolving fears.
To Your Commission I am bound.

Sing, my heart! Give rise, my voice!
The nations need to hear!
Make known that private hearts rejoice!
Request the public’s ear!
This is what the Lord has done.
Proclaim now His salvation.
“His victory is surely won”
the song for every nation.