Our "Pulitzers"

As we were compiling our end of the years posts I am always amazed by the different areas we write about-- fashion, cooking, travel, sports, politics, and entertainment.  A lot of our posts are about specific events in our lives.  However, Arthur also has a knack of writing commentary and editorial posts.  By far, Arthur's favorite topic to write about is politics, however the editor may not publish each one since Arthur is allowed a quota of 1 or 2 political rants per year.  Here are our "pulitzers" for the year:

Best Commentary-- "I thought all presidents were giants"

Best Editorial-- Don't Forget the Tiny People

Best Photography--  The first 10 miles were great...

Best Religion Piece-- Remembrance

Best Feature-- The March of Time

Best Humor-- Random Awesomeness

Top 16 of 2016

Each year we have put together a Top X of 20X list.  As the years go by we have to think of more and more highlights from the year.  Here is our compilation for this year.

In 2016 we checked off a few bucket list items:

1. Sea Kayaking-- We went on a sea kayaking trip along the Apostle Island National Lakeshore through sea caves, towering cliffs, and the crystal clear water of Lake Superior.  We both hope more kayaking is in our future.

2.  Attending a performance of Wicked-- We went on a double date for Valentines Day with my brother and sister-in-law to Springfield to watch the Broadway musical Wicked.  This has been on Arthur's bucket list for several years.  The music, costumes, stage, and production were amazing.

3.  Donating hair--  It's been on my bucket list (not Arthur's) to grow my hair out and donate it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients or others who have lost their hair.  After about 2 or 3 years my hair had finally gotten long enough and I donated about 10 inches.

Besides accomplishing some bucket list items we also learned several new skills:

4.  Watercolor painting-- I have taken up watercolors and also talked a few friends into painting as well.  My big projects this year were a set of forest animals for our nieces' nursery and then about 50 Christmas cards.  I have really enjoyed a hobby that allows for me to be more creative.

5. Sourdough Bread-- Arthur cultivated his own wild yeasts to make a sour dough starter.  Throughout the year we had wonderful sourdough bread.  We even forget that you can make bread with yeast since we hadn't used any yeast in bread baking for so long.

6. Dairy items-- Arthur has learned to make some basic butter and cheeses.  He is hankering for a cheese press so he can branch out into harder cheeses.  I have started making homemade yogurt by the gallon.  I would like to think eating my jar of homemade yogurt with fresh fruit makes me the envy of the lunch crowd at work.

7.  Skiing--  Arthur had the opportunity to go with several men from church on a ski trip this year.  He graduated from ski school and was able to ski without falling down and was promoted onto the blue slopes.

8.  Italian--  We have both been learning to speak Italian.  Actually at this point we can't speak it very well but are able to read it.  We are dreaming about taking a trip to Italian next year so thought we would get a head start on learning the language.  Additionally we think it would be really neat to be able to speak a language that only we know  (Or at least we think the number of people speaking Italian in central Kansas in very limited) so we can have secret conversations.

While learning new skills and hobbies has been fun we have also gone to our 9-5 jobs most days:

9.  Changes at work-- I survived several pretty big changes at work from doubling our staff to switching to completely electronic documentation and scheduling.  At times it was mass chaos and other times I wasn't sure who would show up in our office or if I would still have my own desk.  I am happy to say that over the past month things have settled into a sense of normalcy.

10.  Flip Charts-- Creating a hundred plus page document showing where individual components was a tedious task consuming large amounts of drafting time.  I (Arthur) realized that I could use data from a couple of different documents to entirely automate the process.  It was  a big job, and to date is the most advanced programming I've been able to apply at work.

Even though we are both introverts several of our highlights were related to our relationships with others:

11.  Social organizer--  I have some how taken on the role of social organizer for my group of friends.  This included a few weekend get-together and camp-outs.  It was fun to reconnect with old friends and I have even met a few new friends too.

12.  Nieces-- We love being an aunt and uncle and we increased our number of nieces by 300% this year when my brother and sister-in-law had twins.  I would venture to say that our favorite people in the world under that age of 5 are our nieces.  Whether it is playing My Little Pony or wrestling with Harper or holding one of the twins we get a kick out of them.

13.  1000 days-- We celebrated 1000 days of wonderful marriage earlier this spring.  We really enjoy this being married thing.

One of the best parts of being married is getting to go on adventures together:

14.  St Louis weekend-- We took a long weekend to go to a wedding in St. Louis.  We went to a Shakespeare play, Truman's Presidential library, the art museum and zoo in St. Louis, along with some hiking and a bike ride that turned out to be a little more than we bargained.

15.  Camping-- It is hard to believe but we hadn't gone camping until this year.  Our first camping trip ended in pouring rain and a trip to IHOP for breakfast.  Camping on our St. Louis trip might have not been my best idea since it is hard to get a good night sleep when it is still 90F at 3 am.  Sleeping in a tent has allowed us to see some beautiful areas that aren't accessible without a tent.

16.  Our first backpacking trip--  We hiked for 4 days through the wild forests of Isle Royale- an area that is more of a wilderness today than it was 100 years ago.  We carried everything on our backs and there was blood, sweat, and blisters.  However there was stretches of beaches to ourselves, listening to loons at night, and the solitude of exploring together.

A wonderful birthday

For about the past decade my birthday has fallen in the middle of finals exams during college and grad school.  People would ask what I was doing to celebrate and my response was usually taking a chemistry final, finishing writing a philosophy paper, or studying specimens for an organismic biology class.  Finally I am finished with school and finals week no longer looms over my head.  This year for my birthday my husband took me hiking.  It is extremely rare—as in never has happened before, or possibly again—to go hiking on my birthday.  December isn’t prime hiking weather and since it gets dark early a good hike is only possible on the weekend. 

We got our chores done early on Saturday morning.  After lunch and a quick nap (another of my favorite activities) we headed to the River Trail in Junction City.  We were blessed with a great afternoon of about 45F weather making hiking comfortable in the right clothing.  Hiking in the winter is a little bit different from other times of the year.  Everything is shades of brown and beige.  However without leaves on the trees it is easier to see wildlife.  We stood on the edge of the river and watched two bald eagles in a tree on the opposite bank.  Later there was a flock of geese that settled onto the river for the evening.  They broke the silence of the late afternoon with a cacophony on honking. 

The three hours of the hike also gave us a lot of quality time together.  We have been missing our evening walks since it has gotten cold since this rituals allows us to catch on the day.  While we do talk over dinner or doing the dishes we can add distractions such as music or something on YouTube.  We have great conversations in the car too but you can always turn on the radio.  With hiking you are stuck with the other person.  For several hours.  We can run the gamut of topics.  I will even listen to Arthur talk about topics that don’t interest me at all in normal situations but while hiking even Excel graphs predicting economic principles fills some of the time. 

It was dusk towards the end of our walk and it was a brilliant sunset reflecting on the surface of the river—the pinks, purples, and oranges of a winter sunset.  Over the last few miles of the walk we discussed what we were going to order at Cracker Barrel for dinner.  A benefit of a ten mile hike is that you can eat whatever you want at the end.  You have also thought about dinner and how delicious it will be for several miles and the anticipation builds which increases the enjoyment of eating even more.  It was almost dark as we reached the car and starting to get colder.  But at Cracker Barrel there was a roaring fire in the fireplace and it was decked out with candles and old-fashioned lamps for the holidays.  We had both been salivating over the prospect of fried cinnamon apples and chicken and dumplings.   Dinner was just as wonderful as we had imagined.  Hunger after a hike is a sauce that makes all food scrumptious.  Once we got home we settled in for a cozy evening of watching White Christmas. 

Don't Forget the Tiny People

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. –James 1:27

The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. –Deuteronomy 14:29

Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves; everyone loves a bribe and chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, nor does the widow's plea come before them. –Isaiah 1:23

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? –Micah 6:8

The Bible is filled with God’s concern for the widow and orphan.  We have to be very careful building on what Scripture says; but allow me to speculate that as the widow and orphan were the most vulnerable class in these writer’s societies, we can extend the principle while being faithful to scripture to include the handicapped, the working poor, the elderly, the refugee, the slave (illegal slavery, particularly for illicit purposes, is alive and well today in our country), and those society marginalizes, be it for racial, gender, religious, or other reason.

A local high school put on Seussical recently, a musical based on some of Dr. Seuss’s work.  Ever since, I’ve joked about naming any future son we may have Horton after the elephant who fights to protect the tiny people of Whoville, always remembering that “a person’s a person no matter how small.”  (Alex is not a fan of this name, in case you were worried).  It might not be the best name, but what a role model.  Judging from my childhood trajectory, a young Horton would likely be much bigger than his peers.  Depending on how God gifted him and our family, he very well might be a giant in other ways as well.  What better way to remind a child to protect the tiny people?

The church is meant to be like Horton, and it is my sad observation that it is failing in this regard miserably.  The prominent Christian voices I most frequently hear are all concerned with protecting our self interests.  More ink will be spilled on a supposed “War on Christmas” this time of year than on the problem of housing the homeless from the cold this season brings.  Forwarded e-mail chains promoting the notion that liberals want to make us all dependent on the government will fill inboxes   Fears about our loss of religious freedom will be stoked as millions are displaced by war and famine, some of whom will starve and die because they have no place to turn. 

We have been convinced that we should be afraid of the world; us, a people who believe God Almighty fights for us.  Are you kidding me?  I am not afraid for what my future holds in terms of personal liberty and economic well-being, but I am nauseated at what I see from the church around me.  We have become so fearful, so protective of our rights, that we have become bullies ourselves.  We even elected a bully to be our President in hopes that he would better be able to protect our rights.

I am no prophet; God doesn’t speak directly to me to reveal his divine will.  I do think He made me a Horton, however, with a compassionate heart and a good mind for seeing the needs and realities that others apparently miss.  As if to complete the analogy, He gave me a tall, broad frame, and even ears that are disproportionately large.  May he forgive me for the times I, either passively or actively, forget about the tiny people.  I had a hard time sleeping last night thinking about this reality and how paltry my response has been.

Reality is something of a paradox.  We are all helpless in ourselves, just like the citizens of Whoville.  However, because of Christ’s sacrifice, we have fellowship with God who enables us to spread His kingdom; that makes all of us who are called by His name Hortons.  While writing this, I had been musing about how tiny I was compared to some of the bullies in the world today, Horton though I may be.  Reality is stranger than fiction; the biggest bully has nothing on me or you.  We should not cower in the corner in front of self absorbed posers when the God of the universe fights for us. May Christ enable us to live like it.

Annual Christmas Camp-In

Last year for Christmas we got a tent for our backpacking hobby.  I had the urge to try it out but being December I knew Arthur wasn't going to be in for a true camping trip so I suggested setting up the tent in our living room and camping in front of the Christmas tree one night.  Since he loves me (and spoils me) he agreed.  This year I could tell he was less than thrilled about sleeping in the living room when he had a cozy bed on the other side of the wall.  Therefore I recruited someone who was a little more enthusiastic to participate in my annual Christmas camp-in-- our 4 year old niece.
On Friday night Arthur picked her up after work to come spend the night at our house.  I would have loved to hear the conversation between the two of them.  Arthur tells me that they discussed My Little Pony, our niece's favorite subject currently, and then she fell asleep for the rest of the trip home.  After dinner we had her assist us in decorating for Christmas.  She really took to our miniature nativity set and played with it for quite a while.  It is very interesting to hear a 4-year old perspective of the Christmas story.  There might be some theology flaws that will have to be addressed later but
still highly entertaining.  After decorating the Christmas tree we had several books to read which has always been one of her favorite hobbies.  I read The Velveteen Rabbit, Arthur took charge of Porky Puppy, and she "read" a Golden Book version of The Christmas Story.  I got in trouble for talking too much while we were reading and was asked to stop interrupting.  My favorite part of The Christmas Story that she read was the page that had several horses in the stable.  She "read" extensively about allergies  with hay and horses and that baby Jesus shouldn't be in a stable if he has allergies.  (Her dad is fairly allergic to horses and can't be around them while she and her mommy love horses.)
Next it was time to set up the tent in the living room.  She has played in our tent before and loves that it has two doors.   She pulled out her sleeping bag and got all cozy and then we read some bedtime stories in the tent.  We read one of my favorite Jan Brett Christmas books which has great illustrations.   We either kept her up later than usual or tired her out but she fell right asleep without a fuss.  I enjoyed snuggling in my sleeping bag admiring the Christmas tree lights that we left on for a night light.  It is so much fun to be an aunt sometimes especially if it means having an eager camping partner. 

The next morning a pink and blue Marmot tent was added to her Christmas list and I think we will have to camp in the living room anytime she comes to visits. There could be worse things.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Footage of the wrestling match that broke out between Uncle Arthur and some stuffed animals.  It got a little wild.

Give Thanks and Give Back

Come, ye thankful people, come,

Raise the song of harvest home!

All is safely gathered in,

Ere the winter storms begin;

God, our Maker, doth provide

For our wants to be supplied;

Come to God’s own temple, come;

Raise the song of harvest home!

It has been such a long, warm, and glorious fall this year.  Farmers in the area have basically wrapped up fall harvest.  I just gave away the last of my tomato harvest and even though Gertrude the geranium is still in full bloom, she was hauled down to her winter quarters next to the washing machine.  Thanksgiving seems to be the marker signaling the close to one season and the beginning of the next.  In the past it is been the harvest celebration at the end of the growing season, the last hurrah before the rolling in of the winter storms.  It seems that the focus has change to still mark the change of the season but it is more the kick off for the Christmas shopping season.  

Recently I was discussing spiritual disciplines with a few friends.  These disciplines included reading, studying, and memorizing scripture, prayer, service, fasting, giving or tithing, etc.  I mentioned the discipline of celebration and they both gave me a surprised look.  Celebration doesn’t get a lot of press in the spiritual disciplines but the Israelites in the Old Testament to celebrating seriously and I think God enjoys a good party.  There were at least seven major feasts listed in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  A handful of these were harvest festivals since it was an agrarian society.  

At one of the festivals the firstfruits of the harvest were offered.  I think the following sums up the purpose of these offers:

The offering of the firstfruits to God was a statement of gratitude and a confession that the benefits of the harvest came by his grace. Also, in giving the very first of their produce to God, Israel learned not to hoard but to trust God for provision.
I was surprised by “a confession that the benefits of the harvest come by his grace”.  I might always be a little nervous when I see the word “confession”.  I do like the idea of going beyond being thankful to humbling confessing that my work and striving had nothing to do with these blessings but it is all by His grace.  I also think I fall into the trap of “hoarding my blessings”.  If God blessed me with something once does that me he will bless in the same ways again or do I need to store up that blessing since it might not come around again?  God may bless in the same way or He may choose a completely different avenue of blessing but we can trust that He will always provide for us.  

Another harvest festival was called the Feast of Weeks.  It celebrated the end of the grain festival—very much like our Thanksgiving.  The purpose of this festival was to give gratitude to God for all the crops that had been gathered in during the year.  In fact, each individual made an offering and the portions of the offering were based on the size of his harvest.  

Here’s my editorial portion of this post: Each year it seems that more of the Thanksgiving Day is carved away from giving thanks and turned into an extra day for Black Friday.  I would venture to say that Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping crowds make it difficult to ponder and confess all the blessings we have only because of His grace.  Kudos to companies who are willing to sacrifice some of their bottom line for the sake of not taking a chunk of Thanksgiving Day and turning it into cash.  A few years ago REI, a large outdoor retailer, decided that it wouldn’t even open its stores for Black Friday but encourages its customers to go outside instead of standing in lines.  That’s my plan for Friday.  It’s not that I am sacrificing anything to miss the sales—in fact I will probably avoid all retail areas until January.  But hopefully Arthur and I will take a hike, enjoying the fall weather since it may be our last chance before swirling snows, and recount God’s blessings.  Additionally, just like the Feasts of Weeks, we have an opportunity to give in proportion to what we have “harvested” this year on Giving Tuesday.  Giving Tuesday started about 4 years ago as a day set aside to give to charitable organizations in the chaos of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Many organizations have matching funds to double what is donated on Giving Tuesday.  Heifer International, which is an organization that gives farm animals to people to help end of the cycle of poverty, has a grant to double donations this year and World Vision is teaming up with Thirty-One products to provide bags or totes with donations made on Tuesday.  

We are so blessed in ways that are not universal.  We are reminded that as I write this, almost one person in one hundred alive today are either refugees or internally displaced due to political upheaval or natural disaster.  It is not due to our own efforts that we are not among those numbers, it is pure grace, and I hope that fact will fill us with compassion towards those whose external circumstances have made the future deeply uncertain.  Consider giving to an international relief organizations this Thanksgiving season to alleviate this huge source of human suffering.

We are blessed to live in homes with running water, heating and air conditioning, and comfortable furnishings, all in a time when so many in our own country will have no home to turn to.  While we may work hard every day to provide these comforts, it is also very true that the circumstances very much outside our control and given us completely by grace have given us this gift.  We were born into loving families that nurtured us physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually; support systems that are far from universal.  Let compassion be your default position towards those you see on the street, and offer a smile and an encouraging word should circumstance allow it.

Today, we will still down to a feast at a time when one billion live off of less than a dollar a day and one person in six in the United States will at some point this year experience food uncertainty.  We are again humbled by God’s goodness in providing us with good jobs made possible through the collective workings of this country that creates a stable economy.  Remember God’s love for the widow and orphan, and think of your local food pantry this holiday season.

So many of our needs and pleasures are provided for as a direct result of our education.  We praise God for the advancements and social good provided for by a society that values education enough to provide it to all children and has, to varying degrees, recognized the value of higher education and worked to make is accessible for the rich and poor.  That societal stance has made the life we live possible.  We are reminded that huge disparities in educational opportunity still exist today.  As God has gifted you, encourage the imagination of the children you interact with, and consider giving to organizations to bring the blessing of education to children around the world.

We are blessed with easy access to health care.  It is scary to consider where Arthur might be were it not for the care he received while fighting through depression, and we praise God for the health care providers who made his clean bill of health possible.  So many do not receive that care, and not just when it comes do mental health disorders.  Diabetes goes untreated, dental work goes undone, preventable diseases kill so many, even in this affluent country, that we are overwhelmed with thanksgiving for the grace given our family and grieved by the fact that so many do not receive the same.  Encourage and support programs that work to bring about these ends.

We need to nurture an attitude of thanksgiving for all the provisions God has provided and also recognize that we need to give back in return.  Now I need to go peel five pounds of potatoes for my mom so we can so sit around a table filled with several of the people who mean the most to me in the world.  Omnia Vincit Amor.