tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53338213164217835702024-03-13T22:32:20.360-05:00Toads Drink CoffeeMargie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.comBlogger372125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-88895101076013346492016-12-12T11:02:00.002-06:002016-12-12T11:02:29.477-06:00How to love winter storms<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHQPNja1OTy5TKq_sEvR0FcGEfLdVgkH-ehujyZNyRc4ZDb56zkXlzz_PLfBwWtBwAuJa4rUhfDm3U77DI94zduyIlYxMFhHHpCmXwjAx3JAtmGe-7m3EhKZ7L0rK8PTCEauwePjemNBE/s1600/IMG_3115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHQPNja1OTy5TKq_sEvR0FcGEfLdVgkH-ehujyZNyRc4ZDb56zkXlzz_PLfBwWtBwAuJa4rUhfDm3U77DI94zduyIlYxMFhHHpCmXwjAx3JAtmGe-7m3EhKZ7L0rK8PTCEauwePjemNBE/s400/IMG_3115.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House Between back deck and snowy forest. Temp: minus 1.</td></tr>
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Sunday. We were snowed in this morning – a happy thing. Eight inches isn’t much but it was enough for us to celebrate with bacon and eggs for breakfast and a stay by the fireplace. The plows came around by mid-morning but by then we were well into Sabbath rest and listening to a Keller sermon on patience which scratched at a number of weak spots in our life. (Like what a beast I turn into when annoyed by other drivers.)<br />
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The snow began yesterday afternoon with temperatures close to zero. We planned to attend a party in the evening. Until we were on our way and freaked out by almost getting mashed into guacamole by another car. Someone spun out right ahead of us and did at least five slow-mo fish tails, before coming to rest facing across the lanes with both rear wheels on the shoulder. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We felt lucky to stop in time and not have anyone rear-end us. Because the party was a good fifteen miles across the city, we decided to heck with this and turned back home. The first real snow of the season and people ought to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know how </i>to drive without killing self or others! A good thing we turned home, because there were others in trouble including a nice, new pickup lying on its side in the ditch. Which reminded me of the Dodge Ram ads featuring hunky men driving straight up a snowy mountain. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Winter storms with their danger and beauty fill me with nostalgia and happiness. We have so much to be thankful for: the warmth of home, the splendor of the snow-draped forest behind us, rabbit tracks over the drifts, comfort food and our married friendship. I am unworthy of such bounty, and yet, when do we ever deserve the goodness that makes our hearts glad?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rare sighting . Husband in pajamas sweeping path to bird-feeding station.</td></tr>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-52350543379948173282016-10-11T13:46:00.000-05:002016-10-11T13:46:03.072-05:00The JAWZ of war against mice<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5HjRAOotN8CtvkM67m0qAm_sXM_kWpPk8my3our-jNuDRJ0wjMLg9a3adCjVV9dbfjKZkLUb3bCddNrtSfmfjIffdbfwrs8wC8m_qnG9S5SKp2IakUcfJarwe13XROdUQYXCW5u-2fuk/s1600/IMG_2953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5HjRAOotN8CtvkM67m0qAm_sXM_kWpPk8my3our-jNuDRJ0wjMLg9a3adCjVV9dbfjKZkLUb3bCddNrtSfmfjIffdbfwrs8wC8m_qnG9S5SKp2IakUcfJarwe13XROdUQYXCW5u-2fuk/s400/IMG_2953.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My ammunition dump. </td></tr>
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I open the silverware drawer and notice little black grains
and wonder who dropped dirt among the forks. Bits of bacon? Wild rice? Not mice
feces again!<o:p></o:p></div>
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The glories of fall with cool temps and blazing trees must
alert rodents it’s time to find a winter home, and with our entire tribe in tow,
why don’t we enter this promising house with a perfect entrance through the
kitchen exhaust fan? Why not? Because I am going to tell people how to stop you!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mice, I admit, are rather cute with their shiny black eyes
and fuzzy gray faces. No one knew this better than children’s author Beatrix Potter
who wrote mouse stories that could warm the most cold-hearted adult. Who
doesn’t love Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca, the mouse couple who angrily destroy a
doll house because all the food is fake but then return in repentance with a
broom and dustpan to sweep up the damage? If only!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m not afraid of them, like some, or viciously calculating
like others armed with a cookie sheet ready to flatten it the next time it
appears. (Futile remedy, Andene.) Okay, I did have one encounter that made me
scream. But I was in no position to protect myself since it ran under the
bathroom door while I was temporarily indisposed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you see one mouse run across your living room and
disappear under the chair, you may be sure there are others. If you find one
dropping in your pantry, you may be sure there are others. If you find a cache
of shredded kleenix behind the shoes in your closet, you may be sure there are
others. If my mother, the queen of proverbs, were here she’d toss you off a
“where there’s one there are a dozen.” I cringe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When they begin to lick the butter you left on the counter,
(don’t tell me to get a cat; my daughter’s cat has always preferred licking
butter to catching mice.) and leave their little black rice kernels on the
dinner plates, nibbles on the cracker box and holes in the cornmeal sack – it’s
time to declare war.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We have tried various ways of capturing them including live
trapping with the benevolent plan of releasing them some where wonderful like
the wealthy neighborhood next door. But they just seem to prefer slumming at my
house. The old-fashioned bend-the-spring-back-and-hook trap only succeeded in
trapping my fingers as the latch is so touchy. Mice despise this trap, disarm
it with ease and leave with the bait. They may be cheap, but don’t bother.
Poison is bad for two reasons. If a mouse eats it and dies and your cat finds
it thinking what a yummy little snack, she might eat it and die, too. The
second problem with poison, though some deny this, is that upon eating a
shit-load of bait the mouse makes his way back to his nest somewhere in the
bowels of your house and feeling very sick to the stomach curls up and dies.
Then as nature does her work the mouse begins to decompose. The scent of
rotting flesh emerging from such a small creature is alarming. We know from
experience. That dreadful smell emanating from our basement infused the rest of
the house and lasted until the blue bottle flies appeared (you know what was
going on there!) It could make a monk curse. Slowly it dissipates and
disappears after a few weeks. Meanwhile all our frantic searching in cubby
holes and pipes never revealed the dead corpse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My secret to fighting mice is simple and cheap. Go to any
hardware store or a place like Menards and purchase four or five <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">JAWZ OF DEATH </i>traps. They should cost
more than five dollars apiece. This is the best weapon ever. You load the
little basin under the trigger with peanut butter, pull back the JAW until it
clicks and carefully set it down. Then scatter a few grains of oatmeal. Not
many. You want it to be an appetizer or an amuse-bouche, a little mouth teaser
as the French say, before the mouse tucks into the main course. Then WHOMP – instant
death. Fast, accurate and deadly. This almost humane, don’t you think? And his
last thought will be a pleasant one – the surprise of finding something so
tasty right in his path on the way to the kitchen? Bonus! Disposal is so easy –
no touching dead thing, just hold over trash can and squeeze open and down it
drops. Most of the time you don’t even need to re-bait.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KXMYXdC_BLfYgwRqEl6TlnwuXbOcJprmHyUT-XEeZ-dXkpT9ECE7HqbvjW7_HkxBago2NRJFMMShF5-WDkkKUQZF44o-lvheLDV_pgv34KPb0QRMLkRAUbxnsBIHQr0yN-_YdwPJTig/s1600/mouse+in+trap+61201_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KXMYXdC_BLfYgwRqEl6TlnwuXbOcJprmHyUT-XEeZ-dXkpT9ECE7HqbvjW7_HkxBago2NRJFMMShF5-WDkkKUQZF44o-lvheLDV_pgv34KPb0QRMLkRAUbxnsBIHQr0yN-_YdwPJTig/s400/mouse+in+trap+61201_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know. But he IS dead. Don't feel too sorry for him. Not to put too fine a point on it, The<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/"> CDC </a>says: "<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">Worldwide, rats and mice spread over 35 diseases. These diseases can be spread to humans directly, through handling of rodents, through contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, or through rodent bites." </span></span>Photo Courtesy of Rachel Wilhelm. </td></tr>
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With JAWZ in place you can climb down from the safety of
your stool and confidently put away the cast iron skillet you were going to
throw. This is my best advice for autumn. For free. Lucky you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-10086419526888361402016-08-31T11:06:00.000-05:002016-08-31T11:06:26.819-05:00Stop feeding the monster: Bird lessons in life<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
This week a handyman finished repairing holes in the siding
of our house. A woodpecker hammered away until there were three holes large
enough for chickadees to nest in. This is not a joke. They actually did. If you
timed it right you could see a parent returning with little green worms and if
you listened closely you could hear the ecstatic cries of the babies when
dinner arrived. It was an odd thing to see a chickadee perched on the hole’s
edge, its head poking out the side of our house. Whether advisable or not, we
waited until they moved out before the work was done. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are a little obsessed with bird-watching around here and
learn all kinds of life lessons from them. Not that I take to the woods with
binoculars. No. I’m too fat and lazy for that. We have extremely popular
feeders on our deck so all I need to do is sit at my desk sipping coffee and twist
my neck to watch. I try not to get too distracted by the constant commotion
outside my window, but the other day I was disgusted by something I’d never
seen before – a tiny song sparrow feeding a baby bird about four times her
size. The baby was fluttering its wings as young ones do while the exhausted
parent flew back and forth to the feeder, grabbing seeds and popping them in the
demanding open mouth. Back and forth, over and over. I was witnessing the
perpetrator of a malicious crime. Slavery. A murderer of sorts. An imposter.
Pig. And here was a mother who didn’t even know this was not her own child.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyz4zWI4dT1ITCsEoDPH0WoDxejkfnUeOF_8NA7KGYSACUwNZd_nt85ioyiDy7Hwv-NzUW2IwIbiDmO3GOqOnkpMVCNfH2LWC2nuP90AlD14U5cxheJYrAJDHXS2anQrsCZdpl3MecefI/s1600/IMG_0203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyz4zWI4dT1ITCsEoDPH0WoDxejkfnUeOF_8NA7KGYSACUwNZd_nt85ioyiDy7Hwv-NzUW2IwIbiDmO3GOqOnkpMVCNfH2LWC2nuP90AlD14U5cxheJYrAJDHXS2anQrsCZdpl3MecefI/s400/IMG_0203.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was a purple finch (little larger species than song sparrows) nest we found on our porch some time ago, but you can see the cowbird egg which is larger and a mottled brown. I removed it returned the nest to the rightful owners. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7IQBkHM4D7hSOINo9MZRU0e7KxO9Hqb6zyTivKLBOYymugrNQXWZ9YHQCv7orbZfi7sZ54GgkvClki3ViBVlbe-HruWAFRdG8LJl7Xo4KhaMa4yroXfZHjtkIYNToRJ7GAUy9U5hClQc/s1600/cowbird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7IQBkHM4D7hSOINo9MZRU0e7KxO9Hqb6zyTivKLBOYymugrNQXWZ9YHQCv7orbZfi7sZ54GgkvClki3ViBVlbe-HruWAFRdG8LJl7Xo4KhaMa4yroXfZHjtkIYNToRJ7GAUy9U5hClQc/s400/cowbird.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male Cowbird</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The baby was a young cow bird whose mother had spied the
innocent song sparrow’s nest a month or more ago and stealthily laid her own
fat egg among the tiny sparrow eggs. The cow bird can’t be bothered to hatch
her own eggs and instead sneaks into another bird home and leaves a fake. And
it isn’t like the hatchling joins the rest of the brood thankful to be fed, thankful
to be anywhere at all – it always hatches first – ugly, (okay all baby birds
are ugly, but I’m annoyed here) blind and featherless, and then it commits
fratricide by pushing the other eggs out of the nest to destroy all
competition. You may not approve of this, but my husband set the foster mother
free by dispatching the imposter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s one thing to hear <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Birds-David-Attenborough/dp/B000069HXL">David Attenborough</a> talk about certain
disturbing aspects of bird life, but altogether a different thing to witness it
firsthand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love metaphor and this was so flagrant I had to reflect on
it. I don’t know if you’ve ever found yourself far gone down a road you had no
idea would end up severely depleting or even destroying your assets? Or health?
Or family? I once nurtured a multi-level marketing company thinking it could
make me, if not rich, then able to purchase “extras” like Calphalon cookware,
percale sheets and massage therapy. I loved the product and invested a lot of
money trying to make sales only to learn that as the months passed with little
to show for my effort, it became clear I was the worst salesperson on earth. This
was not becoming the nest egg I’d hoped for because I couldn’t bring myself to
tell you how much good this skincare line could be for your flaky, pock-marked
face. But I continued feeding time and money into the maw of the business hoping
it would get better. Gradually, I fell into discouragement and guilt, but for
several years I was afraid to quit. How could I admit such failure to my
husband who had supported this risk? How could I make up the lost dollars?
Finally, I told him how much I hated sales and how sorry I was for the wasted
money and how afraid I was to stop feeding this monster in my life because I’m
not a quitter, but what could I do? Then came one of the most wonderful proofs
of grace in my life. He said – “Stop doing this. Let it go and don’t worry
about it. It’s a valuable thing to try something out to see if it will work and
to find out it doesn’t. You didn’t know this wouldn’t be your thing. So let it
go.” I quit immediately and I’ve never forgotten the love he demonstrated in
walking through that with me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Epilogue: we’ve seen another batch of song sparrow babies
that are genetic offspring. Definitely. I even imagine I’m hearing happier
songs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-12807344326422546442016-08-25T14:18:00.000-05:002016-08-25T14:18:39.739-05:00A new favorite coffee mug<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWswOYaVGv1yHYECXwo96hyphenhyphenhRMqvnB66KE2AlD9IJ3BpN-kqppsdo1WIXMoXQIEXHM1fjjEGbjRlWHPgBcTOfU1OiGHH-Pd6PLvulM5pl4WBrGIrd96YVkjDbmCZVaVmZk-3jKCjEzv0/s1600/IMG_2823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWswOYaVGv1yHYECXwo96hyphenhyphenhRMqvnB66KE2AlD9IJ3BpN-kqppsdo1WIXMoXQIEXHM1fjjEGbjRlWHPgBcTOfU1OiGHH-Pd6PLvulM5pl4WBrGIrd96YVkjDbmCZVaVmZk-3jKCjEzv0/s400/IMG_2823.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new favorite coffee mug </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We’ve always liked the earthiness of wood-fired pottery and
not long ago friends took us to a cool potter’s studio near Amery, Wisconsin,
where Sarah Dudgeon has been throwing and firing pots in an old country
mercantile store that is also her home for about 20 years. There is an
attractive charm to the setting – a creative tumbling of plants and color and
chaos. (see her facebook page Dudgeon Pottery or go to the <a href="http://www.dudgeonpottery.com/">website</a>) Sarah’s work –much of it with
botanical themes – is gorgeous.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dudgeon Pottery in an old general store near Amory, WI</td></tr>
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Pottery has been an affordable way for us to support artists
as we purchase gifts for others, and, of course, for ourselves. We excuse our
obsession with the the thought that some day, when we die, our children will
have the joy of dividing it among themselves. Uh-huh. The one that caught my
eye that day had leaves and stems of a coppery golden sheen on browns that fade
into a turquoise green background – I liked it even more when I held it in my
hand. Not only for its beauty but for its functionality. It’s not uncommon for
people with RA to have swollen sausage-like fingers. Yes, on certain days, mine
look almost edible. So a handle designed to fit four fingers and a thumb on top
distributes the weight of coffee and mug so there is minimal pain in getting
that caffeine lifted to your mouth. Extremely satisfying. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotsl2twiWXw6qltMzsvnwfLh058kbUPpRvzAXneUDs8zijxEhyUFp29uMHt3SgRJ3u7HNWSpIWSpxEbH6wXDt6trrOu5Gd0H3lNZiRG1YmNbw_V1BtVcn6HWubSBqzowKVa_dbhGLqvI/s1600/Dudgeon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotsl2twiWXw6qltMzsvnwfLh058kbUPpRvzAXneUDs8zijxEhyUFp29uMHt3SgRJ3u7HNWSpIWSpxEbH6wXDt6trrOu5Gd0H3lNZiRG1YmNbw_V1BtVcn6HWubSBqzowKVa_dbhGLqvI/s400/Dudgeon.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A load ready to come out of the kiln</td></tr>
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It causes great gladness to witness how some people in this fallen
world are able to combine their calling or vocation with what they love to
do even when it is hard work and will never make them rich in money. But as you
look around her site it is clear that in the diversity of color and plants and
textures there is an unmistakable richness and warmth to the life she has created.<o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-83369696697839787902016-08-03T11:45:00.001-05:002016-08-03T11:46:46.415-05:00Gentle Giants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The Scott County
Fair had a draft horse show last Friday and we watched the six horse hitches
for the mares division. There were ten entries from all over the midwest. At
one point there were 60 horses in the arena - all thundering past the stands
pulling coaches- the announcer liked to call them "Gentle Giants."
When I stood beneath one who was getting all gussied up before the completion -
her mane braided, her tail be-ribboned and her hooves shined - it looked like a
spa for horses. Anyway - I stood beneath one of the mares and her lips rested
on my head. That's how tall they are. The winner of that division was
Percherons from Cheyenne, WY.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
Percherons. Black beauties whose breed originated in France.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #3a3e44; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lr6AlWR2Alw" width="420"></iframe></div>
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<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Their
synchronized beauty, their power and grace move me. Sometimes to tears. Silly
me. But there is a theology to them that causes me to wonder. I mean wonder as
in speechless. Amazed. A horse can be controlled with a bit and bridle if you
know how. But there is something wonderful about the one who will come to you
when called without being coerced. That is what God asks of us - to come to
him. To not be like a horse that has no understanding but must be controlled by
bit and bridle or they will not come. (Psalm 32:9)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-89344656066258181042016-07-22T15:58:00.000-05:002016-07-22T15:58:13.967-05:00The Japanese Beetle Battle<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipx6LHldXTm6_uyuqAXzg6MJYOeRFGhg2TRN6RH_IcWcNgkAeqQx2fK1Drynlg8463WDe8F1yR0aWy5bNjVdcHI1H-tj7V46QyquE0pqCTsqzRpMFtpx_MYo041j8466e4b-E0E6SV-A4/s1600/Beetle+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipx6LHldXTm6_uyuqAXzg6MJYOeRFGhg2TRN6RH_IcWcNgkAeqQx2fK1Drynlg8463WDe8F1yR0aWy5bNjVdcHI1H-tj7V46QyquE0pqCTsqzRpMFtpx_MYo041j8466e4b-E0E6SV-A4/s400/Beetle+1.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My pole beans.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I give up.Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-86511203112407982392016-06-27T15:47:00.000-05:002016-06-27T15:58:14.250-05:00Dinner en Blanc<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Setting up tables all along the bridge </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of salmon, salads and chocolate</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 14.0pt;">Last night was the annual evening gathering
- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%AEner_en_Blanc">the Dinner en Blanc</a> - a pop-up picnic where hundreds of people dressed in
white gather for a feast made "spontaneous" by the organizer. Begun
in France in the 1980s, now thousands of people join together in cities all
over the world. People of all ages and walks of life come together to celebrate
an evening of friendship and feasting. Here where I live, people waited for the
announcement of the secret destination which comes an hour before the picnic,
then all hurry, gathering up food, wine, candles, tables, chairs and even fresh
flowers and lanterns and converge on the spot. Last night was my first time
attending with seven other friends. There is something strangely metaphorical
and spiritual about it. To see such a great company of diners all in white
sharing moments of laughter and gestures of kindness: "You forgot your
cheese? Here, share ours!" - I couldn't help but wonder if the supper of
the Lamb might be a tiny bit like this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMFgILHWpmLCUBmrqj36dKvS7h4NjtgbzwruVZv1z4cPLdFtQV0zl62lVIdEHjxZDYI25B8yyZ5m3IZ9PzTbV8MpcDF4N7sIg3lVesrToeoZWTSN6HrXZ2h9mGh_f14QO5qoEslnN8G0/s1600/IMG_2694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMFgILHWpmLCUBmrqj36dKvS7h4NjtgbzwruVZv1z4cPLdFtQV0zl62lVIdEHjxZDYI25B8yyZ5m3IZ9PzTbV8MpcDF4N7sIg3lVesrToeoZWTSN6HrXZ2h9mGh_f14QO5qoEslnN8G0/s400/IMG_2694.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A best friend<br />
<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx-Toh1Vatnu9OlqulOR_Y2a8PpouNyBYzXkO89plAvKVSnOrAprMmjKot3jkZnGKuxVxL7mJNOSLSsl83gMQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 14pt;">As the sun set over the Mississippi River,
light flashed from downtown skyscrapers, the breezes over the Mississippi River
calmed and cooled, slowly candles and lanterns lit the old Northern Pacific Railroad
Bridge # 9 and for a moment, I forgot the troubles of life and settled into the
beauty of a balmy night and the leisurely conversations that flowed from table
to table. Life isn’t always like this. Some day. Some day….</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjt8Pp5ocdRyjg7M1Vv-3hvsoEgaupRYEqk_5mSf_ZtvJvZ2ywFrjV2Wtr8cWtTZCOE13BCoo_PlOfMcSKQnZ9UEJQLwjUQhNokCPTBTg0FiCMNCEw7JrRF3bXHxok-u1p4PRojIF24M/s1600/IMG_2715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjt8Pp5ocdRyjg7M1Vv-3hvsoEgaupRYEqk_5mSf_ZtvJvZ2ywFrjV2Wtr8cWtTZCOE13BCoo_PlOfMcSKQnZ9UEJQLwjUQhNokCPTBTg0FiCMNCEw7JrRF3bXHxok-u1p4PRojIF24M/s400/IMG_2715.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #3a3e44; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-56669925401871309412016-06-06T19:26:00.000-05:002016-06-06T19:26:19.999-05:00Heartbreak<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was eight years old for one of my first encounters with
“heartbreak.” Our game little dog, Bing, was kicked in the head by a horse
after I told him to chase them. He died from that injury and it broke my heart.
Most of us could “fill in the blank” with instances of needing to let go of
someone or something we have loved. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZukVyL1iosKaISLCTZysUL_xcjdNVqy2zepBpTsgJsIHJMrv6JGH6i6YTfd_ShPjPBJsrT420c9FTOsMNHIZ-R7tAkrxdQyCnXPMXCov0SRY6shQn2jUgc6rqXVLs2HglkBNdCEUtg4/s1600/terrier+and+horses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZukVyL1iosKaISLCTZysUL_xcjdNVqy2zepBpTsgJsIHJMrv6JGH6i6YTfd_ShPjPBJsrT420c9FTOsMNHIZ-R7tAkrxdQyCnXPMXCov0SRY6shQn2jUgc6rqXVLs2HglkBNdCEUtg4/s400/terrier+and+horses.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it was a section titled “Heartbreak” that attracted me to
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and
Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words</i> by David Whyte. Heartbreak seems like
a part of life we know all too well. Who wants it? No one. But in our
difficulties with letting go of people or things we have loved, Whyte’s words
offer some interesting insight:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZv1QAfmwkV-JaQTVk4_bv_pYYeaw8l7tWAGYtjPBmWjs4GNGg9zWTlsj_oNjdJMhFA5T6PtqHOiL-CzGnY1lKct79VVM-lG43mtaiiLAkLLeeAQuljJU9urWaL6CNPS2OvwUoMu4d-w/s1600/ConsFront400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZv1QAfmwkV-JaQTVk4_bv_pYYeaw8l7tWAGYtjPBmWjs4GNGg9zWTlsj_oNjdJMhFA5T6PtqHOiL-CzGnY1lKct79VVM-lG43mtaiiLAkLLeeAQuljJU9urWaL6CNPS2OvwUoMu4d-w/s400/ConsFront400.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He writes:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HEARTBREAK is
unpreventable; the natural outcome of caring for people and things over which
we have no control.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There is almost no
path a human being can follow that does not lead to heartbreak.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heartbreak begins the
moment we are asked to let go but cannot, in other words, it colors and
inhabits and magnifies each and every day; heartbreak is not a visitation, but
a path that human beings follow through even the most average life. Heartbreak
is an indication of our sincerity: in a love relationship, in a life’s work, in
trying to learn a musical instrument, in the attempt to shape a better more
generous self. Heartbreak is the beautifully helpless side of love and
affection and is [an] essence and emblem of care.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heartbreak is how we
mature; yet we use the word heartbreak as if it only occurs when things have
gone wrong: an unrequited love, a shattered dream… But heartbreak may be the
very essence of being human, of being on the journey from here to there, and of
coming to care deeply for what we find along the way.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the years, as recent as last week, like everyone I know, I’ve had to let certain things go remembering
that as Christians we find in Jesus what can’t be be found anywhere else:
Christ came and is coming again to heal the brokenhearted and save the crushed
in spirit. (Psalms 34:18). That is a great solace and it would be my coda to
Whyte’s observations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hoping that you, too, find a broken heart is not the end of
your story.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks for stopping by.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-16838227814979655942016-05-21T13:52:00.003-05:002016-05-21T15:34:53.269-05:00The Bedroom Vault<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3RWuZyuDPATroqqwH5p282vlxkIplUxtULXmAFqaCUXCGVVf-Yr3xhJwZrop5qmbQ9tNu3XZe32yCzXxMxwhpGPrCjBPctPH9QiruI6sDoDiMiVBxbug6CgHIwe8ZASVX9jJGaFe4Qg/s1600/Revealed-smcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3RWuZyuDPATroqqwH5p282vlxkIplUxtULXmAFqaCUXCGVVf-Yr3xhJwZrop5qmbQ9tNu3XZe32yCzXxMxwhpGPrCjBPctPH9QiruI6sDoDiMiVBxbug6CgHIwe8ZASVX9jJGaFe4Qg/s320/Revealed-smcover.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>
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Ned Bustard of <a href="http://www.squarehalobooks.com/">Square Halo Books </a> released a new book I was
privileged to see in manuscript form earlier this year. <a href="http://www.squarehalobooks.com/#/revealed/"><i>Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grownups</i> </a>is filled with
linocuts, etchings and mono prints all in black and white. The printmakers art
form is not one I’m familiar with nor have I cared much about it but as I read
the pages and studied the illustrations I was won over by the form, and the
beauty of artwork I had over-looked. The book explores the many stories of the
Bible that make “nice” people uncomfortable. Murder, rape, sex, war, mayhem of
all sorts. If I was God I probably wouldn’t have included them. But the older I
get the more I “get” them and am thankful they are part of the canon of Scripture.
What a sentimental weak Christianity if Scripture only included the pretty and
the palatable! I much prefer the inclusion of real life as we know it – both
the beauty and the ugliness which can, at times, seem unbearable. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The work of<a href="http://www.eyekons.com/steve_prince/steve_prince_linocuts_for_sale"> Steve Prince</a> is represented on several pages. His
linocuts move me deeply - I think it is the pain and suffering that appears on
the faces of his subjects. And yet their bodies tell a story of quiet,
committed love with a subtle note of tenderness and joy. So today I’m posting
the art and the explanation that accompanies I Corinthians 6 where Paul references
sexual love in marriage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsXJ0q1zMy5dMfFmWzLrnTg8UyGKWDLwJakUmSM21wxIfFwFR8a62creIYwAFRaBa3SJ3K3mrB4R2-BhgNYvYYmLhR1KAK_CDbcaoCZ7NPqETX2uIJRObiLCZBkyb03k0KRe8oQ23RhM/s1600/Psalm+I-+Slow+Dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsXJ0q1zMy5dMfFmWzLrnTg8UyGKWDLwJakUmSM21wxIfFwFR8a62creIYwAFRaBa3SJ3K3mrB4R2-BhgNYvYYmLhR1KAK_CDbcaoCZ7NPqETX2uIJRObiLCZBkyb03k0KRe8oQ23RhM/s400/Psalm+I-+Slow+Dance.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slow Dance by Steve Prince (used by permission)<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"A married couple are dancing in their bedroom to a love song that is playing on their old stereo phonograph. In the next room a television is blaring, but separating them from the noise of the world is a wall bearing a symbol of their covenant vows and a symbol of faith that covers their marriage. A sliver of the ceiling shows two intersecting barrel vaults forming a 'groin vault.' The groin vault in this print symbolizes the pelvis regions of the couple's bodies: the two complimentary vaults stabilize the building as the two complimentary pelvises stabilize the marriage. The wife is wearing a translucent negligee for their time of coming together. A runaway slave motif can be seen on the husband's pajamas, symbolically alluding to the fact that - in spite of the great pain and separation African Americans have endured from generation to generation - this two have found love."</span> </div>
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Perhaps this has been more meaningful recently because we look forward to a wedding in the family and our own 48th anniversary - a reminder of covenant vows pronounced to one another long ago.</div>
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<br /></div>
P.S. Note to my readers: Whenever I’m gone from here for any length of time, I fumble
for ways to explain my absence as if I failed to turn in my homework or had
disappointed someone whose life depended on me. Hogwash. Although I know I lose
readership, no one except myself expects regularity or even misses the posts. So
here I am, back AGAIN, and very thankful that you’ve stopped by. But I can’t
make promises about how long before the next one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-39630054797058213382016-03-25T16:30:00.000-05:002016-04-07T14:07:09.220-05:00Good Friday Chicks<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtno76xvOC34vU6WiTOf17dIcKzxMCbhU1U0wJUrm9Uti_ujeoAgmv26uTBabR02_lXri6ybeQMKe7jSrNDsDzj61qLEeIsDhnRzg8mcKv8BF8mp99tMeAVqeYF_O6qDIQJBSUXEKOyg/s1600/Chicks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMtno76xvOC34vU6WiTOf17dIcKzxMCbhU1U0wJUrm9Uti_ujeoAgmv26uTBabR02_lXri6ybeQMKe7jSrNDsDzj61qLEeIsDhnRzg8mcKv8BF8mp99tMeAVqeYF_O6qDIQJBSUXEKOyg/s400/Chicks.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They're here!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a long time, it has been my dream to own a few hens –
like 3 or 4 max. Last week it came true when 25 baby chicks arrived in a box at
the post office early one morning. I rushed over like the deranged mother I’ve
become and rang the buzzer repeatedly until someone let me in the back door and
eventually brought a little box of peeping fluff. True, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only needed four, but I had this idea it
would be easy to get rid of extras via Craig’s List. So far eight have gone,
and today, on Good Friday, another seven will be picked up. That still leaves
five that need a home. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Setting up temporary digs in the basement wasn’t hard. An
appliance box lined with a plastic garbage bag and covered with shavings is
doing nicely. According to the website “MyPetChicken” the temp needed to be an
even 95 degrees for the first week. Testing before they arrived proved I needed
to adjust the height of the heat lamp to keep from broiling their little tushes
at 120 degrees. These girls are unavailable however tempting they look. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m mesmerized by their little chicken-y antics. From day
two they made clumsy efforts to scratch like big mamas do. When one finds
something interesting to peck at – an odd colored shaving, the rings on my
fingers – several run to investigate and steal it away if possible. They have
tiny primary feathers sprouting from their wings which they preen and flutter.
With breakneck runs they launch themselves one half inch above their neighbors
landing on heads with no regard for whether one is napping or drinking. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are a mix of breeds and it is difficult to decide which
four to keep. So far I’ve decided on an Ameracauna that will lay the green or
blue eggs I’ve always marveled at, a Black Astraulorp, a Barred Rock and a Buff
Orpington. A friend identified them for me. I don’t know if I should trust her
or not – she has fainting goats and to her surprise two of her does dropped
three unexpected babies – one of the mothers had twins. Among the 25 chicks are
three unusual brown-egg layers – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIM4TfhyAPWOw3PQ8XMcxTkJY58qzpCIM3Q1fXTl6knujAsD-z6r2mV_rd8kYPEvBbrXGhIHsYqjVgrcVsjFWGxLIevdYemix3wSBtde7FMjKgiInTokaDmTbWl3w26KkxlcDgf5AwpQ/s1600/turken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgIM4TfhyAPWOw3PQ8XMcxTkJY58qzpCIM3Q1fXTl6knujAsD-z6r2mV_rd8kYPEvBbrXGhIHsYqjVgrcVsjFWGxLIevdYemix3wSBtde7FMjKgiInTokaDmTbWl3w26KkxlcDgf5AwpQ/s400/turken.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turken</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Turkens. They have naked necks and are more
common in Europe than here. The lack of feathers makes them look like they need
a good moisturizer one their skinny little necks and a boost of vitamins, but they
are supposed to be calm, friendly and good egg layers, and if its any indication
these three readily run to my hand to see what I’m about. They have grown on
me. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Beauty is often linked to the visual and isn’t always an
advantage. Many ugly things, on inspection, reveal a depth of beauty that can
go unnoticed unless time is taken to listen and watch. John Fowles observes in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Collector-Back-Bay-Books/dp/0316290238">The Collector</a></i> that “a lot of nice things
are ugly and a lot of nasty things are beautiful.” This also being Good Friday
– I’ve always wondered what Jesus looked like – especially on his way to the
cross, since Isaiah described him as having no beauty or majesty that would
attract us to him, and yet, and yet, here we are 2000 years later where like
iron filings some of us still cling to the power of his love. So maybe I’ll
keep a Turken to remind me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-33312475020505729032016-02-22T14:06:00.000-06:002016-02-22T14:12:05.817-06:00First Tattoo<div class="MsoNormal">
This past weekend Granddaughter turned eighteen – that magic
age for getting certain things you have waited for so long to own. It was a
good day to get her first tattoo because suddenly at eighteen it becomes a
legal birthday gift from Grandpa and Grandma. For a long time she has known
what it would be: A semicolon followed by a heartbeat. <o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKeOweYUgAqS0VUOf4Tw1nVTFE3JqMdKiPU8v9nHrLkqYKaqd00hQecJsmYvnxSwMpc2vwr3yq6YVF9pmdzMndK9sTNo0Vad-lXfm0FARaghL6FZjMR6pzJRdJlh-7gNKePh_MUdvQpk/s1600/semicolon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKeOweYUgAqS0VUOf4Tw1nVTFE3JqMdKiPU8v9nHrLkqYKaqd00hQecJsmYvnxSwMpc2vwr3yq6YVF9pmdzMndK9sTNo0Vad-lXfm0FARaghL6FZjMR6pzJRdJlh-7gNKePh_MUdvQpk/s400/semicolon.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">semicolon with heartbeat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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She explains it like this: You know how when a writer ends a
sentence but then decides to go on writing? Rather than a period, you can use a
semicolon. That’s what the semicolon tattoo means – you have decided not to end
the sentence but to write another and go on living. I heard her telling the
tattoo artist what it meant and I was pleased by his sincere response. He liked
the image and thought it had great meaning, but he wanted to give her some
advice and I heard him repeat it at least two times. “Remember,” he said, “Suicide
is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” The phrase was rather like a
sound bite from a therapist or the title of a Ted Talk, but what an unlikely
setting! I guess I don’t need to say my heart was grinning from ear to ear as I
listened to this exchange. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeEWFqkXh7K5u8EU3L7R6r805iIGBP0PtnOwdph1qd6K_q5epoeK8odsxpLkTBHGaKhm1vw-seygca7KAsZioE_GLuRutsOKbqnU5O7460NQ0bO1EkWTkPtkKQUAtS3VLk1puKcqryrQ/s1600/tattoo+artist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeEWFqkXh7K5u8EU3L7R6r805iIGBP0PtnOwdph1qd6K_q5epoeK8odsxpLkTBHGaKhm1vw-seygca7KAsZioE_GLuRutsOKbqnU5O7460NQ0bO1EkWTkPtkKQUAtS3VLk1puKcqryrQ/s400/tattoo+artist.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Suicide: a permanent solution to a temporary problem"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have always believed that for many tattoos hold a special
meaning and purpose for the person who has them. The painful procedure that
accompanies a tattoo can be a signal, a sign, that I am alive. I am not numb to
life. (I’ve heard young people talk about feeling numb to the world, of wondering
if life is an illusion or worth living.) Physical pain can actually stir hope
in someone whose life has been filled with difficulties or depression. A tattoo
can be a permanent reminder of an event or a love that imparts deep meaning. It
tells the world “I have survived.” It is a reminder to the self to go on living
even when things are hard.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Living with Granddaughter and loving her has been, in many
ways a gift to us – a reminder of how difficult life can be for a young person
and how thankful we are to have the place and space for her. But the next
tattoo? Hers to pay – altogether.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-70566957375507476092016-02-06T14:13:00.000-06:002016-02-06T14:13:12.582-06:00H is for Hawk or leaving the wild<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV80RV88W25JPz_lp2uWWtzOmLBs-aROk92Cmt40erViXzCf-pqgJxIdkdHH-bpnBjeG0Udc0yVIRH7IBYRyZB_ZVP7-CrO3C-jPyH5lW-zL6aSaQ3w25b0y3a0CtfTO25ZhjyQgdkkk/s1600/H.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV80RV88W25JPz_lp2uWWtzOmLBs-aROk92Cmt40erViXzCf-pqgJxIdkdHH-bpnBjeG0Udc0yVIRH7IBYRyZB_ZVP7-CrO3C-jPyH5lW-zL6aSaQ3w25b0y3a0CtfTO25ZhjyQgdkkk/s400/H.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0802123414/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=82317541747&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17116223242896289395&hvpone=16.22&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_31v10wb7lt_b">H is for Hawk. By Helen Macdonald</a>.
This book has been winning awards and is wildly popular. As often is the case,
I’m late to the party. But now I’m glad to have read it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When Macdonald’s father died no one
anticipated it, least of all Helen. In her grief she went a little crazy. As a
child she was fascinated by birds of all kinds, but especially the predator
birds – hawks, merlins, falcons, kites, kestrels. As an adult she learned how
to train and fly some of the smaller species, but never the goshawk which is
considered one of the most aggressive and difficult to train. Hawks, especially
goshawks, are not pets in the way of dogs or cats, they remain ultimately wild
and untamable. Intent on murder and blood, with their enormous talons and sharp
beaks, they are perfectly, awesomely equipped to kill rabbits and pheasants. So
in ways it felt natural to turn to the challenge of training Mabel, a young
goshawk, in the hope that it would take her on a distracting journey out of
grief. As the weeks passed she sank further into depression, withdrawing from
friends and family, and identifying more and more with her goshawk. Until…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It seems to me that the entire book could be summarized in
this one paragraph. Don’t worry it’s not a spoiler – there is much more to the
book that is fascinating: falconry –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what is required to train a hawk to fly free
and then return to the gloved fist and Macdonald’s reflections on the layers of
grief and the ways it manifests itself. As a research scholar at Cambridge, she
was well equipped to write this book and also had the creative skill that makes
it a good read. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here was the pivot – the wisdom garnered:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “All the way home on the train I thought of Dad and the
terrible mistake I had made. I’d thought that to heal my great hurt, I should
flee to the wild. It was what people did. The nature books I’d read told me so.
So many of them had been quests inspired by grief or sadness. Some had fixed
themselves to the stars of elusive animals. Some sought snow geese. Others snow
leopards. Others cleaved to the earth, walked trails, mountains, coasts and
glens. Some sought wildness at a distance, others close to home. ‘Nature in her
green tranquil woods heals and soothes all afflictions,’ wrote John Muir ‘Earth
hath no sorrows that earth cannot heal.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now I knew
this for what it was: a beguiling but dangerous lie. I was furious with myself
and my own unconscious certainty that this was the cure I needed. Hands are for
other human hands to hold. They should not be reserved exclusively as perches
for hawks. And the wild is not a panacea for the human soul; too much in the
air can corrode it to nothing.” </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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In a time when many believe that nature heals all
afflictions, I admire Macdonald for bravely stating it does not, although I
doubt she would call it brave. Because my roots grew out of a remote and rural
place in northern Minnesota, I admit I’ve often been beguiled by the beauty of wild
creation that can give a restorative perspective not found in an urban setting.
At times in life I’ve been certain that leaving for the wild, perhaps forever,
is what I need for calm and focus, but she’s right, the earth simply cannot
heal everything. It cannot replace the community we were made to live in as
human beings. We need relationships. It cannot heal all our sorrows – only God
is able to do that even though we know not everything will necessarily be put
to right until Jesus returns. So we wait for it in the now, but the not yet
time. Meantime, I’m not quitting my jaunts to lonely places because they often serve
to rephrase life, but it is good to remind your soul that those beautiful
lonely places won’t deliver everything you need.<o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-51264071692570109672016-01-19T13:15:00.001-06:002016-01-19T17:31:04.420-06:00Tracking the 4th dimension<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuEvYjWR9UduR2mxbdJiJnvJTIpANQjgxj6Md3d8p6C5nsjm7gODUFwL8_2Fmf39Sbyxm-NhFU64IxM-9BUXrq79Y3wGvjIk67KIWQ7mEt_d0jWzwqWGFMiJvXoEcK2V8pRQmyqNic4pU/s1600/Tracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuEvYjWR9UduR2mxbdJiJnvJTIpANQjgxj6Md3d8p6C5nsjm7gODUFwL8_2Fmf39Sbyxm-NhFU64IxM-9BUXrq79Y3wGvjIk67KIWQ7mEt_d0jWzwqWGFMiJvXoEcK2V8pRQmyqNic4pU/s400/Tracks.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peering into another dimension</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We, I, don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i>. I can’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> this other dimension. But there are tracks that lead me to a tiny sliver of what shimmers just beyond my knowing. We live bordering a park. The ravines behind our house are filled with lives we rarely see. As sure as I sit at my desk and look out my windows day after day and only see birds and a few squirrels, another unseen world exists. But let the land and woods surrounding us receive a fresh blanket of snow and suddenly, overnight, it reveals a universe of creatures that track all around us. Deer, raccoon, fox, coyote, owls who leave wingtip patterns in the snow when they capture mice, we are surrounded by life.<br />
<br />
When I think of things I can’t see, of what powers, good or
evil, exist “out there,” I sometimes recall Elisha, an Old Testament prophet,
because he saw into a dimension of reality that surrounds us every day. It’s a
reality I rarely think about and can’t remember if I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ever</i> saw it except maybe in a dream I once had long ago. That day
that is written about may have started out like any other ordinary morning in
Israel, but not to the servant who’d arrived on the rooftop minutes before
Elisha to see that “an enormous army with horses and chariots had surrounded
the city.” (I Kings 6:11) In that day, that amount of military power
represented terrifying weapons of destruction aimed against an unarmed
population without a rat’s chance in hell of saving themselves. Elisha took one
look and with utter confidence in the God who surrounds and protects the lives
of his people declared: “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than
those who are with them.” (Really, Elisha?) Then he prayed and his servant’s
eyes were opened and what he saw must have been so extreme it had to have
beggared belief. He saw the sky and “the hills full of horses and chariots of
fire all around.” The air must have shimmered and cracked with their presence,
though the servant couldn’t see them at the time, nor can we now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We, too, look out on the world to see our homes, our livelihoods,
our countries, the hills around us bristling with enemies “full of an army and
horses and chariots” who bring terrorism and destruction. And if not such
graphic, physical destruction to us personally, we look closer to find threats
against our hearts, our minds, our families. Those are also real enemies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I’ll insult you if I push the analogy much further. But here’s
the thing: when I am most inclined to despair or cynicism or the thought of
“we’ve lost the war,” whatever battle we are fighting, I’m glad to be reminded
of, “ You have not come to a mountain… to darkness, gloom and storm … But you
have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.”
(Hebrews 12:18, 22) I’m nearly undone by the thought of them and beg God to
take my dull and unbelieving heart to this mountain. Make it snow right now. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-73628229015444270742015-12-10T10:52:00.000-06:002015-12-10T10:52:03.233-06:00Prayer Beads for the Forgetful and the Distracted<div class="MsoNormal">
Rosaries always fascinated me because they were forbidden in
the religious tradition I grew up in. They were one of those Catholic
trappings, like incense and processing with a cross that smelt of idolatry,
like one might just rely too much on them to get you on the good side of God
when we knew only Jesus could do that. Of course, anything outlawed becomes
what you want. So in high school, when I stayed with my best friend who was a
devout Catholic and who slept with her Rosary, which entangled us during the
night, I secretly fingered her beads and wondered about prayer. Did God hear us
if we used a prop? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know much about the history of the Rosary, but I
know that traditionally it included praying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.lords-prayer-words.com/lord_traditional_king_james.html">The Lord’s Prayer</a></i> and saying <a href="https://www.ccel.org/creeds/apostles.creed.html">The Apostle’s Creed </a>which are pretty universally believed among Christians. I
could see it being a cross-cultural help to many. Like, what if you didn’t know
how to read? If you loved God, you would be happy for something that framed and
directed your prayers to him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether it’s my age or the pace of modern life, I don’t
know, but the least thing can distract me from prayer. An Asian beetle crawling
on the ceiling. My grocery list. The tag on the back of my shirt, and somehow
I’ve leapt across three continents and an ocean to a Greek Island in the Aegean
Sea. When a friend gave me a set of Anglican prayer beads, I was interested.
First, their beauty pleased me – he made them out of jade and onyx. Second, their
smoothness is calming, holding something physical in my hand helps keep me from
wandering off to who-knows-where? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the other day a friend contacted me. She had purchased
several sets of prayer beads as Christmas gifts and wondered how I used them.
She wrote, “I would love to include your suggestions for use. The ancient
prayers that came with them just didn’t seem right for these particular
friends.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somewhere in my murky past I
had written about them, but I couldn’t find it, so, oh well, I started over and
came up with this which I thought I’d share. You know. Just in case you are the
friend who gets a set. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBawtS7Z3m88weCvG0RDSUBtr7bcrANGO3PM4L2Mn_lOltb1sf_sUoW7E1eajrXuRqGZRGadBIUbiMqCfOFfQh5DvLPILah-oWZLtJIYt-QTjbe2JhcUzCjC6wWLwTEkEs_OwNqb5Zc0s/s1600/Beads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBawtS7Z3m88weCvG0RDSUBtr7bcrANGO3PM4L2Mn_lOltb1sf_sUoW7E1eajrXuRqGZRGadBIUbiMqCfOFfQh5DvLPILah-oWZLtJIYt-QTjbe2JhcUzCjC6wWLwTEkEs_OwNqb5Zc0s/s400/Beads.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Prayer Beads for the forgetful and the distracted.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are four sections of seven beads each separated by a
larger bead.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The larger beads, I use to frame my prayers. Beginning with
the cross and moving around the circle, for me, the cross is, of course,
obvious – we send all our troubles to the cross. We begin with the cross and
end with it. (How appropriate!) The larger beads represent some aspect of
Trinity – for example the desire of the Holy Spirit to comfort us. Or the
Father to protect us. The Savior to rescue us. Sometimes I might have read a
section of the Bible or a daily reading of some kind that reminds me of some characteristic
of God and I use that large bead to thank Him and to ask for some of that
holiness to be seen in me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first section of seven represents the world – what’s out
there – outside my personal world and family. Crisis, tragedies in other
countries, friends who may need prayer for something specific. I recognize my
finiteness in trying to remember EVERYthing,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>so this at least helps me to be focused outward and whoever or whatever
comes to mind gets assigned a bead even if temporary.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second section represents my primary family members.
Some of them get their own bead!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The third section is me. All seven beads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always have a lot to pray about regarding
myself. My work, my calling, my attitude, my body, etc etc. But the other
sections help me not to be COMPLETELY self-focused.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fourth section is Thanksgiving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each bead represents something I am thankful
for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think of Phil. 4: 6-7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do not be anxious for anything, but in
every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is all purely my own invention. Nothing particularly
sacred about it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hope this helps as you come to God with all your baggage and
mess knowing he will receive a humble heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-23780976804845102242015-12-05T07:53:00.000-06:002015-12-05T07:53:33.609-06:00How the Holidays limited my chance of getting more presents than my brothers and sisters<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJ9dt_a-EHqTXvT1pyZIEPzfbMZwY4bvca_Hot26k9hdwbqEatJa8AFUSIghLyfXnjt2l9Y34TrVVUFBcVusU5ANCFjVrzNGZmRJz4w-Yz5IdZQmc-Tu1ph85RLhCz2GvthJlSCcXWJE/s1600/Christmas+Presents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJ9dt_a-EHqTXvT1pyZIEPzfbMZwY4bvca_Hot26k9hdwbqEatJa8AFUSIghLyfXnjt2l9Y34TrVVUFBcVusU5ANCFjVrzNGZmRJz4w-Yz5IdZQmc-Tu1ph85RLhCz2GvthJlSCcXWJE/s400/Christmas+Presents.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More, more, more</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At certain times of the year women are more fertile, more
likely to get pregnant than at other times of the year. I don’t have scientific
evidence, but if you take a little toll of women you know who’ve had several
children – the more the better – you’ll likely come up with a cluster of kids
who showed up during the same season of the year. I know. I know. But check it
out. You might be surprised.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Take my mother, for instance. She had twelve pregnancies.
Six of them miscarried. But of the six of us who made it three are in December
and one was late October. That’s four out of six. That meant that December,
with its major holiday, was a difficult month especially during our birth years,
because our mom was too busy lactating or laboring to pay us much mind. You
know how those last weeks are with contractions in the middle of the night as
you lie staring at the ceiling, wasting precious hours of sleep as you watch
the clock and wonder if you can make it until morning. If Mom wasn’t pregnant,
then she was busy scratching at the budget and wondering how badly we December
babies would feel if our birthday presents were rolled into Christmas. Sure, we
were poor, but as the oldest I considered myself more entitled than two of my younger
brothers, who shared my month, and Randy who was a little more distant coming
at the end of October. Dallas was on the 3<sup>rd</sup> of December so he had
the best chance of getting a gift. Mine was smack in the middle, so it could
easily go either way depending on the price of the pulp Dad hauled out of the
woods and loaded onto a flat car in town. But poor Rex was born on December 26<sup>th</sup>
in the middle of the night, missing Christmas Day by only a couple hours. Poor
baby. He wouldn’t have a rat’s chance in hell of getting a party. Ever. He was
never convinced that it was an honor to almost share his birthday with the baby
Jesus. And let’s be honest, we all, especially me, wanted the presents as much,
maybe more than I wanted to be Mary the Mother of Jesus in the Christmas Pageant.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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The year he was born I was seven years old and it felt as
good as if I’d won a trip to Disneyland because on Christmas night I got to
stay with my mom who was waiting for a baby, we were told, at my Grandpa and
Grandma Frolander’s in town. We lived thirty-six miles from the hospital and it
was too far and too risky to remain on the farm when you didn’t know how fast a
baby could come or if a blizzard might put you in the ditch when it was 30
below. Helping a mare drop a foal or pulling a calf out of a cow with ropes was
one thing, but getting that intimate with the birth of your child was bloody
alarming. Dad could not imagine being that present at the birth of his children.
Plus, on a cold night with the wind howling up your backside, how were you
supposed to bend to your wife’s need along a country road only to have the baby
die of exposure? Some things only required half a brain to figure out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On Christmas morning Dad, Randy, Jan and I arrived in
Warroad excited to see Mom who’d been away for years. We opened presents and
then we feasted on Grandma’s Christmas trimmings. We scraped our desert plates
clean and ate one chocolate-covered cherry each. Not long after, Dad had to
leave as the cold afternoon turned fast toward night. Cows had to be milked
twice a day. Jan was crying and Randy’s big eyes spilled tears as Mom helped
Dad wrap them for the drive home. Someone had decided I could stay and I didn’t
know what to make of such good luck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That night Mom and I snuggled down into the same bed with
quilts piled high. She had been gone for two weeks and every day my stomach had
filled with dread that she might never come back, but here she was all warm and
sleepy. My mother. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was wakened by a lamp shining in my eyes. Urgent whispers
caused me sit up. Towels were lying on the on the floor soaking up something
that had been spilled. There was a stack of clean sheets on the chair. My
grandmother was wrapping Mom in her bathrobe and coat. Grandpa appeared, put
his arm around her and led her down the stairs. Where are they going, I asked.
It was alarming, her leaving in the middle of the night. My grandmother shushed
me and moved me aside where I shivered as she pulled sheets from the bed. What
happened I asked? How did the bed get wet? “We’ll be done in a minute,” she
said, “then you can hop back in bed.” But where is mom going? My voice was swelling
and my stomach lurched. “She went to the hospital to get a new baby,” Grandma
told me brightly. In the middle of the night? “Don’t worry. She’ll be back
soon.” She kissed me, switched out the light and I heard her footsteps fade
down the stairs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Poor Rex. He still doesn’t get much out of his birthday. Maybe
this year I will remember to send a card. <o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-44371781526313072742015-11-23T12:37:00.000-06:002015-11-23T12:37:02.073-06:00I am a person, not an animal<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“I am now confident and
strong. I know I am a person, not an animal. My wound, my deep wound, is also
my strength, because it makes me help others … those who bear scars must help
the wounded.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Would you guess this is a quote from an Iraqi woman, a rape
victim, a former prostitute who has spent the past nine years rescuing women
trapped in the horror of sexual violence that exists in Baghdad? I wouldn’t
have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I left out part of the quote from an article that appeared
in <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/05/out-of-sight-letter-from-baghdad-rania-abouzeid">The New Yorker, October 5, 2015 “Out of Sight” by Rania Abouzeid, </a>the part
where she says, “Sometimes I don’t think it can be stopped.” When she sees
victims, “I feel like my insides are ripped open. I am hurt witnessing this” (During
the interview she was called to the scene where a woman had been dragged from
her home and shot in the street because she worked in a brothel.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjga1s_ykCZischk0MyuI6bDdKvXGfOkT_2v3XHpa8JWSSNz6r5Gjavc6qmoUJ-Srck8b_fi-ttaYTtBY-1-P6JqV3YB54kuN4IlMdXJkG84eI5QvuhS1uxHKWM60mYT2iU1Ifa5eWYyUA/s1600/151005_r27108-320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjga1s_ykCZischk0MyuI6bDdKvXGfOkT_2v3XHpa8JWSSNz6r5Gjavc6qmoUJ-Srck8b_fi-ttaYTtBY-1-P6JqV3YB54kuN4IlMdXJkG84eI5QvuhS1uxHKWM60mYT2iU1Ifa5eWYyUA/s400/151005_r27108-320.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by Aude Van Ryn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yet, in the face of what seems completely hopeless she continues
her work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i> “my wound, my deep
wound, is also my strength, because it makes me help others.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve lately heard and read much about women who are beaten,
starved, murdered, forced into slavery, marriage, or who are sold to brothels
or must choose prostitution and its terrifying risks in a Muslim culture just
to support their children..<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t imagine. And can only pray and pray for them and the
world – that God would soon come to them with all the power and might he holds
against evil – and his great and mysterious ability to be both just and
merciful at the same time. Unlike myself who would like to simply kill where I
saw fit and be done with it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t imagine being Layla whose suffering has become her
motivation, even her conduit for helping others. She’s not the pitiful,
self-focused loser I might become. No. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t imagine. And yet I can. In my small way. I am drawn
to this woman and her wise words because somehow she speaks across oceans of
divide to touch our own lives. To whatever degree we bear wounds, if we can
remember who we are – humans bearing God’s image, persons, not animals, that in
Christ we can be strong and confident – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“His divine power has given us everything we
need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him.” (II Pet. 1:3) This
will enable us to live lives that are meaningful.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here’s the thing: If what I do, however small and
seemingly insignificant to others springs out of my own suffering (again, even
if comparatively small to Layla’s) isn’t that the gift or at least part of the
gift I am to give to others? “Those who bear scars must help the wounded.” We
all bear scars. So, if I walk out of this office and plan our Thanksgiving meal
with love and thought for this small group of people who will gather with us,
including our granddaughter who has her own past wounds from holidays gone
awry, won’t that be doing what I can to lift a corner of darkness here, where I
live?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Layla is my hero. I pray God will guard her steps and
protect her heart and all the women she rescues.<o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-79996160817346087742015-11-18T14:36:00.000-06:002015-11-18T14:36:16.539-06:00Where the wild ducks are<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p> Whether we look far away or close at hand – from France to
the people of our hearts, we long for peace. We long for hope.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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For a few days of solitude, I’ve come away to a quiet place.
Perhaps I will find headspace to write again. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve watched the wild ducks gather at the bottom of the lawn.
In a puddle spread before the shore a family of mallards nibble and nibble on
something under the water. Roots? Chickweed? They ruffle their tails and preen
their breasts, comfortably relaxing into the soggy grass as if into a hot spa.
A female scolds a male and he sprints from her clacking beak. After the ducks
depart a pair of crows splash into the puddle and then sip their bathwater. A
black squirrel runs up and down the oak with mouthfuls of leaves. I see she is
building a winter nest as she shapes them into a ragged clump. There is healing
in these observations. I waken to more than despair and “forethought of grief.”
I do. I am almost happy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">The Peace of Wild Things<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">When despair for the world grows in me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">and I wake in the night at the least
sound<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">in fear of what my life and my
children’s lives may be,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">I go and lie down where the wood drake<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">rests in his beauty on the water, and
the great heron feeds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">I come into the peace of wild things<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">who do not tax their lives with
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">of grief. I come into the presence of
still water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">And I feel above me the day-blind stars<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">waiting with their light. For a time<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";">I rest in the grace of the world, and am
free. – Wendell Berry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Ayuthaya; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Apple Chancery";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSUXsNq0m3PffV3E2g06zwQd77Sh_p4uZtxnccICLhd-j6QAyG7hyNk89I2aJ5fOXkPgfg3MlphPJIJUtlb5qx1qOfceDA02ZwLCz4hoS3PBgsJQJ6hSNHjFdTdjywYBYtxPBVgoG-j4/s1600/ducks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSUXsNq0m3PffV3E2g06zwQd77Sh_p4uZtxnccICLhd-j6QAyG7hyNk89I2aJ5fOXkPgfg3MlphPJIJUtlb5qx1qOfceDA02ZwLCz4hoS3PBgsJQJ6hSNHjFdTdjywYBYtxPBVgoG-j4/s400/ducks.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mallard Family eating in the rain.</td></tr>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-66317687138107623492015-09-05T20:39:00.002-05:002015-09-05T20:39:44.894-05:00What matters in the end<div class="MsoNormal">
I watched <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gran Torino</i>
again the other day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For two reasons.
One was to see if there was a scene I could rip for a lecture I’m giving on the
way hospitality can bridge cultural differences. The other was to observe the
changes in the main character, Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood, – to
watch him finally in the end choose to give away his prize possession, a 1972 Ford Gran
Torino to a Hmong boy and to give his life in revenge for crimes against an
innocent family he had grown to love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwBhQ5oxQgxL3agmuWIsGABDyvytIODClelND8cJ8KrO20Y3CNDr8BdX2K2XOqePHMViuKeUoANPR6_yUZhSnQYn3I_87CFnLqXcyEXojVmKNgULUqn1XKnlHFHl65TRXJaSzVN_3iuw/s1600/Clint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwBhQ5oxQgxL3agmuWIsGABDyvytIODClelND8cJ8KrO20Y3CNDr8BdX2K2XOqePHMViuKeUoANPR6_yUZhSnQYn3I_87CFnLqXcyEXojVmKNgULUqn1XKnlHFHl65TRXJaSzVN_3iuw/s400/Clint.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This story is complex enough to make you laugh, appall you
and wrench your heart all at the same time. But that’s how life always is.
Complex. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s how <a href="http://wedonotloseheart.com/">Ed Hague's</a> living and dying has been to me. Complex. He
made me laugh all the time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could be
appallingly irreverent, piercingly honest, and then point you to Christ in the
most unexpected ways. I loved him as one of my best friends.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The last time I talked to him was about ten days before he
died. Our coming to his funeral was on his mind. How would we pay for it, he
wanted to know. Since we live in Minnesota and he is, I mean was, in
Tallahassee, he was trying to figure out a way to alleviate some of our
expense. I told him we did not care one whit about that so he could stop
obsessing about it. We would come out of love and respect for his family and
nothing else mattered. It was typical of him to care about all sorts of matters
big and small, personal and public. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I just finished reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Being
Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End</i>, by Atul Gawandi. Aunt Ruth
died last month. Ed passed away two weeks ago. Denis’ parents are in their 90s
and living precariously on their own day after day, refusing any kind of help
or care. The list could go on. I know some of you have friends or family members
who are facing either age-related issues or terminal illness. So both the movie
and this book felt timely.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkx_cFM-582b0XYOu4v3EaUQt41sG66Gy2WfDKxklETb1wTSIzz9QU6dYD4Xg1XMRLzNy_OLNhaNEc1GHbNMETxdZMNqMxxzz7DL5TdNg_uEVi35OB0Slmm6ze8hUc8XKMQDlhThofPew/s1600/Being+Mortal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkx_cFM-582b0XYOu4v3EaUQt41sG66Gy2WfDKxklETb1wTSIzz9QU6dYD4Xg1XMRLzNy_OLNhaNEc1GHbNMETxdZMNqMxxzz7DL5TdNg_uEVi35OB0Slmm6ze8hUc8XKMQDlhThofPew/s1600/Being+Mortal.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gawandi writes about some of the studies and their findings
on what fulfills and grows people even as their life narrows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If we shift as we age toward appreciating everyday pleasures and
relationships rather than toward achieving, having, and getting, and if we find
this more fulfilling, then why do we take so long to do it? Why do we wait
until we are old </i>[or terminally ill]?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
The common view was that these lessons are hard to learn. Living is a kind of
skill. The calm and wisdom of old age are achieved over time. Cartenson (a
Stanford psychologist) was attracted to a different explanation. What if the
change in needs and desires has nothing to do with age per se? Suppose it
merely has to do with perspective – your personal sense of how finite your time
in this world is…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think that in that last three years of Ed’s life following
his diagnosis of Stage IV prostate cancer, he grew more than ever before in his
understanding of what it means to have this one life to live. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnzP8YRytutQxkDbnmQrb4AVLrsiohEOOur0bDt22k4oJtSGw97M56jyTX2i9fJhcXOSYficAPzDmLC5ISoQ4_S3gI2XbAqPawQYiN3MY2URzM4I4KY3cUGWdQpeoBNO6Dymx4G8ywsA/s1600/Ed%252C+tangled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnzP8YRytutQxkDbnmQrb4AVLrsiohEOOur0bDt22k4oJtSGw97M56jyTX2i9fJhcXOSYficAPzDmLC5ISoQ4_S3gI2XbAqPawQYiN3MY2URzM4I4KY3cUGWdQpeoBNO6Dymx4G8ywsA/s400/Ed%252C+tangled.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ed housebreaking our internet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>He eventually had to let things go that he had been very
good at like untangling computer problems, trimming large trees, running his
business. He shifted more toward enjoying ordinary pleasures – his wife Betsy could
speak more specifically to this. Ice cream. Sitting on the porch. Walking to
the mailbox. But in particular, his relationships in pursuit of love and
healing became the most important to him to the very end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, I think he would agree with Cartenson, that the deeper
changes he experienced had to do with facing his finiteness, yes, but he would add
an element that was a complete game-changer for him: he was overcome by love.
He learned how to receive love in a way he never had before –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the love of his wife and family, the love of
friends, the love of all the medical people who cared for him, but most
especially God’s love for him. As he wrote in his obituary (I mean, WHO
writes their own obituary?):<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here’s the most important thing to know about Ed, though. God loved him
and made sure that Ed knew it. Hiding from love all of his life, after his
cancer diagnosis, God turned the love firehoses on him."<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGlQBB3yhjeUNdfxY63ehchti7IaVn3nxQ-aQAWgTPic0SLHHE3pB7E8_wfB1D5JZWpdaBXS2_PiswwIZO2BA5Hx2mr3bWp6_J4fIkYxL0qZXJNDXR-8zNNRkWO6oAB3MRdk4eypj1FY/s1600/Fire+hose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuGlQBB3yhjeUNdfxY63ehchti7IaVn3nxQ-aQAWgTPic0SLHHE3pB7E8_wfB1D5JZWpdaBXS2_PiswwIZO2BA5Hx2mr3bWp6_J4fIkYxL0qZXJNDXR-8zNNRkWO6oAB3MRdk4eypj1FY/s400/Fire+hose.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then Ed turned it back on us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He loved us in life and mentored us in death. That sounds so cheesy I almost have to delete the sentence except that it's true. And honestly? He could be a beast sometimes. Like when, oh, never mind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He faced
the breakdown of his body with courage and humor. I would like to learn this love well before I die.
I would like to stand in the way of that firehose and get drowned by love. Yes. And we do have this ....</div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any power neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.</i> (Romans 8:38)<o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-70706011911688075172015-08-18T19:38:00.000-05:002015-08-18T19:38:42.361-05:00Vacation EnvySunday. Today after church, a friend, a mother of five kids,
a five-month-old in her arms, the rest racing around the lawn, told us she has
vacation envy. They didn’t get one this summer and it seems like everyone else
we know is texting, Face Booking, and talking about where they’ve been. It was
a great rant one I understood too well. I stood there thinking – from Nantucket
to Provence everyone in the world is hiking sensational mountain ranges, biking
through fields of leaping lambs, eating Gruyere, and sleeping within the sound
of whippoorwills. Except for us.<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She went on to say she’d just finished reading Ecclesiastes
“and that’s where I am, ‘everything is vanity.’” She roller her eyes and
grimaced. Then she concluded God must be at work because her attitude shifted
when she thought of a “stupid old 70s song* – ‘if you can’t be with the one you
love, then love the one you’re with’ I’m trying to do that she said, if I can’t
take a vacation then I’m trying to be where we are and somehow love it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote something similar to a friend. “I’m doing okay. A
bit tired. Okay, maybe a lot tired. Am looking for some sweet spots in the Lord
in the midst of these weeks. I know they are there. Hoping not to miss them
because I’m feeling sorry for myself.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One sweet spot had to be our youngest granddaughter sitting
next to me reading her favorite book: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Max
& Ruby</i>. We’ve read it so many times she has it memorized or
“rememberized” as she puts it. Her ways delight my soul. After hearing it so
many times she understands “Grocer” – a word not commonly used anymore, but the
context has taught her without me explaining. The ways of children both delight
and instruct. Her honesty. Can I have this book, she asks? No. I want it to be
here so when you come back we can look forward to reading it together. When I
die you can have it. I will leave it to you in my will. What’s a will?… and on
we go.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another sweet spot. I made two jars of naturally fermented
pickles. It’s the way they used to make them long ago. You don’t need vinegar.
You just put the cucumbers in a jar water and salt, garlic and dill, leave it
on the counter and in three to five days a wonderful, crisp tart pickle. It
worked! Love them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5aNCcHNlfWOgiiA-IkpSzsppUKzDkXU9SkFgXrz9Q-kXgzkQg_5T_sArhTppN3yW6cwscGy1NoyvPuSeq13Ihq0RqxSV_Qn7pBQBS4v93YEmn4YbOCcTKfBo6CKiZOeMfRpEDfeUoOcQ/s1600/IMG_1859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5aNCcHNlfWOgiiA-IkpSzsppUKzDkXU9SkFgXrz9Q-kXgzkQg_5T_sArhTppN3yW6cwscGy1NoyvPuSeq13Ihq0RqxSV_Qn7pBQBS4v93YEmn4YbOCcTKfBo6CKiZOeMfRpEDfeUoOcQ/s400/IMG_1859.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garlic Dills naturally fermented.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Please don’t stop telling me what wonderful times you’ve
had. You need times away from the crush of stress. You need times of pure
refreshment and joy. God will get us (me) to where we need to be. Eventually.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next week will bring its stresses. Some of them we know.
Some we anticipate. Others are still unknown. When Denis and I talk about our
days, we have a tendency to stew about the future. The words of Jesus echo in
my head. Words I heard growing up about not worrying about tomorrow because
tomorrow will worry about itself. The Message translation gives it a different
punch:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Give your entire attention to
what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not
happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when
the time comes.” (Mt. 6:34)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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*Stephen Stills “Love the One You’re With” 1970.<o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-41854986315458357792015-08-12T15:23:00.002-05:002015-08-12T15:23:18.986-05:00"We're gonna do this death thing, friends"<div class="MsoNormal">
Early this last Sunday The Great Aunt passed. It was a long battle
she fought against age and death and Alzheimer’s. We will miss her lovely
smile, her acerbic humor and her generous acceptance of those she loved. She
was the dearest aunt and a surrogate mother to my husband. We are sorrowful,
but we are also relieved that she finally rests from this battle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those of you who know us also know we have another friend
who has fought a different set of mortal enemies – stage IV prostate cancer. Ed
Hague was diagnosed a little more than three years ago, so to have lived this
long probably, no it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i>, qualify as
a miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today he posted what may be his <a href="http://wedonotloseheart.com/hospice-hottie/#comment-9871">final blog</a>. I don’t know. Read it and then read backwards. You may find what you
need for living right where you are now. He would love that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I stumble around, a bit blue and puffy-eyed, well, I
just wanted you to know …<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they say
sadness goes, but grief stays somewhere tucked down in your heart. I wonder. Is
this true? At my age, you’d think I’d have acquired some wisdom about this. And I’m thinking that
perhaps for the moment, I <i>have</i> lost some heart. Perhaps it’s okay to not be all perky and bless-you kind of happy.
For the moment. <o:p></o:p>I posted the following comment on<a href="http://wedonotloseheart.com/hospice-hottie/#comment-9871"> wedonotloseheart.com.</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ed. Just staring into
space. Hard to believe the time has come. Death sucks. We never get over it, no
matter how hard we try to “celebrate” life – it’s just not how it was meant to
be, is it? In one sense, I’m glad your journey is nearly over. It’s been an
amazing ride. I already miss you.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I often repeat to
myself, in many of life’s situations, the words of St. Julian of Norwich: “All
shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” I take heart from this
because I know she speaks of Jesus’ power to resurrect all kinds of things.
Including the earth. Our relationships. Our bodies, our hearts. And now I say
to myself, to God, “And Ed shall be well and all parts of Ed shall soon be
well.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For that I can say Thanks be to God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXoFmdnqkFhuNjjR810k6ClHU4IG-0iciuFup9FZcHuh3HjZykkWy8uoUXup4VWTWXCQI91ioHF2ftNQGplCLJBqUK3sf9DF1iIET8FH8bbQ8e2-_WiVOKp4xs-ejLHV2YsITB2PaYiY/s1600/Wisconsin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXoFmdnqkFhuNjjR810k6ClHU4IG-0iciuFup9FZcHuh3HjZykkWy8uoUXup4VWTWXCQI91ioHF2ftNQGplCLJBqUK3sf9DF1iIET8FH8bbQ8e2-_WiVOKp4xs-ejLHV2YsITB2PaYiY/s400/Wisconsin.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-5580349998252222762015-07-28T12:45:00.000-05:002015-07-28T12:45:32.331-05:00"Massive uncertainties"Today, out in New Hampshire where The Great Aunt has been
living, a few family members sit vigil by her side as she seems to be slipping
away. I cannot be there to say good-by to a woman I have loved.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZNHenKBAqn82ZkldQwhxHgtkSzzDDfFaS7mEJAhB_BHDjUQu4fSpV4bW9pvZsGbR5R70WTjUQWhmE5q2c6pmfdSf0fq21Rb8-Wb6kv9HtUnqvwsCiLbYI-xPTkvgpxE2ZKyfUJjW2tY/s1600/Aunt+Ruth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZNHenKBAqn82ZkldQwhxHgtkSzzDDfFaS7mEJAhB_BHDjUQu4fSpV4bW9pvZsGbR5R70WTjUQWhmE5q2c6pmfdSf0fq21Rb8-Wb6kv9HtUnqvwsCiLbYI-xPTkvgpxE2ZKyfUJjW2tY/s400/Aunt+Ruth.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great Aunt and Paddington</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Seems we have entered a time of sadness and are feeling the
grief of people passing away, of diagnosis of illnesses, of struggles against
depression, of broken plans and dashed promises and other less noteworthy
things like sinus infections and Japanese beetles eating your grapevine.<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our friend, Ed Hague who has fought a three-year battle
against stage IV prostate cancer has thought a lot about despair and posted
some brutally honest thoughts to his blog. See <a href="http://wedonotloseheart.com/the-benefits-of-despair/">“The Benefits of Despair” </a>on <a href="http://www.wedonotloseheart.com./">www.wedonotloseheart.com.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It seems to me that we Christians are often guilty of trying
hard not to be in that dark place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
perhaps what I mean to say is that we try to find ways of mitigating suffering
and evil, even to the point where we worry that acknowledging despair is
somehow heretical. Instead we pass on little sayings meant to tell us: “Get
along little dogie” Can’t stay here, you know. Everything happens for a reason.
When God closes the door he always opens a window.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve Froehlich writes with more realistic passion in the
latest issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://ransomfellowship.org/publications.asp">Critique</a></i> in the "Letters to the Editor" Dialogue section.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As John writes: we
know how the story ends </i>[see the book of Revelation] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But these certainties, the ground of hope in Christ, do not resolve the
massive uncertainties that cloud our lives right now. Nor do they provide us
with explanations about how God is accomplishing that purpose in our lives or in
our moment of history. But we are people who believe in the Resurrection, and
we choose to be content living with hints and foretastes (none more important
than the Eucharist) of the shalom of the world made new.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Yes. The crucible of human suffering seems somehow more
relieved when we admit that life is often filled with “massive uncertainties.”
To be together with others in the midst of shit is oddly, the very place where
my hope and love in Christ grows. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-59623839819659852832015-07-08T08:33:00.000-05:002015-07-08T08:33:23.470-05:00Fava Beans: The gift of too much work
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjB6fSNQ9DoNRC8FY_R-XAz9_B-gUznU3WznwbqJ6nkjGr-g2IfUIHoWKEeYQRMzvtI0Oun23jYca3sey34uKeFUzsV4d8xtK0Qyo-2f8aKygM2Zl3Qd852PXonkkGYbO6BnKSI5jttQ/s1600/beans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCjB6fSNQ9DoNRC8FY_R-XAz9_B-gUznU3WznwbqJ6nkjGr-g2IfUIHoWKEeYQRMzvtI0Oun23jYca3sey34uKeFUzsV4d8xtK0Qyo-2f8aKygM2Zl3Qd852PXonkkGYbO6BnKSI5jttQ/s400/beans.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squish the bean out of its membrane.</td></tr>
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I’ve never seen Fava Beans (or Broad Beans as they are known
in English) in our grocery stores. I’ve never known anyone to grow them. I’ve only
read about them. I think that was in <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Under-Tuscan-Sun-Frances-Mayes/dp/B009NOF57C">Under the Tuscan Sun</a>, </i>but I can’t find the passage to be sure. I remember reading
about this vegetable where everyone in Tuscany or Provence eagerly awaits its early
summer harvest. Like I wait for the first real strawberries of the season or
the hope of a few morels in May. I only had the vaguest notion of what they
were like. Then a few days ago our vegetable farmer friends gave us a gift of
about a pound of fava beans. (Recipes say for a serving you should plan on a
pound of pods per person.) I think I know why they are rare in our country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Joe and Becca sent along basic instructions. Open the pod.
Inside, find three to five large beans. Remove them. When they are all
collected, blanch them for 30 seconds in boiling water until the membrane
around each bean loosens. Quickly place them in an ice bath. Open the membrane
slightly and squish out the bean. Do this for each one. One at a time, until
you have a small bowlful. Steam them for 3 minutes until tender.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With this little batch I did the simplest thing possible to
taste them. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on a little sea salt and
pepper. I now understand two things. Why Italians love them so much. And why
they are not popular here: too much work. But their buttery flavor and smooth
texture won me completely. It was worth each little step. More, please.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-20774821866307254892015-07-02T13:13:00.001-05:002015-07-02T13:13:53.376-05:00A complicated eulogy<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://addiezierman.com/2015/06/18/a-complicated-eulogy-for-elisabeth-elliot/">“A Complicated Eulogy”</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elisabeth Elliot died. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikTwmTw_foatbrnF05EB22VenoW5aTvBWLvB2hlIpDgV6b7PkfHiExPb-b_n2T3AqwqaVNCaYLUCQFLPtiNivlH7jww_DQlordY65uJdZXBwXcbLfVRaiOAKDhg22UuMlYoc5Mmpnbxs/s1600/ElisabethSep07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikTwmTw_foatbrnF05EB22VenoW5aTvBWLvB2hlIpDgV6b7PkfHiExPb-b_n2T3AqwqaVNCaYLUCQFLPtiNivlH7jww_DQlordY65uJdZXBwXcbLfVRaiOAKDhg22UuMlYoc5Mmpnbxs/s1600/ElisabethSep07.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px;">Photo from elisabethelliot.org</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a very odd thing to read about the death of someone you so respected
and who influenced your life, but to also honestly face some of the doubts and,
well, personal opinions that quite differed from hers. <a href="http://addiezierman.com/about/about-this-blog/">Writer Addie Zierman</a> brought those repressed questions to the surface. She eloquently voiced what I
would want to say if only I’d thought of it. <a href="http://addiezierman.com/2015/06/18/a-complicated-eulogy-for-elisabeth-elliot/">(Read it here.)</a> Elisabeth was one of my heroes,
too. Many of the things she wrote and said steered me through difficult times.
When I was overwhelmed with life she said: Don’t try to take the entire journey
at once. Trust all your life and its details to God. He cares about you. All
you need to do is the next thing. Whatever it is. Just do the next thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wanted to be like her. For awhile. Until I grew farther
into womanhood and marriage and mothering, then I found her voice more
difficult to bear on some issues.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zierman ends her eulogy with graciousness. If anyone ever
wrote mine, I hope they would extend me grace in the end as she does with
Elisabeth. Zierman points us to a place where I have wanted others to go – a
place of hope, a place we long for: Home, a place where I (and you) are called
“Beloved.” </div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-63693252599845971752015-06-27T19:55:00.000-05:002015-06-27T19:55:40.920-05:00A loving vine-dresser<div class="MsoNormal">
Today we read together the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Common Prayer</i> for June 27 and were awed by words so appropriate to
our present circumstances.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite
naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We would like
to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to
something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that
it is made by passing through some stages of instability – and that it may take
a very long time. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving
vine-dresser.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Today is a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">last-day-before-your-life-changes</i> day.
Tomorrow our teenage granddaughter arrives to make her home with us until
whatever time she is ready to launch into the world. She has one year of high
school left. Her life is full of change and unknowns. So is ours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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We are excited and a little nervous. So is she. We have
talked a lot about what this could look like, but do we really know? No. What
we do know is that she wants to be with us. We love her and she loves us even
if I can’t listen to her music that vibrates my ribs and stuns my ears. Yeah. I
used to, but those days are gone along with some of my hearing. Give me a
little Mozart adagio and I’m happy. There are a lot of details to look forward
to. Like Dr. Who episodes and driver’s education and a part-time job and new
paint for her room. My only stipulation was – sorry, not black. It’s too hard
to cover if you want to change it some day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
This isn’t what we imagined for this stage of life. But
isn’t that often how things turn out or don’t turn out? And don’t we wonder if only
we could skip the hard parts and fast forward to the place where outcomes are
certain and wouldn’t that be just be so sweet? We believe there will be sweetness
in ways we don’t know. That in adding to our family – we are doing exactly what
God has in mind for us. And for her. And that his work in our lives is a long,
slow process. At least that’s how it’s been for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5333821316421783570.post-34272031777378139712015-06-05T17:26:00.000-05:002015-06-05T17:26:47.958-05:00New Normal<div class="MsoNormal">
Today is packing-the-car day. Tomorrow we head to Tennessee
to see our children and grandchildren. More than ever we want to be with them.
There is a story unfolding. Here is a piece of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6cN43odxOz0r_qW-RZJD8F8BsE2jYFLffbtu0uNqaPbnV4iOd-9lfBg82vSUgQw-dP19VWpuFXzFdjDhjFX_YGtFYSgi_PsUW91bsH9CjM4Gup-BiT554cqrBZwq8DX5bGLvoaBRPgs/s1600/Costco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6cN43odxOz0r_qW-RZJD8F8BsE2jYFLffbtu0uNqaPbnV4iOd-9lfBg82vSUgQw-dP19VWpuFXzFdjDhjFX_YGtFYSgi_PsUW91bsH9CjM4Gup-BiT554cqrBZwq8DX5bGLvoaBRPgs/s400/Costco.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Costco Delivery!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last December the LaRose family all came down with a stomach
virus and were sick as dogs right around Christmas. Everyone recovered in about
four days. Except for our daughter, Sember, hers hung on for days. A month
passed and she was still unable to get out of bed for a full day at a time.
More weeks passed until finally she went to the doctor to see if they could
find figure out what was going on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a long story, but she ended up at the Mayo Clinic in
Scottsdale where she was seen by a friend of ours who is pretty much a medical
genius at sleuthing and he diagnosed her with Postural orthostatic tachycardia
syndrome (POTS disease). POTS sometimes occurs after a virus attack or some
other trauma to the body. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/health/18brody.html?_r=0">Here is a link that gives some idea of what life is like for a patient. </a>With one caveat. Young people have a much better chance of
recovery. For older adults there is no cure. Dr. Bergstrom compared the quality
of life as that of a person having congestive heart failure or kidney failure
with dialysis. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The prospect of having another life-long, chronic illness
(along with CFS) has precipitated a time of grieving for everyone, but especially
for Sember. She feels like she’s on the steepest learning curve of her life as
she figures out how to live with her new normal. There are days when she can’t
get out of bed because of overwhelming body pain and wicked exhaustion. (In the
midst of it she somehow maintains a spirit of kindness and humor.) Parenting,
keeping a home, feeding the family and so many other things are now difficult
if not impossible. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their community and church has rallied around them in wonderful
and unusual ways. One way was figuring out how to help with meals. It is one
thing to deliver a meal or two to someone who has had a baby or has been in the
hospital, but to help someone who has an on-going chronic illness? Finding ways
to help without burning out is definitely a need? A friend devised a solution
by inviting people to contribute to a fund that would hire a person who cooks:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anne wrote to friends and family: “I have a friend who is a
private chef. She cooked for us for a while when we were uber busy, and she is
amazing! I would shop for proteins, starches, and vegetables, and then in four
hours, she would put it all together and make enough food for several days. She
likes to make healthy food and is very knowledgeable when it comes to cooking
for people with food issues such as gluten or dairy allergies. Better yet, her
food is yummy.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After figuring what it would cost to hire Cassie for four
hours a week, there was enough money donated to make it happen through the next
three months! (If there is anyone out there who would still like to contribute
– let me know.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was such an amazing gift. Who would have thought? I am
deeply moved because if it were possible, we would personally remove this thorn
from their lives. Impossible, of course. So this solution is a great comfort to
everyone who loves them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All this has meant that parenting five children will be a
big challenge for both Sember and Shaun. Our own lives will be changing along with theirs because we have
invited our 17-year-old granddaughter to live with us and she will be coming at the
end of June. We love her and I think it is safe to say she loves us and is looking forward to life here in Minnesota.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We didn’t know we’d be joining the ranks of grandparents who
have grandchildren living with them. But this could be a very good thing for
all of us. In a way it will mean that we, too, will be finding our new
“normal.” We look forward to seeing what God will do as we step into the
unknown. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are the praying sort, we would definitely appreciate
prayer. What this will mean for me, I’m not certain. For some reason, as you
could perhaps tell by my long absence from this blog, I haven’t been able to write
for awhile. But today, I felt compelled to at least put this out there before
we leave tomorrow morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for
stopping by.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Margie Haackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06938076510781889109noreply@blogger.com5