7QTF: Points of View

'7 Quick Takes Friday' is a sharing situation generously started by Jen Fulwiler who blogs at 'Conversion Diary' and who also writes a column for the National Catholic Register.

Anyone participating in this blogging exercise submits a link of their post to Jen's site (so the traffic at Jen's blog might rub off on your own), and link back to Jen's post from here (where, besides Jen's great blog, you'll find a delightful list of other blogs to choose from for your reading pleasure).

Here's today's offering:

7 Points of View...
 

1.

picture found here

Outside My Window:

Is a world with which I find myself increasingly at odds... yet one with which I feel an almost desperation to connect. A funny paradox, that.

I wonder how Christ handled this... in as much as he could see into the heart of our humanity, His divinity must have left Him feeling very much at odds... and yet because of that same divinity and humanity, he was obviously driven by who he was to connect with us.

I live on a very busy street corner, in a largely economically depressed area of my city. My window affords me a view I don't always want to see, yet I'm grateful for it, because I am never allowed to forget who I am created to be, and in whose name I am called.

My window shows me a world that needs my faith and compassion... I respond to the invitation... and I pray.

2.

In My Mind's Eye:

When I was first learning to drive I found it impossible to keep the car literally in my own lane, and on the road, until my Dad offered a simple observation: "Don't look at the front of the car, look to where you are going."

Though he doesn't realize it, my Dad gave me more than a driving lesson that day... I came to understand my life will reflect that toward which I consistently turn my gaze. Items which caught my gaze this week, and which I continue to ponder in the context of my own life, include:

At Accepting Abundance (isn't that blog name just the best... anybody else besides me have trouble doing just that?!):
"...when I focus on what transcends me I'm free from what misguides me."

Emerging Mummy speaks to my on-going struggle to give voice to the deepest groanings of my heart and soul:
"...let Love be my first language, my mother tongue whether its communicated in English or a thousand tongues for only angels to hear."

 Shut. Up.

At Love is A Place: "Going is important, not arriving."

"Women are stronger than abortion, and we ought to help them be strong rather than sell them on their weakness."

At Secret Vatican Spy: "Sin does not define you... Newsflash? The waters of baptism, the redemptive power of Christ, and the continuing call to repentance are what defines you."

3.

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Beside Myself:

An aspect of the blogosphere that I am having trouble negotiating are those issues and topics that upset and, sometimes, literally TRASH  my equilibrium... but to which I am inexorably drawn... like a moth to a flame. These are issues I carry deeply in my soul... issues over which I weep, lose sleep... and, rightly or wrongly, the altar upon which I sacrifice peace. And that's why I can't talk about them just yet... I haven't found my love language in which to speak the words I need to say, such they are heard by those who most need to hear them. For now I'll just point with trembling hand:

Sex Offender Targets Christian Women Bloggers
The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy

I wouldn't have aborted the twin had s/he been conceived naturally, not via IVF
My Fertility Crisis

4.

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Underneath My Bed:

School looms on the imminent horizon - there are only ten days left until I have six hours a day all to myself and... honestly... I'm dreading it. I know that sounds bizarre to those of you who have several children, but I love the happy bubble the Divine Miss O and I create together. I struggle when she's at school: I hate that I don't really know what or who is writing on her mind and heart. Even though she is only beginning second grade, we know that there is a lot that won't be good for her tender soul, and which will bruise her budding sensibilities.... it's taken a good part of the summer to erase the harm from last year. Sigh.

The Divine Miss O had a very difficult year and we, her parents, had a horrible year doing all we could to make it less so. Yet she LOVES school (you wouldn't believe the explaining I had to do when she realized she could have started at age 4)... even though it raises her anxiety level to the point of making her physically ill. Yet... we have new strategies in place, the school is aware and prepared to be more supportive and attentive to our concerns, prayers have been said to cover every aspect of concern, and off to school she will go.

I stopped checking for monsters under my bed when I realized they were inside me... I also realized... so are the knights who slay them.

5.

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Behind My Back:

This isn't a viewpoint I normally spend a lot of time thinking about (and one which most people usually perceive as negative), but it's been an interesting summer. My perceptions of myself, my daughter, Catholicism, the church, my faith, people I thought I knew have been challenged and, surprisingly, found to be somewhat different than I considered... in primarily good and delightful ways. Much has been going on behind my back of which I've failed to take notice.

So, I'm inclined to ask myself: "What is it I am eally seeing here (doing my best to suspend the judgements which rise so readily)?" "What is really going on when I'm not looking?" "To what am I paying attention?" "Does that to which I attend reflect my priorities?"

I don't have clear answers to these questions as such, but I'm going to be exploring them here. I'll keep you posted (pun intended).

6.

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Atop My Night Table:

I read to challenge, myself, entertain myself, escape, inform, grow. Books have always been my very best friends, my consolation, my joy. Books are touchstones in my life. Every August I place an Amazon order for books I want to read over the course of the next year starting in September. My order arrived this week!

Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner, Jr.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Promise of God by David Shapiro

The Man With No Skin by Orfhlaith Ni Chonaill

Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Everything by Geneen Roth

Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy

Seventy Times Seven by Salvatore Sapienza

The Harrowing of Hell by Stephen Seal

The New Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Fascinating Womanhood by Helen Andelin

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (now a bit suspect, and marginally less attractive: check this out: Questions Over Greg Mortenson's Stories)

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal
by Connor Grennan

Mistress of the Vatican by Eleanor Herman

Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly

Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family by Stephen J. Dubner
The Church and the New Media: Blogging Converts, Internet Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet by Brandon Vogt

7.

From Within My Heart:

"Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live."
Attributed to JACQUELINE WINSPEAR

A few things for which I am grateful this week:

• a good natured and loving husband
• a healthy, GROWING daughter
• my sense of humour
• that somehow I'm going into the weekend with my laundry all caught up
• choices (have you ever noticed how some people have so few?)
• kittens
• everybody I love is alive and well... others haven't been so blessed
• music
• the moon keeping watch
• supermarkets
• raspberries
• fresh figs
• tomatoes
• stories
• my body, even in all its imperfections
• the wonder that is the Internet, and bloggers in general

...all to the soundtrack of my week:
Love Reclaims the Atmosphere by Burlap to Cashmere:

"Send blessings to your critics and careful with the least of these
Release the prisoners free... today we'll crucify the fear as love reclaims the atmosphere"

...until the next dance!

7QTF: A Day Late...

So, for anyone new to this sort of thing (like me), '7 Quick Takes Friday' is a sharing situation generously started by Jennifer Fulwiler ("an atheist all my life until 2005.... now I write about what it's like to be part of an orthodox faith after a life of nonbelief."), who blogs at 'Conversion Diary' and who also writes a column for the National Catholic Register.

Anyone participating in this blogging exercise submits a link of their post to Jen's site (so the traffic at Jen's blog might rub off on your own), and link back to Jen's post from here (where, besides Jen's great blog, you'll find a delightful list of other blogs to choose from for your reading pleasure).

So here I go:

7 Reasons Why I didn't write this Friday...

1.

I was taking a picture of my daughter with this beautiful bird - a Harris Hawk - which, I learned yesterday, actually belongs to the reptile family - feathers are modified scales!

We watched this majestic bird swoop down and help herself to a mouse graciously offered by her handler, Kevin, as part of a wonderful presentation by a traveling unit of Ray's Reptiles.

We got to see - very 'up close and personal' - a crocodile who curiously sniffed at our feet, a huge snapping turtle (that grinned toothlessly at us before peeing on the floor and then literally RUNNING away in embarrassment), a 'baby' albino constrictor from South America (which was already 20 ft. long and almost as thick as my leg - contrary to the movies, constrictors will not harm humans because we don't smell like food to them!), and a lizard that hugged the handler with a tail that rivalled the agility of a monkey's tail.

They were wonderfully and fearfully made, and we were mesmerized.

2.

I was counting the number of darts it took (six) to break one balloon in order to afford the Divine Miss O her pick of stuffies. Picking ducks out of a paddling pool has been her game of choice the last several years (every duck wins). This year, it seems, a greater challenge was required.

She had not yet had the experience of throwing darts. As she awkwardly clutched the a dart in her still little hand, brow furrowed in concentration, she bit her lip a little and she threw it as if she just wanted to get rid of it. It was sharp... pointy... and she wasn't supposed to play with sharp, pointy things. With each successive dart, her grip relaxed and became more effective. She seemed to grow taller as she found her aim....

'Grace', a very pink bear, was carried lovingly home and is happily ensconced as part of the family: "Mom, Grace is such a special bear that I fell asleep just like this (closes her eyes and snap her fingers)!" It couldn't possibly have had anything to do with being one in the morning... about four hours past her bedtime....

I treasure the moments when I can actually see her grow.

3.

I was celebrating the Divine Miss O's first five minutes of fame!

Freddy Fusion invited her onto the stage of his science magic show. It wasn't Freddy's best day... his sound kept cutting out, his duck (Bill!) escaped and needed to be rescued by him personally because it seems his crew was on coffee break... but he was a pro, and so was my girl.

Much to my surprise, nothing distracted her from her task. She stepped way out of what I knew to be her comfort zone to be part of something that made her eyes sparkle. And, did her eyes sparkle when she returned to us to see herself on her Dad's phone LEVITATING for all of her world to see! I've seen this trick a dozen times or so, but it never felt so quite so magical.

My daughter wasn't the only one levitating a bit.

4.

I was agog at four foals close enough to touch, and Mamas that were happy to let us do so! We fed them oats out of ice cream cones, delighted in their soft noses as they nuzzled for more, and fuzzy coats... I'm not at all sure who was petting who.

The Divine Miss O and I pet every one... after all it was a petting zoo.

5.

I was eating caramel apples... or rather, aniticipating the eating of three carmel apples I purchased, to be featured as the main attraction at breakfast for the next three days. Yep, you read that right... I'm going to eat a carmel apple for breakfast every morning for the next three days. I'll eat it with a bowl of unsweetened steel cut oats and a glass of milk. Apples are fruit, and therefore nutritious, right?

Fruit is an appropriate part of a balanced breakfast. ;)

6.

I was riding the ferris wheel (in Kidsville - smaller version) with the Divine Miss O... just the two of us. It's a yearly event. The first time we did this I was terrified (rides made me terribly ill), but she wanted to go so badly, and my legs fit better than her Dad's.

As we neared the top during the loading phase of the ride, the bucket started to ROCK, and my anxiety began to rise, when I suddenly had a soft, little hand in mine squeezing. I assumed the owner of said hand was getting nervous, but before I could say anything to reassure her, she happily comments, "It's okay if you're scared, Mommy. I'll take care of you."

Well, I've overcome my anxieties about the height factor (at least in Kidsville) and, incidentally, my motion sickness. I now look forward to the ride and, every year as we near the top, loading and unloading, we two share secrets we didn't know we had.

We're creating a history... one ride at a time.

7.

I was riding the carousel... seven times... The Divine Miss O's favourite ride. Maybe it's the horses... or perhaps the music. Or perhaps it's because we can all ride together... she on a horse, and her Dad and I cuddled in a carriage. She watches us, grinning for ear to ear. We watch her grinning likewise.

We went to the Ex! ...our local version of a summer carnival and exposition of talent, services, products, and entertainment. It's been the Divine Miss O's most anticipated family outing since she was three!

The result? One very HAPPY family!

Don't forget to go visit Jen!

...until the next dance!