Go Fly a Kite

With crisp fall temperatures and bright blue skies, today was a day of beauty, peace, and joy.  We truly are blessed to be in this amazing place, to have each other, and to have the love of a God who forgives all our (ok..i'm mostly guilty here) spoiled whining and ingratitude.  

Jason, not to be deterred by living far from mountains, white water, and oceans, is determined to find his latest and greatest adrenaline sport.  What better way in the 'windy city' than kiteboarding!  If you are unfamiliar with this sport which combines flying a kite with either surfing or snowboarding, check out this YouTube video www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjrzKaGki14&feature=related.   

The kite that Rynn and Jason are flying in these pictures is a trainer kite, a smaller version of the one used on the water, which is meant to teach the skills necessary for understanding and manipulating the wind to send you soaring over waves or snow.  It is way more challenging than I thought kite flying could be, and with a really strong gust can send you running to keep up with it! Jason was like a little boy with a new toy.

Eleanor and I relaxed watching the sailboats and her latest bug collection of pill-bugs and ladybugs.

An open field next to Northwestern's soccer fields proved a perfect venue.

The waves were really rolling on Lake Michigan today.  Rynn said, "It should be called The Michigan Ocean!."

Our picture perfect afternoon came complete with a soundtrack- part of Northwestern's Marching Band practicing along the shores.  Fall is here.

SOCCER TIME!

THe day kicked off with two soccer games.  For the first time ever, the girls are involved in organized sports.  I signed them up with our Parks & Rec teams in hopes of them meeting some children from their schools.  In reality, they are more interested in looking for lady bugs, practicing their cartwheels, and eating the after game donuts than actually playing soccer.  After their first game, the comment was, "You mean we have to play another one next week?  Do I have to come back again if I want the trophy?."   yeah, babe, that's usually how it works.

Wisdom

Moving Sucks.  I know.  Get a grip, Caroline.  You just moved to one of the greatest cities in America AND you are living in one of the greatest parts of that city.  The world is at my fingertips, right?  I should be happy.   My dear family who has been with me through the ups and downs in my life know I process things with my emotions, an open book lacking much mystery.  I mean, geez, I even started a blog to throw my emotions up on the internet for all to read. But, it is one thing to deal with my own emotions and quite another to understand and be patient with my children's.

When we relate to someone we often project our own emotional personality upon them, assuming that they are like ourselves, processing the world, understanding it, and relating to it in the same way that we do.  We gravitate toward people who understand our emotional grid.  Creative personalities find each other.  Organized personalities affirm and uphold one another.  Exclusive people find comfort in baptizing their behavior with other elites.  Or perhaps you are different than most.  Perhaps you are drawn to your opposite- an introvert finds comfort with the extravert, the emotional one finds comfort with the stoic and stable, the reflective intellect finds companionship with the carefree 'carpe diem' personality.  Sometimes we are not afforded to freedom to relate only to those we understand or those who reflect our own way of processing the world. This is the case, for example, in PARENTING and THE CHURCH.

This move has not been our easiest.  My children are older now than they were three years ago, and so are their emotions.  Because I process pain, fear, and disappointment through tears and words, I guess I assumed that my daughters would be the same.  I realized this morning through prayerful tears crying out  to God for wisdom that we are different.  Rynn has skipped through this move with barely a tear, and so I, projecting my own emotional way of dealing with pain, assumed she was just fine, rolling through these changes unaffected.  But, I have noticed an increasing amount of anger building in her which is set off at random times by things as small as what shoes she will wear to school or what water bottle should go with her to the classroom. This morning she begin hitting and punching me in anger because I asked her to put her shoes on.  I left her alone in her screaming anger to go upstairs, (cry), and pray out loud that God would give me wisdom in mothering these children.  When I came back downstairs and quietly sat next to her, saying nothing, she leaned into me and said without tears, "Mommy, I miss my old school.  When I asked a girl to play with me, she said she didn't want to be my friend.  My teacher keeps telling me I wear the wrong shoes for PE.  I don't have anyone to sit with at lunch.  I just want to be back at Richmond learning Japanese." And then she was finished.  And I had an "ah ha" moment.  Open your eyes, Caroline.  See her anger and her outbursts at me.  This may not be the way I work through my hurt, but it is the way she feels.

What relationships are you in which you assume the other person should be responding to the world in the way that you do?  How are you shutting them out because they are not like you?  How can you be present to be with them in their difference?  Pat Roach preached on  Psalm 139 (see Hope Sermons, right sidebar) and spoke of how God knows us.  He formed us and made us.  How do we run from others and in that running run from God?  How can I help Rynn?  How can I be patient with her?  Perhaps the answers to these questions will be answered in our cries for wisdom.

One of the blessings God has given me here is a new friendship with someone who recently lost her daughter to a brain tumor.  She reminded me how much we parents want to protect our children from pain, hurt, or failure. Yet, it was in suffering that she saw her own daughter's faith blossom and minister to not only her but hundreds of others.  Starting a new school in a new city is hardly cancer, but I pray that the lessons we learn in these light trials may also draw us to the source of wisdom, truth, goodness, and life- Christ Himself.

A Phone Call from Above

"Hey Daddy, if you die before I do, would you mind giving me a call and telling me what Jesus looks like? Or you could just send me a picture." - Eleanor

Grace Goes to the Beach

Summer is winding down and the fall is gearing up despite temperatures this week which are doggedly hanging on to their last grip on summer.  Grace North Shore fellowshipped together last night at Maple Park in Winnetka.  It was a beautiful evening of picnicking, sea glass hunting, and getting to know new friends.  We have much for which to be thankful...

Back to School

Eleanor and her Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Nelson

Today was a big today for the Little family, a rite of passage of sorts.  Eleanor started kindergarten.  Well, sort of.  For an hour she and I got to explore her new classroom, meet her teacher, and play in her new space.  Kindergarten in Wilmette is only half day- translation... two and a half hours.  Her teacher is fabulous, very engaged, and hilarious.  I think it is going to be a great year.

First day!  

My Big 2nd Grader

For Rynn, starting school was both exciting and a bit scary since she left behind lots of good buddies and a great experience at Richmond Elementary in Portland.  I've been so proud of her as she has been so brave and so positive about her new adventure.  She expressed her first bit of disappointment today when she came home.  She said that she really misses Japanese.  I guess a Spanish teacher came in and sang a few songs, and Rynn said she felt disappointed.  "It made me want to spend the afternoon in Japanese, Mommy," she said.  I didn't cry (in front of her anyway), but I pray that we will be able to find a place to encourage her love of a language that we stumbled upon in Portland.  It is hard to let things go and to understand why God brings about change in our lives.  I'm thankful for the amazing schools and opportunities that are before my children in this area, and I am learning from their positive attitude and courage.  As with any change, there are things we leave behind and new things to embrace.  

Lockers!  I had to wait until 6th grade to get a locker, but here on the North Shore you have to have a locker to house all that snow gear come winter (kids here are required to wear snow pants and boots to school for P.E. in the winter).

lots of excitement and a little bit of nerves about her new school...

A Culture Clash

Today Rynn came home from her second day of 2nd Grade at her new school and said,
"Mommy, I don't know the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag."

I replied, "You mean you didn't say the Pledge at Richmond (her Portland Public School) last year?."

"No, Ms. Murphy (her ENGLISH teacher) thought about it, but then she decided she didn't like our flag so we wouldn't do it."

From the People's Republic of Portland to the heartland of America we have come...

Jonathan Franzen and this week's TIME

"We are so distracted by and engulfed by the technologies we've created, and by the constant barrage of so-called information that comes our way, that more than ever to immerse yourself in an involving book seems socially useful.  The place of stillness that you have to go to to write, but also to read seriously, is the point where you can actually make responsible decisions, where you can actually engage productively with an otherwise scary and unmanageable world." 
- Jonathan Franzen, author of the new novel Freedom, in the latest issue (8/23) of TIME magazine

I don't always grab magazines in the grocery store line, but tonight with a pint of ice cream I picked up the latest issue of TIME.  Not only does it have an article about the world's longest yard sale which happens to go through my old town of Chattanooga, but it also has an alarming article on the danger of Asian Carp taking over Lake Michigan.  Now that we live right down the street from one of the places they are trying to keep these aggressive "kudzu" version of fish from taking over the Great Lakes, I guess I find it sort of interesting.  And the cover article on Franzen makes me want to read.   Not only does the author have cool glasses, but he has become quite famous using the medium of fiction to call people to think about the prevailing ideas of our American culture. The most prevailing idea that is addressed in his upcoming book (and in the TIME article) is that of 'freedom.'  Franzen recognizes that many of us create a state of constant busyness and distraction which allows people 'to avoid difficult realities.'   He calls us to the idea that too much freedom can be a dangerous thing.  He is quoted in the article saying, "One of the ways of surrendering freedom is to actually have convictions and a way of further surrendering freedom is to spend quite a bit of time acting on those convictions."  The writer of the article comments further on this idea saying, "There is something beyond freedom that people need: work, love, belief in something, commitment to something.  Freedom is not enough.  It's necessary but not sufficient.  It's what you do with freedom- what you give it up for- that matters" (p. 46 bottom right of the page).

 I want control over my life and the freedom to direct it. I sometimes buck against relational constraints of family, church, and community and yet these are the very things which bring the depth of meaning and purpose to my life.  Where does the struggle for 'freedom' in our culture become a starting place for applying the Gospel and dialoguing about faith?  Where is true freedom?

 I recommend grabbing this week's issue of TIME.  Let me know what you think...