A Little Q&A

There are a few questions that need some answers around here. Today I’m interviewing myself. I apologize in advance if it gets aggressive.

I see you’re still playing with your blog design. What’s up with that?
I’m indecisive and can’t justify the cost of a designer right now. I’m open to suggestions, though!

What are you reading these days?
This is a tough question to answer honestly because I’m still so stinkin’ behind on my Bible reading –

Oh, right! I should have asked that first! How are you doing with the Read with Me Challenge?
Uh … great. Okay, not really. I’m still reading, and that’s a very good thing. I am terribly behind, though, so I decided, since October so beautifully starts at the beginning of four books, that I’m starting over. I’m not starting over in Genesis, but rather starting fresh with this month. That way I’ll be reading the same stuff as most of you (which was kind of the point all along!) and I’ll be able to release the guilt of never catching up. Sure, I’ve skipped a number of books in the middle, but I’m okay with that for right now. When I have “grace days,” I can try to catch up on those. And if I don’t ever get to them, I’m still okay with that. The “skipped books” are mostly Paul’s epistles which I tend to read much more frequently than other parts of the Bible. If nothing else, this challenge has helped me to walk the road less traveled … or at least read the books less read.

All right. I can live with that.
Oh, good!

So, what else are you reading?
A lot. I have refused to take on any more book blog tours until I finish reading through the Bible, but I have entered one of those stages of life where I feel I’ll never catch up on all that I want to read! I am reading a number of YA and children’s books for CCBR. (I took the summer off over there and trying to get back on schedule.) I am also reading a number of non-fiction books: Going Public, Gospel-Powered Parenting, Crazy Love, Why We’re Not Emergent (by Two Guys Who Should Be) (I’m enjoying this one a lot!) and Deep Church: A Third Way Between Emerging and Traditional.

Wow. That’s a lot of non-fiction.
Yeah, well, “pleasure reading” — like my favorite fiction authors — has turned into a rather guilty pleasure. I’m avoiding the guilt. And learning a lot in the process!

What’s your hook on the emergent church? You’ve listed two titles within that realm.
A number of bestselling Christian authors are part of the emergent movement. I’ve read a few of those books, but have yet to understand what the “movement” is about. It’s been difficult to pin down why they’re so antagonistic toward traditionalists and vice versa. This is my effort to understand the arguments and decide which side I’m on. Or if I even need to choose sides. Don’t worry — a post is forthcoming (if I have the nerve to write it).

So, how is the school transition progressing? Are you still in agony?
Agony … that’s an ugly word. Appropriate, but so not pretty. Let’s see … we’re doing better. After that first week, each kid took a turn begging to return to the Academy. Zach took it one step further the next week by begging to be homeschooled. Ellie finally started going to school without crying, but it involved handmade “love notes” from Mama and Daddy every morning at drop-off and again secretly hidden in her lunchbox. Apparently, she is the ONLY first-grader to get notes from Mom at lunch, so that makes her pretty cool stuff among her peers. Oh, but those peers may be our next big hurdle.

We’re knee-deep in Halloween talk and dating. Yes, I said “dating” — in FIRST GRADE. Ellie announced this weekend that she was So-and-so’s girlfriend and that this person and that person always hold hands at recess, but this other couple just hugs under the tree and … yadda, yadda. We are in so much trouble. Meanwhile, Z has picked up a few unsavory speech habits. We’re nipping that in the bud, too. All in all, we’re doing okay. We’re still suffering some growing pains, but we’re slowly getting the hang of public school.

What is your take on Halloween?
Oh, boy. Don’t we have this discussion every year? Um … yeah, I think we do! Let me reiterate this: I don’t like Halloween. Aside from it’s evil history and conception, it’s just a weird holiday. People dress up as disgusting un-dead things then go house to house scaring people and asking strangers for candy. Parents pound into their kids not to talk to strangers and not to take candy from people they don’t know, and yet for this one bizarre night, all those rules are forgotten. It’s strange.

Now, in an ideal world, I think this would be a super-cool community activity. If everyone were dressing in harmless, fun costumes and we knew that everyone was freely giving out fun, harmless goodies, I would have no problem with this! Even with the history, I don’t think I would have a problem with it BECAUSE our culture is so far removed from Celtic moon worshiping. (You may be interested to read James Watkins thoughts on this and what the Apostle Paul might say.)

But that’s not the way things are.

I can’t walk into a single store without being assaulted by some bloody corpse or a trampy vampire or a witch with far too much cleavage. These are the very things from which I choose to protect my children.

Knowing my position on Halloween a friend asked this weekend what we’ll do now that the kids are in public school. Well, we’re not changing much. The kids still will not go trick-or-treating, and we will still avoid the zoo, the mall and most other places that celebrate elaborately. But we have consented to let them participate at school. There the costumes and decorations will be monitored and kept relatively tame. (We are in a very Christian community, even within the public school.) Our kids know our position, they even know the history of Halloween. They know we are different, but they also know how much fun it is to dress-up with friends.

Wow. That was a really long answer. I think we’ve got time for just one more question. Have you tried any new recipes lately?
Oooh, yes! I made an absolute decadent dish last week: Prosciutto-Wrapped Sea Bass with a Rosemary Butter Sauce. I served it with a roasted veggie medley of butternut squash, parsnips, carrots and red-skinned potatoes Splashed with olive oil and roasted garlic … oh, it was DIVINE!

I may be drooling a little. That’s not good for my laptop. All righty, folks! Until next time –
WAIT — I have more to say!

Nope. Sorry.
This is MY blog!

Okay, FINE. What’s up?
I promise to post before and after pictures of some of the house tomorrow.

I think we’ve heard that before. Until then … Happy Tuesday, everyone!