Dance Party

Lystra threw a dance party last night. It was alot of fun. Filip had fun too, above is him after the party. It looks like it was a little more party than he could handle.

Our Day

I forgot to mention there was a fire in the oven when I had it on the 'clean' setting.

Herbalhater

Taste Test

Collage

Check this out.

I put a bunch of recent photographs all over the fireplace doors. I pretty much invented this idea myself, but I don't mind if you want to do it too at your house.

Tyler's Room

I helped paint Tyler's room today. The walls are a bright sky blue, and the doors and windows are chocolate. It was left-over paint from my house. The color combo worked out really well. We're thinking about accenting it with orange pillows and stuff.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

At what point did we start labeling communities according to interests?

At one time, a community was made up of people living in a certain area. They likely had similar culture and interests, but different trades that benefitted the rest of the group. You would have a doctor, a baker, the shoe maker etc... Everyone would know the doctor, because they all would go to him. Whatever a community needed, there would be some guy that does that.

I think this kind of community is a natural occurence in human society. If there is a need in a group, someone would see to having that need filled. The motive could be a desire to help, or profit, both, or something completely different. In any case, it would strengthen the community to have a new service available.

This kind of community was not a group of random people thrown into a small town. It was a group of different people working as a group to live in harmony with one another, contributing to one anothers prosperity through their own trade. 'Small town thinking' generally has a negative connotation. However, only part of it should be considered negative. These are obvious things like racism, intolerance, becoming busybodies, and improper pride.

In my area, you will see a huge neighborhood that was developed by people who bought a farm from someone (or the son of someone) that used to be part of a community. They raise hundreds of houses that look almost identical, on streets named after the farmer that sold the land. Different kinds of people move to these houses, but their lifestyle is essentially the same, because they all require a similar amount of income to maintain it.

All too often, people in these areas do not even know their neighbors. At least not enough to trust them with anything. However, many people do realize the importance of community. People make pretty good efforts at salvaging this sense of acting for the good of the group. There's block parties, helping the guy next door with his car, and stay-at-home moms doing their walks together. The thing that we are robbed of though, is an actual inter-dependance on each other. No one provides anything that other people can't obtain just about anywhere else. Also, people obtain these things with the money they made outside the community, which makes the point stronger.

Then there are these labeled "communities" that I mentioned at the outset. These groups that formed, did not result from location, or a dependence on other people's differences. These groups are generally formed around a single interest or viewpoint. There's the 'Gay community', 'Medical community', 'Black community', or 'Christian community'. You name an interest/political/cult viewpoint, you got a "community" of people that subscribe.

The interests that each of these groups serve are clearly their own. They could be tools to help strengthen the communities that each members of a given group belong. However, with no real 'community' to go home to, many people in these groups end up living in them as if they were a real community. Obviously, this isolates them, and their perspective, from the rest of the world. This is hardly a basis for developing a balanced individual for where he lives.

What to do then? The balance would be a group centered around an interest, that teaches their members to benefit the communities in which they live. If that group is united worldwide with no differences in teaching, it would have to be a result of a higher source. Can you join the group that is truly backed by God? I believe so, because this is the only way to a new society.

Mother Bear

Wow, a whole week since I wrote on my blog. It took me getting sick to actually have something I want to write about. I'm home with a fever from an infection. I should be better in a day or so.

Filip slept until 5 am without waking the night before last. Usually, he's up a couple times. It didn't do me any good though. My mind is so geared toward checking/protecting, I just had dreams that make me wake up and see if he's okay.

In one dream, there was a huge snake in our bed. I jumped out, in the middle of the night, and told JR to get out. Then I was frantically searching for Filip until JR told me he's still in bed in his room.

Later on, JR got up to use the bathroom. I heard him blow his nose, and thought it was a wild animal attacking Fil. I ran to his room, and scared JR who didn't see me go past him.

Finally, at 5am, Filip did wake up. I was there a second after his first whimper, to pick him up.

I'm totally running on instinct, like some kind of animal.

Being a Mom

Play Date

Jaden came over today for a play-date with Filip. Last week he hid next to his Mom for a long time before he started to play. Today, he recognized the house, and immediately started getting into everything in all the rooms. It was so cute. Jaden was so engaged in everything, that Filip didn't know how to react to him. He just hid behind me and watched him.

Their temperments are similar. They're both calm, but silly. I think they'll get along well. Jaden's Mom and Dad are both very laid back individuals, so that's probably why.

Study Projects

I started a new study project today. I'm reading in the insight book about each of the prophets that wrote the last 12 books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Then I'm writing down bullet points about each one. I'm not going too deep, just enough facts about each, so I'll be like, 'Oh yeah, that guy' when we read about him in the JD book.

I don't want to get too deep, because I want to actually complete this one. I start so many of these projects, and don't finish them.

Currently, I'm working on 3 other study projects. The one that is taking a long time is my verse by verse study of Romans I've been doing since May. I'm determined to get this one done.

The other thing I'm working on is to listen to the Convention on MP3 and type up notes to it. That one isn't bad, because convention talks are very slow and deliberate. So I clean the living room, and type up a few words that give the gist of the talk every few moments.

The last one is my talk next month. That's done, I just need to rehearse it with Helen. It's really rare for me to not be writing the talk the day I'm supposed to give it.

So there it is! Don't ask me how any other aspect of my life is going, because you know there is due compensation for having so much time to study. Actually, it's because JR lets me be a stay-at-home Mom. Also, I don't brush Filip's teeth. That buys me time.

Baby Last Summer

Awwww, he's so cute!

Aaron & Cassie

We went to Aaron and Cassie's house last night. They're good friends of ours in Baltimore. Aarons's a chef, and Cassie is an awesome athlete. She's run a bunch of marathons.
It was a nice evening. They had all kinds of appetizer-type foods to eat. We had pesto noodles, orzo in Risoto, fancy cheese, fruits and crackers, dumplings in soy sauce, french bread, Gnocci's in garlic sauce, salad, tomatoes, cucumbers. It was a really good spread. Then we watched the Olympics, while Filip raided their candy jar and pen jar.
Filip really likes Aaron and Cassie. The first half of the evening, he followed Cassie around wanting her to hold him. It was like he made her his sub-mom. He would even get upset when she left the room.
Then he kept coming up to Aaron, because he would do fun stuff like swing him in the air, or pick him up by his legs. I never feel nervous when Aaron does stuff like this, because he dosen't act ridiculous with it, but it's still fun for Filip.
It was a fun evening.

Networking

Downtown & Haircut

I walked Filip all over downtown Frederick today. We went to the library, vintage store, a friend's house, the park and back to the library for JR to pick us up.

We decided to eat lunch in the grass by Carrol Creek in Baker's Park. Filip dropped his sippy cup in the water, and fell in head-first going after it. I had to pull him out by his leg, because he was totally submerged. I'm glad I had a towel with me. We were supposed to go swimming at the pool, but that got cancelled. So I guess he went swimming in the creek.

JR picked us up, and we went to the Barber shop. Filip is now a clean-cut young man.

MMMmmm

I'm baking four loaves of zucchini bread for us and for the pioneer school today. This is Filip outside finishing off the batter.

He's been moody because he's tired this evening. He is being really quiet, so I checked on him a minute ago without him seeing me.

He's licking the whisks and going "MMMmm"

Pear Tree

JR just discovered that we have a pear tree on the edge of our property. I ate one before it's ripe today, and it crunched. JR picked a few more that he's keeping a few days to ripen up.

Kid Party

Filip got on a Moon Bounce today. It was at this little kid party he went to at the Clarke's. It's cool how a few relatively simple things in the back yard can keep the 5-and-under crowd having a blast. They had one of those play houses with a slide, a bunch of basketballs on the asphalt, a spicket sprinkler and hose, and of course, the big rented moon bounce. Another benefit about throwing a little kid party, is that all the parents are there taking responsibility for their own kids. So really, you just need to put all the stuff in the yard, and feed everyone.

The Clarkes are experts at throwing really good parties. I've been to a bunch of them, all different kinds. They have all been fun.

Party

Lystra's send off party was fun. We had desserts and wine. My cookie cake turned out really good. Allie took a quarter of it home. Needless to say, all the kids there were wild, due to the sugar. Aiden is amazing. He can run on all fours just as fast as kids run on two legs. We watched him outside run like some animal. It looked totally natural.

Lystra asked me to bring some kind of game idea. I did, but it was way too easy to be fun. I happened to have a print-out of all the Kingdom Melody chorus lyrics. My game was to have people sing the tune when I read the words to the song. Zonya and Cathy didn't even need to hear the second line before they were singing the song.

Above is a pic of what's left of my cake. This recipe is so easy. I have alot left, because there were alot of desserts there, and we came late. I'm going to take it to band practice tonight.

We're also invited to go to a little kid party at the Clarkes house down the street. We're going to show up there for a while until it's time to go to practice.

Pioneer School

My friend Lystra is having a send-off party for herself tonight for pioneer school. When Tasha asked why she needed a send-off party when she wasn't really going away (it's one county over), Lystra said it's because she's going to return a different person after 2 weeks of intense bible study and ministry training.

Alot of pioneers go into school thinking they know everything about service and applying scriptures. Then they come out. I was worried before I went myself, because people were saying that when they came out, they realized they don't know hardly anything! I thought, 'I already think I know hardly anything, what am I going to think when I'm finished school?'

Everyone goes into school having some kind preconception. Probably every time, they are taken by surprise what pioneer school is really like. When I was done, I realized that I did know stuff. It teaches you to become a spiritually mature person. You learn how to treat your relationship with Jehovah as your most precious possession. Keeping this priority is the real survival skill, because in the end, that's all we're going to walk out with.

I'm making a giant chocolate chip cookie for the party. The recipe is on my kitchen blog at http://joellynskitchenonline.blogspot.com/