and so, this is why silence in the next room should arouse more suspicion in me than relief

  

Add-on information:

Thankfully, this is "washable" marker that Zoralee was supposed to be writing on paper with, but even with a long, fairly immediate soak in the tub, it remains a dark smudgy bruise-like thing on her bottom lip, forearms, and naval. Maybe our photo shoot allowed it to set in, but that I undertook only briefly and with a grave, serious demeanor so as to not encourage this behavior. I couldn't hold back a laugh at her lips though; she looked so much like Marilyn Manson.

the voices ricocheting off my brain folds say connection, connection

• The earthquake here isn't the hand of God. It affects us because we've chosen to live here, at this specific place on top of an earth that has a shifting, changing crust. What is the hand of God is how we respond to it, how we help each other get through it, coping with our losses. [This is a paraphrase, to the best of my remembrance, of what a minister in Christchurch, New Zealand said in a radio interview. I cannot for the life of me find the specific reference online.]

• Spending about 1/2 hour a day of floor time with each of our kids - playing with them on their terms, actively engaging (not teaching or merely reading to them) - will have a remarkable affect on their intimacy with us, behavior, whininess levels, etc. There are lots of articles on this, but here's one from last decade. This inspires me as a parent, you know? It feels like a real tool that anybody can use right now, cost-free, without formal training. The only thing I have to give up is my attachment to other "priorities" that seem pretty ridiculous in comparison.

• "I am home anywhere if You are where I am." - Rich Mullins

• "The Western idea that it is virtuous to 'keep going until we drop' makes us far less efficient than we could be. Maintaining a balanced rhythm of activity and rest throughout the day increases strength, stamina, and general well-being. It is so easy to continue past the peak of our active curve but, through yoga, we learn to recognize when our peak has been reached, and to stop for a moment to recharge. That moment makes all the difference. It can bring us back to being 'on top of things' once more. (From Yoga For Pregnancy by Friedman and Hall)

• To the ancient Egyptians (and maybe some modern ones too) the dead live on whenever their names are uttered. They meant it quite literally, but I have been thinking of this in relation to naming children. The essence of a person we know is wrapped up in their name, and they are brought to life, enough to stir very strong emotions and memories, when we hear it. Sometimes, right after a death, it's too painful to say the person's name aloud, but there's something healing about hearing the same name in a child, who represents fresh hope and another life yet to be lived.

• Psalm 119 is a rather odd passage, at first glance. You have a poet waxing eloquent about….God’s commands, no less. So, pointed out in my sermon how odd it would be if you gave someone a command and they said something like, “Oh how I love your law!” or “My soul delights in that command!” My suggestion is that the commands of God were a part of the link that held the community of ancient Hebrews together. The commands were mostly concerned with how people treated one another, things like: respecting elders, reconciliation for damaged property, restoration for offenders and criminals, dietary laws for health, a Sabbath rest, religious rituals of dedication, protection for the vulnerable in society (women, orphans, widows), respect for foreigners. And this is really interesting to me, and where I spent most of my time: there were also direct restrictions on the building wealth. No interest was to be charged on loans. Debts were to be forgiven periodically, the year of Jubilee. Also, the land owners were not to harvest the edges of their fields but to leave these gleanings for the poor. So, the commands of God were about creating a structure for a harmonious society. The ancient Hebrew was to find his or her identity not as an individual but as a member of a community, the community of God, where people take care of each other and the laws provided boundaries for mutual respect. - Jon Erdman

little request of all the pot-smokers out there

Heyyyy, maaaan. So, dudes, do me a favor and grow the weed yourself or make sure it's grown locally, would ya? Please, please, please, please, please stop purchasing it from unknown growers. There is a high likelihood that the people who grew it for you are only doing so to avoid having their children killed.

For some reason, the Mexican drug cartel territory wars and other activities aren't reported much in the U.S. national news, but there's a whole lot of crap going down just next door. Not to give you too crawly of skin right before supper, but there are daily beheadings, skinnings, executions, village takeovers, and all other manner of unpleasantries being carried out by cartel members - sometimes only minutes from our country's borders. The perpetrators do these things for revenge on opposing cartel members and to intimidate the townspeople into growing their dope and/or transporting it into the U.S. illegally. Crack, meth, and other drugs too, but mostly marijuana. There's a phrase in Mexico, plato o plomo, which means "silver or lead." In this application, it essentially means, "You can either accept payment to cooperate with us or a bullet to not."

Living in a Texas-Mexico border town and being exposed to immigration and drug issues, I am aware now of the pandemonium happening all over Mexico in a way I never really was. I haven't written much about this yet, though I would like to - maybe down the road, when we ourselves are a little further out of harm's way. 

  

Man from Tepehuan Indian tribe stands

A man from the Tepehuan Indian tribe stands with his head lowered in Tierras Coloradas February 8, 2011. Just after Christmas, drug hitmen rolled into the isolated village of Tierras Coloradas and burned it down, leaving more than 150 people, mostly children, homeless in the raw mountain winter. The residents, Tepehuan Indians who speak Spanish as a second language and have no electricity or running water, had already fled into the woods, sleeping under trees or hiding in caves after a raid by the feared Zetas drug gang on December 26. Using murder and intimidation, rival cartels are fighting for control of this drug-growing area. Picture taken February 8, 2011. To match Feature MEXICO-DRUGS REUTERS/Mica Rosenberg                  *  *  *     Here's the whole article.    *  *  *

a few Zora-isms

Encouragement - - 

            [to me] Your hair looks very tired and very worse.

Global concerns - -

            [singing] God helps the deers...and China.

Watch Yer Back - -

            Mama, you don't have much time.

Fast Learner - -
            [pointing at the Starbucks store emblem] Who's that angel?

Irony - -

            Zoralee: What song is this?

            Me: It's a song called "Echo," by Helen Jane Long.

            Zoralee: What's she singin'?

            Me: A song called "Echo."

(I was disappointed that Z didn't keep asking, like she does about other things, because I really wanted to keep responding with, "Echo.")