The Christisons

On Vacation...

2009-08-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation all week, so will likely not be posting much unless something really interesting comes up.

The Trip That Just Wouldn't Start

2009-06-11T16:05:00.001-07:00

June 9 was supposed to be the day that the Christison family left on their 3 week trip to Britain, Germany, and Austria...it didn't. Bad weather on the East Coast cancelled our flight. So we were scheduled on the next day's flight. It too was cancelled. You can live out of a suitcase when you're on vacation, but it's quite difficult to do so when you are at home!

Knowing we couldn't count on the weather, Dom and I decided to rent a car to drive to Dulles to pick up the overseas flight. The people on the phone at United told Dom to GO to the desk at the Norfolk airport and ASK FOR AN UPGRADE TO BUSINESS CLASS!!!!!

I am sitting here writing this to you because that is just what we did. We are in the Red Carpet Business lounge eating and drinking and surfing ...and enjoying this! It's been years since I (Kat) flew business - again a bump up - and the rest of the gang has never experienced it. Don't know if it will be nicer than before or not, but we'll let you know later.

What a sweet treat for this woman who has been anxious and worried and an all over mess the past 3 weeks. Praise you Lord!

Wow!

Our girl is 9!

2009-05-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Our best girl in all the world is 9 today. Happy birthday Emily!

A few pictures of her growing up:

Hit By the Recession

2009-05-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Today Andrew was hit by the recession for the first time...

He and I (Kathryn) go run errands frequently. We have our spots where we know there will be a lollipop for the asking - the bank, the hair salon, the cleaners. But today when we got to the cleaners, there were NO LOLLIPOPS!!! We are only talking Dum-Dums here, but Miss Hilda at Zoots said there was no money in the budget for lollipops anymore...or toilet paper. She buys her own now. Andrew was mightily upset...As far as he's concerned the customer service has gone down. WAY down. I'm feeling sorry for the employees who have to bring their own squares since the company doesn't have a square to spare!

And now, this may cause a recession at the dentist's since there won't be any cavities to fill...funny how this stuff influences people :-)

Play that funky music, white boy!

2009-05-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well, yes I'm pretty white (pink in the summertime perhaps), and I like funky music! But that has very little to do with this post.

While reading one of my favorite blogs, the guy quoted Augustine and I loved this quote, which is actually talking about music:

"The soul delights in what is learned indirectly"

What is the link between music and theology? Music is to listen to, to delight in for its own sake. But it still can teach, indirectly, powerfully perhaps.

If you have a few moments, check out the blog entry here:

I'm off to bring up Earth, Wind and Fire on my Nano....

Everyday Choices by Dominic (Kathryn wouldn't be this moody...)

2009-05-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

This life is so short, and so full of bewildering choices...

Every day, I’m seized by thoughts of: what should I read today? What should I watch? What should I be listening to? It fills my mind much more often than thoughts of God, thoughts of blessing my family or phoning a friend, thoughts of praying for others in need. I do these from time to time and pat myself on the back for my sterling service…

Those thoughts intrude from time to time, and I may reflect on them with a guilty pause for a moment or two; then I’m distracted again by thoughts of – “Survivor this week! Who’s going to get voted off this week? Or “Amazing Race” on Sunday – it was good last week, wasn’t it?” Or, I must go off to the grocery store, so I can listen to a couple more tracks from that Coldplay album…

On Amazon, they have literally hundreds of novels for me to read! Their recommendations are excellent. They’ve got enough to keep me entranced for years and years! I’m on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and it’s good, in fact I’m reading a lot more of that than the Bible, that’s for sure. There’s so much I should be reading! How about those Economists that keep coming in – I can’t keep up with them!

I’m a distracted 42 year old guy, with my days passing by ever faster. I’d like to project this image that I’m this spiritually mature guy, well-rounded in scripture and a deacon candidate for goodness sake! I just don’t see it myself – at least not today. I do know God is faithful. He is so faithful. He already knows the end of my story – and my only hope is that I’m wrapped up in Christ.

And a few more photos from our week away...

2009-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is the first photo Andrew has ever taken - that you've seen anyway. Super good don't ya think?
This is Dom the human stalactite/stalagmite. Guess that makes him a column actually...

Dom is the photo chooser of the family. He keeps the photo albums up to date and annotates them with sweet comments (note to scrapbookers - Dom is the one to invite to the party, not me). But he leaves out a few ones I would pick every now and then. He left out these two this time around, and they are just too good to pass up! Hope you enjoyed!!

Spring Break at Massanutten

2009-04-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

It was a refreshing week for the family, away from the pressures of job hunting, worship leading, course developing and for Emily - homework!

We stayed in a nice, 2 bedroomed apartment in Massanutten, a hugh village of fun near Harrisonburg and just a few miles out from Shenandoah Parkway. On site, we did some putting, go-karting, fishing and the kids loved the massive hot tub and singing "who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" due to the latest Spongebob marathon on Nick!

What's happening with us?

2009-04-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

Early April and some, at least of the Christisons are in a regular spring rhythm. Emily is doing great in school, even ace-ing a math test which we were nervous about, laughing and joking with her school friends as I pick her up from school, being more aggressive in her soccer games and being such a delightful 8 year old. Andrew, too is energy and enthusiasm personified, especially when donning super-hero outfits or pajamas, taking entirely too long to eat at dinner time, relishing his weekly gymnastics lesson and too often being too cute for words. Well, he was always cute, but now he's learning eloquence as well!

As for the big people in the family - well, I'm going to have to encourage Kathryn to write her own entry, as I don't want to speak for her. For me, I haven't felt a quick or smooth transition back to normal Chesapeake life since coming back from the UK just over three weeks ago. Of course, we don't really know what "normal" looks like! As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my recent trip had the effect of bringing home to me just how much I enjoy living in the US and that it is my home more than anywhere else on the planet!

I periodically go round in circles, trying to interpret what God has been saying to us and teaching us since September 07 when it was a No or not yet to church-planting in Europe. It's tiring and I probably overanalyze (will my wife giggle at this slight understatement?? I hope so!)

Having good friends to catch up with from church, ex-work and so on has been refreshing, but the ever present "are we going anywhere or not" question is always hanging in the air, along with the "I'm not paying the bills at the moment" question.

We need prayer. For anyone reading, please pray!

I'm going through Psalms at the moment in a fairly informal way, just reading and writing down verses that strike me. The one for this morning was Psalm 27: 14:

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord."

I'm going to take this one to heart....

Finding the Four Corners

2009-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Kathryn and I think highly of this guy's blog and biblically-based but challenging articles on how believers can make a difference in the world we live in.

Think about trying to counsel a good friend, who is not a believer, to persuade him not to leave his wife and kids for this younger, fresh, interesting woman at work. You know that "the Bible says adultery is wrong" is not going to cut it. "The Bible says" doesn't have authority any more in most people's lives. So, what are you going to do.

Read the article and see if it helps at all! It did for me....

http://www.doggieheadtilt.com/four-corners/

UK Trip - Scottish pictures

2009-04-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

A country lane, near Lochwinnoch, Greenock...

Rainbow over the ferry, Brodick, Isle of Arran

Italian rugby supporters before the Six Nations match, Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Dog in flight! Sandbraes beach, Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran

Early April Update

2009-04-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Early April update

Yes, it’s been quiet on the Christison blog, since in fact the early days of my trip to the UK in March. This is Dominic’s take on what happened, what I perhaps learned and where we are right now…

I’m really glad I made the trip. Three weeks, one funeral, two interviews (with a third by phone just after I got back), over 1,200 road miles, staying in and visiting Arran (my Mum and Dad), Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cambridge (staying with my brother Donald), Oxford and London. A close up chance to imagine us living, working and doing ministry in Britain.

It was an eye-opening trip for me in a couple of ways. First, I experienced a much stronger sense of reverse culture shock that I’d expected. It was unsettling to contemplate moving back to British life and society. It felt very alien, and the people I met very different to myself. I guess I shouldn't have felt so surprised, since it’s been going 18 years since I lived full-time in the country, but it was still a jolt. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't done it themselves!

The second eye-opener was how expensive living there is compared to what I’m used to in the States. This especially came home to me when researching the price of homes to rent in the Oxford area and what you get for your money in terms of the size of houses. It became clear to me that I’d need to apply for higher-paying jobs than I’d been doing. A lot of families in the UK have to have two full-time incomes coming in to make it work.

So, this was a valuable trip, even if it sounds like I had a negative reaction. It was good to have a clear understanding of what we’d face financially and in terms of unsettledness for all of us if God called us over there by opening a clear, viable job and an opportunity to be involved in church-planting. It can feel overwhelming!

God is certainly at work in the British Isles, I have no doubt of that. The question for Kathryn and I right now is if He’s wanting us to be there and a part of that work right now or not. We’ll keep knocking on doors in applying for jobs, knowing that His plan is best and He will close or open in His good wisdom. That’s liberating in the midst of uncertainty!

In the meantime, there’s plenty of ministry going on right where we are with Trinity and worship, a new church plant in Chesapeake and friends and colleagues to catch up with and have over for dinner!

On a less cerebral note, some photos from the UK trip to come soon and also on Facebook….

Weird British foods

2009-03-04T05:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to say, there's some cool variety of spicy and exotic foods in Britain these days. A couple that I noted with salivating tastebuds were: A Chicken Tikka Cornish Pasty (a tasteful collaboration between south India and south-west England!) and Oizza Hut was offering a smashing sounding challenge for the nostrils in their new Piri-piri Pizza! (piri-piri is Portuguese chilli paste)...

Buzz is alive!

2009-03-04T05:41:00.000-08:00

Last time we were on the Isle of Arran, where my Mum and Dad live, sharp eyes (I think it was Emily) reported that there was a tiny Buzz Lightyear toy bravely waving out at passing cars from a garage roof on the road from Lamlash to Whiting Bay! We first spotted him in August 2007.

Well, I'm happy to report that Buzz still proudly sits on his roof, exposed to the ravages of a Scottish winter, although I noted that he is now attached by a piece of wire to a heavy brick to prevent him from flying away!

Kats and Dogs

2009-03-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

The history of this starts in high school when my sister started calling me Kat. Then somewhere after college a few friends also started calling me Kat. Then sometime after that - can you tell middle age must have already happened since I can't recall exactly when...not that you'd be interested - I started saying that I'm the only cat that I would ever love. Then there was a missions speaker once who started his sermon with this: There are two kinds of people in this world. Can you guess? Lots of people said lots of things, but I said to those around "Cat people and dog people"... and I was right...much to my hubby's chagrin :-)

Now you have to also understand that Dom and I and my sister sit firmly in the dog lover camp.

Now speed forward to January 2009 when I'm at this women's meeting taking place at the home of a lady with a cat. Lots of the women there wanted to pet this cat, but I ignored it since if I play with one my nose tends to stuff up and become rather unpleasant...

Guess whose lap this cat chose to sit in. Yup! Mine.

Now go to February 2009. Same lady's house. Same cat. Guess where the photographer took a photo of said cat. Right again. Mine.

So now comes the owwee. I'm coming to realize just how cat-like I actually am. Yes, I'm pretty me-centered. And I definitely like it when I'm in charge. I even have this thing I call the Ursula complex. Think the end of the Little Mermaid. Yes, not pretty, is it?

Gotta just love this sinful-awareness thing... All in all, I think I prefer thinking of myself as a cat as opposed to an Ursula. It's just a little bit less disgusting... Isn't that such a normal thing - trying to make sin seen nice.

Gross...

A few first impressions

2009-02-26T04:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here I am returning to the UK for a 3 week trip to do some job hunting and coming with open eyes to ask God if this is the direction we should be moving in. So I do feel a weight or pressure on me, but also am just glad to be here, and to let God do His thing and either open or close doors. I'm glad He already has something planned for us; but it is faith-stretching and sometimes wearying just to stay in the day to day and trust God for the future...

Okay enough of all that, since that wasn't my aim for this entry!

A few immediate impressions that might make me and Kathryn chuckle at least!

1 - The aliens have landed!

I was at Manchester airport after a dodgy night's sleep, waiting in a long immigration line to get into the UK, and I was surrounded, for the first time in nearly two years, with ho

ards of my fellow countrymen, all T-shirts and red skin, presumably back from a winter getaway in the sun. I was struck suddenly by my first symptoms of reverse culture shock - everybody looked so weird! I mean, Dads, Moms, kids, th

ey all had the weirdest shaped faces, strange pointy noses and squinty eyes. I was wondering at this moment if they were all aliens wearing stretchy human masks (if you're a new Doctor Who fan like Kat and I, think Slitheen!)

2 - What are those green things down there?

Well, I was coming in on the plane and I'm getting close to the ground in Manchester and I see these round, green or blue objects in practically every little back garden. I also saw them on the flight to Glasgow. My first sleep-deprived thought was, "swimming pools! Every one's got outdoor swimming pools. That's a bit ambitious in the British climate, isn't it?" As I got closer, though, I saw that these strange objects materialized into - trampolines. Now, that makes much more sense!

3: Vicar of Dibley at the Rotary...

I had a very pleasant evening on Monday, with dinner and a rotary meeting at Auchrannie Spa with Dad, who is a member. He advertising the evening as "a talk on wine and wine-tasting", which certainly sounded good to me. However, when we got there and sat down at the start of the meeting, there were three, completely empty wine bottles next to the speaker's chair! So it ended up as being a lot of talking about wine, minus any actual imbibing...

It was another reverse culture moment for me, as we all took our seats and the meeting began. First, in true Slitheen/Doctor Who fashion, everyone had strange and larger than life faces to me. In addition, I experienced this complete lack of curiosity about me which is so different to what I'm familiar with in the States. I was welcomed of course, and everyone was very polite, but I think if I'd arrived with a gerbil hanging out of my nose, I'd likely have got the same lack of curiosity reaction!

I also had a momentary flashback to a Britcom which the meeting triggered. Gradually it came to me - I had been catapulted into a village church meeting with the cast of "Vicar of Dibley"! (Actually, it turned out that they were an articulate and intelligent lot, which you couldn't claim for the residents of Dibley...).

Thursday morning on the Isle of Arran

2009-02-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

It's been hard to get online in the Isle of Arran,Scotland. Not hard exactly, just a little tricky to get a few quiet moments...

Still, settled in against the drizzle and gusty winds, I am warm an in the comfort of the Cruize Bar, at the Auchrannie Spa resort in Brodick. The only place with free Wi-Fi! A warm and sophisticated oasis. I'm listening to Snow Patrol's "Engines" on my red Nano and trying to download an episode of "The Amazing Race" at the same time.

I was in the local library earlier and did a productive hour job preparing. It was an interesting contrast from my usual haunt, the Chesapeake public library. There were two one on one computer lessons going on at nearby terminals, including what looked like a lady of about 60 teaching basics to an eager lady in her seventies! Lifelong learning is thriving on Arran.

Next to me was a girl, using Gmail but typing in Polish I noticed. I'd heard that many Poles in particular have come to Britain for employment but many are in fact returning, because job opportunities have dried up here and are better back in Warsaw and Cracow.

Oh well, time to pluck up courage and pay 7 quid for a sandwich...

2009-02-19T06:11:00.000-08:00

This was my reading for this morning, courtesy of John Piper, which I thought I'd share:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1643_knowing_the_nature_of_your_evil/

Life Update

2009-02-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

For those of you who check in on the blog, sorry we haven't been here much, after a flurry of posts in January.

This is Dominic's subjective mid-February update, starting, humbly, with Dominic....

Dominic: I've been doing the following stuff, in no particular order of eternal significance: job hunting online in my home from home, the Chesapeake Central Library; playing around with spiking my hair, which the kids claim to hate but love playing with the spiky bits; listening to new music, including a fabulous new (for me) band, Snow Patrol and their latest album, "A Hundred Million Suns", leading worship at church and writing a new version to an old hymn, "All For Jesus".

Kathryn: Kathryn has been visiting an old friend, Sally on a weekend away in Roanoke; doing an International bible study on Wednesdays, befriending neighbors and arranging dinner and other stuff; going to movies and watching season 1 of "Heroes" with her hubby and taking Andrew to swimming and gymnastics...

Emily: Doing really well on her math; being a sweet presence at school, church and kissing her brother too much; playing her DS and watching copious SpongeBob episodes; doing gymnastics and playing with her friends as much as possible; becoming a great reader, especially reading out loud to her Mom and Dad before bed and slapping Dad's bottom too much....

Andrew: Being a charmer (gets it from his Dad of course); drawing, sketching and painting as much as he can; loving playing our new family game, the Cranium Hullabaloo DVD game; enjoying his new weekly pastime of kiddies gymnastics and watching so many SpongeBob episodes he can quote whole sections!

This is just a random snapshot of the Christisons, early in 2009....

Recession and Faith

2009-02-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Every morning we wake up to the news, and I'm beginning to wonder why. It's all crisis, turmoil and economic bad news. It's bewildering to dwell on it, or my temptation is to try and keep away and it'll all blow over eventually. Then there's our diminished inheritance and a lack of a job nagging away at me!

At this time in my life, I'm grateful for the sovereignty of God. Here's an article I read which I think is ultimately faith inspiring in the midst of the gloomy times:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/3566_What_Is_the_Recession_For/

Andrew's response to the economic crisis

2009-01-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

Andrew clearly feels that the Christison household doesn't have any real extreme money issues at the start of 2009. He has his own wallet and his own money. The other day, Kathryn caught him with a pair of scissors, trimming a dollar bill very carefully so the money would fit in his wallet...

Strange New Worlds

2009-01-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

To boldly go where no Dad has gone before.....

There is a strange planet on the galaxy of Lynnhaven Mall, called Buildabear...

In this alternate universe, girls take their Dads to a strange initiation rite. Girl picks up carcass of animal skin, then pluffs it up with stuffing, breathing life into its inert form with white foamy bits! Dad looks on with silent awe... Then girl takes a still beating heart, rubs it skillfully in her fingers, kisses it with reverence and then boldly thrusts it into the animals belly! Dad gapes in perplexity. Then girl proceeds to dress this newly animate animal in all kinds of colorful dresses and boots, finally choosing a flowery pink number with sparkly belt and snug beige booties.

After some pressing of strangely symboled buttons and swiping of credit cards, the animal is gratefully housed in a perfect box, a birth certificate miraculously supplied and dazed Dad and proud animal owner stride back to the car, our of the planet's warm and expensive atmosphere and home to safe galaxies called Chesapeake and Greenbrier....

You Just Gotta Laugh!

2009-01-13T11:46:00.001-08:00

Here's the cover of the latest Discipleship Journal:

Most of our dear readers know that we've felt led to go live in Europe and have indeed made a couple of attempts which have so far come to naught. As we have just recently returned to the drawing board and have been busy looking for the chalk (ah yes, some will ask "What is chalk?"), we have been looking at different avenues of job searching - more than we've ever considered looking at before. We've been praying for what seems like ages for God's direction and guidance.

And here comes the Discipleship Journal with God's voice practically speaking - I think chuckling - from the cover. The title of the special section is Decisions, Decisions, but inside the titles of the articles are "Guidance Systems", and "If Only God Did Skywriting". What a sweet sense of humour God has sometimes - esp. since I usually think He delights in roller coasters instead.

New Year at the Beach

2009-01-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

Tradition for us - to start the new year at Kitty Hawk....

Where are we right now?

2009-01-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

Well, it's one year on from our first blog posts, my first online grading as a teacher without a full-time office job, one year on from that year of new possibilities. And we're still in Chesapeake, still dreaming about Europe and listening to God's voice for the New Year.

Of course, the days zip by and it's already the 10th of January. Our days have been filled with: getting Emily to school and helping her with her homework; connecting with friends and doing Trinity worship; lusting after and finally buying a Samsung flat-panel! Andrew's currently watching some "Indiana Jones" on it, while Emily and Kathryn and at "High School Musical 3" at Cinema Cafe, Greenbrier....

My days have been filled with times at the library, grading my papers and brainstorming on what could come next with the "trek to Europe" saga. Listening to Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" on my new red Nano. My car also pulsing to the beat of the soundtrack from "Slumdog Millionaire"...

This post is pretty off the cuff, just a record of a moment in time. Talked to my Dad today, and enlisted his help in looking for job opportunities in the UK. Kathryn and I had a great date last night, seeing "Benjamin Button" at the Commodore in Portsmouth. Before it started, we compared notes on our brainstorming on what to do next in job/ministry hunting. Kathryn had a 1 page mind map. I had 13 sides of scrawling, semi-legible notes. This is our different styles!

It's a time of tension, as we're eager for God to give us our marching orders. But also an interesting time, when I'm praying more than I have in a long time, feeling the heat of spiritual battle, and also laughing unexpectedly more often (usually by a comment from Emily or Andrew!).

I have so much to be thankful for, I can't even begin to put it in words.....

Andrew's Theology

2009-01-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well, sometimes I wonder what God's going to do with Andrew. So much potential, so much energy!

He sometimes comes up with theological statements out of the blue. The other day, for example, after a reasonable silence in the car seat, he states to me, quite matter of fact:

"A Chinese yoyo protects you better than God".

Yesterday, it was:

"In heaven, God will be on the ground. And there will be lots of grass - fake grass, like a golf course..."

Confidence

2009-01-06T08:29:00.001-08:00

Where do I find confidence for the start of 2009?

In my own abilities, talents and undoubted charm? In my well-adjusted family? In my investments (exactly half the size they were this time last year!)

Here's what I'm going to do:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5)

AND

"The Lord will be your confidence" (Pr. 3:26)

I don't need to feel confident. God will be my confidence. Promise. End of story...

My Husband Thinks I'm Weird

2009-01-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know. No one's husband - or wife for that matter - has EVER thought the other one was weird!

Well, last night we just had our latest instance of it...

Dom and I were in Itunes where you get songs that are supposed to be similar to whichever song you have highlighted. One of the songs Dom didn't know, but I did. I never cease to amaze Dom and my knowledge of song lyrics (not that I know all of them to any song, but still). Just take me to the Silver Diner sometime and put in a few quarters...you'll know what he's talking about. I figure it's because I grew up in a small town where there wasn't much to do, so you listened to the radio in the car or when you were trying to get that elusive tan each Spring.

Then I did a doozy. In the 4th grade we had a record player in our classroom where after lunch we'd play a few 45s before we started class again. One of them was called "The Lord's Prayer". I told Dom we should try to find that song. Well, it wasn't in Itunes, BUT we googled it and lo and behold there it was. It was SO hokie! OMGosh! But it was funny. Sister Janet Mead was the singer. Weird and wild. Mind you, doing this sort of thing on a Friday night in Chesapeake doesn't rate much higher on ANY scale than listening to your radio incessantly because there's nothing else to do in your hometown! Boy have I "moved up" in the world!!!

The Three R's...and Science

2009-01-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

This evening we were asking Emily if she was looking forward to returning to school on Monday. She said no. She only liked her resource classes (music, computer, PE and art), recess, and her friends - ie. resource, recess, and relationships.

We told her about the 3 R's in school - reading, writing, and arithmetic. She piped up that writing didn't start with an R...we never got to arithmetic!

Free pleasures from a good God

2009-01-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

Just a few from the top of my head to start a new year. The pleasures are familiar but still as fresh as the first time!

1: Savoring the first cup of tea of the day and reading the bible in the bedroom before the kids wake up...

2: The smell of toast and marmalade permeating the house...

3: The wind waving through the tops of the pine trees...

4: The first deep drink from your favorite pint...

5: A smile from your daughter!

6: Connecting lips with your wife!

7: The energizing rush of listening to a great album for the first time...

8: Fascinating patterns of fast-moving clouds...

9: The beauty and satisfaction of narrative power and visual images from a new novel...

In the spring of her 22nd year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. An intense love, a veritable tornado sweeping across the plains - flattening everything in its path, tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shreds, crushing them to bits. The tornado's intensity doesn't abate for a second as it blasts across the ocean, laying waste to Angkor Wat, incinerating an Indian jungle, tigers and all, transforming itself into a Persian desert sandstorm, burying an exotic fortress city under a sea of sand. In short, a love of truly monumental proportions...

10: An unexpected phone call from good friends...

A few favorites from 2008

2008-12-31T08:40:00.000-08:00

BEST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE:

Dominic: weekend in Boston, January.

Well, it was no kids, which is energizing, plus we went and stayed in the Kendal Hotel, which is fabby and we stayed there in 2006. Winter sunlight, long walks and fabulous Italian cuisine!

Kathryn: weekend in New York City, October.

Well, it had kids and grandparents. Not that I didn't have fun with Dom in Boston. I most certainly did! But there's just something about NYC that nowhere else can beat. It had been SO LONG since I'd seen a show and been to Central Park...and this time I got to share all that wonderfulness with Emily and Andrew as well as with Dom and his folks. The weather was perfect too...and around every turn in Central Park was another scene straight out of some movie we'd seen. I don't remember that happening before. It was a total blast! Oh and we went back to the restaurant that Dom and I had so much fun at back 6 years ago when we went alone - Pastis

Emily: New York City easily! (October). It was so big, so new and so fun. I enjoyed naming a building "The Vampire State Building. The coolest experience was seeing "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway and also seeing the Statue of Liberty from the plane.

FAVORITE

Andrew: Going on the train to Washington DC in August. I thought the toilets were particularly well-maintained....

FAVORITE MOVIES IN 2008:

Dominic: Not a mind-blowing year. "Kung Fu Panda" was excellent. "Iron Man" was memorable. Can't think of others. If they were stellar, I would have remembered them, right?

Kathryn: "Iron Man" was amazing. You know you're on to a great thing when your sister who doesn't like action movies recommends it! Of course "Nim's Island" was cool too...and so was "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl"

Emily: It was "Prince Capsian", the second of the Narnia stories.

Andrew: The latest Wallace and Gromit - "A Matter of Loaf and Death" - violence and romance in a bakery - what more could a 4 year old want?

FAVORITE TV PROGRAMS IN 2008:

Dominic: Probably "Doctor Who" - season 4. Honorable mention for series 5 of "The Office" and "the Amazing Race 13".

Kathryn: Oh yes, "Dr. Who" and "The Office", but then there was this amazing -and old- 4 part miniseries from 2005 called "North and South" NOT the one with Patrick Swayze, but the one with Richard Armitage. WOW! I'm now reading the book by Elizabeth Gaskill...

Emily: My favorite new show was "H20 - Just add water", where my heroines change into mermaids and generally have a cool time splashing around in Australia...

Andrew: Probably a tie between "Sid the Science Kid" and Curious George". Honorable mentions for "SuperWhy" and "Lazytown"...

FAVORITE BOOKS READ IN 2008:

Dominic:

A lot to choose from this year. Really loved the free-flowing fun of Jules Verne's "20 Leagues under the Sea". For imaginative fiction, two stand out: "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman (in January) and "Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Spring-Summer). Reading all 21 Tintin books in order (November to December) was great fun!

Kathryn: "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen

Emily: "Magic Tree House: Civil War on Sunday". Emily liked this, because the characters got to meet their great, great, great grandfather John when he was 12. She also liked, "Magic Tree House: Tonight in the Titanic"...

Andrew: his 4 kung-Fu Panda books (go Tigress!)....

WISH LIST FOR 2009:

Dominic: To have a full-time job and ministry fit in Europe! To visit a country I've never been to. A cruise would be great. Get fitter and leaner. Play the piano a little better. Sing better. Cook more than my favorite 5 dishes. Be salt and light and an encourager to all I rub shoulders with. Beat Emily at cards more than once in a blue moon...

Kathryn: Come to an end of this trying to get to Europe thing and just be there (after two years of talking about it, you can hardly call us impatient)! This all depends on Dom having a full-time job (read - happy hubby) there. Lose those last 10 pounds of preggie weight from Andrew.

Emily: Would like to New York again, a trip to Scotland to see Papa and Grandma Jan and visit Caden in Washington State. (Dad's note - that's a lot of air miles right there)..

Andrew: That I would be a model kid for my parents.... (honest...)

THINGS I'M MOST THANKFUL FOR IN MY LIFE:

Dominic: Having Jesus as my rock, advocate and ally in 2009. Having a family who are unique and never cease to surprise me! (in good ways). Good friends in nooks and crannies all over the world. The hope of the gospel. Plenty of good reasons to jump out of bed in the morning!

Kathryn: My husband and my kids. That Jesus is in charge of my life since this past year I've continually been reminded that I'm not.

Emily: My school, my teacher and my friends, my family, my house, all my webkins, DS games, favorite food and drinks and being healthy......

Andrew: For having great parents, a cool, protective sister, pre-school friends (lots of girls!) and plenty of Star Wars toys and weapons....

THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS PAST YEAR/HOW I'VE GROWN:

Dom: Well, I've become this amazingly well-rounded human being....

Seriously, I hope it's true that I've learned a little more trust in God than I had before and trusting in His goodness in the midst of uncertainty. I've struggled with contentment and probably that will be a feature of 2009 as well. I've learned to slow down a little and enjoy my kids a lot more. They are startling and awesome and constantly surprising me. I've learned that I'm a hungry man who needs Jesus only to satisfy me. I'm nothing like I thought I'd be at 42. I still feel I've hardly scratched the surface of who I am, who God is, what I'm capable of and what I know. That enough of that for now!

Kathryn: I'm far less in control of my life than I ever thought I was. That I'll never be able to do half the dreams I've dreamed if I don't even try - and might not even if I have.

Emily: Still processing.....

Andrew: Well, I'm almost potty trained....

Disjointed narratives

2008-12-24T12:21:00.000-08:00

DISJOINTED NARRATIVES – A TALE OF 2008

You see, if I had been writing the narrative of my life in 2008, it would have gone something like this. After having felt a call to ministry in Europe and being “not accepted as a good fit” for church planting in Vienna in September 2007, Dominic and Kathryn decide to step out in faith in 2008. Dominic stops full-time work in January in order to pursue ministry and job opportunities, while teaching online. After numerous conversations, prayer, discussions with good friends, and a solid connection with ministry leaders in Europe, Dominic and Kathryn are chosen to go to Eurosville with TCPI - Trendy Church Planters International (the church-planting agency for young at heart 40 something’s), and, applauded by their church leaders, start support-raising with a clear goal to take off in 2009 or 10!

Wait, or another version: Dominic pursues English language tentmaking opportunities and, with employers being impressed by his wealth of teaching and business experience, spends December 2008 weighing various offers, before sitting down to Christmas dinner with a job offer to start teaching English to business leaders in Europolis, starting May 2009! Bringing the gospel into the European workplace and being involved in a local church plant ministry. A clear fit of desires, abilities and motivations! Great narrative…

The thing is, God is writing the narrative here – and, funnily enough, His version of the story seems to be a little different. Less simplistic. Less clear-cut. More mystery. Less clarity (at least to the characters walking page by page). More disjointed. Wiser, perhaps? Fashioning a piece of literature, instead of just pulp, airport bookstore fiction?

I realize this is an unconventional start to a Christmas or end of year letter. Most of you already know the background to our weird journey of 2007, since you have prayed for us. Thanks! The journey is still well and truly in the uncertain zone. The “put your money where your mouth is and really acknowledge that God is good zone” (even if He doesn’t write the narrative you want). Does anyone resonate with this feeling?

Part of the year was spent talking with people doing ministry in Europe, the kind of people we’d like to join with – breakfast with a Brussels church-planter in February, talking about home church set ups in Prague with a cool church planter in June, asking teachers in Bratislava about the cost of living there. Part was also spent doing an online course in tentmaking (being a missionary in intention but being self-supported in a useful job role). Part was finally spent in applying to teaching English jobs in Europe including a job prospect to teach businessmen in Germany, which, despite 3 phone interviews and a lot of hope looks like is not leading to a position there. It seemed like a great fit, and in October they wanted to interview me in person. What a neat narrative ending to the year – a likely job in Germany! But the economic downturn stepped in. Or they had second thoughts. God developed the narrative in a plot twist which right now gives me an empty feeling in the stomach.

Of course, there were a lot of pleasures for all of us in this year. We took a weekend trip to Boston (no kids!). We enjoyed a great week of friendship in Knoxville, TN with Jim and Melanie (thanks guys!). We had two different weekends away to Maryland to visit old friends Dawn and Rich and then Mat and Amy. Other compensations. The pleasure for me of not being in an office! Time to think, reflect, get sore backs from carrying Andrew and being slapped in the bottom by Emily. More time to connect with an amazing, patient and supportive woman called Kathryn. Also, time to enjoy Washington DC in August, watching the Olympics with Emily in a cute townhouse and meeting my Mum and Dad in NYC in October for a fun weekend simply being big-spending tourists, wandering Central Park and humming Abba songs for days afterwards (courtesy of “Mamma Mia”).

One thing which held us together and always holds us together through the tensions of waiting and disappointments of dead-ends is our church family. Not only the guys at Trinity PCA, Norfolk, but the others, both local (thanks for the beers, coffees, breakfasts and fellowship this year, guys! Bob, Dave, Iivo) and scattered all over the world. Thanks for those who read our email updates and prayed for us. We are all sharing ministry together, and continue in prayer for our friends in Pune, India (we’ll miss you Leah!), Vienna (enjoy the beer, Jeff and Jodie!), a farmhouse near Greenock (hi Jon and Esther), our Stuttgart friends (hey Andy and Piper) and many others….

Thanks for reading this personal take on 2008. God is good. Also, He appears to be a terrific writer. But He doesn’t order the narrative of my life the way I’d do it! Kathryn, Dominic, Emily and Andrew wait for the pages of 2009 to start, knowing this: “I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Believing Him. Fellowshipping with Him, whether it’s Chesapeake or Cologne.

Have a Merry Christmas and a great start to the New Year,

In Christ,

Dominic

For Kathryn, Emily and Andrew….

Check out the slideshow

2008-12-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

Check out the slideshow on the top right of the blog, which contains some favorite photos and a good visual snapshot of the Christisons in 2008....

Domesticating God for Christmas sake....

2008-12-22T04:18:00.000-08:00

Kathryn accuses me of Grinch-like tendencies around Christmas time, and she's mostly right, especially with me groaning at the tidal wave of Christmas music you have to listen to at this time of year. I just read an article I resonate with about the domestication and taming of the Christmas story. It partly addresses the question lingering in the minds of some of us who have been believers for many years: why does the Christmas story, the event to top all events, of God breaking into history decisively, make us yawn and switch off?

Here's the article: (from - http://www.doggieheadtilt.com/foot-on-his-neck/

Slithering and sinister
The stories of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Jesus’ birth originally featured slithering princes. Snow White’s prince slipped in and locked himself away with her dead body. The prince in Sleeping Beauty slithered in while she slept and got her pregnant. The prince in the Christmas story, however, was a darker, more sinister character. Yet Christmas would be richer if we kept him in the story… keeping a foot on his neck.

Ancient tales tended to be a great deal more raucous. In the original Sleeping Beauty, for example, the princess was wakened not by a chaste kiss, but by the twins she gave birth to after the prince had crept in, fornicated with her sleeping body, and then left again. In other words, it was R-rated. The same goes for the older versions of Snow White. A passing prince originally claimed the girl’s dead body and locked himself away with it. Yeccch. His mother, complaining of the dead girl’s smell, was greatly relieved when the maiden returned to life. If that’s not R-rated, it’s at least PG-13.

The original Christmas story also featured a peculiar prince. If you read the Revelation 12 rendition, it begins with a dragon fomenting a ferocious struggle in the heavens. This dragon is the slithering serpent known as the devil, or “the prince of the power of the air,” as the Apostle Paul described him (Eph. 2:1-3). Before the earth was created, he provoked a conflict across the cosmos between his troops and those remaining loyal to the Great King. This war makesThe Lord of the Rings look like child’s play. God won, the devil lost, and the vanquished (a roiling force totaling one-third of the angelic realm) were thrown down to earth. You can catch the highlights in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

We also get a clue that the demonic castaways are here on earth when we read Genesis 1:2. The pristine earth is “formless and void” – a Hebrew phrase with ominous overtones of God’s judgment.¹ Yes – the prince is lurking in the bushes. He slithers out of the underbrush in Genesis 3 and seduces the woman, impregnating the world with his seed of sin, setting the stage for Christmas and the continuation of the cosmic conflict.

Now we fast-forward to Revelation 12, where the story continues with a woman who is about to give birth. The vanquished Lucifer is crouching greedily before her, his blood stained hands ready to crush the newborn child. Somehow… someway… the infant is snatched away to safety. A headlong flight into Egypt ensues, with hosts of demons on the tail of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus (catch the highlights in Matthew 2). Foiled, the prince slithers off, seething and declaring war on the followers of the Christ child. It’s meant to be a terrifying story, but was toned down years later. Who did this? When? Why?

In the 19th century, Victorian reformers, many of them people of Christian faith, romanticized the idea of “childhood” and believed that children should be protected from any exposure to evil. Childhood instead became an cherubic escape – we couldn’t stand to have children crying, for crying out loud. This meant the ancient stories about slithering princes seducing sweet princesses needed to be cleaned up. The process began with romanticized Christmas carols penned in the 19th century and eventually included an idealized Sleeping Beauty and Snow White in the 20th.

“Away in a Manger,” for example, was published in 1885 and glamorized the “stars in the sky” looking down on the cherubic child – erasing any conflict that might scare the kids. An Austrian priest named Joseph Mohr wrote “Silent Night” in 1816, waxing rhapsodically about “all is calm, all is bright” while neglecting the monstrous mayhem taking place that night. Rector Phillips Brooks wrote: “O little town of Bethlehem, how sweet we see thee lie” in 1868. But a “deep and dreamless sleep” while “the silent stars go by” seems a far cry from Revelation 12, where all hell was breaking loose.

Once religion was romanticized, many ancient fables became idealized. In the 20th century, Walt Disney turned Sleeping Beauty and Snow White into escapist entertainment. Snow White was Walt Disney’s first feature-length cartoon, sweetening the role of the prince while shrinking the dwarfs into comically adorable munchkins. When critics protested the broad changes, Disney responded, “It’s just that people now don’t want fairy stories the way they were written. They were too rough. In the end they’ll probably remember the story the way we film it anyway.” He was right about that.

When Victorian reformers expunged illicit sex and violence from ancient stories, they helped erase from our consciousness the first two social consequences of sin – illicit sex and violence (we still rate movies by these two markers in Genesis). That’s one reason why J.R.R. Tolkien warned against cleaning up seemingly salacious stories – it would ruin them.² Every great story, Hollywood screenwriting coach Robert McKee says, has an “inciting incident” – when all hell breaks loose and protagonists do battle with antagonists.³ By reducing slithering princes to sweet Ken Dolls, or Christmas to Candyland, engaging stories become dull escapes – hardly the stuff of riveting religion.

“Religious happiness is no mere feeling of escape,” wrote psychologist William James. A riveting religion believes that “the world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck,” James noted.⁴ We didn’t choose to live in a world infested with evil, but keeping a foot on Satan’s neck – thus,keeping our eye on him – is better than pretending that he doesn’t exist by telling prettified stories. Plus, if you tell the original, raucous Christmas story, your kids will not only be able to handle it – they might also find Christmas to be more riveting.

_________________
¹ Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1988), p. 106.
² See J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-stories,” Andrew Lang Lecture (1938).
³ “Storytelling the Moves People: A Conversation with Hollywood Screenwriting Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review, June 2003.
⁴William James & Bruce Kuklick, “Circumcision of the Topic,”Writings: 1902-1910 (New York: NY, Library of America, 1987), pp. 51-52.

Andrew the Christmas theologian

2008-12-18T13:41:00.001-08:00

I'm going to let this speak for itself. Stay with him....

12/14/08

2008-12-14T22:31:00.000-08:00

Didn't know what to call this post...

So today - or rather yesterday's date will have to do.

Frustration. Angst. Struggle. For anyone who have not been following our last 2 years this entry may be a bit surprising. Dominic and I have wanted to move to Europe - felt led and certainly encouraged even - to help with planting a church somewhere there. The first was in Vienna, Austria, but we were turned down as the position didn't look like it would be a good fit for us. Indeed, after about 8 months of wrestling with this painful decision, we have come to the conclusion that the ministry position we sought was not a good fit for us. We moved onto something that looked to be a better fit - a job in Europe. Dom has had 3 interviews and was invited to come for a face to face interview in what looks to be a very good place to work from all we can tell from the interviews with the company and with other people who work there. BUT now the economy has gotten in the way it appears and emails aren't answered and phone calls are uncomfortable.

This so feels like death...of a dream, a hope. Our life right now is not fun or pleasant. It hurts. I cry and my dear Dominic doesn't know what to do. He can't encourage me because he's in the same boat. I can't encourage him either. That's on an especially bad day like today was. Most of the time it's not THAT bad. But today it all seemed to be in my face...

Today a friend came home from India to be reunited with his fiance who will join him there in January...and other friends at church announced they would be going to Japan with a missions agency. Other friends we've met on our journeys are leaving today to go join the team leaders in Vienna. Other sweet friends have moved to Germany for a couple of years in a work transfer. Other friends are in Seattle. Still others are at seminary preparing to go to Peru. Another is preparing to go to Paris. We seem surrounded by like minded people. And I am so happy for them all. I really like and value these wonderful people and can't help but be excited for each and every one of them. But what is it? Did we forget to put our deodorant on?

Yes, I KNOW the Lord is in this whole thing. Please save all that breath. I know this, but it certainly doesn't make walking this whole thing easier. It's nice to say God knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm. Plans to give us hope and a future. We are seeking Him in this! Know that! But even God seems elusive. This is probably something akin to couples who want to have a baby, but can't seem to get pregnant. People will think there's some sin that's keeping you from being sent. We've been through a discipleship course with the missions agency we applied with and I have gone through 2 other courses about discipleship as well. In these things you ask God to show you your sin! Sure, we now see just how much we need Jesus. We know that we are so totally fallen that we could never work our way to heaven. God's grace is our only hope. But there hasn't been anything lurking in the shadows that God couldn't use for His good. Nothing that would be a reason not to go.

So, we struggle with the thought of staying - and finding contentment in that. Right now, the thought brings little consolation. Mostly grief. I know we can find opportunity to help with a church plant right here. But Dom and I are this weird international couple. God has UNiquely (think the UN here) gifted us in this sometimes bizarre way. I SO don't understand what is going on. I'd like to have at least a small grasp on the why of things like this. So far, nothing.

We've been talking about feeling as if we are walking around in a mist. Now it seems the fog just got thicker.

And there's not much escape from it all. Sure there's Dr. Who and Survivor, The Office, and The Amazing Race, but all TV series come to an end. Books do the same. Sleep too. These escapes are only for a time. Good while they last, but they are temporary. So for now we wriggle and squirm in the uncomfortableness of this time in our lives. We hope it is temporary, but even hope seems lacking ... Meanwhile, we wait as well as we can.

I Am a TARDIS?

2008-12-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have big thoughts in the shower...

You may know that I, Kathryn, am a science fiction buff - have been since I was a wee lass. I remember watching the original "Star Trek" with my dad and watching reruns of "Lost in Space" in elementary school followed by "Star Wars", "Space 1999", and "Battlestar Galactica", and again "Star Trek The Next Generation". Two of three pieces I know how to play on the piano are "Star Wars" and Battlestar Galactica". So this is one of my preferred genres especially on screen. Never really have gone in for the written sci-fi.

About a year and a half ago some dear friends of ours - Piper and Andy Fordham - introduced Dominic and I to "Doctor Who" -the old, now new, British sci-fi television series. The time travelling "spaceship" as such in this show is called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions in Space). The cool thing about the TARDIS is that it's bigger on the inside than on the outside.

So yesterday in the shower I'm thinking about God and His creation - the earth, the universe and such...the beginning and end of time. About literary classics and sci-fi and love. Love in that you never run out of love or people to love. How it doesn't matter how many kids you have, there is always room to love another one. How when someone you love dies, there is a hole left that only they can fill. How as Christians we have the Holy Spirit living inside us.

So how could we possibly NOT be TARDIS' ourselves? Because of our imaginations we can go backward and forward in time. We have so much room to explore in our heads. So much "scope for the imagination" as Anne of Green Gables once said. We can't really grasp all this enormity. We have our limits, but we are still so much bigger on the inside of us than what these human bodies are physically. Perhaps in heaven our bodies will be able to travel as the TARDIS does from time to time and actually see Adam and Eve created and the Garden of Eden and Christ go to the cross for us and even our own wee story and well as the end of time.

So this is probably a "wibbly wobbly timey whimey" sort of analogy, but I just had to share it with someone...

Thanks for reading -

What Not to Do

2008-12-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday night I had one of those experiences that you hope will never happen to you but do anyway...

I locked myself and Andrew in the bathroom - without the doorknob on the door.

Let me go back to Thanksgiving Day... We'd been having trouble with the master baths doorknob sticking a lot recently. On Thanksgiving we had some friends over and the girls were upstairs playing and came down at one point saying that they'd been locked in our bathroom (OK, you have to NOT ask why they were in our bathroom which is off limits, just never mind that) Apparently they were yelling and screaming for someone to come, but no one did. We told them we'd been having trouble with it sticking.

On Saturday night when Andrew was having his bath in our bathroom, I decided I'd take off the doorknob which I did. Then because the door is uneven or whatnot, it doesn't stay closed by itself. I got the "wise" idea of putting the little latch bit in without the knobs on. It would keep the door closed. IT WORKED!!!

BUT...

How to get out? Without the knob on the door there is NO WAY to get the door open! Even with the knobs sticking it was better than this! I'm stuck in the bathroom with Andrew having fun in the bathtub.

I hope you are laughing at this point.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

After fiddling with the latch a few minutes in was V. obvious that I was going to have to take the door off its hinges. Something I'd never done before. I thought of my ingenious friend Susie who can do anything like this. I knew she'd taken doors off before. Maybe Dom should call her and ask...

Well, before doing that, let's see if I can figure out how to do it myself. Dom got a flat headed screwdriver (which of course wasn't the one I had with me since the doorknob needed the Phelps) and a wrench. I couldn't wedge the screwdriver between the the hinge and the pin. I tried to use the wrench to pull it up. Neither worked, but praise God, I used the wrench as a hammer and stuck the end of the screwdriver under the pin in the hinge and hit the other end.

BINGO! I was out in a minute.

But boy that was one of the dumbest things I've done in a while...well, if you don't count trying to argue with a four year old on occasion...

Doctor Who speak

2008-11-26T07:27:00.000-08:00

As we settle into the long winter nights of Chesapeake, VA, Kathryn and I are re-watching season 1 of Doctor Who, with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. Refreshing my memory on a website which provides episode summaries, I came across this rather robust sentence: "Jack has rigged the TARDIS with the tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator taken from Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen to act as a shield against the Dalek weapons."

I couldn't have put it better myself!

Things I like/don't like about November

2008-11-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

Things I like:

The colors of the trees, especially the shades of red
Scanning color supplements for possible Christmas present ideas for me!
Getting to wear sweaters
The crisp, sharpness in the air and terrific blue skies (when not raining, you understand)
Getting to use our gas fire in the living room

Things I don't like:

Christmas songs at "Hallmark" already??
Scanning color supplements for possible Christmas present ideas for the kids and being shocked at the ridiculous prices

Couldn't think of too many bad things, so must be in a fairly congenial mood today. Overall, I like November...

Aquariums and Worship

2008-11-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

I always get a sense of wonder which is close to and often transforms into worship when I gaze at a bunch of fish in an aquarium.

I took Andrew to the Virginia Living Museum last Tuesday and really felt transported out of my daily cares (jobs, ministry, money, being 42 etc.....) by the simple act of gazing at beautiful fish swimming round and round in front of me. The incredible detail, intricacy, extravagant variety of shades of different colors and patterns in just a few different fish is so refreshing to my soul and really made me feel like a kid!

In fact, in a curious ironic twist, here's me taking Andrew to have fun at the museum and he's like all cool and indifferent about the fish and "Let's go somewhere else, Dad!", while I'm the one slowing him down, gaping open-mouthed in awe at the tank of water and slowing my son down!

Does anyone else my age get this experience??

2008-11-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

A Good Read on Election Eve/Day

This is what I read today on DoggieHeadTilt - a blog that Dom and I read on occasion. I thought it had some a good perspective on what is taking place Tuesday the 4th. Enjoy...

You have subscribed to "DoggieHeadTilt."


	6:22 AM (16 hours ago) The Bigger Winner? by Mike Metzger Look in their eyes Be sure to vote this Tuesday. But wait until Sunday morning at church to catch the election results. Whichever candidate wins, look for the look on your friends’ faces. In too many cases, it will tell you the New Deal beat the New Covenant. The New Covenant should be old news for Americans. New England Puritans embraced it in their covenant theology, a fertile seedbed for American constitutional ideas of ordered liberty and orderly pluralism, including liberty of conscience and free exercise of religion.¹ The result was a fabric of freedom and free market capitalism, where religious liberty and civil liberty were closely tied. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed fifty years later, “In France I had always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found that they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.”² Like the flag that flew over Fort McHenry, this fabric of morality and markets was fragile. The Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians, for example, disagreed over which forms of governmental regulation were best for free market capitalism. Some wanted more, others less. But the threads of their argument were taken from a fabric of cultural consensus stitched together, in part, by the New Covenant. Toward the end of the 19th century, however, this fabric was wearing around the edges. It was unraveling from the forces of industrialization, the emergence of the modern university (that relegated religion to the sidelines), immigration, urbanization, and the church’s retreat from public life. The threads were further ripped in the Roaring Twenties. A lot of things soared, including the stock market, drug abuse, divorce rates, and crime syndicates in major cities (did you think I was describing 2008 or the 1920s?). When the market crashed in 1929, the problem was how to create or reinforce social consensus where little or none could be generated by institutions that formerly performed this role – i.e., the church. Nature abhors a vacuum, so the New Deal rushed into the space vacated by the New Covenant. This is why the New Deal is considered the most important development of the last century in American political culture. It wasn’t so much FDR and the Democrats – the New Deal made politics the end-all of nearly everything – for every party. The New Deal shifted the solutions to problems over to politics. It said if we could get the right politicians in office and the right laws passed, all would be well. This was a new fabric ofpoliticization where business interests, higher education, philanthropy, art, science, and minorities all sought legitimacy through the rights conferred by the state. It’s sad to say, but Christians on the Right and Left have been sucked into the New Deal vortex. They’re seeking to legitimatize Christianity in the public square through political action. They claim Jesus isn’t a Democrat or a Republican, but you couldn’t tell by visiting their church. In fact, most churches lean heavily toward one party or the other. Politicized parishioners measure success by the number of politicians visiting their church or pastors offering prayers to open congressional sessions. The hope these Christians place in politics is quite astonishing. They fail to notice, however, that when elected officials get down to “real work,” the pastor is politely asked to leave. But there’s an easier way to tell if parishioners are politicized – catch the election results on their faces this Sunday. Malcolm Gladwell points to research indicating that our face is an enormously rich source of information about emotion. In fact, the information on our face is not just a signal of what is going on inside our mind – it is what is going on inside our mind.⁴ Depending on which church you attend, you’ll see one of three faces – conquest, contempt, or confidence. In one church, they’ll crow about their conquest because their candidate won. In another church, they’ll grimace, grind their teeth, and begin plotting revenge because their candidate lost. But in both churches, the bigger winner is the New Deal because these are the faces of politicized people. If you see confident expressions, regardless of which candidate wins, you’re looking at a New Covenant Christian. They opt for the founder’s vision – a civil public square. “The vision of a civil public square is one in which everyone – peoples of all faiths, whether religious or naturalistic – are equally free to enter and engage public life on the basis of their faiths,” writes Os Guinness. It’s a double framework of the Constitution worked out through a freely and mutually agreed covenant, or common vision for the common good.⁵ Advancing the common good means respecting and praying for the new President. New Covenant people see politics as important – agree that differencesmatter – yet are confident that Providence ultimately guides the outcome of elections. It’s been said before, but bears repeating. Many faith communities assume if we get the right politicians in office, the culture will change. But politics lacks the power to expand the moral middle. It’s downstream. Its power is coercive. And all too often, it’s corrosive to character. The New Covenant that animated the Puritans wasn’t measured by how many Christians fill political offices, but the extent to which the Judeo-Christian definition of reality is realized in the social world – taken seriously and acted upon by politicians, for example. Most modern politicians don’t consider Christianity a serious player. Getting past politicization means embracing the tensions of what politics ought to be, is, can and cannot realistically achieve, and what will or might result – tensions found in the “four chapter” gospel. You can tell who’s read this story by reading their face. _______________________ ¹ Frederick S. Carney, Heinz Schilling, and Dieter Wyduckel, Eds., Duncker & Humblot, “Jurisprudence, Political Theory and Political Theology,” Emory University School of Law, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series, Atlanta, GA, 2004. ² Mark A. Noll, The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), p. 71. ³ Jacques Ellul, The Political Illusion (New York, NY: Random House, 1967). ⁴ Malcolm Gladwell, blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York, NY: Back Bay Books, 2005), p. 206. ⁵ Os Guinness, The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It, New York, NY: HarperOne, 2008), p. 135.

Life imitating art!

2008-10-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Halloween night tonight and, after watching "Batman: the Dark Knight" a few weeks ago, I had some mental pictures stored away in my mind from the movie.

This afternoon, coming back into the subdivision, I was halted by a school bus. The driver had a strangely familiar and disturbing face.....

Yikes a women joker bus driver!

New York trip Part 3

2008-10-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Emily resplendent outside Grand Central Terminal, getting some vittals in Pastis, a French brasserie and the Empire State.....

New York City Trip - Part 2

2008-10-24T08:56:00.001-07:00

Hi guys, here are a few more visual snippets from a very memorable visit to the Big Apple.

They include Andrew slapping my Dad in a cafe, Kathryn strolling Times Square, a couple of shots from the Staten Island ferry and Emily enjoying the Subway...

Andrew's Fourth Birthday

2008-10-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Back 2 weeks ago Andrew turned 4 years old.

He had his first birthday party which was a Superhero costume party. Well, the little boys dressed up that is. SO Andrew went as

Darth Vader.

(I think it's the cape factor which causes the confusion)

Batman and Ironman were also in attendance

as were Charlie's Angels (none of us girls would be caught dead wearing our Wonder Woman or Catgirl outfits in public).

The cake was Batman and the plates were Spiderman.

It was the best birthday party Andrew has ever had! And he loved it :-)

October Excitement

2008-10-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Forthcoming blog has to be Andrew's 4th birthday

BUT

Meanwhile, this evening the house is echoing with the sound of our new four year old singing

"Halloween, Halloween, I'm gonna paint my bottom green".

You just have to love the kids creativity...

New York trip Part 1

2008-10-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

This week, I'll be sharing a few photos from our weekend trip to NYC..... Some shots from Central Park...

Watching a Britcom

2008-10-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

So, I'm on Andrew duty one evening and I just got started on watching a "Last of the Summer Wine" episode (Series 18 - The Love Mobile to be precise) and Andrew marches in after playing some Mickey Mouse game on the computer and says, "I want to watch "Spirit" (movie about horses he likes). So, I'm just about to let him have his way, when I have this weird epiphany and think "this is my TV too!".

So I tell Andrew he can either watch this strange comedy about three elderly guys strolling through the Yorkshire countryside or he can go to bed early.

So, he sits down mournfully, and after a few minutes, he starts cackling and giggling at the action, which mostly includes septuagenarians falling off bicycles over stone walls into fields and elderly women of substance sipping tea with aggressive expressions! It was the fact he really got into it which made me laugh, even though he can't' have had a clue what was going on!

A nice memory I will hopefully remember in years to come...

God's workmanship

2008-10-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

I was reading Ephesians 2 this morning and wanted to share with you one of my favorite verses:

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (EPH 2:10, NIV)

So, at the risk of sounding obvious, some thoughts from the verse that I really appreciate at this time in my life.
1 - I am God's "workmanship". Like a work of art. Flawed, yes, but being moulded to be more like Christ. Not always a self-evident fact when shaving in the mirror in the mornings!

2 - I am "in Christ" now - that's he best place in

the universe for me to be; but it wasn't primarily for my own benefit but to "do good works" - to be fruitful and express faith in whatever God puts in my path....

3 - "which God prepared in advance". That's a statement worth pondering and should lead me to prayer and praise. When I look at the crazy path my life has taken - from Scotland to England to Portugal to America to _________ (please God, fill in the blank soon!) I do know that God has being going ahead, preparing me to bump into special people and do stuff I never thought I would...
What's next, Father God? And, give me the daily patience to be faithful right now in awesome Chesapeake, VA!

It's a Small World

2008-09-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

by Kathryn

What a small world we live in...

I have had two such instances happen this week to make this world smaller. The first one is more about the internet than anything else. As you know from reading past blog entries, Dom, Emily, and I - Andrew hasn't been convinced yet - are Survivor fans. The degree of fanaticism just increased a few weeks ago when we found Jeff Probst's blog about the current series. We watched some of the video on it and the three of us chose who we thought would win (one of Emily's has already gone home). Jeff Probst's entry yesterday said something about how many series of Survivor there have been. I made a comment about that comment AND HE WROTE BACK! So in essence I got to speak to Mr. Probst and he responded to me! Cool! Check it out if you want...

The other one is even cooler! Many of you don't know that Dom is applying for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) jobs in Europe and has actually been interviewing with one of them. He's between the 2nd and 3rd interview when the company suggests you talk to some of the current and former employees. Dom mentioned that we might know one of the teachers. I looked up when we'd met him in an old journal, and asked Dom to email him a question that would tell us if it was him or not. He thought the question was really weird, but indeed it's the same guy who taught at the language school Dom worked at in Porto, Portugal and I, Kat, had Thanksgiving dinner with him and several other Americans back in '92! Then when we went to Portland, OR for Dom to work in a language school there, we found out this same guy was working at the sister school down in Santa Monica! Now here our paths cross again - at least to the point where Dom had a phone conversation with him this morning.

Who would have thought all those years ago when I would teach "It's a Small Small World" to my ESL students, that the world would prove to actually BE that small... mind you it was before the internet...

Learning from the past??

2008-09-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to the exciting possibility of a teaching English job in Germany, I've been at the library rediscovering English grammar! And teaching to internationals. I've been rummaging around in cupboards to find boxes with folders containing all the teaching material and books and mind maps connected with my Diploma in ELT, completed back in 95. Gosh, I nearly threw that stuff out, and until a few months ago wasn't thinking about it at all.

Ever nearly chucked stuff out and then found out a use for it?

I also have old diaries and notebooks with "great spiritual insights" I had back 5, 10, 20 years ago, and I found some of them too. It seems God is teaching me the same stuff over and over and over again! I'm suspecting He is capable of supernatural levels of patience!

Survivor

2008-09-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, two posts in one day. We won't let this happen too often, I promise. But we just had to tell you about what Emily, Dominic, and I have done in preparation for this coming season of Survivor (which starts on Dom's birthday no less).

Dom discovered the went to this website: http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20221152_20221155_20221313,00.html

On it are little bio's of the contestants for Survivor Gabon. Then he, Emily, and I all separately watched these little movies and read a few comments. We thought we'd try to pick the final two out of the 18 people. Here are our pick: Emily chose Crystal ( the 04 Olympic medalist) and Paloma. Dom and I - now we watched separately mind you - both picked Jacque and Marcus. We looked at each other said, "We've been watching this too long!"

Thought we'd post this so that you Survivor fans out there can laugh at us when our folks get voted off...OR start a betting pool one!

Andrew's first day of school

2008-09-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let you guys know that Andrew's first day of school went well. He seemed to be especially jazzed that one of his set texts for reading comprehension and literary appreciation this upcoming semester is his good friend and mine, Willie Shakespeare, as seen in the above picture...

His other set texts include: To the Lighthouse, Shelley - Selected Poems, Aeschylus's The Oresteia, Goethe's Faust (Part one) and Hedda Gabler...

BUGS!!!

2008-09-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

This morning with about to be a hurricane Hanna aiming for us come Saturday morning, we thought it was a good idea to cut the grass so we wouldn't need to buy a goat for a pasture... Dom proceeded to get the mower out of the shed, but came back in talking about 2 HUGE bugs outside on the lawn chair and the shed door.

Now, you must understand Dominic is the bug man of the house. On our honeymoon he came into our cabin to find his new bride pointing at the ceiling saying "Kill it!" It was one of those enormous South American cockroaches. He told me to go in the bathroom and close the door while he fought his first battle as my new husband. He won! And ever since whenever there's been a roach, big spider, wasp, or even mouse in the house, he bravely goes where I do not dare - and even doesn't kill the wasps, but captures them and releases them outside.

But you must also understand that Dominic is NOT a Southerner. Not an ounce of Confederate blood in the man...even though he is Scottish which is basically a predecessor. But I digress...

Back to the HUGE bug. I went out to see this gigantic bug...and then picked it up! Instead of Dominic "enjoying" hearing my scream, he almost did - "Don't pick it up!" Then I walked inside to show Andrew who wouldn't touch them either.

So what was it? Well, if you are from the South, you grew up picking them up - or rather what's left of them. These were two empty shells left over from molting katydids/cicada who have been caressing our ears all summer. They are the ONLY kind of bug I will pick up without a Kleenex. It was an entertaining way to start the day :-)

Parenting skills

2008-08-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Ever make an error of judgment with one of your kids which you regret later?? Well, our error of judgement was of a Busch Gardens kind...

Busch Gardens is our nearby amusement park, but Andrew wasn't laughing too much as we decided to show him the delights of "Curse of the Dark Castle"....

Missions and marriage

2008-08-20T09:45:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I've wondered why Kathryn would want to go gallivanting off to Europe or anywhere with me for that matter. Of course, this ignores the fact that she I think has a greater desire for missions and more effectiveness across cultures than me, so maybe she's prompting me!
I don't know. Blogs don't have to be over-logical, do they? God knows what He is doing in our lives!

I found a provocative title in one of my favorite blogs right now, Desiring God, and thought I'd share the link and the article with you. It's for anyone who has wrestled with different desires in a marriage. Desires for ministry and the need for husband and wife to have shared goals.

Enough blether. Here is the article:

(by the way, why is gallivanting such a fun word?) (well, I like it anyway..)

Washington DC pictures

2008-08-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

Enjoy a few photos from out recent trip to Washington DC with the kids....

Sci-Fi Moment in Kinko's

2008-08-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

If you see my title, I'm wondering if those words have ever been used in a sentence by anyone ever before!

Well, Kathryn and I are recent but ardent Doctor Who fans - particularly of the new stuff, with the rakishly Scottish David Tennant as the lead. Why there are better-paid than me Scotsmen all over the world is a constant niggle to me, but never mind.

Well, we just saw the season finale for the 4th series and it was very much in my mind as I went into Kinkos to get my passport photos, you know, as you do.

I was served by a middle-aged, tall, bearded guy, who, as he was taking my photo, remarked on my accent and I said I was British. He said, oh yes I know. Then, looking at me with piercing eyes, and in all seriousness, said to me: "I'm the Doctor!"

While I was smiling, figuring this was some kind of weak joke and expecting him to smile back, he looks at me in all seriousness and then starts typing frenetically into some kind of iPhone device (or perhaps sonic i-phone?). I was getting just a little nervous at this point. Chesapeake, VA isn't usually renowned for weirdos or weird experiences, but then again, I never knew Cardiff in Wales was so galatically twisted either, so you never know.

After typing in for a moment, he held it in front of me, and I heard the familiar sounds of the Doctor Who theme tune playing for me.

I got my photo and emerged a few moments later unscathed - but you never know when the Doctor might be wanting you!

The Myth of Balance

2008-07-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

A wee thought I'll leave with cyberspace and ya'll today, which was triggered by a comment by Mike Metzger on his blog (for details, see entry on Evangelism and Sex).

It's about balance in life. Have you ever worried about the constant balance we need to try to keep - between work, home, church and other stuff. I worry about it periodically, especially in this particular time in my life.

Metzger says this:

"balance is a myth. The scriptures speak of tensions. The tension, for example, between pursuing a calling in the wider world and being a good father. I like tensions because they affirm two equally good yet competing virtues."

I like that - I think... Yes, I think I'll reflect on my life being full of these tensions....

Actually, I found one that the Apostle Paul was wrestling with, except that his is much more compelling than where my mind normally goes:

"For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body".

(talking to the Phillipians, chapter 1: 21-24)

Fear,Worry, and Mortality

2008-07-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

K here -

Evangelism and Sex!

2008-07-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yes - SEX! SEX!

I'm trying to increase the reading circulation of our blog by talking about sex! Well, sort of....

We get an excellent magazine called Critique, a publication of Ransom Fellowship. It always has thought-provoking articles and there was one called "X-Rated Evangelism" by Michael Metzger, which caught my eye (it was the evangelism word which drew me in, of course....)

He makes a few cool statements, which I thought I'd share:

"The best sex is the fruit of a marriage, not the focus."

He then draws this thought out to give an analogy to why we're on earth as believing human beings:

"Human flourishing is our focus, not sharing our faith. Just look at how Christ shared the gospel with a woman at a well." (John 4)

So his thesis seems to be - aim at demonstrating our worship of God in all we do and are, and infectious evangelism may well result!

Or to put it in John Piper's terminology - we can't commend to others what we do not cherish...

So, as sex fits into the bigger picture of marriage as we focus on love and sacrificial commitment, so evangelism flows out of "reframing it inside a larger story" (Metzger)....

So, anyway, if any of this has intrigued you at all as it did me (who gets sweaty palms at the thought of evangelism but silly boyish grins at the mention of sex), then leave a comment or read the whole article in context!

http://www.doggieheadtilt.com/x-rated-evangelism/#more-50

Meet the Furious Five

2008-07-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well, they're not actually Kung Fu Panda warriors, but they are Emily's five webkins and she really wanted to introduce them to the world.. We present: Cuddles the Koala, Nancy the white doggy thing...Bamboo the dashing panda, Cupcake the precocious poodle and finally Snowball the polar bear...

One thing I know for sure - they take up more bedspace than the average NFL quarterback and attack me if I don't treat Emily like the princess she is!

Random Listing

2008-07-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've sometimes wondered about my friends and which artists, which books, which TV programs, which places, which movies have most influenced them. These names have made a difference in their lives and help to paint a picture of who they are. To give an example for me with three names: Watership Down, Cabo Da Roca, Ian Rankin. 1 minute of googling would help you find out what they are. Then the intriguing part - why connected to me?

Here's a random list of names which mean a lot to Dominic. They are in no order. Some are places, some are books, some are TV shows or films, some are artists, some are sporting heroes. I don't know what I'm going to write. Here goes:

Tobermory, This Little Lime-Tree Bower My Prison, Ian Rankin, Andy Irvine, Journey of Desire, Tintin, Dad's Army, Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek, Marillion, Red Barchetta, Gavin Hastings, Cramond, Aberdour, Shine on you Crazy Diamond, PG Tips, The Local Scoop, Chariots of Fire, Asterix, The Magic Roundabout, Murakami, Saramago, The Name of the Game, Roy Clements, PG Wodehouse, A Shot in the Dark, Under the Summer Stars, The Copper Kettle, The Front Porch Cafe.

That was completely random and I wonder how many you might recognize. You'll certainly ascertain that I'm British in origin and of a certain age! I wonder what your random list would look like.....

Preparing

2008-07-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Kat and I have been taking an online course on tentmaking (example of Paul in Acts making tents is where this term comes from), and I thought I'd share a comment I made after going through the lesson on stress. Does stress resonate with you at all? This course has been excellent in asking us some good questions, but the lesson did prompt this reply on the discussion board:

"My other thought was that preparing to do missions work and moving to another culture is a little like preparing for marriage. I think God gives us a lot of desire, enthusiasm and drive to get us there and shields us from over-thinking about all the problems we will face. For example, if I truly had known prior to marriage just all the challenges and struggles I would face and could see all that in advance, would I have had the courage to pop the question?! (By the way, I love being married!). In the same way, it's great to have preparation, planning and not to underestimate the challenges of cross-cultural ministry but we need also to remember God's grace, His planning and going ahead of us, and not lose the sense of excitement either! Otherwise, well I have a great life here in the States...."

Anyone have any thoughts on where I'm coming from?

Family life

2008-06-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

No psuedo-spiritual waffle from me on this post: just a few pictures of Christison family life in June 2008....

Heavenly Conversation

2008-06-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Andrew's into superheroes as you may know from the last post, and had an interesting little conversation with him yesterday. Went something like:

A: Where's God?

D: He's in heaven. He's also everywhere! He's listening to us right now...

A: Where is heaven?

D: Uh... um, well, it's kind of up there in the sky...

A: How will get up there?

D: Well, eh... good question. We'll kind of fly really fast...

A: I'll need to be superhero to fly there....

(final comment, which I loved):

I'll fly with God when I get there!

Yes, Andrew, I'm praying that you will fly with God one day.....

Who is this man?

2008-06-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Andrew has taken to Iron Man like a duck to water. Literally, one morning he woke up, talking about Iron Man this Iron Man that, explaining the intricacies of Iron Man's tactics and the vagaries of operating as a lone hero in a post Cold War international scenario..... Seriously, how do boys think? Did I do this? Does anyone reading have a son like this? What's next? (I hope he doesn't get into the Hulk... I'd probably have to play the part but my muscle tone isn't quite up to snuff...) Dominic

Baltimore Trip

2008-06-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a few belated photos from our trip to Baltimore area, to visit our good friends Mat and Amy who recently moved there. It was a fun weekend and the Baltimore touristy waterfront area was a good place to relax (well, apart from pedaling those dragon boats and running around after the kids in the remarkably noisy and frenetic Port Discovery)...

Humbled

2008-06-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday I - Kathryn - was heading down to Ayden to attend one of our old neighbor's funerals. I mean old - 92. My "Aunt " Betsy who died in her sleep last weekend. Anyway, on the way down there just past where we always stop, I got pulled over going 16 mph over the speed limit. Now I find out that I should call the DA's office to ask for a prayer for judgment(reduction) and/or traffic school! If I don't do this and I don't find favor with the judge, I could lose my license! YIKES!!!

And here I was disgruntled with having to go to traffic court at the end of August!

I could use your prayers, please...

Power of words

2008-06-05T09:29:00.001-07:00

In our small group, we've been looking at the power of our words to encourage and build or to, unfortunately tear down and destroy. It's truly scary for me to see how much what I say to Kathryn, Emily or Andrew can affect their lives, their faith and everything. Gulp! I recently finished reading through proverbs, and here are a couple of proverbs I really love because they show the power for good words can accomplish:

A man finds joy in giving an apt reply - and how good is a timely word! (15:23)

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (16:24)

Happy Birthday Emily

2008-05-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Eight years ago today Emily came into our lives...and we've never been the same since. She was conceived between two hurricanes and born during a nor'easter. We teased that someday she'd have a great weather girl name - Stormy. But while she at times blusters ( she comes from a long line of drama queens), she is the most amazing girl I've ever met. She loves her brother immensely. Goes all gooey when she sees little babies. Enjoys photography - of herself :-). Is Webkinz crazed. Hannah Montana too. She's absolute tops in her parents book.

Today she celebrates not having to sit in a booster seat as well as the normal birthday cake and presents...

We love you Emily!

Have a remarkable year!!!

Scary new hobby

2008-05-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, many of you (especially with 8 year old girls) will know about the phenomenon of Webkins, little stuffed animals you register and play games with online, order new free standing toilet facilities and paddling pools for, little stuffed toys you go online to feed, bathe, manicure and put to bed each night (or they get really cranky apparently)...

What you don't know and I'm sharing with you as a concerned husband is that my wife, Kathryn to be precise, was given a webkin by my daughter as a mother's day present.

Presenting Goldy....

Now it's one thing for Kathryn to go online and play games with Emily's webkins in a Mom-daughter kind of way, but I caught her the other evening playing webkins Mah-Jongg on her own, like in her precious free time! What can I do about this? Any suggestions anyone?

Trip to Lusby, MD

2008-05-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of our late April trip to Lusby, MD to visit our friends, Dawn and Rich Good and their adorable daughter, Adrie. As you can tell, my blogging skills with photos do leave a little to be desired! We had great hospitality from the Goods, got to visit a local beach and a great park, and, as you can see, the ice cream van visited to leave the kids sticky and happy. Ah, the blessings of good friends!

Our New Kitchen

2008-04-17T13:16:00.001-07:00

When we moved into our current house, I became frustrated with the kitchen because it was the kind that looks great until you move into it and realize just how little room there is.

Well, after loads of hemming and hawing, we took the plunge and remodeled the kitchen. We ended up going to Panda Kitchens and got a great contractor named Rory. About a month after starting, it was finished!

Dom says he doesn't know how we lived so long with the old kitchen :-)

Reunions and the Blessing of the Internet

2008-04-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

K here -

The Christison clan went to Knoxville, TN for Easter. Have some photos I'm sure, but I have another story to tell at the moment.

Back last August a friend of mine who's an 8th grade English teacher was lamenting and questioning whether anyone ever remembers their 8th grade English teacher. I reflected for a few moments or two and found that I most certainly did remember him! Parker Hardy was his name.

I was talking to my sister about this and she blurted out, "Parker Hardy - an essay is like a woman's skirt - long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep it interesting." I was thinking of Roscoe and Chloe myself (the names that appeared on the board for many a diagrammed sentence , but yes I remembered that too.

This all got me wondering whatever happened to him. I googled his name and found a recurring name in Oak Ridge, TN. Then I googled his name in the image category and lo and behold, here's a picture of my 7th and 8th grade English teacher!

Then I got really brave and wrote one of those "You probably don't remember me, but" emails. He did!

And to make a not too lengthy story, not too lengthy, we all met my former English teacher at Moe's Southwest Grill in Knoxville this past week. It was so sweet! It had been at least 25 years since we'd been in the same place, but it was a very special time of catching up and meeting or looking at photos of our families.

How amazingly cool the Internet is every now and then...

Zoo trip

2008-03-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from our first trip of the year to the zoo (middle of March):

Emily also explains her fun weekend below:

Dinner Conversation

2008-03-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

K-

Tonight's topic at dinner started with a mere comment that Dom made about a slice of ham Emily was putting on her plate. Something to the effect of "Yes, I was alive earlier today, but then I got killed and made into sliced ham. I'm really cut up about it." I groaned as I do at any pun good or otherwise, but Emily said "Ew, why do we have to eat animals anyway? I think that's such a bad idea." Well, Dom responded with, "Oh yeah? Well, if you don't eat meat then you know what you'd have to eat, don't you? V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E-S!!!!!" Emily replied with her best EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!

I want this written down for the record in case she ever becomes a vegetarian :-)

Golf at 10.30

2008-03-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

So here I am on a Tuesday morning at 10.30am, playing golf in the back garden with Andrew. (I'm grooming him for the 2025 Ryder Cup). And I have this momentary moment of anxiety - why am I not in an office like a normal guy? What about our future? Shouldn't I be finding out the cost of apartments in Budapest or something? Then the wave of anxiety recedes as I get just pure pleasure from seeing the face of glee in Andrew as he whacks his ball with aplomb against a tree...

A spaced-out day

2008-02-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday 23rd, Kathryn was away visiting Sally in Roanoke, so Dad and the kids took a trip to the Virginia Air and Space Center.

A few photos...... (a full lot will shortly be on the slideshow...)

We ended the day watching Apollo 13!

Grace resonates

2008-02-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

D:
I was listening to my friends Geddy, Alex and Neil aka Rush ("thinking man's heavy metal") on my mp3 player in the car, a usual state of affairs and, after listening to a few songs noticed how often the word "grace" popped up in the lyrics. Wait a minute! I thought it was us Christians who talked about grace, we have the message of grace. Not Neil Peart, a secular humanist par excellence!
It got me thinking about the whole concept of grace and how a desire to be recipients of grace, or receiving unmerited favor and mercy is just woven into the DNA of all of us. How talking with non-believers about grace could be a bridge and a place to start a good conversation, since it's a topic we can all relate to. Even more scandalous, my non-believing friends could teach me about grace and how to live extending grace! After all it's the likes of me, a self-absorbed 40 something evangelical who has a message of grace to live while living gracelessly all day long....
Thanks to Rush for starting this puzzling train of thought.....

Posh Nosh and conversation

2008-02-14T13:26:00.001-08:00

D:
Had a delightful dinner with my daughter on Monday - a kind of Daddy/daughter date mixed in with an early Valentines event. It's so much fun going out for dinner with Emily! She dressed up, I dressed up, the waitresses at "Freemason Abbey" in Norfolk said "How cute!" (to her, not to me you understand) and we had 3 courses and wine upstairs. I've discovered from previous dinner dates that gourmet cuisine (or posh nosh as Mrs. Beckham would call it) really promotes some great conversation between us. Emily had some great questions for me, and we talked about spiritual stuff as well. Examples were, "Do Catholics go to the same heaven as us?", Wasn't I born a Christian?" (no Em, it's your choice!) and (thinking about friends at church who have lost their son after a week), "When babies go to heaven, do they grow up there or stay as babies?" I nearly choked on my Caesar salad!
Anyway, it was a fun evening and thanks Emily for being such a delightful young lady to dine with!
(Kathryn, please don't get too jealous, your date is tonight....)

Prayers for the Broken Hearted

2008-02-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

K@ here -

Today I must point you to a blog that is in our links column, but that I will put here now. bhmoonriver.blogspot.com This is a blog mostly of the last 5 months when one of the women in our church found out that the little boy she was expecting had Trisomy 18 - a genetic disorder that causes the infant to either die before birth or shortly thereafter. Sully died Sunday night, but I want you to go read the blog from beginning to end to see into the grief and growth that this dear family has gone through. It's not something I'd ever wish for myself or anyone, but it is absolutely beautiful at the same time. The struggles and battles they've fought within themselves and with the Lord is amazingly written about with an honesty that is seldom seen. Go. Read. Weep. Pray. Hope.

Confessions

2008-02-09T17:45:00.001-08:00

K here-

I have a confession to make - I watched the Superbowl last Sunday. The commercials were not worth the money those now poor companies paid for them. I started watching the game instead. It was probably the best (American) football game I have EVER seen played. That's not saying much you must realize. I've watched precious little. However I have been an exceedingly laid back observer of football since I was a young child...

I remember going to Friday night high school football games with my folks. Dad was the team (as well as town) doctor so we sort of had to. Plus my babysitter's brother was on the team too. Anyway, the only one I really remember was when the game ended because the heaven's opened and the rain poured down. We were soaked to the skin and I loved it!

Back to last week. I watched it. Dominic basically put the kids in bed while watching as much as he could since he was the acting football widow-er in this instance. After they were down, we watched the rest of that game to the bitter end. It was spectacular! Now sure, I don't have all the vocabulary down, nor am I conversant when it comes to first downs and such, but I was totally amazed. Of course I was rooting for the NY Giants just cause I was tired of hearing about New England so much, but WOW! I might have to watch again next year... We'll see.

Andrew-isms

2008-02-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

K here -
Andrew has a way with words...Today we went his parent teacher conference where his preschool teacher Mrs. Atkinson said he had a lot of vocabulary and talks a lot. We couldn't agree with her more! She was encouraging us to teach him his last name in case he ever got lost. In the car we started right in working on this. Well, according to him our last name is Christmasmaps. It went downhill from there!

Then we are in the grocery store and he points at a can of pineapple rings and says "Pineapple tires".

Yesterday I asked him what he had for a snack at preschool and he said Yeman-aid.

Encounters in Target

2008-02-01T14:14:00.001-08:00

Well, January has just wound down and I've had a good three weeks of my new lifestyle. Always in our minds is - where next? God, we're as ready as we'll ever be. So, prayed together on Wednesday morning that God would direct us to some people and opportunities. Then, within 24 hours a couple of "coincidences happen.

I'm off to Target with the kids on a Wednesday evening, and am just fueling them up with Iceeze as any good responsible parent would, when I run into a couple I haven't met in 3 years. The guy did music at Trinity for a while. We chat for a bit and then he brings up the fact that they were until recently considering doing oversees missions, in Europe of all places. I told him frankly the subject was of absolutely no interest to me and walked off..... Not exactly! So I got his email and hope to follow up with them about what they were considering doing with church planting in Belgium. Not the kind of conversation you expect in Target...

The following morning we meet with Ursula Spooner, a delightful older lady who "just happened" to be one of the speakers at our missions conference at Trinity last week. She "just happens" to have done missions in Central and Eastern Europe for the last 25 years, and lives in a town called Vienna, Austria (I think that's how you spell it...) So we have a great chat and she tells us about some opportunities such as the Vienna Christian school.

So the moral of the story is that praying together can be hazardous to your health! Seriously, if you're reading this, God bless you, and pray for us for wisdom!

Trip to Boston

2008-01-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

We got the chance to escape without the kids on the 11th of January to one of our favorite places - Boston! It was chilly but fun. We went there for the first time in October 06 and while there talked for the very first time about possibly moving back over to Europe. So, it seemed kind of appropriate and symmetrical to go there again in January 08, now that we're heading (however slowly) back over. Or maybe it was just a chance to go to Mike's pastries and sip cappuccino and eat one of their delicious pastries...

For more pictures from Boston, see the current slideshow....

We've converted!!!!!!!

2008-01-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

It's official! We have converted. It's been long in coming - very gradual. But this weekend we finally bit the proverbial bullet . . . and bought a MAC!!! It's flat, comes in one piece, has a big screen. It's beautiful. Why didn't we do this long ago? Who knows. I see all our Mac friends smiling that knowing smile. Thanks to you all for helping us see the light - gradually over the years. You helped us leap over those hurdles and walls that we'd put up, but in the end it was inevitable. We really had no choice. When you find the one true answer to all your computer problems, you just have to ...

Cupcake

2008-01-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

Emily's first Webkin ever. EVER. She is a white poodle. She's very sweet and fun. Her favorite food is spaghetti. Her favorite game is basketball. And her birthday is July 21st. Cupcake loves school - math is her fave subject. Her favorite color is pink and her favorite animal is a fish. She has a pink toilet and a pink canopy bed in her room as well as a vanity and a pink couch. Cupcakes favorite game is the pig game.

Emily's mom got Cupcake for her and is amazed at all the different things you can do at www.webkinzworld.com . Emily asked her mom if she wanted one and her mom said she didn't know when she'd find the time to do all the feeding and decorating that are required for this lovely poodle. (Aren't poodles really cats disguised as dogs anyway???)

PLUS Kathryn doesn't know how she's even going to get to on the computer now that her daughter is on it playing with her webkin every chance she gets!

Pictures will be forthcoming!

What do we look like?

2008-01-26T12:46:00.000-08:00

They say a picture can say a thousand words, and explain a lot of things!
As we start 2008, this is a candid visual portrait of the Christison family.....

Self-pity

2008-01-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Today I was doing my Sonship homework which is one self-pity this week. I am supposed to name two things I feel sorry for myself about. I could only truly think of one: my Dad dying at the young age of 60. This self-pity mess really brings out how much I'd like to take God's place. Now I KNOW that I wouldn't be able to do much actually in His chair. Anybody seen Bruce Almighty? or Evan Almighty? And I KNOW that God took Dad home at exactly the right time. It's just that I miss him and was looking forward to having Dad be a part of so many other parts of my life - wedding, kids, Christmas...all that stuff that you get to do with your folks when they are grandparents. Now I'm just sad...

Slideshow now showing

2008-01-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

The slideshow on the right is a few pictures from our summer trip to Scotland...

Where to start?

2008-01-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Christisons in transition? Christisons in transit? Christisons heading..... where?
It's a rainy Thursday afternoon in the Chesapeake library as I write the first blog entry. Somewhere in my ex-workplace office, TTO, someone is scurrying around trying to find the folder that contains the course revisions to BU142. Back at home, Emily is grappling with some Math homework, Kathryn is grappling with Andrew, and Andrew is probably not grappling too hard at anything except the plot line for Curious George.
It's freeing to be no longer in full-time employment and able to post this first entry. Freeing but a little scary. 2008 is the year of unknown events, a blank page. Well, all years are like that, I guess, but things feel a little more unknown, a little more open. I think God wanted it this way! What is He going to show us this year? Where is our next niche in the story He's writing. Watch this space!


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