Middle Age

I found this on the back of a box of blueberry tea. I kind of liked it. Here it is.
The Poetics of Middle Age

My closest friend of forty years informs me that rather than "middle"aged, the French say mur, which means "ripe". Ready, then-at last! To be savored. And indeed, in those strange and yet familiar lines of her face I recognize not the unfairness of time, but its justice, its generosity, its capacity to fit people together so perfectly. As for the "big questions," they've somehow lost their intrigue. "What are we here for?" now seems less pressing than, "Who are we here for?" After all, we'll probably never be able to answer the first. But the second....well, we need only take a look around!
I have often thought even when I was in my thirties that there was something special waiting for me when I turned 50. My fifties are just ahead of me and rather than pushing them away I look forward to them. Some of you that are reading this are just twenty something and can not possibly relate. But I do relate to the line in this writing that says more I think about who am I here for. And that is something that I think getting older affords you. More time for others if you choose to fill up your time that way. A time to better know yourself. Oh this is so way past most of you. But I do think about it from time to time On to other things.
I went to physical therapy this morning at 8:00. It was as I suspected...painful.
But I knew that was the way it was going to be. Mike(my pt) doesn't really know why my knee is catching but it defiantly does now have the full range of motion that it should have. I was not surprised as since I have been having trouble with it I have been favoring it. Not putting it as straight as I should which causes it to not go as flat as it should. So when I go to stand up it is stiff. So now I have this series of exercises to do. I am actually don't mind because it is the road to not having to deal with this anymore and on to other things.
Today we are getting school done. Looks like we are in a good place for the end of the week. Ya! I have been playing a CD this morning by Lakewood Church. Lakewood Live. I had forgotten how much I like it.
Conner is going to his first Aquire the Fire this weekend. He is looking forward to it. Desperation will be there and I can't wait to hear what he thinks about them. I really enjoy them. Next year Brendon will be going, how weird is that.
We are going to have Kinzie with us this weekend during ATF. How fun. We are going to do something just now sure what. I want to get some work done on the store in the superchurch room and buy paint to start painting the actual design next week.

Yesterday I did get to be domestic. Somedays I love the smell of fabric softner, hearing the dishwasher going, baking something and seeing my bed made. When this all happens in the same day it is a banner day. Last night after dinner we watched Zorro 2. It was ok. The boys didn't think it was as good as the first one but I thought it was ok.
It snowed last night. We have not had very much snow this winter which is fine with me. The snow is pretty but I'm just not that into it this winter. Personally I enjoyed the 40 and 50 degree highs that we have had.
I don't really have much else to talk about today. Not to much going on. Maybe today would be a good day to have a rousing game of Dora Candy Land with Kinzie. I think that this would be a good idea since at this moment she is standing outside of the Conner's bedroom where he is working on his school work and saying over and over "Conner are you doing your homework." I also need to go to the post office and mail a special Valentines package off today.

Bye for now,
B

More Physical Therapy

I have been having trouble with the knee that I last had surgery on for about the last three weeks. I went to my knee surgeon yesterday to have him look at it. I was very glad that he said there is no way that I could need any more knee surgeries. What a relief that was. I couldn't imagine having to do that again. So he is sending me to physical therapy. I really like my physical therapist. He is a great guy but..... he hurts me. I already know how this is going to go but the only way to get to the point where my knee doesn't hurt is to hurt it. Nothing to do but just to do it.
Last night I went to a VBS workshop that Wellspring offers to showcase all of the VBS programs that they sell. All of the different publishers send presenters to pitch there programs. It is fun to look at everything and to hear the presenters. Usually they are all VBS directors for there churches and have been for many years or are Childrens Pastors. They are all so passionate about kids and that makes it fun. Last night one of the presenters was a childrens pastor from a church in Des Moines. She gave a statistic that floored me. She said that a recent statistic for Polk county showed that 66% of Polk county is unchurched. Wow, are you shocked. I was. We should be. Look at all of the churches in just DesMoines. Now look add to that some very large areas with big churches, Altoona, Ankeny, Norwalk etc. Now I will tell you why that doesn't matter. What she said is that your children can go to school with kids who say they are Christians but that is not what they are living at home. Why the disconnect from going and not living? This is what I am pondering today. How does this effect childrens ministry and planning for the coming year in my church? Not even just childrens ministry but all aspects of christain living?
What are we not saying? More what are we not showing? Are we making it look ok to not live what we say is what we believe? I don't know. I just have been thinking about it since last night.
Today I get to stay home all day. There are days when that's not something I would get excited about. But not today. We had a very busy weekend. Today I will enjoy the sound of the washer going, the smell of fabric softner, checking school work and having dinner together. I am feeling very domestic.
Great news on the dog front. Troy has gone 6 days now without any accidents and he is sleeping through the night. The sleeping thing didn't really affect me but it is great to see Brendon not so sleepy during the day.