Sunday I took Ananda, Aaron and Isaac to Mass at 8:00 at Sacred Heart, then came home and the 7 of us all went to City Church. Mass included
Here I Am, Lord as the communion hymn, which some people who know me in real life will realize instantly melts me into a gooey puddle. It was just a Good Thing, all around. City Church was fun for the kids - the message gave me a lot to think about. Apparently City Church is operating, as part of some branch or other of Presbyterians, under the assumption that we are living in a post-Christian America and that, as such, their primary job is to reach the unchurched locals (rather than going overseas on mission trips or catering to established Christians who are already here). They seek to do this through creating what sociologists call "the third place", i.e., what Starbucks or the sports bar is to people. This is why they have cooking classes, agnostic art hanging everywhere, and play music that is not specifically categorized as Christian, and they are taking it to the extent of saying, we will have communion and hymns at special believers-only worship services, but in the main this church is for this city, not for us in-crowd Christians. And that we Christians have to be in the culture and not segregated and a whole lot more stuff. I really do believe they're coming from a prayerful and sincere place and that they are doing something good, but I am not always sure if it is something Holy or even big g Good.
Anyway the Catholics were certainly up in the culture and reaching out to the city when they were paying my electric bill and giving me bags of groceries while I was a confused, Protestant, 19 year old single mother. Without any sermons or judgement or even the kind of proof of need that the government programs require.
I've been thinking about this kind of stuff a lot. Catholic Hospice here in the greater Miami area is a free service to people of all faiths, no strings or dirty looks attached. The Vatican has embraced Harry Potter as a story that teaches children that there is a difference between good and evil and that we all face temptations and choices, and that love conquers all and sacrifice and mothers and blah blah blah. Evangelical right-wing so and sos are the ones warning parents their kids will be led astray by J.K.Rowling.
I am, like, 5 minutes from deciding I am becoming a Catholic. I may also keep going to City Church indefinitely in addition, and supporting their ministry, because I certainly was led to God through loving people in a really liberal Protestant denomination who appealed to me as an "unchurched person". I do think that is important. And City Church IS becoming an amazing cultural center, and it's also like 5 blocks away from my house.
I've also finished reading
Called Out of Darkness, Anne Rice's "spiritual confession" of her conversion, or really return, to faith. I relate to SO MUCH SHE HAS TO SAY HERE. I know what it's like to question for the reasons she did, to see the ultimate GOOD in non-Christian people with moral compasses that have nothing to do with God, to grapple with gay loved ones vs church teachings and all of it - her faithful explanations of how Christian holidays can tie in with pre-dating Pagan rituals and. Just wow. Not to mention, I read all those Vampire books, and I have made up my own fictional characters, and I can FEEL how intensely difficult it would be to LET GO of something like Lestat, just let go after 8 books and 27 years - after major Hollywood movies and a critically acclaimed Broadway musical and Fan Clubs to
your idea by the dozen - and say...that's all. I'm writing for God. Most of my fans will hate it and it's not going to be nearly so easy as slipping into this dark delicious world of yours, but you aren't even real. This is real.
I'm trying to wade through copious amounts of reviews to see whether or not I should read her
Christ the Lord series (so far there are two -
Out of Egypt and
The Road to Cana). On the one hand, I do believe she is coming from a real experience of God to make this decision to write about the Life of Christ with deep research and Orthodox theology backing up her fictional fill in details. On the other hand, Life of Christ + Fictional Fill in details = Does not compute. She's writing in first person
AS GOD. The lay people and the clergy both seem split on this, as far as I can tell, some wholeheartedly endorsing and others totally against it.
Meanwhile, I've begun doing things like asking for the intercession of St Jude, patron saint of lost and impossible causes, on behalf of my Nana, and putting the
Lives of the Saints on my Amazon wishlist, and trying not to project onto Grant that he sees me as a silly superstitious twit.
My Pa - my healthy, white Pa, other half of "Nana and" - came down here for a visit. It's the first time he's been back since they sold their house and moved away 5 years ago, and so he was blown away by the enormous amount of new housing and shopping and the expanded hospital and the restaurants and theater and really, there are just whole new sections of town that didn't exist 5 years ago. We have traffic now. Anyway, I spent a lot of Sunday showing him around, having lunch with him at Gusto's, and taking him to visit with Laura and Brian (Frank was on shift). Then most of Monday was spent taking the kids and meeting Laura's family and him at the zoo, where we spent the afternoon, and then having thai food. I posted pics from that zoo trip. The thai food, I do not even know, I am ADDICTED to this panang curry with lamb at Stir Moon, it's a coconut curry full of lime leaves and read chilies that I spoon all over the bowl of brown rice it comes with...*shudders of bliss*
Pa and I had some time spent talking about Nana, and he had a private trip to the cemetary to view their plots (still here from when they bought them years ago before they moved away) and go over paperwork. Mostly though I was so happy to see him able to be cheered up by his grandkids and distracted by good food and willing to laugh at jokes and things. I wish he would consider moving down here.
Monday night I had a Birthgirlz meeting. It was energizing, and exciting, and FREAKING AWESOME. I'm going to be dropping a stack of handouts out at my old chiropractor's office about this upcoming event they're having -
http://birthgirlz.com/UpcomingEvents.html As well as asking him to become a sponsor of it.
AND I'm going to be talking with the bookstore family about having the next
Soap Box Derby there.
AND I'm going to talk to Schnebly about sponsoring their fundraising gala, AND talk to the string quartet that plays at City Church about playing there.
AND that "Pusing for VBACs" thing I urged people to donate to awhile ago? Over $10,000 has poured in. They're hiring the litigation attorney, with enough for his retainer and a bit more - they will need more money before it's all over as it's about a $15,000 journey all told. So if you'd like to help them get through this end game with the total, here is the link -
http://birthgirlz.com/URGENTActionRequired.htmlAnd/or, if you'd like to help us establish the FIRST Mother-Friendly hospital in Miami-Dade county, you can sign this petition we're working on - Jackson South's maternal care model is currently being revamped so this is the perfect time and they are actually acting receptive, and anyone anywhere can sign this -
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/motherfriendlyinmiami/ PLEASE DO!
AND, I have to find out what if anything Nancy is going to charge us to speak at our Birth Film Festival in February.
AND, they have ACTUALLY GOTTEN A HEAD OF A LOCAL UNIVERSITY TO AGREE TO HAVE MED STUDENTS SHADOW MIDWIVES AND DOULAS AS PART OF THEIR INTERNSHIP HOURS. This is so huge, I teared up with goosebumps when I heard it. What a massive difference it could make.
And...I have to write this whole c/s book because I am tired of telling the story of why I appear to be pregnant to people who gasp with horror and urge me to please, PLEASE WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THIS.
At that meeting, my friend Michelle gave me a free pass to an advance screening of
Julie and Julia for Tuesday night. She somehow got many of these. And I met a big old group of peeps at CocoWalk in the Grove to see it, and sat next to my friend Kristin and laughed my head off during the HOUR we waited for it to start because someone important who had flown in for it was late? Anyway, yeah, the movie was really good, too, and perfect for right then. I had left italian pot roast loaded with (3) onions, (25+ cloves) garlic, (3 crates of) mushrooms, broth and stock and (lots of) basil from the garden baking for hours and hours at 250 degrees after being browned in olive oil, for my family's dinner. So watching AAAaaall those shots of beef bourginon(sp?) had me AMPED to get home and have leftovers. Meryl Streep WAS that woman, she is incredible. Kristin was like, "I want that bag!" "I want that car!" etc, throughout the whole vintage looking movie, and we were moaning at the rasberry cream and recoiling in horror about the beef flavored jello that solidifies in the fridge after you boil a hoof for long enough. Good times.
Then today while Shaun watched the younger 3, Grant and I took Ananda and Aaron to see
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I should note that yesterday Isaac asked if he could go see it too and I told him I needed to watch it to see if it was too scary first. He said, well, what about Annie and Aaron? I told him that they are so deeply invested at this point that even if they do have nightmares for the next 6 months, it is worth it to them. Both of them were instantly like, "Yep."
They liked it. We all jumped at one point, laughed at others. I cried a little. Aaron got really sad and came out subdued. Annie was walking on air. As usual I am bemused by the spectacle of 3 previously unknown kids who can't really act getting to star in front of millions of dollars of special effects and an INCREDIBLE, widely respected supporting cast. They're doing better, though. Kind of. I was impressed with how much of the book was in it but baffled by the extraneous extra scene they threw in.
Grant and I both burst into hysterical laughter at the ridiculous
New Moon trailer, but we are all psyched to see this new
Where the Wild Things Are when it comes out. That trailer actually gives me goosebumps. We've been watching the old Scholastic dvd version with barely-animated book pages for years. G was actually coincidentally wearing a WTWTA shirt in the theater today.
To Conclude:
-Ananda is actually getting to a point now with daily practice where I think we can say "she knows how to ride a bike". This is so long in coming. I'm very proud of her uncharacteristic perseverance - today even when she had a bleeding arm. Well, once she got past her initial near faiting due to seeing her own blood. She walked it for about two blocks, but then rode home with me, even though her face was the wrong color.
-My left wrist has been hurting when used for anything much for a couple of weeks, but has started this new trick where it swells all the way to my fingers or hurts terribly when I'm doing nothing at all. My paranoia coupled with amateur googling has me half-convinced it's diabetes related gout, which would be sucky because, you know, that would mean I am diabetic.
-BUT. I've lost 5 pounds already since quitting sugar and white flour. And I'm being a stickler to bike or walk or somehow excercise every single day. Which aside from making me less fat can also often stop/reverse new cases of diabetes.
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