Lily's first popsicle

Visit from Auntie Fran, pt. 1

We met Francine in Austin and went to the Salt Lick for dinner. It's a fairly famous barbecue place in Driftwood, TX and is pretty cool. You drive for about 30 minutes, seemingly going nowhere, until you come over the horizon and see a parking lot that seems way too big. The website states that it seats 2000 people, which seems ridiculous, until you see that parking lot. They actually have a leather-faced police officer directing traffic. Anyway, this was the patio where we waited for a table, listening to some guy play cover songs that all sounded the same, and drinking some really good fresh-squeezed lemonade. Lily ate stuff off the ground.

Back in Dallas, we took the trolley downtown to the DMA. There we enjoyed some art, but Lily punched Fran in the face after a disputed interpretation of this piece. Francine thought the use of gold and space was an interesting critique of capitalism, but Lily thought that it was cheese.

Some new pictures

Lily's new style of smiling....


Lily checking out Belle in the safe arms of Papa Pete...

Playing in the sandbox with Meme Kay....

With the cousins, Tyler and Ryan...


A girl after her dad's own heart, picking Frank's Red Hot above all other condiments...

Our big girl

It's been a while...here's what Lily has been up to:

spending hours on her hair...


listening to the Pixies...




sleeping late..

texting...

oh yeah, walking!!!!!!

Beware

Radha and I were able to get out and catch Bonnie "Prince" Billy the other night at the Granada. He's motivated me to grow a gnarly beard over the winter. It was a fun show, but we're getting too old. Radha lay down on the floor and fell asleep half-way through. Just kidding. Anyway, here's a clip from the show of one of our favorite songs from his most recent album. "Beware Your Only Friend."

BET Final

Developments in the Life of Lily

Lily is growing fast. She had her 5th birthday yesterday. Just kidding. However, check out the latest developments.


(Note to our mothers: this was a once in a lifetime occurrence; her brain is not yet mush.)

Lily's also working on her vertical.



And finally, watch out everyone, she's crawling.

Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days (actually 46, minus the 6 Sundays that occur between Ash Wednesday and Easter), originally designed in the early church as a time for converts to make final preparations for baptism, which occurred on Easter. The season of Lent revolves around two foci. First, it is a time in which the church considers our human condition, specifically sin and its consequences. Second, it is also a time to consider the new possibilities and hope that Christ brings through the resurrection. Lent brings us full-circle, starting with the recognition that, "from dust we came and to dust we return," and culminating in the grand celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead.

Far too often, those of us who come from a Free-church background have neglected the Christian calendar, and this has been to our detriment. It is encouraging to see a rise in excitement over recovering these traditions, but often "discovery" comes hand in hand with misunderstanding. This treatment by Laurence Stookey greatly aided my understanding of Lent.

In the past much was made of "giving up something" for Lent. At times this was a trivial if harmless self-denial : abstaining from chocolate or attendance at movies. At times it was dishonest: giving up cigarettes because the physician had sternly warned of the dangers of smoking, or reducing food intake because weight loss was desired. In reaction, it has now come into vogue to suggest that instead we should "take on something" for Lent: pay a visit each week to someone who is ill or shut in, add an additional passage of scripture or prayer to personal devotions, or increase charitable offerings for six weeks. None of these is reprehensible; but neither do these grasp the depth of what is meant by Lenten devotion and discipline, if for no other reason than that they are temporary; presumably once Easter arrives, these "add-ons" will be set aside for another forty-six weeks.

The fuller Lenten discipline is self-examination that seeks greater conformity to the mind of Christ, and more effective ministry on behalf of the world (which is what true devotion is all about). In this perspective, Lenten disciplines are not temporary deletions or additions but spiritual exercises that permanently alter us. A budding pianist at a certain stage spends hours practicing scales, and the novice typist again and again keys in: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Far from being exercises of only temporary value or even busywork, these disciplines actually alter neural pathways such that years later access to the resulting skills can be gained with only a minimum of effort. By the same logic it is said that once you have learned, you can never quite forget how to ride a bicycle.

Solid spiritual disciplines seek to effect the same kind of permanent acquisition.... [they] are designed to have effects far past the Lenten season and indeed are intended to produce new pathways for devotion and discipline in the same way that the exercises of a pianist or typist create new and enduring neural pathways.

I'm looking forward to participating in the Lenten season. If anyone else is, I'd love to hear what you are doing.

The Cure of Souls

From John T. McNeill's A History of the Cure of Souls...

...the cure of souls is never merely a method, even a method derived from a doctrine, or a task for certain hours in the week, but it involves both the faith we live by and all our daily activities and contacts. (87)