The Martin-Weber Chronicles

These days

2010-04-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

I'm writing over here these days. It isn't just news about our family though, just a little bit of everything. You can also find me here.

About freakin' time!

2008-01-15T14:20:00.001-08:00

Ok, I know, I know. My posting has stunk to high heaven... as in, non-existent. I won't bore you with the details as to why I haven't, besides, being lazy isn't a good reason (is home schooling and being sick?). I'm likely shutting down this blog and starting a new one as we open a new chapter in our lives. But, for now, I'm back to blogging here.

And to start, I have a super long post about the birth of our 4th daughter, Evangeline Claire.

First, the details:
Evangeline Claire Martin-Weber
Born at home
January 10, 2008
8lbs, 8oz
21 inches long

And now, the very, very, very long story.

The Birth of Good News

Tuesday night, January 8, 2007 I started with my normal pattern of irregular prodromal labor contractions but for the first time I had a complete peace that even if it wasn’t “the real thing” our little girl would be born soon and in the right time. Somehow, I knew it would be soon but didn’t know when soon would actually be. Jeremy and I had a heart to heart talk that if I went past 42 weeks I wasn’t willing to go to the hospital to birth unless we knew there was a good reason beyond some arbitrary date and he actually agreed to help me have an unassisted childbirth if everything looked ok and that was what I wanted… but only if I went past the magic date. I think this was important for me to know and to be able to relax. Wednesday morning came and though there was no baby I noticed that I had a shift in my attitude: instead of impatience about the baby coming I had hope and excitement for the future and began working on plans for following God's call to France. My contractions never did let up but were consistently irregular all day. It was a normal day with the girls, some house cleaning, school work, help clean up some empty lots in the neighborhood and visit with neighbors, and a walk to the park to expend our extra energy. That evening I grew restless over dinner and told Jeremy we needed to get stuff together for the girls to go to our friends. We got the girls in bed, cleaned house some more, I took a bath, hung out and watched Letterman while chatting to friends online, and timed some contractions. Though they were enough to get my attention, they were really inconsistent in strength and timing, I was afraid to get my hopes up so we went to bed. I dozed off and on but the contractions made it hard to sleep, a pattern that I had been living through for weeks at this point. Honestly, I didn’t think it was real labor and I was just getting mad that I was going to struggle to get another night’s sleep. I was right about not getting any sleep! After about 100 trips to the bathroom and regular bloody show I gave up on sleeping and got in the bath again- after about two contractions in there I flew out of the tub saying “why do I try that every time it just makes me uncomfortable!” We started timing the contractions again (“because I’ve either got to stop them or make them do something- it’s shit or get off the pot.”) and sometimes they were 3 min. apart and then sometimes 8, occasionally even close to 15, the strength and duration of each varied. Even though I was feeling that this was serious I couldn’t believe it was the real thing. However, during one of the contractions around 2.30am I told Jeremy that we may want to call Jane, our midwife at least to give her a heads up that something may be up. Can you tell I still wasn’t convinced? I noticed that if I just ignored what was “supposed” to be happening more seemed to get done so I decided that I’d tell Jane that I was fine, she could come and see for herself what was going on but that I didn’t need her there. She decided to come, later she told me that was because she already knew I’d rather go it alone and she figured that the one phone call was all I’d be willing to make. She may have been right. Jane showed up around 3am and watched me for a bit before deciding to set-up “just in case” and then she headed to the couch to go back to sleep. The contractions were completely manageable for me, particularly if I could just completely relax through them. We use the Bradley Method, or the Husband Coached Childbirth method, which I love and as the contractions intensified Jeremy helped me settle into a comfortable position for sleep imitation and would tell me how much he loved me, how strong I am, to relax anywhere there was tension, etc. When a terrible pain started in my left hip because of the baby’s position sometimes I would have a harder time relaxing through a contraction and would end up on my hands and knees locking eyes with Jeremy. If it was particularly bad I’d just say “tell me!” or “Help me!” and he would tell me he loves me in the most calm, soothing voice, his eyes never leaving mine. I love my husband so much more after every birth experience we share together. Those 3 little words are the single most effective phrase to get me to relax and stay calm- hearing them for hours on end really doesn’t get old.

Around 5.30am I felt we should call our dear friend Laura to come help out. Though I still wondered if this was real I knew that even if we went another 2 days without a baby at this point I wanted help for getting food and such. Laura was there for Helena’s birth (a 24+ hour labor, helped support me while I pushed and Jeremy caught) and I looked forward to her calm, female presence. Around the same time Jane called her assistant, I heard her talking to her telling her to come just to beat the traffic but it would be a while yet. Funny, hearing something like that would have potentially disappointed me but I thought “whatever” and let it go. Laura got to our house quickly and quietly came in to say hello. Between contractions she told me how honored she was to be a part of this with us again and I realized that other than Jeremy, she’s the only other person to see me labor and birth more than once. Kinda cool. She asked if it would be ok to read some Scripture she had pulled together for encouragement and support, she tried to read only between the contractions so as not to distract me but they were still so irregular and if she didn’t hear my breathing change she would read through them anyway. It was so cool though, it didn’t distract me at all (and when it did I just vocalized with the contraction and she’d stop but that was usually my hip causing me pain) and some of the passages she read were so beautiful I would feel this deeper connection with my body, God, and the baby and I knew we were on the right track. The pain in my hip became nearly unbearable though and soon I couldn’t do sleep imitation and had to find some movement or positions to help the baby move. I vocalized a lot at this point and would have to mentally tell myself (while Jeremy’s telling me how much he loves me for the 2234987453946813897 time) that the baby was actually going to come out through my cervix and my vagina and not my hip. Yeah, the actual contractions of the uterus were nothing, it was the hip that took everything I had. Things began picking up pretty quickly and I decided that even though it hurt I was going to squat through as many contractions as I could to speed things along. Got through three and by the end of each of them I was on hands and knees. Jane and her assistant Tracy (who rocks, BTW, she had HG with her dd and fought for me all the time- she’s a nurse at the hospital I was in) came in to check and get heart tones, telling me everything is fine. I asked what we can do about the hip and she tells me we could break my bag of waters and get the baby out faster but that’s about it (other than the tons of positions and movement we’d already tried), I just stuck my tongue out at her and she agreed that it was early yet to come to that. The three women leave and Jeremy helps me to the bathroom (to pee AGAIN!) and I sit on the toilet for a second before jumping off onto my hands and knees for a kick ass contraction. Though I didn’t know it at the time, the women were out in the living room and Laura asked if I’d gone through transition yet, they told her no and that it would be a while still. She said something about how some of my vocalizations sounded like I was getting close to pushing, they told her I was nowhere near that. Funny thing was, Laura was totally right. Jeremy and I head back to the bedroom and go through another contraction. I had shut out everyone but Jeremy recognizing the feelings of transition (and savoring the feeling of triumph because I know that means we’re close and it’s real) and decided that though I had been completely against cervical checks I wanted one now, either I’d do it myself or Jane could but I needed to know this was for real. I called for Jane to come tell me what was going on and she checks me and tells me I’m at 8 and that she can feel my bag bulging. Getting back on my knees I have another contraction start (they were still irregular in timing, duration and strength) that built faster and stronger than any I had to that point, I reached for Jeremy saying “TELL ME!” locked eyes with him as he pulled me to him saying he loves me when “pop” my water broke all over him and me. He doesn’t even blink and I don’t look away as we rode out the rest of the contraction but I heared Tracy say “it’s very green.” Through the rest of that contraction my hip began to feel better and I felt my little girl finally tuck her head and slide down to my cervix. After that contraction I kissed Jeremy and told him “we’re going to have a baby!” to which he replied “so I heard!” I looked down at the green mess around us (totally missed the chux pads and hit the sheets, oh well) and sat facing away from Jeremy towards Jane and asked if everything was ok. They got heart tones (perfect!) and told me to expect harder contractions but couldn’t believe it when I said I felt so much better now. They all chatted for about 6 minutes while I rested and enjoyed the feeling of “this is for real” before another contraction came. Everything was so relaxed, we knew I was at 8, knew the baby was finally in the right position, her heart was looking good, the next several contractions were going to be super productive, etc. What was really strange was that I just stayed in this sitting position leaning back against Jeremy, an unusual way for me to labor. The contraction started and I knew it was a totally different animal, this was pushing and that was why I was in that position. I was very quiet at first just breathing but when I felt her moving down in my vagina I began to push with the contraction. Everyone jumped to attention, Jane looks down and says “Uh Jeremy, if you’re going to catch this baby, you need to get on this side of your wife NOW! And Tracy, I need a glove, I need a glove, this baby is coming out!” I also heard her mumble something about “there’s that cervical lip” but I wasn’t sure what she meant. I put my right hand down as I felt her crown and stopped adding any push to the contraction. Jeremy tried twice to get from behind me (HA!) before wrapping his arms around me softly telling me “You catch her, it’s perfect for you to catch her” and I got my left hand down there to apply counter pressure under her head as she slid out into my right hand. Jane got one glove on and checked for the cord (which I barely noticed) and during that one contraction I pushed some more for her shoulders, releasing a gyser of fluid (nasty green with meconium) that drenched Tracy standing there with supplies for Jane, and then I lifted my little girl to my chest. Weak from the intensity of pushing her out I felt as floppy as she was so Jeremy helped me hold her and started rubbing her, Tracy was coming with the suction bulb when our newest daughter let out the biggest, loudest cry I’ve ever heard come from a newborn! We checked her over and covered her with warm towels while she screamed her head off and I got ready to deliver the placenta. Ten min. later the placenta was out and she was nursing like a pro. After weight checks and all of that Evangeline Claire Martin-Weber and I relaxed in the bath 30 min. later and we all enjoyed eggs and spinach (thank you Laura!) with sides and champagne toasting our Good News. Oh, and I loved eating! Though I fought nausea during labor I didn't vomit at all and now I'm completely Hyperemsis free and hungry, it's great!

It was by far the strangest labor I’ve had and I loved it. The pain in my hip was no fun (it wasn’t for her either, she had a bruise and a ridge on her head from her bad position) but every other aspect was simply amazing. Getting to catch my baby was the highlight, what an awesome experience!

Some news

2007-05-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here's some news to share... more, much more coming soon!

Screwdriver Sketches

2006-12-20T23:05:00.000-08:00

You may not initially be impressed by this sketch but, trust me, you should be. This work of art was created by an 8 year old girl. It's true, it's not perfect, she still has a lot to learn but considering that she's 8 there's a lot of promise contained in this sketch. The original sketch is a Christmas gift for someone so I won't get to keep it like I do most of her other pieces so it had to be scanned in for posterity's sake- and so I could brag. The image below is of the same screwdriver sketch about 3 months ago (when she was 7 and it's not a very good scan, sorry) and is just to show some comparison of her developing skills. Ophelia tends to be drawn to the every day things, items she can focus on in one sitting. If it's too big or too detailed she'll become overwhelmed. Something about the screwdriver drew her back to try it again, I'm not sure what but she mentioned how she liked the contrast in how the light reflected off the metal and but there are also some dark areas of deep shading. Anyway, I think it's a beautiful screwdriver. It took her about 10 min. to begin and complete the new sketch, I don't remember how long for the older one.

Any of you artists out there that can give me some advice on how to encourage her without pushing her (I've seen stage parents, I imagine the same thing is possible in art and I don't want to do that) would be much appreciate. I'd love to know what kind of supplies she should have available, how often we should encourage her to draw, what other mediums she should try, etc. Are art classes appropriate at this age? She did participate in an art program after school last year but she hated it and they never seemed to do anything useful (it didn't seem like real instruction, just arts and crafts "art projects") so I didn't push it. Any other (really cheap) ideas you have would be great. Thanks!

Cowgirls

2006-12-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

These aren't the best ones, I'll post those later since I'm using some of them as Christmas gifts. Check out more on the new flickr account! http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin-weber/

A few good photos

2006-12-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

This was just to give you a taste of a recent photo session we did with the girls and a friends camera. The rest of them will gradually be uploaded to our new flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin-weber/). Aren't they beautiful?!

To Give sacrificially

2006-12-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

It's taken me a lot longer than normal to "feel" that it was Christmas time this year. In previous years, when my job in part was making Christmas happen for other people (church programs, service orders, Christmas choirs, etc.) Christmas started early for me. We would have to work to make Christmas feel special- we were usually sick of Christmas music by November, wouldn't have time to decorate our house (but dang, the church would look great!) and Christmas shopping had to happen all year long or we would run out of time. I used to work more at Christmas time than I did any other time of the year (Holy week being the only exception) easily putting in 90+ hour weeks from October-December. I was always aware of the holiday spirit- that was my job.

But this year, like last, was different. Last year I was aware of the season because of what I was not doing, this year I just didn't really notice. Moving, changing schools, work and other busyness let the holiday season slip in without much attention on my part. It wasn't that the media somehow let me down by failing to remind me of all the shopping I had to do or that the Advent season slipped away without mention during worship gatherings. We've been playing Christmas music, the girls are coming home with drawings of snowmen, snowflakes and "holiday" items, and every week a family lights a candle on the Advent wreath- I'm even "directing" (I use this term loosely in this sense) a children's Christmas choir. Our tree is up and has been since the weekend after Thanksgiving. But still, even with all this it just hasn't felt like Christmas time to me. I think it's more than just the different work situation, it's even more than our difficult financial situation making it challenging to make ends meet, let alone do the "holiday thing."

The problem, I suspect, stems more from an internal reformation of my view of Christmas. In fact, an internal reformation of my view of life in general. Jeremy and I have begun to challenge much of how we live, to question everything we do, everything we believe. So much of our lives are lived simply because "that's how it's done" and accepted. There are areas of our lives that we have held up to the luminescent light of the Gospel but others that we were preferred to leave in the dark corners of the comfortable common-place status-quo. God has been shining the Gospel light brightly in our lives and somehow we protected those corner shadows but now, slowly and somewhat gently, our protections are eroding and giving way to these Gospel rays. We sense we are on the cusp of radical change and it scares the crap out of me. I'm usually open to change, welcome it with excitement and anticipation but this change is going to be hard, really hard. The change we feel called to is to not fit in, to actually strive to be misfits, to rebel, to stand up and speak out, to serve the poor, the rejected, the unloveable, to become the poor and rejected (ok, so "becoming poor" isn't actually a change... we don't know true poverty though nor are we sure we are intended to but the issue must be examined), to care for the earth and the animals as God instructed Adam to, to stop worshiping things and status, to care for others even if we don't understand them and to live opposite of the "entertain me- me first" culture we have served. In essence, we feel called to deepen our call to live sacrificially in and for Christ. And yes, this scares me. In my arrogant heart I say to myself "Haven't I sacrificed enough? Don't I deserve some kind of break from this sacrificial living stuff?" But instead of a pat on the back and a voice from heaven saying "Well done my good and faithful servant" the Spirit gives me a distinct though gentle "no" to both of those questions. Christ gave his life for me, I don't get to call it quits when I feel like I've had enough and "done my part."

So what does this have to do with getting into the Christmas spirit? A lot actually. Many of us understand what it means to "give until it hurts," particularly around Christmas but most of us have no idea what it means to give sacrificially. We give too much and too little. Those that really need nothing (which is most of us) get a lot but those that need everything get nothing. Our gift giving was originally inspired by the gifts the magi brought to Christ and the gift that Christ brings to us, gifts that were needed: gold for a deeply poor family and funeral herbs for Christ 31 years later. Christ's gift was even more needed: salvation. We celebrate Christ's birth and God's gift to us at Christmas yet we over-give to each other to excess neglecting the One whom we celebrate. Christ tells us that by giving to "the least of these" we give to Him- time, food, money, services, whatever it may be. Held up to the light of the Gospel our Christmas gift-giving begins to look a little tarnished. Reconciling this in the midst of an internal reformation this holiday season has been a challenging experience. I don't know how this is going to resolve yet but Jeremy and I both know that we have to continue exploring these questions.

I don't think gift giving is bad, on the contrary. I think it's great after all, the precedent was set by Christ. But the question that begs to be wrestled with is "who are we giving to and why?" If I am honest then I have to admit that many times in the past I gave to people that I wanted to be in good standing with, people that I was worried I would offend by not giving them something, people that seemed important either by their status or their level of relationship to me. I never seemed to worry about offending Christ, being in good standing with him, or even giving to him based on my relationship with him. If he is truly the most important part of my life then the best gifts and the best part of my time should be given to him but it is rare that I actually do that. To give to Christ of the best of myself then I need to be giving to "the least of these" not the "greatest of these." Have I ever really given to Christ at Christmas? Anything more than lip service? As my pastor, Chris Seay has pointed out several times recently, doesn't it seem rude to give more gifts to the birthday party guests than to the one who the party is for? I know that I need to start making Christmas be about Christ: I want to give to those in true poverty, love those that are outcast, care for those experiencing debilitating hurt. Our family is learning what it means to give sacrificially. We're redefining what it means to be "in the Christmas Spirit."

Mother vs. Mommy

2006-12-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Helena and I were watching the Eloise Christmas movie (I was working, she was watching) and there is a scene when Eloise's beautiful mother comes in looking stunning. Helena gasps and says "I want a mother!" "You have a mother silly, I'm your mother." I respond looking up from the laptop. "No, you're mommy." She says with a "get-real" expression on her face. "Well, yes, I'm mommy too but that's the same thing as being your mother." "No it isn't." "No? What's the difference?" Helena looks at me with her head to the side considering this question and says finally: "You're my Mommy." End of discussion. I'm Mommy. Not "mother," not "mom," and not "mum." I'm her Mommy, period. That's all there is to it. And I'm fine with that!

Finally- The Wedding Pictures!

2006-12-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

Here come the flower girls... and everyone else!
                                                                                       *Helena
One of the cutest pictures ever!

Lavinia on Grandpa Weber's arm

Helena (and Ophelia) Hiding

Grandpa Weber, Aunt Anna-Lynn, and Ophelia

Grandpa Weber talks with Lavinia and Ophelia before the wedding

Cousin Kaitlyn and Helena

The Martin-Weber Girls

The pictures from Jeremy's sister are finally here! I don't have a lot but here are the ones I do have of our family. The girls were darling, Helena fell asleep during the ceremony and pictures so there are a few of her sleeping or wailing. Ophelia and Lavinia had a good time and enjoyed being all dressed up. We got to see Jeremy's dad for the first time in 6 years, he got to meet Lavinia and Helena for the first time and the girls just loved it. There were a lot of special moments around the September wedding. Enjoy the pictures!

*Jeremy's sister just sent me some more, they aren't in order but I wanted to share them anyway!

Wedding Pictures- getting ready

2006-12-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

Getting Ready:

Grandma Weber ties a bow for Helena

Getting ready started the night before with old fashioned rag curls for the girls- chocolate muffins helped the time go by.

Helena and Lavinia getting their hair curled

Helena, almost ready!

The girls waiting to go in!

The bride and the flower girls

Wedding Pictures- the reception

2006-12-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Reception Pictures:
(I only have a couple of these, hope to have more soon)

Grandpa Weber and Lavinia take a spin on the dance floor
(This is was SOOOOO cute!)

Wedding Pictures

2006-12-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

Pictures From The Ceremony

Jeremy and his dad played a duet together- what a treat!

Jeremy played the prelude for the ceremony

Daddy had to help Helena get down the aisle- those are his legs there.

Lavinia

Ophelia

The Newlyweds!

The family

Aunt June and a sleeping Helena during pictures

Let sleeping babes lie

The Martin-Weber family all dolled up!

The Smells of Christmas!

2006-12-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

Recently our new house has developed an "aroma." We've been making cookies, pies and other fun holiday treats. A few days ago, hit and miss, we would get a whiff and one of us would say "what is that smell?" We love the smells of Christmas but this one was a little unusual for the holiday season. Jeremy began digging through boxes, going through the pantry and looking behind the washer and dryer but to no avail. The smell grew (grows) stronger.

This is not a good smell mind you. It's a terrible, sickening stench and it's growing worse. We've been chased out of our dining room, pantry, laundry area and it's stretching to the kitchen. If we've been gone for a bit and come in we even notice it when we open the front door and step into home, sweet home... er, smelly home. All the boxes in that portion of the house have been dug through, moved and rearranged, the hoses for the dryer have been checked, every crevice we can reach has been examined, the pantry torn apart and the attic scoured. We suspect that the source of this foul smell is in the attic somewhere (because as bad as it is in the house, it's SOOOOOO much worse up there) but we haven't actually found it yet and we're concerned we never will. I'm starting to wonder if we walk around with this smell clinging to us and nothing covers it up for long.

Our house should smell of blue spruce, cinnamon and sugar, cookies, hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, candied yams, and other warm delectables of the season but no. Instead, our house is warm and bright and smells like a dead animal. I plug my nose when I head to the fridge, light a candle by the washer and dryer and hold my breath when I'm in the pantry. Jeremy made cookies last night and it only covered the odor for about 15 minutes before we had to take the cookies to the living room to avoid feeling sick. Lavinia keeps asking "why does our house stink?" I haven't had the heart to tell her "because something died in the attic or the wall and we can't find it to get it out."

Does anybody know how long we can expect this torture to last? Should we call someone to come out and relieve us of our misery or is it likely they won't find it either? I'm trying not to think about what this is going to do to Christmas dinner. How can we cook and eat with that smell? And I'm pretty sure it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I think I'm going to remember this holiday season as the stinky-est one we've had yet and I mean that literally!

Just for fun!

2006-11-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, my family may be a little strange, I realize this. Here are a few pix of what Ophelia and Lavinia do for fun. Of course, this isn't all they do to fill up their days, there are many, many more activities they enjoy but here are a few I had to share. Knitting and playing in leaves. Wow, I feel like we're on our way to becoming Little House on the Prairie!

How do they do it?

2006-11-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

I'm no super hero, this much has been established. There are occasions, however, that do require super-hero strength, determination, and focus in my life and I know I'm not alone in this. A few such experiences have happened recently that have caused me to be in awe of those that have gone before me as stable working people contributing to the betterment of our society, loving parents, students, teachers, etc. The student keeping up with their social life and their studies, the parents functioning on less than the minimum sleep recommendation, the father that makes healthy meals for the family, the mother that helps research a science project, the pay checks that come home and pay the bills and all the wonderful memories of special times together. How in the world did/do they do it and keep up with it all? Really, they must be super heros.

We are still a one car family which has it's pluses and minuses. One plus/minus is that with the girls going in different directions for school 5 mornings a week one parents has to ride bikes with Lavinia each school day. This has become am exhilarating treat for me, specially on beautiful days. Since I do most of my work from home Monday-Wednesday, the pleasure is often mine to make the 3 mile round trip in the morning and afternoon. Last week I had the added, we'll call it "pleasure" as well, to have Helena riding along side of me to pick up Lavinia one day. Our trip was riddled with problems. When we were a little over half way there and already late (I'm usually early when I ride) I finally put Helena on my bike and her bike on my handlebars. With Helena holding on to my waist for dear life I peddled none stop the rest of the way there unable to sit on my bike seat due to the three year old precariously perched there. Pick-up was still going on when we got to the school (so we weren't officially late) and the teachers and parents that watched us roll in clapped for us when we landed safely. My hands were pinched in the bike spokes, my jeans black from the tire marks and my legs shaking from the effort. I was exhausted and couldn't wait to sit down. Still, after parking our bikes we pressed on and met Lavinia at the school's bike rack.

In 5 minutes we were back on the road, helmets in place and Helena once again on her own bike for what I thought would be a leisurely little ride home. Most of my work for the day was finished and with the exception of a few e-mails and figuring out dinner I actually didn't have much to do so we could enjoy the ride. And we did, for about a block. At this point Helena's training wheel decided it wasn't tight enough and slipped on every bump, crack or wobble and the bike, with Helena on board and peddling with all her might, would fall over. We would stop (Lavinia would grumble, me too but not out loud), pick up the bike, brush Helena off, kiss any new owies, kick the training wheel back in place, try to secure the wheel, get Helena back on and start going again. After 6 blocks and more than a dozen spills a wailing Helena announced: "I all done ride bike!" I couldn't blame her, after all, I wouldn't like that very much either. However, my legs hurt so much already from trying to get to the school on time that I couldn't imagine going over a mile the same way. Our solution had Helena and I riding side by side while I rode with one hand on my handlebars and one on Helena's to stable, balance and steer. Right. I was trying to balance and steer not only myself but a three year old on an unstable bike 16 inches below me. Go ahead and laugh uproariously now, you can already see what's coming.

Other than my shoulder and back getting tight and then eventually feeling like it was on fire, we actually did fairly well. Unlike you may suspect we didn't run into each other, she didn't pull me off balance into a collision or really any other disaster. Almost. When we were almost home Helena decided to try again on her own. I let go of the handlebars for her and within seconds not only had her training wheel slipped again but she steered right into my front wheel. Sitting on the street laughing with Lavinia racing back to us (we ate her dust most of the way home) to see if we were ok, Helena looked at me and asked: "You ok mommy?" She kissed my owie, helped me pick up both of our bikes, kicked the training wheel in place, and said "Let's go mommy, we can do it."

The rest of our ride was uneventful, I still held onto her bike while we rode and we giggled from time to time when our eyes met which wasn't often since I was focused on the street and two bikes plus Lavinia in front of us. I wondered how many more times I could do these kind of things and still wind up laughing on my butt in the street and then realized that it didn't really matter, what mattered was right now. Helping my little girl balance was the job I had to do today.

How did/do those people do it? One day, one task, one purpose at a time.

In the Fairy Garden

2006-11-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the fairy garden- Ophelia, the Birthday Girl!

Ophelia the fairy, paints a dragonfly

Bug and fairy snacks

Party decorations- rather buggy

The fairy paints a butterfly

Game time

Pin the bug on the flower, yay Helena!

Look, a pretty pot of flowers... or is it cake?

The cake without the decorations, mmmmmm...

Daddy Eats Dirt (Cake)

Opening presents

Ophelia's Fairy Buggy Birthday

2006-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

"Buzz our way for an arty party day!"

Ophelia turned 8 yesterday, hard to believe, but it's true. She's becoming such a beautiful girl, loosing that little girl and baby cuteness (ok, that may be long gone but I'm just now accepting it) and definitely becoming a big girl. We celebrated her birthday on Saturday in a fairy garden with fairy friends (regular friends that dressed up), bugs, art (we painted pottery bugs and created an original work of art for Ophelia's room on a canvas together!), dirt cake, games, and presents. The gifts she received reflected how much she's growing up as well: a microscope, bead organizer, science project books, insect books, magnifying glass, doll making kit, real art supplies (not crayola), gift certificates (to an art store- I'm trying not to be jealous!) etc. Jeremy and I gave her two preserved, mounted and framed butterflies to begin her entomology collection that she has been wanting to start (Ophelia has loves art and bugs!) along with a detailed book about butterflies with stunning close-up photographs, and of course, the party. Our guests left with bugs, butterfly nets, fairy wings and crowns, fairy snacks (AKA trail mix), colorful clay, and their beautiful bugs. It was a beautiful party that simply felt magical, surprisingly calm and rather quiet- fitting for our artistic, dreamy introverted child. It was a lovely day. Our camera is starting to die on us so we didn't get many pictures, hope you enjoy what we did get!

Tink, Peter and Hook

2006-11-21T06:24:00.000-08:00

Never, Never Land

2006-11-01T06:20:00.000-08:00

(Here are the pictures, sorry it too so long!)

I must confess that Halloween is in fact one of my favorite holidays. Yes, I realize this is controversial and as a Christian I should in fact be handing out tracts to save these poor desperate people that celebrate Halloween but I don't do that, I join them with gusto (ha, but on Halloween we did get some of those Chick tracts that try to scare you in to heaven- brought back memories). No need to fill me in on the evils surrounding Halloween's history I am well aware of the pagan background of not only Halloween but Christmas and Easter too. Nope, I'm not celebrating Satan on Halloween, I'm laughing at him. There is no way that I'm going to give him even just one day out of my calendar year to claim as his own. For our family Halloween is the time to celebrate make believe, laugh at the silliness of "spokes," visit with our neighbors, learn about a time in history (usually from what our costumes are from), be creative, stick our tongue out at Satan, rejoice in the imaginations God gave us, and eat candy.

This year we didn't get to make cookies or even finish carving our pumpkins but we still had a blast. Our new neighborhood has three times as many kids and it was as if the neighborhood just emptied out onto the streets in colorful costumes and friendly greetings. The house across the street from us was all done up with a "haunted porch" that made little kids scream once in a while followed by peals of laughter and most of the houses had their porch lights on. The girls would walk up to a house, count to three and yell "trick or treat!" in unison followed by sweet "Happy Halloween" and "Thank you" as they eyed their candy loot.

The girls choose Peter Pan for their costume theme this year. Ophelia was Peter (and a darn good one), Lavinia was Captain Hook (is anyone surprised at this?), and Helena was Tinkerbell (after her costume was on I really thought she looked like a real fairy). Jeremy and I usually dress up too but this year we just didn't have the chance to get out costumes together so we went as modern day Mr. and Mrs. Darling, AKA Mommy and Daddy. Ophelia enjoyed being Peter Pan and didn't seem bothered at all to play a boy this time. I couldn't believe how tall and grown up she looked in her brown tights and green pan shirt with a sword at her side. Lavinia played a great Captain Hook in a borrowed jacket and hat. We had figured out her costume weeks ago but then misplaced those important pieces in our move so I called a friend whose son was Captain Hook last year and Lavinia loved the velvet coat and the large plum in the hat. Her hook, treasure chest, sword and handle bar mustache made for a complete Hook look. Helena charmed everyone in her Tinkerbell costume and sweet lisping "twick o' tweet!" in a dress I got at the thrift store and cut up before spraying with "fairy dust" and adding a pair of wings with Velcro. She left a trail of fairy dust where ever she went (Daddy was covered in it from carrying her by the end) and had to bring along her baby (also in a Tinkerbell costume I made from the scraps of Helena's dress) to show everyone she met. As usual we had a great time putting our costumes together and getting ready for the exciting night.

Saturday night we close out our Halloween celebrations by joining another, rather new tradition: the Sugar Sprite. Several families in our new school shared what they do to deal with the hordes of candy their children bring home from trick or treating. The children get to pick several pieces of candy (so do Mommy and Daddy), candy is selected for someone special (a teacher, friend, etc.), and then the candy is gathered and set out under a tree or on the front porch for a little fairy that lives on sweets (because she's not human so it doesn't hurt her like it would us) and her name is Sugar Sprite. The Sugar Sprite, much like the Tooth Fairy, leaves a thank you gift in exchange for the children either a small amount of money or small toy. We look forward to seeing what the Sugar Sprite leaves at our house.

Hope your Halloween was tons of fun too. Don't forget that November 1st is All Saints day, a day to remember the loved ones you have lost and thank God for them.

OUCH! Again

2006-10-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

I should not be permitted to handle sharp objects- ever. Particularly those that are knife-like. I tend to cut myself with them and today I did just that. Cutting up a pineapple (*&%*#$%! those things sting like crazy in an open wound!) today I sliced into the side of my thumb all the way to the nail. Fingers have a lot of nerves in them, it hurt so much- still does. And I am a cry baby. I wonder if this needs switches? Sometimes I find it very strange that I could sing and dance in high heels at the same time but I can't use a knife without cutting myself. Seriously! Something's wrong with that picture.

On the Web again... I just can't wait 'till I'm on the Web again...

2006-10-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

The past week and a half have been freakin' nuts. I have to formally apologize to all of you that have felt neglected and ignored because of my lack of responsiveness to e-mails or blog comments. We just got web access today after a week and a half without! For someone that prefers e-mail to the phone (and, until very recently didn't even have a cell phone) to go a week without e-mail is a major crisis. To make it worse, all of my contact information is kept in an online address book. Yikes! I am seriously addicted to the web.

So I'm dying to post pictures of the new house, the girls, and other such exciting images but that's just not going to happen right now! More to come soon and when it does, I'll let you know... I suspect it will be around Halloween picture time.

Later!

The Stinky Move Continues...

2006-10-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

We're about 90% moved, exhausted, wet (thanks to the TON of rain yesterday and today), I (Jessica) have lost my voice, Jeremy's sore, and we have one very dirty house and another house that has boxes and furniture everywhere. Can't wait till this is over!

Moving Stinks

2006-10-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not ready for tomorrow, there's just stuff everywhere. Moving should be a full time job and it always takes longer than I think it will. Moving Stinks. At least we have good friends coming to help. That should be fun.

If you don't get the e-mail announcement this weekend saying we've moved and our changing contact information (even our phone is changing, we are moving 4 miles, how is that possible?) e-mail me to let me know and if you are someone we know (read: not a strange web stalker) I'll send it to you.

Have a great weekend, I know I will...

Rag Curls

2006-10-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Remember the Little House on the Prairie TV show with Michael Landon? I watched that every chance I had as a kid (and was one of the few shows I was allowed to watch, that and old Star Trek episodes). If you were as into the show as I was then you probably remember how Nelly (Laura's nemesis) often had her hair in rag curls. Well, we used the old rag trick to give the girls each a head full of ringlets for the wedding. We had a few practice runs before the wedding and the picture above is from one of those tries. For Lavinia and Helena we discovered we had to use a lot of product to get the curl to hold so we used setting lotion the for the wedding and the curls lasted for days! They were beautiful curls but I just loved how cute they were with the rags too! As soon as we have pictures from the wedding I'll post them here for you to see how the curls turned out.

Playtime

2006-10-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

I came across this article today, share it with the parents with young children in your lives and then see when you can pencil in some free play time for yourself.

Doctors Urge More Play Time For Children

Numerous studies have shown that unstructured play has many benefits. It can help children become creative, discover their own passions, develop problem-solving skills, relate to others and adjust to school settings, the academy report says.

"Perhaps above all, play is a simple joy that is a cherished part of childhood," says the report, prepared by two academy committees for release Monday at the group's annual meeting in Atlanta.

A lack of spontaneous playtime can create stress for children and parents alike. If it occurs because young children are plopped in front of get-smart videos or older children lose school recess time, it can increase risks for obesity. It may even contribute to depression for many children, the report says.

Go here to see the rest of this article.

You know what makes me angry?

2006-10-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Sexual abuse. All of the nasty, ugly and evil forms of sexual abuse. It pisses me off and it makes me want to swear and hurt somebody... namely the one doing the abuse.

In preparing to move I looked up the sex offenders in our new neighborhood on the Family Watchdog registry list (thanks to Kendra Glazer for passing this link on) and though I know that statistics and I've looked before I can't help be shocked at the number that pops up. Looking at all the dots on the map I can feel my anger growing. This time I was struck by the number of red dots on the map indicating that the offender's crime was against a child. There is more red than any other color and there is a LOT of red.

But I know that's not all of it. There's a lot missing from that map, offenders that have moved and didn't report, offenders that were never caught, and offenders that are under the age of 18. All of those people are there too but won't show up on any map with a color coded dot to inform parents and others of the potential and proven danger in their neighborhood. I don't know what solution there is to this problem but I do know that with or without little dots to tell you where these people are that we need to be educating ourselves and our children about the danger of sexual abuse because it's real. And it's not enough just to talk about it as the possible threat to them but also understanding how they could be a threat to others if they don't have respect for other people- the truth is any of us could also be the perpetrator, not just the victim. We don't want any more victims or perpetrators.

It's been two years since we learned of the girl's abuse and though dealing with it has gotten a little easier with time, education and therapy it won't ever just go away, it just won't be as close to the front of our hearts and minds. Healing has been a process and education and awareness have been important steps on that journey.

But it still makes me angry.

Stuff

2006-10-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

My goodness we have a LOT of stuff. We've lived here for almost 4 years now and I remember when we moved it seemed as though we had a lot of stuff even after selling most of our furniture in Illinois but when we got into this house it felt very empty. I guess in four years you can accumulate a lot more stuff again. I see a garage sale in our future!

Sad Accordions

2006-10-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Ecclesia friend, Seth Woods is coming back to Taft Street Arts Center with the Sad Accorions, Sunday, October 15th at 7.30 pm. Get your tickets ASAP so you're not left out Sunday evening like so many were for the Derek Webb concert! Be sure to check out the Sad Accordions MySpace, you won't regret it!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike

2006-10-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

Have you ever noticed the rest of the lyrics to that Queen song? It's kind of a cross between "Bicycle Built for Two" and Gershwin's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" but on drugs. "You say bark I say bite... You say Lord I say Christ... You say coke I say caine... You say smile I say cheese," yeah, a little bit high. But I love the chorus and I was singing it today!

Jeremy and I both got bikes this morning! Not exactly high quality, though I believe they may kind of have been once but they work (need some work too), were very cheap (yay church rummage sales!) and have already provided tons of fun. The bikes are kind of old fashioned: one looks like a beach cruiser, one speed and the other is similar but with thinner tires and three speeds. Today we have ridden primarily up and down our street enjoying the beautiful weather (yes, I did say beautiful weather and yes, we're still in Houston) in between our other various activities though we did venture off our street late this afternoon for a ride into our neighborhood. It was great! All of us getting out together on our bikes and working together to confront Lavinia's fears of starting and stopping without training wheels. It was a blast and with the weather cooling off (all the way down into the 80's- WOW!) we are going to enjoy many more bike rides.

New School

2006-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Ophelia is in a new school, 40 mi. away from home. I don't mind the drive and am grateful for the carpool opportunities! I figured I'd get that out of the way before I explain why.

Second grade started for Ophelia with the usual back-to-school excitement, looking forward to a new teacher, seeing old friends, making new friends, thrilling classes, fascinating field trips, etc. She loved going back to school and her enthusiasm was contagious. We met the new teacher who seemed friendly though a bit overwhelmed perhaps as a first year teacher, scoped out the new class room, check the student roster for her class and thought we were prepared. The new outfit and supplies were in order and the first day of school came and we took two little girls to elementary school for the first time and Ophelia introduced beginning Kindergartener Lavinia to her school. The first three days of school were simply wonderful. We thought Lavinia might have some adjusting to do but she fell into the school rhythm quickly and we settled in for smooth sailing in the new school year.

Three days into the second week of school I began to have my doubts but not for Lavinia, for Ophelia. They were little things at first that we thought would get better as the year progressed: Homework came home and was... boring and WAY too much. Spelling words seemed random and they took a test on Monday without even finding out what the rule for the week was. Red ink showed up on homework. The teacher seemed stressed all the time and didn't smile or great students when they came in.

Then it got worse: Number grades showed up. A strange grading system (actually, three different systems including numbers, checks/x's and letters) that was explained but didn't make sense. Homework was only worksheets- ugly and boring ones at that (I could only describe them as "ridiculous" and "stupid"). The Friday folder contained a large stack of worksheets that were done during class = 5/day. Ophelia would ask to stay home from school "just today." The school's e-mail system blocked my e-mails and the teacher and I couldn't seem to find a time to conference. Ophelia began to intentionally miss words on the easy spelling list so she wouldn't have to take the hard one for fear of a lower grade (never mind that she was getting high grades already). Homework became a fight and Ophelia didn't want to read, draw, or do anything but be away from people when she got home. She didn't want to tell us about her day.

And then, it got even worse: A few nights the homework took two hours (or nearly). Ophelia would cry saying she hated school. There was a test that Ophelia didn't feel prepared for and stressed about for days to the point of tears and not wanting to eat. I made the executive decision one night that Ophelia didn't have to do all of the homework (in second grade it doesn't count as part of the grade) and sent a note explaining why and what we did instead- when we met Ophelia at the bus she was in tears because that morning she had to walk to the front of the class and put her name on the board for not turning in all of her homework. Still couldn't get a meeting with the teacher. I sent in a letter explaining why we wouldn't be doing the homework sent home most of the time but that we would create our own "homework" that would be creative and engaging, we got no response. Ophelia begged us not to send her to school.

I was furious. Four weeks into school we had a child that had loved school and now suddenly hated it. We felt we had to do something. When the teacher became ill and was in the hospital for a week (not her fault and we're so glad she's better) and I still couldn't get a meeting with her we started to look for other options. Some of the issues we encountered, such as homework, were the same for the entire grade (and the whole school for that matter), others the entire district and few were just our class. We began looking for magnet/charter school options but struggled in finding something that we felt comfortable with. Then we began looking to move into another district and magnet school opportunities there. We couldn't find a home zoned for the all Montessori school we wanted in HISD and we were just praying that God work something out. For the first time we seriously talked about homeschooling. Ophelia got sick and we had to keep her home for a few days, homeschooling seemed to work but Ophelia needed to be with other children more and Jeremy and I had to admit we still aren't homeschool parent material. There didn't seem to be many options.

I had asked a friend at church about the school their children attended and began to more research on the pedagogy there. After a few conversations we were invited to visit the school and told there may be a full scholarship for a little girl in second grade. So Ophelia and I went to the school to visit. By recess that morning Ophelia found me to tell me that she loved it and wanted to stay. The second day was even better. She was offered a full scholarship effective immediately. Watching Ophelia in this new environment it felt like she had found her educational home. Surrounded by art (used as a tool to teach every subject), a gentle rhythm to the day, plenty of time outdoors (lunch is eaten outside, many subjects are experienced outside, an long recess time, and nature walks) , other languages (they study Spanish and German), a nurturing atmosphere, singing and music every day, hands on learning, and beauty Ophelia quickly was her old self again. She couldn't wait to go to school, excitedly shares her day with us, paints and draws again, engages her sisters, brings neat things home (Monday it was persimmons, Tuesday it was cracked geo-rocks with crystals inside), learned to finger knit, can tell you all about worms and how they make compost after making a worm column, makes up math games on her own, reads everything in sight, sings her math facts while jumping rope and approaches learning with wonder and mystery in every moment of every day. This school rarely has homework for second grade but Ophelia enjoys learning and sharing what she's learned every day after school- the best homework a kid could have.

The Harvest (the new school) is a Waldorf school which has challenged us in many ways including how we view education (they teach reading much later that traditional education), extreme views on children's exposure to media (we agree with but it's easy to get lazy), healthy living and reminded us of our responsibility in guiding our children's faith. Waldorf education isn't based in any one religion but does believe that we are spiritual beings and encourages this in the children. They recognize and celebrate several different religious holidays including those outside of the Judeo-Christian calendar. Teachers are not responsible for teaching faith though there are discussion as to what different groups believe and time is given to learning about different cultures and belief systems.

The school's tag line is: "Because education is a journey, not a race." We love that and taking the race attitude out of Ophelia's education experience has restored her joy of learning. This is an answer to prayer and a huge blessing. We believe that some competition is healthy but too much too soon can kill a child's learning spirit.

This is a long post, I know. If you'd like to know more about Waldorf education, google "Waldorf school" or "Waldorf education" or e-mail me. The school's website is under construction right now but as soon as that is up I'll link to it. We are looking at how we can get the other two into this school and are praying for God to open doors.

I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!

2006-10-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I'm an adult and it makes no sense for me to believe in little winged folk that care for nature and have magical powers, it's just plain silly. Yet, I do. Not exactly in the literal sense of little winged people that grant wishes, help you fly with their dust (really, that thought is just plain strange... dust from a person no matter how small is gross, not magical but whatever...), or fall over dead if you say you don't believe in them. Still, don't say it, just in case. I believe in the fairies of a child's imagination, fairies that teach children about nature, to walk carefully and to tend gardens, fairies that encourage children to dance with abandon, to respect persons big and small and to believe in things you can't see, fairies that give children the magical properties of story and imagination and yes, even flight. I do believe in fairies. And so do the girls. So we built a fairy house in our front flower bed at the base of the crepe (is it "crepe" or "crate?") myrtle that is still spreading tiny soft pink blossoms all over our green lawn making it feel just like... Magic.

Enjoy the pictures and consider building a house for your fairy friends.

The Fairy House and Garden

2006-10-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

Bushels of Candy

2006-10-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's fall, or so says the calendar, shops, and everything inside me. I think every year about this time I make some kind of warm, fuzzy and some-what pseudo spiritual nostalgic post about fall and then complain about how in Houston it doesn't feel like fall because it's so darn hot. This year isn't about to be an exception.

It is in fact fall though I'm really only sure of this because of the fake fall leaves, witches, ghosts, and bales of hay in every store not to mention bushels of candy. I always find it interesting that stores put their Halloween candy out in the bushel baskets but the apples are in plastic bags. Anyway, it is hot but we are in Houston so I can't act surprised that we're into October and still melting with temperatures in the 90's and humidity at 80%. But that's ok. No, I'm not getting used to the heat (I know I'm from Florida but even growing up something inside me knew it was supposed to get cool in the fall!) I've just started to accept that this is the way it is and there's no point in bemoaning the heat.

So now to the warm and fuzzy part: fall is a time for change, for introspection and yet global awareness, for celebrating the fuits of the earth, sharing with others and preparing for winter. This past week in school Ophelia learned about St. George and the Dragon and how overcoming the dragons (or fears) within us gives us strength to help others...Oh forget it. While those things are true and good and I'm sure a whole bunch of other great thoughts apply I can't get warm and fuzzy when it's hot and humid. So here are my fall update bullet points.

Coming changes:

We're moving! We're out of here and into the new house on the 14th. The new house has a large front and back yard, on a cul-de-sac, and more rooms. I'll post pics once we move.
Ophelia's changed schools! This one deserves it's own post and I have one coming.
We're going back to teaching full-time and Jeremy's a contract tutor for a company that helps international families relocate- he's teaching French.
Jeremy's working his way out of the coffee shop, has learned everything he feels he can there and is teaching full time. Only so many hours in a day.

Recent adventures (Big and Small):

All 5 of us were in Anna-Lynn (Jeremy's lil' sis for those of you that don't know) and Jason's wedding on the 23rd of September- it was beautiful and deserves it's own post as well when we have pictures to share.
Traveling to CA for the wedding- what a nightmare! And not just because we were traveling with three young children (they were the easy part!) but because we felt we were in a C movie: "Planes, Hotels, Concerts and Automobiles."
Broken water pipe in the ceiling/wall while we were out of town= flooded dining room.
School- always an adventure sometimes in a positive way and other times... not-so-positive.
Derek Webb concert so sold out we actually sold seats again after the concert started and still had to turn many people away- first wildly successful concert I've run.
Strange sickness for Ophelia who is doing MUCH better now.

Maybe I'll get around to an introverted fall post later- when I get a chance to slow down and be introspective which happens a lot during the long car drive to and from Ophelia's school, when I'm' working in the garden, or writing music but these days I'd rather do those things in between packing, cleaning, fundraising, work and all that other stuff than to sit down with the computer. Sorry. It's not you, it's me. But maybe soon, soon I'll get back to writing.

For those of you living where leaves change, send me a picture! I am seriously missing Lincoln Park right now and could use some fall colors in my life. Happy Fall!

Jessica

2006-09-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Free Derek Webb Music

More than one day

2006-09-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

My dad and my brother, Christmas '05.

Five years ago I forgot to call my dad for his birthday. I called him the next day when I realized it but we never did really get around to talking about him and his birthday, instead we talked about the shock of what had happened the day before. And now, 5 years later, when my dad should be celebrating another wonderful and blessed year of life the rest of our country remembers the tragedy of the twin towers and the horrible loss experienced not only as a country, but for the entire world. My dad's birthday is September 11th. It sucks. Personally I can't think of any date worse today except to have been born 09.11.01. People that complain about a December/Christmas birthday generate a response of little sympathy from me, trust me, it could be SO much worse.

My dad has another 50-something birthday today but there will be little celebrating for it. It's just too strange, how do you celebrate on a day like today? How do you celebrate life while remembering the nearly 3000 lives that ended? But my dad is a unique person. Gentle, strong and compassionate with a great sense of humor. I will never forget the stories about how he acted surprised at a surprised birthday party when he knew all about it, raved about popsicle stick creations as though they were masterpiece sculptures, and studied the intricate details of Crayola cards with backward letters as though they expressed Hallmark sentimentality. Today he somehow honors the memory of thousands simply by having his birthday on the same day. He'll never upstage their deaths with his life but expresses great respect for them, those that loved them and our country choosing to celebrate is birthday in humble ways on other days and grateful for the beautiful days. Life isn't lived on just one day after all.

Happy Birthday Dad, I love you. I tried to post a picture but blogger wouldn't let me.

I tried to include a picture here from the newspaper in our area of what I was doing 5 years ago when I forgot to call my dad but I'll have to try to post it later. They sent it to me a few weeks ago to ask what was going through my head at the prayer vigil at my church, what I was doing now and how 09.11.01 changed my life. I didn't know what to say, the picture is of me praying, what more is there?

In The Wake

2006-09-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

With my job at the gallery I see a lot of art, I mean, A LOT OF ART! Some of the art I run across is great, more is good and even more is terrible. This show is one that falls into the first category- great art. At first my impression was "OK, more abstract... I guess it's good" but over time and as I spent some time with the pieces I began to see that this was great art because of the stories living within each piece. If you or anyone you know was touched by either Katrina or Rita or any hurricane ever you may just see a story you know intimately in these paintings. It is rare to come across a body of work that continues to speak to you, sharing it's tale long after you've walked away from it but for this very special show we bring you that experience through Beth's paintings. I hope you have the chance to visit with these paintings and hope even more that you will be able to come to the opening reception, meet the artist, participate in some special moments over a glass of wine. We will remember, celebrate, and grieve together. I hope to see you there.
-Jessica

In The Wake September 8th- October 15th
Featuring New Orleans/Houston Artist Beth Murray
Abstract Oil paintings exploring the beauty of decay
Opening reception September 8th, 7-10 pm
Xnihilo Gallery
www.2115Taft.org
2115 Taft Houston Texas 77006
713.522.3533

This week communities around our country pause to remember the devastation, confusion, and bond created by the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. That bound is especially present between the communities of New Orleans and Houston; a bond that was strengthened when Hurricane Rita aimed for Houston a month after Katrina devastated New Orleans. Thousands of Gulf Coast residents have survival stories from wind, flood, and evacuations. Transplanted from New Orleans to Houston by Hurricane Katrina, Beth Murray invites us to the beautiful narrative of decay and age that her work explores in “In The Wake.” Please join us for a reception on September 8, 2006 from 7-10 pm to remember, reflect and bring your own stories to this narrative. Be sure to bring your friends, you don't want to miss out on this exhibit.

All the pieces in this show are available for purchase, please call or e-mail Jessica Martin-Weber to set an appointment to select the piece or pieces that would bring just the right touch to your home, office or as a unique gift. The gallery is open from M-TH, 9 am – 10 pm and F-S, 9 am – 10.30 pm for viewing and purchases can be made at the coffee shop counter during those times.

The First Day of School

2006-08-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ophelia (2nd grade) and Lavinia (Kindergarten) after the first day of school, August 16, 2006. Going back to school proved to be HOT with a heat index of 105 degrees.

Kindergarten Wishes and Smiles

2006-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

For the past year Lavinia's biggest wish has been to go to school. That wish came true this week with the start of Kindergarten! Lavinia LOVES her teacher and her school and got off to a great start yesterday. She has lots to smile about!

2nd Grade in Style!

2006-08-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

School is not about how you look... but it sure doesn't hurt to have a little fun with your clothes! Ophelia is developing as quite the little fashionista: pink cowgirl boots, camo pleated school girl skirt, vintage style sport t-shirt, hounds-tooth print loose tie with jeweled butterfly detailing, and hair in loose low sloppy up-do. Starting off 2nd grade in her own style!

Sisters can lean on each other

2006-08-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

After a hot, long and tiring first day school the sisters found each other to lean on.

Walking Home from School

2006-08-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Headed home after the first day of school. The girls won't have "I walked 8 miles, up-hill both directions in 4 feet of snow" kind of stories to tell their grandkids but they can say that their first day of school had a heat index of 105 degrees. That's a hot one! But they were only walking to the car for the .5 mile trip home.

Concert Promo

2006-08-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Derek Webb Concert

Sunday, September 24th, 7.30pm
Taft Street Arts Center Venue
2115 Taft Street
Houston, TX 77006
(Doors Open @ 7.30)

Tickets:
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Busy

2006-08-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's just been busy around here lately. Between meetings, job hunting, getting ready for school, French lessons, and gallery business I just haven't had much time for anything extra. I'd appreciate any job leads you could pass my way though! I'll be around later today to leave a real post but I wanted to be sure I remember how this worked. Hope everyone is doing well.

Don't call Bush to Baby-sit!

2006-07-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

President Bush wasn't sure what to do when he couldn't calm down a baby that began screaming as soon as he was handed the infant. This is perhaps the funniest image I've ever seen of our president and gave me great laughter last night. Why am I posting it here? Just because I thought we could all enjoy the chuckle. I intend no disrespect by posting this picture... unless you count laughing at it! By the way, I'm pretty sure I've felt like a few times with my own children, just didn't make that face for a camera to catch.

Pet Peeves

2006-07-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

Weeds seem to be the only things that grow really well in extreme heat.
The guys that mow our lawn keep cutting back plants I actually want to grow! Weeds, fine, plants planted intentionally in a flower bed, NOT fine.
Missing shoes. Helena takes one shoe off in one part of the house and the other somewhere else. She's always missing a shoe.
My missing shoes. She likes to play in my shoes and take them off in random places, usually under something.
Malfunctioning blinkers- this happens a lot to the cars in Houston.
Coming to a stop to make a right turn even when there is no signal that this is necessary. (I can't even pretend that this is a problem with the car... WHY ARE WE STOPPING?!)
"I'm hungry!" 20 minutes after a great meal.
The peanut butter jar being left out with the lid off (Jeremy doesn't do that any more)
"You never...!" and "You always...!" Why do people ALWAYS say NEVER?
Politicians.
"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy." Say my name once please.
Cutting (as in just plain mean) comments in blogs.
"Worship" meaning the music portion of a worship gathering.
Our PC.

Random Photos

2006-07-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have heard that photos are the best part of this blog- but then, this blog is for friends and family and grandparents tend to love pictures of their precious grandkids. Below are some random photos of the girls that I haven't shared here. Most of them are from a Crawfish festival Rebecca Wiechman and I took our kiddos to back in May. Enjoy!

Another composer in the family

2006-07-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Lavinia is "writing" music, surprisingly, in a very methodical way. Notice the tongue sticking slightly to the corner of her mouth? That is serious concentration.

All Aboard!

2006-07-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

A little train ride around the festival: Rebecca and Jackson Wiechman, Helena, Ophelia, and Lavinia.

Little Lambs

2006-07-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

Ophelia, Helena, and Lavinia May 2006- Doesn't Helena make a cute bunny?

Scary Animals

2006-07-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Helena displays her city girl roots with a reluctance to touch any of the animals. Ophelia tries to convince her that the animals are cute, not scary.

Up close and personal- with a sheep and a rabbit

2006-07-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Lavinia visits with a bunny and a sheep.

A Cow Kiss

2006-07-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ophelia gets a soft kiss on her leg from a calf.

Helena pets a Goat

2006-07-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

The city girl finally risks touching one of the farm animals... with a finger.

Bouncing

2006-07-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Helena had to work very hard to have fun bouncing and remain standing- she didn't think falling over was fun.

Bouncing, bouncing

2006-07-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

Lavinia and Ophelia one random day in May on a moon walk.

Ouch!

2006-07-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Helena got attacked by fire ants yesterday at church. She has maybe a hundred bites on one leg (all below the knee), maybe 50 on the other foot with more bites up her leg and on her bottom. When Helena saw this picture of a fire ant she announced "Helena don't like ants!" I agree, I don't like these invasive imported fire ants either.

Ginkworld

2006-07-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Ginkworld.net has just published two of my articles; "The Lies We Tell" and "In Search of Easy Peace" as well as one of my stories. Check them out when you get the chance, thanks for the support!

They say an Apple a Day...

2006-07-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

After playing hard outside in the heat, the girls cool down with fresh, crisp and cold apples. The girls love fruit and most veggies, eating foods a lot of kids won't touch. Not exactly sure how this happened, but we're glad it did! See the pictures below of the two younger ones eating some yummy veggies! Ophelia doesn't have anything she REALLY likes as the other two do but she is a big fan of Granny Smith Apples.

Mushrooms- YAY!

2006-07-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Consistently out-of-the-box, Lavinia's favorite treat to eat is a mushroom! She will sneak into the fridge, grab one, run to the bathroom to wash it off and stuff it in her mouth like candy. Why? Because mushrooms are yummy of course!

Helena loves Tomatoes!

2006-07-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from playing hard (notice the dirt on her face), Helena devours a fresh Roma tomato- she likes them better than apples.

Sprinkler, Freezer Pops, and Dress Up

2006-07-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday We had about 2 hours that were sunny, still very hot but the humidity did seem lower and sunny before more dark clouds rolled in and broke loose again. You can imagine the irony I saw then when the girls rode their bikes for a bit and then asked to play in the sprinkler during the sunny break. They had a great time in the water and then eating freezer pops that turned their frozen lips and tongues shades of blue and green before they went running back into the spray of the sprinkler. It didn't seem to bother them that's it's been storming for days and at the first break to go run and play in the sprinkler. Ah well.

We're back to the overcast threat of rain and oppressive humidity. It seems that at any moment the low-lying grey clouds, swollen with moisture are going to burst and dump on us again. The girls can't stand to be outside in the sticky atmosphere and I can't really blame them. We're inside and while I work the girls are watching The Wizard of Oz in full costume from Halloween (the pic above is from last Halloween), saying the lines, singing the songs and dancing as though the movie is the set for their stardom. Watching them makes me smile and brings back memories of my childhood and similar play time. I love dress-up! Days of rain can't keep us from having fun!

Watermelon ROCKS!

2006-07-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Helena Digs in...

2006-07-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

mmmmmm....

2006-07-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2006-07-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

I didn't know until recently all the words for "Rain, Rain Go Away." One of the books the company I was working for used that rhyme and I had to set it to music, it goes like this:

Rain, Rain go away
Come again another day.
Little Jonny wants to play

Rain, rain go to Spain
Never show your face again.

I can't get this song out of my head now because it's been raining here in Houston; off and on for several days now and we've reached the point of cabin fever around here. It's like we're in the UK or something. The worst part is that it's overcast, raining, humid when it's not raining, and still very hot which isn't very much like the UK. I grew up in Florida so I should be able to handle this but rain in FL is very different than rain in Houston- there is a reason they call it liquid sunshine in the sunshine state. Rain there helps cool things down, lasts about 15-45 minutes even if it rains every day, and the sun still shines through the rain. In Houston rain causes the sauna effect so nothing cools down it just feels oppressive in the heat. We've had an ok time though, painted finger and toe nails, made stars, eaten some watermelon, (I've been working too), watched more movies than normally permitted, and found some cool websites including this great one from the San Francisco Symphony. Still, we're ready to go outside and play at the park which is more like a swamp at the moment. Hopefully soon.

Oh, and Steve in Scotland pointed out it's sunny there, sunny. Figures. We're going to eat more watermelon.

Along the Way

2006-07-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

We've started another blog. This is crazy, we know but each of our blogs have been started for a specific reason and we want to keep each blog true to it's original purpose.

The Martin-Weber Chronicles was started to share our family stories with friends and family around the country. We wanted this blog to be the place that helped us stay connected with the many people we have been blessed to know and love. Pictures and facts about the girls plus our latest news fills the content of this blog.

On Our Faces was started as a place for an ongoing dialog about worship and though we're not great at posting there we enjoy the conversations we have there and get to practice our writing.

Along the Way is the new blog and is just about our journey as we prepare for the mission field in Europe. We'll update with information on our support progress, people and places we experience, and answer what questions we can.

Obviously there will be some over-lap but for the most part we'll keep each blog true to it's original intent. Some of you may only read one, we certainly understand that. Each blog will link to the other blogs so you can visit them when you'd like.

If you haven't already read the interview/survey with the girls below, take a moment to see what the girls are up to these days and thanks for taking the time to visit with us on our blogs. We love and appreciate comments and if you'll send us the link for your website or drop us an e-mail we'd love to hear what's going on in your lives as well.

A Few of Our Favorite Things...

2006-07-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

This morning we interviewed the girls to tell us a few of their favorite things and what they are up to these days. Here you go!

Age: Ophelia- 7.5 yrs.; Lavinia- 5 yrs.; Helena- 3 yrs.

Favorite color: O- all colors; L- pink; H- yellow

Favorite food: O- chicken sandwich; L- peanut butter and honey sandwiches, mushrooms; H- mac and cheese and tomatoes

Favorite treat: O- mint chocolate chip ice cream; L- whipped cream; H- strawberry shortcake

Favorite candy: O- gum; L- candy bars; H- gum

What do you want to be when you grow up? O- Ballerina and artist; L- ballerina astronaut, H- mommy and musician

Hobbies: O- read, draw, dance, speak French, write stories, listen to music; L- arts and crafts, stickers, write songs; H- play in mommy's jewelry, organize items by size

For Fun: O- ride bike, scooter, dress-up, watch movies, play with sisters, draw, play computer games; L- play with sisters, ride bike and scooter, play computer games, watch movies; H- play princess, ride bike, play with sisters, color, read books, play with toys, take baths, cuddle, take pictures.

Planes, trains, boats, trucks, cars? O- planes; L- plane; H- train

Instruments: O- piano, violin and harp; L- piano and violin; H- piano, guitar

Favorite movie: O- Cars; L- Princess Diaries; H- Beauty and the Beast

Favorite TV show: O- Between the Lions; L- Dragon Tails; H- Dragon Tails

Favorite music: O- The Nutcracker Suite, L- The Nutcracker Suite; H- Beauty and the Beast

Favorite Toy: O- Sleeping Beauty; L- cars; H- Belle and baby

Learning: O- getting better at reading, French; L- piano, reading, and French; H- counting, letters and sounds, French.

Favorite Game: O- Tic-tac-toe; L- Hide and Seek; H- Caillou

Favorite Animal: O- bunnies; L- horses; H- Rosie

What should people know about you? O- I like doing fun tricks on my bike and scooter and I also like quiet time and playing alone; L- I'm crazy; H- Smiled and ran away.

Chicken Pox Marriage

2006-06-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Below is my re-telling of a conversation Ophelia and I had yesterday afternoon. Parts of it are verbatim because they just stood out so clearly during the conversation and other sections are just to the best of my memory. Please understand, I am judging no one in this post but sharing an experience and some of our beliefs.

"Mommy, can you only have one wedding?" Ophelia asked me while we were still at the table after lunch yesterday afternoon.

"Well, yes, I guess. Or no. I'm not sure, what do you mean?" I answer looking up from the piece of art Helena had made and given me to examine.

"Is having a wedding and getting married like chicken pox, you can only have it once?" She asks again rephrasing her question using a metaphor so I could understand better. It worked too.

Before school was out Ophelia had developed a few blisters that made me concerned that she may have had chicken pox. She didn't but by the time we figured that out we had already learned about chicken pox and that most people can only get them once and never get them again.

Her metaphor made perfect sense.

"Ah, I see. I guess you could have as many weddings as you want to, you probably wouldn't want more than one since they are a lot of work and people will get tired of coming to your wedding over and over again. But that's just weddings. When it comes to actually getting married, yes, it's kind of like Chicken Pox, you should only get that once. Remember how we learned that with Chicken Pox you don't get sick from it again because a little bit of it always stays in your body so your body doesn't have to attack those germs again, making you sick?"

She nods her head.

"It's not exactly the same as Chicken Pox, but when you get married you stay with that same person for as long as you are alive. You don't marry another man later because you stay with the one that God put you with." I try to explain using her Chicken Pox analogy.

"But what if you split up?" Ophelia counters in a very grown-up and concerned way.

"That does happen sometimes (I don't bother to point out that it's actually about 50% of the time.) but that really isn't what God planned for us. God wants us to stay with the person that we marry because God says when we get married we aren't just two people any more, it's like we're one." This was the best explanation I could come up with on the spot to explain what we believe to be a Biblical view of marriage/divorce to a 7 year old.

"But what about grandma? She and grandpa split up and now she can't get married again?"

Bombshell.

I take a moment to asses and figure out how to dodge shrapnel while inwardly complaining about Jeremy going to be with a friend that was having a tough time. We knew aspects of this conversation would come one day, I had just planned on Jeremy getting to be here for it.

"I'm not really sure Ophelia, you'd have to ask grandma but I think that grandma has decided not to get married again because she believes that you should only be married once unless your husband dies but if you split up she believes that you shouldn't get married again to somebody else. I don't really know what grandpa has decided about this." I try to ward off what would likely be her next question and I legitimately don't know.

"But she's going to be sad and I don't want her to be alone!" She starts to cry.

If I could I would redirect the conversation to a happier topic or distract her with the promise of a cookie and a DVD but this is our sensitive one who would never leave another's pain for something as trivial as a cookie. I beckon her to come sit next to me and put my arm around her. Unsure of what to say I take a deep breath and plunge back in praying something will come to me as we talk.

"Sometimes people that love each other make choices that hurt the ones they love, we all do it. In a marriage sometimes that means the people will split up, it's not what God wants but He allows it to happen. When that happens it is between God and each individual, some may feel it's ok to marry someone else and others may not but whatever they believe and choose is for them to decide, we can't fix it for them. We can pray though and that's one of the things Daddy and I pray about for grandma and grandpa, that they will know that no matter what God is with them and they aren't alone." My words sound a little feeble to my own ears as I grasp for a simple and clear explanation for this difficult issue.

She presses: "But why did grandma and grandpa split up if God didn't want them to? Do they still love each other?"

As if the previous questions hadn't been hard enough. But there is no way I'm going here without Jeremy so I take a deep breath and muster up the best closing-this-conversation-now tone I can and tilt her chin so I can look directly into her eyes.

"I think grandma and grandpa do still love each other and I know they both still love God, your daddy, and you and I don't think that's going to change. People make choices that hurt others, we need to try not to but when it happens God helps us forgive and love and that is the most important part. Ok?"

Ophelia nods and wipes the tears from her pink cheeks and from behind her glasses. She pushes away from me and gets off the chair to go play. Just as I start to congratulate myself on closing out this difficult conversation she turns around and asks me a question that betrays the fear in her 7 year old heart.

"Are you and daddy like Chicken Pox? Are you going to split up or stay forever?"

Tears spring to my eyes when I hear her concern for Jeremy and I to stay forever. I remember this feeling from when I was little and the worst thing I thought could happen to my world would be for my parents to split up. In two steps I'm on my knees in front of her.

"Ophelia, I would love to promise you that Daddy and I will stay forever but I know we are people and we may not be able to do that. What I can tell you is that we believe that God put us together and we don't want to mess that up so we will do whatever it takes to stay together and that's why we both put God first, because He's better at that than we are. Every day God gives me more love for your Daddy and I promise you, I will always love and forgive him and Daddy does the same for me. Daddy and I both made a promise to God that we wouldn't leave each other, that we would have to die to not be married any more and we ask God every day to help us keep that promise. And we are going to try, really, really hard. So what do you think, do you think Daddy and I can stay forever?"

I was a concerned that I came across a little too intense but she gave me a huge smile and said:

"I hope I get married just like you and Daddy and have it stay forever." She nearly knocked me over with her hug.

I hope so too, Ophelia, I hope so too.

The #1 Pic. and Quote of the week...

2006-06-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

“When I saw you I figured if they let you be a missionary then I would be ok.” (Kyle to Jeremy the last night of orientation/training about the first time he saw him.)

Thank you Brian for this classic picture! We will cherish it for forever.

Some final Quotes before our #1 Quote of the week:

2006-06-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

"Want some ice cream?” “No, I believe my body is the temple of God and He doesn’t want me to clog the arteries.” “I hate you.” (Jeremy and Kyle at our first night.)

"A photo that looks like a bunch of asparagus" (Bill Bennett during a sessiong on communicating, what works and what to avoid in prayer letters- Thanks to Brian for reminding me of this one!)

“You mean like the ones we just took?” (Jessica responding to Bill's comment during a sessiong on communicating, what works and what to avoid in prayer letters.)

Can you pour like that?

2006-06-22T20:39:00.001-07:00

Our waitress was amazing when it came to pouring tea. I know that may seem like a strange impressive quality but this girl poured scalding hot tea into a little cup balanced on her arm (see pic.), her knee, her foot, her shoulder, the inside of her arm (as in the tender part near your wrist!) and even on her forehead. It was pretty cool and very neat to watch. She got lots of gasps and claps from our group. Do you think that's a burn mark on her arm?

All smiles, no chicken yet...

2006-06-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Some of us weren't that excited about the Moroccan dinner idea (I was very excited about it) and most of us ended up really enjoying it. However, Jeremy and Billie Jo ordered what should have been a safe bet dinner (chicken Shish K'abobs with couscous) but it turned out to be the strangest smelling and therefor odd tasting dish served that evening. When it first came to the table we all kept trying to figure out where the smell was coming from and then realized it was from Jeremy's plate... It was such a gross, nasty smell...

On the Straight and Narrow?

2006-06-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

I was on a path! I wasn't flouting the rules, I walked up a path they had there to go look at this rock formation! Brian's picture makes me look like I was just breaking the rules... Thank for the pic. Brian!

More Quotes...

2006-06-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

“Those weren’t pork chops, they were shoe leather.” (Candidates reaction to dinner at the hotel one night.)

“They’re letting us go outside?!” (During a break on Wednesday looking forward to the Garden of the Gods on Thursday.)

“She’s going to call your music ‘potato chips.’” (Vicki Gacho about what another missionary in France will say about the Martin-Weber's music.)

“Remember they are taking pictures today, you might want to dress for that.” “I did.” “Oh… Ok.” (An experienced missionary to Jeremy after seeing his choice of clothes on picture day.)

“Deal? What deal?” (Jessica to Paul and Noelle after a game of putt-putt supposedly to determine where we would eat dinner on Thursday.)

“Alcohol… and lots of it.” (Listed as a way of coping with stress.)

“Either you are a schizophrenic or you’re well rounded.” (Kathy Roberts about certain personality combinations.)

“I choose to think of him as well rounded.” (Kathy Roberts referring to her husband's unusual personality combination.)

“DI’s are dangerous.” “Hey, I’m a DI!” “Right, and you’re dangerous.” (Ken Rudeen and Jessica in Ministry Partner Development training about personality types.)

“You need someone that will be hard-nosed and kick you in the rear for your accountability partner in fundraising. You don’t need someone that will be understanding” “Jessica, will you be our accountability partner?” (Ken Rudeen on accountability partners- Kevin and Kathi Cram resond by asking Jessica.)

MySpace confession

2006-06-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

I don't really know why we have this, but we do...

Favorite Quotes from Candidate Orientation

2006-06-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

I did actually get a hole-in-one at the putt-putt game on Wednesday evening but the rest of the time I just goofed off. Ok, I was goofing off then too but hey, at least I got a hole-in-one!

“I’m sure you have a question, you always have questions.” (Dave Zehr to Jessica after a moment of silence waiting for questions at the end of one session.)

“How do you count?” (Ken Rudeen to Noelle Heber while playing minture golf.)

“If you hit the ball again while it’s still rolling it’s not another stroke, is it?” (Jessica to putt-putt team.)

“I don’t like trying new things.” “Really? Then being a missionary might be an interesting challenge to take on.” (Two missionary candidates discussing going to the Moroccan Restaurant.)

“I had a bad experience with Indian food once, for a week.” (Paul Barbosa objecting to the Moroccan Restaurant.)

“What is that smell?” “Jeremy’s chicken.” (Our table at the Moroccan Restaurant.)

“I didn’t actually mean for her to put it on her head!” (Paul Barbosa after the waitress balanced a cup on her forehead while pouring hot tea into it.)

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get up now.” (From the floor of the Moroccan Restaurant.)

A Missionary Family?

2006-06-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here we are! A new missionary family appointed to France. Don't the girls look excited? I'm hoping Jeremy's mom got a better picture that doesn't have Lavinia with a car for a nose but so far this is the only one I have of the whole family. This picture was taken Thursday (thank you for all these pictures Kevin !) after the Commissioning service. We were appointed as a family to France. The girls were a part of the service as well and received a certificate each and a chocolate bar. So here we are, a missionary family! Funny, I think we still look like us... Maybe we've been missionaries all along?

Missionaries between a Rock and a Hard place (AKA another Rock!)

2006-06-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

After the Commissioning service of the new appointees, they took us all to the Garden of the Gods. The day was beautiful and we were all desperate for some fresh air. All of the 9 newest missionaries with GEM are in this rock.

The Guys at the Garden of the God

2006-06-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what they are doing but I'd guess they are pointing at Kevin, the only guy not shown in the picture because he's on the other side of the camera.

Walking in the Garden of the Gods

2006-06-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why Kevin felt he needed to picture of our rear-ends, but here we are! After being inside all week we were all more than ready to be outside by Thursday. The day was windy but beautiful and The Garden of the Gods is just stunning.

The Celebration Dinner

2006-06-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

At the end of Thursday we all had a dinner to Celebrate and enjoyed a Moroccan feast- well, Jeremy had some strange chicken but my lamb with almonds and honey was fantastic!

The Appointees

2006-06-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Brian Sherriff, Ukraine; Noelle Heber, France; Kathi and Kevin Cram, Germany; Kyle Kettering, the Nordic Region; Billie Jo and Paul Barboso, Portugal; Jeremy and Jessica (yeah, that's us!), France.

What's With France?

2006-06-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

No, I’m not going to talk about France’s attitude towards the Iraqi war (that’s old news anyway) and I’m not going to say anything about the recent riots, employment situation or their thing for raw meat (which I actually appreciate). It’s not that all those topics aren’t interesting but that I want to speak more specifically about France, God and the Martin-Webers.

As I write this, the 5 of us are on a plane headed back to Houston from Colorado Springs where the girls got to spend a week with Jeremy’s mom and Jeremy and I got to attend long sessions every day on being missionaries in Europe. God led us to this point filled with questions but on Thursday we were officially appointed and commissioned to be long-term missionaries to France with Greater Europe Mission. God allowed us to attended this past week’s Candidate Orientation even while we were unsure that this would be a good fit. We had our doubts that we would be interested in serving with GEM and they us but as we spent time in prayer and shared specifically our vision for a community arts center in France with a reproducible model that could be contextualized through out all of Europe God began to reveal to us that this vision from Him was to be enabled through GEM. God’s call on our lives to start a community arts center as a form of outreach evangelism by using the arts to encourage dialogue about faith started several years ago and up until now we had no specific area we felt led to. The Spirit led us to consider the European mission field as the place for this ministry vision and so we began the dialogue last fall. God didn’t provide any thunder clap or lightening bolt letting us know what mission to explore going with and we weren’t sure that Greater Europe Mission would be interested in the vision for ministry we have from God. Honestly, I felt pretty “safe” that what we felt called to was something GEM wouldn’t be interested in, some day I’ll learn to stop telling God how things won’t work in His plan. In His infinite wisdom, God has been preparing not only us but the leadership in GEM for this very thing and used them to speak to us about really going and serving in Europe in this capacity. Because of the overwhelming response to the vision God gave us we are “officially appointed” as long-term missionaries to France but our placement will be decided only after we have made a trip that includes France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Ireland (and would include Germany but Jeremy and I felt it needed to be in either English or French speaking Europe for us to lead well) to meet with the teams and field directors there as we seek God’s guidance on where to begin. Here we thought that we wouldn’t fit at all with GEM and God showed us that there are more places interested in the vision He has given us than we could actually serve!

Today we are still blown away with the idea that God has appointed us as ministers in over-seas missions in Europe. Tomorrow, we begin to pray in earnest for God’s guidance and provision for our prayer and financial support as we prepare to go to Europe. Through out this coming week we will be posting more information on why missions in Europe and more details on the when and how we will begin serving there. Let us know what questions and thoughts you have! We look forward to sharing our newest journey with you.

Everything but France

2006-06-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Who blogs on a Saturday? Really? Saturday is the computer waste-land day, nobody's interested in being online, exchanging e-mails, chatting or blogging. So why am I blogging on a Saturday? Because I'm behind on updates (for all 3 of our readers!) and I don't imagine finding more time during the week to update so today it is.

I promised updates and gave a couple. I'll try to knock out most of the others now...

The last week of school was May 22-25. For the last day the school had a talent show of all the grades for all the grades and parents. Ophelia had actually gone to the auditions and played one of her piano songs from the end of her first book and ended up being near the beginning of the program for the talent show playing "The Streamline Express." This song is easy for her so she played with no problem and didn't even seem a little bit nervous. She had given her full name for the program so she was introduced as "Ophelia Chantelle Martin-Weber," walked up, gave a little smile to the audience, sat down at the piano and played (very steady too, no rushing), stood, faced the audience, smiled and curtseyed before walking back to her place. We couldn't believe how comfortable she seemed and she told us later that it was a lot of fun and she liked it when everyone clapped for her. After years of getting kids ready for recitals and seeing them go through that experience, it was neat to finally see one of our own in such a setting. We were very proud of her. Jeremy and I didn't stick around to watch the rest of the kids (I was headed out of town for work) but we thought she was the best anyway!

Ophelia's school year ended well and just as she had her first real friend crisis. The last few weeks of school were tough relationally for Ophelia, she got teased for having a boyfriend when she started playing more with a boy from another class, had her two closest friends ditch her and talk about her, developed her first "enemy" on the playground, dealt with being bullied for the first time, and decided that she didn't want to school any more. It was time for the year to end. Scholastically she did great, her reading level is still very high and she did well in every subject. We're looking at different schools as we plan to move, hoping to get her into one that will be a smooth transition and have a stronger arts and self-guided learning program.

Lavinia can't wait to start school in the fall, she'd love to start now if she could. She's an early reader, sounding letters out all the time and doing very well reading the Dick and Jane books and loving it. We are constantly amazed at the words and phrases she reads in some random places, constantly looking for signs and labels to read. Her vocabulary is also very expressive and surprising. Jeremy and I often wonder where she heard such a word or phrase and ask her what it means. Often she can't really tell us but she uses them correctly so she has some kind of understanding of what she's saying.

Mother's Day was wonderful but I find myself frustrated with this holiday and I don't care for how it is treated in the church, media, and society in general. I guess I just don't get why we need a special day to honor mothers and fathers, it seems like every day we should honor and celebrate the mothers and fathers in the world. Being a parent is a wonderful and special honor as it is and it's a lot of hard work. One day a year just doesn't seem like enough to really communicate how special it is plus, the way these holidays (Mother's Day and Father's Day) is treated ends up leaving out parent-figures, parents that parented the best way they could by giving up their child, parents at heart but childless, and the parents that lost their children. I have no answer but this is some of my frustration. However, my Mother's Day was wonderful in a very ordinary day kind of way. This year we spent our Mother's Day weekend picking out containers and plants for a container garden we created together. I loved digging in the dirt with the girls and planting little plants with colorful and interesting flowers to create our little garden together. We went to church, came home and hung out watching my favorite Disney movie (Beauty and the Beast), grilled some burgers for lunch, watched an amazing thunder and hail storm, then planted our garden and played outside in the wet earth. The girls showed me tricks on their bikes and scooters, picked dripping primroses and weeds from the road side, and gave me lots of dirty fingered hugs making for a perfect day. Since I didn't have to work on Mother's Day (working in the church for years always had me working on holidays) and since we kept our day simple spending it together as a family and gardening, this may have been my favorite Mother's Day yet- just a quiet, ordinary day with my children and husband showing me how much they love me and I them. Beautiful.

For the miscellaneous updates: We lost Satine and now just have Rosie who seems very lonely. Lavinia is starting piano next week. Helena is still beautiful and sweet, very loving. My parents finally have a grandson and I have a new nephew. We're all working on learning French. Ophelia is taking some private art lessons from a friend for a few weeks and loves it, is sketching ALL the time now. Jeremy is teaching group guitar this summer for summer camp programs. Ophelia is now a green belt in Tae Kwon Do. Lavinia is a white belt... still. Jeremy is still at the coffee shop and teaching private lessons. I've started teaching privately as well and have a nicely growing studio. We are together looking at doing more church consulting for worship, outreach, music and sound- recommend us to any churches that could maybe use some help in those areas. Oh, and we're writing music like crazy preparing to go into the studio this fall to record our first CD project because of some generous support from a donor.

So there's an update on everything but France, I'll get to that next time. We're keeping pretty busy these days! Hope you are enjoying life too, let us know how things are going! Looking forward to reading your comments.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2006-05-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring...

I'm doing better already thanks to the antibiotics but now Jeremy's pretty sure he's coming down with the same and Helena is acting like she's not feeling well and complaining of her ears hurting and we're pretty sure her left one has a ruptured ear drum. They are both headed to the doctor this afternoon. When it rains, it pours. And that's not just figuratively. Those of you in Houston know that we've had a wet couple of days with full fledged thunder storms and flooding. So here we are, one sick little family with three of us down for the count but Ophelia and Lavinia are doing great but stuck inside with the invalids. Seriously not cool.

So updates... we're looking at moving for several reasons. Jeremy and I are both working and teaching in the same neighborhood and with the price of gas and the frustration of trying to get everywhere we need to with one car we want to move closer to work and church. We also need to cut down on our expenses as we prepare to go to France in the next year or so... oh wait, I don't think I've said anything about that yet... oh well, you'll have to wait for another update to hear the news on that one. So we're asking God for the impossible, a lower rent for the same size living place in a more expensive part of town! There are already several possibilities but we want to make sure we move at the right time to the right place. We promise to keep you all informed when we do move via e-mail.

A Holiday?

2006-05-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today is Memorial Day and all 5 of us have the day off together, which would be really nice. Except it's not. Because I have Strep throat. I feel like I'm dying every time I swallow and I sound like my throat is stuffed full of cotton. About once a year I end up with strep and a round of antibiotics. Last year it happened over a long weekend and I wasn't able to get treatment until 5 days into it and ended up with rheumatic fever, it took three different antibiotics to finally beat it out of my system. I wasn't about to let that terrible experience repeat its self so I had Jeremy call a doctor friend of mine from a church I consulted and he prescribed me some kick-butt antibiotics. Yeah, I know, it's not good to take antibiotics for Strep without a throat culture, but seriously, I've had Strep and viral sore throats enough times to be able to tell the difference and I wasn't about to go down the road I did last year. So today I've been laying on the couch, sleeping, drinking the coldest drinks I can find, and complaining about feeling terrible. The girls and Jeremy have been taking care of me and cleaning house. I'm actually writing a complaining blog post! Sorry. Not exactly the fun filled Memorial Day we had planned. Oh well! Hope your long weekend was better than ours and I pray that you were able to take a little time to remember our veterans.

New Job

2006-05-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

(Warning: this is a long post and there is another new post under neath it.)

My desk is white washed from the bright sunlight streaming in from my office window, a giant day lily from a beautiful arrangement of flowers looks over my lap top while I type and my original coffee mug that I made two weeks ago at church sits next to me full of my favorite fair-trade Guatemalan coffee. To the right of my desk is a keyboard that I simply have to swivel my chair to reach. Just right of the keyboard is a moderately complex set-up with MIDI, a G5 PowerMac (with a sweet 24 in. flat screen), head phones on hooks, and few instrument, MIDI, and microphone cables, and a few other boxes and gizmos for recording. I find myself amazed that I sit in the chair that I do for the past 2 and a half weeks as the Director of Music Development for a small children’s book publishing company. In my first week I wrote three original songs and within the first week and a half they were recorded and used in an important client pitch. And I didn’t even know I could write children’s music. It is very possibly the coolest job I’ve had. The story of how I found this job is, as most of my employment stories are, rather odd. I’ll simplify it by saying God provided and I met my boss in Taft Street Coffee on the night of an opening reception at the gallery and she offered me a job as her assistant but when I went to interview I had to admit that even I wouldn’t hire me as an assistant- I’m aware of my limitations. The next thing I knew she was asking me about what title I would like on my business card: Music Director (she thought it sounded too churchy- you know, I’ve never had that title!) or Director of Music Development. As far as I can remember, she had never heard me play, sing, or share any of my compositions with her and when I politely asked her if maybe she should she told me she didn’t need to, she knew it was right. I’ve been trying to decide if that’s faith, discernment or just plan crazy. All the same, I’m grateful and so far, she doesn’t seem disappointed.

Some of the surprising aspects of my job (actually, everything about this job is surprising!) include working two blocks from Taft Street Coffee/church/gallery where Jeremy works, a boss that encourages artistic development beyond what we do for the company putting time, money and resources into her staff, praying before our big meetings, fresh flower arrangements whenever we have an important client come in (which has been every week so far), the opportunity to publish my own children’s book (more on that later), flexible scheduling, meeting clients worship consulting clients (my boss brings them to me), recording our original music, the girls are singing on a children’s CD coming out in September that is mostly my original music, Jeremy is hired on contract for recordings and music presentations in the schools, I can teach from my office (which is beautiful and furnished with mostly antiques), I’m encouraged in my writing, and today I’m going to South Texas and Mexico to do a one person show of one of our books for a schools there. Some of the not-so-surprising but really cool perks including learning software that I’ve wanted to learn but couldn’t afford (Finale, Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Pro tools, Reason, and a few others), loads of children’s books, music, videos and games available, toys in the office area (the girls love coming to work with me and they are always welcomed!), free coffee on the company’s credit at Taft Street Coffee, really cool grown-up toys (my computer is amazing, I have a professional recording mic in my office at my disposal, Lots of fun toys and new things to learn, I’m having a blast. This job is an answer to prayer and a great fit.

Things to Update List

2006-05-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm a great blogger and others, terrible! Lately I've been on a terrible blogging streak with no post in over a month. For those of you that check and want to know what's going on in our lives, sorry. I can't cover everything that happened in the last month because it really has been full, but here's a list of updates I need to blog about to fill you in:

Job situation
France
Colorado
Talent Show
School
Move
Mother's Day
Misc.

Not a fancy well written list to pique your interest but I don't have a lot of time, I'm headed out of town in a couple of hours and need to finish packing. I'll catch up soon!

Ophelia loves Jesus

2006-04-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

The picture above and the text below are taken from Ophelia's blog (which you can only get to if you are approved, for approval e-mail me). I love her words here as she describes her experience. I should warn you that we don't do any kind of spelling or grammer check when she writes on her blog. Enjoy!

This was at the church, it was fun. I did the Baptise with my dad. My dad put me in the water, It was kind of scarde and fun. You know why i got Baptise, Because i love Jesus so much, And he loves me too.I know it looks like a swimingpoul, But it is a tub.I was a little bit scarde, But i was okay. When I did the baptise, my mommy gave me a necklace. It was from mommy and daddy. It is a gold cross with a rose and I love them very much. I'm glad I got baptised. -Ophelia

With a Name Like That...

2006-03-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

There is a man with the name of Kinky Friedman running for Texas governor. He doesn't actually think he'd win with a name like that, does he?

Doxology

2006-03-08T22:01:00.000-08:00

I wish I had a picture to go along with this, but I don’t. Living in Houston means being able to play outside in March; and some of February. And by playing outside, I mean doing so in shorts and a T-shirt. Ophelia is on Spring Break, as you may know, and this has been a good time for the 3 girls to play together. This past Monday, noticing how well they were getting along playing in our front yard, I decided to make them a picnic lunch so they could keep enjoying the fine weather. Having delivered their plates, I walked back into the house to get them drinks and paused to listen as they gathered around the picnic blanket. One of the girls made a comment about needing drinks, and Ophelia said she would get them, but that they should pray first. Usually, when we all eat together, the girls end up vying to be the person that “picks” our prayer (we have several prayers that we either say or sing together, and we also encourage individual prayers). I was surprised that an argument didn’t start. Instead, after a moment of conversation that I couldn’t make out, my 3 girls started singing the Doxology (“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow”). They know the tune really well, and they stumbled their way through most of the words, hands folded, eyes tightly closed (except for Lavinia who was eyeing her food). I was impressed, and moved. It was a beautiful sight, and I am really proud of my three little girls acting so grown up. By the way, if you haven’t seen a 2 or 3 year old pray, it is the cutest thing in the world. There’s just something about the way that they scrunch up their faces when they close their eyes that is just precious.

Written by Jeremy (A.K.A "Daddy)

Little girl in a hat

2006-03-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

A serene picture of Helena. March 4, 2006.

Helena's Birthday and a busy weekend

2006-03-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

She is 3 years old! It's shocking isn't it? How did we get here? Three years? I feel like I just blinked!

Ok, sobbing rant over. We had a quiet evening with a few friends for Helena's birthday on Friday, the 3rd. I managed to not get a picture of the rowdy crowd (that was so not rowdy) but we had a great time with Rebecca and Jackson, Mrs. Yarbrough and her daughter Lilly, and the five of us. The kids played outside for a while and then we had pizza (Helena's choice), watched a movie, ate a very odd cake that Daddy made (well, some of us ate it, most of us just tasted it and switched to M&M's), and opened presents. Everyone got to stay up late and we had several princesses running around trying to find a prince (poor Daddy). It was a lot of fun and a good way for Helena to kick off her fourth year of life.

It was also the kick off to a very busy weekend. Rebecca gave us tickets to the Houston Rodeo so Saturday afternoon we headed out to this Houston experience. I have never seen so many cowboy hats and boots in my life. It was different experience that pointed out just the "city-folk" we are. We saw bull riding (whatever possessed someone to get on a bull and hold on for dear life?), steer wrestling (I can see why you may need this skill as a cowboy), and barrel racing. There were baby chicks, pigs, goats, ponies, cows, calves, chickens, and more to see, smell, hear, touch and (in some cases) taste. Everybody was super friendly and the air was full of the most intriguing mixture of smells- I'm sure you can imagine. We only stayed about an hour and a half since I had to get to the gallery to hang a show but we had a good time visiting the cowboy world.

Sunday found me sick in bed most of the day but by the afternoon I had rested enough and taken enough drugs to go on the date with Jeremy we had planned three weeks prior. Heather Sanders and Aaron Walther came and watched the girls (thanks guys- the girls had a blast and keep asking when you're going to come back!) so Jeremy and I could enjoy dinner and Swan Lake performed by the Houston Ballet. A little more up our alley than the rodeo, Jeremy and I had a wonderful time. The orchestra was amazing and the performers stunning. This production was a new one by the Australian artist Kristian Fredrikson and was a fabulous end to his career (he died last year). Rothbart's costume was especially amazing, the best I've ever seen but the entire production and some new choreography was beautiful. The opening scene was fantastic with a tableau reminiscent of John William Waterhouse's Lady of Shalott and all the costumes and sets having that same feel. Just beautiful. Better than the production was the time Jeremy and I had together. A beautiful evening, thank you for those that made it possible for us.

Monday was the start of Spring Break for Ophelia and the girls have already had a great time enjoying the weather and playing together. This weekend was filled with beauty and this week will be full of fun with the three girls playing all together. Check out the pictures below from Helena's birthday weekend.

All smiles

2006-03-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

The big sister and the little sister, all smiles after the pizza-fest and getting ready to open presents. Happy Birthday Helena!

Sisters help opening presents

2006-03-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

The only picture I have that has most of the family in it: Daddy, Lavinia (you can see her eyes on the other side of the gift bag), Ophelia (ok, just her torso, her arm, her hair and a little bit of her chin) and of course, Helena.

Spring time fun

2006-03-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

This is out of order but it's cute so I had to include it!

The Cake

2006-03-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Daddy made a special cake just for Helena: a popcorn cake! Inspired by his memories of yummy popcorn cakes from his childhood Jeremy set out to recreate the experience for all of us with popcorn, M&M's, and marshmallows. Unfortunately most of us didn't like it, we may need Grandma Linda's recipe!

Make a wish

2006-03-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Ophelia, mommy, and Lilly look on as Helena blows out the candles on her unique cake.

Pigtails and a hat

2006-03-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

Taken the day after her birthday, Helena is ready to go to the rodeo in a new outfit from Grandma Martin.

Hope you had fun!

2006-03-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Helena has been such a wonderful addition to our family, it's hard to believe she's 3 years old already and on her way to becoming her own person. Thank you to all of you that shared your birthday wishes with her, with all of us.