Redeeming creation one byte at a time
Archive for March, 2010
A growing love
1
So, about 7 months or so ago now I picked up running (partly out of necessity). A value as a family we’ve wanted to get across to our kids has been stewardship of your body; that moving and keeping active will help. It’s been further beat down by mentors who are in their 50′s and active and hitting the importance of your late 30′s being the tipping point for health.
So, I took up running. I have to say it’s been fabulous so far. Melissa and I are training for a half-marathon in May and it’s getting to be crunch time with that.
It’s been beneficial for me on a few levels to run. First, health. I’ve found that I can blow through about 400-1000 calories per run (est.). Dealing with my late 30′s it’s important, no critical to exercise and I’m loving the hour investment returns.
Spiritually, the benefits have been there as well. The particular music I listen to lends itself to worship or meditation on the truths of God and being out for an hour pushing myself to not stop is a strong allegory and can help me think through how God sees me, the benefits of being patient and the long game that God plays. It’s too easy for me to get impatient and to look for an answer to a prayer or to being in a situation and running has helped negate that because the benefits to being out aren’t immediate, but the pain is.
Technically, I have to say I love running in 39 degree weather the best. The geek in me has loved figuring out layering and details related to a long run. The clothing technology and how your body overheats a bit has really been interesting to. Being out for a short run and getting into it and not paying attention to the cold is really fun.
Finally, music. I’m a fan. Can’t say much more, so putting together a running playlist over the past 5 months has been a blast. Figuring out which songs do well where and what they communicate is awesome. It’s given me an excuse to listen to a few genre’s of music (rap, I’m looking at you) that work well for running.
So this week for me is big for a few reasons, least of which is the longest run I’ve ever done is Saturday – 7 miles. It’s going to be nuts.
I hate ‘cats in the cradle’
2If ever there were a song that I actively hate, it’s ‘Cat’s in the cradle’ by Harry Chapin (go look it up if you want to download it). The song paints a dire picture of a father/son relationship where the father is a driven, career obsessed man who never has time for his son and the son, only knowing that kind of affection, grows up and slights his father constantly.
Yes, it was a generation ago, yes it was the stoic, career obsessed Boomers purposefully ignoring their gen-x kiddies but it really has haunted me as a parent, even so in the morass of the thirties. What frustrates me is that the song sets up a false choice; career or family. What’s even more frustrating and lie filed is those who have chosen a career closer to family are penalized when work beckons them during a particular season.
So I’m declaring war on lies; lies of guilt when you have to work, lies that fail to separate longing for a friend with a perception of lack of care and promoting the freedom to just spend time with your kids and enjoy the amazing people that they are.
A fav. video of late.
0Often our family does a ‘family dance’ night post dinner that amounts to cranking up the iPod and goofing around in the Kitchen. Tonight was Vampire Weekend’s ‘Contra’ album. If you’ve not heard it, it’s a artsy retake on Peter Gabriel/Paul Simon’s Afro-pop phases. If you’ve liked ‘Graceland’, this CD would be a good companion. Admittedly, I’ve distrusted Vampire weekend for sometime while liking the music, but after working through this song, it’s growing on me. This is one of the more creative videos I’ve seen of late:
Waking the dead…
0Ok. So I’m back. The last 6 months or so has found me moving my professional life and personal life a whole ton closer while moving into one of the most challenging, filled seasons of our life as a family. The reality is a blog IS a public mouthpiece for someone, but things I want, I need to say, are sometimes best kept a bit quieter. It’s forced me to move to a ‘secret’ blog in an effort to get thoughts out and I’m really sick of doing a secret blog.
So, in brief, where we’re at in March of 2010:
Melissa and I are running a half marathon in May: I’m finding I adore running. There are a ton of lessons to be learned while moving your body 6 miles (currently) down a road. I’m learning to be patient, enjoy the moment, trust in the process that God is taking me on and to really eat better. The way it’s working right now is that my training has me doing a mid range run twice a week and an increasingly longer run on Saturdays. This week was a 6 mile run.
We’re moving: in roughly two weeks, we’re upgrading our house. It’s that weird ‘mid career/bigger family’ move. God was really gracious in getting our place sold incredibly quickly. The intentions of this move are pretty transparent for us. Our current place will be getting increasingly awkward to live in over the next few years for size (we only have 1 bathroom), and we’d like to adopt more. Growing our family will be easier with a slightly larger house and we’ve been burdened to host people. All through our married life, we’ve loved having people spend the night at our place and this house will bring that back into our reality.
Kids are wonderful: Back a while ago Nicholas Cage stared in a movie called ‘family man’ and it really made me cringe a bit. The buried lie there is that somehow being a ‘family man’ isn’t a good thing and I’m finding the truth is very different. Aidan is wonderful, just wonderful; he’s an intellectual 25 year old trapped in a 6 year old’s body; at least when he’s not tired or freaky about something. Iona is a gem. She’s such a true girl in how she interacts and loves her family; she’s so compassionate (when she wants to be 
). Lord willing, we’re starting up the adoption process again sometime this summer. Details, TBA.
So, what’s to come? Back to general banter, a peek into Pete’s life and our life as the Juvinall’s. Glad to be back.