Earth Day!

So tomorrow is Earth day. We have no plans as of yet, but I'm sure we will come up with something because it seems an important day of remembrance. God created the earth- and it was good. God had us name the animals and care for the garden and I think some of the principles derived from thinking about those things have become woven into our lives. This isn't a brag list, just some things that we've been able to do to as a family. There's always more we could do, some of them take an initial investment of money or time or an ongoing commitment that necessitate gradual implementation.

Cloth Diapers- I have nothing but good things to say (probably because my wife mostly is involved in this process, but truly she only has good things to say too!) I think we became convinced of the rightness of this decision after hearing Rob Bell's "God is Green" series and learned that 300 years from now that diaper (and its contents) will be unchanged as it sits in a land fill. So we decided (before we even started trying to have kids) to at least try to use cloth diapers. Ultimately they save us money, and if you have the time to do a couple extra loads of laundry a week we totally recommend them.

A clothes line- Our neighbor read this little book called "Serve God, Save the Planet" that contained some tips for being more "green" - #1 keep the sabbath - #2 ditch the dryer. So okay we haven't gotten rid of the dryer (though its old and seems to not be working as well so...) but we have a clothes line, and time of day permitting we hang stuff on it (mostly our diapers, see above). UV light from the sun is a great natural biotic killer so its great for diapers. Actually keeps them whiter and helps remove stains. (as a plus his organization is putting on a webcast this afternoon for Earth day- check it out here!)

Our Eating Habits- So trying to eat better as we become more informed about where our food comes from and how it is treated has led us to eat less and less processed food, and more and more food we have cooked ourselves. Our neighbor has a huge garden operation. He has a trailer with lights and watering system where he sprouts seed, a green house to accelerate early growth and an extensive raised bed area. He grows all year round with seasonal plant harvest with a canning operation for the vegetables that can be canned. We often get large bags of squash with the admonishment to simply "do our part." Some day I hope to follow in their foot steps, growing my own food and storing it for latter use, but for now, we are happy eating the excess, going to farmers markets and generally trying to make our food from scratch as much as possible.

Perhaps we will go and purchase some herb plants for our patio garden we have talked about. So far we have one plant, a tomato plant that my wife has been diligently keeping alive and now has 5 tomatoes growing on it!

Some interesting web sites i found today...
The blogs on blessedearth.com - serving God, saving the planet

A blog on homesteading and the impact of our plastic waste

Sackcloths and Ashes

(I'm trying to post at least once a week and one larger post a month to work as part of my Epiphany day goals so I will be posting more often though maybe in a wider variety of genres)
These are pretty much the best chips ever. They are intensely spicy but not that Mexican sorta spicy that you cant get out of your mouth but that addictive sorta instant burn that goes away in a wash of warmth and goodness. They are slightly sweet with a bit of nutty goodness thrown in for good measure. I could eat the entire bag in one sitting with out a problem. I think I might even lick the bag if I could. And you would think something that yummy has MSG or food preservatives or something bad like that in it but there isn't a single weird ingredient.

Even as I searched today on the Internet, for pictures I discovered a whole new world wide community of my fellow "spicy Thai lovers". (or here, or here, or here)

And yet I was very disappointed today when my wife sent me the following picture in a text message.

DISCONTINUED!?!?!?! Now its true that we have seen no bags of Spicy Thai chips in the last few weeks but discontinued? No more, ever! I tried to get Sarah to go round to all the stores and buy up a reserve, but she just laughed at our dilemma. Apparently she is not a true believer. But there is hope! It seems that Spicy Thai has not made the official list of "retired flavors" on the KettleFoods.com web site yet. So we need to get the petitions going! Stop emailing your congressmen (and women) and start emailing Kettle Foods. Don't let them retire Spicy Thai and thus group it in with other failed flavors like Island Jerk, Red Peppers & Goat Cheese, and my personal favorite, Cheddar Beer. Get your picket signs ready and your walking shoes on! SAVE SPICY THAI! SAVE SPICY THAI!

City Life

I am feeling sort of wistful for the city.

I like where I live, I like the space
and the neighbors
But I wish people lived closer...
and people just sorta "stopped by"...
and our church was closer
and I could ride to the store...

Our "Walk Score" right now is a 3

This place has a walk score of 96. Someday...

Word association

This is pretty much what goes on inside of my head most days.

Really Summer

Okay so I finished the last of my ESLR reports today.

And my teacher evaluation. And my measurment testings.

I turned in my books and all my curriculum.

Summer at last.

A week late.

But summer at last.

Projects galore... for me and for others.

But I think Im going to have some tea when

I get up tomorrow, and read my book for a

little while in the quiet of the morning. Maybe

on the patio where my little herbs are growing?

Maybe in my newly arranged "den" at the end

of the hallway to nowhere? We'll see.

Then I might be ready for building and making and finishing and computing.

Say hi to my little herbs. I think this is basil. Too small to tell.

Summer

So its summer time. School's out, which means I don't have to go to work but I still get paid for two months. Okay so technically I still have some work to do over the summer but I thought I'd start with something fun. Like redesigning my blog. Maybe it will inspire me to write some more? I have things to say but either they seem too short and almost duh'ish or too long to make it into my self imposed 500 word limit or too convoluted to unravel in a way that makes sense. Oh bother...

At least the blog looks a little more stylish in my opinion. Nothing like at least knowing you have a space to be creative in.

Tagged by Andy

So a friend of mine (Andy) tagged me in his blog to write six random things about myself and then tag six other people to do it as well, though I'm not sure I have even six readers of my blog at this point.

1) Though I dont have cable television, I do manage to keep up on my two favorite shows, The Office and Project Runway. Now I know that Project Runway caters to women but I like the construction and fabrication aspect of the actual clothes they design. Oh well.

2) My wife thinks I'm autistic. I walk on my toes, I memorize things well, I tell the same stories over and over, I mutter little jokes to myself that only I find ammusing, I can keep a running count of cards up to a four deck stack and I find great comfort in rocking back and forth when ever I am distraugh.

3) I hate talking on the phone. I dont hardly ever call people or anything. It probably makes me a bad person.

4) I love building things with my hands. Maybe its because I dont get to do it as often as I like, but I think I could do it for a living. I did it over the summer for a couple of months and loved it. I think its all the thinking tim you get. Your hands are busy and you mind can be elsewhere. Unless you are using sharp instuments.

5) When I was little I would do this thing with my fingers to tell my mother she was being wierd. I found out last week that it is actually the sign in ASL for wierd. Which I guess at some point I knew but forgot because I had been doing this since I was 5 or 6 years old. Which is wierd right?

6) I like green things. I like plants. Watching them grow and flower and produce. There's something whole and right and simple about the order and the progress, the flow of seasons, and the smells of life in the soil.

Now Im supposed to tag people who blog but I dont really know that many so how bout Aaron, Micah, Glen, Willy, Chelsea and Leisy

Stage 3 of Moving and the First Week of School

So when asked about how i was doing I told someone I was in the third stage of moving (like the five stages of grief). The third stage is utter loathing of cardboard boxes. (The others are, in order, excitement about moving, realization that you have only a week left to pack, the drudgery of furniture moving day, and finally acceptance.)

On a lighter note I have technically finished my first week of teaching! Its gong well and I'm seeming so far to be able to do my work at school so I don't have to take it home with me. The teachers and the Principal are pretty amazing and have given me some nice complements that they have heard from students (mostly that I'm going to make them work but that they really enjoy the class.) All my classes except one have a test on Friday, and the one that doesn't has already had two quizzes (they groan a lot but hey, its anatomy and physiology and there's a lot to learn.) This morning I led staff devotions where we prayed for one another and I'm leading worship for chapel this afternoon with another teacher here.

So that's all for my update but I'm working on an article about Worship and My Favorite Heretic (Nestorius who called himself the Hammer of the Heretics and ended up becoming one)

Peace to you all
Adam

Oy Vey!

So today I went by the school and picked up yet another box of books for my classes that I'm teaching. I'm now offically teaching Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, 2 Biology classes and the 8th grade boys Bible class. But i had a fantastic conversation to day which i will recount here.

"Well we're having breakfast and lunch for all the new teachers tommarow."

"Great what are we having?"

"Its a supprise"

"Well Im just asking cause I dont eat pork or dairy"

"Oh cause your..." she nods at me as if waiting for me to fill in the word. "You know, like Hebrew"

Any ways I thought it was pretty funny.

-A

New Adventures

So if you havent heard, my wifey and I are going to have a baby!

And we're moving out of our little barn into a much bigger barn.

And I start my first day of school on thursday.

So theres alot of change going on right now for us. The easiest change mentally to deal with is moving. I've been moving all my life. If I stay somewhere too long I have to move all the furniture completely arround just so it feels a little diffrent. I like the process of going through things, throwing out the junk, and keeping the sentamental and remmebering the stories that go along with all the little keep sakes.

And right now my wife is doing most of the work for the baby. Sure I do a few more things arround the house but shes the one "climbing mountains" as people keep telling us. But were looking foward to raising our children together and helping them to grow up strong and capible in the ways of our faith.

And school, well, its a small private school so in teaching science, I am the only high school science teacher. So my corses are probable changing today as they go over the schedule due to low enrollment in one of my classes and high enrollment in some others, but Im just rolling with the punches and excited about doing something a bit more fufilling than planning out tract home neighborhoods.

So just a quick update, and Im off to start the rest of my day; transcribing, packing, and lesson planning.

Thursday Again...

My wife is out of town at what was supposed to be a wedding but turned into a fun girls weekend away due to some issues with the US consulate and a visa for the groom. So Sarah is in Connecticut and I'm batching it for the weekend.

But I got a call yesterday from a school that I had previously turned down due the course load they wanted me to teach and the compensation they were offering. So I met with the principal and they actually offered me less work and more money than before so we're praying about it but it looks like a good deal and it keeps me from driving down to Escondido everyday which is exactly 50 miles there and then 50 miles back everyday.

So I'll probably end up working there starting the end of August which is good but still means I am scrambling for work in the meantime but its okay.

-Adam