C (about the glass planter of cactus): Where are the fishies?
B (since I was wearing a flower barrette): You're a senorita!
It's always fun to catch up with roommates, especially when the husbands and kids can join us.
Showing posts with label Messiah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Messiah. Show all posts
Sunday, December 20, 2015
304 NC Reunion
C (about the glass planter of cactus): Where are the fishies?
B (since I was wearing a flower barrette): You're a senorita!
It's always fun to catch up with roommates, especially when the husbands and kids can join us.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Longer than
I've now known Big Frog longer than I didn't know him. I wasn't quite 18 when I started college, and that was 18 years ago. And due to our physics prof's wife (not that she was there, but she claims responsibility for our marriage), I met Big Frog my first week of classes, in physics lab. That prof's son, who was our ring bearer in 2001, is coincidentally starting his freshman year at Messiah this week.
Just last Sunday, I was talking to a high school senior who is taking AP physics this term. I told him that it could change his life. If I hadn't placed out of freshman physics, or if Big Frog hadn't been activated to serve overseas the year before, delaying his sophomore year, God would have needed entirely other means to bring us together.
Here's to the next 18 & beyond, Big Frog!
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Advent
Advent means "arrival", but I've always thought it's not Jesus' coming (or coming again) so much as the anticipation, the waiting, the hoping and praying of the process. When I was tiny, I had a glitter-encrusted Advent calendar that we used year after year, every year leaving more tiny sparkly flecks behind until it was only moderately-glittery. Unlike the daily gifts or Elves on the Shelf of so many friends' kids (as evidenced by FB), I remember tiny cardboard doors behind which, in miniscule typeface, was an abbreviation of a scripture reference.
Waiting for Christmas, therefore, was a time of Messianic prophecy1.
December 1, every year, was Isaiah 9:2. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
1 This was reinforced by Pastor Al's longest-running sermon series, the annual Advent foray into Messianic prophecy. He started in Genesis back in the 1970s, with the founding of CPC, and whatever weeks-long, months-long, years-long series he was on in November (Names of God! Ephesians for everyone!), it was suspended until January.
Isaiah didn't know there would be 400 years of silence. Good thing God's got things covered.
Week Four: Can It Be?
The fourth Sunday of Advent
This summer, my family and I spent a wonderful week vacationing in Massachusetts. Our main destination was Plimouth Plantation, a recreation of the village (near modern-day Plymouth) where the historical first Thanksgiving is said to have taken place, and the Mayflower II, a full-size, seaworthy replica of the original Pilgrim ship, is docked. My six-year-old son studied the Pilgrims in his kindergarten class and heard about this fascinating place. His excitement convinced us this would make a great place to visit. The village consists of a series of weather-worn wooden buildings and fenced-in areas where historical breeds of livestock and heirloom crop varieties grow. Throughout the village, costumed actors go about their daily lives, playing characters from 1627 and assuming the language and customs common to these early European settlers.
We all were fascinated by the details of the colonists’ difficult life: Each family, even a family with 15 children, lived in a single room dwelling of about 800-square-feet, which was seemingly constantly covered in dirt. Two hours were spent every day grinding corn with a wooden mortar and pestle to come up with enough flour to make a loaf of bread. Pilgrim children did not attend school (which my children were interested to learn), because they were working in the fields all day as soon as they physically were able (which my children were strangely less interested to learn).
This new life followed a grueling two-month trip living below deck in a dank, small single room which was semi-sealed to keep out ocean water and, consequently, light and fresh air. During the first winter, more than half of the 102 settlers died due to weakened immune systems. Over and over, I was struck with the difficulty of life in the new land, and left with a question: “Who does something like this?!?”
My answer came from one of the actors, an older colonist who invited us all into the Meeting House—a nondescript wooden structure which was used primarily for worship services. Once assembled, he began by teaching us, by rote, to sing: “Guide me, O though great Jehovah!” After our first attempt, he stopped us abruptly, yelling: “the Lord says we are to make a joyful noise! Not a ‘polite noise’ and not a ‘pretty noise.’ We make a ‘joyful noise’ because we are a people of joy, and we are a people of joy because we are a people of faith. The joy in our faith is what brought us here, and it is what sustains us through these trials.”
My mental picture of these people, who had undergone such difficulty in their new lives, was missing one vital part of their reality: joy. I had not considered they could experience so much real, life-affirming joy. At that moment, I understood that, as fellow-followers of Jesus, they too knew God’s faithfulness and love. They were able to go in faith, knowing that while they were in the darkness, the light of Jesus was coming. They knew, as Jesus taught us, greatness lies on the other side of suffering. It is my prayer that, in this Advent season, we may all know the joy of God’s love in our lives. In the words of the psalmist: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming!
— Timothy Dixon, DMA
professor of music
Psalm 96; Isaiah 52:7-10; Luke 1:57-80 source: Messiah College Advent devotional book 2014 TL;DR: “The Lord says we are to make a joyful noise! Not a ‘polite noise’ and not a ‘pretty noise.’ We make a ‘joyful noise’ because we are a people of joy, and we are a people of joy because we are a people of faith. The joy in our faith is what brought us here, and it is what sustains us through these trials.”
Isaiah didn't know there would be 400 years of silence. Good thing God's got things covered.
Week Four: Can It Be?
The fourth Sunday of Advent
This summer, my family and I spent a wonderful week vacationing in Massachusetts. Our main destination was Plimouth Plantation, a recreation of the village (near modern-day Plymouth) where the historical first Thanksgiving is said to have taken place, and the Mayflower II, a full-size, seaworthy replica of the original Pilgrim ship, is docked. My six-year-old son studied the Pilgrims in his kindergarten class and heard about this fascinating place. His excitement convinced us this would make a great place to visit. The village consists of a series of weather-worn wooden buildings and fenced-in areas where historical breeds of livestock and heirloom crop varieties grow. Throughout the village, costumed actors go about their daily lives, playing characters from 1627 and assuming the language and customs common to these early European settlers.
We all were fascinated by the details of the colonists’ difficult life: Each family, even a family with 15 children, lived in a single room dwelling of about 800-square-feet, which was seemingly constantly covered in dirt. Two hours were spent every day grinding corn with a wooden mortar and pestle to come up with enough flour to make a loaf of bread. Pilgrim children did not attend school (which my children were interested to learn), because they were working in the fields all day as soon as they physically were able (which my children were strangely less interested to learn).
This new life followed a grueling two-month trip living below deck in a dank, small single room which was semi-sealed to keep out ocean water and, consequently, light and fresh air. During the first winter, more than half of the 102 settlers died due to weakened immune systems. Over and over, I was struck with the difficulty of life in the new land, and left with a question: “Who does something like this?!?”
My answer came from one of the actors, an older colonist who invited us all into the Meeting House—a nondescript wooden structure which was used primarily for worship services. Once assembled, he began by teaching us, by rote, to sing: “Guide me, O though great Jehovah!” After our first attempt, he stopped us abruptly, yelling: “the Lord says we are to make a joyful noise! Not a ‘polite noise’ and not a ‘pretty noise.’ We make a ‘joyful noise’ because we are a people of joy, and we are a people of joy because we are a people of faith. The joy in our faith is what brought us here, and it is what sustains us through these trials.”
My mental picture of these people, who had undergone such difficulty in their new lives, was missing one vital part of their reality: joy. I had not considered they could experience so much real, life-affirming joy. At that moment, I understood that, as fellow-followers of Jesus, they too knew God’s faithfulness and love. They were able to go in faith, knowing that while they were in the darkness, the light of Jesus was coming. They knew, as Jesus taught us, greatness lies on the other side of suffering. It is my prayer that, in this Advent season, we may all know the joy of God’s love in our lives. In the words of the psalmist: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming!
— Timothy Dixon, DMA
professor of music
Psalm 96; Isaiah 52:7-10; Luke 1:57-80 source: Messiah College Advent devotional book 2014 TL;DR: “The Lord says we are to make a joyful noise! Not a ‘polite noise’ and not a ‘pretty noise.’ We make a ‘joyful noise’ because we are a people of joy, and we are a people of joy because we are a people of faith. The joy in our faith is what brought us here, and it is what sustains us through these trials.”
Friday, October 3, 2014
I named my fish after you!
Big Frog got to Skype with his Collab mentees the other day. They greeted him with, "How's the afterlife?" and, "Welcome back from the dead!", which neither he nor I knew anything about. Don't you think that we would know at least something?
Turns out, one of our wonderful relationship-minded Collab friends, who was on the call, had come in the other day, mournfully reporting, "Big Frog died," which shocked her teammates, who had no idea that anything was even wrong with my hubby.
Fortunately, we're all getting better at asking good questions to get to the bottom of the matter. The team quickly learned how much this fabulous, hula-hooping individual appreciated & respected Big Frog. (Completely in earnest, not teasing in the least.) As she instantly realized what a galvanizing effect her words had on the team, she clarified, "I named my fish after you."
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Forever Young
Messiah history prof Jim LaGrand, on Bob Dylan's benediction for today's graduates. (Must follow link. Youtube clip is the song, my personal preferred version, the SuperBowl ad with Will.i.am featuring Bob Dylan.)
(And, just because the song title always brings the Rod Stewart song first to mind, here that one is too.)
Friday, February 21, 2014
You look Chinese. I'll greet you in Mandarin.
Today the Messiah College Alumni group asked for postings about first memories of Messiah College. Mine was a revelation about my family rather than about the college.
I posted: I heard my dad speak Mandarin for the first time in my life at Messiah. Dr Van Gorder, who visually you would not guess was fluent in Mandarin, greeted dad with a visual assumption that were were Chinese. (We're ABCs*.) And my dad, who even when we would visit the Chinese church he grew up in, listened in Chinese and responded in English, answered Dr Van Gorder in Mandarin as though he spoke it every day of his life. * American Born Chinese
My mom tells how her dad, one time, tried to "encourage" (read: require) Chinese language in the household. He laid down a decree that only Chinese would be spoken in the house. And my mom's and her four sibs' response? According to mom, there was silence in the household for two weeks.
As for me, I'm 100% Chinese by blood. But I am such an ABC! Mom says that I, like her, am Chinese "until I open my mouth". On occasion, I've received compliments on my English. Sometimes that comes back to bite, though. The summer after my freshman year, I went to Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, with Dr Van Gorder and a team from Messiah. Because I looked Chinese, and beause we were working with Chinese college students and attending English Corners, often there was an assumption that I was a Chinese national who had latched onto the group.
Usually that was fine and actual nationals striving to practice their English were glad for me that I was trying to find my roots. But once we were in the midst of a road trip and I was sitting on the curb next to an African-American teammate. The bus driver said something to me with the assumption that I could translate for the American... when I haltingly told him that I was an American, and I was very sorry (two phrases I got very good at very quickly), he started railing at me! I learned afterwards that it was something of a diatribe on "How could you turn your back on your culture and your people?" I was taken aback, shocked into silence.
I'm not alone, though. Gene Luen Yang, who wrote such graphic novels as American Born Chinese and Level Up, both of which I highly recommend, is in the process of reintroducing one of the first Asian superheroes, the Green Turtle, from the Shadow Hero line. About his Chinese school retention, he shared (pictures in the link, towards the bottom):
If you compare [the] final art with my thumbnails, though, you’ll notice that the Chinese characters are different. That’s because I don’t really know how to write Chinese, despite having gone to Chinese school every Saturday for twelve years. I basically wrote the few characters that I remember as a placeholder, so in the thumbnails the Chinese banner reads, “Gene Luen Yang is a.” That’s right. That’s the net result of twelve years’ worth of Saturdays. I can write my name, “is”, and “a". I can’t even tell you what Gene Luen Yang is, because I don’t remember how to write “cartoonist” or “teacher” or “undisciplined Chinese student.” Moral of the story: pay attention in your language classes, kids.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Do noodles make you happy?
Noodles make me happy.
So does getting together with college friends.
And cousins.
And nieces.
And a nephew who, today at least, likes me strictly from across the room, but ADORES Uncle Big Frog enough to scootch across the floor on his bum with a treasure to share. Really.
(What? Me, jealous? Just because I picked you up and you burst into hysterical tears? See if I kidnap you and take you to the Ren Faire.)
(OK, I probably will, but not this year. But your sisters? Mine.)
I've had a yearning for knife-cut noodles for awhile now. Weeks? (Months? Years?) I haven't had any since the 90's. Too long. And Big Frog had never had them ever, although he's seen enough Ching-He Huang on the Cooking Network to drool with Pavlovian anticipation at their mention. Thanks to Yelp, I discovered that the best hand-drawn noodle and knife-cut noodle place in the "Harrisburg area" is in fact Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House in Chinatown Philly. That's not at all surprising, but I do wish it were closer. If you're not familiar with the wonder that is rustic freshly made noodles, check this street vendor out on Youtube. (Primericans and mathematicians will appreciate the doubling that goes into hand-drawn nooodles. It's just 10 doubling periods to go from 1 to 1000.)
Hungry yet?
So, with a leadership event on the calendar in Philly, Big Frog and I made our usual inquiries into stopping by the Philly (Philly suburbs) cousins' place afterwards. Alas! Alack! They were already committed for the afternoon. But if evening wasn't too late for us to come by they would be home. Hmmm. That might give us enough time to pop by Chinatown. And perhaps nosh a bit? (In my world, both Yiddish and Chinese are food languages. True? Of course true.) Our RVP, who knows we usually visit our nieces and nephew after a Philly event, asked us for carpooling/caravaning reasons if we were doing likewise this time. He's a gourmet chef. We mentioned Chinatown, and he would have joined us in Chinatown if he weren't driving the going-straight-home van.
'Twas the night before Star school and I was on Yelp... And it occurred to me that several of the people who had commiserated with me about noodles were in the right geographical area to join us. The other advantage that provides is that with more people to feed and an expectation of family-style dining, we can try a LOT of different things. Fortunately, some college friends were game. And they brought their kids and a Chinatown-loving friend. My dad asked me after the fact if they were Chinese. I said they were every bit as Chinese as Big Frog and I. We're all ä½™s, now.
Others sent regrets and requests for 1) pics and 2) takeout.
Pork and chives and shrimp dumplings. (We also had pork and chives dumplings. They look the same from the outside.)
Pea tips, with a tip of the hat to my Aunt M, who introduced them to me several years ago. My YenYen, dad and Aunt M's mom, used to grow them. Although my dad says he'd never had them until I introduced them to him... ummm...
Fish ball soup with hand-drawn noodles. And props to J for dishing them out all around the table! Bear in mind that it's technically all one enormous noodle. Longevity for New Year's indeed! I was surprised and pleased that the youngest kid liked the fish balls the most.
The Yelp absolute-must-try, and my personal favorite, Beef brisket with knife-cut noodles.
UNfortunately, although we got a few snapshots, we dived into two of our dishes before getting photos. Forgive us! Fortunately, they were stir-frys. We had a chicken with hand-drawn noodle and a roast pork with knife-cut noodle.
Eight people ate four entrees, a veg, and three orders of dumplings. We figured we'd start there and order more as we figured out what we liked best. Except that we ended up with leftovers from just that much. (Do noodles multiply? I could definitely see Jesus feeding 5000 Chinese on nothing but umami. Stone soup is real, friends. Sometimes it's the best soup you can make.)
But wait! Cousins! Nieces! A small but surprisingly ravenous nephew! Their function finished, we arranged a rendezvous and ordered... Takeout! More noodles! Three orders went to their home with us. We ate and were satisfied... and once again had leftovers. See you Monday, Coach! It is your lucky day.
Tangentially... New Year's is this coming Friday. Just FYI, here's an intriguing Feng Shui take on this year. Happy year of the Horse! Gung hay fat choy!
(What? Me, jealous? Just because I picked you up and you burst into hysterical tears? See if I kidnap you and take you to the Ren Faire.)
(OK, I probably will, but not this year. But your sisters? Mine.)
I've had a yearning for knife-cut noodles for awhile now. Weeks? (Months? Years?) I haven't had any since the 90's. Too long. And Big Frog had never had them ever, although he's seen enough Ching-He Huang on the Cooking Network to drool with Pavlovian anticipation at their mention. Thanks to Yelp, I discovered that the best hand-drawn noodle and knife-cut noodle place in the "Harrisburg area" is in fact Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House in Chinatown Philly. That's not at all surprising, but I do wish it were closer. If you're not familiar with the wonder that is rustic freshly made noodles, check this street vendor out on Youtube. (Primericans and mathematicians will appreciate the doubling that goes into hand-drawn nooodles. It's just 10 doubling periods to go from 1 to 1000.)
Hungry yet?
So, with a leadership event on the calendar in Philly, Big Frog and I made our usual inquiries into stopping by the Philly (Philly suburbs) cousins' place afterwards. Alas! Alack! They were already committed for the afternoon. But if evening wasn't too late for us to come by they would be home. Hmmm. That might give us enough time to pop by Chinatown. And perhaps nosh a bit? (In my world, both Yiddish and Chinese are food languages. True? Of course true.) Our RVP, who knows we usually visit our nieces and nephew after a Philly event, asked us for carpooling/caravaning reasons if we were doing likewise this time. He's a gourmet chef. We mentioned Chinatown, and he would have joined us in Chinatown if he weren't driving the going-straight-home van.
'Twas the night before Star school and I was on Yelp... And it occurred to me that several of the people who had commiserated with me about noodles were in the right geographical area to join us. The other advantage that provides is that with more people to feed and an expectation of family-style dining, we can try a LOT of different things. Fortunately, some college friends were game. And they brought their kids and a Chinatown-loving friend. My dad asked me after the fact if they were Chinese. I said they were every bit as Chinese as Big Frog and I. We're all ä½™s, now.
Others sent regrets and requests for 1) pics and 2) takeout.
Pork and chives and shrimp dumplings. (We also had pork and chives dumplings. They look the same from the outside.)
Pea tips, with a tip of the hat to my Aunt M, who introduced them to me several years ago. My YenYen, dad and Aunt M's mom, used to grow them. Although my dad says he'd never had them until I introduced them to him... ummm...
Fish ball soup with hand-drawn noodles. And props to J for dishing them out all around the table! Bear in mind that it's technically all one enormous noodle. Longevity for New Year's indeed! I was surprised and pleased that the youngest kid liked the fish balls the most.
The Yelp absolute-must-try, and my personal favorite, Beef brisket with knife-cut noodles.
UNfortunately, although we got a few snapshots, we dived into two of our dishes before getting photos. Forgive us! Fortunately, they were stir-frys. We had a chicken with hand-drawn noodle and a roast pork with knife-cut noodle.
Eight people ate four entrees, a veg, and three orders of dumplings. We figured we'd start there and order more as we figured out what we liked best. Except that we ended up with leftovers from just that much. (Do noodles multiply? I could definitely see Jesus feeding 5000 Chinese on nothing but umami. Stone soup is real, friends. Sometimes it's the best soup you can make.)
But wait! Cousins! Nieces! A small but surprisingly ravenous nephew! Their function finished, we arranged a rendezvous and ordered... Takeout! More noodles! Three orders went to their home with us. We ate and were satisfied... and once again had leftovers. See you Monday, Coach! It is your lucky day.
Tangentially... New Year's is this coming Friday. Just FYI, here's an intriguing Feng Shui take on this year. Happy year of the Horse! Gung hay fat choy!
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Messiah College, class of 2030 and 2032
Is it brainwashing, a little bit? Probably yes. But don't you think your brain needs to be washed?
Positive expectations. Let's go with that.
So I took the godkids over to campus today: beautiful fall day, blue skies, leaves changing color, students all over campus (We hadn't been there since summertime, when Messiah is mostly conferences rather than students). And with Big Frog advising a Collaboratory group this year, he's on campus every week, and he passes along greetings from the faculty and staff on a consistent basis; a little friendly pressure to come visit. Not only did we both graduate from Messiah, Big Frog also worked there for years as their first electrical engineering technician. So we're enthusiastic about the godkids getting involved.
But unlike at Cupboard Maker ("You can't go in the staff areas because you don't work here, yet!"), at Messiah we not only went down the classroom halls, we also went to where the teachers (professors, obviously, but how do you explain that to kids in preK and kindergarten?) have their offices. And they got to meet the department admin, who fortunately is possibly the most relationship-oriented person I know. Any plans she had to accomplish stuff in her last half-hour of the day went out the window when we showed up, and the kids were playing with all the animal puzzles she had from assorted Burkina Faso trips, as well as a solar-powered dancing flower. Intrigued, they said it ran by "Magic!" That being said, they also said there were monsters in Frey, to which the admin replied that there were, "No monsters, only engineers."
Also, in terms of family history, M&D have always known, from the very first time we visited Messiah, that Uncle Big Frog used to work in the blue building, Frey, and Aunt Middle Frog used to work at the library, Murray. But today they mind-blowingly learned that the launch area by the creek used to be all grass, and that was where Uncle Big Frog asked Aunt Middle Frog to marry him. ("WHAT?!?!?!") And they also saw the building (Solly) where Aunt Middle Frog used to live when she was exactly the same age as their oldest sister is right now.
We'll let that bounce around in their brains for awhile. Class of 2030 and 2032.
But unlike at Cupboard Maker ("You can't go in the staff areas because you don't work here, yet!"), at Messiah we not only went down the classroom halls, we also went to where the teachers (professors, obviously, but how do you explain that to kids in preK and kindergarten?) have their offices. And they got to meet the department admin, who fortunately is possibly the most relationship-oriented person I know. Any plans she had to accomplish stuff in her last half-hour of the day went out the window when we showed up, and the kids were playing with all the animal puzzles she had from assorted Burkina Faso trips, as well as a solar-powered dancing flower. Intrigued, they said it ran by "Magic!" That being said, they also said there were monsters in Frey, to which the admin replied that there were, "No monsters, only engineers."
Also, in terms of family history, M&D have always known, from the very first time we visited Messiah, that Uncle Big Frog used to work in the blue building, Frey, and Aunt Middle Frog used to work at the library, Murray. But today they mind-blowingly learned that the launch area by the creek used to be all grass, and that was where Uncle Big Frog asked Aunt Middle Frog to marry him. ("WHAT?!?!?!") And they also saw the building (Solly) where Aunt Middle Frog used to live when she was exactly the same age as their oldest sister is right now.
We'll let that bounce around in their brains for awhile. Class of 2030 and 2032.
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