Here Dwells Mankind

I drove to work in a thick fog this morning. I could see just enough of the brake lights in front of me to keep moving, and certainly nothing of the next stoplight. The world was tiny, densely quiet, and completely grey.

Then, just moments before I arrived at work, I sat stopped behind the car in front of me. I could see that the fog still hanging around my car became great reaching columns of mist ahead and then faded into crisp clear lavender sky. On the suddenly visible horizon, there were a few shadows of trees and above, a pink-tinged cloud. A single bird trilled. I knew that the sun would rise.

And then the sun did rise, golden and fiery and painful to look at over the parking lot of Thomson Reuters.

Household Outing

We went out for ice cream as a household the other night and got this nice picture. (l to r: Annie, Amy, Angie, Gianna, Anna, myself.)

Harry Potter Book Release

Here we are at the Harry Potter book release party in the Mall of America. (l to r: Ally Pozarski as Hermione, Anna Hagans as Ginny Weasley, Patrick Gaffney as Harry; myself as Professor Trelawney; Joe Gleason as Tom Riddle)

Meet Norbert

This is Norbert. He is a 2006 Pontiac Vibe, and he has already proven himself an awesome division car. In the two months since I bought him, Norbert has transported three bookshelves, 75 pounds of pork (not including the beans that went with it) and 10 1-gallon ziploc bags of fruit, five people plus all of their swimming gear, a large cooler and a guitar, and several other things. I would also like to point out that Jeremiah Laust and Joe Bowar fit comfortably in the back seat at the same time.

Amy's squares - Corner pieces

This is part of a quilt we made as a household. Scroll down to see the rest...

Anne's square - Allendale Women's House

Maren's square - Parsonage

Colleen's square - Allendale house with green porch

Angie's square - 1434

Anna's square - the Seitzes'

Gianna's square - 1027

Kathleen's square - Allendale Men's House

Hannah's square - The Annex

City Quilt

The 1027 Women's household worked on this quilt together over the 2006-07 school year. The center panel depicts a people gathering in the spirit under a city skyline, and the surrounding blocks are our houses in Allendale and Dinkytown as of early Fall 2006. We are planning on hanging it on the wall in the 1027 women's fun room.

Here are some pics of the whole completed quilt. Each household member worked on one of the squares, and I worked on the center panel. I am going to do this in several posts so that you can see each square individually.

Allendale College Women's Trip - May 2007

The Universe Comes to a Point

"Have you ever noticed," said Dimble, "that the universe, and every little bit of the universe, is always hardening and narrowing and coming to a point?"

His wife waited as those wait who know by long experience the mental processes of the person who is talking to them.

"I mean this," said Dimble in answer to the question she had not asked. "If you dip into any college, or school, or parish, or family - anything you like - at a given point in its history, you always find that there was a time before that point when there was more elbow room and contrasts weren't quite so sharp; and that there's going to be a time after that point when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more momentous. Good is always getting better and bad is always getting worse: the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing. The whole thing is sorting itself out all the time, coming to a point, getting sharper and harder."

C.S. Lewis, from That Hideous Strength, Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1946

Contrast.

I've been thinking about our Father's plan for all of creation and where the People of Praise fits into it. (I'm going to presuppose some knowledge of the People of Praise here - for more information www.peopleofpraise.org.)

We've always been different. Committing yourself to spend two hours of every Sunday afternoon with a group of people who are not necessarily of your denomination, using an evening every week to build friendships with a few people you might not otherwise have been drawn to, submitting your prayer life, your finances and all your major decisions to someone who is not related to you and may not even have been chosen by you - these are not things it occurs to your average American to do as a matter of course.

But the Father wants us to be even more than that. We want to build real, physical cities that strangers walk into and know that they are in a different place. Our Father asks more and more and more of us for the People of Praise. He asks for our businesses, our work, our studies, our free time spent in homes that are ever closer together and more intertwined, our sleep, our eating habits, our creativity, our thinking, our 24/7, the clothes we wear, the people we love, and whether we like to keep the butter on the counter or in the fridge. He wants us all in. And every day, we see more and more clearly what the People of Praise always was as we become ever more what the Father has in mind for us; as the People of Praise becomes ever more itself.

This is only a small piece of the whole universe as it comes to a point. The day will come when all things are either of the united new creation, or of that which has chosen not to be the new creation. There will be no more fence-sitting; no more neutral ground. Everything will become clear. It is more clear now than it has ever been. The light of the Lord grows ever brighter.

The Three Princes

Also Mom's story...

Once upon a time, there was a king who had the most beautiful and kind daughter in all of the kingdoms nearby. However, the king had a problem. His kingdom was secluded in a high mountain range, and very few people ever visited it. The king wanted his only daughter to find a nice young prince to marry, but the kingdom was so hard to get to that none of the local princes had ever been there. The king did not want his daughter to marry just any old prince, however. He wanted her to marry a good man who would make a good king for his kingdom and a good husband for his daughter. And so the king came up with a plan. He sent letters to three of the nearby princes asking them to meet at the foot of a very large mountain on the border of his kingdom, where they would find a quest waiting for them.

The three princes journeyed from far away to the meeting place and arrived on the appointed day. There was Prince I Can Do It By Myself, Prince You Can Do It For Me and Prince I Can Do All Things Through Christ. The princes looked around at the foot of the mountain for some sign of what they should do next, but all they could see was the entrance to what looked like a small, rocky cave. The three princes decided that they would have to go in one at a time, so that each prince would have an equal and fair chance.

"Well, I'm going in first," said Prince I Can Do It By Myself. "I'll show you how it's done."

So, Prince I Can Do It By Myself lit his torch and went into the gloomy cave. He walked through a tunnel just tall enough for a man to walk upright, and pushed a few spider webs out of his way. Those were not going to stop Prince I Can Do It By Myself. Before long the tunnel opened into a large cavern. When the prince had taken a few seconds to shine his torch around, he saw that there was a dry stream bed running through the center of the cavern. At the edge of the stream bed, there was a small wooden rowboat with oars for two people, and sitting in the boat was a small, wrinkly old man wearing an old, worn out, floppy green hat. He looked almost like he might be made of wood, or at least like he had not moved a muscle in a very, very long time. After a few moments of glancing around the cavern, it was clear to Prince I Can Do It By Myself that the only way to continue further into the mountain was to cross the dry stream bed to get to another tunnel on the other side. The prince walked up to the edge of the stream bed.

"Hello," said the old man suddenly.

Prince I Can Do It By Myself jumped and twirled around to face the old man. "What do you want, old wart?"

The old man tilted his head up slowly so that the prince could see his face under his giant hat. "You're going to need a boat if you want to get across that there stream."

Prince I Can Do It By Myself turned up his nose. "You must be seeing things, old man. There isn't any stream there. By the look of it, there hasn't been any water in this place for years. I'm going to walk right across without any problem, you watch."

"You do what you like." The old man shrugged. "But I'm telling you, this here is a magic stream. As soon as you set foot in that stream bed, a whole lot of water is going to come rushing out of this mountain, and if you don't have a good boat and two good rowers, you're going to be washed right out of the mountain."

Now, Prince I Can Do It By Myself was certainly arrogant, but he was not stupid. He knew that when you are on a quest and an old man tells you something, you had better listen. So, Prince I Can Do It By Myself walked over to the boat.

"All right, old man," he said, "I'll get in your boat. But I don't need the help of an old sack of bones like you to row across. I can do it by myself." And Prince I Can Do It By Myself pushed the front of the boat just into the stream bed and climbed in. He took his own oar in one hand and the old man's oar in the other and hunched over to wait. A few moments later, a wall of rapidly-moving water rushed out of the mountain and into the dry stream bed. The little boat was pushed quickly downstream. Prince I Can Do It By Myself rowed as hard as he could, but he was no match for the strong current.

Kookabunga and the Brownies

Again, Mom's work...


Once upon a time, there were three little girls who lived with their Mommy and Daddy. Katie was the oldest, Kathy was the middle child, and the littlest of the sisters was called Kookabunga. Of course, her real name was not Kookabunga. Her real name was Kerri, but she wouldn't let anyone call her anything but Kookabunga. One day, Kookabunga was watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on TV, and she heard the heroes yell, "Cowabunga!" Kookabunga liked the word very much, but she was very little, and she could only say "Kookabunga". After that, she insisted that everyone call her Kookabunga.

One day, Kookabunga's mommy decided to make brownies. She took out a package of brownie mix and stirred in eggs and water and oil. As she was mixing it all together, Kookabunga came into the kitchen.

"Mommy, what doin'?" Kookabunga wanted to know.

"I'm making brownies for dessert, Kookabunga," said Mommy. "Brownies are very good. You will like them. Look, see?" Mommy showed Kookabunga what she was mixing in her bowl.

Kookabunga made an awful face. "No. Mud."

Mommy shook her head. "No, Kookabunga, these are brownies. They are yummy."

"Mud," said Kookabunga.

Mommy smiled. "You'll see when they come out of the oven they won't look like mud then."

Kookabunga went off to look at her storybooks. Mommy put the brownies in the oven to bake, and before long, wonderful, delicious smells wafted through the house. Just as Mommy was taking the brownies out of the oven, Kookabunga wandered through the kitchen again.

Mommy showed Kookabunga the delicious brownies. "Look, Kookabunga, now the brownies are cooked. Don't they look yummy?"

Kookabunga wrinkled her nose. "Dried mud."

"Kookabunga." Mommy was really suprised now. "Of course it isn't dried mud. These are brownies. Do you want a little taste?"

"No," said Kookabunga. "Dried mud."

"Well, all right." Mommy put the brownies on the counter to cool. "When everyone else has a brownie for dessert tonight, you don't have to have one, if you're sure."

"Dried mud," said Kookabunga and wandered off to make a puzzle.

That evening, after everyone had finished their dinner, Mommy gave everyone a brownie for dessert. She gave Daddy a brownie, she gave Katie a brownie, she gave Kathy a brownie, and she put a brownie on her own plate. Then, she turned to Kookabunga.

"Kookabunga, are you sure you don't want a brownie? Look, Katie likes her brownie."

"Mmm," said Katie.

Mommy smiled. "And look, Kookabunga, Kathy likes her brownie."

"Yum," said Kathy.

"Are you really sure you don't want a brownie, Kookabunga?" Mommy asked.

"No," said Kookabunga. "Dried mud."

Before she had a chance to eat her brownie, Kathy ran off the the bathroom, leaving her brownie right next to where Kookabunga was sitting. Kookabunga sat in her booster seat and watched everyone else eat their brownies. She wondered how they could like that stuff so much. Maybe it didn't taste as awful as it looked. Kookabunga looked at Kathy's brownie. She looked at Katie eating her brownie and licking her fingers. She looked at Kathy's brownie, just sitting there. She looked at Daddy, picking up the last few crumbs with the tip of his finger. She looked at Kathy's brownie, all by itself on the table. Kookabunga looked at Mommy, dipping the last little bit of her brownie into her coffee. She looked at Kathy's brownie, just within reach.


Kookabunga stuck out one little hand and picked up Kathy's brownie. Kookabunga took the tiniest little bite out of the corner of the brownie. It was good! She put it back at Kathy's place quickly before anybody saw her.

"Mommy," said Kookabunga, "Dried mud, please."

Daddy licked the last few crumbs off his finger. "Dried mud? What is she talking about?"

Mommy smiled over her coffee. "Kookabunga tells me that the brownies are not brownies at all, but dried mud. She told me she didn't want any. Are you sure you want a brownie, Kookabunga?"

Kookabunga nodded vigorously. "Dried mud."

"Okay, Kookabunga, I'll get you one." Mommy got up and looked around for her serving knife.
Just then, Kathy came back from the bathroom. Kathy took one look at her brownie and squealed. "Mommy! Somebody took a bite out of my brownie!"

Mommy turned around and raised one eyebrow. "Kookabunga, did you take a bite out of Kathy's brownie?"

Kookabunga looked at the table and didn't say anything.

Mommy walked over and crouched down to look at her. "Kookabunga? Is this why you wanted a brownie?"

Kookabunga nodded slowly.

"Kookabunga, it would have been all right to taste Kathy's brownie if you had asked first," said Mommy. "But it was wrong to take Kathy's brownie without asking her. I think I'm going to have to give this new brownie that I cut for you to Kathy. You can have the brownie that you took a bite of."

Kookabunga grinned. That was not so bad. "Okay."

Kookabunga ate her brownie slowly and liked every yummy bite. After that, every time Mommy made brownies, Kookabunga was more excited than anyone else because brownies had become her favorite food, even though she still called them dried mud.

The End

The Berry Sisters

This will be the first of a set of three stories that my mother told my siblings and I as children. I have added some organization and expanded the plot in some places, but I must admit that the creative genius is hers and not mine.


Once upon a time, there were three sisters who loved to grow berries. No one could remember their real names, but that didn't matter because everyone called them Miss Raspberry, Miss Blueberry, and Miss Strawberry. When the berry sisters were little girls, they lived with their father and mother in a little cottage right in the middle of the biggest berry patch in the country. The whole family grew every kind of berry you can think of. They grew blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, cranberries, bilberries, and even razzleberries.

When the berry sisters were almost all grown up, but not quite, their mother and father died in a tragic accident, leaving the berry patch to their three daughters. At first, the three sisters got along well. They watered and weeded and pruned the berries together. But before long, they began to realize that they would have to work even harder now that there were only three people to do the work, and Miss Raspberry and Miss Blueberry became lazy. Miss Stawberry begged them to keep working, if only for the sake of their dead parents, but Miss Raspberry and Miss Blueberry refused.

"Raspberries will grow on the bushes even if I don't prune or water or weed them," said Miss Raspberry. "Raspberries are the best berry, and I don't think we should grow anything else."

"Blueberries don't need to be pruned or watered or weeded either," said Miss Blueberry. "I think we should only grow blueberries."

The three sisters argued and argued and argued, but they could not agree. In the end, they had to divide the berry patch among the three of them. The little cottage where they had been so happy was torn down, and in its place were built three houses all in a row that were so tiny they could not even be called cottages. From then on, Miss Raspberry grew only raspberries in her little patch, and Miss Blueberry grew only blueberries in her little patch. Miss Strawberry wanted to go on growing all kinds of berries, but she had to work by herself in a much smaller berry patch, to she decided to grow only strawberries. This was how the sisters got their names. They never spoke to each other again after that, although Miss Strawberry would often leave jars of her best strawberry jam on her sisters' doorsteps.


One day, when the sisters had been living on their own for a few years, the young, handsome prince of the country was out touring the countryside. He was out by himself on his horse, and he was just starting to wonder why he hadn't thought to bring lunch with him or even some water, when he came to a small iron gate, such as you might find in front of a cottage. However, the prince could not see a cottage. The yard beyond the gate was overgrown with the twisting, thorny branches of raspberry bushes that towered higher than any cottage could have been. The prince stared at the bushes for a while, wondering whether anyone could possibly live here, and if they did, if they would have food. He did not want to just pick the raspberries off of the bushes, because he was a noble prince, and the berries were not his.

Then the prince saw a thin line of smoke rising over the tops of the raspberry bushes, and he decided to yell at the gate. There was no way he could even try to make his way to the door and ring the doorbell. He would have needed some very large garden shears to cut through all of those thorns.

"Hello," he called. "Hello, is anybody here?" He tried to shake the gate as noisily as he could.

Inside her cottage, Miss Raspberry looked up from her slice of raspberry cheesecake and her glass of raspberry lemonade. She thought she heard something very far away, rather like the hoot of an owl in the distance on a dark night. She shook her head. She must be hearing things.

After several minutes, the prince sighed. How silly of him to think that anyone could live in such an overgrown place! He got back on his horse and continued down the road.


Before long, the prince came to another little iron gate. The prince began to hope that he might get something to eat. Here, he could see the top half of a cottage. The yard in front of the cottage was filled with large, overgrown blueberry bushes that were just a little higher than the prince's head, but he could see that there was a cottage there. Surely, someone must live here. If he could only get permission to try some of those blueberries, that would be enough.

The prince rattled the gate and called, "Hello, is anybody here?"

Inside the cottage, Miss Blueberry looked up from her warm blueberry muffins and homemade blueberry herbal tea, surprised. Surely, that couldn't be someone at the gate. There hadn't been anyone at that gate in years. Unless you counted Miss Strawberry, but of course, Miss Blueberry didn't open the gate for her. Miss Blueberry got up and peered through the curtains, but all she saw were blueberry bushes. She was just about to decide that she must be crazy when she heard it again.

"Hello, is anybody here?"

This time, Miss Blueberry was absolutely convinced. There was a man at her gate. She opened the front door, but all she saw there was more blueberry bushes. Miss Blueberry rummaged around her front room in a panic until she found an old rusty pair of garden shears.
"I'm coming," yelled Miss Blueberry, and she began feverishly cutting her way from the front door to the gate.

The prince stopped rattling the gate and grinned in satisfaction. There was someone coming. He tied his horse to the gate and stood back to wait.

The prince waited and waited. He waited a very long time. Finally, he decided that he could not wait any longer. He knew it was rude of him to leave, but he was starving. At this rate, he would be able to get home to the castle faster than he would get anything to eat here. The prince untied his horse, mounted, and continued down the road.


It wasn't long before the prince came to yet another little iron gate. Here, at last, he thought he would be able to get something to eat. The prince could see the entire cottage just beyond the gate. Although the yard was full of strawberry plants, they were low to the ground and planted in neat little rows with gullies next to each row for water to run through. The prince rattled the gate.

"Hello," he called. "Is anybody here?"

Miss Strawberry looked up from her fluffy strawberry shortcake and tall, cold strawberry milkshake. There was a young man at the gate. She put another shortcake in the oven to warm, opened the front door, and walked out to the gate.

"Hello," said Miss Strawberry. "What can I do for you?"

The prince smiled at Miss Strawberry. He thought she was absolutely beautiful. Miss Strawberry brought the prince into her house and made him a milkshake and some strawberry shortcake.

The prince enjoyed talking to Miss Strawberry so much that when they finished eating, he asked Miss Strawberry to come visit the castle. A few months later, he asked Miss Strawberry to marry him.

Miss Strawberry said that she would like very much to marry the prince, but she didn't see how she could leave her berry patch. You see, ever since the sisters had fought, Miss Strawberry had been hoping that someday Miss Raspberry and Miss Blueberry would want to come out of their houses and be friends and grow all kinds of berries again. Miss Strawberry wanted to be there when it happened.

The prince was not about to let this stop him from marrying Miss Strawberry, whom he loved very much, and so he sent all of his royal gardeners to Miss Raspberry's house and Miss Blueberry's house to cut through all of the berry bushes. When the royal gardeners had made paths to the front doors of the houses, the prince went to see Miss Raspberry and Miss Blueberry. He asked them if they would like to come live in the castle with him and Miss Strawberry.

When Miss Raspberry and Miss Blueberry heard how much Miss Strawberry missed them, they realized how lonely they had been hiding behind their berry bushes. They came to the wedding and hugged Miss Strawberry and told her how sorry they were.

From then on, all three sisters lived in the castle. The royal gardeners helped them to make the biggest berry patch there had ever been in the castle gardens where they grew every kind of berry you can think of: blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, cranberries, bilberries, and even razzleberries. And they all lived happily ever after.

The End