Things That Are Bringing Me Joy These Days

1. Reading the Bible with Monk every morning
Just before Christmas, my parents-in-law sent Monk a cool new Bible published by Zondervan. It's called a Sports Devotional Bible. It's includes daily Bible readings and devotionals that always use a sports metaphor to explore biblical themes. Now you may feel sports metaphors are overdone, but for our eight-year-old they're exactly the thing to get him engaged with these ancient texts and to help him feel like they matter. Maybe as a result of reading the Bible together, Monk has started talking this week about wanting to get baptized. I truly celebrate his growing relationship with the Holy, Compassionate One.

2. Doing my own Bible reading again
Last Spring I started trying to Read the Bible in 90 Days. You can see the beginnings of the effort at my Travelers Together blog. I managed to make it just over half way through when I gave up the effort. With the start of the new year, and inspired by my son's enthusiasm, I've picked up with my reading again and hope to finish it out. So, reading the Bible in two sets of 45 days, I suppose. This time I used some birthday money from my Mom to buy the Bible that divides things up for you in easy twelve-page installments. Last time I did a lot of my reading online, which ultimately made me feel like I wasn't really making any progress. Call me a sucker, but the marketing of the Bible specifically for this use worked for me.

3. Lest you think I'm too holy for my own good--Watching Battlestar Galactica!
I started watching BSG at the start of the third season this past fall. I absolutely loved it, but felt completely lost. In December, a friend (SpiritMist) lent me season 1 on dvd. To his credit, D started watching the show with me--SciFi is not his usual cup o'tea--and now we're both totally hooked! He gave me season 2.0 and 2.5 for Christmas and my birthday. And I have been self-indulgently and joyously watching at least one episode every night since. In fact, I'm so hooked on the show that I used my Amazon gift certificate from my brother to purchase the cd of the soundtrack of BSG from Season 2. O happy, happy me!

4. Reading Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.
A fascinating tale about the beginnings of wireless communications (wireless telegraphy and I think, ultimately, the radio) overlapping with a murder mystery--all of it nonfiction.

5. Anticipating reading Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew D. Blechman. [Link to NPR Story on the Book]
Again, my brother gave me this book for my birthday. It is absolutely perfect for me. He gave it to me because when I was in second grade, my class went on a field trip to the Big City Zoo. We saw everything there was to see: Elephants, Lions, Tigers, Zebras, Giraffes, Snakes, Bats, Giant Turtles, Kangaroos, Polar Bears. Everything! When we got back to the classroom, we were asked to draw a picture of our favorite animal at the zoo. I drew a picture of a pigeon! When asked why pigeons--of all the wonderful animals we saw that day--were my favorite, I answered "Because they were the only ones that weren't in a cage! They could go wherever they pleased!" I've always claimed that story as being one of my self-constitutive stories. And for years, whenever I would visit a city for the first time, I would be sure and take a picture of the first pigeon I saw. I'll never forget my first time in Trafalgar Square when the pigeons flew all around me. I was ecstatic! I'm hoping this book will answer a question my brother raised once and has bothered me ever since: with all the pigeons we see all the time, why have we never seen a baby pigeon?

6. As of today I've updated my CV and sent a letter of introduction to my alma mater in hopes of securing an adjunct position back home as I write my dissertation.
This was harder to do than I anticipated it being. As easy as I find writing to be, I don't like writing letters that sell myself! But now that it's done and on it's way, I'm delighted with it.

7. Getting used to the idea of moving home.
Hard to believe, but I do think we've made up our minds on this one. Now it feels like everything has shifted. Things here are coming to an end. We've moved into a time when we need to savor what's around us, drink it in, experience the things we've put off. And we're dreaming again of life with our longtime friends, companions, and family. Discernment is such a beautiful thing. And when it's right, everything seems to sing. That's how things feel right now.