blank blank

"If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." VanGogh

So, let's play fill in the blanks. If I hear a voice within me say, "I cannot _________" then by all means _______________...

Quoting Van Gogh once more: "What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"

stripey mad

Confession: I am obsessed with the Coach Legacy stripe pattern. I have NO business whatsoEVER walking into Coach. It's like Gollum and the ring.

advice

Advice I've gotten in the last two weeks on how to deal with the job-hunting, transitional, waiting mode I'm going through:

You could have a baby. Do you want to have a baby? (uhh. NOOOOO.)
Ever thought of babysitting? There's lots of work in this area... (yikes, see above)
No one else can take care of your husband now but you. That's a job too. (ok fine.)
You have some lofty goals. You might wanna try starting small. (ok i guess.)

Jesting aside, these were all spoken by people I respect and really like, and I appreciate it.

design genius

J and I went to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum this Saturday.

The current exhibit, Design Life Now was fascinatingly cool--we saw a collapsable kayak, sampled a virtual reality type video game that aims to ease the pain of burn victims by immersing them in an iceberg and penguin-filled world, an organ transporter, improved prescription drug containers, (no more of those silly cylinders that make it so hard to read the label), the evolution of i-pods, cutting edge fashion...and so much more. It's a fabulous duet of art and science with so much potential for good! Go see it if you can!

On a sombre note, I just got news that an old friend of ours from the China days died yesterday. It wasn't unexpected, he had been sick for a long time. But I am really sad I didn't get to say a real goodbye.

I know Dr. H is partying up there for real now, no longer in pain, and for that, I am glad.

But, maybe it's trivial, but I regret...something...I guess I regret that the last time I saw this friend, I had some unforgiveness issues towards him. Stuff that doesn't matter an iota anymore, but I'm reminded of that verse that says basically, as far as it is up to you, be at peace with everyone. Good reminder.

doctor conference in Maryland

We went to our second doctor conference together this past weekend in Maryland (home of the those agressive U of M turtles! haha).

I, having a sometimes bad attitude about doctor events (zzzzz..zzz..z), had brought a stack of books and was prepared to skip out on most sessions to do my own thing. But I didn't skip out (it's hard to say no to those puppy doggie eyes--see above) and was refreshingly impressed by the speaker, the small group times and random chats with all kinds of doctor types.

I really hope God isn't trying to tell us something too specific--but we got A LOT of parenting advice from young families. And marriage advice too.

Some of the ideas we heard about strengthening marriage, especially marriage to those whose profession, like medicine, is a 'jealous lover':

1. Fast and pray together for your marriage and each other, each month (on or around the date of your wedding)
2. Avoid loafing around the television, or avoid even having one, in the early years of marriage
3. Go through your stack of wedding cards one at a time to pray for the families and couples represented there
4. (I know this is pretty obvious...but..) Meet up with older couples regularly (we may have found ourselves an older doctor + non-doctor wife couple to meet up with in New York...)
5. (And according to that couple above...AND I QUOTE: ) "We made sure we made love at least 3 times a week." (She then gave some disturbing stats on doctor-nurse affairs, blehhhhhh)

On parenting (again, some of these are really obvious, but I'll list them anyway):

1. Take Moses' advice up and make sure your children hear, early on, and repeatedly, the grand faith (Biblical) story they are a part of, and stories of your own family's faith journey
2. Perhaps the best way to love your children is to make sure you love your spouse first
3. Don't have a television. Ok, if that's unthinkable, limit television severely.
4. Consistent family dinner table conversation is perhaps one of the greatest contributing factors to a child's emotional health, intellectual and spiritual development
5. Don't try to dumb down, make nice, or avoid completely the violent, horrible passages in the Bible that are, whether we like it or not, part of the story...oh that's a tough one...

***

All in all, a time to refocus, to re-centre on God and the disciplines. I personally, was extremely glad to be reminded to build a life on things that last, not on hay and straw and silly stuff. I was getting so sucked in to the glittery, manic, angst-driven urban life that without examination, can seem better than anything else. Lies!

what my current reads reveal

*technologically challenged but willing to learn* (suggested by gear-girl)












*adventure seeking romantic, strangely influenced by comic book characters* (tales of Arthur, suggested by Professor Xavier)

















*slightly paranoid, budding Francophile* (it's a glorified, but lovely and amusing diet book)












*enamoured*(with this city. On post 9/11, middle-upper class Manhattan life)


















*curious*(on the Lost Boys of Sudan. Going on the assumption that great fiction can be the best history teacher)

now and then

There was no ENFJ starvation in the last week+.

My brother and his friend V were visiting over New Year's which was fun in itself, but then they went and gave us a Wii as a thank you/Christmas gift!! The hubby is in the seventh heaven of video-gaming happiness. At the risk of endangering our marriage, I even went so far as to get him Madden 07 for his birthday. I really suck at keeping things like that a secret...so he knows already even though his birthday is two weeks away.

S and S came too, and we played all over the city. It was fun to play tourguide and take them to some of my favourite places here...Le Pain Quotodien, 59th and Madison, The Met, bits and pieces of Central Park...

No time taken yet for any 2006 reflection or 2007 resolution'ing. But note the improvements in our living quarters since my arrival oh, about 4 months ago now.

peace on earth, peace at home

Meditation for this new day, from something Tony gave me~

"But when we think of peace, we should not just think of the conflicts which make headlines in our news. Conflict on a wide scale happens because of the conflicts on the small scale: in single nations, in single communities, in neighbourhoods, and within families. We may not be able to do much about peace in Iraq or Israel or Sudan, or in some other trouble spot, but we can all do something about peace in our immediate surroundings.

All of us can and need to be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation. We can all be peacemakers. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." We could hardly make a better resolution at the beginning of this new year."