WriterMomMusings

Week 8-9-10 Summer 2009 Adventure with Family - YELLOWSTONE ROAD TRIP

2009-08-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week [two as one of the weeks was preparing]- a road trip to Yellowstone Park-our first with our children.

Our daughter's boyfriend Stefan from Germany was with us and he was baptized into our large family life- eight of us squeezed into a Chevy Minivan - with all our gear.

Can you say Family Fun on steroids.

Why do I love road trips so much with my family>? Is it the adventure? Is it that there is no computer to call me away or neon lights for my children or commitments or friends or responsibilities or the constant feeling that I need to update my blog?

I think it is likely all of that but mostly it is having my entire family, all of us together, the joy the laughter the craziness the interaction the togetherness, the excitement of seeing and experiencing a new part of the country together.

Our first stop took us to Cousins Restaurant in The Dalles Oregon for breakfast and a family had their two young children [age 4-5] playing their hand held video games during breakfast and it seemed sort of sad to me, that this couple was not interacting with their children.

Sure, our table was the crazy one, with conversations of noticing the tractor in the
restaurant and what was the best thing to order on the menu and how the hot chocolate tasted and what we would be seeing and who had the best seat in the van (if that was possible) and I just looked at my family and listened to my family and savored the moment.

The entire camping road trip family vacation to Yellowstone and the Tetons was one of savoring.

Savoring beauty surrounding us, the Yellowstone Park wonders, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the river winding through the Grand Canyon, the Tetons, the Natural Bridge, the rivers, the wooded campgrounds.

But, really what I savor even more or at least just as much is my children's reaction to all we were seeing and doing.

And my 6 year old's comments, or question, "Where are the yellow stones?" - so, the entire trip we kept looking for yellow stones.

I savored listening to the excitement when our youngest would see the hot springs welling up and finding sticks and the bubbling water and Old Faithful and I watched and listened to the sweetness.

I thought of Mary the mother of Jesus treasuring in her heart what people were saying about Jesus in Luke 2:19. And I too was treasuring for an entire different reason, but treasuring nonetheless, like a mother does her children, I treasured in my heart these amazing moments with my family. The entire 8 days together.

I did not want to think about this possibly being one of our last all of us together family vacations for a while, as Rachel is 19 and Ryan just turned 18. I would not allow my joy to be stolen away, but for a moment the thought came to me. Yes, it made me melancholy as I tend to be anyway.

But this is the ultimate melancholy,that my kids are growing up and creating lives of their own...

I am so enjoying my older children (and my young ones of course as well!), it's just that with the older ones I have these amazing conversations about life. The inspiration I gain from their knowledge, their wisdom, their insights, their thoughts, their ideas, their idealism, their love for the Lord, their love for the Word of God, their love for reading His word together. I am learning from them. I am reminded of my dreams. And having 8 full days together, of late nights at the campfire, and on hikes and walks in God’s beautiful creation was nothing short of a gift.

One I will continue to treasure in my heart.

Entertainment for a 6-year-old as simple as a hammer

2009-08-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

So, last night it is not the video games or the tv or the computer that is keeping my 6 year old son up (and to be honest, thankfully, there has not been a whole lot of that for him anyway).

Instead it is the call of the hammer for my 6-year-old son.

It was 11 pm and he was still hammering away.

Just one more tile, Mom.

We are redoing some broken tiles and some windows in our house this summer and it is taking all of our time and it is fun and exciting and exhausting but the most fun is watching my little Augustin get so enthusiastic about helping with the project. Demolition was the task last night. And he was right there, with hammer and small bar -

When I tucked him in at about 11:30 last night, he said, "Mom, wake me up early so we can continue the demolition. I want to help Ron and Sam and Mat and Billie.

Indeed, this morning, my 6 year old was up on his own when the workers got here about 8:30 and he was ready to observe.

And help.

Another extraordinary ordinary.

Oh, to be a like a child to see the wonder in the everyday simple moment of a construction worker doing his art.

The everyday wonder of riding bicycles at 5:45 am with my daughter

2009-08-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

I am so loving having my daughter home for the summer. I know this because I rise several days a week, at least three, to ride my bicycle with her to her job in Oregon City, where she works for Clackamas County as a temporary summer employeed.

She rides her bicycle every day to work because she has no car. We did not get our children cars for their 16th birthday as some parents do (that is a whole other topic of a column).

But I think even if Rachel had a car she would still ride her bicycle to work. She likes the exercise, she likes to feel like she is in Germany, and she likes to feel as if she is saving the planet. All of which she is doing, one ride at a time.

It really is invigorating. And I made a commitment to ride with her Monday Wednesday and Friday. And two of those days, I take her out to Coffee Rush for a coconut mocha for me and a coconut latte for her.

I love our morning bicycle rides. The sunrise this summer has been splendid. The fresh air, the conversation. The everyday feel of life, the moment, the wonder, the sweetness of having this time with my daughter. I thank God every day, every moment, as I ride with her.

When we arrive at Coffee Rush, we are greeted by Angela and two other workers at the coffee shop depending on which day it is. The music is soft folk rock which I enjoy. We talk about small things, and family, and church, and faith, and school, and frustrations, and future, and careers, and passions, and callings, and health, and American culture compared with German culture, and relationships, and community.

Daily conversations, moments with people, with family, with friends, with loved ones, cannot be planned necessarily. You just have to be there for them. To be available. Forget this quality time. You need time. And time is what I love having for my family. Taking the time. To just be. To sit after dinner to talk instead of rushing off to do dinner or the internet. To have tea in the evenings together, to make tea first off, then to sit on the deck or the couch to sip and see who will join you. To just be.

Rachel's job is going to be over for the summer in a couple of weeks which is so hard to believe. I do not want summer to end. I want to hold on to it, to keep it close, to never let it go. I know I cannot, but what I can do is savor it, and write about it and take lots and lots of photographs and treasure this moment close to my heart.

Week 7 Adventure ~ Summer 2009 - Extended!

2009-08-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

So much of life I tell my children is adventure and this week 7 of summer 2009 is an example- My sister had invited us over for swimming and scrap booking and sipping ice tea and I told my children that our Week 7 adventure. The cousins have so much fun together, whether it is playing volleyball in my sister's pool, playing Risk in the living room, hiking at the Gorge, going to the Zoo, playing Risk for three hours or going to the park. It is about family and being comfortable together and being accepted and being able to be yourself.

Whenever anyone says "wow" you have five children, all I have to do is tell them that my sister has 9 children~! It is quite the gathering and I love it.

More cousins made up this week's adventure. My husband's sister was in town from Idaho and we met them at the beach for my in-law's 50 th anniversary early celebration. Gearhart is such a cute little town, just past Seaside Oregon. It was great to watch my children run in the waves, run after seagulls, chase one another, ride bicycles and be so patient smiling for a hundred photographs that gramma wanted.

Sending kids off to over-night church camp for first time

2009-08-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I sent my twins, 11, off to junior high church camp with Rolling Hills Community Church. They are incoming 6th graders and this is the first over night church camp they have gone to. I so wanted to be there as a leader but I am speaking at a writers conference this week, and I was a bit nervous sending them off for some reason. My boys are outgoing and make friends easily but I was still apprehensive. Will they feel a sense of belonging, will they make new friends, will they find friends they can pal around with, will they grow closer to God, will they feel comfortable, will they like it?

The leaders of the junior high are all so nice and they really have been encouraging about having my boys go and I am so happy about that. The twins got involved in the junior high program right away this summer going to the weekly Sunday night Bible study Roots and the movie nights and Guts, the outreach.

And, they really wanted to go to camp, so much so that they began earning money to go. All summer, doing chores for me. That excitement was really sweet to watch. Everyday, Wesley would say how much money I owed him for the chores he did the day before and he'd ask, what can I do today to earn money and he set up a canning jar in his bedroom, the quart wide mouthed kind and he put his money in there and he counted it every day and it was so cute and so innocent.

Maybe that is why it was so hard to let them go, I wanted to be a part of it, to see them participate. I am the kind of mom that likes to be a part of every part of my children's lives and I hate to miss anything, but with a family of 7 it is hard to do it all, plus I work from home. The church set up a blog for parents to check out how things are going and I saw that blog today-what fun! it helped me feel connected and a part of the camp, though miles away.

Here is the website:
http://678live.wordpress.com

Week 6 Adventure - Summer 2009 - Living Deliberately

2009-07-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

This week my twins were at Boy Scout camp in Washington and my youngest was at a Fun in the Sun camp while I was working away having a new website created and getting bids on replacement windows and working on house projects and preparing for my class I teach this week at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference. So, did I have my weekly adventure with kids –
I can tell I am a legalistic person because when my youngest (age 6) and I went on a walk this week to Sourdough Willy’s for a sticky bun and some cherries, I said to him, “This can be our adventure this week” and he said, “No camping with Daddy will be.”
Okay, so Dad gets to have the adventure with the kids this week.
But really, so much of my life could be called an adventure of the week.
I like to live deliberately as Thoreau said and pointing out the adventures of life and that the very thing we are doing is an adventure and celebration helps me feel that I am living deliberately and with purpose as I believe God would have us do.
This week -yesterday- we went to our Sudan family friends again in north Portland and Rachel had organized once again and invited a few more of her friends and Breezy came again and even though not all of my children could come as is the case with kids of varied ages, I am calling this our adventure of the week. We had wanted to help lighten the load of our Sudan friends---there are seven children with the youngest age 2 ½ and the mom does not know English very well and we had hoped to help her clean a bit and assist her with groceries.
I know I always appreciated help when someone offered to help me with cleaning or with my children, especially when they were very young.
And I know how hard it is to keep a fridge filled for a large family and we have looked inside their fridge at their apartment and it is empty.
But the mom was quiet about our offer though last week she seemed happy about when we told her we were returning to assist her. Yesterday she just said that she is fine and does not need help and we of course were going to honor her. I know it is hard to accept help and we are just trying to be her friend. One of the sons said it is a pride thing and we are truly not trying to make anyone feel badly but only to help. I had to swallow my pride when I was on bedrest with the twins and friends offered to help me clean and my house is so hard for me to clean as it is—forget bedrest as an excuse. And my friends made me diners and took my children and I loved it and so appreciated it and it was in that spirit that we went to help our Sudan friends.
So, this time, we came up with a plan B.
Some of the group took the children to the park again for a makeshift sports camp like last week, while I offered to take the oldest son Jima to the store and he could pick out some items that the family might like and the mom was fine with that. My son Ryan came along to. Our entire family enjoys being with our Sudan family friends. I love to see all of my children interacting with people of varied cultures. To be in community with people of different backgrounds.
An adventure indeed.

The Extraordinary Ordinary Everyday Moments

2009-07-22T12:58:00.001-07:00

I had to go to a writing meeting tonight so I was not able to eat dinner with the family, but I did not want to miss what was happening at home. I did not want to miss the ordinary extraordinary.
Rachel’s friend had come over and I had initially thought they were going to go out, but instead they sat at our island in our kitchen and I offered that they eat dinner with us and they said yes, and I wanted the meal to be nice and my home to be a warm place for my children and their friends and I wanted to be a part of this very every day moment.
At the time I offered to have my daughter and her friend eat dinner with us, I had not even made dinner but then it looked like they were going to just stay at our house and so I offered to make dinner and I wanted it to be nice and I wanted to sit on our deck covered with trees and listen to the creek that is next to the deck and participate in the conversation of everyday life.
I want my home to be a safe and comfortable haven for my entire family and I felt like things were not in order enough, so I quickly cleaned up and made a salad and had Ryan help clean up and I got chicken out to barbeque and I took the husks off of the corn on the cob ready to boil and I cleaned off the table on the deck so it would be nice and clean and I just wanted to stay…but I did not. I went to my meeting.
And hurried back home.
I told my friend Janice about this blog I wanted to write, about wanting to be with my children for the ordinary every day moments of life, about the importance of creating a home that our children want to be in. A place that is not rushed, a place where our children can talk about life and God and faith and worries and questions and whatever comes to their minds. A place where our children can share their thoughts and dreams and frienships and everyday life. A place where our children can laugh and be silly and be themselves and in our home there is a lot of craziness.

It is not about quality time only but it is about time. Having the time. Taking the time. About creating a safe place, a place of warmth, that our children can bring their friends home to, a place where they feel comfortable. And Janice said that is exactly what is important to her, that is exactly what she has tried to provide for her family these 20 years as a stay home mom.
Two days ago, I walked to Sourdough Willy’s with my oldest son 17 and my youngest son 6 and we got cherries which are amazing this time of year and we got sticky buns and danishes, apricot and cream cheese and it felt good to walk together in our neighborhood, it was just a moment, but one that I treasure and I try to tell my kids to treasure.
Last night we ate our dinner on the deck again. It has been amazing summer evenings and we had corn on the cob and sausages and spinach salad and the twins are at Boy Scout camp right now so there are only 3 kids at home. And I wanted to savor every moment. The laughter, the discussion, the conversation. Before the dinner, Rachel and Augustin had been putting dried mint leaves into a bottle together in our kitchen/ It was an everyday moment they were sharing. Rachel was going to do this alone after she had been drying the mint leaves from our yard but Augustin asked if he could help. So they did the project together.

And a day before the two of them had planted herbs in a planter. Rachel works with someone at the county who plants his own garden and she wanted to do some of that as well. She had done some last year.

I went to get my camera to capture some of these everyday ordinary moments of an everyday summer day.

That feels extraordinary.

Sudan Sports Camp . . . Praying for God's vision. . . Oh, and it's another Adventure

2009-07-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we organized a sports camp for our Sudan friends in North Portland. They live in an apartment complex with many immigrants and we just invited whoever was outside as we walked to Peninsula Park where we were holding the sports camp. It was a pretty impromptu "sports" camp, very simple outreach to children. To give parents a break and to help children.
We had done similar “camps” a couple of times over the past couple of years; inviting members of the youth group -- where I help and where Rachel and Ryan are members -- to help as well. And Rachel and a couple of her friends have done these types of “sports camps" alone as well.
We got the idea initially for doing a sports camp after going to Mississippi on a mission trip with Rolling Hills, where we partnered with Pastor Jerry’s church --- they would take a church van and drive to the Projects and pick up children and take them back to the church for a sports camp – we loved helping with these. We set up water games and baseball and fed them and just shared the love of Christ.
With the Sudan kids yesterday we played kick ball and the older boys got some basketball games going and we played on the merry go round (which they do not have any more in the suburbs where we live - another column topic) and teeter totter (which they do not have any more in the suburbs where we live) and sipped lemonade and ate pretzels. . .then we bought them dinner before leaving.
It was so much fun to interact with these beautiful children and to see my children be so engaged with children from other cultures. We are worlds apart, north Portland and West Linn, yet they are all just kids who need love and need the hope and peace and direction of Jesus in their lives.
One of the little girls who came with us we met outside the apartment complex – her mom was braiding Nyboni’s hair – Nyboni is Jima’s (our Sudan friends) sister. The mom of the little girl who came to the sports camp introduced us to her mom who is a community organizer of 12 different cultures – which includes various immigrants -- Sudan families and Ethiopians and Russians.
I thought, wow, would it not be neat to be a part of this group of 12 cultures, to get our church involved, or West Linn or both.
Connecting cultures and people, bridging the gap. Bringing hearts and minds together is so much my heart. To share the love of God. And to be there with my children.
It was interesting, because I had considered not going yesterday as I have to get ready for a couple of writing conferences where I am speaking soon. But then I told myself I needed to go, and I was sharing this deliberating going on in my heart and m ind with Breezy and Rachel. I told them that I needed to go, to always keep that vision to reach out to others, to take the time to try to make a difference in the lives of others -- and I need to model that to my children, the importance of always making the time for others.
And I told the kids that I would pray that God would multiply my time if I went as I do have a lot to do, as always (just managing my household with 5 kids at home is a task in and of itself).
I also prayed that God would show me why I needed to be a part of the sports camp (besides just the obvious one of being there to experience this adventure with my children).
And after meeting that woman whose mother is a community organizer of 12 different cultures, I think I know why I needed to be there. Now I am just praying for God to continue to show me His vision for what He has in mind.

Week 5 Adventure ~ All-comers Track meet

2009-07-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

I grew up going to all-comers track meets at local high schools and now it is fun sharing that time with my children. This week we attended the one held at Lake Oswego High School and we are calling that our adventure of the week - Last week we attended one held at Grant High in Portland.

It is great to see the children run their little hearts out and race against their cousins and friends and all are winners -- they receive these ribbons after competing. Just like I used to get.

I was not going to run any races but Mickael Josef talked me into doing the Predict a Mile. I had done it the week before at Grant High School but did not want to this week. But when my children say pretty please, how can I say no. Of course, I loved it and it got the adrenaline bug going as I broke the 9 minute mark. Next up i told my daughter when I got home- another marathon, though I had told myself after last year's that was it for me.

My daughter said, mom, that is one mile under 9 minutes. You will have 25 to go for a marathon. No big deal, I was thinking to myself. Now, that is.

I love how these track meets build confidence in kids [and adults] and they promote the sport of running, which does not have a youth club in West Linn where we live [all the other sports have youth programs]- Track is a sport all people can find something that they are good at.

A true summer tradition.

Writing Connection Meeting Monday July 20

2009-07-18T13:53:00.001-07:00

The next Writing & Culture Connection meeting is Monday July 20 at 6:30 pm- 8 pm at Rolling Hills Community Church -in the conference room -

Any writers and aspiring writers are welcome-

We will look at an article in Christianity Today on the importance of an arts ministry in churches [thanks Marupong for forwarding that to me}

Come for inspiration, encouragement, feedback, connection, publishing ideas. Upcoming conferences will be highlighted

Trying to be more like Mary

2009-07-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

When Janice Seitzinger is in the middle of her weekly commitment organizing volunteers for Mondays at Transitional Youth, sometimes she catches herself being Martha.
“When I am doing the kitchen I can forget why I am there, but then I realize that I need to be the Mary not the Martha. It was Mauro Cettina who said that. When you hear a Scripture, it just hits us.
“I think we are all trying to be Marys but then we are always wanting to make sure everything is going well. I have a tendency to forget who is in control. I have to literally step back and remember it is not about me. It is about the kids. You are there to love them, not fix them.”
She stepped into the role of coordinating volunteers for Rolling Hills’ Monday night Transitional Youth commitment a few months ago. Janice arrives at the First Baptist Church where Transitional Youth is held every Monday at 4 O’Clock and stays until about 9 O’Clock. For her role, she makes sure everything will be in place each week. She calls or e-mails the volunteers who are committed to make sure they are coming. She goes to the Food Bank on some days to purchase items for meals. When a group of volunteers cannot make their commitment, it is Janice who finds replacements.
“I am what you would call in charge of the kitchen. I am the one that makes sure the food is on time and that the volunteers are ready and that there is enough food. And if there is not enough we have a backup plan. We always have hotdogs and chili available in the back room.”
But it is not the phone calls and e-mails and visits to the Food Bank that Janice considers the most important part of preparing for her weekly Mondays at Transitional Youth.
It’s praying.
“We just found that when you pray, you find God’s peace. Some nights kids come in edgy and anxious and we don’t know what happened at their shelters and we don’t know why they are anxious and edgy. We pray that we can be God’s hands and feet. We pray, ‘Let us hear with Your ears and speak with Your words.’”
She has learned to go with the flow and trust that all will be fine in the end.
“I go in and make sure things are on time and going, and then if we run out of food I don’t worry, and if food is not there on time, I just start to realize that it will work out. We just talk to the kids. I try to let the groups that come in do their own thing. I am there to make sure they have all they need, to direct them and be there if they have any questions.
And most importantly while there, she tries to be more like Mary.
“I just try to banter with the kids while they are getting their food. If kids feel that we are just there to feed them and love them they will begin to trust us.”

Reach Transitional Youth at http://www.transitionalyouth.org/

Week 4 Summer 2009 Adventure with Kids ~ Wahclella Falls

2009-07-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

This week, week 4 of summer 2009, we drove to the Columbia Gorge and hiked to Wahclella Falls Friday, the two mile round trip hike was listed in my Best Hikes with Kids book and was perfect for our group of 7 kids between the ages of 17 and 6 – we had Riek and Nykwa from Sudan with as well as Ryan’s friend Brett-
When I had asked Wesley, 11, where to go yesterday morning the day of our adventure, he had remembered this hike from two years ago when we went with my sister.
“Let’s go to the water fall which has the caves,” he said.
I was amazed he had remembered that. And though I had blogged about it, I did not write the name of the falls so this time I will make sure to do that.
The hike begins on a service road and is a slow incline compared with Multnomah Falls. It then turns into a nice trail. What I like especially about this path is that it meanders along a creek, which is called Tanner Creek.
There are several bridges along the hike and the views of the rushing water and the trees are breathtaking. A dam makes it fun as well.
When we got close to the caves the excitement in the children’s voices was so sweet.
“There’s the cave. I remember this.”
They even brought their little lights. Wesley’s was a pen light given to him by his Sunday School teacher last year, Mr. Bill Tate.
The twins and Riek, all 11, explored the cave while Nykwa and Augustin threw rocks into the creek and Brett and Ryan climbed the rocks.
Later we got really close to the water fall and they got a little wet from the spray.
I loved being out here with my kids and friends along. I loved being in the woods. It felt so good to get away.
It is so very important to get kids outdoors into the woods and what I realize it is does not have to be for a long 8 hour day but can be a half day outing. For us the drive was only 45 minutes and we were home in time for dinner.
There is something about a deliberate time like this with the children. Fully engaged in a new adventure. Listening to the conversations. The excitement when they find animals. MickaelJosef discovered a little frog in the cave. Somehow it feels good for the spirit. And you are appreciating God’s amazing creation.
The Wahclella Falls Trailhead can be found by taking the Bonneville Dam Exit 40 off of Interstate 84, and staying right at the exit. The trailhead is about a quarter of a mile from there. It cost $ 5 to park which you can leave at the little self service station.
The trail to the falls is a simple 300 foot elevation gain and is perfect for all ages.

Week 3 Summer 2009 ~ When WORK is Adventure -

2009-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it’s not a great hike in the outdoors or a wildlife refuge but the Week 3 adventure with my children ended up being Work projects. That’s right. What one of my twin 11year olds said to me during one of the work projects got me to realize that work can count as an adventure and has to this third week of summer as we just didn’t get to do the original adventure we had planned (going to the fountains).
My garage has been bugging me for a while and so one day during week 3 of summer I just could not stand it anymore and I began taking everything out of one half of the garage. What started it is, we could not find a certain pair of boots for one of my children. So, I dumped out all of the boxes where the boots are stored in the garage to search for them and one thing led to another.
Then as I looked at our garage walls I realized they looked terrible and had spider webs all over them and the walls had never really been painted. So I thought, one way to clean walls of cobwebs is to paint them.
So, paint we did.
All three of my three youngest boys helped me.
First, though, we took everything out of the garage. Some things I am guessing had not been moved, and I am embarrassed to admit this, for 20 years. As long as we have lived here.
Paint cans and tarps and shoes and sports gear and tools and sleeping bags and old roller blades and broken toys and and and. The garage becomes a storing ground for a lot of things.
After the prep work we got out the paint brushes and whatever paint I have had the past 20 years and we got to work. My three boys, 11, 11, and 6, were so enthusiastic to paint. That creative impulse perhaps.
They each took a certain section and we tried to keep it from getting too messy but because it was the garage I was not as worried as you are in the house.

When we got one wall completed, we took a break for lunch and Mickael Josef, one of the twins, said to me, “This is so much fun” and that is what made me think of work as an adventure. I have heard of the saying, "work as prayer" and in a way this is the same idea.

Looking at work as adventure - the kids were doing something new and different and somewhat creative and maybe most importantly, together with me. All qualities of an adventure. And, a bonuse of course- learning a skill and feeling good about being important in the family to help with work.
It wasn’t outdoors as my goal for outdoor adventures was, but it was something new, painting.
Yet, as I think of Week 3 of summer, there was another work project my kids were involved with and this one was outdoors- my 17 year old’s Eagle project which all of the boys were part of. Three of my four boys are Boy Scouts and they all helped Ryan with his Eagle project. The Eagle project was to build a new trail off Pimlico Court. The goal for Ryan was to put in 600 feet of trail and they got so much done that first day last Friday that they ended up putting in 1000 feet of trail, making it all the way to the bridge. Which the City of West Linn had hoped for!
It was great fun to see my boys working so hard with a shovel in their hands and a pick ax and the camaraderie amongst the boys and adults helping in the hot summer air.
You could just see and feel the reward of work.Indeed, the adventure of work!

Thursday with Theodore

2009-07-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

He sits at the corner of the bend of Carriage Way. Every morning and evening to wave at the passers by rushing to work or wherever the day requires. Just seeing him, makes me want to slow down.
The first time I drove by a couple of years ago, he waved at me wearing his red hat and I thought he was signaling me to slow down. But later I found out he was just waving.
Every time I see him sitting there, I tell my kids, I would like to stop and meet him but we are always going somewhere and need to be at a certain place at a certain time. And I tell myself I will do it another time. Two years have passed by at least.
The last two or three summers I drove by both in the morning and the evening while taking my kids to church camp, and there he was and I always look for him when I am close to that bend in the road and sometimes when he is not there I worry that something happened to him.

So, finally, last Thursday I was driving home from picking up my 6 year old Augustin at a birthday party and it is about 4 p.m. and I see him in his red hat waving and I say to Augustin my son, “should we stop and meet him?” and my 6 year old says yes.
So we do.

I introduce myself and he reaches out his hand to me and says, “I’m Theodore.”
I ask him his story.

Theodore is 86 and has sat outside his house daily for the past 3 years on his busy through street and he tells me that he waves at every single car that drives by and he does this in the morning when people are going to work every and in the evening he waves at every single car that drives by but in the summer if it is too hot he will not go outside.

When he first started this people thought he was trying to get them to slow down but he is only trying to say hi to people. When he is not out there, people stop at the door to ask him if he is okay and that they miss him.

When I told him that every time I have driven by and I have wanted to stop and talk to him but I have always been going somewhere or needed to be home for something, he said to me that most people are too busy to stop.

That affected me and that is why I needed to stop on this Thursday. I did not want to miss out on his story and seeing him make time for others and just being out there waving at passers-by and not worrying about to-do lists and schedules. He did not even have a book out there with him to read. He was just smiling at the people. In the moment.

Some other people have stopped to talk to him, they will park nearby or walk by and he asks them what their plans are for the day.

June is Theodore’s birthday month and he received 30-40 birthday cards from some of those "friends" he has made and they have given him bottles of wine and other gifts for his birthday. They found out about his birthday because he held a sign up that said "today is my birthday"- At first when he started doing this-waving at people-they thought he was trying to get them to slow down but he was not.

Theodore is a retired music teacher and a church choir member and leader and played the organ and when Augustin and I stopped to meet him, he started breaking out into song several different times and he told me jokes and stories. He told me about his family and his children and he asked me about my children and we talked about church and life and God and music and heaven and children. I asked him why he sits out here every day and he says he likes to wave at people and he is outgoing and he likes to meet people.

Meeting him made me want to go back every Thursday. To take the time out of my busy mom schedule, to listen and talk to Theodore who has lived 8 decades. To hear his wisdom and advice. Today I rode my bicycle by to see him after riding with my daughter to work in Oregon City.

I am thinking about taking the time to make every Thursday with Theodore.

Week 2 Summer 2009 - My Kid-Goal: Every week a new outdoor adventure

2009-06-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

My goal this summer is to get the kids back to nature, to get away from neon lights and schedules and life in the fast lane and computer screens and electronic devices. As one mom calls it-to "get away from manufactured fun".

Each week I am making a commitment to do something outdoors, some kind of adventure, some kind of new park, new hike, new outdoor area, new natural area.
Last week was the first week of summer (well, the kids had school on Monday), and my friend Jeanie told me she was going on a hike to Multnomah Falls so we invited ourselves along. It was great fun seeing that amazing waterfall, walking –sometimes running--up the hill to the top of the falls, and looking down, meandering along the trail with the big cliff to our side.

So, this week, the second week to do a new, non-neon light adventure took us to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Sherwood, Oregon. I had read about this in The Oregonian sometime back and have been wanting to take my children.

As my friend Nancy Trumbo and I had talked about getting together this week it was a perfect time to suggest going to the Wildlife Refuge. Nancy had first suggested a local park near her Tualatin house but I wanted something different and she was thrilled to go with me.

Wow, amazing spot right by the City. We saw pelicans, bullfrogs, tree frogs, a creek, lots of birds, woods, and our kids walking along the path talking up a storm. It was just a mile walk on the path to the lookout area and we saw another group—a camp for kids- exploring the refuge.

Rolling Hills church founder led 31 years of growth

2009-06-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Dale Ebel, founding pastor of Tualatin’s Rolling Hills Community Church, was returning to Oregon with his family in 1975 for graduate work at Portland’s Western Seminary when he sensed a call to start a church.

“We were driving on I-5, and right at Exit 290 – the Lake Oswego/Durham exit – it was like I heard God say to me, ‘You are going to start a church in this area,’¤” recalled Ebel, a native Oregonian and a West Linn resident since 1978.

After Ebel finished his Master of Divinity degree, four families, who were friends of the Ebels and had been commuting to church in Portland asked him to be their pastor.

When Ebel agreed, the families established Rolling Hills Community Church on Feb. 1, 1978, meeting in family homes.

Their first public service was Easter Sunday, 1978, when 120 people gathered in a bank building in Lake Oswego. Then they rented Lake Oswego’s Palisades Elementary School for six years, before moving in 1984 into their newly constructed Borland Road building on land found by Paul Sundstrom,a founding member.

“There were no other churches in the area, and we saw it was where we needed to be, and it started to grow,” Ebel said. “Now, there are so many other churches around there.”
Today, between 2,700 and 3,200 attend the two Sunday services.

Ebel, who stepped down last month from his role as senior pastor, recently reflected on why Rolling Hills grew so much.

“We are rooted in the reality that we are weak and God is strong. There’s something about that that resonates with people, that sense oftransparency, that we are all in process, and that brings authenticity,” Ebel said, adding that he also held fast to “teaching the word of God.”

Original member Cheryl Doerr believes the church’s multigenerational feel is appealing: “So many people are still here who have been here for 31 years. I think that stability is an attraction for young families.” Her son Aaron, is music pastor at Rolling Hills.

Though Ebel acknowledged you want to grow, for Him, “it’s never been about the numbers. I’ve always said, it’s about the people.”

Church member Deana Ruppel of Oregon City credited Ebel with what she called huge people skills. “He has a way of making people feel important,” she said.
And Paulette Jones, Ebel’s administrative assistant from 2005 until he stepped down, noted, “He’s been instrumental in marriages and raising kids. He has poured his life into people.”

In his three decades of service, Ebel has also made strong ties outside the church.
Jerry Nihill, principal at Tualatin’s Bridgeport Primary School, where Rolling Hills members help with various programs, said, “Rolling Hills has been a fantastic community partner with Bridgeport, making it a better place to be.”

Yet, in the midst of his devotion to ministry, Ebel has remained dedicated to his family.
Bill Towne, the church’s interim senior pastor since June 1, who has been on staff in various roles since 1983, said of Ebel, “He was an entrepreneur in starting this church, but he was not sacrificing his family to do so.”

RECEPTIONS JUNE 27-28:
Receptions honoring Dale Ebel’s 31 years of ministry at Rolling Hills Community Church will be held after church services scheduled for 4 p.m. June 27 and 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. June 28at the church, 3550 SW Borland Road, Tualatin

WHAT IS NEXT FOR DALE: Dale recently established the non-profit Dale Ebel Ministries. He plans on continuiing to mentor pastors, disciple others and teach as well as write a book. Reach him at www.daleebel.com

My daughter is back home!

2009-06-09T07:57:00.001-07:00

When she saw us waving at her past the security gates and we all started calling out her name, Rachel, Rachel, and Augustin was holding a tulip and a balloon and the twins and Ryan were holding a tulip each and several of her friends joined us at the airport and we had homemade Welcome Home signs and she started running towards us with her arms wide open. She had a backpack on and a smile as warm and bright as her large heart.

It was sweet to watch my SonnenscheinGirl interact with her adoring brothers. Augustin who is 6 just loves his older sister and Rachel told him they would go on a walk soon to Coffee Nook and it was neat to see each of her brothers share about a few details in their lives. School projects, church and school musicals and girls they liked. And in signature Rachel fashion, Rachel listened with sincerity.

She’s back with us all. My daughter dear. We all took turns hugging her and embracing her and I told her Coffee People was open after all this late- past 9 pm so we walked over and got coffee mocha milkshakes and talked and Rachel’s brothers surrounded her and took turns sharing with her as her friends asked her lots of questions and Rachie asked lots of questions and it was just a moment that I had been waiting for for so long. And now it was here.
After arriving home, the seven of us gathered in various rooms to talk to Rachel. We ended up in her room talking on her bed. We stayed up talking until 3:30 the next morning. It was neat being gathered in her bright cheery room as she unpacked a few items and talked and shared. She had a Milka Schokolade for Chris and me and Kinder Schokolade for her four brothers. We were finally back together as a family. Finally complete again.

P.S. I always try to credit the photographer: Thank you Brandon Porter for shooting the picture. I love Augustin's face in this one.

A Chef's Gift to Transitional Youth

2009-06-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

It is a warm, blue sky, sunshiny Thursday about 1 p.m., and Mauro Cettina is driving back from the Grocery Outlet in King City with 10 dozen eggs, a bunch of carrots and celery and other items for the potato salad he will be preparing for tonight’s Transitional Youth meal. He plans on cooking for about 100 youth, but the numbers vary each time.
“Tony Slyter, the Grocery Outlet owner, donated these items,” Mauro shares.
Mauro decided to make potato salad for dinner for the kids because potatoes are what he had the most of.
“I was walking around downstairs in the church and I saw the 100 pounds of potatoes that Tony had donated a while back,” Mauro explains. “I thought I’d make potato salad and serve it with hot dogs. It’s a nice picnic kind of summery food for the day.”
“I try to make homemade stuff. This isn’t Sisco potato salad. It has pickles, celery, eggs,” Mauro, the church’s facilities manager, a former professional chef, explains. “I am always getting the word out to every ministry in the church that I need food for Transitional Youth nights. Like if we have a ton of ham left over from an event, I will freeze it and use if for another event, but you cannot keep ham that long, and I will ask the ministry if I can use it for Transitional Youth. It is a great way to not waste food. I can pretty much make something nice out of anything.”
Recently, after the high school ministry’s All-Church Old-Fashioned Spaghetti Feed for Missions that I organized, Mauro used the left over sauce that he had made for that event for a Transitional Youth meal night.
“Tony had donated stew meat and I braised it with onions, chicken broth, garlic and simmered it for a while, then added it to the spaghetti sauce and put it over pasta. The kids just loved it.”
Mauro has been using his culinary gift on Mondays and Thursdays for Transitional Youth for about six months. Sometimes he is just there while another group has prepared the meal.
He loves getting to know the youth.
“You focus on the kids that you have a little bit of rapport with. The thing that I have to remember is it is not about me. Sometimes I don’t get any response, not even a thank you, but that’s okay. You’re not doing it for that. It is easy to compare with our kids, how we’ve taught them to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ for everything. But at Transitional Youth, sometimes it’s just, ‘Where’s the mayonnaise, where’s the mustard?’”
At 3:30 that Thursday, the potato salad is completed. A 100 to 110 pound potato salad.
“Linda Saxton and I cleaned them and pealed them yesterday, and today we sliced them and put together the salad. I have a lot of people helping me,” Mauro notes.
He has to be at the First Baptist Church in downtown Portland, where Transitional Youth now meets, by 4:30 to start the set up for the youth who will start arriving between 5:30 and 6 p.m.
“It’s neat knowing that the kids get a home-cooked meal. And just seeing the volunteers who feel called to serve the kids. The humility behind that. No one says thank you. We don’t expect it. I love to see the community of servants gathered.”

Ahh, it's graduation season. . . then...college ahead

2009-05-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Ryan will graduate a week from tomorrow. We are in the thick of things, planning for the party, getting invites out, end of year things, the all-night party, senior "kisses", end of year events, concerts, projects and. . . college ahead for our second child and our first deciding what to do next year. . . all the while, keeping up with our youngest three and all their activities...it is all good and fun and a whirlwind. Trying to help our children make life long decisions - what college, where to go, what jobs to find. Trying to help them get scholarships to fund the college of their dreams...

Is it a Christian novel? . . . Then, it's boring. . . Ouch

2009-05-24T21:17:00.001-07:00

I was at the church library to get some books for my husband to read to our 6-year-old. My husband had asked for some new books as he was getting tired of the same old same old.
As I looked around, I also thought of our 11 year old twin sons who love a good story.
I ended up with two books in a series of young teen novels for the boys.
When I picked up the twins from their church musical practice after finding the church library books, I told the boys that I had some new novels for them to read.
“Are they Christian books?” one of my twin 5th grade sons asks me.
“Yes, they are from the church library,” I answered.
“Then, I don’t want to read them. Christian novels are boring,” he answered.
Ouch.
“Why do you say that?” I probed.
“Because there is no plot and there is no mystery. The always give all the answers,” he replied like a literary critic.
It did get me thinking about Christian literature and sometimes the moralizing that takes place within those books. Or has in the past.
I have not, I confess, gotten into Christian adult literature for some time as I just have not found the story line in them. Not since I was into Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness and that series. . . I know I have not tried as hard, but to have my 11 year old son say it so honestly made me think about Christian literature and the importance of creating quality art for kids and adults. I know it is getting better and better and I am excited to meet Christian writers and their excitement. I just hate to hear my twins say that they think Christian lit is boring.

I think sometime about the market and how maybe I need to be the one to create quality literature with good morals without the story being moralizing -- and boring.

And keep looking for those who already are.

Thoughts on Big Church and kids leaving the church

2009-05-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

I have heard of a statistic that notes how a large majority of kids are leaving the faith as they get beyond high school and move on to collegiate life.

I think of church life sometimes and have to wonder:
So much of our church is segregated times.

The grade schoolers are in one section, the junior high in another, the high schoolers in still another area.

There have been times when I am in big church and I think, I wish my high schooler was in here. Or my grade schoolers.

A couple of weeks ago, our pastor was giving an important talk and we kept our grade schoolers with us for the first church service instead of sending them to their fifth grade Sunday School class. I love their teacher Mr. Tate and I like a lot of the things they do in the class, but I also like my children with me to hear the service. With us.

And when it came to the second service, which I was staying for as well, I had told my high school son, who attends the high school service during the second hour, that I wanted him in “big church” with me, but he had said he wanted to go to his own high school class. I had thought about going to his youth leader and saying I think the high schoolers need to be in “big church” this week, but then I did not do it.

Soon,I found out that the high school class was canceled so the teens could be in with the “big church” as the youth leader also saw it as an important service. I was so happy that my son would be hearing the things going on in big church.

Maybe if we would incorporate the high schoolers and other students into the “big church” more often, they would not leave church as they move into college. Because they will have already found a place in big church while still in high school and earlier.

We do a combined service every few months which sort of does this. I hope we do more of these. Bringing everyone together. Into one body. One church. Big church.

Now it's Greece. . .

2009-05-20T18:09:00.001-07:00

Rachel is close to being done with her 7 weeks -- count them - of traveling. . . I am keeping up via the internet. . .she is in Santorini Greece right now then by Friday back in Duesseldorf Germany with family- my sweet cousin Christiana's family - and in two weeks from today she will be home!!

Playing Jesus. . . for real

2009-05-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Jim Caviezel who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ – wow, what an amazing man Jim is. And that his initials are JC and he was 33 years old when Mel asked him to play the part.
He spoke at Rolling Hills Community Church last weekend and was so passionate about Life and sticking up for Christ no matter what. Counting the cost. That was the message I took away from it. Pastor Dale from Rolling Hills interviewed him during the service.
Dale asked Jim what it was like playing Jesus. Jim was actually on the physical cross for the filming of the movie. He was up there for hours. He actually almost died of hypothermia. His shoulder was dislocated. He notes that he could not have played the part without his heart being there. With his head alone, he would not have had the strength. With God’s strength.
Playing the part of Jesus in a film had such an impact on his life that he is careful how he lives his real life. People come up to him and say, “There’s Jesus,” and that is a hard act to follow in real life, but he takes it seriously. And again, he says, not in his own power.
He and his wife adopted two children over the past few years. The children both had brain tumors and would have not been adopted very easily by others. His passion for life and the unborn and standing up for doing the right thing is refreshing.
His current project is the release of CD of the entire New Testament Bible being spoken and narrated by various actors.
Not surprisingly, JC plays JC.

Writers Connection Meeting Monday May 18

2009-05-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

We are having our next Writing & Culture Connection meeting this coming
Monday May 18, at 6:30 pm - at Rolling Hills Community Church, in Tualatin, located at 3550 SW Borland Road. The meeting will be in the conference room- all writers are invited to share inspiration, what they are working on,
publishing opportunities, current projects, dream projects, upcoming writing
conferences, poetry.

I have a fun writing prompt we will do.

The meeting is a great connection time of encouragement-We will gather for about an hour

The link on the church's website:

http :// www . rollinghills .org/writing-and-culture-connection-meeting

Mom's Salary- $ 122,000 is actually PRICELESS

2009-05-14T11:32:00.001-07:00

If given a salary for their daily duties, moms would earn $ 122,000 a year, were they to be paid the current market prices for their day in and day out job.

This is the ninth year that the website www.Salary.com has calculated the Annual Mom Salary Survey showing the 10 most popular job functions of a mom.

Multi-tasking might best define how moms see their work, including day care center teacher, psychologist, chief executive officer, laundry machine operator and janitor. Those responsibilities add up to a $ 122,000 income.

This survey came in just in time for yesterday's Mother's day celebration. I think that survey is interesting that they do at salary.com, but the things that a mom does just do not come with a price tag and are not the things that children remember about a mom. And the things that children remember about a mom are the most treasured and valuable things.

During a wonderful Mother's Day, where my husband made crepes for both our mothers and for me, I read my home made cards from my four sons, cards that brought tears to my eyes. I had told my kids that is what I wanted for Mother's Day-home made cards and poetry. I love homemade cards as they express personal sentiments.

One of my 11-year-old twins said, "Thank you for being a wonderful mom, who loves, and cares about me and ...is a kind mom." And his poem says- "Your face shines like the sun, you're as beautiful as a rose and your heart is as bright as the stars. ...made for mom because she shines like the sun and she's the kindest person ever made by God."

And from the other twin - "Thank you for being my mom. Thank you for your help and for making cookies. Thank you for making y life more easy."

And from my high school son: "Thanks for all the little things you do that make my life better."

And, my six-year-old expressed it simply in a card that had a picture of me and him on the cover and inside, simply, "Thank you for being my mom."

I cannot resist using the slogan that American Express made popular with their television ads: priceless.

You just cannot put a salary on the job of Mom

Where in the World is Rachel. . .

2009-05-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, we are trying to keep up my 19 year old daughter by googling countries and cities she is in, and I, as someone who has felt compelled to record every detail of my life since I was in fifth grade (my twins' age), am posting a couple of photographs of where my daughter is and has been the past couple of days, to share with family and friends in our lives (which blogging helps me do. I realize I have not done enough of this regarding Rachel's year abroad). The bottom photograph is of where Rachel just arrived - In Dubrovnik Croatia -on the Adriatic Sea - and the top photograph is of Hvar Island in Croatia where she was prior to Dubrovnik. I cannot wait to see photographs of Rachel actually in these places when she returns . . .

Rachel says I would love some of the places she has been able to visit during this extended after-school traveling adventure she is on, and she wants to take me to these places she is visiting (dreaming here). She has seen so much of the world (Europe that is) -- I am learning my geography through my daughter!

She is enjoying traveling with her two new friends from Bodenseehof Bible college -- Becky and Rebecca -- and Rebecca's brother Richard joined them in Venice on May 1-another spot I have yet to see. . .

Missing Rachel. . .

2009-05-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

(Photo I took of my sunshine girl Rachel while taking her to Bodenseehof Bible College on Sep. 26, 2008. . . I am so missing her. . . )

I just spoke with my sweet adventurous daughter Rachel Marianne today who is an ocean away, in Croatia on the Hvar Island as part of a 7 week traveling trip after her six months in bible college.
I am missing her so incredibly much. I think about her return in less than four weeks all the time.
I have not seen my sweet only daughter since I left her at Bodenseehof Bible College in September.
When we spoke today it was like she was right there and yet so far away. It is hard to discuss life and love and the future and friendships and God and school for the fall in all of the few moments we have on the phone or via e-mail. But it is what I have right now, and I will take any way shape or form to communicate with my daughter as I can.
I think as June 3rd is getting closer and closer, I keep missing her more and more. It’s like I am allowing myself to miss her now as June 3rd gets closer. I think about her all the time. I pray for her all the time. I weep for her all the time. I talk about her all the time. I think, what would Rachel think of this movie or this book. Or, Rachel would love this sunset right now. Or Rachel would notice the flowers I planted outside. Or I say to her baby brother Augustin, “Rachel is going to be so amazed at how much you have grown” and “When Rachel sees you she is going to take you into her arms and twirl you around and hug you,” and Augustin just smiles. He misses her too. We all do.
I walk into Rachel’s sunshiny room on the creek side of our house, the room with the hot pink painted walls and the sunset painting on the wall and the rainbow and the photographs of Africa from magazines on her closet door and the framed photographs of her and her friends everywhere and all her books and her bulletin board with more photographs of mission trips to Mexico and Mississippi and the wall where she has painted sayings about God and life and loving people and the Mother Teresa quotes everywhere and I weep. I see the painted sayings, “We all need some mercy” and “Can you love?” and that is her mantra. Her life. She is the most amazing wonderful sweet compassionate person. My daughter. And am so grateful she is coming home for the summer.
Chris tells me things are changing this summer as our two oldest children will be 18 and 19, but I do not want to think of any of that right now. I just want to think about picking up my daughter at the airport in less than four weeks and hug her and talk to her and see her beautiful smiling bright sunny face which makes me smile and I want to think about the summer ahead with my daughter, and going on weekend adventures with her and having more than just a few moments and e-mails to communicate, but extended times, sipping coffee on our deck with the creek below us and talking about God and life adventure and living life to its fullest and taking bicycle rides to the park and going on drives to the country. That is what I want to think about. And to say, I am so incredibly thankful to God for giving me my daughter Rachel Marianna Seigneur.

The poet Billy Collins

2009-05-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

A while ago I discovered the poet Billy Collins, who, in 2001, was named the United States U.S. Poet Laureate. He will be one of the four plenary speakers at the Christian Scholars' Conference 2009, called "The Power of Narrative" which isJune 25-27, 2009 at Lipscomb University

Collins' poetry makes the ordinary extraordinary. It makes real life magical. It shows the wonder of the day to day every day.

Here is a poem of his called Flock:

Flock By Billy Collins
It has been calculated that each copy of the Gutenburg Bible
required the skins of 300 sheep.

I can see them
squeezed into the holding pen
behind the stone building
where the printing press is housed.

All of them squirming around
to find a little room
and looking so much alike
it would be nearly impossible to count them.

And there is no telling which one of them
will carry the news
that the Lord is a Shepherd,
one of the few things
they already know.

and here's another:

Invention By Billy Collins

Tonight the moon is a cracker,
with a bite out of it
floating in the night,

and in a week or so
according to the calendar
it will probably look

like a silver football,
and nine, maybe ten days ago
it reminded me of a thin bright claw.

But eventually --
by the end of the month,
I reckon --

it will waste away
to nothing,
nothing but stars in the sky,

and I will have a few nights
to myself,
a little time to rest my jittery pen.

The stuff of Childhood - Boys building a fort

2009-04-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

My twins sons, age 11, have been staying after school every day with a few other fifth grade boys to work on building a fort outside of the school in a treed area. They ride their bicycles to school and after school and working on the fort, ride their bikes home.
They have been bringing their hammers and nails and one of the boys even brought his dad’s electric drill, and they are hammering sticks together and hammering sticks to the side of one large tree and the boys talk about this fort all the time and building a bridge and they have been working really hard on it and it means a lot to them.

They have been going after this with a fervor that is refreshing and old fashioned and sweet and so much of a boy thing. The stuff of childhood. Old fashioned childhood.
Lately there has been discussion that certain middle schoolers are wrecking their fort. “I think I know what middle school boys are destroying our fort,” they tell me.
Last Saturday my husband and I and the twins’ 6-year-old brother walked over to the school to see what this whole fort thing was about. I wanted to see with my own eyes what all this excitement was about. I loved it. The boys were busy designing different areas of the fort and helping each other out. “Hey, Andre hand me the nails,” one of my boys says.
The fort transported me back to my own childhood in Corvallis when I used to build forts at my friend Jeanie’s house. Only ours were with folding tables and blankets in her living room.
I love it when 11 year old boys are boys. Outdoors. Exploring. Adventure. Creating. Away once again from neon lights and electronics.

It's Like Holy Ground

2009-04-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

My most recent Community service story for Rolling Hills is now posted - title

Crystal Peaks-It's like holy ground-

Jenni is scurrying about like a mother hen, checking in on the 52 other volunteers helping ready Crystal Peaks for the spring and summer. She wants to make sure everyone knows where they need to be.

Some of the helpers on this one-day mission trip are planting purple and yellow and blue and white pansies into planters that line the drive into the ranch. Others are spreading large bark chips on the dusty ground. Another group is digging into a corral area placing wooden beams along the border. Still others are staining the wooden fences where horses roam.

The Snowcapped mountain range beams in the distance.

Jenni stops to talk to Kim Meeder, founder with her husband in 1995 of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch which rescues horses and children. Jenni and Kim are like old friends. They met through Jenni’s mother about 15 years ago.

Says Jenni, “My mom and Kim’s husband signed up for a ski conditioning class taught by Kim who was a personal trainer, and my mom called after the first class and said, ‘I met a girl just like you. She’s got long hair, she’s really athletic, she likes horses, and she’s into that Jesus thing.’ And I thought, ‘How does a girl share Christ in 45 minutes in an athletic class in a natural way and not be offensive’? I wanted to meet Kim right away.”

Jenni worked out with Kim several times and watched Kim interact with her mom. “And I would ask Mom, ‘What’s going on with Troy and Kim?’ and Kim would ask Mom, ‘What’s going on with Jenni and Mark?’ At the time, we were adopting all these kids.”

But not till Jenni’s mom passed away did the friendship with Kim really blossom. About that time, Mark, Jenni’s husband, was looking for short term mission projects for the church to participate in, and Jenni told Mark to look into helping at Crystal Peaks.

“And he said ‘You do it.’"

And she did. The first trip -- and the start of an ongoing partnership with the ranch -- was on May 1, 2004.

“I asked four women to go with me on that day. We drove the church van the night before, staying at my in-laws place at Black Butte, and we worked the entire next day at the ranch.”

The next work day that Rolling Hills would participate in drew 30 volunteers. Then 70. It was so popular they realized they had to do quieter teams for a while.

Jenni helped bring Kim Meeder to women’s ministry events at Rolling Hills, including as keynote speaker at the women’s retreat in 2008.

Over the past five years, Jenni has helped lead 14 volunteer trips to the ranch, with the most recent one in April of 2009 where 53 people left at 6 AM on a lazy Saturday morning to drive three hours to work on the ranch. And eat the most amazing barbecued ribs and steak for lunch.

Jenni says that over 1000 people have been touched by the ranch; either by reading Kim’s books or by hearing her speak at women’s ministry events. “We’ve taken over 200 people on 14 trips and many of those people are repeats.”

Jenni knows why people come back. “It is like heaven on earth. There is a line in the video about Crystal Peaks that says the ranch is like a greenhouse; things come broken and they just grow here. Kids, people, horses, men, women, children.”

“It’s like holy ground. . . the mountains, the aspen trees that make beautiful noises when they move. . . you are just in the presence of God when you are there.”

For more information on Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, visit http://www.crystalpeaksyouthranch.org/

For rolling hills stories visit: http://rhcc-compassion.blogspot.com/2009/04/crystal-peaks-its-like-holy-ground.html

Boy Scouts Cross-Over Event - Here come the boys. . .

2009-04-23T18:14:00.001-07:00

My husband and I went with our older son Ryan and two very excited fifth grade twin sons, on a weekend adventure called crossover weekend with West Linn Boy Scout Troop 149 to the Crooked River.

The twins were just so thrilled about this weekend as they start their years in scouts. They were so excited to be here and it may be one of Ryan’s last campouts with the Scouts. This was my first, though I wish I had gone before. Life in a larger family with younger children.

When we arrived that Friday night, it was pitch black and as we stepped out of our Astro Van, the twins immediately gazed up and noticed the stars.

“Oh, look at the stars,” Wesley said.

“I see the big dipper,” Mickaeljosef added.

Back to nature. And simple joys and the beauty of the outdoors. It felt so good to be there with them.

They were setting up tents by flashlights at about midnight and waiting in line to use the one portapotty for 65 people – this was no holiday inn vacation, trust me.

The fire light was glowing and the boys still full of energy.
I finally crawled in my tent about 1 am to the symphony of a snore fest. Okay, where were those earplugs.

After waking up [or did I ever sleep] on Saturday morning, it was amazing to see the beauty of the Crooked River along the high banks and the surroundings. Adult Scout leaders were flipping pancakes and simmering sausage. Boys were whittling by the fire and throwing stones into the river.

The weekend would be about nature. Flowing river. Dust. Great food. Enthusiastic boys. And no neon lights or computers or electronics. I loved that about it.
The crossover weekend is a tradition to initiate boys into true Scout hood. Up until now it has been Cubscouts and webelos.

I’m the mom here but the boys are on their own. At the beginning of the weekend, Wesley thought I was going to give him a hug and he quickly said, “no hugs mom.” And he is my hugging kid.

Another time during that first day, Mickaeljosef was stretching his hand back and forth after he and some boys had been wrestling on the banks of the river. I asked him if he was okay and he said, “I’m fine mom.”

The camping trip planners kept everyone busy on this weekend. New scout parents had to set up a tent that was missing parts we found out later. New scouts were going through various stations learning skills like whittling and building a fire. Earning badges. And learning life skills.

Seasoned scouts went away for a special project – to build a symbolic bridge for new scouts to cross over. I joined them to watch. Again, amazing what these boys can do, designing from scratch a bridge using only sticks and ropes. I finally figured out what lashing was.

As I watched these boys, I thought how glad I was that I came and that my boys love this, the outdoors. Nature. I wish every boy could come on an outdoor trip like this. No electricity, no I-pod, no high tech life.

After lunch, the new scouts and parents went on a five mile hike- two and a half up hill to the reach Chimney Rock. We all waited for one another along the way. No scout got left behind.

In the evening, all the groups were commissioned to write a skit of some sort, including the new parents, which we later performed in front of everyone at the evening campfire. The seasoned scouts used ketchup and mustard and other food items to simulate an operation. In true scout fashion. Our skit was a spoof on the tent we had to build. I was Diane Sawyer investigating the Scout master’s plot to forget parts to tents on purpose. You had to be there to get it.

Then the desserts, cooked over fire filled our tummies – peach cobbler, berry cobbler, chocolate cake never tasted so good.

The evening was capped off with the ceremony of walking along the candle lit path to the river where the crossover bridge was located.

Each parent there with their sons crossed together and it was total silence. The only time during the weekend that it was quiet.

Sunday was pretty much a packing day before chapel along the river and caravanning home, with a stop at a DQ along the way.

I thought I would have tired boys in the car. Instead, the twins, with a friend sandwiched between them, played their Nintendo DS’s.

Back to high tech city life and neon lights.

But the weekend was not forgotten. When the twins got home in the early evening on Sunday after we picked up their 6 year old brother Augustin, they got their Scout books out and began planning for next month’s campout and what badges they were going to earn between now and then.

Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch - A Day of Volunteering

2009-04-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

TODAY, my son Ryan, 17, my son Mickaeljosef and I went with our church to Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch outside of Sisters Oregon for a one day mission trip helping to get the ranch ready for children.
Kim Meeder and her husband started the ranch in 1995 as a way to rescue horses and use it to help children, and Jenni Reiling from our church wanted to get church members involved in helping. Rolling Hills has come 14 times over the past five years.
It was a wonderful day planting flowers, getting flower beds looking nice, spreading bark chips, building a wall and so much more. A fabulous lunch of ribs and steak and salad was shared by all midway through the day.
I love sharing outreach times with my children. My husband had gone with our oldest two children and our church four years ago to Crystal Peaks and today was my turn. It is a neat activity to be outdoors with the kids, reaching out to help others.
I enjoyed hanging with the others, talking and sharing hearts and our journeys.
We had to get back a bit early as Ryan has Bible study and before we watch a movie with the kids, I just had to download the photographs . . .
It was a great way to spend part of Easter weekend. . . –thankfully I do not have to make the meal!

Out of Lake Oswego and Into Real Life

2009-04-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

There was a boy who did not live with his dad, but he was able to call his dad, and he put his hope in being able to meet his dad, and his dad would say he would meet his son at a certain time and spot, but his dad never showed up.

The boy would just say, “Oh, it’s fine.”

“He kept blowing it off as unimportant. They learn to let it go,” says Linda Parker, who served once a month on Fridays for two years at Transitional Youth with the community group that her family is a part of, until Friday nights became unavailable. “They are just kids. They are out there all by themselves. Well, they have their street family. I think for us, this was a real need. The program is trying to do something impactful, just being there for them.”

She thinks about Roger.

“He would hang out with us and he would stay until the end and he would say the closing prayer. And then he stopped staying around at the end. He’s struggling right now. Many of these kids—no one cares about them and just us being there, communicates a lot.”

Kids asked Linda’s group, “Why are you doing this? Why do you come every month?” They are aware that someone is putting an effort out for them.

“We tried to make it clear we were there because they are worth caring about and worth serving. For the most part, they just want someone to sympathize. They are not looking for you to solve their problems. They really just want someone to listen.”

During the time that Linda’s group was helping at Transitional Youth, they were going through some transitions of their own. Some of the kids in their community group were graduating from high school and took off for college or to Torchbearers. Others were moving on to their last year of middle school.

But all grew in some way because of serving.

“The view of the world we received was much larger than that of West Linn and Lake Oswego. It wasn't that we were naive and didn't know what existed outside of our comfortable communities, at least for the adults, but we didn't rub up against it in our day-to-day lives so it was easy to dismiss.”

They kept going because they had made a commitment and they believed they were having an impact.

“We honestly believed God wanted us there and we felt the ministry was important. We see Transitional Youth as a viable opportunity for youth to get off living on the streets of Portland.”

They saw real life.

There was a young girl and young man pushing a baby stroller, with a baby only a few weeks old. They did not have a place to stay for the night. The mother of the young parents had kicked them out and the brother of the young parents would not let them stay at his place.

“As they left the building, it was still a question mark as to where the couple and this little baby would spend the night. The girl was meeting her case worker the next day, but having dad in the picture might alter what kind of help they qualified for. The image of that little baby, so innocent and helpless, with parents that were children themselves, stayed with me. I still think about it. There is so much hurt and hopelessness out there and only God can provide peace. If in any way we reinforced God's love to the kids of Transitional Youth, it was worth all the effort we made over the two years.”

Youth come to Transitional Youth for a warm meal and for friendship and camaraderie and support. And to find a listening ear.
“Through our interaction with them, we looked to plant some hope, and that's what Transitional Youth offers.”
---

This story was first published on the Rolling Hills community service page at:
www.rhcc-compassion.blogspot.com/2009/03/out-of-lake-oswego-and-into-real-life.com

Book Q &A with Angry Conversations with God author Susan E Isaacs

2009-04-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Donald Miller, Blue like Jazz author, will introduce Susan E. Isaacs and her new book, Angry Conversations with God on

Friday, April 3 at Evangel Baptist Church, located at 2830 NE Flanders in Portland.

The Q & A event starts at 7 p.m. nd is sponsored by Imago Dei.

The spiritual memoir by Isaacs was just released by FaithWords -

Here is the publisher's description:
Disillusioned, disenfranchised, and disinterested in anything churchy, Susan Isaacs knew of only one thing to do when she hit spiritual rock bottom at age 40. . . . She took God to couples counseling.
In this cuttingly poignant memoir, Susan Isaacs chronicles her rocky relationship with the Almighty--from early childhood to midlife crisis--and all the churches where she and God tried to make a home: Pentecostals, Slackers for Jesus, and the über-intellectuals who turned everything, including the weekly church announcements, into a three-point sermon. Casting herself as the neglected spouse, Susan faces her inner nag and the ridiculous expectations she put on God--some her own, and some from her "crazy in-laws" at church. Originally staged as a solo show in New York and Los Angeles, ANGRY CONVERSATIONS WITH GODis a cheeky, heartfelt memoir that, even at its most scandalous, is still an affirmation of faith.

Home by Marilynne Robinson

2009-04-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

I just finished savoring Home by Marilynne Robinson – wow, what a great book. I had read Gilead, Marilynne’s Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction in 2005 and Home was the follow up novel. It examined home as a place to return to, home as a place in the heart – really asking the question – what is home and where is it and do we have a home? The rich narrative that Marilynne writes in, how she draws you into the lives of her characters, the way she portrays faith are all reasons I love her literary work.
In one way or another, every character in Home is searching for the answer to the question of what it means to come home. Glory is 38 when she returns to Gilead, Iowa to take care for her dying father, pastor Robert Boughton, a widowed father of 8 children. Glory’s wayward brother Jack also finds his way back; however, his homecoming is marked with awkwardness as reflections of a difficult past resurface. Glory has not seen Jack in 20 years when he left Gilead with his scandalous reputation. Jack and Glory bond while taking care of their father, but Jack relapses into bad habits which affects their father. Glory continues offering grace to Jack, trying to get him to stay, but he worries the other siblings will not be as understanding as some will be making their way home to see their father before he passes away. Grace and forgiveness and what it means to come home are strong themes here, and the question of whether home is ever the same once you leave and return is always in the back of one’s mind.

I hope you stay sick, Mom

2009-03-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

So, we go on our annual Spring Break trip to Cannon Beach for three days and stay at our usual Sandcastle Condos where we celebrate my sweet brown eyed youngest son’s sixth birthday. During our first two days, we swam in the pool, soaked in the Jacuzzi, ran on the beach, looked for sea anemones, flew Frisbees, boomerangs, kites, rode bicycles along the ocean waves, ate at Mo’s, watched old movies, savored crab and melted butter. Had amazing weather during the first two days.

Then the third day it rains, and I get sick (okay, so I timed it well). But, it was the stomach kind of sick. And, it was not fun. My just turned 6 year old also got sick but not as badly. I felt so miserable Friday and just wanted to erase the day and sleep it off, but then I could not sleep which made it even worse.

I had been sick with a different kind of illness a week before, and had canceled everything for two days, and so I thought I was immune to getting sick again so soon – though we did expose ourselves to my sister’s family before we left for the spring break beach trip, and they had all been sick. Yes, stomach flu.

I felt a little bit better upon returning from Cannon Beach, and continued resting on Sunday, hoping to start the week off freshly. And not sick. I was definitely still weak.

On Sunday night, while tucking my kindergartener into bed, I tell him that I hope I am totally over being sick as I just did not like feeling so badly.

His response?

“I hope you stay sick, Mom.”

I look at him with a question on my face as he chuckles a little.

“Why don’t you want me to feel better, Augustin?” I ask.

“When you’re sick, you stay home with me. And you don’t go to meetings.”
Man, I love the way children are so honest.

On Monday, he had his wish in a way. I had a fairly normal day, though not going 100 percent, definitely getting work done, but later in the day, I felt a bit weak. Perhaps I did too much.

Then I snapped off from my neck my small gold cross that my mom gave me when I was 16 years old and a new believer. It was in my bedroom which was still a disaster from returning from the beach, and truth be told, is far from organized even without having to unpack. I just had to find that gold cross.

I had the entire family helping me and I offered a prayer – and a reward. Five dollars. Then 10.

We cleaned under the bed – not a pretty picture—and we took everything off of dressers and cleared off the nightstands. Nothing.

When interest waned, I upped the ante to $ 15. That helped get the kids back to the room. My husband the engineer was trying to recreate the scene.
“Which direction were you facing when your necklace snapped?” he wondered again. I had first told him the wrong direction, and when I rethought about it, I showed him a different way I might have been looking while changing clothes.

“Okay, then the cross could have flown in the air that way,” he suggested looking toward the closet, while one of my 11 year twins dashes in the direction in which he is pointing.

“I found it, I found it,” Wesley exclaims as he runs toward me with the tiny gold cross.

It was on the carpet right next to four boxes of delayed decisions and laundry baskets piled up and pictures to be filed. I was extremely grateful to have my cross found, and I quickly gave my son the reward money.
Honestly, that cross is so small and my room so needing organizing that I really was beginning to wonder if we could find it, but I knew it had to be in the room.

Earlier, I had canceled going to a writing meeting I was looking forward to attending at church. I was feeling a bit of a relapse – and I lost my cross which I just had to find before going anywhere -- so, my youngest got his way: I stayed home.

But only partially because of me being sick.

Western Seminary's Heart Talk Writing seminar was Great

2009-03-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

I was able to help at Saturday's Heart Talk Writing seminar and it was such a neat day of connecting and inspiration. My highlight was meeting author Robin Jones Gunn, the keynote speaker - her stories - we have so much in common . . . and I also was able to have a few moments to share with Bev Hislop, the Women's Ministry director at Western. . . it will be fun to see how God continues shaping the journey...my heart is to connect writers. . .

The Power of Narrative- Christian Scholars Conference info

2009-03-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned at last night's Rolling Hills Writers Connection meeting, here is additional info about the upcoming Power of Narrative-Christian Scholars writers' conference in Tennessee that I plan on attending-the first part of this is simply cut and pasted from http://csc.lipscomb.edu/ -

Christian Scholars’ Conference 2009
The Power of Narrative
June 25-27, 2009

Lipscomb University is pleased to host the 29th annual Christian Scholars’ Conference, June 25-27, 2009, under the theme, “The Power of Narrative.” Plenary speakers Billy Collins (US Poet Laureate, 2001-2003), Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer Prize Winner, 2005), Hubert G. Locke, and Barbara Brown Taylor will stimulate dialogue on the intersection of faith, academics, and narrative's captivating quality. Paper and Panel sessions highlight the conference, bringing together fellow academics for collaboration and dialogue. We invite you to participate!

I love Marilynne' Robinson's novels Gilead and Home as well as Billy Collins' poetry and I recently began reading Barbara Brown Taylor's book, Leaving Church. All very literary work which reflect their Christian values, but not in a cliche-type of way.

As a writer, I want to be challenged and stretched and going to conferences with excellent writers and speakers is so inspiring.

Rolling Hills Writers' Connection Monday March 9 at 6:30 pm

2009-03-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

The next Rolling Hills Writers Connection is Monday March 9 at 6:30 pm at Rolling Hills Community Church in the future bookstore. The every-other month meeting is for encouragement, inspiration, connection and ideas. Bring a short piece to read if desired.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Cornelia

A hard act to follow...Reflecting on Saturday's Oregon Christian Writers Conference

2009-03-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Being a part of the Oregon Christian Writers Conference Saturday in Salem was wonderful. I felt honored to be there as one of the workshop leaders, but trust me, it was hard to follow The Shack author, William Paul Young, who was the keynote speaker of the day and also led the workshop just before mine.

I had the chance to meet Wm Paul Young between sessions and noted his segment on identity really hit home. Identity is a theme in his book and life as it is in mine and I am guessing many other people’s lives.

I asked him to sign my daughter Rachel’s book (Rachel had it with her in Germany where she was in Bible School and she shipped it home along with other books to lighten her load to go to Austria, where she is in her second term of Bible school). William Paul Young has the philosophy of not just signing books but personalizing every single one of them. He wants to send the message to people that they matter. To him. And to God. That powerful message is found in his book, The Shack.

The story behind The Shack is powerful in and of itself. How he came to write it. How he came to publish it. How it has gotten into the hands of 3 million people worldwide. How he did not set out to become a New York Times Best-selling novelist. How God’s hand is entirely in William Paul Young’s story and the success of his book.

And that is the part that I took home. So many times we strive and we worry and we plan and we do all these things to make ourselves successful, and then we add a little prayer asking God to bless us. Bless our ideas, bless all we are doing, thinking to ourselves, it is God’s will. But, William Paul Young’s message was one that said he finally came to a point in his life when God was the only identity he had. When he emptied himself and his own desires and gave them completely to Christ.

Then, God gave him this story, The Shack, which was originally written for his six
children.

And God used it – and is still using it - in the lives of millions of people.
William Paul Young shared the letters he has been receiving from people who have been affected by the book. People whose lives have been turned around. People who have returned to Christ after reading his book. People who have found God for the first time. People who have returned to the church and a relationship with Christ after having felt burned by the church. People who have discovered mercy and grace and peace and love for the very first time. Or again.

Yes, it was a writers’ conference I was a part of Saturday. But, it was more than that. It was a time of inspiration and renewal in personal lives. It was a time of connection. It was a time of refreshment.

I enjoyed seeing so many people from my church. I enjoyed seeing old writer friends and meeting new ones. I went away with inspiration to write more deeply and transparently and from the heart.

And, to pray. And to trust God for all things related to the pen. And to life.

[Note: photo courtesy of Julie McDonald Zander]

The Shack Author is Keynote Speaker at OCW Conference where I am leading a Workshop on Freelance Writing

2009-02-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

I am leading a workshop on Freelance Writing at the Oregon Christian Writers Winter Conference, Sat. Feb. 28 in Salem, Oregon, where the keynote speaker for the event is The Shack author William P Young!! I am so looking forward to meeting him -- his book really impacted my life.

Here is the internet link to Oregon Christian Writers- This is the first time I have led a workshop with the organization. The web address is:

www.oregonchristianwriters.org

Next Rolling Hills WRITERS CONNECTION Meeting

2009-02-25T12:38:00.000-08:00

Just getting the word out to Rolling Hills Community Church members about our next Writers Connection Meeting and it is now listed online- here is the information!!

Writers Connection Meeting
Monday, March 9, 2009 6:30 PM

6:30-8 PM in the Future Bookstore

All writers are welcome for connection, inspiration, encouragement.
If you would like, bring something short to read for feedback.

Questions? Email Cornelia at corneliaseigneur@comcast.net
For more information, visit: www.corneliaseigneur.com.

http://www.rollinghills.org/writers-connection-meeti

Keep the Art- Drop the Politics- Night at the Oscars

2009-02-24T19:11:00.001-08:00

I enjoy the Oscars every year - I love movies and a good story and the Hollywood glam and what the actors will wear. I like to see when actors who win are humble and acknowledge others in their lives. Kate Winslet was a class act. Heath Ledger's family wonderful. Slumdog Millionaire amazing. However, I do not like it when actors use the Academy Award ceremony to push their political agenda.

Talk about art, talk about the movie making process, talk about people who helped you, talk about the privilege you had of being in the movie. Do not talk about politics which divide. The Oscars are a time to bring people together not tear people apart. I like Sean Penn but was very disappointed with his acceptance speech. Gus Van Sant the Portland director was not even mentioned by Sean.

I love the Academy Awards but wonder why certain actors and films are not nominated every year. What happened with Gran Torino and Clint Eastwood - what an amazing film – why was it not even given one nomination? I enjoy seeing the actors and the film makers walk the red carpet. I enjoyed the five pastor category winners talk about each of the nominees, which was something new this year.
Acceptance speeches are fun to watch and Kate Winslet has really grown as an actress from her Titanic days. Her speech was pure class, thanking the many people in her life, including her family. Slumdog Millionaire was a wonderful film and the winners were very humble as well. Penelope Cruz had a nice speech but the film she was in was terrible. Pure trash once again with women kissing women.

And, again, Sean Penn, though I think he is talented, I get tired of his politics and propaganda. Do not use a fun evening to push your political agenda on us. And, your wife standing by you. Can you thank her. She is a wonderful actress whom I loved in Princess Bride (Robin Wright Penn) and was not even acknowledged by Sean. He was too busy scolding the voters. Why the Academy succumbs to this is disappointing.

But, we keep watching and hoping for the best. Which is, focusing on art not politics. Hugh Jackman brought back art in his role as MC.

Outreach to Morton Washington with Youth Group

2009-02-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

It's so good to get students out to serve in the community. Today, the Rolling Hills Youth group drove to Morton Washington to partner with Forward Edge in its outreach to a family whose house was destroyed by a landslide...my son Ryan and I met them later as we were at the Eagle Court of honor for Mitch Tofte [another blog entry for that story]--

But today, a two plus hour drive to give a family hope...and physical help. . .moving their furniture out of their home which was filled with mud from the mud slide. The home is ruined. Just like that...

Facebook | Your Photos - PHOTOGRAPHS FROM WEST LINN BOOK PUBLICATION CELEBRATION

2009-02-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

Facebook | Your Photos - PHOTOGRAPHS FROM WEST LINN BOOK PUBLICATION CELEBRATION

A new book I am reading...Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life

2009-02-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

I just got the new Kathleen Norris book, Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life and love it. Before this book of hers, I read Cloister Walk which I also like. I love books that make you think about life and spirituality and contemplation and quietness and prayer.

In this new book, Kathleen talks about Acedia, a term monks have used to describe a state of apathy and depression. She writes in a narrative style that interweaves her own experience of the spiritual life as well as and that of others’ reflections and thoughts on faith.

One thing that stands out is the idea of boredom and how we abhor the term. I know I have told my children you should not be bored or I will find something for you to do. But, actually, boredom is not in and of itself a bad thing, Norris points out. Boredom is a type of stillness and it takes stillness at times to draw closer to God. In our ever hectic chaotic lives, we want to fill every moment with something to do and somewhere to go and to be entertained, but that leaves little room for contemplation and prayer. Precisely, the point Norris is making. Wow, in our modern world of being plugged in 24/7, this hits home. We have tried to make it a practice to not use our computers on Sundays. To call the 7th day a day of rest in practice in our family. I have to work at it. To not go to the computer. But, how can I tell me children not to plug in on Sundays if I do not have the discipline to stay away as well.

Why I love International Films...seeing Snow at the Portland International Film Festival

2009-02-12T23:18:00.000-08:00

I cannot stop thinking about the Portland International Film Festival going on these three weeks. Last week, I went to see the Bosnian Film "Snow" at the annual film event with a friend and I have wanted to go back to see other international films since then, including a German and Austrian one, but did not end up making it there. I have been talking to other people about international films, finding common ground with certain friends on this -- there is something about international films.

They are mysterious and paced differently and do not give away all the answers and sometimes leave you with more questions than answers and there is plot and layer after layer and, like good poetry, you have to come to your own conclusion by thinking about the movie and talking about it and musing.

"Snow" follows the tale of a handful of women in a village after recovering from War in 1997. Some of the women are widows and many of their children have been executed by Bosnian Serbs who live nearby but the children’s bodies have not been found. All the women have are their memories and their homemade items they try to sell with little success. Two businessmen arrive with an offer to buy the residents out which gives the villagers a tough choice. Other hopeful elements are interwoven in this Critics’ Week Grand Prize Winner at the Cannes Film Festival. Snow is this year’s Bosnian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

I found myself intrigued by this story of devastation after war, yet the film does not get political. Again, a difference that I see comparing American films with international films. American films tend, in general, to jam messages down people’s throats, while international films, again in general, will allow you to make your own conclusions or show several sides to a story.

Like good poetry – a bit of a mystery that intrigues and leaves you hungering for more.

When I mentioned my interest in the Portland International Film festival to my husband, he said he'd like to go with me, and so for Valentine’s Day [or the day before depending on when we can get a baby-sitter] we will find an international film to see. My husband mentioned two of his favorite films- which happen to be international - the 1986 French film "Jean de Florette" and its sequel "Manon of the Spring", two films that I had forgotten about but now that my husband mentioned them, I realize how much I too enjoyed them. The mystery of the heart and family and human nature were explored in those films.

The calendar for the PIFF is posted on line - . . . I will blog about which film we ended up seeing... stay tuned

Chaperoning My Son's Overnight Field Trip. . .

2009-02-01T20:35:00.001-08:00

Okay, so there was a two to one ratio of parent helpers for my fifth grade son's overnight field trip to Astoria- how's that for parental involvement, and I confess, that when I heard that so many parents were going, I told my husband, well, perhaps they do not need me, but he said my son is looking forward to me going and I need to go . . . and I am glad I went-sleeping on the floor in a cafeteria is after all, priceless . . .

It was fun to be a part of this annual tradition at Cedaroak Park School and just talking to the parents and seeing kids outdoors interacting and learning first hand by exploring is wonderful - I love to see my children interacting with their classmates and their teachers.

My favorite part was walking to the Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment. They had originally discouraged us due to the mud, but I was able to check it out and, though I did fall once, I told Mrs. Grabow that it was worth the .75 mile walk just for the view-

I took photos but do not want to download right now. . .I need to get ready for the week ahead- just when I thought things would slow down, I get ready for my taping on the Paul Linnman 1190 KEX radio show in the morning.

You are correct Holly, I have not been blogging on my WriterMom blog. . .

2009-01-26T23:16:00.001-08:00

Yes, Holly, I have not been blogging on my WriterMom blogs. . . you are correct, my Book Publication Celebration Preparations have taken up all my time. . .

My new writer friend Holly said I have not been blogging because I have been so focused on my West Linn Book Publication and its Celebration Party tonight and she is right- this book and the publicity surrounding it and planning the Book Publication Celebration has taken up all of my time.

And it has been a whirlwind, attending neighborhood association meetings and editing press releases and planning this party tonight- wow, so much to do for tonight. I did not want an ordinary book signing to celebrate my Images of America: WEST LINN publication. No, I wanted a party. A mingling. A gathering. A time where old friends could catch up and I could thank the many many people who helped me with this enormous All-About-West Linn project. And so it was. A mingling. The community room where we had the event at the West Linn Library was filled to capacity (143)and overflowing for much of the evening. Some estimated over 200 and up to 300 came through tonight. . .

And because of this book, I have met such wonderful people and yes, this celebration took up all of my time. My office is a mess –again-and my house-as I have focused on tonight. The decoration. The food. The helpers. The planning. The guest list.
And people came. People love this town. Over 200 at least came, so many people told me this. The room was packed, by the end of just the pre-event. My helpers Kathy and Midge and Marupong and Jennifer were busy setting up tables and helping the WFTV gal Melody and music was playing. . .I felt like I was sort of planning a wedding. So many areas to coordinate. I thank the entire community for its support of the book.

I am still buzzing from three hours ago when it ended.
I wanted to download the video my husband took and I read the guest book and so
many nice comments.
Still buzzing. . .
. . . I need to rest now. . .and maybe in a day or two get better at blogging. Yes, Holly, both here at www.oregonlivec.com which I have also neglected. I am glad I was missed on my blogs by at least one person!

PS- Holly, I was blogging on www.ImagesOfAmericaWestLinn.com so, I was not completely avoiding the modern way of communicating.

Images of America: WEST LINN Book Release Celebration Monday Jan 26, 2009

2009-01-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

The West Linn Public Library is having a

Book Release Celebration for my West Linn book, Images of America: WEST LINN

Monday, January 26, 2009
6-7:30 p.m.

The West Linn Public Library is located at
1595 Burns Street in noneother than West Linn!

Everyone is welcome!! Here is the link to the Library website-
www.westlinnoregon.gov/library/cornelia-seigneur

It was just a year ago that I began work on the book and now it is in print- I am excited about the final product and sharing the book with the community.

About a storm. . .from The Shack . . .

2008-12-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

A New York Times Bestseller, The Shack is sure to jolt your preconceived ideas about God. . . and, in the midst of the storm we recently had in the Portland Oregon area, he has a great take on storms. . . I love what the storm did for us. . . perhaps, there is even a greater message about storms in our lives. . .we had no electricity for two days and so we set up our old woodstove in front of our house and stayed warm surrounded by snow. We roasted marshmallows and made smores with hersheys chocolate bars and graham crackers, my 5-year-old's favorite treat around the campfire. The storm interupted our routine and I loved every minute of it. We played spoons by candlelight and lantern, we snuggled on the couch. My son read his books by flashlight. . . .

Here, an excerpt about a storm- from William P. Young’s The Shack

"There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules. And unlike illness, it is largely a corporate rather than individual experience. One can almost hear a unified sigh rise from the nearby city and surrounding countryside where Nature has intervened to give respite to the weary humans slogging it out within her purview. All those affected this way are united by a mutual excuse, and the heart is suddenly and unexpectedly a little giddy. There will be no apologies needed for not showing up to some commitment or other. Everyone understands and shares in this singular justification, and the sudden alleviation of the pressure to produce makes the heart merry." -

Snow Days Remind Us To Slow Down . . . Christmas Day MY Turn in Clackamas County Weekly Oregonian newspaper

2008-12-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

(A shorter version of this was originally published in the Clackamas County Weekly section of The Oregonian newspaper, 12-25-08)

I love these snow days home with kids.

Since the start of the winter storm that hit Portland area Sunday, I have been loving this time of forced slow down for us.

Initially, when the storm hit Sunday, I had a very busy week ahead, with church and a Christmas Tea and a concert and parent helping at school and Christmas concerts and holiday events. But, beginning with Sunday, I bowed out of all of them and most were eventually canceled anyway. I was thrilled for the change of pace. Somehow, I breathed easier.

Every day, my grade school children have been watching the Television to see if school is canceled, and they wait till the W’s to come across the screen; they want to see it over and over again: “West Linn-Wilsonville School District closed.”

What is funny is that they have known the night before as it was texted to my older high school son’s cell phone and we have checked online.

But, my children were so excited anyway to see it on screen. These days off have been so fun for them. And for me.

I remember growing up in southeast Portland and how thrilled I used to get having snow days. Back then, it didn’t seem like they announced the closures of school until the actual school morning, so we’d get up early as usual and turn on the TV or radio to find our school mentioned as closed. The buzz was memorable.

And, now, I get to experience this time with my own children. Each day home with them is a new adventure. It’s been great getting all bundled up in our snow pants and jackets and gloves and scarves and boots, and getting the sleds out to go play in the snow. We have been walking down our street and we see other people out walking with their children in the snow. And on Highway 43, we have seen people strolling, a cup of Starbucks in their hands and grocery bags in their arms, meandering up and down the street.

Generally, in this area, you rarely see people out walking, but this week, people are forced to, and I enjoy it. It is what makes a community. You meet new neighbors when you walk places. And, you see parents talking to their children.
Someone asked me if I am going crazy having the kids home this week and I said, though sometimes I pull out my hair when they fight, I am truly enjoying this time.

We have made cinnamon rolls together and roll-out Christmas cookies. We have walked to neighbors’ houses and stopped for a cup of coffee and hot chocolate at Starbucks and gone sledding and walked to the park. We have played card games and watched Christmas movies and had tea with neighbors.

I have heard people worry that they are not getting their Christmas shopping done as they would have this week due to the road conditions, but I say, exactly. Simplify. Cut back. Do our children really need all the material items we were going get?
The memories we are making with your children is a much greater gift. It’s one big adventure the week before Christmas. Something different. Something out of the ordinary. Schedules melting away to a more simpler existence. Allowing ourselves to relax and not be so busy. Being closer to home together means slowing down together.

And, that is exactly what Christmas season is about. Slowing down. Taking time to bake with our children. Taking time to have tea with friends. Taking time to walk places.

The snow storm happening so close to Christmas is a good reminder that we should slow down not just when we have to. But because we want to. Indeed, because we need to.

Parents complaining about having kids home? Come on people

2008-12-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

In today's Oregonian newspaper, a story highlighted how (working) parents were frustrated with having schools closed this week due to the stormy weather conditions. Parents, please. Say it is not so.

We have so little snow in the Portland area and so few snow days off from school in any years- parents and people need to just chill. And enjoy this amazing time with your children.

It is so pretty outside, the snow reflecting off the trees. Christmas a week away. Kids excited to have a few extra days off.

Schools are doing what they need to do to keep kids safe by closing. Perhaps parents should be doing what they should be doing- taking care of their children --and not complaining about having them home. I love having my kids home and the schedule less hectic.

Art brings Mother and Daughter together

2008-12-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a story I wrote for today's Oregonian's Clackamas County Weekly-

The smell of fresh-baked pumpkin bread fills Kim Millen's home.
Her 21-year-old daughter, Andrea Millen, a senior at Warner Pacific College, decided to bake while home for the evening preparing for their mother-daughter art show that runs through Dec. 27 at the West Linn Public Library.

"This is a miracle, that she is baking," Kim chuckled.

The pumpkin bread joins an already full plate. Besides taking classes, Andrea works at Starbucks, is doing an internship and applying to the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Pacific University's School of Professional Psychology. And she's preparing for a January mission trip to Honduras.

With all that going on, Kim is thrilled by her daughter's interest in doing their first mother-daughter art show.

"We have always been so close, it seemed like a natural progression in the transition in our lives, culminating into this," Kim said. "I was really excited that she discovered painting. She has always been more into drawing -- she is very accomplished in that realm -- and she has just started painting."

Andrea grew up surrounded by the arts, taking dance, theater and music at a young age.

Kim, 53, has painted since high school and also danced; she has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Arizona. Kim's mother, brother, aunt and cousins are all artists or art educators.

Kim has focused on watercolor for 35 years and more recently turned to acrylics, specifically abstract painting.

"I take all the feelings I have inside and put them onto paper. I paint the way I feel," said Kim, whose art is featured at local Starbucks. She also has sold her work at the Portland Art Center.

Andrea, who has focused on charcoal portraits of people and animals, is beginning in acrylics. The art show will showcase their various works.

Kim turned to teaching art when she started her family two decades ago. She taught at Community Christian School, among other locations, as well as to home-schoolers in her studio.

"I am passionate about children and sharing the wonders of integrating art into their lives," Kim said, adding that she is looking forward to teaching adults. "My passion is sharing with others the wonder of what connecting with art can do in our lives, whether that be just being able to view a piece with more open eyes or daily appreciate the world's beauty on a deeper level."

Ultimately, she says, "my happy thing is helping others."

Kim and Andrea say their favorite place to paint is the bathroom converted into an art studio in Kim's home. "I feel good in here," Kim said of the studio. "Andrea comes home to paint here. I like the closeness."

Andrea, a 2005 Riverdale High graduate, says her long-term goal is to incorporate art into therapy. Her internship is at the Salvation Army's adult rehab center for men in Portland, where she goes two or three nights a week.

"It has to do with clinical counseling. The men generally have the option of going through the program or going back to jail or back on the streets," she said.

Andrea says her passion is "just understanding why people do what they do -- behavior, thought processes." She hopes to be able to combine her creative outlet with a career in psychology. "Art is therapeutic. I hope to tie art into it."

Shannon McBride, a Lakeridge High School art teacher who is on the committee that chooses shows for the West Linn library, said she liked the concept of a mother-daughter art show.

"What I was particularly enthusiastic about as an art educator was having a younger artist represented," she said. "It is important for the kids that come to the library to see someone younger showing their work publicly. And I like the inter-generational connection, of a mother passing on her art to her child."

Kids Need Lesson in Morality not Technology

2008-11-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

Today on the CBS Evening news with Katie Couric, there was a feature about students posting cheating tips on YouTube -

Is this crazy or what? Crazy in that students are taking so much time to think about and plan ways to cheat in school instead of just studying for the test. Kids are making new labels for coke bottles with answers to test questions. They are downloading term papers online instead of writing them.

But, their attitudes during the interview is what concerned me the most - when the interviewer asked about the morality of this, or whether they were worried about this for their future, the kids responded- no, only if I get caught. When asked it it is wrong they said-No, I was bored one day.

Parents- Give your kids some chores to do. Or have them get a job. And teachers, beware-

Trick or treating for Canned Food. . .

2008-11-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

One came as a hippie, another as a pirate, still another as Willy Wonka. Then there were the three cowboys. Make that, cowgirls. There was the man with the cape – let’s call him the caped crusader. Still another came in a mask that has been in his family all his life.

About 15 in all for a fun filled Halloween night of trick-or-treating.
But these high school students and leaders were not in it for the candy.
Instead when they approached doors in the Tualatin neighborhood near church, they asked for mac and cheese. Or tuna fish. Or canned beans or corn or fruit cocktail or Campbells soup.

High School Ministry Youth Pastor Branden Campbell dubbed the evening Trick- or-Treat-for-Canned Food.

Last year, he’d done something similar with students from the Spokane church where he was youth pastor, and decided he wanted to get kids here reaching out as well. On a night traditionally all about what you can get, not what you can give.

“It was hilarious. You say ‘Trick or canned food’ – or Mac and Cheese and Tuna Fish,’ and you’d get a funny look at first,” Branden says. “Most did not listen and they’d put candy in our bags and we would stop them and we’d say ‘No we are collecting food for the Tualatin Food bank.”

They were collecting items for the Tualatin School House Pantry. With the economy in the shape it is in, Branden found out that the local food collection agency was in need. Rolling Hills partners with this local food bank, whose mission is to provide emergency food to those in need, to help eliminate hunger.
After an hour and a half of trick-or-treating for food staples, students and leaders collected 650 pounds of food.

Branden’s passion is outreach.

“That is the mission of Jesus. Look at who He came to reach out to. The prostitutes, the sinners, the broken hearted.”

Plus, Branden notes, “Outreach gets the focus of kids off of Planet Me. I think that the message of Jesus is selflessonly something we should do but who we are.”
----------------
For more information and photos and other service projects at Rolling Hills, visit : www.rhccserves.org

Musing on Gratitude and True Faith. . .

2008-11-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

I had lunch with my good friend Kristi from Rolling Hills today at Manzana's (to celebrate her 21st - ha ha - birthday) - we spoke of gratitude and how you can build thankfulness into our kids' lives - too many of our children have this attitude of I deserve it all and why can I not have that new I-Pod and well they have it all.How do we teach kids to live selfless lives that are not about them all the time? How do we teach values?

One thought is that parents need to live values that they talk about. Delayed gratification when it comes to things we want/need. Do we buy things as parents whenever we want. . .

As for kids, they get new cars and do not pay for gas or insurance at age 16. She mentioned how some kids then say their parents are stingy and I think - Oh, my. Here, parents are trying to teach their kids values and not giving them everything and they miss the point. My parents did not give me everything and taught me the value of work by making me work. I wanted to live on campus when I was working on my undergrad degree at The University of Portland - but my parents lived 7 miles away and said no - and I did not have the money. So, I worked the next summer and saved up enough to live on the dorms. Did I learn the value of work!

We also talked about building true faith into our children's lives and mused on the fact that so much in today's church / youth ministry is watered down. She mentioned a guy named Paul Washer who is very strong in his belief about the church and how watered down the sermons have become. To tickle ears. . . I need to check it out and evaluate and discern. . . Are we as a church just trying to be liked and loved and are we just trying to sell books and get people inside our church building.

Food for thought. . . always asking questions and wondering...

You know the election has gotten to your family when...

2008-11-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

So, I was listening to my 5-year-old recite his AWANAs verses from the Bible that he is memorizing and he says something like this: "These things are written that those who believe in the Son of God may have life in his name. . . "

Then I ask him where it is found and he says, "Jeff Merkley 3:21" and I laugh [Jeff Merkley just won a tight race to be an Oregon senator against incumbent Gordan Smith].

When I laugh my son then says,
"No, it is found in John McCain 3:21"- and then I know he is joking around. . .

Kids have been hearing all too many ads on TV as the rest of us...

Now if only the lawn signs would come down. I think we all just need to move on. . .

There's No Place like Well-Being

2008-11-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

The man’s words just would not leave Kari the nurse’s heart. He did not have a safe place to go for a meal on Sundays.

During the weekdays he had a place, but not on Sundays. No safe place to just be on this most sacred of days.

Kari and her husband Les kept hearing the words and the words turned into a calling.

Open up The Well on Sundays.

Offer a home cooked meal.

Serve the home cooked meal on real china -- not on paper plates. Serve the home cooked meal on a table with a table cloth and warm candles burning and serve up sweet conversation.
Make it safe. With no judgments. Make it like home.

Call it Well Being.

And they did. And people came.

On the other side of town, another call came. This one for Dan and Sally Waritz.

Well Being needed help. Last minute help.

Would Dan answer the call?

Yes, he would.

”But, I’ll be the first to admit, when they told me who we’d be serving, I was hesitant at first. I will not pretend,” says Dan. “But after the one time, I knew this was where I needed to be.”

Now his community group comes back every month.

Last Sunday, they brought shepherd’s pie. And salad and dessert to share.

Kari and Les love having Rolling Hills Community Church helping http://www.rollinghills.org/ . It has eased the weekly burden, so they can focus on making those who need a safe place on Sundays to feel part of a community.

“For a lot of HIV positive people the church is pointing the finger. Here we do no preaching. We open up our church home to them. We serve them. It allows those living with HIV and AIDS to see that there are others in the church that care. Many of those who come have never stepped inside a church before. Some will then come to Sunday service. It is always in the background,” says Kari.

The people who come are etched into their hearts.

Dan says: “We notice that you see people each time you are here and all of a sudden you notice when they are not here anymore.”

And, you wonder if it is because of their health.

And, you are never ever the same again.

From the Mouths of Babes. . .Kids and Politics. . .

2008-11-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

My son’s political t-shirt arrived in the mail last week, announcing who he wanted for president.

Never mind that he’s 11-years- old and cannot vote for seven years.

He’s worn it every day since its arrival. At least my son makes sure it gets into the washer every day (or two).

At Bingo night at my kids’ school, a few moms came up to me who had seen my son wearing his t-shirt and said, “Good for Micki. That is so bold.”

A recent YouTube entry from Ron Clark Academy illustrates how bold and fun kids can be about politics -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgEGtYWonds

But, I am the chicken. . .

As an adult I have been tamed by the realization that you have to be careful of partisan politics as they have become so divisive. In some cases, friendships have been severed. But, refreshingly, for kids it’s just another day at school.

Like asking which baseball team you are cheering on. It’s a playful nod to your favorite team then you move on.

A friend of mine said she was listening to her 10-year-old son’s conversation with another 10-year-old while carpooling to sports practice.

The conversation went something like this: “So, who are you voting for?”

“McCain,” one says.

“Don’t you want change?” the other says, and this mom friend of mine is listening and just cracking up inside.

The next minute the kids are talking about the upcoming game they will have on the weekend and homework that is due the next day and setting up a time to play after school.

I recently chaperoned a field trip for my fifth grade son and the boys were playing on their Nintendo DS’s and somehow they were messaging each other on these DS’s as to which candidate they wanted.

It was “NoCain” then “NoBama” and my son was hiding from me what he was doing, and when I finally figured it out, I chuckled inside, and just laughed and said, “Make sure it is nice comments.” The kids were fine about it all.

A month ago, my grade school children put a presidential bumper sticker on my husband’s car. The bumper sticker was given to them by their cousins. Neither my husband nor I really wanted it there, but our kids were so excited about it we did not have the heart to take it off.

But, I confess, I park backwards in our driveway so no one can see the bumper sticker. Do I sound like a coward, or what? It goes back to having some negative experiences in my past, so I am avoiding them right now.

However, in high school, I was bold to stand up for a candidate who was not very popular in the polls – or in the school hallways -- but ended up winning the presidency, and years later he is a respected president. Though I got flack for it back then, I stood my ground, along with one other friend of mine.

That is why I find my son’s innocent campaigning for a candidate quite refreshing. Seeing a child stick up for something they believe in is fun, as long as they are aware they need to do it respectfully.

Maybe we could learn from our children’s simplicity, and be able to state our opinions about political topics, then have a play date the following day.

THE LONG GOOD-BYE

2008-10-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

I wanted to savor every moment, every train trip, every sip of cappuccino, every conversation, every new city we explored, every smile with my daughter.
We had two weeks and one day.
Sometimes just thinking about leaving her made me cry.
Sometimes I just sobbed.
But, I would not let her know this. Not yet. It would be too hard.
On her. And on me.
She chose to go to Germany http://www.germany-tourism.de/
for her first year away to college and I was thrilled. This is the country of my birth.
My mother in law had asked me at one point: “Why are you encouraging Rachel to go to Germany. So far away.”
What I encouraged my daughter -- what I encourage all of my children to do – is seek after God’s will in their lives. To find their purpose. Their calling. To risk. To take adventures. To live. To laugh. To question. To live outside the box once in a while. To dream. To journey. To dream.
And for Rachel, going to Germany this first year out of high school was her dream.
The reality of it though for me hit about half way through our two weeks of travelling before I was to drop her off.
We had had our first few days of seeing London, Buckingham Palace, the Grosvenor Hotel, London Bridge, lunches out, Dusseldorf, family gatherings, Koln.
It was amazing, but at times, it felt a bit hectic, and she said something to me: “We haven’t sat down and had torte—German for cake—and coffee,” and I realized as I thought about what matters to Rachel is not seeing every cathedral or church there is in every town.
No, what Rachel remembers—and talked about the most from her visit to Europe a year ago—was times sipping cappuccinos at sidewalk cafes and walking places and bicycle riding around town. That is what meant something to her.
And here, our first few days, though really great, were filled with a bit too much rushing around. Seeing everything there is to see. And, sometimes we didn’t stop for meals or not until really late at night. Or we’d skip lunch. And I could tell Rachel did not like this. Sometimes it was not my fault as we were with relatives, but other times I did have control.
I desperately wanted the memories that Rachel would take from this trip -- from our two weeks together before I dropped her off for Bible college, http://www.bodenseehof.de/view.php -- to be wonderful. Sweet. Happy.
So, I changed directions in my mind. I decided that it was not so much about the finding but it was about the hunt. It was the journey. The very thing I talk about in my life a lot. The journey. The adventure.
As we continued on our two weeks, I made sure that at the first hint of being tired or hungry that we found a place to sit and eat. Or have Italian ice. Or watch the sunset.
We did not see everything in the Dresden area there is to see. We did not see every building or street in Prague that there is so see. Nor in Berlin. Just to be there was of course amazing, but I allowed myself to not be on such an agenda-setting course, where you forget to smell the proverbial roses.
The two weeks were not without a few small glitches –yes, my daughter and I actually had a short moment of impatience between us, which I regret having. Simply put, she was in a bad mood and just tired as there was a certain city – Weimar-that I really wanted to see because my mom told me to- and there was a certain Fortress I really wanted to stop at- Wartburg—again, cause my mom suggested it, but Rachel was tired, and I had really worked so much around my daughter and felt she could give a little as well. We worked through it and said we were sorry to one another and we moved on.
Frankly, I think God may have allowed that short not as pleasant moment between to make it easier to say goodbye.
The long goodbye was not easy.
As we got closer to the time I would have to say goodbye, just thinking about it made me sob. Weep. I wrote a poem about it –the goodbye-
To my daughter SunshineGirl
Sunshine fleeting, captured in the reflection of the sea, but only for a moment -
Then it disappears into the canvas of the sunset.
Sunshine will rise again. It will paint itself in the sunrise
Erasing the dark.
Sunshine will brighten my day, warm my heart. But it is only here for the day. Then night comes.
It appears with the rain in the rainbow, but only for a moment. When you look for it. When it surprises you.
You cannot capture a rainbow. It does not belong to you. It can never be yours. It belongs to God. It was created by the maker of heaven and earth. It lives. It breathes. It brings warmth and life into others.
Sunshine and rainbows fill the earth with tenderness and warmth and love but can never be owned. For a moment, a fleeting moment, sunshine’s rays are captured in a smile, in a look, in a snapshot, and then they go away, but they stay with you. You are never ever the same again.
The warmth. Lingers in your heart and though it is dark, the light stays with you. And you wait to see it again. You wait as long as you need to wait.
And you long for the morning.

- - -
The day came; two weeks and one day into our traveling days, when I had leave Rachel. To say Goodbye.

Bodenseehof in Friedrichshafen. I was able to see her room which had an amazing view of the Bodensee (Lake Constance) and I met the nice people at the school, and we had such a neat time at the lake and then we walked back, and I asked if I should go back into the hall with her and she politely said, “That’s okay Mom,” which was my sign to go out gracefully.

I turned to give her a hug and say a prayer with her and I could feel the tears welling up in me but I did not want to cry in front of her. Not that I cannot show emotion to my daughter but it was time for me to let go. To say good-bye.

I had prepared her 18 and a half years for this and she was ready. Was I?

I needed to be. I said a short prayer and turned around to my waiting cousins who had driven us here.

The Long Good-bye.

In the train I felt like someone was missing. I thought of Amy Grant’s song “Missing you” The words go like this:
“Missing you is just a part of living. Missing you feels like a way of life.”

TAKING FIRST CHILD TO COLLEGE. . .

2008-10-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Today I am on a plane to Germany to take my daughter to herfirst year of college.

(I wrote about it for my 9-11-08 Real-Life Mom column published monthly in the SW Weekly section of The Oregonian newspaper, also found online http://blog.oregonlive.com/writermom/2008/10/first_child_leaving_the_nest_l.html

It is bittersweet. Germany is one of my favorite places, and not just because I was born there. I love the German lifestyle of walking and riding bicyclesto places, and I am especially happy that Rachel chose Bible college forher first year away. http://www.bodenseehof.de/view.php

That is the sweet part.

But I find myself a bit lost as my first child leaves the nest,even if that is not permanent — yet. Part of the reason may be that she is my firstborn and part mayhave to do with her being my only daughter, in a family with four sons.

And perhaps part of the reason has to do with my identity as a mother. Ihave been a mom for almost two decades. I have been needed — and by mydaughter’s side — for almost half my life. My daughter and I are very close. I have coached her sportsteams and volunteered in her classrooms and led her high school Biblestudy and summer church camps. We’ve gone on mission trips and summerroad trips together.

Now she won’t need me as much. I know that is not entirely true, as she will still need me in different ways, but that is how I will feel on that long flight home, which I will not think about right now.

I have begun to realize — though it is hard to admit — that I have a tendency to become emotionally dependent upon my children,especially my daughter. I have found myself somewhat insecure at times unless my kidsare with me — again, especially my daughter. I am not talking about emotional dependency in the clinical sense, in which people hold others back in order to be needed.

And I am not talking about emotional dependency in the “living through mychild” kind of way, though that is an issue with some parents. I am talking about my basic emotional attachment to my children.

I suppose part of it is that I find fulfillment and enjoyment inbeing a mom. But you begin realizing as your children grow that they donot need you as much. And moving our kids toward independence is what we strive for from the day they leave the womb.

We celebrate every step towardindependence: The first day without diapers. The first time riding abicycle without training wheels. The first day of school. (It is wild tothink that my firstborn starts college as my lastborn startskindergarten. How’s that for coming full circle?) So, bittersweet is where I’m at. But is that not whatparenting is all about? The good with the tough; the blessings with thechallenges; the years together, the times to say goodbye.

Yes, it will be hard leaving my daughter, but sweet coming home tofour sons who still need me.

Do not let students who were hit walking to school stop you from walking or bicycling places...

2008-09-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

Two students in Salem Oregon got hit yesterday in a crosswalk walking to school – on their first day of school. They were doing the right thing, crossing at a crosswalk designated for drivers to stop. http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080904/NEWS/809040342/1001

The driver did not stop. He was only cited for failing to stop at a crosswalk, not for hitting two children.

It was the first day back for students and perhaps drivers are not looking for students, but in general, it shows how we as an American society have a ways to go when it comes to people getting out and walking and bicycle riding places. It is such a rare thing in some communities that drivers do not think: Oh, crosswalk, beware of pedestrians.

Instead, drivers are in a hurry to make it to their next destination.

Part of the issue is that many people who drive frankly never walk or bicycle themselves so they just do not know what it is like out there. In suburbia where I live, it is harder to walk and bicycle anywhere. Sidewalks are missing or simply end. Bike lanes just stop as well.
Even in designated crosswalk areas, you are competing with cars to get across the street when the light blinks walk for you and is green for the cars.

What made me especially sad for the two Salem students hit by the car on their way to school, is their comment afterwards: “We are going to get a ride tomorrow to school. From now on.”
I do not blame them in a way, but really, instead, I wish more people would take up walking and bicycle riding to school – and to other places – so that it is not such an unusual site to see people walking. The more people that walk, the more others will watch out for them, the more cautious people will be.

I admire the yearly Walk To School Day, which encourages entire school communities to walk to school. http://www.walktoschool.org/
There is strength in numbers for sure. I organized a couple of these events for my children’s school at Cedar Oak Park in West Linn a few years ago, and we had a great time. It was fun to watch cars do a double take when they saw 100 students cross Highway 43.

And, one school district in Nevada is encouraging parents to walk their kids to school not just once a year but every day. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/28/district-asks-parents-park-walk-students-school/
Congestion around schools is incredibly stressful in many school districts, including this one in Nevada, which prompted this school to take action. The specific program is a first step in getting kids to walk to school; in this case, it has parents parking in a location away from the school then walking the rest of the way with their kids to school. Great start.

I would take it a step farther. Walk all the way to school with your child. Yes, it takes time, but the rewards are incredible. Fresh air. Exercise. Time with your child. Conversation.
Walking with your children – or bicycling with them – promotes exercise and togetherness, plus it saves the planet and gas money.

I find it quite interesting how school buses pick up kids who live so close to school. I think kids who live a half mile away from school should walk or bicycle. Also, school buses stop every third or fourth house sometimes in certain districts. My sister has told me about this in her district.

Let the kid walk to a neighbor’s house to catch the bus. Some districts, due to higher fuel prices are doing just this. California has eliminated school buses for thousands of children. Washington state and elsewhere are consolidating school bus stops. http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/20/walking.to.school.ap/

In Germany, kids always walk or ride their bicycles to school. There is no school bus and parents do not tend to drive. It is a whole different way of looking at transportation. In American suburbs, it will take time to get people to think about walking and bicycling places; it will take grass roots efforts.

I hope the situation in Salem will not hinder but instead encourage more students to walk or bicycle to school. Yet, as these students found out, even at a crosswalk, you still have to be careful. That is what I teach my kids as they begin to venture out on their own, walking or bicycling places. Even when you have the right-of-way, still watch out.

But do not give up. Instead, ask others to join you, including your parents.

Woman Vice President Candidate gets People talking about Juggling Motherhood and Family Life

2008-09-03T20:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Alaskan governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave her speech at the Republican National Convention. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94258995

She was sharp, she was funny, she was smart, she had things to say. She showed compassion and she has a Downs Syndrome Child whom she adores and is just as proud of as her other four children.

I loved how she started the speech by saying that the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull is lip stick. She talked about all she did as governor - the biggest things related to taking on big government and that was impressive.

The luxury jet owned by the state of Alaska she sold on e-bay for 2.1 million dollars! Got to love that one.

Wow. As governor, she got rid of the personal driver and personal chef, all luxuries she could have taken advantage of as governor of Alaska. These were examples of how she nixed the wasteful government spending and saved hard working tax payers half a billion dollars.

The talk has been so much about how this woman can juggle being a mom of five children and vice president at the same time. She has already proven herself.

And, as former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said just prior to Palin speaking, we would never question a male politician's ability to lead based upon the number of children he has. Interesting thoughts. I venture to add to that- a democratic woman. . . just asking...

As a working mother of five myself multitasking is par for the course. I readily admit, and have written about, that it is never easy to juggle, and sometimes you cannot have it all. Something does give and a supportive family helps. It is Palin's choice to work and we should never question her ability to ability to work based upon the number of children she has. Nor, her ability to parent based upon her job.

Republican or democrat aside, give Sarah Palin a chance to show what she knows. And what she can do.

BACK TO SCHOOL. . . kindergartener is my last child

2008-09-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

I told my 5-year-old who started kindergarten today that he could not grow up so quickly.

He says, "I have to."

He is my youngest. I am sad. I am happy. I am reflective. I am conflicted.

On the one hand, I will have a full 17 and a half hours a week to myself... What will I do with myself. I have not had that much time to myself since my second oldest, now 17, started kindergarten 12 years ago. I will have quiet. Time to be still. To work in peace. Uninterrupted.

But, it means change and kids not as dependent on me and my little circle at home being not the same any more.

Back to school. What a fun time. Especially for our youngest in the house. . . I reflect more on this in my Oregonian blog - oregonlive.com KIDDO page WriterMom blog on the following link- http://blog.oregonlive.com/writermom/2008/09/kindergartner_in_school_means.html

World Meteorite Day in West Linn Oregon

2008-08-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the info and photos of the first annual World Meteorite Day held in West Linn to commemorite what may be West Linn Oregon's largest [literally] claim to fame - Photos included... http://westlinnbook.blogspot.com/2008/08/world-meteorite-day-photos.html

and the link to the city's website regarding Fields Park . . . http://westlinnoregon.gov/parksrec/parks/fields-bridge-park

Olympics. . . Michael Phelps honoring Mom

2008-08-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

I Love the Olympics. . . I am glued to the TV during these two weeks every two years, alternating summer and winter Olympics. My favorite are the Summer Olympics - this year's in Beijing has been amazing. I say that every time about the Olympics - http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/index.html

I love gymnastics especially and was really moved by Nastia's Olympic gold in the women's all around. I still remember the 1972 Olympics watching Olga Korbut -and in 1976, Nadia.

This Olympics as a Mom of four boys, I was particularly touched by Michael Phelps and his winning 8 gold medals in swimming and each time honoring his Mom. His single mom. What a tribute. As mom I love to see children honor their parents and, though many criticize the over - coverage of Phelps, he did win 8 golds, besting Mark Spitz's record of 7 golds in one Olympics. Then, to have Phelps continually thank his mom for all her sacrifice, I was really impressed.

INTO THE WILD . . . letting our ducks go today...

2008-08-17T20:33:00.001-07:00

We let our ducks go today…into the wild.
At first they would not leave us, and my husband actually had the kids begin the round them up to bring them back to our creek; perhaps they were too young after all, and not quite ready to leave the nest. But then I saw an older duck hanging around the cage where we had put them again, and I thought, perhaps this is the momma duck recognizing her baby. I suggested letting out ducks out again, just to see.
And sure enough, our two ducks swam toward the other duck and they were off. Pretty cute.
But what I was watching just as much was my three boys – Augustin, 5, and Wesley, 10, and Mickael Josef, 10 – as they interacted with the ducks.
Really, it has been all five kids I have been watching interact with the ducklings these past five weeks. It was Rachel, 18, who first discovered the two barely born ducklings, sans their mother, in our backyard near our creek. She was on our trampoline and heard some duck-like noise and when she went looking for them she saw a mother with eight ducklings waddling down the creek. All of a sudden, three got left behind in our yard.
They were about the size of a fist.
Rachel was able to rescue two of the three babies which the mama deserted – we never found the third one. After that point, all of the kids got involved with the taking care of the babies.
My husband made it a weekend project to build a large cage for them. They bought duck food and took them to the creek every day to watch them play. They cleaned out the cage; they dug out the creek to make a pond area. All of the boys out there with their shovels. They held the baby ducklings. Twice a day, they changed the ducks water and filled the food container. Their friends and cousins came over to see the ducks.
They nurtured the ducklings and christened them “Wildflower” and “Feisty”. The ducklings seemed comfortable with the kids. “They’re so cute,” I heard. They did not run away, and they were not afraid at all it seemed. Each night, Rachel brought the ducks inside the house to protect them from predators, and she put them outside again in the morning, at 6 am, before leaving for work.
The ducklings grew so quickly. Soon, little buds came in that would become their wings. Wildflower and Feisty began flapping. And they stopped being so cozy with the kids. They loved being in the creek, splashing around, chasing one another, and they really did not want to go back into the cage. They ran away and it was a bit of an effort to catch them.
It seemed like they wanted to be free.
As Wildflower and Feisty became more independent, the kids’ interest lessened a bit. My husband said it is time to consider letting them go.
Today was the day.
We picked Cedaroak Boat Landing nearby and we held the little carrying case cage as we walked through the long grass to the river. We picked a spot near the island, that was away from the loud boats and people.
As we let Wildflower and Feisty out of the cage and into the river, they looked happy at first. They swam around, ducking their heads in after bugs. But, there were no other ducks around, and soon our ducks came back out to where we were. They seemed lost in the wild. Perhaps they were not ready.
But, then, they saw the other duck. It was time. Feisty and Wildflower followed after the other duck as if it was their mother.
“We found the mother,” Augustin said. “Look, Wildflower and Feisty are following her.”
“I think that is the mother for sure,” Mickael Josef said.
“Look, there are other ducks over there. Maybe they are all related,” Wesley said.
We watched from the shore. We snapped photographs. We waited to be sure they would be okay.
Feisty and Wildflower got separated for a moment from the other duck. “Maybe we should take them back home,” Wesley suggested. “It is a bit too late for that,” Chris said.

We found a log to sit on where we could observe from a distance. We saw other young ducks about the same age.
“I think those are the brothers and sisters,” Mickael Josef said.
Finally, it was time to leave. To leave the ducks in the wild. To trust.
Chris and Augustin and Wesley went ahead while Mickael Josef took his time. Wanting to be sure Feisty and Wildflower were okay.
Sure enough – our last view of our ducklings they were diving under water with several other ducks, looking for dinner. It was time to go home and get ready for ours as well.

Outdoor Summer Concerts define summer....

2008-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

We attended the Bridgeport Village outdoor Concert last night listening to Aaron Meyer - Oh my goodness. Amazing...I blog about it on my Oregonian Oregon Live WriterMom blog at the following link:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/writermom/2008/08/summer_outdoor_concerts_are_pa.html

REAL-LIFE MOM - Twins comparing each other down to the glasses they wear—or don’t….

2008-08-14T23:05:00.001-07:00

Twins comparing each other down to the glasses they wear—or don’t….
REAL-LIFE MOM for August 14, 2008 SW WEEKLY OREGONIAN newspaper–
By Cornelia Seigneur

I finally took my 10-year-old Wesley to the eye doctor this week. His fourth grade teacher Cheri Weaver had said at the last parent teacher conference that Wesley, though a great student, seems to be struggling to see the board.
Wesley’s twin Michael Josef has had glasses since last fall, and Wesley has resisted getting glasses.
“I don’t need glasses,” he’s said to me for months now, and repeated to the eye doctor while sitting in the chair to be tested. The doctor asks him to read the top line of the chart.
After he confidently reads the first large letter row, the doctor instructs him to decipher the next row, which features smaller letters and numbers.
Silence.
“Can you read those Wesley?” the doctor probes.
“No,” he grins.
None of the letters below the top row?” the doctor asks.
“No,” Wesley admits, like he’s been had.
The doctor says, a bit playfully, “No, Wesley you don’t need glasses at all. You’re only at 20/200.”
Ever since his twin got glasses, Wesley has not liked them on his brother. He’s felt they do not look good, and has said so in indirect ways. He’s been determined not to get them himself.
He’s at the age where he notices his looks. And cares about his looks and has opinions about looks and what is cool and what is not and he really wants to fit in, and to not be different.
And Wesley got this idea in his mind that glasses are not the “in” thing, and that somehow they would make him inferior. For some reason, the glasses situation up until now gave Wesley the one-up on his brother. Micki was fine with his glasses. And, now, glasses for Wesley puts the boys on the same playing field.
I have talked about getting Michael Josef contact lenses for a while, and so during the appointment getting Wesley’s glasses, I decided to order Michael Josef contacts. And Wesley as well.
So, really, Wesley will never know what it is like to have only glasses, though I thought it might not have been a bad idea. I want him to realize that having glasses does not make him a different person. Or an uncool person. It just helps you see the white board.
But I decided to get him contacts (and glasses) at the same time, hoping that would cure the comparisons between the twins.
Little could I believe then that a new kind of comparison started, comparing prescription strengths.
It sounded something like this: “Well, my eyes are better than yours,” and “Your eyes are worse than mine,” and, “Well, having worse eyes means you are smarter,” and I am thinking, Man, here are my identical twin boys with the same DNA comparing themselves and I have to remind them that being identical means they are from the same stock.
Same genetics, same bad eyes, same sweet boys. On the inside. Which is what I am trying desperately to teach all of my children.
But when you are 10, you have a different reality. It doesn’t mean that I won’t continue to remind them anyway.
West Linn writer and mom of five, Cornelia Seigneur’s, Real-Life Mom column appears the second Thursday of the month. Reach her at inaword@comcast.net or visit her Mom blog at: http://blog.oregonlive.com/writermom/

Girl in China singing was not really singing

2008-08-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

So, the girl wowing the crowd with her amazing singing at the Olympics opening ceremony was only lipping the words. The real singer was off camera, not pretty enough for the country of China, which is hosting the Olympics to show to the world. The actual singer's voice was beautiful but her face not.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4512250.ece

This is a shame. Sad statement about life and what is deemed pretty enough. The government of China has this quote about the situation:

The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on the screen. Lin Miaoke was the best in this. And Yang Peiyi's voice was the most outstanding," says a member of China's government about how the 9-year-old mouthed the words while the 7-year-old sang.

I can only imagine what this will do to the little girl singer years from now. Her self esteem damaged by this. Does she even want to tell people about it? I sang at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But, my government did not think I was pretty enough to show the world. What does a parent do in this situation? Does the parent have a choice?

Something is wrong here. The Olympics for China is all about a show and the national interest. What does how beautiful a young girl singer is have to do with national interest? Who defines beauty? How is it determined. A little girl with crooked teeth singing like an angel, is that not beautiful? I say yes.

Family Traditions | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | Recent Shows

2008-08-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Family Traditions | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | Recent Shows

You Cannot Have it all. . .

2008-07-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

It is summer. I am working. I missed going to see Kungfu Panda with my kids last week Monday. Our older daughter and son took the little ones as an outing while I worked.
I also missed going to see Wall-E with my kids two days later. My good friend knew I had a lot to do for my book (Images of America: West Linn) deadline and she offered to escort them. I was torn but also realistic. I had too much to do. I was happy that they would have fun without me.
Sort of.
I also skipped a musical at the University of Portland with my daughter and husband three weeks ago and an outing with my sister and kids.
Then on another recent weekend, my husband took the kids camping, again, sans Mom.
Usually, my work as a freelance writer and editor allows me to have flexible hours where I can go to the movies, go camping, go see musicals, but with this deadline looming for my book (which I actually had to extend), I have had to cut back way back.
I love my job. I hate missing out.
I don’t care what they say -- you cannot have it all. To borrow the title from the 2003 movie with Jack Nicholson, “Something’s gotta give.”
My friend, Shelley Mathewson, who is a professional musician and mom of three, struggles with this all the time. She wants to be there 100 percent of the time for her children, ages 18 to 9, yet she loves her music. She thrives on performing, stretching herself, growing creatively.
Yet, she hates missing out on activities for, and with, her children, which sometimes is required.
Every summer Shelley and her family travel to a music festival where she performs for the week. It is a family working vacation of sorts, and her musician husband also plays at the festival some years.
Shelley has wondered if she should give this summer activity up, but realizes it is a way to combine her work—her art and her passion—with her family life. To expose her children to the world of music.
During that week, though she has her kids with her, she does miss out on activities they do while she practices.
But, her children see her commitment to her art and how she’s living out her dream of being a professional musician. When work and our passion intersect, what a gift.
This summer as I labor toward completing my first book – a dream come true – but miss out on some family fun, I remind myself that my kids are seeing me complete a goal. Realize a dream. Do something I love. It does take sacrifice.
A couple of years ago, as I planned my “business trip” (okay, writer’s conference), my husband decided to take the kids canoeing and fishing and bicycle riding. There was talk of Smore’s to eat and crawdads to catch. All this fun to be had while I would be “working.”
I asked my husband (teasingly) if he could wait for me to go with him. While I was away, he could stay home and work around the house until we could go together. I just hate missing out.
He reminded me -- You cannot have it all.

My book website is www.westlinnbook.blogspot.com

NO CHILD LEFT INSIDE. . .

2008-06-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

Get children outside to nurture their insides
-- Rather than overschedule your kids this summer, leave time for the outdoors

Thursday, June 12, 2008 SW WEEKLY - The Oregonian newspaper
CORNELIA SEIGNEUR REAL LIFE MOM

Meet Phil Finch. Grandpa Phil, that is.

My daughter, Rachel, and I were introduced to him while hobbling through the Newport Marathon last month. As he caught up to us at Mile 12, he commented on Rachel and me looking like sisters. Flattery will get you everywhere.

Talking to Grandpa Phil helped keep my mind off how tired I was. This was his fourth marathon this year. He is a big believer in the outdoors, in recreation, in physical education and in a movement called "No Child Left Inside."

Grandpa Phil is teaching his grandkids to enjoy all aspects of the outdoors, from running for recreation to gardening to birding. He volunteers at schools to talk to children about nature's significance in our lives, something I strongly believe in.

Having kids outdoors more would cure so many ills in our society. Childhood obesity. Attention deficit disorder. Hyperactivity. Depression.

I told Finch about a book recently featured on National Public Radio called "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder," written in 2005 by Richard Louv. It helped launch the movement to get kids back outdoors.

The outdoors provides adventure for kids. It gets them away from neon lights and intensity. It does something for the soul. In our modern suburban world, we are sheltering our kids too much. We worry that they'll get hurt or mugged or hit by speeding SUV drivers. I worry, too.

Louv believes that perhaps the No. 1 reason kids are not exposed to nature is that parents overprogram children. Every last minute of children's schedules is packed with sports practices and music lessons and clubs, leaving little room for spontaneous outdoor adventure.

One mom I talked with recently remembers twirling her baton for hours outside as a child while daydreaming. Let's bring back daydreaming, unstructured time.

The weekend Rachel and I were in Newport running the marathon, my husband and his dad took our four boys fishing. I loved knowing they were outdoors, appreciating nature.

With summer ahead, it is easy to book every minute with camps and planned activity. Let's be honest: The kids can drive us batty fighting, squabbling and messing up the house. Trust me, with five kids, I am there.

But I try to resist the temptation to overplan and to just allow flexibility. To be able to wake up and say, "Hey, let's go on an adventure. Let's visit a new park. Let's see what we can discover."

It takes slowing down and retuning and retraining ourselves and our kids, but it is worth it. A few weeks ago, while we were riding our bicycles on the Old Columbia River Highway, my daughter discovered a rattlesnake nestled in the lupine. I didn't even realize there were rattlesnakes in the Columbia Gorge.

The things you discover when you are not left inside.

Should kids pay for the sins of their parents? I say, let the kid play ball...

2008-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

So, a mom misses her shift at the Little League concession stand and the league benches her son, her 7-year-old son, who just wants to play baseball.

I say, Let the kid play ball.

The recent incident occurred in Massachusetts

and brings up the question: Should children be punished for their parents’ shortcomings.

In this case, I understand that parents are required to serve at concession stands and such, but their children should not be punished when their parents do not show up.

Perhaps, instead they could have an extra down payment on their sport fees that is later reimbursed upon fulfillment of their work duties.

That is what they did for my son’s ski team. We made a $ 150 payment at the start of the season which we received back in full after we had done our two volunteer sessions at the mountain.

When sports start getting so political, so about money, that they punish children, it gets ridiculous.

In the case of this Massachusetts Little League, maybe they need reevaluate their policy. Or figure out different ways to raise money.

Keep it simpler. Keep it about letting kids play baseball. Not selling concessions.

Here's Looking at you KiddO -- The new oregonlive.com blog

2008-05-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the new Oregonlive.com KIDDO [ie, kid- friendly, family friendly] blog, where I am a community blogger- WriterMom -- http://www.oregonlive.com/kiddo

My first two blog topics - Dear Miley: It's Called NO
and My MOM: The original environmentalist...

Cornelia Seigneur

GIVING HER WINGS - Real-Life Mom Oregonian column

2008-05-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

REAL-LIFE MOM - SW Weekly Oregonian
By Cornelia Seigneur
Daughter's wings to take her far, bring her back
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The Oregonian

M y mother-in-law said recently, "Why are you letting Rachel go so far away to school next year?"

My daughter plans on attending Bodenseehof Bible School, a Capernwray college, in Germany -- the country of my birth -- this September.

I responded that I have to let her go. It is what she wants. I try to give my children wings, and I'm happy that my daughter has goals and dreams.

Yet now reality is hitting.

Rachel has applied to work full time this summer with Clackamas County. She says this will help her earn a chunk of money for college.

Problem is, Rachel working full time means we forgo our usual family road trip and the summer spontaneity I love.

I should be happy that Rachel is so responsible, caring about helping pay for college. Instead, I have mixed emotions. I'd rather she just continue her part-time, work-from-home, flexible-hours writing and transcribing jobs, which are just right for us to plan a family getaway, something we have done each summer since Rachel was born.

I'm realizing this could be our last summer together. There's so much inside me that doesn't want things to change.

Yet I know things must.

We have a creek in our backyard. We bought our house 18 years ago for the yard and have stayed here because we love it so much.

The creek is a draw for wildlife, and every year two ducks fly in to bathe there. We have a family story that the same ducks come back each year. When Rachel and her brother Ryan, a year behind her, were toddlers, they named those ducks Cora and Chester -- Chester was the name of an elderly gentleman one block over.

We purchase cracked corn at the farm store for the ducks. One year Cora laid eight eggs in the ivy behind the creek.

In midsummer, Cora and Chester fly away. But once the cherry trees bloom again, Cora and Chester return, confirming spring's arrival.

I've always wondered what makes them fly back every year. Is it the flowing water? Is it the calmness of our yard, nestled in woods and ivy? How do they find their way back?

As I think about Rachel leaving this fall, going so far away, I ponder: What will bring her back? What will remind those wings to point in the direction of her family?

Perhaps it is providing a place of acceptance and letting her know that this is always home. No matter how far she goes, and no matter how long she is gone. I have to let her fly with the wings I have given her.

I am glad she is using them.

And, hey, as I told my mother-in-law: In the meantime, I have an excuse to book a flight to my home country.

Cornelia Seigneur is a West Linn writer and mother of five. Her column appears the second Thursday of each month. Visit her blog at www.corneliaseigneur.com or e-mail her at inaword@comcast.net http://www.oregonlive.com/metrosouthwest/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_southwest_news/1209866102227020.xml&coll=7

SPORTS CAMP IN N. PORTLAND

2008-04-29T23:26:00.000-07:00

Last night Crystal and my Bridge Senior Girls Bible study along with Dave Newborne's senior guys group and my twin boys, age 10, drove to N. Portland to take Jima's 6 siblings to the park for a good old fashioned sports camp. While walking to the park, we saw other kids and invited them along. The weather held up and we ended up playing one amazing kick ball game, perfect for the wide age of kids who were there. It was a great time, just interacting, laughing, hanging out with these kids from a totally different world. The mom was at work. I want to do more of this, perhaps this summer, like a Vacation
Bible School. It reminded me of the Sports Camps in Mississippi last year with the youth group, with Rex Dodge and Pastor Jerry - we would pick up kids in the projects and they would come hang out at the church. Swimming, playing games, eating, FusBall.
What was amazing about last night is how God held out in the weather department. It had been an iffy day, but it cleared up for us, and at the time we needed to leave to get kids back to church, it started raining. Perfect timing.
I was worried about Dave's group thinking it wasn't planned out enough but he told me afterwards his group loved it.
Cornelia Seigneur

OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE. . .

2008-04-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday a few girls from my senior high church Bible Study that I co-lead with Crystal Fricker met in Canby Oregon to assist at Saturday School which Claudine started for her struggling 3rd graders. After helping the students with school work and feeding them breakfast and lunch as they had not eaten that morning, we dropped them off at their apartments at about 1:30. Okay, we have so much in our comfortable lives, and sometimes we do not realize it until you see how others live.
One of the boys named Angel, what a sweetheart of a 9-year-old, so polite, lives in a small apartment with his mother who has health issues and cannot pick up the apartment. When you walk in the apartment, the blinds are all closed and it is dark in there and you have to straddle over clothes and shoes and food and toys and crackers all over the floor in every room, and Angel’s room had no sheets on the bed, which was two mattresses on the floor; his young mom has two other children who are younger and one is in diapers and she had run out of diapers.
Every room needs help, bless their heart, and we are going back tonight as a Bible study to assist in some small way. We only have about an hour plus, but with several of us we can get a lot done and bring her some hope. The mom said she is embarrassed to have us see her apartment but she is so overwhelmed. May we bring some light into her home and life.
Cornelia Seigneur
www.writermom.net

On Juno the movie

2008-04-20T18:10:00.001-07:00

RacheL and I watched the movie Juno last night. Some students of mine at George Fox have talked about it a lot this semester, but I was still skeptical. Another teenage pregnancy movie. No thanks. So, when I watched it last night I was surprised. It was fresh. It was funny. It was thought provoking. As Rachel said, it did not glorify anything. It did not preach anything. It just made you think. It did not have a perfect ending, though tears came to my eyes when Juno gave brith. There is something beautiful about birth, no matter how messy it is. I loved how Juno chose Life – after going to an abortion clinic which was creepy. The prolife person outside of the abortion clinic was human. A girl from Juno’s school. Again, they did not try to make her out to be a weirdo, like most of Hollywood does with anyone who is pro-life. A refreshing movie about a girl that did not fit into the norm and was fine with being different.
-Cornelia Seigneur
www.writermom.net

MOM PULLLED FOUR WAYS HAS A SINGLE ANSWER -REAL LIFE MOM COLUMN IN TODAY'S OREGONIAN NEWSPAPER

2008-04-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

REAL-LIFE MOM
Mom pulled four ways has a single solution
Thursday, April 10, 2008 SW WEEKLY OREGONIAN

Home from our traditional spring break trip to the beach, we decided to watch a movie after unpacking, and I once again found myself in a dilemma -- how to meet the desires of five kids at four ages.

Without being told I favor one over another.

Our 5-year-old, Augustin, was clamoring to watch "Cars," for, like, the 100th time, saying, "Because I'm sick and I get to choose." The twins, 10, wanted to watch "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. Ryan, our 16-year-old, who had seen "I Am Legend," asked for the Oscar-winning-but-violent "No Country for Old Men." And Rachel, my outdoorsy 18-year-old, was placing her vote for Sean Penn's "Into the Wild."

Whose movie do I pick? We have one good TV, and no one likes to watch movies downstairs; plus, I like to do things as a family. I do not want to look like I am playing favorites. It's always such a conundrum.

I struggle with making everyone happy all the time. I do not want to disappoint any of my children, and when I hear one of them announce I play favorites -- ouch!

It sounds like this: "Augustin is spoiled," and "You always give in to Ryan," and "The twins always get their way" and "Rachel never has to do chores."

While growing up, I also accused my parents of favoring my brother and sister. And I have proof -- I kept meticulous notes of my growing-up years.

One journal entry from seventh grade declared: "Mama always favors Martin. Can you believe she gives him the same amount of allowance she gives me and I do so much more work? He never does any work."

If my brother and sister had kept diaries, they'd have their own versions of our growing-up years. Good thing I was the writer.

My mom always wanted to be fair with us. Though she was an only child, she saw how favoritism in my dad's family affected my dad, one of five children.

Looking back, I do think she and my father were -- and still are -- fair. Ultimately, though, as my husband's parents would say, parenting is not about being fair. It's about meeting needs as they arise. And making each child feel loved.

Back on family movie night at the Seigneur house, there were just not enough TVs, or hours, to watch each of the movies my kids wanted to see at the same time. So, we watched Cars with Augustin first then Into the Wild, and the next day, Ryan's movie.

Without the little ones, who said it wasn't fair.

Cornelia Seigneur is a West Linn writer and mom of five children. Her column appears the second Thursday of each month. Visit her at www.writermom.net

Cheerleaders beat up fellow teen- One mom needs to rethink response

2008-04-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

I woke up to the news about the Orlando Florida cheerleaders who beat up another cheerleader for 30 minutes and posted the beatings on YouTube.

When questioned about it later they said, Oh, I guess we might miss cheerleading practice and, Oh, I guess we will not be going to the beach this weekend.

The girl they beat up has sustained hearing loss among other injuries. At the hospital where the victim was taken, her parents could hardly recognize her.

One of the girls’ moms, who was interviewed on the Today Show about the incident, said her daughter did not do the beating, but also did nothing to stop it, though the mom said her daughter warned the victim before hand. The mom’s initial response was that the incident was blown out of proportion, a comment which Matt Lauer of the Today Show did not let pass lightly.

Good thing. This mom should have been so sad that her daughter was involved in this horrific crime. Sure, she did not do the hitting, but to do nothing and watch, well what good is that. The mom finally did say her daughter should have called police.

This was very serious and no joke. And, that these girls posted it on YouTube tells you how they viewed it. They wanted to be famous. What comes next? A book deal?

The mother who was interviewed should not have downplayed the incident. That was almost as troubling as the incident itself. She should have been so ashamed of her daughter and her daughter’s friends and said so right from the beginning -- not only later when questioned more in depth by the interviewer.

There was note that the girl who was beat up had said some mean things previously to the other girls, and somehow that was reason enough for the beating, which the police called “animalistic behavior,"

No one deserves this kind of beating up. And, no parent should be defending their child who had any involvement in this whatsoever.

Cornelia Seigneur
www.writermom.net

BRINGING BACK SUNDAY FAMILY DINNERS

2008-03-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

REAL-LIFE MOM
Returning to Sunday family dinners
By Cornelia Seigneur
Thursday, March 13, 2008 OREGONIAN SW WEEKLY
Last month my daughter, Rachel, and I traveled to San Francisco to apply for her German passport. We added to our weekend a visit with my college friend Meri Bartolomucci and her husband, Ray Bartolomucci, who live in the area.
When Rachel and I arrived on a Friday, Ray, a restaurateur, announced he would cook a Sunday family dinner for us and a few others.
The Bartolomuccis go to church Saturday nights, so Sunday began not with preparation for church but with prep for dinner. Meri and I returned from a morning run at 11:30 to the aroma of garlic, sausage and onions. Dinner would not be until 7.
Though Ray's back was injured, there he was preparing a multicourse meal. Meri said, "Sunday dinner is an all-day labor of love for Ray."
Said Ray, "I grew up with Sunday night dinners."
Meri, Rachel and I went off with one of the Bartolomucci children to tour -- and taste -- two of the restaurants Ray and Meri recently opened. Meanwhile, Ray continued preparing the meal, including boiling potatoes -- 10 pounds of potatoes, to be exact.
"Those are for homemade gnocchi," Ray explained on our return. He taught Rachel how to roll them out by hand.
As family and friends arrived, we found our spots at the table. After Ray's thanksgiving prayer, we began sharing our Sunday dinner. It felt like family.
The evening inspired me to want to begin our own Sunday dinners, a tradition my husband, Chris, grew up with.
After Chris and I met in college, he'd take me to his parents' Sunday dinners in their cozy Milwaukie home, a tradition he shared with his sisters. remember the winter dinners especially, with the wood stove burning and the smell of a roast simmering and potatoes bubbling. Chris' dad greeted us with a hug and we'd hear a warm "Welcome" from Chris' mom in the kitchen.
So, even before Chris and I married, I felt very much at home with his parents -- like family.
After Chris and I married, we could not always make the Sunday dinners. Then the kids and life got busier and the dinners stopped.

Chris and I have created other family traditions instead. But Meri and Ray's Sunday meal inspired me.
Upon my recent return from San Francisco I told Chris, "I think we should make Sunday dinners a tradition like your folks used to do. It's a great way to kick off the week, and the kids could invite their friends. It'll create lifelong memories, as you've had and Ray has."
Chris liked the idea. But he said, "Ray's shoes are hard to fill -- Ray owns restaurants. Plus, I like my Sunday naps."
"Well, I'll be the one cooking," I countered.
"But someone will have to clean," he reminded me.
I'll worry about that part when we get closer. For now, it's all about family.
Real Life Mom appears the second Thursday of the month.
Visit Cornelia Seigneur, a West Linn writer and mom of five, at her Web site: www.writermom.net

LET THE GIRL PLAY BALL!

2008-03-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

My daughter Rachel and I were in San Francisco last weekend to apply for Rachel’s German passport as well as visit my college friend Meri and her family who live in Pleasanton. During the weekend, Meri’s niece Hillary had a basketball game in the Oakland Coliseum Arena, which was a huge deal. Meri’s sister Teri –Hillary’s mom - invited family members to come watch, and they all came from as far away as two hours.
Hillary’s team creamed the opposing team by about 15 points, and usually Hillary gets substituted into game in the second quarter, but in this game, she was not allowed to play at all.
Zero. Zip. Not a minute, not two minutes, not 20 seconds. Nada. This was bad enough and then I found out that a couple of other girls, who were seniors, also did not get to play during this game, part of some championship series.
That is ridiculous. I mean, the team was ahead, way ahead, and being able to play in the Oakland Coliseum is a huge deal, an opportunity that comes along rarely – unless you are a professional athlete. What were those coaches thinking? Did they think that they would lose by letting members of their second string play? If they are on the team, they must be decent players.
Those coaches were missing the point of the game. Sure, it’s fun being on a winning team, but those girls who were not allowed to play will always remember that they missed this chance. Years later, it’s not about winning so much as it is about how you play the game, and it is just not fair to leave players on the bench the entire game – that is not a good way to play the game. If the coaches were worried about winning, they chould have substituted during the second or third quarters or figured some way to let all have that once-in-a-lifetime chance.
In the end, those coaches are taking the love of the game out of those girls who were not allowed to play. Sure, they celebrated, sure they were happy to win, but deep down, I am sure they were thinking and wondering, what is wrong with me? I am sure they felt out of it. I am sure they felt not a part of the team. Because playing makes you part of the team. Those coaches missed the point and did those girls wrong.
I say – Let the girl play ball!

-- Cornelia Seigneur
www.writermom.net

25 TIPS FOR FREELANCE WRITING - SPEAKING Feb 25 Oregon Writers Colony

2008-02-18T10:31:00.001-08:00

I will be presenting "25 Tips for Freelance Writing"
at the Oregon Writers Colony - OWC Presents! - Monday February 25, 2008 - 7 p.m.
at Powell's Books Store, located at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton Oregon - -
Address is: 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd - OWC events are free;
Visit www.oregonwriterscolony.org/owcpresents.htm for information.
These are fun events, low-key, last about an hour!

A SIMPLE HEART AND A BOLD PHONE CALL

2008-02-17T21:23:00.001-08:00

Chris Miles’ simple heart and a bold phone call

By Cornelia Seigneur

As the handful of homeless folks streams into God’s Living Room located for a week in the Back Room of the church, Chris Miles welcomes them as old time friends. He scurries about, making sure the lasagna made by Mauro is in place, the tables are ready, and the clothes are in order for those with need.
On this second day that Rolling Hills hosted God’s Living Room, the down-to-earth Chris feels comfortable calling this place home. It was his bold phone call that got the ball rolling just one day before.
It was a bone-chilling Monday at 3:45 with the wind chill factor dipping temperatures into the teens. Chris was worried about those with no place to call home, those who feel they don’t belong, those with hunger pains wondering where they will lay their heads for the night. Those with little hope.
Chris knows what it’s like to be in a place with no hope.
He was there the day he took a wrong turn, and ended up driving by Rolling Hills. So he thought, ‘I’m here, why not stop in and talk to someone?’
That someone was the pastor on call, Aaron Doerr. Chris wept while sharing his story. God was filling his empty heart with Christ’s hope.
After attending church, the men’s retreat and the singles Bible Study, God was becoming Chris’s new place of refuge.
But real life didn’t get miraculously better; Chris had little employment and he found himself in need, receiving food from the Tualatin Food Bank, run by Linda.
Linda shares: “Chris started helping me and I told him about the emergency shelter I wanted to do, but we just didn’t have staff to spend the night, and Chris was like, ‘I might be able to do that.’”
And he did. The emergency shelter was held at the Tualatin Methodist Church, with Rolling Hills volunteers. But -- only available on weekends.
With Monday morning’s record-breaking lows,
Chris just couldn’t think of leaving the homeless on the streets.
So he made that phone call to Faith: “Can we open up the church to the homeless this week?”
There was no program in place, no committee meetings, just a simple man with a simple heart, wanting to make God’s Living Room available.
Church members came, bringing community and food and overnight assistance. And the homeless came.
“I let them know they can come. I want this to be a place of refuge. We’ll take anybody as long as they are not rambunctious. I have had the same issues; I have had the drugs, the loneliness,” says Chris.
He bought food for God’s Living Room with the Fred Meyer Gift Card someone gave him for his personal use.
Chris talks about doing God’s work.
“I try to use my story to help others. I try to communicate that God can forgive you,” Chris shares, “and that He gives you hope.”
And a place of refuge from the cold.
Sometimes literally.
-----
Cornelia Seigneur’s website is: www.writermom.net - This story was originally published in the Service Folder of Rolling Hills Community Church to highlight community service. - Visit www.rollinghills.org

Love from a 4-year old on Valentine's Day- REAL LIFE MOM column in Oregonian

2008-02-15T00:37:00.000-08:00

Love from a 4-year-old on Valentine’s Day...REAL-LIFE MOM COLUMN

Real-Life Mom
By Cornelia Seigneur

Originally published 2-14-08 The Oregonian SW Weekly

Childhood - Their time together faces some changes with kindergarten looming T he phone rings and I can tell I will need to concentrate on this call, so I tiptoe into my bedroom and close the door. But I am discovered -- my littlest one, 4, follows me like a magnet and then my twins, 10, crash in as well, hopping onto my bed and laughing.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I let them bounce on my bed even though they should not and I slip out of my room, but all of a sudden jumping on my bed is not fun if I am not there. They follow me, ignoring glares that tell them Mom is in the middle of an important call and they should be quieter.

Later I talk to my husband about being followed everywhere I go. He teases, "You're so loved." I roll my eyes and smile, and he adds, "You always wanted shadows."

Our youngest will start kindergarten this fall. Registration forms are due now, and I am trying to figure out whether to put him in all-day or half-day. My husband wants us to register for half-day.

"He's so young. Keep him home with you longer," my husband says. He views Augustin as so sweet and innocent that he's not ready to hit the big world for so long.

Age 4 truly is precious, and I tell my little boy while tucking him in that I love him so much. I am enjoying this time, yet admit that like most moms, during certain moments I just don't want to be engulfed by the surround-sound of kids.

Augustin knows he is getting older -- he'll be 5 next month. He also knows that my heart is torn because he won't be my little baby anymore. He looks at me with his deep dark-brown eyes and says with giggles, "I'm getting bigger and bigger."

I tease him: "No, I won't let you get bigger. I am going to hold you down."

He says, "Well, my feet are getting bigger." I take his feet and squish them.

He says, "Well, my tummy is getting bigger," and I take his tummy and squeeze it.

It is our little song and dance.

I tell him to not turn 5 so quickly, and he says to me, "I have to -- I get my knife." A guy thing with his dad.

I think Augustin knows and feels, in his little, preschool way, how important he is to me. Kids need that. As parents, we want to communicate verbally and nonverbally to our children that they are the most important, most valued, most beautiful human beings in our lives. That no matter what happens -- friends leaving, friends changing, jobs changing -- Mom and Dad are there and they love you.

Even when they are trying to get away for a moment of peace on the telephone.

West Linn writer Cornelia Seigneur, a mother of five, can be reached at inaword@comcast.net

Father-son Create Faith-based super hero Book series

2008-02-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

This was originally published in The Oregonian newspaper on Feb. 7, 2008 in the SW Weekly section - a link is found at www.oregonlive.com

"Able to teach Christian lessons in a single bound"
Thursday, February 07, 2008CORNELIA SEIGNEUR

This is a true story.
Braden, 7, sees a customer drop a $20 bill at the West Linn Albertsons and, after picking it up, looks for the man.
The boy returns the money. It is the right thing to do and it is the very thing that a superhero would do.
Bingo.
A faith-based children’s series is born, with Braden as the real-life hero, Evan Jelic, a play on “evangelical,” as in evangelical Christian.
Braden’s father, John Curalli of West Linn, a marketing executive for a telecommunications consulting company, is co-writing the series with his second-grade son, believing it was divinely inspired.
“In my prayerful relationship that I have with God, this vision came to me for this book series, like a trumpet blaring when you get an idea, a firestorm of an idea, this concept. The name ‘Evan Jelic’ popped into my head,” Curalli said.
He is sending his seven-book series, based on Braden’s real-life experiences, to a publisher and a literary agent who have requested it, he said.
Curalli said the way he and his son write goes something like this:
“Braden tells me stories. He’ll say, ‘This is what happened to me today,’ and I say, ‘That would be a great story for the book.’ I observe and I begin to write, who says what and how it went and this is what happened, and he critiques it.”
The books, which are 12 to 25 pages each, are designed for parents to read to children ages 4 to 8 “as a tool to educate their children about their Christian faith,” Curalli said.
“I believe there is a need for parents to be able to install in their children three areas of Christianity — the armor of God, the fruit of the spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” said Curalli.
The first book, “Born Again,” sets the stage for the other six about the “armor of God,” Curalli said.
The premise is what he calls people’s “innate desire to achieve meaning and purpose in life.”
“We had this in the Garden of Eden and lost it when we fell,” he said. “For children, this desire manifests itself in a desire for superhero powers and adventures.”
In “Born Again,” Evan acknowledges this desire and tries to satisfy it by becoming “God’s superhero.”
The second book, “The Breastplate of Righteousness,” is based upon Braden’s experience at Albertsons.
“It’s about good character,” Curalli said. “The power of the breastplate is the ability to do what is right, no matter what the personal cost. Such as returning a $20 bill.”
In the end, good character is rewarded. Evan gets a cash reward and purchases his favorite candy, Laffy Taffy.
Father and son are field-testing the books.
“Braden’s best friend Ian Cruickshank has to keep these by his bed because he loves them so much,” Curalli said.
And for Halloween, Ian dressed up as Evan Jelic. “His mother went out and found a soldier costume,” said Curalli. Braden dressed up as Evan Jelic at a Harvest Party a year ago.
Said Braden, “Evan is very fun and I like the armor because my friends and I can play together and fight bad guys.”
And that’s also true.
For more information and to watch the progress of the book series, visit the website: www.evanjelic.info

Missing Harry

2008-02-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

After my second visit to the Happy Rock Cafe in Gladstone Oregon, Harry already knew me by name.

"Where's Augustin, Cornelia?" he asked.

On other occasions, he'd wonder, "What article are you writing right now, Cornelia?"

Always addressing me and every one else who entered Happy Rock Cafe by name was just Harry's style. It showed he cared. It showed his warmth.

Every time I'd walk into Happy Rock Cafe in Gladstone, there he was, playing Cribbage with the other guys. But Harry stood out. He had fishing stories and tales of his family in Gladstone and thoughts on life and questions as to how I was doing.

One time, he asked me more about my writing. I told him I write faith and inspiration stories for The Oregonian newspaper among other articles. The faith stories intrigued him -- one day I came in with my lap top to write and he was between cribbage games and told me to come join him on his table. He wanted to talk about the faith stories I wrote.

"Are you religious?" he asked and we talked about God and faith in Jesus Christ and I shared with him my personal journey coming to Christ in high school and Harry was honest. "I don't like people shoving religion down my throat." I believe in doing good and being kind to people and that he was.

Lately I have been very busy with my new teaching job and working on my book, so I have not gone as often to Happy Rock Cafe, and I happened to be there a day after Harry died and I found out he passed away from a heart attack the night before while taking his dog out at 11 at night and I was shocked. 62 years old.

Happy Rock Cafe will never be the same.

GOD'S LIVING ROOM

2008-01-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Rolling Hills Community Church opened its doors to the homeless last night and will continue through Thursday night’s with the temperatures dipping into the teens. My daughter Rachel and son Wesley and I went over to the church to help and see what is going on tonight and we were absolutely amazed at how this has come together in just a day.
It started with Chris Miles, a Rolling Hills member, who had been organizing at another suburban church in Tualatin to provide a warm place for those without a home during last weekend’s cold, and he started thinking, “what about during the weekdays?” This week weather forecasters predicted record breaking cold temperatures and so he called Faith Carter yesterday at Rolling Hills and asked if something could be set up at Rolling Hills during the week as the other church in Tualatin was opening up its doors on the weekends. . .and Rolling Hills made it happen. Grass roots.
Mauro Cettina offered a big pan of his homemade lasagna and a meal was created. A family of three, including a 7-year-old boy, came by with the help of Bowls of Grace Ministry and two other homeless people were going to spend the night. Several church members were going to spend the night as well.
I spoke with Chris Miles and he calls this outreach God’s Living room. A warm place for friends and food and fellowship.
Someone asked him about last weekend’s numbers at the other church, which he helped coordinate, and he said on one night they had (only) one homeless person spend the night and someone said to him, “well, that is not many people, does that mean it was a failure? and Chris said – “No, not at all. If we help one person, it is a success.”
Jesus himself said he would leave the 99 sheep to search for the one that was lost. I think Chris Miles would agree.

Serving even when it is not "Required"

2008-01-20T12:50:00.001-08:00

It’s a January Sunday morning, Keenan Booher’s month off from his every-other month volunteer “Greeter” position at the church.
You’ve probably met him. He’s the tall gentleman, with wisps of a beard and dark brown eyes, who opens doors for folks at church. For both services.
And though this is his month off, there he is, at the front of the church entry near the high school ministry, warmly ushering folks into 11 a.m. church.
You really feel like he cares that you are here.
“Good morning ladies, how are you?” he says to a mother and daughter.
“Hey, dude, how’s it going?” he asks of a high school student coming for 11 O’clock Amplify.
On another church member he notices, “Those warm boots.”
“Good morning! Are you cold?” he asks playfully as a young gentleman, sans jacket, shivers by him.
Why, you might wonder, is Keenan greeting folks on this, his month off?
“There’s a need and I enjoy helping when I can,” he says cheerfully.
That is why he joined the youth ministry’s mission trip to Mississippi last summer and leads a Bridge Bible study on Monday nights for 11 th grade boys this school year.
And, precisely why he spent a weekend in December serving at 5 Rock Ranch, a retreat center that ministers to youth and families. He and his community group offered to be available for whatever work needed to be accomplished at the ranch.
During the day, the men installed new shower heads in the ranch’s 24-room hotel, and they mounted soap dispensers, replaced flooring, laid new plywood and put in an automatic towel rack in the bathroom.
The women helped clean the kitchen and assisted with other tasks.
In the evenings, they gathered around the fireplace, singing songs and sharing stories.
“They told us stories about how state organizations are locking up offenders and how their ministry is helping reach families and introducing people to Christ,” Keenan shared. “5 Rock Ranch wants to teach men how to mentor others to be a father to a young kid, to teach a boy to become a man, and to help young women.
Keenan came home from the working weekend at 5 Rock Ranch by 9 a.m. on that Sunday in December, just in time to be a Greeter at church.
It was his month on.
But, I have a feeling; he would have been there either way.

- Published in the service folder of today's 1-20-08 Rolling Hills Community Church

Serving even when it is not "Required"

2008-01-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

NEW BLOG FOR WEST LINN BOOK PROJECT

2008-01-19T17:30:00.001-08:00

Visit the website

www.westlinnbook.blogspot.com

for updates on the book!!

WEST LINN OREGON IS GOING NATIONAL

2008-01-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

My husband and I moved to the wonderful community of West Linn in 1989 when I was pregnant with our first child, Rachel, who was born in 1990. We bought a house on a creek in the Robinwood neighborhood and have been here ever since. We’ve had five children since moving to West Linn, with four of them currently attending West Linn schools. Rachel will graduate from West Linn High School with the class of 2008!

I love walking places here and meeting people in the neighborhood. We take strolls to parks and the local coffee shops and to visit friends, and we truly feel blessed to be part of this amazing community of people.

As a freelance journalist and columnist for The West Linn Tidings and the local section of The Oregonian since 1996, I have had the chance to share the stories of the classy people and neighborhoods and businesses and families and festivals and organizations and schools and churches in this wonderful area.

And, now, I have the privilege of continuing the story West Linn in book form. I have signed a contract with Arcadia Publishers, a national publisher of local history books, to pen Images of America: West Linn, and have started this blog to share more information. I would like to give as many people as possible the opportunity to be featured in this heirloom-like book, which will be published later this year.

Bravo! West Linn’s going national!

What a joy teaching College Students

2008-01-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

I am a teaching a communications course (Intro to Public Relations) at George Fox University this spring semester and it began this week. I love teaching college students. They are so open, so enthusiastic, so real, so down to earth, so wanting to learn. . . .

On the day I was meeting to interview for the open position last December, a student saw me looking at the directory at George Fox and he asked me if he could help me find a building. How nice is that?. . . What fun being around college students. . .

My dad taught for most of his career at the University of Portland. I loved being on campus then when he brought us to work for various functions.

It is a joy to be teaching the next generation. . .
~ Professor Cornelia Seigneur : )

www.writermom.net

www.myspace.com/corneliaseigneur
www.writermom5kids.blogspot.com

ABOUT THOSE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

2008-01-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

New Year’s resolutions –
Ø Walk in the morning before the kids are up, like I used to.
Ø Lose the 10 pounds I have talked about losing since my baby, who is 4, was born.
Ø Do my strength exercises.
Ø Read more to my kids
Ø Tuck them in more often.
Ø Make sure I always say “Gute Nacht, Read your Bible and say your prayers and I love you” every night to each of my five kids.
Ø Continue reading through the Bible this year from back to front, and actually get through it.
Ø Hang at the breakfast table and talk more without always having to go do something.
Ø Have more game nights.
Ø Have people over for dinner once a month-okay, every other month-okay, for dessert
Ø Keep bathroom cleaner in case people stop by unannounced for dinner or bagels after church
Ø Play more board games with my kids
Ø Make dinners in the morning for the evening so after school times are not so rushed.
Ø Write hand made notes
Ø Blog more often even if it is short
Ø Light candles at every dinner.
Ø Have tea every afternoon.
Ø Don't rush so much.
Ø Be on time - early - to places.
Ø Get a book published
Ø Write more.
Ø Send out more book proposals.
Ø Pray more, in the morning, before everyone is up
Ø serve hurting people more regularly
Ø Keep my office clean
Ø Keep my car cleaned
Ø Keep the sink emptied.
Ø keep the house cleaner and less cluttered
Ø Get rid of the clutter so it quits coming back.
Ø Finish more books that I have started
Ø Play the guitar again
Ø Take my 4-year-old to OMSI every week- okay, I’ll be happy every other week, okay, once a month
Ø Do another marathon this year, this time with my daughter
Ø Go to Europe – which means I have to save money, which means I have to work more or get take-out less
Ø Eat take-out less
Ø Not connect to the internet on Sundays
Ø Rest on Sundays
Ø Write homemade, snail mail cards to tell people I am thinking of them.
Ø See my parents more often
Ø See my in-laws more often
Ø See my friends more
Ø Get stressed less, Be calm more, Love God and others more.

Ø ~ Cornelia Seigneur aka Nellie aka WriterMom

Ø www.writermom.net

Ø www.myspace.com/corneliaseigneur
Ø www.writermom5kids.blogspot.com

It's back to school and schedules after a long relaxing Christmas Break. . .

2008-01-03T13:36:00.001-08:00

Why is going back on a rainy Thursday so hard? We’ve had two weeks off for Christmas vacation and there is something so very difficult about getting back into the swing of things after this long of a break.
It’s been so amazingly nice hanging with the kids during the day, planning spontaneous days of visiting my sister or going to OMSI. We’ve all been sleeping in and lounging at long breakfasts sipping coffee, sitting by the lights of the Christmas tree at night, playing board games — we discovered Taboo the word game that all seven of us can play.
We have had such a relaxed non-scheduled time with the kids that this morning was a shock getting back to making four lunches, scrambling to find backpacks and books and shoes and meeting work deadlines.
But, I tried to be upbeat and happy as I need to be as a mom. I shared with the kids that we wouldn’t appreciate vacations if we had them all the time. The hard work and schedules make us value having the time off.
Okay, back to work. . .

~ Cornelia Seigneur aka Nellie

www.writermom.net

www.myspace.com/corneliaseigneur
www.writermom5kids.blogspot.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR SNOW SHOE-ING ON MT. HOOD

2008-01-02T21:23:00.001-08:00

Augustin age 4 had on the cutest little snow shoes and he was such a trooper tromping up the hill at White River Canyon, kicking up snow behind him as I snow-shoed behind him. We could see the majestic white mountain as we show-shoed through the valley, sleds in tow. We stopped at various locations to sled before setting up our ”day camp” a bit farther up the hill. While the boys sledded down this amazingly steep hill that freaked me out mom-worry-wise, Rachel, 17, and I wanted to get a bit more of a workout in, so we continued on snow-shoeing for a while, talking while traipsing through the white wonderland. The day started later than we normally like when we go up to the mountain, but with New Year’s Eve the night before, we did not want to stress out leaving too early on New Year’s Day.
When Rachel and I got back to where the boys were sledding, they had just started eating their late lunch when Augustin began having a melt down talking about his cold feet. When you’re 4-years-old and have cold feet it is hard, so I said I would take him back to the car. My husband Chris thought that maybe he was just being tired and fussy, but I did not want to chance it. Ryan, 16, show-shoed back with me, helping carry his baby brother. I was grateful to have him with me.
When we got back to the car and I took off my 4-year-old’s boots, indeed, they were a bit damp and ice cold. We turned on the heat in the car and got him warmed up. We need to get him wool socks. What an adventure, a great way to end Christmas vacation. Together. As a family in the great outdoors of Oregon.

~ Cornelia Seigneur aka Nellie

www.writermom.net

www.myspace.com/corneliaseigneur
www.writermom5kids.blogspot.com

SEE WHAT BANNING ELECTRONICS CAN DO

2007-12-26T19:46:00.000-08:00

so, we took away the twins' DS and X-box [actually their brother's] and Nintendo and all else wired and for Christmas got them legos--- Starwars Legos, a 1326 piece lego set...and for 12 hours straight, pretty much without interuption,[ we had to force feed them dinner at grandma's last night] they have been racing to finish the set...and they did it at 1 am last night. . .how sweet, to see my 10 year old twin boys build this amazing set. . . what an accomplishment, something I do not have the patience for . . . When I told them I am proud of them for putting together this amazing ship with 1300 pieces, they corrected me, "1326 pieces Mom"- : )

Cornelia Seigneur
www.writermom.net
www.myspace.com/corneliaseigneur
www.writermom5kids.blogspot.com

A WHITE CHRISTMAS IN OREGON!

2007-12-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

it's snowing...for a very merry Christmas . . . umbelievable - to have snow on Christmas in Portland Oregon...and it's sticking...while my kids were opening up their presents...and it keeps on snowing...so far about 1 inch which is a lot for Oregon...!