Shalom

This past Sunday at church, my congregation welcomed a pastor who hailed from central city Chicago. (I have retained my lesson from college courses to avoid using the racist term "inner city.") His sermon stood out because it was delivered passionately, in a style that usually is reserved for orators from the Central City. He was talking about "Shalom."

Shalom, which means peace, which as far as we know, is something like the Hebrew "aloha."

But Brother Kenety was not going to allow us to walk out of church without learning about the word, and hearing it pounded into our conscience. Shalom, it turns out, means so much more than just "peace." It goes deeper, is richer, and has a longer life than "peace." Here are some words that better describe "Shalom": completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.


Shalom. Shalom. To those struggling with loss. To those seeking but not finding. Brother Kenety mentioned that people in his parish, some don't even know who their father is. Shalom. Shalom. 


Many years ago, I contacted my friend and told him that it was the National Day of Prayer, and asked him if he needed me to pray for him for anything. Nope, he couldn't think of anything. He was fine. 


Shalom. Shalom for those who can't think of anything that is pressing, pulling, testing them. 


And then, Shalom for my home. Stretched and pulled and tested. 


Shalom to my sister Heidi. She lands in China tomorrow to begin a two week stay that ends, God-willing, with her returning with a little baby girl. Shalom, Heidi and Anna. May we all find it and seek it and hear it. Let it fill our homes.

Well, That Worked

I left this domain to go start a new blogging experience at Batiansila.com. It didn't go well. I wrote probably one meaningful post, and then lost every post I'd written on the new domain.

In the meantime, a year and a half has transpired since anything has been written here. It might be time to get this going again.

Braelyn Vogues

This weekend marks a confluence of crazy events: this is the Sunday closest to Dad's birthday, so for years, we've gone home to go sing in Church. In the old days, that meant practicing a half hour before Church and then sprinting across the parking lot driveway to the balcony at St. Paul's, making eye contact with Jean Doell that we were indeed going to sing something, and then waiting until Dad would look up from reading in the lectern to see that his children were standing at the ready to sing.

It has always sounded good, though, without fail. Always. And now, the only thing that's the same is the people singing - and even they aren't the same. We're all obscenely old - older than our parents were when we started considering them old. We plan on singing at Mom's church, shepherded by the Sainted-By-Christa Pete Speckhard. And...we have no idea when we'll practice or what we're singing. Ok, so not everything is different.

At the same time, my Isabel has returned to Wisconsin. Izzi was down in Fayetteville, NC with her husband, Andrew and it turns out he's almost done with this three year enlistment. Instead of completely leaving the Army, Andrew was able to find a very appealing job (by that, we mean "a position that likely exists only because the armed forces are a huge bureaucracy and didn't realize they probably don't need the position) in the reserves, and figures that's the route God has for him.

Oh, and by the way - BT Dubbers - Izzi's daughter Braelyn came home. Braelyn is six months old, super alert, beautiful, and is the little girl I've missed holding for a few years. Braelyn spent a good amount of time yesterday trying to determine who Teia is and why she looks like her mom and if indeed Teia is her mom.

AND, Heidi and Phil will be home. It's the first time I've seen Phil since we were all praying for him last year....and the last time we'll see their family before they adopt their little girl, Anna.

Anna Will Soon Call Minnesota "Home."

I won't let the fact that Anna and Braelyn - Anna being Braelyn's aunt - will play together for a good part of their lives blow my mind. I won't. I won't.

I won't.

..in which Heidi enters the whole interweb www world.

Teia had an amazing conversation with techgeek/social media expert Heidi on Facebook Chat last night. Here's the transcript of their talk (I am not making this up) (the thought of someone writing down emoticons is awesome):

TEIA: aunt heidi! HI!

11:03pm Heidi: T - Did you hear that big thud about 7 minutes ago from MN ? It was me making the big leap into the tech world with my Ipod. I bought my 1st song from i-tunes and synced this with my ipod. This was my first song on my ipod. "Everlasting God" Yeah! I am on a roll now:)

11:03pm Teia :haha that's awesome!

11:05pm Heidi :I am so excited! I was given this ipod from Phil a while ago and I finally got it out and started to work with it.

11:05pm Teia: that's awesome! they're fun to play with once you understand what's going on with them. :):) it took me a while too.

11:06pm Heidi: How didi you make that smiley icon?

11:06pm Teia: a smiley face... : + ) = :):)

11:07pm Heidi: :+)=

11:08pm Teia: ....just do the colon and the end parentheses

11:08pm Heidi: :):)

11:08pm Teia: there you go. :):)

11:09pm Heidi: sweet!! it worked, 2 successes in a day:)

11:09pm Teia: awesome. there's all sorts of smileys.. ;);) :P:P haha

11:09pm Heidi: How do you do them?

11:10pm Teia: semicolon and end parentheses for the wink face. colon and capital p for the tongue one

11:11pm Heidi: i just wrote those down so I wouldn't forget

11:11pmTeia: haha awesome

Sunday Visitors

Heidi and Phil came to church and then spent a sunny Sunday at the Lakehouse. It was wonderful to see my big brother and sister.

Phil and I took the canoe out to tour the lake. As we made it around the bend in the middle of the lake, my paddle snapped in half. So using my splintered paddle, into the wind, we gunned it back to shore. I'm familiar with paddling with something less than a full-sized paddle. Splintered, even.

Happy Birthday, Heidi!

Heidi is the second oldest Batiansila kid. She's a wonderful mom of two boys, a loving wife and a great Christian witness. The Batiansila News Service is unsure of Heidi's age, but it's pretty old. Maybe 50.

Up Close & Personal With....Phil!

Phil is Heidi's husband, father of two, and a fellow on the Batiansila Leadership Council. Phil drove into our lives almost 30 years ago with a full head of leading-man hair and a real mean machine, his Cutlass Salon. Phil turned approximately 48 on December 21st.

Greg was 12 at the time and was taken aback by Phil's coolness (Heidi, Greg's frigid and controlling older sister, had turned into fawning Silly Putty at the sound of his voice) his feats of strength (lifting all the weights Grandpa Du had out on the carport and ASKING IF WE HAD MORE) and his goodness. He took Greg to see a movie and BOUGHT A LARGE POPCORN. This is a feat unparalleled in Greg's childhood.

BNS finally had a chance to pin Phil down for an email interview.

2.Tell everyone how you met Bruce Springsteen!

Bruce and I go way back-saw him in concert in 1981 at the brand new Rosemont Horizon in Chicago - 11th row. (to read more, click here)

Heidi: Dancer, Communicator

The following was sent to the little-used BNS email address on Saturday:

The "Christmas Window" opens tomorrow night, with performances tomorrow, 2 on Saturday, 1 on Sunday and next weekend as well.

This was sent last week to your avicom address but could not be delivered due to content. We are half way thru with many, many positive comments. What a blessing to be part of this. hid

There's lots to talk about here. Heidi mentioned that this performance contains Cirque de Soleil performers and a rendition of Disney's "Be Our Guest." Something tells me Carl Bornemann might have passed on this one.

In addition, what kind of emails is HKBD sending that are getting rejected due to content? What kind of salacious comments or crude words is she writing? We'll never know.

The Golden Compass

Heidi sent me the enclosed based on a previous post. I've addressed it in this week's sidebar - the "Greg's Thoughts" thing to your right.

>> Alert: Golden Compass "children's" movie Importance: High
>>
>> THE GOLDEN COMPASS, a new movie targeted at children, will be
>> released December 7, 2007. This movie is based on a the first book of
>> a trilogy by atheist Philip Pullman. In the final book a boy and girl
>> kill God so they can do as they please. Pullman left little doubt
>> about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "My books
>> are about killing God."
>>
>> The movie is a watered down version of the first book and is designed
>> to be very attractive in the hope unsuspecting parents will take
>> their children to see the the movie and that the children will want
>> the books for Christmas.
>>
>> The movie has a well known cast, including Nicole Kidman, Kevin
>> Bacon, and Sam Elliott. It will probably be advertised extensively,
>> so it is crucial that we get the word out to warn parents to avoid
>> this movie.

CATCH UP 3: Happy Birthday Abi and Graham!

Abi and Graham turned a year older this week. I'm not sure of their ages, but I'm sure when their respective parents see this entry, and see how old these pictures are, we'll get this all worked out.

Target's Fresh Face Is Familiar: Our Model Cuz

Graham is throwing frisbees on Target's website.

Graham is Heidi's second kid. Heidi and Phil live in the Twin Cities area with their two boys. Heidi is Bat and Christa's second kid. Heidi and Phil have two houses.

This is getting weird.

OUR FIRST COMMENT! PROGRESS!

Tari wrote a comment on one of the below entries about Heidi. I'll let you find it and read it. What happened there, folks, is that someone read an entry, then commented on it, and now their comments are available for all to see. That's the cool thing about a BLOG. It's interactive.

How to comment:
1. click "comment."
2. write a comment in the box provided.
3. choose how you want to be identified. you can choose anonymous, or you can write who you are. you can even provide a link back to your site! incredible.

So comment away! let the commenting begin! Ready, GO!

JOOOY: Mystery Solved

Heidi just sent in this simple email: "

From: "One Silent Night" - JOY by Cindy Morgan, Published by Word, Copyright 2000

"
If you'd like to listen to it...to see how close Heidi was...I'm enclosing a pirated copy of "JOOOOYY."

I'm also going to include, at no additional cost to you, a link to the CD from Amazon.com.

JOOYY!

Heidi called me on Saturday. I'm walking through the store and she asked me if I knew a Christmas song...it goes "Jooooyy.....".

Don't ask me to replicate what she sang. It didn't matter. "JOOOOYYY..."

So, if you know the song, let me know. I couldn't get it.

Turns out Heidi is considering trying out for a play, and was trying to locate the song. I'm not sure if it's called "Jooooyy..." or if that's the chorus. Heidi's still on the fence about trying out for the play...I'll keep you posted.

Isabel and Selah tried out and received parts in High School Musical. Izzi is in the Jocks and an extra audition person (where she gets to try out however she wants) (I know that if you don't know anything about High School Musical, that meant nothing) and Selah is a cheerleader!

OOH! And Teia and Isabel's choir was chosen from many entrants to sing with the Milwaukee Symphony in November. They will be performing, among other pieces, "Messiah." And perhaps, "Joooyy."