Thinking

I was home sick from church a few weeks ago and when I got Reuben down for a nap I decided to check out the new Gospel Principles book to see what I was missing out on in Sunday School. As I read through the lesson I decided I really like the new Gospel Principles book.

I like it because it starts at the beginning. It doesn't assume or expect a large background. It doesn't feed a bunch of answers and prompt regurgitation. It's a basic, lets see where we are at and talk about what we believe sort of book.

Page 1, Question 1 - the very opening of the lesson- asks What are some things that testify to you that there is a God? I have mentioned before that I LOVE a good question and I would have loved to hear people's answers to this question. Just what makes you believe there IS a God?

I mean, I believe in God, a very particular God. And I have my reasons. But I don't expect them to be the same reasons as anybody else. Because my belief in God is related to personal experiences I have had. In a way, I believe in God to the same degree that I know God. And I know God through interactions I have had with Him. And as I have grown more familiar with God I feel like I have become better at recognizing Him and His influence.

I occasionally have times, usually when I'm thinking or praying or maybe just remembering and then there's a recognition of God. And the God I know is mostly kind and very clarifying and enlightening and BIG. Big in way that I know I'm never seeing all of what He is or He is showing me.

Big sounds very simple, but comprehending God is like trying to take a picture of a mountain you are standing on. You can take a picture of the ground and that's the mountain but it will in no way communicate where you are at. You can take a picture of the geological structure of the rocks, which will explain the formation of the mountain but that won't give a complete image either. You can take a picture of the mountain peaks far about you to try to capture and communicate the grandeur but then even though you are ON the mountain, the mountain seems cold and remote. You can take a picture of the weather patterns or bird and animals adapted to the mountain's conditions to prove how all things are effected by the mountain's presence but that still fails to capture the actual totality of the mountain. The lense -in this scenario, my personal comprehension- is only so large so I can't perceive of all of what is. It takes a lot of pictures and a lot of piecing together, and that takes time.

And that's why what I know about God is mostly lots of little pieces but I'm certain about those little pieces and they create a knowledge in me that there is a God.

So all of this was kind of a tangent to get to what I've really been thinking about, which comes from the second lesson. But lets be honest, who reads long blog posts? Who has the time? This is long enough already.

So I'm going to post what my mind has been stewing over in the next day or two when I get the chance.

Fearsome Banana Cat

Reuben and I went to the Saluda Shoals Nature Center this morning. They had a saber tooth tiger skull on display since they lived in the area a couple thousand years ago. I lifted Reuben up so he could check it out. I pointed at the skull and trying to think of words he knew said "Lion. Roar." trying to communicate something of the fearsome beast the skull belonged to. Reuben examined it closely, touched the teeth, looked up at me skeptically and signed banana.

Missing Person Found

This weekend Aaron was able to find a cheap flight (111 round trip) and so we all got to hang out together as a family for about 40 hours. It was wonderful. We took a trip to the zoo.

Here's Reuben looking at the barn owls.

Here's Reuben saying where are the rabbits? They'd buried themselves into the hay.

Here's a picture of me and Reuben together - not taken by the computer! Proof Aaron was here. If only Reuben was smiling in this picture. Oh well.

Reuben lead the way. That boy doesn't slow down these days.

Reuben happy to be with his dad.

Here's Reuben and me taking in the psychedelic Amazon aquarium tanks. Not really. They keep the area humid so the lens of the camera fogged up.

Sacrificial Victim

Yesterday Reuben got a zhou zhou hamster for Christmas. (Because we've been in transit some of our Christmas presents are still finding their way to us. The situations has really prolonged the holiday magic) A zhou zhou is a small furred animal with buttons that can't bite, escape or die. It's the perfect toy. Reuben has been chasing it all day. I never would have thought of getting it for him but he loves it.

And it's pretty funny to watch and think, yah, if it was real it would have died right -ouch- now, and again and wow, again. Even though it is just a toy, I'm still trying to teach him to be nice to it so he can develop compassion towards living and seemingly living things. But in the meanwhile it's nice that he can have some harmless practice.

National Popcorn Day

Happy National Popcorn Day! I'm going to pop me some.

Mandatory Embroidery

I was reading the Brother's Karamazov and I came to a passage that I liked so much I want to learn to embroider so I can embroider it and have it always hanging in my house forever. And I plan to embroider it for every child I send to college to hang in plain view in their dorm room. It goes:

To this I must add that he was already to some extent a youth of our times - in other words, naturally honest, insisting on truth, seeking and believing in it and once believing, demanding instant commitment to it with all the strength of his soul and wanting to rush off and perform great deeds, sacrificing all, if necessary even life itself. Although unfortunately these youths do not understand that the sacrifice of life is in most cases perhaps the easiest of all sacrifices, and that to dedicate, for example, five or six years of their exuberant youth to HARD, PAINSTAKING STUDY and the acquisition of knowledge for the sole purpose of enhancing tenfold their inherent capacity to serve just that cherished truth, that great work which they are committed to accomplish- such a sacrifice as this remains almost completely beyond the capabilities of many of them.

I've got my work cut out for me. Dostoevsky sure enjoys a long sentence. Too bad Hemmingway doesn't offer more pearls of wisdom. He keeps his sentences snappy - perfect for embroidery. Such a sensitive guy.

Some Music For Your Night

I realized it has been a while since I've said anything about what I'm listening to these days.

I ADORE the song "Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm" by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. It's a great mix of sound, upbeat and droll. And it's kind of been my anthem for recent times. Here's the chorus:

Well hallelujah

Well hallelujah

And we're laughing through the fear that we'll never make the clear

Oh and you've never looked so dear, it's the end of our career

Some of their other songs are good listening, like "White Oleander" which has a pretty crazy music video featuring an animated unicorn (Robby). You can give a listen here.

I've also been trying out a band called the Bears. I like their songs "How To Live" and "When You're Away" I'm enjoying them but I'm not sure if they'll stand the test of time. You can try them out too if you like, here.

14+

So I've been slacking on the Reuben photos lately. The boy turned 14 months last week and is one sweet kid. At home he chatters away from the moment I get him out of his crib til he goes to sleep. I love that he's learned to stop crying and answer questions when I ask him What do you want? or Where is it? of Should we got Outside? That last one he responds to by running to the door and pounding on it til I set him free.

One of the funniest things he does is stand in front of the tv and chant ball, ball, ball til we turn on ESPN. We've tried other channels, like the ones with educational kid oriented shows, but he will continue to fuss til we put a game on. Once on he happily clambers into the nearest lap and cheers on the action. Last week my mom and Reuben had a little chat about not watching ball games on Sunday. Reuben didn't take the news very well. I had no idea these conflicts would start so early :)

Reuben has a demonic love of button pushing and an iron will so all of our electronics live in a constant state of fear these days. He eats like an elephant. He loves reading books and drawing and throwing anything he can lift. And he sleeps like a pro.

He has a passionate hatred of the vacuum cleaner and given half the chance will attack it for all he's worth whether it is on or off. I was vacuuming one day, to his great distress, and he figured out how to pull out the plug. When I looked over to see what happened, he had most triumphant look of glee I've ever seen. Since then, every time I get the vacuum out, he positions himself by the outlet at the ready. If I use another outlet he runs over and pops the plug out. If I try a high outlet, he's figured out how to pull on the cord to disconnect the plug. Every time he stops the vacuum he lets out a victory laugh - Bwa ha ha! It's pretty funny but kind of frustrating to be stymied by a one year old. The carpet is suffering. Sometimes that kid is too smart for his own good, but he's a ton of fun and I love spending time with him.

Aphis Lion

Today Dad Abby Reuben and I got to go to the Congaree Swamp. The highlight of the trip for me was when a ranger showed us an Aphis Lion. These creatures have specially evolved mouths that puncture the skin and suck out the blood, well, all the body fluids of their prey. They then drape the dead body of their victims on their back which camouflages their shape and helps them draw in more victims. The one we saw had dozens of dead draped over it. Thankfully these monsters are less than half an inch in size and mainly go after pesky aphids. So they're vicious in a helpful way - very cool.

Sorry there's no picture. I didn't bring a camera.

Because secretly I'm a 30 year old man who lives in a basement

I pre-ordered this little beauty "The Age of Reptiles #2" and today I got an email saying it's in the mail from the online shop Things From Another World. Woo-hoo! I can't wait to get it and enjoy some Pre-historic climate change fall out. You can see more of a preview here. It's really good. There are vicious giant crocodiles. And look at the cover, behind the compies taking out the brachiosaurus, see that little baby dinosaur on the left trying to get his mama dinosaur to wake up? Now that's drama.

Also, lately I've been enjoying this blog: Hands On Electronics. James Kelley, a freelance technology writer, is working through the projects in the Make book of Electronics. I really want to get that book. And I really want to learn to do the projects. I keep telling myself I will when I get a little extra time. So it's nice to have someone do the work and probably much better than I actually would so I can live vicariously. Thanks Mr. Kelley.

Meet the Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

I just finished William Kamkwamba's book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The books was amazing and what William Kamkwamba accomplished is even more incredible.

That's Mister Cummings to you!

I really like my home ward. One of the best things about it is it's kind of small which means you're actually needed. There's always a calling or two that is just waiting to be filled, real callings, not the ward bulletin decorator sort of calling. Which makes it so easy to help out and make a difference and people are always really glad when you show up because if you didn't who would teach the 8 year olds???

Lately I've been subbing a primary class which is hilarious. I worked hard to review what "we'd learned" our previous lesson, including what my name was. I gave them the hint that they could remember my name because I was so proud of them for COMING to church. They thought that was pretty funny and all of them were able to remember/guess my name so I was feeling pretty good.

Then a little later, a mom told me that her daughter really liked her new teacher "Mister Cummings." So note to self: Enunciate when teaching primary. The Mister was hilarious but probably deserved. Ask Aaron, I'm a chronic mumbler.

Harmless Flirtation

With Aaron gone, I've struck up a small flirtation with veganism. I doubt I'll ever do the vegan thing. I really like yogurt and baked goods and milk. But I've started toying with the idea and trying out some recipes. I like the idea of knowing how to make delicious vegetables which you have to learn to do if you're vegan, cause hey, that's all you've got.

And that's the thing about vegan and vegetarian cooking - you can't cheat. The food has to be good because if it isn't good, it's really really bad. Other food, all you do is add some meat and you have your flavor even if it's cooked lousy. Yuck.

I was reading some vegan propaganda, and it made the point that humans are hard wired to eat constantly which gets us into trouble these days since we've got so much calorie rich food around us all the time. But if you can teach yourself to eat vegetables and fruit, you don't have to always fight your body. You can eat and eat and eat and no harm done. Sounds like a good deal to me.

So while the cats away, the mice will play, meaning Reuben and I are enjoying our curried lentils.

Fair Weather Feet

I am ready for spring for a lot of reasons. Mainly it's because I only believe in winter in the hypothetical - it looks good on a christmas cards and holiday movies but you shouldn't have to actually live in it. Growing up in the South my exposure to winter was mainly through media. As I learned in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, once Father Christmas comes winter should END. Kill the white witch here and now and lets get back to natural bliss, partying with the dryads.

Another reason is because I don't like shoes. I love sandals and I feel a bit resentful when the weather turns in a way that makes sandal wearing unacceptable/unbearable. To combat this resentment I decided to try to find some shoes I wouldn't mind wearing. But shoes are uncomfortable things that tend to require other uncomfortable things like socks. My feet feel so smothered. Yuck. If anyone would like to assist me by recommending some comfortable shoes that will help me make it through the rest of the chilly weather I will be much obliged.

By the way, this little illustration is by the original illustrator of the series and one of my heroes, Pauline Baynes. I loved her work as a child and dreamed that one day I might be able to draw like her. She also did illustrations for the original Lord of the Rings and Watership Down. Awesomeness. She died in 2008. I hope when I get old I will look like she did. If you want to read some more about here you can go here.