January snow

The Bean got his first sled last year around Christmas time from our landlady, Blanche (Bean calls her "Anche"). Last weekend we finally (the word finally is a total joke, I have been loving every day without snow. I guess I need to invest in some cross country skis again. Because snow does NOT make running more fun) got the chance to use it. The little man took to the snow like a fish to water. It made me hate winter 5% less.

It was actually pretty fun pulling him around on that little sled, we just got into trouble when he wanted me to ride with him. Mama's butt and that sled were not meant to be together. Needless to say it was an awkward ride down the hill.

*No, Jeff hasn't taken a second job as a crossing guard, he is about to leave for a run.

Forgiveness

Lately, I've been learning a lot about forgiveness. I would say it's on my mind a lot. I don't think I've ever understood truly what forgiveness was as much as I do now, and I know there is more to learn. Along with learning what forgiveness is I've had to learn what forgiveness is not. I have to thank a good friend who knows a lot more than me about these things for helping me with both parts of that equation. I've also learned a great deal from a great book I've been reading. I found this summary of some things that are often mistaken for forgiveness that I found especially helpful:

"You do not have to forget after you forgive; you may, but your forgiving can be sincere even if you remember.

You do not excuse people by forgiving them; you forgive them at all only because you hold them to account and refuse to excuse them.

You do not forgive people by smothering conflict; if you forever smother people's differences, you rob them of a chance to forgive. [and I would add, to be forgiven]

You do not forgive people merely by accepting them; you forgive people who have done something to you that is unacceptable.

You do not have to tolerate what people do when you forgive them for doing it; you may forgive people, but still refuse to tolerate what they have done. [or what they are doing]"

- pg. 49 Forgive and Forget; Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve by Lewis Smedes

I will probably post more about what forgiveness is in later posts, but what I've learned so far can be summed up in a few bullet points:

-Forgiveness is a process. Part of that process is allowing myself to feel the full weight of the pain inflicted on me by the person I seek to forgive.

-I can't impose a timeline on forgiveness.

-Forgiveness is for the forgiver first and the perpetrator second.

-I can forgive even if I don't want to re-establish contact with that person.

-God loves me, He is patient with me.

-Being hurt is terrible and inexcusable. But I can learn and grow from my pain and become a better, wiser person because of it.

-Forgiving doesn't mean I'm a doormat. Being a doormat doesn't mean I have forgiven.

-Forgiveness, real forgiveness, feels like the warmth of the sun on your heart.

So there it is. If you made it this far, if you read that whole thing, congratulations! If you were here I'd give you a cookie. And I'd even make it gluten free/vegan/lactose free if you asked me to. You're welcome.

Inspiration for the Bean

Yeah, my son totally sounds like this:

OK, so maybe not, but he was tearin' it up on the harmonica this morning. We watched this video and Bean was captivated. He clapped after it was over.

Bean has also has been working on his vocabulary. Here he is saying "dain" which is, of course "train".

I realized a few days ago that all that gibberish he's been saying is actually about 50-60% real words. It's like living with someone with a really thick accent that is trying to speak English.

For example: "Mamawasat?" means "Mama, what's that?" and "ooooohhhh, zabahebaduck!" means, "oooooh "That's a, help me see (lift me up) the truck!!". It's definitely a work in progress. Sometimes I feel like I get it, but sometimes he gets the polite "oh" in a sing-songy voice, because I have no idea what he's talking about. (Don't worry, if you've gotten that same response, it means totally the same thing). I don't know if he knows he's doing it, but sometimes when I'm talking to him, Bean will give a sing songy "oooh " in response. Love it.

Bean still maintains that he needs a working mess before he can begin any literary pursuits. I feel the same way.

Speaking of literary pursuits, we recently discovered a really funny, very silly book at the library called A Near Thing for Captain Najork. It reminded me of the silly sense of humor that runs in my family.

I believe the illustrator is the same man who did a lot of Roald Dahl's books. Man, I can't wait until my little guy is old enough to discover Roald Dahl!

Cello, you know you're number one

I feel guilty after posting about the upright bass. Cello, you know you're still number one. Here's a little cover of Guns and Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" by the cello duo Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser.

They are from Croatia. Everything sounds better with cello. If I could pay a cellist to follow me around and play, I would.

Ok, one more

This guy is so cool!

and one of his own compositions.

I love those instrumentalists who can imply multiple harmonies with a simple bassline. I know he has multi-tracks here, but the first opening bass ostinato? Love it. Nothing like a solid foundation on which to build upon.

Good morning! Happy Thursday!

I may have a stomach ache from some bad fudge, and a sore shoulder from not one, but two dislocations yesterday, but things are never that bad when you have this little guy to wake up to.

And for your viewing pleasure, this is the video we found today. We're moving on from the cello to the upright bass. His name is Adam Ben Ezra and he is from Tel Aviv.

and this one's for Kristin. I've never seen the show, but I really like the video!

What the Bean and I watched this morning

Ok, this interpretation of Bach's prelude to Cello Suite No. 1 may offend your purist sensibilities, but I am almost to the point that the cello can do no wrong. No, this song is not played the way Bach indended it, but since Bach was a teacher his entire life, I think he would have appreciated someone building on his work. I especially like the little "Ave Maria" quote in there since these unaccompanied cello suites were originally written just after Bach returned from Italy to find his beloved wife had taken ill and passed away in his absence. The cello suites are such a beautiful tribute. Anywho. I digress. Here's the cool song we found.