Noble Currency

screen time

2011-12-29T19:06:00.000-08:00

In the absence of a television the iPad will do. The boys are settling into Chicago although they complain about the lack of places outside to run. So far we've done walks around the neighborhood, mainly to the bakery down the road and to the park a few blocks over. They're a little old for parks now though. It makes me sad. It's only when I put them into certain context that I understand just how quickly the childhood years move. Recently I realized how important it is for me to take time away from my own "screen time" and pay attention, look closer, listen well. It's hard to breakaway. It's a worthy break.

stormy weather...

2011-10-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

The promise usually happens after a storm. This time, it dropped down smack dab in the middle of it. Sunny clear skies to my right, grey angry skies to my left. Me, waiting there...in the middle as is my habit.

This is metaphor.

Perfect for my life, all the time.

Beautiful, even so.

no place like home...

2011-09-26T15:59:00.001-07:00

Sweet Home

Back in Chicago after all these years...it's strange that it's been 6 years since I last lived here. It feels like yesterday. It really does.

Dave and I were joking that we feel as though we never really did move away. It's as if we were on an extended, a very extended vacation all this time. I'm sure the brutal Chicago winter will jar us back to the real life. Until that time we're happily re-visiting old haunts, discovering new ones and connecting with the vast network of friends and family who stayed behind to hold a spot for us here.

We're grateful.

Grateful for our time in Nashville, the people who cared for us and held us when we were hurt, supported and loved us throughout the rough spots and the not so rough spots and generally allowed us to crash their tribe for a length of time. We're grateful that they made room for us Northerners.

And now we're grateful for this new chapter in a familiar place. Chicago is home and as the saying goes...there's no place like it....

stars align...

2011-08-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Househunting a year ago was brutal. Apartment hunting this year was horrid. Geez, Chicago has a LOT, I mean A LOT of condos that need inhabitants. Everybody and their brother and their uncle and their great aunt Clara must have bought a condo when the market was booming because theys a lotta empty space and it all has granite countertops and a balcony you can stick a grill on.

It's not us, though. We need a place that is temporary, we know that. We do want to buy a building there eventually and outfit it in our own style...loft like, creating space, workshop, space to run around...that's the dream anyway.

So the last day we were in Chicago and looking around I ran across this ad for a place and we found our way in. The moment we walked in we knew it was perfect.

Still keeping fingers crossed that it won't go away but hoping to hand over a deposit and a signed lease this week. October 1st, look for us in Chicago!

sweet home...

2011-07-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

After a great deal of thought and prayer and hemming and hawing I do believe we'll be traveling north this Fall...for permanent.

Dave's work is such that to be in Nashville makes no sense for us financially or health-wise. His travel is wacky and it's taking its toll on us all.

So, meeting with a property manager on Wednesday to see if there is any chance of renting our lovely East Nash city house. We'll continue to rent out Lyric Springs long distance and just rent the city house to one really responsible party...not partiers...eek. Then we'll pack our stuff and get up north to Chicago to see what Chicago has for us.

I'm not thinking about it much really. There's not much I can do yet because it's all still in the works but I know that when it happens it will happen fast...ish....or maybe not, who knows.

Starting to tell friends down here the plan and it's hard. I have so many sweet friendships going now, it's hard to leave them. I try not to dwell in it...

Will post again when the stars align and it all becomes real....

2011-06-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend at the Wild Goose Festival with the kids. This here is Dave going over the "ground rules" for the festival as it concerns the Carlson Clan. Directions included (but were not limited to):

-Keep your clothes on at all times

-No wandering off

-No guns (balloon guns are OK)

-No setting things on fire

-No foul language

We emerged pretty much unscathed save the bug bites and momentary meltdowns.

amen and amen.

three in a row..

2011-03-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

No television at City House...sounds unsustainable, I know...and downright "crunchy" huh?

Alas, we do still have a computer. It's on a timer but they've figured out how to pool their time to watch cartoons on the internets.
File under: creative things learnt during homeschool hours

:)

snow

2011-03-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

Okay fine...its not winter anymore.
Yet, in an effort to keep the ol family blog current for the great mass of folks who check here for the scoop on us I am posting the "significant" snow Nashville has gotten this winter.

The boys dug it, literally. We only wish we'd gotten out of the city to enjoy it.
meh.

porch sitting...

2010-10-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hanging out on the porch with a few of my lovelies. I love to look at this photo. So much love. :)

lifeboat...

2010-08-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, while we were looking up for the helicopters to arrive a lifeboat appeared on the horizon. It took a bloomin' long time to make it's way to our location but it did finally come alongside and pick us up.

We got the contract on the THIRD potential house which oddly enough is across the street from the "fixer upper" we tried first. Because it's a foreclosure we jumped through many a hoop and then were cleared to buy it, which is step 1. Step 2 was to get a loan. We're already a weirdly spotted animal where loans are concerned. We look good on paper but we have to submit a LOT of paper...there's an entire forest that has died in the attempt to house the Carlson clan.

We heard this past week that we were approved for the loan and then today we found out that we can, in fact, close on friday.
Lordy, has been a long trek.

So you are welcome to whoop and hollar all you like but let's not high five til friday, ok??

In the meantime, here's our new joint, on the eastside:

closed doors, open windows...

2010-06-28T15:45:00.001-07:00

After six months of looking we finally found a house to buy in East Nashville. Sad thing is that the bank did not like that house. It was, after all, a fixer upper but we didn't realize just how MUCH of a fixer upper it was apparently. The bank said "no, we like you but we hate your choice in house. sorry." So we went back to the drawing board and found ANOTHER house that we liked. This time the bank said in that deep, cavernous voice we assign only to God in the movies, "No, indeed...this house is 'income property' you must PAY MORE for it if you TRULY desire it!" But see, we don't have any more monies to pay out so we're not sure what to make of that situation.

Bleh.

We have one more stab at another company offering financing but we've been knocking at this East Nashville door so long our knuckles are downright bloody to be honest. We're tired. We're worn out. We're beaten down.

We need to stop pounding on these closed doors.

I wonder if this whole thing would be easier, better, smoother, more manageable...whatever....if we were already anchored someplace, already sure of what we were doing with our lives. We don't feel anchored. We feel adrift. It's hard to hope for a lifeboat when all we see is ocean.

All is not lost, friends. Don't worry. We do always find something to grab onto when we feel the downward pull of the water. We're not ruling out a helicopter coming from overhead any day now...

you never know...

now what?

2010-01-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Dear 2010
I know in advance you will be awesome. Even numbered years are just built for awesome, it's a well known fact.

Here are a few of the things I'd like you to bring me please:

1)peace on earth
2)goodwill toward all who cross my path (and most who do not)
3)things mystical and metaphorical
4)a sense of something bigger while I meander in the minutia
5)a victory against the sloth god I call procrastination

This is not a comprehensive list...and I'm certain I'll add to it as we get rolling.
Looking forward to working with you, 2010.

ang

meandering and meaning...

2009-12-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

We're living this wild nomadic life this last few months.

We got a call from someone to rent our house for the month of November. Problem is, we got this call on Oct 24th and they wanted to move in on Nov 1st. Another problem is Dave was out of town for most of the week between the call and the move in.
ack.

So we gave them a price for the month that made US giggle and high five and then then said, "yes" and we freaked...and then we made it happen. We are so awesome. It's true.

The month was spent hanging at an extended stay hotel for about 10 days followed by an extended vacay in Florida and a trip to visit Steve and Victoria in Chattanooga. We were pretty fried by the end of that month.

Then just to add insult to insanity we put it on a vacation rental web site to "see what happens." What happened is that we rented it again for a weekend (a week after moving back in) then again for 10 days over Christmas (while we were in Cincy and Chicago to visit familia.)

And now, we're completely untethered and a little shell shocked to be honest.

It will be good to get home and resettle...til the next big thing comes along.

overheard at my house...

2009-01-10T17:34:00.001-08:00

The conversation transcribed below is what it sounds like at my house in between the kids fighting...it's interactions like this that keep me from running away from home...seriously...

This one is between 11 yr old Riley and 8 yr old Chet overhead at my house today:

Riley: Chet...where you going to college you think?
Chet: I don't know..Oxford maybe.
Riley: you know Georgia Tech has a really good video game designer program
Chet: really? well, Georgia Tech it is!

Got some direction

2008-10-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's looking pretty clear that we're going to try to make it a go here in Nashville after the house sells. We've fallen in with a tribe of artists, Wise Women and New Adams and feel somehow that this is where we're meant to be, at least for now.

That being said, need strong strong prayers that the house will sell SOON! We're starting to feel quite a pinch from our overhead and cannot afford another house til this one is sold.

Dave did an awesome listing for it (we do have an agent though as well....)

check it out! pass it on! offer it up in prayer!

Lyric Springs

Writing "The Glass Factory"

2008-07-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm working on an album. I am. I've been writing it for the last few months. I have about 8 tunes ready to start fleshing out I think. I'd like to write 4 more in the next couple of months and end up with 10 recorded.

I'm calling the project "The Glass Factory" for a few reasons...sand being turned into glass, going from something that falls through our fingers into this transparent thing, the ability of magnification, easily broken, something which protects us from the elements but still allows seeing out and looking in....

I like the thought of it...

anyway, just wanted to put that out there. I have a demo of one of the tunes here. Be kind, it's still very rough and recorded straight into the laptop so there's that.

Even the Dog knows where he'll live next....

2008-07-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

For the last few months we've been walking this "I don't know where we're going next" thing with a few others...Dave's brother Steve and his beautiful wife, Victoria...our friends the Hansen's, our friends Dave and Kathy B.

The Hansens finally decided to go back to their homebase in CA...they seem really happy with their choice. It looks like a good one.

Steve and Victoria made a decision on Chattanooga, one of their "first" choices when they moved away from Chicago to Baltimore. They put in an offer on probably one of the cutest bungalows I've ever seen...ack, I love it. I kept thinkin, "where's my room, I'm coming to live with you guys..."

Dave and Kathy, I'm pretty sure decided to stay in Franklin. They seem really good about their choice as well.

Even Barney Fife, the dog-type who lives here knows where he's living next. A super nice homeschool family is coming to take him to Brandon, Florida at the end of July.

That leaves us.

It's particularly frustrating right now because Dave's travel is killing us all...but mostly it's physically killing Dave and that really really sucks. We can't make a change right now because the house has not sold. Even if we did sell the house we still don't know what the vision is for where we're going.

We know that if we go back to Chicago we can perhaps realize a dream of helping to plant a church with Life on the Vine, we can stay in contact with the extended community we spent 15 years building, we can reconnect with the artistic community there and see where that takes us and Dave can stop traveling so much.

And yet...
We are still drawn back to the community which is building here. The New Adam groups, the Wise Woman groups, the artists we're meeting, the tribe we think we may have found.

Do we pull up stakes and go to what feels familiar and certain?

Do we stay here and change our lives completely so that we can live without Dave's Chicago income? Is that realistic? Is it enough?

So, this is where we are again.

One moment it feels like a no brainer and then the "and yet" kicks in....

Eleven

2008-07-02T15:02:00.001-07:00

Our beautiful girl is 11 today...11, going on 30. I cannot believe how blessed I feel.

What's new?

2008-06-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well let's see....

a week ago, went to the ER with Miles. He told me he "ate some glass" although he said it with a great deal of pride and no tears or blood whatsoever. He had been playing with some of those sort of flat-ish marble like things people use in the bottom of vases and fish tanks for decoration. He is not usually one to "eat" stuff he finds around the house, so you know....that's where I was at with the whole thing.

I was not sure if I should believe he ate some glass until I saw some crushed pieces of said glass on the floor near to where he played that afternoon. Oy. Again, I say, Oy.

Took him to the ER. I'm very apologetic, hoping that no one points the accusatory finger at me and hollers, "Someone arrest that woman! She has no business being a MOTHER!"

I took some samples of what they looked like BEFORE the child's teeth came into contact with them and a couple of examples of what I found on the floor. So they do an Xray and find that he has eaten some glass, luckily it is still the intact version of the marbles and tell me to "keep a lookout for it" on the other end so to speak.

The best part is while waiting to see the doctor Miles kept everyone engaged by telling them about him being a "robot." Then he'd look at them and say, "You see dis?" pointing at a button on his shirt. "That's my technology...my robot technology!"

I love this kid....even when he eats glass. Maybe he can get a job with the circus one day and support me in my old age.

more and different and better and harder

2008-06-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

We're still unsure of our next move....except that we've discerned that we need a vision for where we go next. Baby steps. One thing at a time. It's hard to wait and be unsure.

But we're working on it, we really are.

In the meantime there is a fabulous community developing down here.. We are honored to be a witness and a beneficiary of it. We are thankful for the time we get with these people. It is tremendous now.

It seems like it's been a long time coming, finding our tribe. We still don't know if we've found them or if they exist. The search is honorable though. We think it is.

That's all the update I have to give right now. The kids are awesome. Riley is growing up too fast, I can't believe it. She's very eager to talk about puberty which, oh my gosh, I LOVE. I'm so happy we can talk and hopeful that the teen years will be...I don't know....bearable and fruitful and interesting, right?

Chet is looking for his voice, almost literally. Speech therapy is still ongoing with his pre-stuttering stuff happening. He's like me, the extroverted introvert, looking for his place in the real world, feeling safer in the inner realm. He's amazing, he is.

Henry is, of course, busy taking things apart and making statements that blow me away...he rocks.

Miles. Oy, I hope I live to tell the tale. He's going to be someone amazing when he grows up....if we can keep him safe that long. Again, I say, 'oy.'

more to come.....soon.....

Spa Night

2008-05-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Riley and I had a "spa night" a few weeks ago and I thought I'd post the pictures for those of you who don't do Facebook. It was a blast. She's quite a gal, that Riley.

The Move

2008-04-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

I don't have an update yet on our next move but I was thinking today that I'll call my next band, "The Move" because it seems like all I talk about. I'd rather have it refer to a band these days than to an actual packing my stuff and moving to another location "move."

We don't have any bites on the house. It's really frustrating because it kind of indicates to us that 1)the market for this TYPE and PRICE of house is worse than maybe we thought and 2)that the house may also be priced too high to sell.

This is scary on a couple of levels...the timing is whack. Dave has to move up to Chicago for August and September so it looks like we'll be renting a "corporate" apartment for him as we did 2 years ago and this translates to bucko bucks. We're also stll paying out a lotta cash on this mortgage...something we're really hoping to avoid next time we get a mortgage...HOWEVER...if we keep dropping to price and end up at bargain basement we won't be able to afford a decent down payment let alone our initial goal of avoiding a mortgage altogether.

Funny thing about plans....they really never pan out the way we expect.

On another note, I've put a pic of that lovable pup, Barney Fife up this week. Seems Dave has discovered that he is ALLERGIC to Mr Fife...sadly. We are considering what to do when we move, he's willing to get the shots but if anyone feels strongly 'bout giving a home to the Golden Doodle who is Barney...let me know.

I'll try to be more faithful in posting kid pix and family updates over here. I'm pulling back for the summer on the other three internet obsessions I have: facebook, myspace and even mrsmetaphor.com

Note that I did say "pulling back" and not "stopping." I am not an addict...I can quit ANYTIME....(yeah, right....DENIAL.)

Overheard at my house: Henry

2008-04-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

I thought this was great. At 5 1/2 Henry is becoming quite the "screenwriter" it seems. He hasn't actually WRITTEN anything because he can't quite write so much but his "pitch" ability is coming along wonderfully.

The other day Henry was telling me about the latest "movie" he's writing. I'm in the middle of cooking dinner or cleaning the kitchen or both. Something about a robot and a war and a robot war and this and that...and then he stops and says to me, "You know what the DVD menu is going to be?"

So I stop what I'm doing 'cause, you know...this is the good stuff...
"A robot head." says he.
"It's a robot head and then on one side there are all these knobs and they are part of his head and they're the menu for the DVD. Isn't that great?"
And I say, with much awe and great sincerity.
"yeah...that is great."

That's my Henry story today.

The Josiah Community

2008-03-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

We're seriously considering this as a possibility for our next move. It is exactly what we've been hoping for...

the Josiah Community

It's hard because I really have become attached to Nashville. I wish we could start something like this here in East Nash but all of Dave's work is in Chicago so it does sort of make the most sense for us to be there.

I will be happy to be back with familiar people...there is a lot of grace for us in Chicago. We are a little beat up by Franklin to be honest. It's not been a three year vacation, as much as we try to couch it that way sometimes.

As always, we'll keep you up to date. As Rosanna RosannaDanna would say, "it's always something."

Where the wind blows....

2008-02-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

We're still in the thick of it...trying to decide WHERE to move next. We've had a couple of lookers on the house but not a ton. We've just spent a good chunk of our savings on the landscaping finally this week, however. We hope that will help to get it sold.

The timing thing is interesting. The longer we are in this house the more sense it makes for us to stay til November 08. At that point we won't have to pay the prepayment penalty any longer on the mortgage and that saves us a stack of cash. On the other hand, Dave's work is heating up in Chicago. He's going to be basically living up there for three months at the end of the summer so we don't know how we can hold on through that.

It's like knowing there is a hurricane coming and trying to decide if it makes more sense to stay put and batten down the hatches or pull up tentstakes and get to high ground.

It should be an easier choice. We have every reason to go back to Chicago this summer. I think that if we go back for the summer we will not come back down to Nashville. We'll just stay in Chicago then. So, with Dave's work being there what keeps us HERE? We just don't know...maybe it's because the vision has been here. We are still hoping to catch the vision here.

One thing that comes to me over and over again is the thought that we have to bring VISION with us, wherever we go. We cannot hope that "vision" exists" outside of ourselves. We have to put it out there and then live it. It travels with us.

So, basically, our next step is to develope that vision for ourselves. Who are we? What do we want our lives to speak?

That's where we're at right now...and hopefully Dave and I will actually get some time in the same room soon to talk through some of this.

Go East....

2007-12-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

Lately we have become enamoured with an area of Nashville called "East Nashville." For you Chicagoans it reminds me quite a lot of Wicker Park about 10 years ago. It's an evolving place that seems to hold a diversity we have not encountered here in Franklin.

We are becoming more and more disenchanted with the country life...I'm driving every single day into Franklin for lessons and so on. I thought with homeschooling we'd be spending a lot more time hunkered down around the kitchen table or on the property raising chickens or planting a garden or something. We discovered this funny thing...we're not really "country" people. We're pretty convinced we're "city" people. Have I mentioned this already in a post...prolly...oh well.

At any rate, we've spent a couple of weekends exploring the East Nash scene and it feels like a homecoming to me...even though the first time we went there Dave locked the car keys in the Suburban while it was running. Ack. And then the second time we went there all of the kids were horribly cranky and it was cold and rainy outside. Alas, we did find Shelby Park which is very very cool. A lot like a secluded and smaller version of Chicago parks like Welles Park.

We're still wondering if it makes the most sense to just head back up north into the waiting arms of people who already love us and miss us. We love and miss you guys too...we just don't know that God has finished whatever the hell He is doing with us down here...seriously, we're confused, most of the time.

So, that being said...I'll leave you now. I promise I'll try to update more often...as always you can find me on www.mrsmetaphor.com and now facebook...yowza...like i need one more thing online, right?

Loft Dreaming

2007-11-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

A lot of you know that when Dave and I were married we lived in a loft in Chicago that was situated in the old Ludwig Drum Factory. This completely spoiled me for regular housing...just as Metanoia spoiled me for regular church. After that we moved to a larger loft on Wolcott...which was torn down about 2 years ago, can you believe that?? Ack!

Anywho...we've been hankerin (it's a southern thing) for a long time, a long long time to actually BUY a building like the one which housed our loft on Wolcott and turn it into work/live spaces for ourselves and if it was big enough...any of our friends who needed a place to live and work.

I can actually picture it in my head. It's all brick. Square and two stories. It is between 5000-8000 square feet and is loaded with windows. The roof is flat and there is a lot either behind it or on the side...which we will turn into a parking/yard thing.

It'd be nice to have an elevator but we can deal without it I think.

I just think this fits us...like homeschooling fit us...like homebirth fit us.

I know I'm just dreaming...still, it would be great to find the place and bring it all home....have aDoxaSoma studio there, Bucktown Pictures, The Wellspring...it would be great. So lifting that up in prayer...

Still no bites on the house but we expect it will take some time to sell. We're OK with that for now.

Love for Sale....

2007-10-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well, not "love" exactly, more like "house" for sale.

We listed the house about a week and a half ago. We're looking at different places, trying to figure out where our "people" might be hiding or which of our current "people" can convince us to move next door to them. Heaven knows we'd love to live next door to any one of you fine people ('cept maybe Tommy P....I dunno, Tom...I still can't get past the fear you'd instill some sort of weird Rush Limbaugh thing in my kids...ack)

In some ways it feels like we're back where we were 4 years ago but mostly it feels like the next step in the great wandering...a cloud by day and a column of fire by night. It helps to couch it that way so that we don't begin to think we're just flaky, you know?

I'll post more house/kid pics when I return from my Cincinnati visit this week. Heading to Chicago next week, people(weekend of October 19th). Hope to see as many of you as I can! Place your bids for the "Where should the Carlson's move next" auction.

Book 3: What brings you to Tennessee?

2007-09-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

We don't know.
That's the short answer anyway.

Lately Dave and I have been talking about that. How we never know how good we have it til we do not have it anymore!

Back around 2002 when Henry was busy being born we were feeling restless. We were feeling disconnected and unsettled. We loved Chicago (still do), we loved our friends (still do), we loved the midwest mindset (now we love it more than ever.) We were untethered though, we felt God stirring us up. I don't know how else to describe it frankly. I'd like to say that God dropped a neon sign in our yard one morning and we knew it was time to go but He didn't. He just stirred us up.

We knew we had to lay off Dave's office staff, we had to give up the loft office in Bucktown and bring him home to work. We needed to get some things back to "home." It started to become clear that we needed to sell the house. We loved our house and even dreamed about retiring in that house but it felt like it was time to let it go. About that time I got pregnant again and we spent all of Miles' gestation figuring out WHERE we were going next. We put the house on the market the spring after Miles showed up and a few things led us finally to settle on Tennessee.

A friend of ours was setting up an Artist Retreat Center down here. This has always been a dream of ours, to help mentor and support other Christian artists, especially those who wanted to really explore the elements of truth, beauty and goodness in their work and do so in an authentic way. We were excited to be a part of that and of the community that we would help to build around that. We had plans to also do a church plant in the area as well. We hoped that there were people here who wanted "more" than the average modern-ist church was offering.

We were glad, as well, that we already knew several people in the area. That helped to soften the blow a little. We were excited to get in to a rural location, away from the "close" quarters of the city, to get back to nature and see God's handiwork on a regular basis.

We've now been here almost 2 years. The friend with the retreat center idea has moved out of the immediate area, the "retreat center" property is up for sale (anyone have an extra 1.3million bucks they don't need?? we'd love to aquire the land! lol) The start up church has hit numerous snags in the process and has become a little stagnant, the community we were hoping to find has not yet shown itself and Dave has had more work in Chicago this year than he has for about the last 5 years. He spends more time in Chicago than here in TN.

So, we don't know. We DO know that we've finally realized one cool dream we've had, to start Initiation Weekends for Men and for Women. The men's weekend is called The New Adam and they are doing the third one in October. The women's weekend is called The Wise Woman and we are holding the first one November 9th which is a cool thing. If nothing else, maybe that is why God brought us here.

We remain His loyal servants in all of this...

more to come....much much more....I'll keep updating as often as I can!

Book 2: Are the kids in college yet?

2007-08-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Not yet...although some days it feels like Animal House over here. I'm just waiting for the mannequin to crash though an upstairs window onto the lawn outside.

If I were in the habit of actually WRITING a Christmas letter and ALSO sending it out....it would go something like this:

Riley is now 10. She calls herself a pre-teen although I dunno, I thought she had to wait til 12 for that but hey, I'm usually behind the times on things like this. Riley is starting the 5th grade here at home and has now been homeschooled longer than she was in daycare, preschool and kindergarten all together, which is kind of cool. She is an aspiring author and has already begun several books...several "series" books in fact, which is hysterical. She claims to have all the books already planned out in her head, as her hero, JK Rowling stated about the HP books. She has written many chapters to date, which I think she's sent out to some of you. I'll let you know when one becomes complete! She's already casting the movie versions in her head as well. Busy brain.

Chester is turning 7 in September. He is a computer nut and a crack up most of the time. He's starting 2nd grade at home and doing great so far! He taught himself to read last year which was cool but now he can read over my shoulder on the computer when I'm emailing which can be trouble. Chet is the most likable guy. We walk into a room with new kids in it and he's the first to go up to them, introduce himself and talk about whatever is on his mind. He's been drawing a lot lately and some of his sketches are really interesting so maybe I'll scan one soon and post that up here. He's also a cut up when the camera is out and this is the most "serious" picture I could find of him.

Henry just turned 5 in June. He is as cuddly as ever. He's very attached to Miles and still calls Miles "baby" e.g. "Here, baby...eat this broccoli" or "Come over here and sit by me, baby!" He likes to wrestle Miles though which is a little disconcerting but they both seem to survive. So, this is a boy thing, right? Henry is starting Kindergarten at home. He's very keen to read but I think it has something to do with playing on the computer more effectively...at least that's my suspicion.

Miles is turning 3 on Monday August 20th and he still bites. He's like the baby in the Series of Unfortunate Events books. He bites people and dogs and tables and whatever....I had always thought that kids who bite were just frustrated by their verbal skills but Miles is the most verbal three year old I know (remember how verbal Riley was at 3? Like that only he also bites..what??) Miles is an interesting guy even though he bites he still is outgoing and friendly. I always say it's a good thing he's cute because he also gets into EVERYTHING. ack.

In other news:
Riley, Chet, Henry and I all started taking TaeKwonDo about a month ago. It's HARD.
Riley takes voice lessons as well as violin
Chet just started taking guitar
Henry is looking sideways at the piano but says he'd rather play the drums
Miles just likes to get into everything..he's the one who found a black widow spider outside one day, good job Miles...oy vey.
Addendum:
We also have a dog,
Barney Fife and I nearly referred to myself as "mommy" in relation to him when speaking to him one day...

More to come....keep checking back!

Catching up...Book 1: The Move

2007-08-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, since it's been far too long since I checked in with a multitude of people I thought I'd start by detailing the major events of the last 2 years...I'm going to have to do this in installments so be patient.
hang on, here we go:

About 4 years ago we began to wonder what we were doing with our lives and felt a calling to move out of the rat race and into a more slow pace. For reasons that are still a little foggy, we decided to come to Franklin TN and hang out here at this awesome log home on 18 acres. Quite a switch from Chicago.

We really thought we were coming here to start an artist retreat center but things have not panned out the way we had anticipated...but that's a story for another day. For now, we are blessed to be here and to be meeting some very cool people. We are blessed to be able to homeschool the kids here and enjoy a lot of God's handiwork in the process.

We miss Chicago, a LOT! We miss the people there...we feel that we're still very much in search of who "our people" will be down here and frankly, it's been a struggle. So, that's something to hold in prayer for us if you would! We are part of a sort of start up church/gathering/conversation/thing called The Wellspring and as always we're excited about the possibilities of doing something that exemplifies Beauty, Truth and Goodness in the context of our faith. We hope that The Wellspring will embody that...time will tell.

In the meantime we're adjusting to the "southern" thang, again, a post for another day...

Begin Again

2007-07-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is my 3rd blog, including my Myspace page. I spend far too much time on my computer, I admit. It's just that this one, NOBLE CURRENCY, was my first blog and I can never throw things away it seems.

So, here I begin again. This blog is for the family and friends...this is the one which will have updates on the family, rants about how hard life is in the South, how much joy God has brought upon me moment after moment...all that.

I'll have more later, but I'm tired now and the dog is eating a piece of firewood on my rug which bugs me, a lot.

Continuity

2006-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

CONTINUITY
angela doll carlson

there
another moment

passed

with effort
unannounced

a moment
spent well

noble currency

a moment
with wings
with life

each breath
a pause
in motion

a beating heart

a universe
of it’s own

Garments of faith

2005-08-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

An old man was asked by a certain soldier if God received a penitent man. And after heartening him with many words, he said to him at the last, "Tell me, beloved, if thy cloak were torn, wouldst thou throw it away?" He said, "Nay, I would patch it and wear it." The old man said to him, "If thou wouldst spare thy garment, shall not God have mercy on His own image?"
-"The Desert Fathers" by Helen Waddell

I cannot remember the last time I patched a garment. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I repaired something at all. It's as though I have fully bought into the "toss away, buy anew" attitude of our country.

I was watching "Mary Poppins" with my children recently and as Mary set about darning a sock my 8 year old daughter looked at me and said, "What is she doing?" I responded that she was repairing a hole in the sock and she looked at me confused. "Why?" She asked. "She's repairing it so that she can wear it again, rather than buying a new pair." She was confounded. "Hmm." She said, "We never do that." She was right.

I don't often feel guilty about it. "Oh, things are made cheaper now" I reason to myself. There is a part of this that is true. We don't build things to last anymore. Everything is consumer-driven, made to wear out, so that we will buy more; and more often, as well.

This saying of the Desert Fathers presents me with a spiritual challenge to this thinking however. Imagine this same scene now, the Desert Father asks me that question and I would answer, "I would go to Target and buy another one."

I don't know yet what the old man would say to me at that point.

When I was growing up in Cincinnati Ohio I lived in a predominantly German Catholic area. You attended the church in the "parish" you were nearest. Your choice was limited to one or two different Catholic churches at best. In fact, most people did NOT choose their church. They simply went to the one they "belonged to" by nature of the location of their house. The only reason for changing churches was a housing relocation.

This idea of "shopping" for a church was new to me when I moved to Chicago stopped attending Catholic mass and began to explore the Evangelical Protestant church. Now my choices were beyond measure. Once I had a car my choices tripled! Each church had it's own set of marketing tools telling me why their church is better than this church or how much more "biblical" their preaching was compared to the heathens down the road. What I really wanted was community. I did not know it well enough to articulate it as such at the time, but that is what I wanted.

I suppose choice is a good thing overall. And yet, I cannot help but feel sad that the wisdom of the Desert Father has lost relevance to me. I am even sadder that it will be completely baffling to my children if I allow my thinking, and therefore my actions to remain as they are at present.

I have no answer for this. Only pondering...discernment...a stirring of the Holy Spirit in me to examine it further and a call to a change of heart and of hand.

Kids R (NOT) Us

2005-07-28T05:44:00.000-07:00

They come to visit for all the right reasons. "We were in the neighborhood so we thought we'd drop by" they'd say. The first thing they see is my naked 2 year old son running up to them covered in water from the sprinkler and dirt from the garden.
They stand there with frozen expressions that play at being a smile but actually hint more at shock and sheer terror.
Dual income, No kids. Childless by choice.

It doesn't occur to me in that moment that perhaps not everyone thinks it's OK for a small boy to run around his own backyard completely nude. "Wow...so there he is...." she stammers haltingly.
"Yes" I reply, "our little nudist." They try to act amused but I can tell they are uncomfortable now so I start searching for his clothes.

At this point my son decides to enter the conversation. "Who you?" he says pointing at them. "We're friends of your mom and da...." before they can finish he pipes in "I'm 2!" and squeals with joy. They laugh mildly. She leans forward stiffly toward him but not really far enough for him to notice. He is staring at her knees. "What's dat?" he asks. She bends over more to look. "What?"
"What's dat?" he says again. "A bug! A bug!!" he yells and runs away screaming.
She looks at her pants quickly. She's still looking while I attempt to put clothes on the still screaming boy. Now, however, he's screaming at the prospect of being clothed. "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!" he bellows. "No Pants!" and then runs away moaning.

I let him go. My friends shrug their shoulders at me. "Wow...he's got some lungs" the husband jokes lamely. "Yeah." I say, exasperated. I'm not frustrated with my son. I'm frustrated with them. I feel like my domain has been invaded. My usual way of doing business is compromised. Maybe I'm imagining the judgement mixed with pity emitting from their pained faces. I don't think so.

"We should go. We just were..."
"Yeah," I said, "in the neighborhood. Thanks for coming by."
They smile again. It looks like their faces might actually crack from the force of it.

Their bikes are parked just outside my gate so they spend just a moment getting ready to go before they leave. I hear their voices low and urgent. I cannot make out their words. I think I know what they're saying though.
As I look down the street after they've ridden away I think about the last bikeride I took with my husband. I had just found out I was pregnant with my first child, my daughter. I have pictures of the two of us on our bikes. We are tremendously happy.

As I scan my yard I see my daughter and my son running in the sprinkler and then breaking into peals of laughter together.
And I am tremendously happy.

Ebay

2005-07-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

The diningroom set didn't sell. I never really thought that it would but I was determined to try. It's not exactly my choice of furniture with it's dark, early american style veneer. It came from my mother in law's house and we took it because we didn't have a diningroom set. We took it because it meant a lot to her to see someone using it.

But now we're moving to Tennesee and we're "slimming down" our lifestyle. We can't fit it on the truck so we're selling it.

It's hard to let go of things that we have accumulated. I have determined that basically we don't have anything that anyone else really wants. If we did, it would sell on Ebay. I look at sidebar when I log into My Ebay and see that I've sold 1 item and there are 5 with no bids unscoring this is the number of unsold items listed just below. We just don't have anything that is valuable to someone other than us I suppose.

It's intruiging to think that these inanimate objects, full of stories when they reside in our home might become simply mute and utilitarian once they move to someone else's home. This is the table where my daughter ate her first birthday cake. This is the chair my boys pushed together for their fort. This is the cabinet where I hid my loose change and left over Halloween candy. It doesn't mean anything to the bidders on Ebay.

Thomasville Diningroom Set: China Hutch, Oval Table with 2 leaves that expand to 103", 8 chairs...$1200.
Frosting on the face of a 1 year old, Evenings around the table with dear friends, Fortress to young boys...Priceless.

30 Seconds

2005-07-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

These are the moments of transformation
Each one stunning and crisp
filled with excitement
and adventure

action packed
new and improved
more is more
satisfaction guaranteed

Life is brimming with
moments
waiting for my attention
panting with anticipation
for my eyes to register
and my brain to respond

my wallet to unfold

There is no shorage
in the world

of these opportunities

each one cut into
30 second
fragments