The DMM Summit is almost here! There are many topics running through my head and thus little time to build anticipation, but that’ll change when I’m on the plane bound southward.
Highlights: wearing sandals in February, visiting old friends, hiking in Tonto National, and the opportunity to start new friendships with those who seek movements in North America.
This page an incredible feat. Not only for its history and wit, but that it describes, in a way, itself.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/
Good progress so far. Have the first three chapters of Hebrews memorized, and starting on the first portion of the next. 🥳
Now that I have a good chunk in my cranium I’ll need more organization to keep from losing my place. Currently I’m seeing a strong relationship between the first two chapters, then 3:1-4:14.
I’ve also hit my January exercise goal. Started with a baseline of 10 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, 25 squats and 20 military presses. Today I did 15, 50, 40, and 30. Yes! 🙌🏻
Next month will be fewer repetitions, but two sets instead of one.
One of our favorite places to hike is the Flume Trail. We’ve been up to the tunnels on several occasions, but this this our first time when the river’s frozen over.
At this extreme latitude the sun makes a low arc over the horizon rather than an overhead crossing which produces hills brown on one half and white on the other. Magical.
Sometimes I’m exasperated with Graham because he‘ll fixate on his work and forget about bodily needs then have a meltdown when he becomes aware of himself again. Which is something I do on a weekly basis.
You get it from me Graham, you get it from me… #parenting
I attempted something unusual today.
I’ve been reading about Qi (pronounced ‘chi’) and pondering the breathing and movement principles in #qigong and #taiji. I’m so ignorant, but curiosity will cure that in time.
Anyways, so I (poorly) attempted to emulate forms I’ve seen in an act of both internal regulation and external worship. Now I wonder: what’s been written about #qi/#chi and Christian #worship?
This is all in service of developing personal spiritual disciplines for my season of life.
I’ve not had this degree of doubt about my capacity to keep to any habit for some time. But I’m convinced it’s crucial to find a way.
Nearing the end of January, #memorization is holding. Almost through Hebrews 3. #Exercise is spotty, but progress is still evident with only four tries (and I was sick for a bit). Unexpectedly, I may also add something from #Qigong/#Taiji. I’m having more success in part, I believe, because I’m working on #habits with at least one other.
I’m trying out the Arc browser today. I have some hesitancy about using another browser than Safari; what if I like it and it goes away? But experiencing new ways to explore the Web is worth it.
What intrigues me most is the note and easel integration. I think these, combined with split panes, could make research feel more fluid.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., Amie and I watched Descendant last night.
One of the unanswered questions about the horror of Clotilda’s theft of one-hundred and ten people from Africa to slavery in Mobile, Alabama in 1859 is the question of justice. How does one make right such a grevious wrong? There was no satisfactory answer.
Somehow the transfer of assets from the Meaher estate to his captives feels insufficient. I wonder if the insufficiency of financial restitution lies in the absence of purification? It may be true that restoration demands both justice and purification.
I’m registered for the DMM Summit!
https://newgenerations.givevirtuous.org/Event/dmm-summit---phoenix
We’re sick. Again.
It’s been a little while since we were all sick, but the time feels truncated. It’s probably because activity between is fast-paced then illness slows everything to a crawl.
The turmoil of fears and worries boils to the surface when we’re ill. It’s both insightful, since it reveals what hides beneath the surface, but distorted and amplified by fatigue.
My post from three years ago still holds true: https://alexbilson.dev/plants/parenting/a-parents-relationship-to-sickness/
Had a lovely conversation with Chris Boette today about digital gardens, note-gathering and note-taking, and parenting. I am freshly grateful for tools like Calendly that hold space in my calendar for unexpected conversation with total strangers.
We’ve both been impressed by Matt Webb and also too intimidated to schedule a call with him!
It was a rough night for our almost-three-year-old, Royal. Reason: undetermined. I don’t usually notice, but today he woke me at 4:00 a.m. It’s going to be a caffeine-drowned day. #parenting #coffee
Sometimes I have a vague sense of danger and unease about my life. Parenthood, work and friendship are all good, but their gravity pulls all my attention into their orbit. Be a better parent, make my next career move, form new friendships… it never stops.
But how often am I among the desperate? When do I rub shoulders with the outcast, or befriend the poor? My social and physical location seems a hundred miles from where I’d expect to find Jesus, and thus where I must be.
Yesterday was one of the most consistently fun days in recent memory.
It started with a miracle; the boys slept until 8:15! We had an easy breakfast, then headed to the premier sledding hill around 11:00.
We left for lunch well before any meltdown could happen (we were also well stocked on snacks) and went to Sheels to purchase Graham a pair of new gloves. Amie and I picked up Noodles & Co. and I enjoyed a brief chat with Tommy.
We drove around for a half-hour to let Royal take a nap, but he never fell asleep. And to my surprise, the boys were willing to go back to the sledding hill. So that’s exactly what we did.
Royal was really upset when some boys accidentally decapitated a snowman he’d helped build, so we built our own in the front yard.
We opened our Christmas packages from Memaw-campfire poles-and I built a fire to keep us warm and to grill hot dogs.
All of that would have made it a wonderful day, but then we also played a game of Terraforming Mars! 🥳
Realized afresh how fearful and necessary is vulnerability. I wish it’d get easier, but it might take more courage as I age.
Amie suggested a vulnerability goal this year. Gonna read Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly again for ideas.