Making the Season Bright

Colores que hacen brillar la estación,
Sacramento, California, dicembre 2009

'Tis the Season

Sacramento, California, diciembre 2009

Some Jolly Elves just before their Junior High group's adventure/party, ""Who Killed Santa? "

Unos Enanos Risuenos antes de una reunion juvenil, una fiesta/adventura de "Quien Le Mato a Santa?"

Bienvenido a Nuestro Mundo

Welcome to our World
Tears are falling
Hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child
Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world.
Chris Rice -

La Amabilidad de una Vecina

Sacramento, California, December 2009

The afternoon was dreary. Rain drops slowly dripped from around the house and cold seeped into the walls. I considered making a fire in the wood-burning stove, but had so many things to do that I just bundled up with a blanket and sat reading, grading papers and musing a bit when someone knocked at the door and I opened it to my neighbor's smiling face, a warm, "just out of the oven" loaf of her Holiday Banana Bread (with butterscotch chips and nuts,) and a lovely scented candle called Warm Vanilla Sugar. What holiday cheer she brought!

Lutero y Yo

Bruselas/Brussels - 2009

Acabo de ver la película, Luther, después de estudiar durante toda la semana con mi hijo menor. A Martin Lutero y el impacto de su vida (histórica y espiritualmente) . Con mi consejera personal, como en la película Lutero, el tema que más tratamos y el más reciente es la hipocresia. Lutero la combatía dentro de La Iglesia. Yo la he batallado dentro de mi matrimonio. Buscaba una solución tranquila, con muchísima oración y sufrimiento durante muchos años. Durante los ultimos dos años me he atrevido hablar del abuso en casa y he luchado por la honradez y reforma en nuestro hogar. Ha sido infructuoso, en vano. Por eso, yo sufría mucho con Lutero durante este estudio y viendo la película cuando disputaba con el Diablo en soledad penosa. Clamó por la ayuda y misericordia de Dios. Entendía completamente la necesidad por el cambio y sin embargo comprendía las ramificaciones serias por lo veraz. De todas formas, no tomar ninguna decision sería inconcebible, deshonrado, imposible. Y como Lutero, quien murió de problemas intestinales al ver La Iglesia tan rajada, rasgada, me siento destripada por el divorcio.

I just finished watching Luther, after reading about the impact of his life, historically and spiritually, all week with youngest son, 12. In personal counseling, like in the film Luther, the greatest and most recent reoccurring theme is hypocrisy. Luther grappled with it in The Church - I within my marriage. With prayer and long suffering I searched for a solution for many years. Finally, during the last two I began to speak out and fought for honesty and reform in our home. It has been fruitless, in vain.
So, I suffered watching Luther tonight as he wrangled with the devil in painful solitude. He cried out to God for help and mercy. He fully understood the need for change and yet he knew that there would be serious ramifications for being truthful. Nonetheless, compromising his conscience was inconceivable, unethical, and impossible. And like Luther who died of intestinal problems as he experienced The Church torn apart, I, too, feel disemboweled by divorce.

Solitude

La soledad es el precio de la libertad - Carmen Diez de Rivera

Tower Theatre

Tower_Theatre, a thrill of a place to slip out to for a late night film. There I've viewed some of my favorites, foreign flicks like those by Almodovar, or others reverberating with social dilemma. My oldest and I took in An Education and created a forum for much discussion about deceptiveness and common foibles that lead to entrapment. A month passed and again we're off to see Precious, the story of an illiterate, abused girl who learns to triumph in the face of total adversity. We can learn so much from the experiences and trials of others, in sharing meaningful film.
El Tower Theatre, una gozada de lugar adonde escabullirse para ver una pelicula a ultima hora de la noche. Alli he visto algunas de mis favoritas, extranjeras como las de Almodovar u otras tocando algun dilema social. Mi hija mayor y yo vimos An Education, que nos dio bastante para debatir. Los temas en An Education bailaban con el engano y los errores y frustraciones que conducen al atrapamiento. Ha pasado un mes y vamos de nuevo, esta vez para ver Precioso, la historia real de una chica analfabeta, que fue abusada y la cual aprende a triunfar frente a la adversidad total. Podemos aprender muchisimo cuando compartimos las experiencias y dificultades de otros, cuando compartimos peliculas significativas