New Campus Under Construction

Percival Blakeney Academy is pleased to announce the relocation of its main campus from Hawaii to Japan. This could be part of a calculated effort to allow the staff and students to do a complete lap around the world (Germany to Hawaii to Japan). Or it could be an effort to provide over the top field trip opportunities while studying the Eastern Hemisphere (via Sonlight's Core 5). Or it could be a sick joke by the military to make my bookshelves fit into yet another new configuration.

Whatever it is, we are in the midst of unpacking and finding a place for our 495 inventoried items (most of them boxes of books). We have amused packers on one more continent with the shear number of books in our library (they should have seen the 2000 we put into storage). I'm trying to balance getting school done, getting unpacking done and avoiding becoming a hermit in our apartment.

We have a lovely view of Tokyo bay, from which we can watch ship traffic go in and out. I've also seen flocks of a local raptor (commonly called a seahawk) which soar just off of our balcony and narrowed the crows down to either Jungle Crow or Carrion Crow. We even ventured out into the local town to walk about and visit a 100 Yen Store (sort of like a dollar store, but with varieties of chopsticks, origami paper and Japanese snacks).

Blogging will be light for a couple weeks until I get into a routine here.

Taking Chance

Four years ago, Marine Private First Class Chance Phelps was killed in Iraq. Lieutenant Colonel Strobl was his escort from Dover, Delaware to his hometown in Wyoming. His account of the journey is a powerful piece of writing.

A movie based on his trip with PFC Phelps has been made into a movie, Taking Chance, which airs on HBO in February and will be available from Netflix. The trailer is here.

When we flew from Hawaii back to the mainland in October, the plane also carried the remains of a servicemember. It was pre-dawn and there was a driving rain when we arrived in Atlanta. But you could see the escort, a local honor guard, and a motorcycle veterans' group that were out there in the cold, wet darkness, rendering honors to this fallen warrior.

The plane was quiet while his escorts deplaned and went around to the cargo area to oversea his transfer. We were then allowed to deplane. But still many passengers lingered, some even moving up to windows in empty areas of the plane (where some of the flight crew had also gathered to watch). Inside the terminal, I saw several people pausing at the windows overlooking the tarmac until the convoy of cars and motorcycles drove out of sight.

One of my sons has thoughts of becoming a Marine aviator. I'm glad that he was able to see this part of the service. Not only that service is not without danger but that even in death, one is part of a fraternity.

Jesse Tree Ornaments Completed

I didn't have a chance to post the photos of my completed Jesse Tree ornaments during advent, so here they are. The final construction was black felt disks (I traced around and empty yogurt container) with felt designs stuck on using iron on interfacing (like Stich Witchery) that I cut to size. Then I added on beaded highlights. Finally I sealed the stiching and the hangers in by adding a green felt backing with more interfacing.

I learned a few lessons from this set. One is that it is pretty hard to sew seed beads onto felt in a perfectly straight line. Another is that felt does not have any weave, so heavy beading will put more of a strain on felt than on a woven fabric. I might have used smaller beads in the field of stars at upper right if I'd realized this earlier.

I like the heads of wheat for Ruth in the lower right, but I would do the stalks differently next time so that they show up better.

I used pieces of coral for the various bits of fire and blood. They had a nice irregular shape to them. I appologize for the next two images. They keep uploading sideways, even though they are the same orrientation as all the others on my computer.

You might be able to see the running stitch I did on Elijah's altar and the ram and scallop shell. This turned out better than I expected and gave a nice poof to the finished ornaments. I could have done this to the watchtower for a nice stone construction effect.

Finally, as I mentioned in one of the update posts, it really didn't take many beads to do this project. I could have gotten one mixed bag of seed beads (instead of several different color mixtures) and been fine. This is one area where doing a swap is a great help, since you only have to get the stuff for one type of ornament and you could set up a sort of assembly line.

I really enjoyed making these ornaments and I'm looking forward to hanging them in our new home in Japan next Christmas. Each ornament was an opportunity to dwell on God's promises to us, in spite of and because of our own personal failings. None of the events or people represented by these ornaments were perfect, except for Jesus. I am thinking of how I could make a similar set for Easter. I am also considering the idea of making another set of Jesse Tree ornaments for my brother-in-law's family. Making them over Lent would provide an excellent opportunity for meditating on God.

National Anthem Woes Solved

You know how you watch a big football game and you have to watch someone just slaughter the Star-Spangled Banner? The Orange Bowl has solved this problem by having jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval play instead. I've never heard of him before, but let's just say that he rocks. Way better than listening to a two-bit popstar.

Monastic Life at Home

Jennifer at Conversion Diary listed The Domestic Monastery at Life Issues as one of her favorite posts of 2008. This post by Ron Rolheiser contemplates the ability of those in the world to still set themselves apart and dwell on God. Here's a taste of what he's thinking of.

Hence, a mother raising children, perhaps in a more privileged way even than a professional contemplative, is forced, almost against her will, to constantly stretch her heart. For years, while raising children, her time is never her own, her own needs have to be kept in second place, and every time she turns around a hand is reaching out and demanding something. She hears the monastic bell many times during the day and she has to drop things in mid-sentence and respond, not because she wants to, but because it's time for that activity and time isn't her time, but God's time. The rest of us experience the monastic bell each morning when our alarm clock rings and we get out of bed and ready ourselves for the day, not because we want to, but because it's time.

I wonder if thinking of my children as a monastic bell and a call to shower God's love on my future men will make me less grumpy at getting up at 3 am to answer a sick child.