Bees in My Bonnet

Dear Readers of my Blog, It has come to my attention that I have let my thoughts leak out in a potentially offensive manner.  So I want to issue a formal apology to my audience. You need to know that I only write a smidgen of what goes on in my brain because I really do want to steer clear of controversy and not be a thorn in people's side with my ramblings.  I really don't want to hurt people's feelings with the things I write.  I don't intend to be judgemental, harsh, rude or nasty.  I hope you know me well enough to know that. I also want to say I didn't write my 50 Reasons to Leave a Church to point at anyone in particular.  I myself have said some of those very things.  Some of them are ridiculous.  Some of them are valid.  And some are in between - neither ridiculous nor valid or invalid - they just are. I have been a part of seven churches in my life of 36 years.  Three of them are in Hong Kong.  Two of them in college. ...

Disclaimer: I'm not saying these are the reasons you should  leave a Church.  Just throwing out a bunch of reasons why people DO leave churches.  I'll let you guess as to what the legitimate ones are. Here we go: 50 Reasons to Leave a Church 1.  You changed your religion 2.  They wouldn't let you paint, "Smile! God Loves You!" for the gym floor mural 3.  It's no longer a democracy, and we all know democracy was the heavenly prescribed best method for how to govern a church 4.  They removed that stained glass window you so liked 5.  The music is rock-band style 6.  The music is not rock-band style 7.  You are allergic to people 8.  They're not spending money the way you want them to (and we all know that how a church divvies up funds is the crux of everything so you will vote with your feet and dollars and go elsewhere). 9.  The preaching is dry and boring 10.  They don't have a program for everyone in the fam...

I recently had the privilege of reading a powerful memoir. It so powerfully moved me that I felt it was important to expose all my readers to her heart - her life.  I loved how she drew me in and made me feel I was walking with her on her journey through hope, depression, acceptance and joy.  Her honesty is refreshing - and so often I felt myself nodding along with her experiences - both positive and negative. Here Gillian shares with us some responses to questions she's received - let it whet your appetite for this book and look for an upcoming giveaway on this blog! Gillian Marchenko is an author and national speaker who lives in Chicago with her husband Sergei and four daughters. Her book, Sun Shine Down, a memoir, published with T. S. Poetry Press in the fall of 2013. She writes and speaks about parenting kids with Down syndrome, faith, depression, imperfection, and adoption. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Chicago Parent, Thriving Fami...

The old-school thinking was along these lines: My private life is private.  I keep it to myself.  I don't share much of my struggles or burdens.  No-one really wants to hear about that.  People want to hear what's positive.  So I'll share what's positive of myself, of my life.  That way, everyone can get along and enjoy life.  Blah blah blah. New-school thinking is more along these lines:   Everyone is interested in me.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  So what if there's more of the bad and ugly?  I'll just share it all - hellooooo world!  Here I am - warts and all!  Like what you see?  If you tell all like me then you can join me in my misery, self-absorbed, how-open-I-am kind of life! Now let's talk about transparency.  Let's make that TRANSPARENCY.  With CAPITALS. I wanted to title this 'integrity' but thought 'transparency' fit better. Transparency means allowing people to see us as we are - ev...

Hannah has been slow to talk.  This is no surprise as all but one of our kids was behind.  But she seems to have perfect pitch.  Before she could say a word we knew what song she was singing.  It was unmistakable. When we went to the airport when she was about 10 months old, to pick up Grandpa from Hong Kong, she would not settle.  She didn't like staying in her seat.  She squirmed and began to cry.  Her cries escalated.  At some point Grandpa decided to sing her his favourite song.  She quieted immediately.  Every time he stopped she'd start crying again.  So he sang and he sang and he sang.  Somehow that song has bored its way into her memory and we continue to have to sing it to her, over and over. She now can talk some and has some of the words - which are barely recognizable.  She will sing when she's bored, when she's doing something, when she's sick and weary.  She will sing the same lines over and over. ...

Whenever we hear the two words 'discipline' and 'children' in the same sentence we immediately think about all the ways in which children are under or over-disciplined.  We think of the debates raging on forms of punishment, punishment at all, training, nurturing and the like.  We get tied up in knots over the best and right way to discipline. Recently I was reflecting to myself on all the things having children has done for and to me.  All that it has taught me - how it is shaping my life.  And the phrase that summed it up for me was 'The Discipline of Children.'  Having a child, or many children has instilled in my life certain disciplines that were near next to impossible for me to learn in any other way.  Many people learn these disciplines without the aid of heel-nippers.  But for me, these were a necessary part of my on-going education in the art of living. The presence of children in my life has introduced many aspects of discipline into ho...

So lately Timothy has taken to wearing a penguin outfit.  You know - the plush, zip up costume generally sold in the month of October.  He discovered it during our unpacking recently and put it on and has barely taken it off for the last few days (except when I've made him).  I wonder if it has some kind of sensory effect - the tightness of it - the thickness - the warmth and the novelty.  Either way it has made for some entertaining moments over here at the Logan residence. He also loves mowing the lawn.  Even if it doesn't need to be mowed, I will start it up for him and send him off.  In the fall it is raking leaves he loves and in the winter, shovelling snow.  (Neighbours: keep this in mind - when we run out of snow to shovel come by and see if he'll jump at the chance to shovel your driveway!) This past week he was in his penguin outfit and wanted to mow the lawn.  Why not?  Who else in our neighbourhood has a giant penguin mowing t...