Legacy

The man on your 10-dollar bill was killed by the grandson of Jonathan Edwards.

But most people remember Jonathan Edward for this:

While this sermon does have some wake-you-up lines --

 ...the God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked...

-- some today have given him an unnecessarily bad name for it.

Our professor spent several hours explaining why Jonathan Edwards was not a bad person.  (Although one might wonder why a book has been written about him entitled Marriage to a Difficult Man, which Dr. Arnold made his wife read before they got married.)  Of interest among these three hours was a bit of how his descendants turned out:

• 13 college presidents
• 65 professors
• 100 lawyers
• 66 physicans
• 30 judges
• 80 holders of public office, including
• 3 senators
• 3 mayors of large cities
• vice president of the United States - Aaron Burr

Jonathan Edward made good use of his time.  While traveling on horseback, he would have a thought.  He would take out a pin and put it in his shirt.  He would take out a second pin for the second thought, and so on.  When he got home at the end of the day, he would take out the pins and write down the thoughts, one by one, from memory.

Guess where

Where do you think we took this picture?

Why yes, right here in our local medieval Phoenix.

Some friends visited us and took us geocaching.  That was a first.  There's nothing like inconspicuously rummaging around telephone poles and wire fences for duct-taped peanut butter jars.  Anderson accidentally inspected someone's "doggy bag," thinking it might be a cache.

Anyway, one of the geocache sites was right next to the castle, which is how we found it.  Sadly, just as Anderson was about to make a new friend, the castle driveway was blocked off with no-trespassing signs.

Here is the story (I can't confirm it's a scholarly source):  http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/copenhav.htm    Dad, if it comes up for sale again, I'll let you know.  I think it would make a great retirement home.  Think how much fun your grand kids would have on the moat and drawbridge.

New twist (Luther, anyone?)

I usually think about blogging at 11:00 p.m. and remind myself to post tomorrow for real this time.  When I do sit down at the computer, I decide my grand visions need more time to develop.  So the postponement continues...

I'm going to try to start blogging more (for the eight of you who check it).  I started this blog three years ago when I went to Oxford.  I probably won't be going to England or Mongolia or getting married or doing anything dramatic for a while.  But interesting things are still happening, all in the name of...

THEOLOGY.

Going to seminary is not something I ever desired to do.  Thanks to Anderson, I am encountering a rich experience that I would not have pursued otherwise.  I plan to start sharing interesting things I'm learning here.  If theology isn't your thing, well -- I understand.  (But secretly I plan to change your mind.)

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ORIGEN (interesting parts in very dark purple font)

An early church father (c. 140-210).  (c. = circa, means "approximately" when used with dates)

Heretic!  That's what the Second Council of Constantinople said slightly after the fact in 543.  Origen said, "Christ is given the second place of honor after God the Father."

Did Origen mean that Jesus was less important than the Father?  The jargon of theology wasn't fully settled when he said that (meaning they didn't have all the terms sorted out).  So we don't know for sure.  But people afterward used him to say that, so eventually he was called a heretic.

Whatever he might have meant, he meant what he said.  He was a person of conviction.  When his Christian father was condemned to be executed, young Origen wanted to run after him and be executed too.  But his mom hid all of his clothes so he couldn't leave the house.

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My source for church history things is one of our professors, whom we will call Dr. Z.  I haven't double-checked him, but his PhD is in church history, and he's a Baptist, so he must be trustworthy.

When I told Anderson about my new blogging plan, he said, I'm so boring you're going to start blogging about men from the 100's?  I tried to tell him that's not what I meant.  Right now he's in the bedroom with the door shut so I can't tell yet if he was kidding or not.

Menno

This is Menno (after Menno Simons) (Anderson named him).

From our apartment's quarterly newsletter.  We aren't one of the chosen (yet).

Thanks again for all who donate cat food to the office.  This is very, very helpful in feeding our feral cat population.  We want to be sure that our residents are aware of the fact that we have certain residents that feed these cats.  Everyone else, please do not leave food or water out.  This way, we can keep track of the population and keep it under control.

Come visit!

First apartment.

Meanwhile in Phoenix,

neighbors decorate with Olaf, palms and hammock.

love and sushi

Love makes people do strange things.

On occasion, I have eaten sushi.  I must have mentioned this to Anderson, because last week he took me on a surprise date to the local sushi bar.

Those of you who know Anderson may understand the gravity of this event.  You may have heard him discourse upon the eating habits of sea creatures like shrimp and squid.  (He once made colorful and heated remarks on "bottom feeders" at a nice restaurant, and then noticed a couple from his mom's church at the next table.)  I've learned that if I order seafood, we should sit at a removed table and I shouldn't plan to share entrees.

Of course I was incredulous when we pulled up at a sushi bar.  Truly, the depths of marital sacrifice.

We were seated with menus.  At this point, I realized I had no idea how to order sushi.  My past experiences were with experts who ordered for me.  But I couldn't let Anderson know that.  I deliberated nonchalantly over the 6, 8, or 10-piece option and picked the smallest.

When I came back from the restroom, Anderson and the waiter had figured out we'd entirely ignored the real  20-item menu.  At this point I confessed that I'd never ordered sushi before and had no idea what I was doing.  The waiter recommended the "Sunburst."  It was an attractive name and it had cilantro, avocado, and citrus sauce.

The waiter brought our roll. It looked like Christmas.  I popped a slice in my mouth.  It tasted amazing.

At this point I realized that Andy was not okay with the fact that the meat on this particular roll was -- what was it? oh yes, octopus.  Also, he was not okay with the pink tentacles.  Furthermore, he had never intended to sample it in the first place. This took some overcoming, but after about ten minutes, he put it in his mouth.  And chewed.

....

For a couple minutes I seriously contemplated what to do if one's spouse throws up in a restaurant.  (1) Oh honey, I'm so sorry!  Here's a napkin, let me help you...  (2) HAHA!  I can't believe you just did that!  Oh don't worry waiter, this happens all the time...  (3) [Stare silently at the TV, pretending the person next to you, literally, does not exist.]

I didn't have to choose.  Let's just say that I was genuinely impressed that he tried it for my sake.  Next time, he may stick to the fish 'n' chips.

beyond Roosevelt Dam

(all that water!)

All in a day's grading:

What are the consequences of plagiarism?

"You could be ejected from school."

Write an original sentence that uses a direct object.

"My run-in with the 'cool' kids really affected my self of steam."

Write an original sentence that uses an appositive (identify the appositive in capital letters).

"The Long-Nosed Maker, WHO DESIGNED THE WOBBLING ATOM AND THE STELLAR SUPERGIANT, has vastly long patience when a mere human dares to contend with His intricate and colossal plan."

home

In some ways, it seems like we just arrived in Arizona.  In other ways, we've been here for years.

acclimation

I was in Colorado for the weekend, and apparently the only thing that inspired me enough to get my camera out was this truck in our hotel parking lot.  Like I'd never seen a cow head before.

Behind it was a trailer with enough brown and pink remnants to identity that these were, indeed, buffalo.

I'd planned take lots of pictures and fill up on autumn colors, but was too early in the season.  Just greens.  Not that I was complaining about that.  The grass looked especially, unnaturally green.  Or had I acclimated to desert colors that quickly?

I went running in the morning and froze my limbs off in the 60-degree weather.  Why didn't I bring pants and sweatshirt?

We are at the end of swimming season here in Arizona.  Ironically, the end of September signals the end of swimming in Minnesota too.  This must mean that swimming is in fact not dependent on temperature but on month.  We are running steady highs of 100 here, and indeed, it is too cold to comfortably enjoy the pool.

all in a day's work at Goldfield Ghost Town

You probably can't tell that the bug on top is eating a bee.

first grad school assignment

You see, Children, learning your ABC's is very important.

This was for Hebrew.

Don't worry, we're getting our money's worth, the same week we also had to memorize (for the quiz):

-- the Hebrew alphabet, including the six letters with alternate forms, the letters that may or may not take a Daghesh Lene, the four gutturals, and the letter that sometimes is a guttural
-- the elaborate system of dots used to indicate vowel sounds (because the Hebrew alphabet doesn't have vowels)
-- the consonants that can sometimes be used as vowels, depending on what comes before them

And this week we memorized all the noun endings, plus fifty vocab words.

The peaks of the Estrella Mountains at dawn, never mind the record-breaking midday temps:

Our host family has three beagles.  Strangely, they frequent the outdoors in the afternoons, often lying directly in the sun.

scorpion hunting

We went on our first scorpion hunt!

Scorpions glow in the dark when you shine black light on them, because of a substance in their exoskeleton.  Ranger Tippy said that bugs can see ultraviolet light, which makes them attracted to scorpions.  The scorpions glow like a nightlight, and when the bugs come near, the scorpions can snatch them and eat them.

This was also the weekend my college roommate Katie happened to visit.  We had forgotten to tell her about the night scorpion hunt, so she didn't know to pack shoes.  We didn't really want her hunting in sandals so Andy offered her his tennis shoes and our host dad offered her his military combat boots.  We decided that the combat boots had more of a fashion flair (especially with jean shorts) but that the tennis shoes were less likely to flop around.

Off we went at 8:00 p.m.!  Most of the hunters were little kids, and Ranger Tippy made sure they stayed on the path.   (Scorpion bites in this area are only lethal if you are under 65 pounds and if it's from a little scorpion; the little scorpions are more poisonous.)

We were trying to beat our record of 23 scorpions in one hunt.  We all crowded around when we spotted the first one and watched it squiggle around in the dust.  We were pretty excited about the prospects but we only ended up finding 13.  Anderson found one of them, and thank goodness I found one a while later (so we were equal).

This event helped assuage trepidation of scorpions felt by someone in the family.  It showed that scorpions are not swarming the house in ranks, let alone the desert.  We can now take our sidewalk strolls in the dark without fear of scorpions, never mind the beetles scuttling all over the place in various shapes and sizes.  They don't bother us anymore.

First night coming into the Valley of the Sun

Caroline and the bear

I was waiting and waiting to see bears this week  in Colorado.

The cabin owner said we should look out for them, so I was sure we would see them.

Andy warned me about the bears the night we got to Colorado.  I was not actually excited at first.  This is no fear founded on experience, but I am actually afraid of bears.  I think the only time I was ever near one in the wild, my grandma sighted it, and I was so scared I turned around and ran and didn't even see the bear.

Darkness settled in around the cabin.  I realized, a bear could easily clamber up on the deck and come right in through the screen doors.  So, we had better shut the doors.

Then I realized, what's to stop a bear from coming in right through the window?  Bears could smash a glass pane with a swipe of the paw.  Probably all the creakings and rustlings around the house were bears waiting to come in.

Long story short, we made it through the night.

The next morning, I decided to go out for a run.

As soon as I saw the three deer prancing around in the front yard, I remembered about bears.  At first I almost decided not to go outside.  Then I realized, the deer were probably a safe sign.  (Deer wouldn't want to be anywhere near where the bears are.)

Long story short, I made it back safely.

The whole week I kept looking for bears, but (long story short), I didn't spot a single one.

I realized I was actually going to be disappointed if I didn't see a bear.  But by the end of the week, I had almost given up hope.

Until the very last morning...

BEAR ON DECK!

historic schoolhouse

Pagosa Springs, CO.

I could teach here...maybe.

Now kids, quit looking out the window!

front porch

We don't generally keep roses on our porches, or anywhere else, in Nebraska.  They were put there because the picture gives a very pleasant impression to other people, and, as it nicely turns out, to the picture-taker too.

However, might we all agree that front porches have something of the idyllic about them?

old Nebraska

Incidentally, I learned why the sky is blue: Rayleigh scattering.  The sunlight hits tiny particles (< 0.1 micron) in Earth's atmosphere.  At this size, blue light scatters most.  When the sun seems lower to Earth's edge, it passes through more atmosphere and bigger particles, which makes other colors scatter more -- red, orange, sunset.

More or less.

Walter Lewin at MIT, 30 minutes in:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0FbQdH3dY
(thanks to student parent)