Christian Pow-Wow

Jillian, Jonathan, Daniel and I had the privilege of attending a Christian PowWow a few Saturdays ago. Richard Twiss (pictured here in red and yellow dancing with one of his sons) has this annual event, helping Native Americans practice a Christian Faith that does not demonize their culture. Randy and Edith Woodley helped us understand what was going on, explaining the dances, drums, and traditions.

Some of the dances were for everyone to join in, so we eventually did, and you can see Jonathan and Daniel, holding hands and getting into it. A few days after the event, Jillian and I heard pounding up in their bedroom, and I peaked into their room to find them doing a circle dance, complete with bells attached around their ankles. Even now, a few weeks later, Daniel or Jonathan will be walking along, and then will spontaneously break into a traditional dance step. We love it!

They were especially mezmorized by Randy and Edith's son, Young, who performed the 'Grass Dance'. Here they are with Young.

6th Birthday at Tilikum

For Jonathan's sixth birthday, we went to Tilikum and had a creation 'treasure hunt' with six different clues hid all around the trails (and one clue was floating on the lake). Each clue was related to one of the six days of creation, and each time we found something, there was a set of prizes related to that day, along with the next clue. For example the fourth clue read, "God made me and the moon on the fourth day. Just ask me for the clue and I'll show you the way." At this point they eventually figured out it was the sun.

I then had them all face the sun and ask for the next clue. I had attached it to a rock and, while standing behind them, I threw it high into the air, and it fell in front of them as if from the sky. Not all of them believed that the clue actually fell from the sun (because it would have been burned up), but they were all delighted, nonetheless.

I had a great time seeing these kids wander around Tilikum, figuring out how to retrieve clues from a tree and exploring the area. A great book about the importance of getting kids outside is called, The Last Child in the Woods: Saving your Child from Nature-Deficit Disorder. It's a great book that shows the importance of kids being in nature and how that is becoming an exception rather than a norm. It also gives motivation and ideas for how to get kids outside.

New Whole House Fan!

I've been wanting to do this project for two years now--install a whole house fan. What is it? Why is it so great and so green? Watch this. But I've been putting it off because I thought it required more work than it actually did. When I watched this video I realized installing it was much easier than I thought. So I bought one and just installed it in an evening and a morning. It would have taken less if I didn't have a lathe and plaster ceiling.

What is it? It is a fan that cools the house quickly and with very little energy. It means we probably won't have to use AC, and it will mean fresh air in the house instead of recirculated air. The concept is simple--it pulls the cool morning or evening air from outside from windows into the attic. This displaces the hot air in the attic (which is what makes the upper rooms very hot in the summer evenings), and it also brings cool air into the house. It also creates a gentle cooling breeze throughout the house.

Jillian, playing a beautiful Vanna, is displaying the fan as it arrived at our house. Our oldest son, Jonathan, is showing the fan after he helped me mount it (taking all of five minutes). Below is me looking through the hole I cut in our ceiling, and then there's a photo of what it looks like in our attic installed. Eazy Peezy, and we're looking forward to a cooler upstairs than we could have with AC--and much MUCH lower use of electricity!
UPDATE: Yesterday was the first really hot day since I installed it, and it was the first hot day (ever in this house) that we went to bed with cool (upstairs) bedrooms. Get this--the other times we were using our central AC, and this time we were not. So compared to our AC, this worked better (and it has a timer switch, so it runs for a few hours after we went to bed, but turned off--so it would not get too cold). I ran it again this morning for an hour, then shut up the house, and it's staying cool. I'll run it again this evening around 8 or 9pm, when it cools down outside.

Kinder-GARDEN

I had a lot of fun this spring with Jonathan's Kinder garten class. Mrs. Hutchins invited me to help them plant seeds and watch them grow. We planted tomatoes, sunflowers, beans and whatever else the kids wanted to plant. Then we planted the sunflowers outside. Here we are planting the 'kinder-garden' of sunflowers. They took the other starts home (tomatoes and such), and in the fall when the kids come back, they'll find tall sunflowers! These kids have such a natural awe and love of life--they are so open to the seeds that adults plant--like the love of seeds, dirt and things that grow!

On Washington Soil

A coalition of groups that care about the earth (including Restoring Eden, EarthJustice and the N.O.A.H Alliance) invited me to join in a day of lobbying senators and representatives on issues relating to caring for the earth and endangered species. It was part of the climax of an event called The Irreplaceable Wild. This was a traveling photo show of irreplaceable animals who are near extinction. It was a great show and I met or had meetings about a dozen people--senators (Senator Smith, Senator Wyden) and representatives (Representative Blumenauer) and the legal staff of Representive Wu and Representative Defazio. I also joined others in meeting their members of Congress, including Senator Bennet of Colorado and others. It was encouraging to work with others who cared about the earth for reasons of faith, and to tell members of Congress the stories of young Evangelicals who care deeply about the environment.

Green green lawn

Here we are on a lazy Sabbath afternoon napping, reading, and playing in our new lawn. Even Zooey likes it!