Luci, Elijah and the Dinosaur

In our favorite rocket ship ...

2009: Listen

These yearly mottos keep coming up faster each year. Last year's reflected our big family change:

Gird Up and Go

This year's motto reflects the main reason we moved to a sleepy little town on Lake Huron:

Listen

Before, whenever we would visit northern Michigan, the silence would drive me insane: limited TV, no mall, dropped calls, internet(?) ... I never thought I would come to crave the peace that comes from silence.

I always needed something in the background - music, the white noise and soft chatter in a coffee shop - just to be productive. But now, it's different.

In an effort to aid in the 'listening,' I'm giving up T.V., netflix and YouTube for the year. There are many things to gain from these outlets (i.e. the Playoffs, movies & America's Funniest Home Videos), but I'm guessing that there's more junk than it's worth.

I thought about the news, but I can just read about it from sources that are not trying to destroy families. Let's face it, the purpose of the media is not simply to inform. More like deform.

So, here's to reform ... in our family life and conforming in my own life to a Will other than my own. And I will begin this year by listening ... to His voice in my life and I pray that this endeavor will bear fruit that gives to Him all the glory.

** side note: on the day Simon was born, I quickly grabbed

a book from my "stack-of-books-to-read-but-never-get-a-chance-to"

since I knew I would have some quiet time in the recovery room.

"Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers" by Dwight Longenecker.

The phrase 'listen my son' is from one of the first rules of St. Benedict,

in which he awakens us to God's will as if we were dormant. Then I

remembered the meaning of Simon's name: Listener.

Listen My Son.

Simon my Son.

Cool.