music that matters

So today I'm doing something a little unconventional. Instead of telling a story, I'm asking a question.

The question is not actually inspired by Maia... it was just a great opportunity to share this photo of her playing and singing her little heart out. (Wish I'd had that one on video!) Nor is it inspired by her favourite song of late, "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes". (She likes it sung as a lullaby at bedtime. Who would have thought?) Or the fact that she seems to have a particular affinity for the music of Coldplay. (She hasn't figured out how to bob her head to a good beat... instead she shakes her head back and forth with great conviction.)

In fact, if you don't mind, I'd like to wait to tell you what inspired the question. Here it is...

Can you name a song that helped to sustain you through a difficult time? A song that gave a voice to what you were thinking or feeling in a tough season of life, and yet offered you comfort, truth or hope?

If you can and you're willing, click on "comment" below and tell me about it. I'd love to know.

surprise!

Well, we got him good.

Yesterday's surprise party went off without a hitch! It was such a joy to celebrate Tim's 40th with so many of you. Thank you to those of you who were able to join us, and an extra big thank you to those who helped pull it off. I could not have done it without you, especially not after camping all weekend.

Our friends Aaron and Michelle drove up from Hamilton with Aaron's bike, so that he could take Tim out on his last ride on his two-decade old tri bike (one of the early prototypes when the sport was just starting). Of course, Tim didn't know this was his last ride on the ol' stede, but didn't seem to suspect a thing when Michelle and I were snapping pictures of them heading out together. (But then, nor did he suspect anything over the last month when he walked in on phone conversations about the party, had people slipping me money while standing beside him, and had me asking strange questions here and there about bike seats and bike shoes and and what colour frame he would dream of having if we ever bought him a new bike...)

As soon as Tim and Aaron left at 3:00 (at last!), I called in the troops. My parents and sister were on standby with a van full of cake and BBQ meat and on the other side of town, and my neighbours were ready to set up two huge tents and extra BBQs in the backyard. We transformed the backyard in about an hour -- many hands really do make light work!

After dinner was served (thank you, BBQers and choppers and servers!) and some of the guests couldn't take the suspense any longer (that bike was like a wedding ring burning a hole in our pockets!) we finally gave Tim the Cervelo he's dreamed of for years. He couldn't believe everyone knew about this but him. (And I could hardly believe people were as generous as they'd been so that together we could make this dream happen!)

Rather than telling you about it, here's a 6 minute video of Tim receiving the bike and his words to follow, before the crowd made him get on it and ride up and down the street for us all. Warning: this video takes some audience participation! I forgot to tell the friend I gave my camera to that you can't rotate a video, so you'll have to turn your head for the first minute. I also forgot to give her my tripod. Sorry if you get a little dizzy. Turn up the volume -- it's a little hard to hear at times. Enjoy!

the beauty of kim

Last weekend I had the privilege of sharing some of my music at a church in London where Kim Phuc came to speak. What a beautiful evening.

Kim was the "girl in the photo" running naked down a road, her skin on fire from napalm after her village had been bombed. Her picture stunned the world and changed the outcome of the Vietnam War. Kim received third-degree burns covering half her body that would require many operations and years of therapy. For the next 20 years the Communist regime in Vietnam used Kim as a national symbol of war in all their propaganda. Eventually she and her husband were able to defect to Canada.

Kim now lives in the Toronto area with her hubsand and their two sons. She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and travels the globe to tell her story of healing and forgiveness. She also started the Kim Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to funding programs to heal children in war-torn areas of the world.

This was the second time I'd heard Kim tell her story (and play for an audience she was speaking to). But this time was just as powerful as the last. You would think that after the kind of pain and suffering she's experienced, would have every reason to be hard, jaded and scarred. But instead Kim is a woman of grace, beauty and gentle strength. After hearing her speak, you just want to take her home with you. She's that sweet.

So to team up with Kim again was enough in itself, but then the church that hosted us -- Byron United -- well, they were just over the top and treated us both like queens. People to escort us around, make sure we had what we wanted to drink and eat, lovely introductions, flower arrangements to thank us both (and gerberras -- my favourite!).... not to mention good sound, live video feed on a screen above our heads... apparently they even advertised it on local radio stations. Top notch. And would you believe this was the third time this year that this particular church has invited me down to play and sing for them? I feel like they've adopted me. Very generous and encouraging people.

On the way home that night, my friend Kelly and I encountered a group of crazy teens travelling at stupid speeds and passing everyone on soft shoulders and double lines in spite of oncoming traffic. It wasn't all that surprising when one of the cars of kids in front of us skidded off the road, just missing a big tree that could have ended their lives, taking out a hydro pole and jumping a fence instead. The transformer blew, there were several explosions and an electrical fire, and since they downed the lines on the road we couldn't get to the kids to see if they needed first aid. (Fortunately, Kelly caught the lisence plate of some of their friends who quickly realized they were going to be in trouble and tried to leave the scene.) After calling fire, police and ambulance, redirecting traffic, getting our story straight with other witnesses, watching the kids be escorted off the scene (much less injured than they could have been) and standing around for about an hour before giving statements to police, I found myself thinking...

These kids had no idea when they made the choice to drive the way they did how many hundreds of people they would affect. No idea that one person making a single decision at any given time can have such a significant cause-and-effect on other people they don't even know. Sometimes forever. With a slight difference in timing, any one of those kids could have ended our lives and theirs in a single breath. Instead, we spent an extra hour of our evening at the scene and taking another route home.

And then I thought about the people who gave orders for the bombs to be dropped on Kim's village. They didn't truly know the consequences their actions would have.

And then I thought of Kim. Here is a woman who for so long tried to run from her photo and the negative effects it was having on her life in Vietnam, and has now chosen to embrace her photo and use it for good instead. She asks people not to look at her photo and see a girl who is crying out in pain, but to see a girl who is crying out for peace. And her story of healing and forgiveness is powerful and beautiful... it has a different kind of cause-and-effect.

It seems like our lives are like a tower that takes years to build and can be destroyed in only a moment. I could spend half my life investing myself in Maia and lose her in one heartbeat because of someone's idiodic choice. I can have no control over anyone else's actions. But I can control mine. So I'm going to build anyway. I'm going to add to the beauty, even though I have no guarantees that what I create or give or invest will be taken from me one day.

So thank you for adding to the beauty, Kim, when you could have chosen so many other roads.

recital

I had one of the highlights of my year on Sunday, when my students gave their year-end recital. I feel such joy as a teacher knowing that I got to play a part in the music they're making.

Here's a little clip Tim took of one of my students playing a lovely solo called "Waterlilies", followed by a lively version of a duet called "Tango of the Desert". Fun to play!

new milestones... that I'm so not ready for

Guess who figured out how to let herself out of the house today?


The funny part (or not so funny, depending on your point of view) is that I thought because Tim was on the phone downstairs it was safe for me to go upstairs to shower as long as I just put a gate at the bottom of the stairs. Then, just as I was about to jump in the tub, I heard a faint voice greet someone outside: "Hello!" A surprised adult voice replied, "Oh, hello..." Then that little familiar voice again: "Hello!" That's when I realized she'd gotten out.

Seems it's not so much the climbing of the stairs I need to be concerned about anymore. Yeah, I wasn't ready for that new milestone.

Reminds me of last week, when I had my friend Steph's 19 month old twins for the day to help give her a little break. I heard one of the boys crying when he woke from his nap. I think my heart skipped a few beats when I went upstairs to get him. There was Aidan, standing at the top of the stairs. Seems he'd figured out how to climb out of the playpen. Little escape artist.


Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?

Time to get my 22 month old into a toddler bed before she becomes Aidan's partner in crime!

anticipation

A snippet of a conversation with Maia as she anticipates which friends of hers we will be going to have dinner with the other night...

ten years today

I met Tim ten years ago today. Little did I know that when a tall red-head approached me about volunteering with the youth group I was leading at the time, that he would become my closest friend, my permanent roommate, my co-adventurer in this life.

It might sound crazy that we would remember the date we met, but with the youth leading the 3 services at the church in Waterloo that weekend, I had been gearing up for that date for a while. I haven't forgotten it since. June 8, 1997.

I remember sitting down for coffee one afternoon that summer with someone who often "knew things" he couldn't possibly know except by the Spirit. So I never forgot when he told me, "You're going to have a good husband." I knew he didn't mean it as a nicety... a way to make me feel better while I was processing an important relationship that had recently come to a sudden end. I knew in my spirit that he was telling me something he was being given to tell me, not something he simply hoped would be true.

And he couldn't have been more right.

Tim is very, very good to me. In these days of disposable vows, Tim has kept his vow to continue to strive to put me before himself. Before our daughter, even. He lives this out even in the little things. When he arrives home from work, his first words are often "Mommy first!" as he comes to kiss me before he greets Maia. When we're picking between two things (two different desserts, for example) he will invariably try to guess which one I secretly want more so he can take the other. Just today he sent me an email (yes, we do much of our scheduling via email!) telling me he plans to take care of Maia from mid-morning onwards on Saturday so that I can get to a big music-related project I need to get rolling on. How thoughtful.

Henri Nouwen writes that if we are married our task becomes to be the person who best and most often communicates God's love towards our spouse -- to continue to remind him or her by our words and actions how infinitely valuable he or she is in His eyes. No small task.

But Tim has always strived to make this his task. And my goal is the same: to love him with the love of his Maker. Not because of how well he does or doesn't love me, but because I am God's hands and feet in his life more than anyone else, and it's my role -- my privilege -- to love and serve him in that way. I don't always do it well (as he could attest to last night... but wouldn't). But I'd like to say I'm better at loving with that kind of love another ten years from now.

And I can truly say that in ten more years, I'll be very blessed just to have him love me the way he already does now.

Happy anniversary, love.

too beautiful not to go to the beach

It's been a while since we had anyone take family photos of us. We had our friends' 7-year-old son with us last Saturday, and took everyone on a trip to the beach. Gorgeous day... such still water and air... great for frisbee. Benjamin did a fine job of capturing us, with the help of a little photo cropping when we got home. Thanks, Ben! (Now if I were a little better at photo editing, I'd see what I could do about that gitch. My apologies.)



Sand, anyone?

waiting...and wading

One particular auntie has been waiting for more videos. So, though they may not be overly exciting for everyone, here you go, auntie! A few moments from our early afternoon today.



I haven't been able to convince Maia that the wading pool was for her enjoyment these last couple of hot weeks. Today I took her swimming (and kicking and jumping) in the YMCA pool, and that did it. She wanted in the water at home after that.

one simple word

On multiple occasions yesterday, Tim and I found ourselves laughing so hard we couldn't speak. Each time, all it took from Maia was one simple word to undo us.

Inspired by the commands we give the dog, Maia set her milk on the ground, took a step back, put out her hand and gave it a firm command: "STAY".

Later on, Tim called my name from upstairs as I was preparing to leave the house yesterday. Before I could reply to ask him what he wanted, his 'mini-me' repeated him just as loudly: "MAWCA"!

Trying to figure out what to give my picky eater after she had rejected all my lunch ideas, I wondered aloud under my breath, "What can I get you to eat?" Unexpectedly, one simple word was exclaimed from the highchair next to me: "PIE"!