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Look Alike

When Simon was in the bouncy seat last night I thought I was having déjà vu.  I looked up and there was a picture of Caleb from about the same time up on the boy’s bookcase.  I brought it down and put it next to him. 

It might be hard to see in the picture, but he was a spitting image of Caleb.

Home on Day 1!

Amy and I were not eager to spend time in the hospital.  After doing this three times already, we have come to realize that there is “no place like home.”  We were very pleased to get the cooperation of the midwife, pediatrician and nurses so that we could bring Simon home on the day of his birth (it certainly helped that he was born at 5:30am in the morning).   Amy spent most of the day sleeping and feeding and we were able to be home at 5pm and eat around our dinner table.  In fact, after dinner we went outside and the boys declared they were having a “birthday party” for Simon.  Caleb even asked to have cake (which I might have gotten if I didn’t think I would have fallen asleep at the wheel). 

Always learning about the system

Whenever we interface with the hospital system there are always some interesting things to learn.  For one, the nurse said that Amy was the first person to check in and out on the same shift.  I’m not for rushing out of the hospital if you really are in need of assistance, but it’s evident that the hospital would love for you to stay a bit longer than you need (in the words of our nurse “if we don’t provide you with services we can’t bill you for anything”).

While Amy was in the room, the nurse came in and asked Amy to “lean forward so she could check her back.”  Amy did so, not realizing why she was being asked.  The nurse was astonished to find no wound from an epidural needle.  The nurse informed Amy that 95% of births at their hospital are performed with epidurals, making it a matter of habit to check women’s backs.

It is interesting to correlate these two pieces of information.  Epidural = longer labor and hospital stay = big fat hospital bill to the insurance company.  I wonder how many people who choose differently if they were footing the bill personally? 

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First an introduction.  Simon Jacob Pollock was born on June 6, 2008 at 5:30 in the morning.   [This is where weight and height would be inserted.. but I’m not really sure why people give those stats, so I’m leaving them out.]  He looks just like a Pollock.  Below is his very first picture.

Now for the story of his name.

Simon’s name was not always to be Simon Jacob.  Just a day earlier it was to be Simon Clayton.  Clayton was a family name and so initially we thought it made a fine middle name for Simon.  The hours surrounding his birth would change all that.  On June 5th we traveled to be with friends who were celebrating the death of you their young son Jacob.

I say celebrated, and not mourned, because celebration definitely characterized the event.  The Fahmer’s believe, as do I, that a child who has not sinned is not subject to the demands of the Law and therefore the Wrath of God (not the case for the rest of us who have knowingly transgressed the commands of our loving heavenly Father).  It was a celebration because he is in heaven where he continually get’s to behold the face of the Lord Jesus and is free from the suffering that characterized his short life (138 days).

Jacob Fahmer was born with Trisomy 18, a life shortening condition (you can read his whole story here).  His life was short, by God’s own choosing, but it was not without value or significance.  He, like,all creatures made in the image of God, brought a certain reflection that is not limited by length of days. For one, the Fahmer’s life has forever been changed, by the gift of his life.  Secondarily, I believe (and you can read testimony for yourself in this post and in others on Jacob’s blog) that people have been caused to consider their lives and their God.   What other purpose and hope can one have?!  What else is lasting and enduring, than to have the effect of causing people to reflect on their standing with the Eternal God.?!

As we celebrated Jacob’s “home going” my wife began to experience the pangs of labor.  We gathered our children, said a few quick goodbyes and headed home (a hour and 15 minutes away).  On the way back, we could see that labor was beginning to set in. My wife’s contractions were becoming regular instead of fading away.  At one point I looked over to my wife and said “If we have this child tonight I want to call him ‘Simon Jacob’”.  My wife gave a quick nod of agreement.

Why the change?

I don’t believe in coincidence.  I believe that God orders our days, our death, and our birth.  It was not a mistake that my wife went into labor at Jacob’s funeral.  It was God’s plan.  It’s not just the timing of the event that leads me to see God’s hand, but also my understanding of God.  God brings life and death together.  He did it when His Son was crucified.  Jesus’ death brought forth eternal life.  The Creation testifies about this every day.  You have to be blind not to see that God has ordered death to life.  Plants & Animals that die and fall into the ground and nourish the next generation.  A simple walk through the woods could teach this to the attentive eye.  All through the Creation death and life are caught up together to point us to the revelation of Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection three days later.

This is the story I want to characterize my life and the life of my family.  The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  He is embedding that story in our lives, even through the simple “happenings” of life.  Jacob’s death.. Simon’s life have been tied together in a narrative that God is writing.  I am happy simply to see it, acknowledge it, and worship because of it.

Simon Jacob – because God brings life out of death.

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Well since we have 3 boys (soon to be 4) we thought it only appropriate that we get well aquatinted with things slippery and slimy.  Actually, it was my wife who wanted to make the dive (or should I say squirm) into Vermicompost.  Now we have a hotel for worms in our backyard and lots of happy residents chowing down on our daily food scraps.   We have several small garden plots on our postage stamp size lot in the city, so I'm sure the ROI for compost is about 20 years at price it took us to build our hotel and populate it.  Cynicism aside, I have no doubt that the worm bin will not only provide us with some good compost, but hours on fun for our masculine element.  Check out the pictures below.  If you want to build your own hotel, here is one basic set of instructions.

Our New Hotel

New Residents.. wait.. maybe not.

The Real New Residents

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In thinking my three (soon to be four) boys I want to be able to teach to use their hands to make and fix things.  Being a computer programmer I know that in order to pass on these skills to my sons that I need to develop them myself. 

The kids are frequently in the kitchen trying to help mommy or washing their hands so a stool seemed like a useful project to start honing my skills.  I did some Googling and I found a plan to build a three step kitchen stool on the Popular Mechanics web site.  

Overall I was very satisfied with this stool.  It's rock solid and is definitely something that will be around for years and years (unlike something you would buy at Walmart or even IKEA). 

Here are a few things I learned while making this stool.

Don't be intimidated by new tools or processes - I never used a chisel, glued boards together, planed boards or recessed screws with wood plugs, but I found each of things steps to be fairly straight forward.  I dove right in an was able to learn a few things.

Lining up boards joined with dowels is tricky.  I think if I were going to join boards together on a regular basis I'd look into a joining tool. Lining up the holes where the dowels sit was not very straightforward (even though I marked the middle of the board, the drill seemed to shift). 

Be careful of different colored wood filler - I had some white color wood filer hanging around and decided to use it to fill in the gaps that were left by my cutting.  Bad idea, I should have gotten some wood filer that was the same color as my boards.  The result is that the filler did not blend in when the stool was stained.

Watch carefully if cutting a curve with a jig saw - I don't know happened, but I must have stopped paying attention for a second while cutting the bottom curve with my jig saw.  What I got a flat spot in the curve that I tried to smooth out with my Dremel tool. 

Overall the project was a success.  The boys watched the construction of the whole project (preoccupying them for many evenings) and now they have a piece of furniture that they helped to construct.  It was a learning process for Daddy as much as for them, but after all, that was the point of this particular project. 

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There will be a pick-up location for the Windy Meadow Farms CSA in the 19th Ward this year.  On Thursday evenings during the growing season, from 4-6 PM,  our house will be a pick-up site for this organic vegetable producer.  If you have interest in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), or if you'd just be interested in a steady stream of local, in-season, organic produce, take a look at their website. http://www.windymeadowfarms.com/  Their site gives all of the pricing and contact information along with an online registration form for anyone who wants to sign up.

If you are interested in picking up at our house, please contact me and I will give you our address.

Michael Warren Thomas will be interviewing Brenda from Windy Meadows Farms on March 29th on his show Savor Life on WYSL 1040 AM. 

Michael also informed me that he is helping to organize a Farmer's market  in the 19th Ward on Tuesday afternoons/evenings. It will probably be located in the St. Monica's parking lot on Genesee St.  When the details are firm I will post them.

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Our family has been tormented by a metal on metal sound from our dryer for months.  It suddenly got worse and my wife wanted it fixed.  I delved into home appliance repair heads first deconstructing my dryer to find the culprit.  Props to my wife who did the research online to find the possible problem.  Our problem was that the back bearing was none existent (who knows how long its been gone) and then support axle was running metal on metal again the bracket.  You can tell from the pictures that it had been going on for quite some time.

I've got hand it to GE, despite all this carnage inside the dryer, it was still functioning quite well (just a little noisy).  I was also pleased to find out that inside a dryer is not a mangled mess of wires and equipment but a very straight forward system that I am sure just about any man with a mechanical mind could figure out (so save yourself the service call).  

I also want to express appreciation to the helpful people Affordable Appliance Service: http://www.affordableappliance.com  They helped my wife initially determine what the problem might be and they sent us a replacement part at a very good price and very quickly. 

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I am not much of a TV watcher.  Between wife, children, church, employment and business there's not much time to sit down and tune into a program here and there.  That being the case were a no-cable house (we'd probably be no TV if my father hadn't donated his).  My wife enjoys catching the occasional PBS program and even letting the boys watch some cartoons once in a while.

Well like most Americans, my TV is about to become obsolete with the coming of digital programing on the air waves.  Since the antenna is the only way we get any TV station at all, it looks like I'll need a converter box. 

Turns out the government has a program that gives you up to two $40 coupons to purchase a converter box.  You can request yours here: http://www.dtv2009.gov/

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So often family pictures are contrived and only capture the "happy" moments of life.  Here's a reality check for you.

Lets face it folks.. sometimes things just don't go your way!!!

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We needed a desk to put in the corner of our downstairs, so I decided to make one from a piece of plywood, some fence posts and fittings.  I think in the end it came out pretty nice.  We've been using it for over 6 months and it has been very functional.

Click here for Complete Instructions on Making this Desk 

More project ideas…

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Babies and the elderly are two groups of people to really challenge our ability to build the grandiose idols of self-fulfillment.  They (babies and elderly) wreck our day and wreck our plans for the future.  And the beautiful thing is, I think that is part of God's design in his order of birth and death. 

Jesus rebuked those who marginalized children, even when they were the closest to him (see Luke 18:15-17).  James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul, the apostle went so far as to say the trueness of ones religion depended upon how they treated "widows and orphans" (see James 1:26,27 and 1 Timothy 5:4).   

I have come to believe that the image of God is not so much a substance that is in you as much as a something that reflects off of you when you relate to other people.  The image that reflects off of many people (including myself) when they relate to the weak and the helpless is their god's of convenience and self-fullness. 

The image of God helps me to understand the purpose of people who are not "functional" in the normal workings of our society.  Without this meta-narrative (over arching story) to interpret the weak and the helpless, it is easy to see them as "optional" or a "problem to be solved".  I do not believe this is how the Lord Jesus would have us receive such people.  Not as obstacles, but rather as gifts that provide the substance of our hearts to be reveled for what it is (for good or for ill).   

The frightening prospect of this belief is that our hearts to get revealed, the comfort is that they can be changed. 

When you see who you are in the image of your relationship to the weak and helpless.. remember to present yourself to God, who is able to transform that broken image into a shining reflection of Jesus. 

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