Ms. Rory in the Heart of Texas

The best place in Dallas. Ever.

66 acres in the middle of the city - we bought a membership and have been enjoying the cool weather there for the last three weekends (and then some.) We are SO thankful for the springy-ness, in Texas no less. Reminds us of NoVa and April drives through the Shenandoahs.

Finally took our camera out there and, with a little propped-up-on-the-Radio-Flyer-wagon magic, we just might have snapped our Christmas 2008 pic. Here’s a little taste:

The girls doing a little posing…..

Rory and Co. went out there today for some petting zoo and face painting action. And in keeping with the butterfly theme….

Came across this post from an architecture/urban planning blog, and it got me to thinking about our foundations. I have had a lot of conversations recently about the church (community/cultural organism, as opposed to a building/meeting place/Sunday morning talk) and have been pretty good about delineating between those two definitions that are, in the Bible Belt, almost interchangeable. However, this post got me to thinking about why Jesus used an architectural parable (houses on rock/sand) to explain God’s Logos and how He Himself is referred to as the Cornerstone.

“I’ve been going through old magazines to find articles that I hope to read, re-read, or even incorporate into the final edits of the BLDGBLOG Book – and so tonight I came across the January 2007 issue of Metropolis.

There, we read about the ten greatest engineering feats of architectural history – including this short blurb about Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul:

The building was constructed of masonry, which shifted constantly during construction and thereafter. Today we use “switch-on gravity analysis,” where we imagine a structure built on the Moon and then digitally move it over to the Earth in a fraction of a second, and suddenly it’s loaded. But a structure like this changed its characteristics during construction, almost minute by minute. I can’t image [sic] how people could have had the courage to construct it.

It’s fascinating to think that the very thing under construction is in the process of altering itself. The structure has taken on agency, in other words: moving, shifting, becoming something other than what you intended it to be. That which you add to, shifts; that which supports you, changes.”

Obviously a bit of an existential and humanistic conclusion at the end of the blogpost, but it made me think through the 2000 year old structure that is the church. We look at it, in all its divided, re-divided, tacked-on rooms, all with different historical textures and cultural styles created during the that time, and sometimes we tend to think that the old parts are ugly, outdated and anachronistic, the other parts are wrong (or at least less “right”, and that the structures we inhabit or build somehow “better” or more correct or true. But is it really so? If the Truth is our foundation, and Jesus the cornerstone that keeps the structure from shifting, isn’t the end result (whatever and whenever that is) something that will be (and is) a sight to behold and treasure? Why do we insist on equating relativism with relevance or, alternately, continue to broadcast the Truth in AM radio when the world watches in HD? In the end, we think we have (or hearken back to) a better plan for the church, but the Builder and the Building itself is always exceeding it.

All to say, we are trying to teach Rory (and ourselves) how to recognize, appreciate and cultivate beauty, whether in hairy striped caterpillars or hairy church community and history.

So far, so good…..

So, we don’t quite have a farm like Texas North, but we chose to go a little different direction, more zoology and less ag. In addition to our perennially blooming orchid (now in its third year - go us!), Rory - and admittedly Dad and Mom - are fascinated with little animals that are “so cute and tiny.” Exhibit A is Kiwi, her pet turtle. While it was a little touch-and-go in the beginning, this expensive little red-eared slider has toughed it out with Team Badrina, and is turning into quite the pet. Dad especially is thrilled with its survival (did I mention it was expensive?) and loves cheering it on while it eats.

Kiwi, however, has competition now. There’s a little field here in Dallas that is ripe with milkweed and, thus, prime breeding ground for butterflies. Rory and friends cautiously stormed the field one afternoon and came out with milkweed, some with teensy-tiny little white dots on them.

One day, the dot disappeared and we all thought it was a goner. Chalked it up to a negligent Badrina Zoo/ learning opportunity. Then we saw this:

We were a little nervous because it was “so cute and tiny.” It ate a little, and four days later we thought we were doing pretty well in terms of feeding the little sucker.

Well, then it started doubling in size every two days. Little did we realize that it grows like CRAZY. I mean, its appetite is Dad Badrina, circa 1990. Three more days passed, and it was getting pretty hefty (and we got another little egg from the field).

Then, we went out of town for three days. When we returned, we came home to Fatty McFatty and his kid brother!

It’s hard to tell from the camera angle, but that caterpillar went from sitting on a leaf to being the length of the leaf. In three days! “It’s hu-normous, Daddy!”

Needless to say, Rory is totally enamored with process, and explains to anyone within earshot that in a couple of days, unless the caterpillars becomes the size of a dachshund, (deep breath) “it wiw make a chrysawis and then we get to keep it for TWO MORE WEEKS and then it come out of its cocoon and then it dries its wings wike this (insert pantomime), and then IT BECOMES A BUTTERFWY!” She conveniently forgets the part where we let it go into the wild, but in truth, I’m more worried about Kiwi’s jealous streak - it may last long past the flight of the butterflies.

And here she is…the first of 24 acts this evening. Her class’ 30 seconds of glory was followed by about an hour and a half of the rest of the ballet company, which I fear I will be seeing in its entirety for the next 14 years. Anyway, Raggedy Ann did really well, performing fearlessly and confidently waving and shouting to Mommy as she exited stage right. Afterwards, she exclaimed “I wasn’t even embarrassed!”

Tomorrow, we embark upon Rory’s first (of probably many) ballet recitals, chock full of her fellow ballerinas and dutifully attended by their parents, many of whom have become our friends. In all the whirlwind of activities, it has been fun to think about all of Rory’s little friends and fam, and how blessed we are to have them (and their parents) in our lives.

If you have a little girl, chances are you’ve heard of Fancy Nancy and her doll Mirabelle Lavinia Chandelier. Right after Rory read the book, she HAD to dress up. She is equally persuasive as Fancy Nancy and, were a friend-boy to come and visit (or have her over), they might be forced to dress up as well (Watch out Stotts and Yeagers).

We were hibernating over the winter, but now that pollen coats our cars and we have made it past the tenuous 30-day trial of keeping a pet turtle alive and well (more on that later), we will resume our regularly scheduled blog entries, complete with pictures and quotes.

To start it all off, here’s a joke:

Two cannibals were eating a clown. Suddenly, one turns to the other and says, “Hey, does something taste funny to you?”

(No, Rory did not tell that joke to me. I got it from the CEO of my company.)

And these are some with HerFavoriteDog Jock, ready to go exploring with her favorite “explorer” tote bag to pick up various pinecones, acorns, branches, leaves, stones, and coins that she keeps in her “collection.” She’s a scientist in the making.

And her are a couple of pics that she took herself. She’s getting quite good at operating the digital camera and cropping photos.

And now, the first installment of “You know you are in over your head when….”

You know when you are in over your head in parenting when a conversation with your three year old goes like this:

Daddy: OK, Sweetness, because mom is out with some friends and daddy can’t cook, we are going to the hot dog place!

Sweetness: Yea!!! I want a cherrwy dwink (Cherry Limeade from Sonic)

Daddy: Well, do you want to go to the hot dog place with the cherry drink or do you want to go to Wild About Harry’s (our favorite haunt) and get a hot dog with ice cream? Either one or the other.

Sweetness: Hey, I’ve got a gweat idea! We can go to the hot dog place with the cherrwy dwink AND THEN we can go to the hot dog place with the ice-cweam. That’s called a CAWPROMISE!!!

Daddy: (pulling the car over and turning around to look at her) What was that you just said?

Sweetness: When we go to both hot dog places, it’s called a CAWPROMISE.

Daddy: Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that discussed in the Little Einsteins.   Time to regroup.

Sweetness: What, Daddy?

Daddy: Nothing, babe. Nothing.