This and That: Nothing of any consequence

As the title suggest I have been less than busy this week- and sadly, not terribly productive in some areas.
I have been meaning to work on the book, but it has not happened. Hopefully this afternoon...
Anyway in honor of my lack of work I thought I would share a poem that I particularly like. It is by Margaret Atwood.


Spelling

My daughter plays on the floor
with plastic letters,
red, blue & hard yellow,
learning how to spell,
spelling,
how to make spells.

I wonder how many women
denied themselves daughters,
closed themselves in rooms,
drew the curtains
so they could mainline words.

A child is not a poem,
a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or.
However.

I return to the story
of the woman caught in the war
& in labour,
her thighs tied
together by the enemy
so she could not give birth.

Ancestress: the burning witch,
her mouth covered by leather
to strangle words.

A word after a word
after a word is power.

At the point where language falls away
from the hot bones, at the point
where the rock breaks open and darkness
flows out of it like blood, at
the melting point of granite
when the bones know
they are hollow & the word
splits & doubles & speaks
the truth & the body
itself becomes a mouth.

This is a metaphor.

How do you learn to spell?
Blood, sky & the sun,
your own name first,
your first naming, your first name,
your first word.

And so it is with Story and with the labors of love we all choose that cancel other possibility out of our lives- already so crowded with desires of our own, and demands...

Chara

Home again, Home again...

I just got back from the NSN conference in Oklahoma City and I have to say that I enjoyed myself quite a bit. There were some really interesting sessions and Elizabeth Ellis' Keynote speech was (while apparently controversal) very honest and true.
Also I got to spend time with my Granny- she is quite funny and she even put up with my talking my head off. :)
I only wish that I had the forethought to have taken a picture of my "economy" vehicle- a Dodge Ram truck with an extended cab... truly huge. It was an adventure getting it into the parking garages in downtown OKC.

Also I read the Harry Potter book- AUDREY!! Call me!!! We gotta Talk!

Anyway- not too interesting.
There is a job lead- a good job lead so everyone keep that in your prayers, or send us money- either one! ;)

Chara

Responses and requests

A couple of posts ago i laid out my general chapter ideas for my book (my stunted baby). A couple of you gave me a little feedback and a thing or two to think about.
Laura-
Thanks, As i have not actually written that chapter, yet, I hadn't really thought about the specific way i had worded it.

Stef-
Submission is commanded of everyone in the bible according to their place. I am not trying to write this book toward married women, though, so I thought submission to men in general (ie: what does submission mean as human beings first and as women second) would be a more relevant way of presenting the idea. I thinkt hat you will enjoy the activities and the way I start out that chapter.

I have to say that I have been so busy of late that i haven't been as active working on the book as I would like to be, or should be. My goal was to have a complete first draft by my birthday, and I maintain that I could do so- if I weren't working and had the ability to structure my days the way i desired.

In relationship to that: please pray about our jobs and financial situation. Looking has become rather tedious and discouraging. Waiting requires patience, which I have always been a little short on. I keep repeating Bible verses to myself. "Give us this day our DAILY bread." and "There is a season..." among others.