Marvin Olasky of World Magazine has an insightful article about how folks, especially ones who are disenchanted with our present age, look at the past with sentimental wishing. Among other good points that caught my eye:

Sometimes, particularly as folks get older, we fall into “good old days” ways of thinking… But what happens if we view American history in a “happy days” way? We might believe that colonial days were filled with pious people—and yet, 18th-century clergymen such as Jonathan Edwards in Massachusetts and Samuel Davies in Virginia didn’t see it that way. Davies wrote, “Family-Religion is a Rarity. . . . Vices of various Kinds are triumphant, and even a Form of Godliness is not common.”

Fantasies about the past have consequences. If we think the prairies with their little houses were pure, maybe we think that clothes from a century or two ago will keep our daughters safe. If we think that abortion wasn’t a problem before Roe v. Wade, maybe we think that if only we get a 5-4 Supreme Court originalist majority—which I hope we do—all will be well. But I demur again, because sin does not come from what we wear or who wears black judicial robes. It comes from within.

I think especially of those I’ve encountered who look back at the past, especially when watching videos of Little House on the Prairie, wishing they’d lived in “those days” instead of our days which are purportedly less wholesome and more corrupt. And the resulting life choices — from diet to dress to vocational changes — can be extreme. And not necessarily led of God. I think Olasky’s article makes some good points to the contrary.

I’m often amused by how my 3.5 yo boy sounds so much like an adult whenever he speaks. Here’s an amusing example from today:

Matthew found a fork in the living room and he immediately brought it to me. With a very serious look on his face, he asked me in a very stern tone:

Matthew: “Mommy, what is this doing here?”
Me: “Oh, I think it’s your brother’s doing.”
Matthew: “How long has this been here?”
Me: “Err. . . . I don’t know.”
Matthew: “Was Andrew playing with the fork or did he just drop it here?”

By then I just don’t know how to answer him. I felt like I was the child and he was a parent interrogating me!!! So I finally said, “Matthew, just put that fork in the sink.”

What a kid.

My usual school time with my active 3.5 yo is often very trying. He really tests my patience. It’s definitely a character molding time for me. While we were doing phonics this evening, he got really antsy and truth be told, I was a little bit frustrated. Thus, towards the end of the lesson, my head started to tilt sideways and from that my boy interpreted my body language and immediately came up to my face and asked, “Are you having a tough time?” I was a bit startled by his question and answered him, “Yes, I’m having a tough time.” Then in a nonchalant way, he replied, “Yeah, I’m having a tough time too.” Somehow that conversation just makes me laugh and makes the entire school time all worthwhile despite my previous frustration.

A few months ago (seems like an eternity with as much as has been going on in our family), I posted about preaching in our church’s evening service.

I’ve finally managed to get around to converting the cassette recording into a digital format, so if you’re interested, you can download and listen to the sermon yourself (it’s just under an hour long). The title of the sermon is “Much Ado About Something: Exalting Christ by Exulting in Christ.” You can also download the sermon notes for your own reading in PDF format.

Well, we got our sample of Jade Ti-Kuan-Yin tea from Portsmouth Tea Company. The verdict? Good tea, though not necessarily fantastically exceeding the ti-kuan-yin brand that we normally get from our Chinese grocery store.

Nevertheless, kudos and thanks to Portsmouth for a generous offer and a satisfactory cup of tea.

Maybe next time we’ll try something we don’t normally get, like the Apricot Peach Fruit Tea… we had a good experience with Trader Joe’s Honey Lemon tea in the past, and might like to try something different and non-caffeinated.

A funny little thing happened this evening when I took the kids by myself to the grocery store. The store wasn’t busy so when we got to the checkout line there was no one else in line. There we were: the two boys strapped into an extension on the shopping cart, and Emmaline in her car seat inside the shopping cart.

So the cashier starts a friendly conversation, “3 boys?”

“No,” I said, “2 boys and a girl. But you know, at this age, you could tie a pink ribbon and put flowers all over, someone would still ask…”

“Yeah, that’s true” she says kindly. And then she turns over to Matthew as she finishes scanning items and waits for my credit card to clear: “Is this your little brother?” (pointing to Andrew). He nods. “And is this your little sister?” Nods again.

Then as we pull forward and they load the groceries, Matthew offers this random statement: “She’s from China.”

Now, seeing as we’re ethnically Chinese and thus obviously Asian in appearance, the cashier and bagger just laugh, assuming it’s just a random thing that a child says that’s not quite correct. Probably inferring that he meant, “She’s Chinese.”

So the cashier says, “Oh, she’s from China? So, then, where are you from?”

His response, knowingly, without a pause, “I’m from my mommy’s tummy.”

Again, they laugh, and I remain silent, not quite sure whether to reveal that Matthew is actually revealing more than they realize, since we just adopted her from China less than 2 weeks ago.

If my boy says something foolish, I’m not inclined to defend him. But in this case, he actually said the truth (albeit veiled)… so I didn’t feel right leaving these nice strangers thinking him a silly boy (rather than the very perceptive bright boy he is).

“Actually… he’s smarter than all of us, ladies. We just adopted his sister from China!”

We all shared a laugh as they realized that they’d mistaken him for a poorly spoken child instead of the perceptive kid he is! What a hilarious kid!

And then came the inevitable kind words about how wonderful it is to adopt, etc. To be honest, I’m not sure how to respond here: on the one hand, it’s true (and perhaps even an opportunity for the gospel!). On the other, I’m wary of Emmaline being treated or perceived differently because she is adopted, at least early on in life. That’s a subject for another post.

Our recent trip to China was my third trip there so I wasn’t as shocked by the car traffic though I still didn’t like it. For those of you who have been to China, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The picture to the right is very representative of what we saw in Guangzhou. What I’m about to write may shock some of you or you may even think I’m making this up. I just want to say, IT’S ALL TRUE.

Here are my observations:

• Seat belts? What seat belts? I was mocked when I tried to put one on. I had to explain that seat belts are mandatory in the States and the kind of comment I received was; we’re all wimps in the States for wearing seat belts.
• If you’re crossing a street and you see a car coming your way, you had better run for your life and get out of that car’s way. Don’t even begin to think that pedestrians have the right of way.
• The bigger the vehicle you have, the better it is for gaining right of way. If you have a small vehicle, you must yield to bigger vehicles if you want to live.
• Traffic lanes on the roads are merely suggestions. If there are 4 lanes and you can squeeze in 6 cars, then by all means. Cars tend to weave in and out of lanes and some even drive in the middle of the lane.
• If at any point you want to make an U-turn, then go right ahead. Our bus did exactly that in the middle of an small uncontrolled intersection. Imagine our shock when it did that!
• If you’re hurt and you need an ambulance to take you to the hospital, don’t count on it. I personally witnessed an ambulance not being able to move at all because cars were not yielding despite its screeching siren. An ambulance is just like any other car. It’s “survival of the fittest,” and there’s no such thing as yielding to emergency response vehicles.
• If you’re a foreigner and must take some kind of transportation while in China, I suggest that you just close your eyes lest you have a heart attack.
• While in the middle of the road and you feel like taking a break, go ahead and stop your car right there. Just make sure you put your emergency blinkers on. Don’t worry, other cars will just move around you. Think I’m joking? We were unfortunate enough to get stuck behind a bus that was stopped for a time at a red light with its hazard lights on. At first we thought it had broken down, but soon thereafter we saw the driver casually appear in the bus and driving it onwards at the next green light.
• You don’t know the meaning of tailgating until you go to China. All cars are within a foot of each other.
• If traffic is congested, but the opposing traffic isn’t, then go ahead and drive on the wrong side of the street.