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It’s Christmas morning — K is cooking up a new recipe of pancakes (“Orange Cloud Pancakes”), the kids are alternately gawking at unopened presents (which must wait until after breakfast) and making cards for various people. Thanks to Global Warming, we have a wonderful white Christmas, replete with ice on the ground and blowing snow.
We’re having a old-fashioned NY winter here so far. There is a good foot of snow on the ground, which showed up in 3-6″ doses over last week. The kids had school canceled twice. Of course, snow means sledding and sledding means… Well, let’s just say W’s birthday was a bit anticlimactic for him — or you could say it was all too exciting.
We celebrated the twin’s birthday at lunch (ice cream cake!) and headed outside to shovel (again) and play a bit. Both kids had gotten so into sledding that they insisted they could go it alone. W’s first solo trip down the hill was exciting for him and everything seemed to go well. The second trip was disastrous. He went flying down the hill, screaming happily, and whacked right into a sign post. He was still screaming, but it wasn’t so happy.
It was quickly apparent that he wasn’t just crying out of fear, so I packed him up and headed for the hospital. Sure enough, the poor little guy had broken his clavical. Some birthday present.
We’re told that, if you’re going to break a bone, it’s the best one to break — it heals relatively quickly and ususally without complications. But that medical fact doesn’t stop it from hurting. But W is a tough little guy and put a brave face on the whole thing. He almost wouldn’t admit to the doctor that his shoulder hurt.
It’s been almost a week since the crash and he’s improving daily — Christmas morning helped him figure out how to get out of bed by himself. Though he’s not using his hurt arm much, being one-handed didn’t slow him down in the least when it came to opening presents!
As Grandparents requested, I’ll try to get some Christmas pictures online later today. For now, there is a bumch of cooking and cleaning for the company coming later. Between the roast lamb and fresh pizzelles, there is no where in the world I’d rather be than right here this afternoon!
I hope you’re feeling the same way this afternoon — Merry Christmas!
Fall has always been my favorite time of year. There is something about the change in the air, especially here in NY, that I just love. I’ve always liked wearing flannel and having extra blankets on the bed.
It’s a been quite a while since I posted. The kids are now in the local public school, enjoying daily, half-day preschool. They are getting quite a kick out of waiting for the bus every day. Usually we wait 10 to 15 minutes outside because they can’t stand to wait inside until closer to bus time.
It was Homecoming and the 125 Anniversary of celebration for Houghton College this past weekend. It was really a great event. The biggest highlight, especially for the kids, was the festivities on the Quad — there was a Ferris wheel and a couple of those giant blow-up slides/obstacle courses. Everything else going on paled in comparison to those (well, with the possible exception of the candy gathered from the parade). (Click on the Flickr box to the left for some images of Homecoming & the kids.)
The biggest thing about Homecoming for me was the general atmosphere of excitement and crowds. Because of our location and the woodland setting, even when college is in session, campus can feel empty and the college’s problems can feel overwhelming. (I know the Lord will provided as long as He wants us here, but the feeling persists if you let it.) With the crowds, laughing children, silly college students, smiling professors (well, mostly smiling) and friends from the community all packed onto campus and enjoying the festivities, cares and concerns seem distant and of less importance.
I’m sure this is one reason why the Lord prescribed Feast Days for his people. There were specific times of gathering, eating, joyously talking and the inevitable silliness that ensues. All of this, when done in the proper context and with the right attitudes, amounts to a kind of worship — taking God at His word and enjoying a feast He Himself has prescribed for us.
Yes, the troubles remain, the problems must be solved. But like a tired worker coming in from the fields, the work can be taken up again with renewed strength after a hearty meal and table fellowship with fellow workers.
Perhaps this is another reason I like the Fall season — it is a time when several feast days are close together; a promise of renewal amidst the falling leaves and failing warmth.
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of travel, family, dirt and new experiences for the kidders. It began with a week long visit to Karen’s family in DE. Jon’s family from Hawaii was able to come in, so we had a rare chance to visit with all Karen’s brothers & families. Warren and Nicole have met everyone in the past, but I think this is the first time they will remember.
One of the goals for this trip to DE was to get the kids to the beach. We headed south to Cape Henlopen, a traditional spot for the Reeses. It’s the quintessential East Coast beach, complete with large crowd blanked around the boardwalk access — all in all, everything a beach is supposed to be to people living on this end of the country.
Nicole and Warren both got right into the waves. This surprised us a bit as Warren woke up scared to go to the beach that morning (there might be sharks!). The surf was high, so we were able to get some body-boarding in & the kids got to experience getting bowled over by the ocean. (Nicole was quite proud of herself for going all the way underwater.) The rest of the day was spent running in and out of the waves, catching sand crabs and digging in the sand.
Later in the week, Nicole and Warren got to see their first in-theater movie, “Wall-E”. It’s billed as a kids movie and rated G, but I think 90% of it was way over kid’s heads. There was more social criticism than entertainment in it — but there was also lots of robots running, flying, scooting, and bouncing around, so fun was had by all. Well, almost… Nicole declared herself bored about 45 minutes in, but I suspect that would have been true of any movie.
Last week JP, Josie & Jordan came from Indiana to go hunting Herkimer “diamonds” with us. This was a trip JP & I had discussed for literally years. Middleville, NY is about 3 hours from here, at the base of the Adirondacks. We camped & worked at the Ace of Diamonds Mine. There are other options in the area, but most rock-hounds end up at the Ace.
This was Nicole & Warren’s first camping trip and first real rock-hounding experience. They did very well camping (using sleeping bags in the tent actually out-shined ’smores). Rock picking was a bit harder on them. We had a few problems, mostly associated with just being 4 year olds.
The first day, we tried breaking some of the hard rock beneath the pocket layer of the mine (feel free to ask if you really want to know). That involves real sledge & wedge work, not exactly 4 year old fare. We got a few good crystals out of it, but it was just too boring for JP’s girls & our kids. We had good luck hunting about the debris piles for crystals others missed; the Thorpes went home with some really nice pieces.
Because the first day was rough around the edges, we debated leaving a day earlier than planned. But we finally decided to stay. We changed venue a bit though and went for the well-weathered material at the top of the hill. The crystals there are not as nice as those in the deeper layers, but they’re much easier to get to — and you can work in the shade. A big plus since day 2 turned out to be cloudless & around 90.
The kids had a lot more fun working in the dirt, but only made it to about mid-day before they were obviously ready to head home. Even so, I’d call it a successful trip for a first go. They’re already talking fondly of it and speculating on which friend they’ll take along next time.
So the summer is half gone. Things promise to get quicker from here. Karen has a conference coming up in Bloomington, I have a business trip later in August and the semester begins in earnest shortly after. It’s almost time to start thinking about where to go for a family rock hunt next year…. we haven’t been to the South in quite a while.
Our first Torraca nephew was born on Tuesday! Here are the vitals:
Nicholas William Torraca
10:20pm, Tuesday, July 24, 2007
7lbs 3/4oz
22″
Welcome little guy! Congrats Mom A & Pop E!
I just finished the family letter about our move. Instead of mailing a letter to everyone, we decided to go with a simple picture postcard that includes our new contact information and a URL for the family letter: http://www.torraca.net/houghton.
We’ll send out the first few picture postcards today — hopefully the rest are soon to follow.
I just posted some recent family pictures online at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22314586@N00/sets/72157600761881306/
There are also some gemology photos, if you’re interested. I’ll try to add more as time allows.
I decided to set up a Flickr photo stream rather than try to maintain my own system on this site. Flickr is a huge contributed photo website and has become very, very refined. It’s rather more powerful than anything I can set up here. There are literally thousands of wonderful photographs by professionals and talented amateurs — and thousands more from people just playing with a point & shoot camera like me. Check out the “Explore” link at the top of the Flickr pages and you’ll see some amazing images.
A word of warning: Flickr hosts almost whatever pictures people upload. They have a policy against out-right pornography, but there are plenty of “artistic” images that mature Christians would likely define as pornography. I don’t think you’ll accidentally stumble on this kind of thing while exploring Flickr, but you will find it if you actively seek it.
We made it to Houghton and have all our stuff in the house — though it’s more like a jungle of boxes and packing paper at the moment. Still, it’s home!
Well, our time in Indiana is at an end. Lord willing, on Monday the movers will come and put the bulk of our stuff into a giant truck and head toward NY. I’m really looking forward to things being concluded here. I’m really looking forward to being in next week, even though it means a house without AC, tons of boxes and disoriented, grumbly cats. I’m really looking forward to digging into the new life God has planned for us.
Tomorrow is our last day at church. It’s going to be a hard morning, especially for the kids. It will be hard because we’re loved. That’s the lesson the Lord had for me here. It’s not some high, profound insight of theology or moving, mystical experience — just a simple and deep lesson in the importance of community and loving each other in the Body of Christ.
I’m sure the names and faces here will fade with time, just as our names and faces will fade for them. What I must try to remember from them is their example of simple openness and ready caring. I need to make an effort to emulate their example when I re-enter a community of academicians who are prone to value profound thinking over loving practice.
Driving in the family van, someplace in Western, NY:
“Look kids! That’s where marshmallows come from!”
“Wow, Dad! Marshmallows!”
“Look at the giant marshmallows!”
“Peter! What did you say that for? No, kids those are….”
It tooks us about 45 minutes to convince them that Daddy was only joking and those were really hay bails.
Well, we’re dual mortgagees now. Hopefully it’ll only be for a short time. The pic on the right is the front of our new home. It’s quite different from everything we’ve owned before. It was built in 1918 and has some wonderful period woodwork inside. It’s amazingly quite even though it sits right on the main road going through Houghton. Thankfully, the house is within walking distance of campus, so Karen doesn’t have to drive to work. With gas prices being what they are, that little detail is now quite important.
I’m looking forward to getting back to NY, taxes and politics notwithstanding. There is something different about the air in New York. Perhaps it’s just the difference in the trees and earth. Perhaps it is just the fact that I grew up there and thus it’s more like home to me. Whatever the case, I’m eager to get back to it and happy that the kids will get to grow up there – unless the Lord has another surprise lined up for us.
Houghton College? Yes, we’re heading back to college. Except this time we won’t be students. Karen will be Houghton’s Professor of Organic Chemistry. There is, of course, a larger story here, but I’m not ready to write it just yet. The short version is that the Lord has called us to participate in what He’s doing at Houghton College.
Our Indiana home is stumbling it’s way toward being sold. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy road this time. Still, the Lord wants us to be at Houghton so things will work out. It’s not an easy process for us, but I believe that’s the tool the Lord is using to teach us some things right now. If we come to mind, please keep us in prayer!
