Please (continue to) Pray…

Nearly two weeks ago I asked you to please pray for our niece Lacey. Thank you for doing so. The news from the Mayo is encouraging; the bone graft is ‘alive’ but the ends have not grown. What this means is that Lacey is flying home to Hawaii with an ultrasound machine that she will need to use twice a day to stimulate bone growth. She will also be confined to a wheelchair until she comes back for an exam and surgery in September.

We didn’t get a chance to visit her this time, but we will more likely be able to do so in September…which is good news as our car with the best fuel economy has a bum air conditioner. Don’t ever let it be said that God doesn’t look after details.

She’s Not a Dog, She’s a Binkey…

We have a nearly nine-month-old Shih-Tzu puppy named ‘Little Girl’ who’s teaching us about behaviour, why it is important that behaviours be managed, and that all such efforts to manage behaviour follow some sort of formalized behaviour management plan.

Behaviour Factoid ^#1.00: Saying ‘NO’ is not abuse, nor does it inflict any sort of deprivation on the individual toward whom it was directed.

Behaviour Factoid ^#2.00: Being consistent is more important than using the perfect methodology.

Behaviour Factoid ^#2.01: When multiple individuals implement a behaviour plan it is more important that they do the same thing than that they utilize the perfect methodology.

Behaviour Factoid ^#3.00: Automatons are not capable of implementing behaviour management plans; it takes a human being.

Behaviour Factoid ^#4.00: No behaviour management plan can be implemented without a sense of humour and humanity.

Finally, its important to note that the creature described and pictured above is not really a dog…she’s a canine variety known as ‘a Binkey’. Binkey’s are slightly different from the basic canine in fundamentally important ways that have not been extensively researched.

My Shotgun Totin’ Summer…

Tuesday evening we started rehearsals for our community’s production of Oklahoma!. I’m playing Andrew Carnes, the guy holding the shotgun in the picture to the left. I’m a guy who’s looking out for his daughter who is a young lady decidedly lacking of restraint.

My role in the play is to compensate for my daughter’s lack of restraint by managing her interactions with the men in the community via well-timed threats and judicious application of firearm skills. In other words, all of those rounds of trap shooting as a young man have now borne fruit.

More seriously, this has been fun so far, a lot of work but fun work. I’m hoping that my vocal skills will improve somewhat, heaven knows my singing cannot become worse.

I deeply enjoy engaging my local community at this level. There are so many people that I never would have met or even seen if not for our participation in this play. Laurie feels that she was assigned the perfect part…she is part of the Womern’s (sic) Ensemble and will spend her summer dancing and singing her way across the Oklahoma! prairie.

The Solomonesque Navigation of a Minefield…

Our care community has recently been challenged by providing care in a situation that has required great and wise navigational skills due to all of the demands of confidentiality and the dual roles that are a real part of providing human services in a small community. A co-worker and I were focused on managing and controlling an aspect of care management that we, in our roles, could not control.

The part we could control, the day-to-day care and programming for the client, was less attractive for us to discuss as it was more routine…and less dramatic. My co-worker and I were right to discuss and consider the navigation of our ‘minefield’, but I believe that our director had detected a subtile shift in our communication…I believe that he recognized that that we had begun to equate caring for this client with navigating this minefield…and these two things were not the same.

I believe that he wisely realized that most of the individuals involved in this client’s life were focused on the ‘minefield’; and that at least some of us should ignore the ‘minefield’ and immerse ourselves in caring for the client. Therein lies the advantage of roles; the division of duty, perspective and responsibility. Therein lies the joy of submission; the demonstration of trust, faith and relinquishment.

Please Pray…

To the left is a photograph of our niece, Lacey, taken with Laurie and I at the Mayo Clinic last May. She’s heading back to the Mayo early next week because it appears that a bone graft placed in her right leg as part of her treatment for bone cancer may be failing.

We would very much appreciate prayer for Lacey.

This is Cow Food…

This is a photograph of an alfalfa flower cluster. I’ve always been amazed that something so common…a common crop, could be so beautiful, however it doesn’t look at all tasty to me.

This photograph was created on a beautiful day, cool and frustratingly windy so I used a Wimberley Plamp to hold the flower sprig and shot from a tripod.

I was hoping to have a simple, green background and shot against a grassy hillside. My Nikon D70 was used with RAW capture, shot through my 50mm Sigma Macro. RAW processing was with Raw Shooter Essentials, further processing with Photoshop Elements.

Dreaming of Church…

I’m linking (Hat Tip to Michael at the Tavern) to Dan Kimball’s post I dream of a church… and also copying it in my extended entry. Wonderful, touching words from the heart of people pastored by a man with an obvious heart for people. Well done Dan. Read it and weep…I did.

Nouwen on Spiritual Leadership…

In The Wounded Healer Henri Nouwen writes:

When we look at the implications of our prognosis for the Christian ministry of the future, it appears as though three roles ask for special attention. 1.) The leader as an articulator of inner events; 2.) The leader as a man of compassion; 3.) The leader as a contemplative critic.

Quoting Josh…

A fellow Fellow at Boar’s Head Tavern wrote this wonder on his personal blog. I’m quoting it because, at least from my point of view, Josh’s personal blogging efforts have short half-life’s.

Showy Orchid…

The flower to the left is a Showy Orchid, it is a native of Minnesota Woods but quite rare. We saw our first in our woods last year, this year we have hundreds hiding under logs in wet, shady areas. The blossom is about three-quarters of an inch in height, less than one-half wide. I spent some time on the forest floor with this one a couple of weeks ago.

Lighting is tough on the forest floor. It’s very diffuse and quite dark. This image shows some grain as I was pushing things to ISO 800 or so. Slow shutter speeds are a must as a fairly tight aperture is needed to maintain enough depth-of-field with a macro lens to bring the entire flower into focus. Sometimes, as in this photograph, I add a bit of low-powered flash from my on-camera unit. This photograph was taken with a Nikon D70 equipped with a 50mm Sigma Macro. As there is not room for a tripod under the camera when shooting from ground level I use the Pod under my camera, a sort of beanbag with a screw-in tripod fitting that attaches it to the base of the camera.