Coming up...

My life is going 100 miles per hour right now.

My parents will be here on Wednesday.  Then, I go back to Chicago with them.  I visit ten days there.

Stop right there.

I'm visiting Chicago.  VISITING being the key word.  I've been pondering what it will feel like to go back and see some of the people I love most in this world, but feel like I'll be going "home" in a few days.  I have seriously settled myself down in Kansas City.  And this will be different.  I was pointing this out to my sister the other day...that this will be the first time I'll be there feeling like I'll be going "home" to somewhere else...and she pointed out: "And COLLEGE is just around the corner!"

Anyways, Chicago people!  I am SO excited to see you!  Get ready!

Then, I'm flying to California.  I haven't been there in a long time!!  I'm going for TheCall on November 1.  And then, I'll be back in Kansas City.   Back to my sisters, back to my bed, back to those babies.  Oh my goodness, two weeks without my babies.  What am I going to do??

Glorie Update

Here is the video I promised of the first time we visited Baby Sam...is it cute or WHAT?

Honestly, I'm the one who needs the Glorie update.  She has been really sick for five days (praise the Lord her fever finally broke last night!) and I have been consumed with McDowell-baby land...I feel like I haven't seen her at all!  When she and Lizzie picked me up this morning to watch her for the day, I was reminded of just how sweet she is!  She bounded back to the swings behind our house, her curls bouncing up and down in the sunshine, and was just her sweet self.  

And, she has totally grown so much since I was last with her...she's speaking more fully, repeating more words clearly...she's just more of a girl! that I can actually talk to!

Have you noticed that I don't do this every week?

Raise your hand if you can't believe I missed the Song of the Week installment TWO DAYS after getting the new Merchant Band cd.

Well, you're right.  The song, however, is not from the cd.

Anti-climactic, I know.

Enjoy "Sing to Jesus".

We've sung it in church over the past few weeks...  There are some songs that are just different when you're singing them in praise than when you're just listening to them, and this song might be one of them.  I hope not, though...I hope as you listen it grabs your heart and makes you want to sing.  :)

The Instrument

I play the piano.  I promise, I do.

But, I haven't played in a while.  Like, really played.  I had this performance in the spring:

And since then, me and the piano have had a little bit of a disconnect.  We haven't gone through much separation anxiety, and there's been no weeping.  But...I do miss it.

I kind of miss my piano dreams more than the actual playing I've been able to do in my history.  I miss the thought of practicing enough to have a few beautiful pieces memorized and flawless to play for people.  I miss the way I wanted to be so good and have my technique refined... 

Maybe I miss playing on beautiful pianos, and I miss playing in a place where it is so appreciated.  Our piano at home in Chicago is actually a very nice piano.  It is an upright Steinway that was the piano on a Navy ship... my Grandad acquired it off the ship somehow (I'm guessing it was a ship he served on), they stripped off the battleship grey paint, had it (many years later) re-constructed inside, and it is now a beautiful wood with a really nice sound.  

The other factor is music school...for the past three years I went every Saturday to music school for 3-5 hours.  I got to sing in large choirs, perform with small choirs, and play on beautiful pianos.  Every week, I got to sit and touch perfectly tuned ivory keys that ran right into the shiny black walls of the uprights in every classroom...and then, once in a while, I got my hands on a baby grand.  The cake topper, of course, was the once a year I got to play the Concert Grand you see in the video.  That piano is beautiful.  You can't see into the body in the video, but when the lid is lifted, the inside is all a gold color with knobs covered in red fabric, the keys are perfectly light and weighted at the same time, and the resonating sound it puts out is fabulous.

Dreamy.

Beyond the actual instruments, and even though I complained about it enough (I'm serious...I probably complained EVERY WEEK), there was a part of music school that was very rewarding. (Yes, even in theory class, which is the bane of most music students' existence).  There was the sense that what you are doing with music is SO IMPORTANT.  Now, I totally recognize that there is a part of this that is very damaging, and I often have not looked favorably on this all-consuming part of the music that many people put their lives into...  But I'm just saying that it was nice to have the classical music I played be important to someone.

I think the piano is wonderful.  I couldn't and wouldn't want to devote my entire life to the study of it, but I love having it on the side.  I wish I devoted a little bit more time to it, to develop it further and be able to keep playing for a very, very long time.

Part of not having developed to the point I want to is my own fault.  I've never been a big practicer...so, especially now that I don't have a teacher, my playing has definitely fallen by the wayside.  :)  

Oh, piano.  Are we friends?

P.S.

Spiritual issues are of more importance than "political issues".  

My post below is the way it is because I see the issue of abortion as more of a spiritual issue than a "political" one.  

The laws and the people we choose to make those laws play such a huge role in it, though, so I believe that it is important how we make our voting choices.  

The post below is written primarily concerning the legal issue of abortion and why it is spiritually important.  I want to say that for every person involved in abortion -- the doctors, the nurses, the mothers, the children who survived -- there is absolute healing, forgiveness, and restoration in the person of Christ.  Fall into Him.

Some issues are MORE important

There are so many ideas swirling in my head right now.

I have been wanting to write this post for a long time.  On Saturday, I got the new Merchant Band cd, and there is a song on there that has basically made me start swirling inside (not in anger, just in passion).  I listen to it a couple times a day, and it just pushes me to want to write this all the sooner.

I must preface.  There is one God.  He dictates right and wrong, and His laws are perfect and they are absolute.  I realize that my views will make no sense if the reader doesn't understand that I fully believe that there is only one right answer.  Jesus Christ is the only way to God...the only way to heaven.  Some would call it intolerant to claim that the way you have decided on is right for everyone else.  I say that I am responsible before God for whether or not I stood for His truth.

Preface #2: I am not writing this blog out of concern for our economy, or foreign policy, although those things are very important.  Part of what I want to say, though, is that there are things that are MORE important.  I'm writing more out of the cry of my heart as I hold my five-day-old nephew and know that that are forty-eight million babies like him that are dead partly because our country chose to not stand for righteousness thirty-five years ago.

Some say it's wrong to be a one-issue voter.  When I hear that argument, I can't get away from the way I feel that problems in ideology aren't the root problem.  Spiritual problems, issues of the soul, are really at the root of the ways we think and act.  Because of this belief, I can't imagine that someone like Obama who is so wrong on an issue like abortion can be trusted with everything else.  It's not because he couldn't figure out how to do things right, or have good advisors who can give him smart ideas about how to deal with Iran...it's because he's wrong in such a VITAL way, that I can't imagine trusting him with other issues.  {Not that I think McCain is necessarily a Christian, but at least he stands for LIFE and has, more importantly to me, chosen a running partner who understands the reality of this issue}

Abortion IS a vital issue.  Proverbs 6 says:

There are six things that the LORD hates,

   seven that are an abomination to him:

 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

   and hands that shed innocent blood,

 a heart that devises wicked plans,

    feet that make haste to run to evil,

 a false witness who breathes out lies,

   and one who sows discord among brothers.

Life begins at conception.  God told Jeremiah:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations." [Jer. 1:5]

These "festuses" are not groups of chemicals that are formed by evolution or purely physical things...God says that HE is the one who forms us in the womb.  When an abortion is performed, a life and body that God was in the midst of knitting together is destroyed.

Having established that abortion takes a life, and that God hates when innocent blood is shed, the questions obviously move to the state of things now...  How does God see it?  God is perfectly just and mind-blowingly merciful.  He HATES the shedding of innocent blood.  How can we expect him to sit back and not respond?  

FORTY-EIGHT MILLION BABIES.  God knew each and every one.  Can we really expect Him to remain silent?  God's judgment is as real as His mercy.  We cannot forget it.

So...what should we do?  Pray.  Ask the Lord for mercy.  But I think we can also understand that mercy might look different than we could expect.  I believe it will be His mercy if He turns the hearts of our nation to want to choose righteousness.  Shaking, however, can also be mercy...it can be God's way of giving humans a chance to choose Him.

But on the political side: I believe it's more important for us to vote on the issue of abortion than on energy independence or homeland security.  We are responsible before God for what has happened in our country.  Whoever we elect will answer to God for the decisions they make.

I want to point out that this isn't at all about our nation being a Christian nation or making everyone be a Christian.  I hope that as many people as possible will choose Jesus, but it's not about forcing people to.  I'm writing about the reality that we are ALL accountable to God for our actions, whether we are a Christian, a Buddhist, the President or Chief Justice of the United States, or the President of Peru.  A nation doesn't have to be a Christian nation to be responsible before God for the choices it makes.  It is a reality that everyone will stand before this God, the only God, the God of the Bible (who is NOT the same as Allah, or Buddha, or Krishna) and answer to him...everyone will at some point acknowledge that Jesus is Lord...hopefully that point will be before their time on this earth is over.  You don't have to be a Christian nation to be guilty before God for making choices that don't match His precepts.

And we are guilty.  We are.  On OUR watch, millions of babies have been killed.  

I understand the argument that even if we outlaw abortion, they will happen illegally.  I want to say that outlawing abortion is about more than making sure women don't make the choice to have one performed.  It's partly about honoring God...our country, our courts, our President, need to make choices that honor God.  Not doing so will have terrible consequences.  We damage ourselves when we choose to live in rebellion against God.  It is partly His mercy that leads Him to judgment...because we send ourselves down such a terrible path when we try to walk apart from Him.

It's not that I love McCain...I don't. I wasn't excited that he was the pick.  But I know that we cannot elect Obama.  We cannot because he is so wrong in his stance on issues of paramount importance to God.  The shedding of innocent blood cannot go unpunished.  

Please don't think that I am curled up on my couch, in fear of Obama being elected, and believing that if only we can keep him out of the White House, our world will be perfect again.  Definitely not.  I don't think McCain is perfect.  But I think it will be a terrible reality check of the desperate place our country is in if Obama gets elected.  Sin will be around until Jesus comes back, but our choices STILL MATTER.  

There is much more to say.  About adoption as part of the solution, about the issue of Proposition 8, about whether or not peace really is possible.  But I think this is long enough.  I hope I've expressed these ideas clearly.

Please click HERE and visit Merchant Band's myspace page and listen to the song "Standing in the Gap".  I remember the onething conference where the LIFE prayer was begun after the dream.  Now, I work for TheCall, and my mind is constantly reminded of this.  Our next gathering is November 1 in San Diego.  There is a 40 Day Fast going on right now focusing on praying for the election, and for breakthrough in California.

Please let me know what you think...I will probably write again about stuff like this...

Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation.  God, end abortion and send revival to America.

Coolest Kids on the Block

Kids #1 & 2 (Marcus and Tim):

I think Merchant Band has the coolest cd names ever.  They are my favorite band, so I'm probably biased but still...  The World Can Wait:

The world really CAN wait...I think it's a good title.

But then... Let the Weak Speak.

You have to admit.  It's pretty cool.

Kids 3 & 4 (Brandon and Beka):

These are wonderful people.  Here's their blog.  They are full of passion and fun, and I was so excited to get to know them in DC.  I want to share with you a slideshow of them: Click Here!  They re-took their wedding pictures (they've been married for two years), and ever since I heard they were doing it, I waited very expectantly to see them!  I just had to link to it, though, because I love that song in the background.  Beka and Brandon wrote and sing that song, and I think it is wonderful.  They are AMAZINGLY talented.  I also love these pictures because of Bekah's wedding dress story.  On the left hand side of their blog, you can click on links to read/watch their love story.  I heard it in person a month or two ago, and it stirred my heart in a very special way.  

One of the coolest parts for me was the story of Bekah's dress.  She explained how she saw it, and looked for it, but needed the Lord to provide it!  She found one on eBay, then had the Lord encounter her TWICE in dreams to release her to buy it.  As they were telling the story, she ran into her room to pull out the box of mementos that go with the story, and she pulled out the picture of the dress that she had seen and ripped out of a magazine.  As it was passed around, I got excited, and a little more excited, and when it finally got to me...I was amazed.  It was the exact picture that I saw maybe two or three years ago (probably somewhere in the middle of sister-wedding-world) that I looked at and thought that it was the perfect dress, and that I would remember it until I got married, and try to find it.  I've remembered it, and, there it was.  Good choice, Beka!  ;)  Just kidding...something about the whole story-connection-thing encouraged my heart.

So, all that to say...enjoy the pictures AND the music.  Make sure you really enjoy the music.  Oh, and, Beka is herself an amazingly talented photographer.  Like, amazingly talented.  There is a flickr feed embedded on the side of their blog, also.  Oh, AND...that couple whose pictures are at the top of the feed are two other super fun friends I've met here.  They also have an unbelievably amazing love story of the way God pulled them together.  I'm telling you, those fairy tales flow like water round these parts.

So maybe those first couples ones aren't actually kids.  These ones are...

Kids #5, 6, 7, and 8:

The Simplicity of Joy

I have to admit that it's easy to find my heart getting disconnected from the reality of the return of Christ.  Today, however, I was reminded of just what a wonder this marvelous plan of His is...

It began with Ariel asking me a simple question about the devil.  One of those questions where the answer is "I don't know" but you can use it to lead to talking about other things.  I began to tell her about how we don't have to worry about the devil because Jesus beat him forever.  This, of course, led her to ask more questions like how the devil would someday be dead forever.

THEN...

Then I explained to her about how a long time ago, when he was in Mary's tummy, Jesus was on earth with us.  Then he died and rose again and isn't dead anymore.  But, He's in heaven.  He's with us in our hearts, but He is in heaven.

THEN...

Then the wonder happened.  Then I told her that someday soon Jesus will come back and be with us again on the earth and when He comes, He will make the devil go away forever.

The thing that left me in awe was Ariel's reaction.  As I told her that Jesus was COMING BACK the most glorious, joyful smile spread across her face.  Her gasp of excitement sparked a charge in the conversation.  Her eyes brightened, and her huge smile lit up the room and my heart.  

A child's simplicity.  She doesn't know the details of the Trinity.  She hasn't studied commentaries.  She can't even read the Bible for herself yet.  Yet the joy, the realization of how wonderful Jesus is, already floods her heart, and she pours out that amazement that has already captured her gaze with no reserve.

It's that simple.  Jesus loves us.  We love Him back.  He is COMING.  And that is mind-blowing, freeing, hope-bringing, and simply WONDERFUL.

Life with a New Baby

I may be a little bit unqualified to write this since

1. Baby "Ike" has only been home for, oh, about 8 hours
2. I'm not his mom

But...I do live with him, and I feel as if I can quite confidently say that having a baby around is like nothing else.  

His little cry is a lot like, um, a squeal.  His legs are the very DEFINITION of "scrawns."  Here's him in the coming home outfit I bought him:

I think it's so interesting how his little feet and hands are all wrinkled.  I wonder what he's thinking about when he scrunches his eyebrows while he's asleep.  I love the way he just curls up into a little ball when you snuggle him.

I held him while I ate dinner today.  I held him while I listened to the new Merchant Band cd.  I held him while he birped.  I held him when he was awake and I held him when he was asleep.   

This little mister.  He's stolen my heart.

The Mitter

These pictures of me have a bit of an element of mad scientist hair.  Just saying.  And I look really tired (which I am) and my hand is gargantuantly big.  Other than that, we're all good.

New Little Man

Samuel Eisenhower McDowell

Born 10/2/2008. 2:19 pm. 8lb 14 oz.

He's amazing! His little face is so sweet...

I took Ariel and Judah to Target earlier today, and they each got a little toy to bring their new brother. Judah kept wanting to put his directly in the warmer and I kept having to tell him that the baby wasn't quite ready for it yet. :) We all visited, everyone is doing great, and the kids are quite taken with the new baby.

When Judah was born, I was the only family out there are there was something so special about bringing Ariel to the hospital and meeting him at just a few hours old. This time, it was all of us, and it was SO fun to be altogether. I have the cutest video to post (once I can snatch the camera from Liz) of Peter holding Glorie over the warmer and teaching her how to say "Baby Sam".

I am so thankful, that I did have a very special moment this time around, and I think it was just the Lord being kind to me. :) I was the only one with Judah when we got the Picture Message that anounced that he had been born! I showed Judah the picture (which he asked to see again later) and then got to talk with him all about baby brother, and how excited he was to see "brother". I got him all handsomed up in a cute outfit, and we talked about how Judah could share his hat and his cars with the baby once he was big enough. Judah decided that Samuel will like McQueen and Dinoco. Lizzie came to pick us up because Mom was out with Ariel in the car. This is when two very hilarious things happened:

• I left the house with Judah without his shoes. I didn't notice. I then went back into the house, locked the door, and came out. When we realized he didn't have any shoes on, I realized Mom had the keys. Poor kid went the whole night without shoes
• Judah's carseat was in the car Mom had (which left before we found out there was a baby!) We would not, however, be deterred by this. Liz brought Glorie's old carseat (aka the one she came from the hospital in) and we put Judah in that. So, the two year old rode in the ifnant car seat facing backwards all the way to the hospital. We prayed for protection and Liz drove carefully.

Let's see...other interesting parts...

Judah insisted he didn't want Lizzie to pick us up to go see the baby...because he didn't want to wait. I asked him if he just wanted us to walk, and he said yes. Then I tried to convince him that it was actually faster in the long run to wait for Lizzie to drive us in the car.

On Suzy's part, I think it was pretty much a dream labor. Fantastic!

Then, OF COURSE, we went to Chick-fil-A. How could you not?

I am so excited to be living with them as this little man is finally here! It's so amazing...you wait nine months and then all of a sudden, there's a REAL baby. Like, a real one. That you hold. And he cries. And has a name like Eisenhower (which I LOVE! I told Suz me and him can be history nerds together). He's REAL. I love him.

*I'm sorry I don't have a picture to post at the moment, but Suz and OJ took my camera to the hospital with them, and Lizzie has hers. Don't worry...I will proudly show this little guy off as soon as I can!*

Special Day

Today's the day!

As I type, Ariel and Judah are drawing on the whiteboard beside me. They have to be downstairs because I have to get ready, and, well...I'm the only one with them right now! Their parents are, at this moment, at the hospital about to have a baby!!

A new nephew will be met later today, and I am bursting with excitement!! Ariel is still wondering at how small the baby will be, and Judah, I think...doesn't quite get it. But that's okay! He will later!

So, I must sign off, get ready (I'm thinking of wearing my scarf today...woohoo) and take these kids to do something seriously FUN!