Intellectuelle   Lexie

Like Marla, I discovered C.S. Lewis in college. Mere Christianity, A Grief Observed, and The Screwtape Letters were my favorites. Then I had kids, four of them in just over four years. C.S. who? The “What to Expect” series and other parenting books became my reading staples, with occasional scrapbooking magazines thrown in. I couldn’t remember the last time I went to a library.

Then it was time to think about home schooling our small brood. It wasn’t a matter of if we would home school, it was a matter of how. Simply ordering curriculum wouldn’t do. Off to the library I went to revisit the how and why of education through the ages.

Actually, it was on to the internet I went. Thanks to the Austin Public Library’s website, I was able to browse the online catalog, request items from any APL branch and pick them up at the desk of my local library branch. What a lovely use of technology. (Interesting that the library changed started limiting the number of online requests not too long after that. Not sure if I my loads of requests had anything to do with it.) I didn’t realize how much I had missed reading. It seemed a dormant part of my brain was in bloom again.

Over the next four years I kept my brain engaged by home schooling my older children, as well as a few others from outside the family. One of the best things about teaching is how much I learn. Talking with other moms about curriculum, learning styles, etc. provided much needed grown up conversation. Add another flower to my mental bouquet.

Last year was my first school year to teach only my children. This freed up “disk space” in my brain as well as time to read things not related to home schooling or children. An invitation to join a monthly meeting of Christian women requiring a year long commitment to read one book a month provided more opportunity for growth. It also stimulated my desire to talk about ideas with women. Those meeting times always seem too short. Thankfully, I also have a few friends that scratch the book conversation itch but the day-to-day demands of life restrict our talk times. More cerebral seeds are planted, but how will they grow?

Enter the blog. I knew of blogs, but I didn’t know blogs. Because I listen to sports talk on the radio I knew Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks’ owner, had a blog. That’s all I knew about blogs until that fateful day in April 2005.

It seemed like just another evening doing dishes in my meticulously kept house. Beneath the June Clever façade, my brain was doing somersaults. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to talk to somebody about what I had been reading. Some of the assumptions and unanswered questions in Judith Warner’s Perfect Madness were striking a nerve. A friend & I had touched on the subject, but I wanted more discussion about it. The blog idea had been floating around my mind along with the idea of developing my writing skills. The book, the blog and the brain all collided on April 19, 2005. A quick Internet search on Perfect Madness uncovered a blog that briefly mentioned it. That was it. I needed a blog. I needed a book about blogs. No blog books available at the library. Barnes & Noble had a copy of Hugh Hewitt’s Blog. Within minutes I was in B&N furiously taking notes. (Surreal moment alert: Evangelical Outpost made it into my notes as a must read.) Later that night Lexical Light was born into an environment brimming with growth potential.

This ecosystem has weeds to pull, seed stealing varmints, and other dangers. It also has beautiful places of brilliant growth tended by thoughtful, caring gardeners. Some areas enrich the mind, some encourage the heart and some do both.

So, welcome to Intellectuelle. Join us as we cultivate our garden into a place where hearts and minds come together. A place where women who like to think can flourish as designed. It won’t always be tranquil. Sometimes we’ll have to dig in the dirt to produce beauty, but the fertilizer of choice will be the non-stinking kind. In time we’ll have a diverse selection of colors, fragrances, fruit and flowers for you to enjoy. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to take a cutting from our garden to grow in yours.

 Do you smell the smoke coming from your computer? If so, don’t worry. It’s just my brain.

Adrian Warnock issued a Bible blog challenge to intrepid men & women. The challenge was to read a series of Bible verses and develop a composite of what they say about the impact of authority and submission. Because the topic hit home and would provide blog fodder, I decided to give it a shot. This is the first installment of what I learned.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be glad to hear from me. I’ve created a revolutionary birth certificate that may help him out.

Gov. Romney is taking some heat from gay rights advocates for refusing to change the “Father” and “Mother” blanks on birth certificates to “Parent A” and “Parent B” blanks. (HT: Kathleen Parker’s article on townhall.com.)

Birth certificates used to be simple, providing basic information about a baby’s birth: the place of birth, the date and time of birth, medical information, the father’s name, the mother’s name, etc. Easy stuff. That was then, this is now.

Would a "New and Improved Birth Certificate" have helped this situation?

Would it have made the parties involved even more aware of the complexities of the consequences of their choices?

Update: After reading the article more closely (there's an idea) the answer to my question is no. I don't think it would have mattered. Here's an overview of the facts per the article:

• 58 year old man, Stephen F. Melinger, enters into a surrogacy contract with a woman via a company.
• Midway through the pregnancy, Melinger says he may not be the biological dad so he has to apply for adoption. 
• At some point, the surrogate mom  signed a consent form saying she was the biological mom. 
• The question of an egg donor has been raised because the surrogate mom is black and Melinger is white. The babies are white. However, his race doesn't matter if his sperm wasn't used.
• To further complicate things, the babies are now in foster care because Melinger's abilitry to care for them is being questioned.

In light of this, my idea of a new "birth" certificate wouldn't matter.  Maybe they need a "conception" certificate to certify the conception. I know it sounds ridiculous and intrusive, but while attorneys and courts try to unravel this mess, two babies are waiting for a home.

(HT: "When is Surrogacy Simple?" from feminine genius via Charmaine Yoest.)

Now for something completely different...

Here's the story, of a lovely lady
Who was bringing up three very lovely girls
Two of them had straight brown hair, from wherever
The oldest one had curls

Here's the story, of a man named Smith
Who was married to said lady in the first verse
In addition to the girls, they had boy
Alas, he had no curls

Then one day when this lady started blogging....

That's my Samantha/Brady Bunch inspired intro to my bio.  Hope neither of them hurt too much.

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57

October marks the first full month of autumn, known for cooler weather and brilliant colors. In Texas it means football. The Austin area’s largest display of fall color isn’t the trees seen along the winding Hill Country roads. It’s the rolling sea of burnt orange that crests downtown at the DKR-Texas Memorial stadium on game days, friends and strangers celebrating the Longhorn cause. It reminds me of a church service at MHC (my home church). 

According to this Newsweek article Anne Rice, author of a series of vampire books, has stopped writing about fictional creatures that live on the blood of others. Now she’s writing about a supernatural being who shed His blood for others.

Yep, she’s gone from writing about Lestat to penning a novel about Jesus as a boy, but it’s not just a change in genre. Per the article it seems that it’s a change of heart. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord."