The Radiohead Effect

Paste Magazine is by far my favorite magazine. I really enjoy the effort they put into finding meaningful art. They focus mainly on music, but also get into film quite a bit. They touch on other subjects like books and video games as well. Their slogan is "Finding Signs of Life In Music, Film, and Culture." As a busy parent, I have found very little time to search for quality music and films - Paste has been incredibly helpful to me especially in finding new good music. They include CD sampler with each magazine. Their website is also pretty cool, usually highlighting some video and music on their site. On the whole, I find the site to have perhaps too much info, but I suppose that means just about anyone can find something that interests them.

The reason I am blogging about Paste right now is that they have shamelessly ripped off Radiohead's most recent marketing tool by letting you pay what you want for 11 issues (one year) of Paste. If you are interested, check out their offer. I heartily endorse the magazine, and this is a good chance to get an exceptional magazine at a price you appreciate. Did I mention the monthly CD alone is worth it?

Galicia

In my thankful blog, I mentioned I am thankful for the opportunity to live in Galicia. Faith rightfully suggested I might take some time to explain in a little more detail about it.

Galicia (pronounced gah-lee-thee-ah) is the northwest corner of Spain. The Atlantic coast defines the geography to the north and west. It is known as the Costa del Muerte - "the death coast" because the dramatic rocky coasts and poor weather has meant many tragic shipwrecks over the centuries. The land is mountainous (think Appalachians more than Rockies), and Portugal borders to the south. The weather is temperate, and wet. It rains quite a bit (or so we are told - the weather has been unseasonably warm and dry since we arrived) and the result are beautiful green landscapes, and equally beautiful and dramatic rocky coasts.

It is one of Spain's autonomous regions. It is part of Spain, but also enjoys a little more autonomy from other regions of Spain. This is mainly because the people here are a different people group than much of Spain (although to be fair, Spain seems to be comprised of many different people groups). And perhaps even more significantly, they speak their own language here, Gallego (guy-yay-go). It is not a dialect, rather it is a seperate romance language that developed at the same time as Spanish. It shares similarities to both Spanish and Portuguese. Gallego is the official language for government here, so much of the early paperwork we completed was in Gallego, as is most everything that is sent home from Brennan's school. The Gallegos are proud of their language and unique heritage.

This region is truly unique, and it's been a joy to begin to learn about it. We really are only just beginning to learn. My weak attempts at explaining it in a blog will only convey so much. If you like Wikipedia, you can read a little more about Galicia here.

We have taken way too many pictures as we've had chances to sneak out and explore Galicia in the short time we've been here. I've created another album on Picasa you can peruse if you are interested. I apologize in advance for the number of photos. Just recognize I am only posting the best we have taken. I just hope it gives even a small slice of how pretty it is here. As usual, you can click on the photo below to be taken to the online album.

Galicia

More Boat Photos

In one of my early posts I linked some pictures I had taken of boats near our new home. I mentioned that these little boats had really captured my imagination. To further prove my obsession, I have more than doubled the number of photos in my Picasa album. (yes, there are plenty more photos I didn't upload). Click on the photo below to be linked out to the album on Picasa.

Boats

Thankful

We celebrated our Thanksgiving today with other American missionaries living in Coruña. It was as good of a time as we could have asked for. 14 of us crammed cozily in our little apartment. Of course we ate ourselves silly on the standard poultry, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pie, as well as some less standard (but no less good) enchiladas, and chicken corn soup. Certainly we have much to be thankful for. I thought I'd list out just a few.

Galicia

We have had the joy of visiting three different coastal villages on the three weekends prior to thanksgiving. This corner of Spain is unique and beautiful. Stunning really. We sometimes have trouble believing we actually live here now. We thank our father for creating such beauty.

Kids

See No Evil - When 8 month olds get silly.Explorers

As I was looking at pictures of our recent adventures I felt very blessed that our kids can experience all of this. And I am very glad to experience it all with them and in some cases through them. They have a joy in exploring all that is new here that is good to have around. Even trips to the store are exclamation point inducing for the boys. (Incidentally, and only on a hardly related note, I observed today that as a parent I am not a good judge of picture quality when my kids are in them. I keep the worst pictures of my kids because deep down I like the pictures solely because they contain images of my own progeny.)

Community

We feel blessed by the community that we are joining here. The people we have become closest to so far are the other missionaries here with whom we share a language. In addition to that small circle, Vida Nueva church has been very welcoming to us. We are excited about all of the budding relationships we are nurturing there despite our deficient language skills. We look forward to the natural maturation of these relationships as our language skills continue to improve. It is also great to see the kids really connect, play, and have fun with other kids.

La Eternidad

The day after my grandfather passed away, the Spanish word of the day for Faith was La Eternidad - eternity. It was another timely reminder of the gift of eternity that God offers to all. It is so simple to say it, but so true - I am thankful for the gift of eternity. As I processed my mourning for my grandfather I was struck that even after such a long and complete life, death still seems so unfair. Something in me still protests the unfairness of it. I think it gave me a window into the nature of death and the nature of our beings. No amount of time is enough for me, is enough for any of us. We were made with eternity sewn into the fabric of our beings. We were not made for endings. Eternity is the answer we each long for. On earth, no time is enough. So, the solution is literally 'no time.' We were designed to live in timeless eternity with the creator of the universe. I for one am thankful that Grandpa can now breathe deep with his longing for eternity fulfilled. I am grateful that we have a God who would sacrifice himself so we can join him in eternity.

Can you believe I slept in a....?

I ran across this article today about 10 unusual hostels found around the world. Sparked my imagination a bit. Enjoy.

The picture above is of the Point Montara Lighthouse in California. I shamelessly lifted it from the article linked above.

To a Life Well Lived

My grandfather, Wilber Swanson, went home to be with Jesus today at the age of 90.

He had lived with cancer for seemingly 3 years. He was strong, and he was humble. He lived far longer than the doctors suggested he would, strong until the end. My mom also reports that he died very peacefully.

There is much that I want to say about him, but at this time I could not write it well enough. He loved Jesus, he loved his family, and he was a hard worker. He was a part of the aptly named "greatest generation" that had seen so much happen in the world - he and his generation rightly earned that moniker. He was a good Swede and loved fishing. Probably quite appropriately never saw his beloved Cubbies win the World Series (he is obviously not the only one who can say that). He was much loved by his family, and we will miss him. We are in the conflicting place of being sad that he is gone, but glad on 2 counts: that he is no longer suffering, and of much more significance, he is home with his Lord and Saviour today.

We all literally live a moment away from eternity, but so rarely think about it. Heaven always seems so far away from our lives: far from both our daily routines, and far from all of the evil things that happen in our fallen world. But the reality is that from time to time we need to be reminded that heaven is not far away at all. Today we all have one more reason to look forward to going to heaven.

Grandpa, we love you, we miss you, and we can't wait to see you. We'll see you soon.

Impossible Rumors Could Be True

"Wind in the Net"
These days my heart can be black as a raven's wing.
But soon I'll run full circle, let the day begin.
Will you whisper in my ear?
Exchange my small coin fears
For the only rumor I hope is true.

My grandfather told me once, "Stand close to me."
The day he returned to the earth I feared the world would freeze.
Lowered in the cold, cold ground,
His gentle voice still the sweetest sound,
Please let the rumors be true.

Could have been asleep
But I swore that I saw you walking on a stone still sea.

The days, they will come, the days they'll go.
At times they'll make as much sense as a summer snow.
Catch the wind in a net,
Lest we forget
Impossible rumors could be true.

Could have been asleep but I swore that I saw you walking.
Could have been dreaming but I swore that I saw you walking on a stone still sea.

Now it's the fall, killing time in this holy place.
Suddenly everything is spilling with your grace.
Will you whisper in my ear?
Exchange my small coin fears
For the only rumor I hope is true.

Could have been dreaming...
Could have been asleep but I swore that I saw you walking.
Could have been dreaming but I swore that I saw you walking on a stone still sea.

This is one of my favorite songs, by the Harrod and Funck. I have always really connected with the expression of hope and longing in this song. For me it is an expression of my faith - that I am looking to exchange my fears for 'impossible rumors.' There is also this sense of darkness and mourning, yet within this, grace springs out unexpectedly, and everyday places become holy.

Obviously, with the author writing about the death of his grandfather, this song takes on further meaning for me with the passing of my own grandpa today. Songs like this give voice to the thoughts and emotions that are sometimes almost impossible to distill into words. My hope is that you too will be moved and encouraged by this song as I am. In the honor and memory of Grandpa.