"We must have some room to breathe. We need freedom to think and permission to heal. Our relationships are being starved to death by velocity. No one has the time to listen, let alone love. Our children lay wounded on the ground, run over by our high-speed good intentions. Is God now pro-exhaustion? Doesn't He lead people beside the still waters anymore? Who plundered the wide-open spaces of the past, and how can we get them back? There are no fallow lands for our emotions to lie down and rest in. We miss them more than we suspect.

Certainly one cannot blame all the pains of the world on lack of margin. But it is fair to say that the lack of margin is a much greater component of our pain than most realize.

As we subjugate progress, we first make it subservient to our greater goals and needs, especially relationships. We once again practice economics 'as if people mattered.' We once again agree that things do not own us and are not even very important. We once again assert that jobs are only jobs, that cars are only organized piles of metal, that houses will one day fall down - but that people are important beyond description. We once again assert that love stands supreme above all other forces, even to the ends of the universe and beyond."

~from Margin by Richard A. Swenson, M.D.~

"Above all, measure your progress by your experience of the love of God and its exercise before men."

~William Wilberforce~

Doug taping the wall in preparation for ceiling painting

We began painting the ceiling by hand recently. The process is going extremely intermittently and slowly because of all of the other demands on our time including selecting lighting and flooring.

The kids admire the newly delivered cabinets while Doug slaves away.

Doug has decided that anyone who enjoys painting ceilings must have a mental disorder.

Keep looking up.

Jerry and part of his beautiful family delivered their lovely handmade hickory cabinets to the house this week.

Joel and Benjie at work

Troyer's Custom Cabinetry did an amazing job making and installing the kitchen cabinetry - they gave us a very generous "fire discount" as they called it, and we highly recommend them to anyone who has need of the best quality custom cabinetry.

Kurt measuring and making a template for countertops; Barry of Granite City gave us another generous discount.

Gary expertly installs the outdoor lights despite the cold temperatures.

Shelves quickly appear in the closets, thanks to Roger and Duncan's handiwork.

Kenton is assigned the task of painting trim.

In some ways Kenton's methods of trim painting resemble a domino game.

"Suffering forces us to be utterly alone with ourselves. Once sequestered, suffering is what tests us most as persons. It examines us, sifting and asking, 'Who are you. really?...Suffering, then, can be our friend and it herds us into the Shepherd's arms....Suffering goes below the surface, sandblasting us to the core. It brings us into a new relationship with ourselves. It also brings us into a new relationship with God. When pain and problems press us up against a holy God, guess what goes first? You've got it. The selfishness that pain unmasks. The pride and pettiness that problems reveal. The beauty of being stripped down to the basics is that God can then fill us up with Himself... Suffering doesn't teach me about myself from a textbook, it teaches me from my heart. It will always show me what I love-either the God of all comfort or the comfort that can become my god."

~Joni Eareckson Tada~

"It is not the man who has too little,

but the man who craves more,

who is poor."

~Lucius Seneca~

(4 BC - AD 65)

Sheetrockers recently finished up their work at the site.

While spending Thanksgiving at Grandmother's house, the kids baked pumpkin pies...

visited Harold and Marcy (and used their piano for practicing), went on a mountain goat hunt, and relished their time with their grandparents.

Duncan and Roger, dressed in their finest, teamed up for the job of painting the interior walls.

Mr. Carl poured and stirred the paint, preparing it for quick use.

Views of the action

Shadowed observers

Many empty buckets show much progress.

On Friday, Duncan and Roger let Wynn do some painting on the garage walls while Kenton began removing the plastic and paper from the windows and floors.

Shots of the Kodiak hunting expedition

The ascent

The tent seen from up close...

and from a distance.

In order to fend off the cold and the wind, many hours of each day were spent in the sleeping bags.

Kenton and Doug

Micah at the summit

Despite the good weather, not one mountain goat was seen during the whole archery adventure.

Being with his kids in God's great outdoors is one of Doug's favorite things.

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes packed for Samaritan's Purse... and with Lila Rose, the student activist who went undercover to expose Planned Parenthood.

Performance leads teen to regional stage

By GREG JOHNSON
Frontiersman
Published on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:21 PM AKST

WASILLA — There’s nothing funny about the way Micah McKinnis tickles the ivories.

A senior homeschool student, the 17-year-old has been practicing and performing his way to being one of the top young pianists in the state. McKinnis won the Alaska Piano Competition in May, taking the top prize in the University of Alaska Anchorage event. And it seems that was just a tune-up for even bigger musical accolades.

McKinnis won the Senior Piano division of the recent state Music Teachers National Association competition in Anchorage. By winning the Nov. 13 contest, McKinnis qualifies for a seven-state regional to be held in January in Boise, Idaho. A win there would catapult him to the MTNA national competition.

Micah McKinnis has qualified for a seven-state regional piano competition to be held in January in Boise, Idaho. A win there would catapult him to the MTNA national competition. (Courtesy photo)

“Last year I was with a duet partner and we went to regionals and placed second, so were the alternate to the nationals,” he said.

As a solo performer, a win a regionals would be a culmination of countless hours of practice and overcoming other distractions. Shortly before the May competition, the family home burned down. In the months since, McKinnis and his family have been living in a rental while their home is being rebuilt. With less space, it means the piano is in what he describes as “the living room/kitchen,” and he jokes that he’s had “a few complaints from little siblings.”

Leading up to the Nov. 13 contest, where he had to perform a variety of pieces in a 25-minute session with a judge, “I practiced more than I have in the past,” McKinnis said. “Leading up to that competition there were a couple days I practiced nine, 10 hours.”

He had to memorize all the music, but said he “wasn’t too nervous. It was a good atmosphere. I was able to concentrate, but you have the performance nerves. It brings an edge to the performance in a good way, I think.”

McKinnis credits a good support system for his musical success.

“This is how I express my emotions,” he said. “After the fire, that was one easy venue to express myself.”

Although he’s a senior and preparing for college (he doesn’t know where yet), McKinnis is still on the fence about how serious he wants to be about studying music as his life’s work.

“I definitely want to continue my music,” he said. “It’s something I enjoy, and if I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

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