How does your garden grow?

This is Amy . . .

First of all, you may have noticed that the frequency of posting has dramatically increased on the Fiedler blog page. Not sure if we'll be able to keep this up, but we have good intentions . . .

Any of you who have ever met my mother, Shirley, know that we are two peas in a pod. We look alike, talk alike, and sound alike - or so I'm told. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when I realized that, like my mom, I had buried inside of me (no pun intended), an intense love for gardening.

Since moving to Oshkosh in February, I found myself with many of the necessary ingredients for creating and maintaining a successful garden - sunny backyard, more time, a garden friend (yes Andrea, that's you!), and an expert gardener (my mother) who lives 20 minutes away. And so, as the weather began to warm, my dream of having my own vegetable garden began to grow. With my garden journal in hand, some seed packets, and a skeptical husband (I tend to START things with great zeal . . .), I headed out into the Fiedler "back 40" to bust some sod for my little project.

I'm proud to report that nearly a month later, my 10'x10' vegetable garden is in and growing! (Thanks to Sophster and Jason for all their help!). Green beans, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant, zucchini, butternut squash, acorn squash, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, radishes, and peas . . .all growing in the Fiedler backyard!

Anyway, like I said, Jason and I are determined to do a better job of keeping everyone updated on the goings on around here. For me, that will probably mean a garden update from time to time (bear with me). And please, feel free to stop by in August for some fresh produce! (Of course , we want all of you to feel free to stop by anytime - not just during our bountiful harvest.) :)

sophi fix

it's been a while... too long some might say. so enjoy the latest installment of sophi pics.

taken at a moms group gathering at mom and pops place over in neenah... fair trade organic goods, well worth checking out.


we felt she was old enough for her first car date...

at play in the kitchen. like mother, like daughter.

newest edition and being real

that's right, we are now a part of a movement i like to think of as the "minivan army". not to be confused with the "giant truck with confederate flags in the rear window army".


our green beast, the mazda 626, has had a good life, but we felt we should send it out to pasture. 215,000 miles and loads of memories... we are a bit sad to see it go. but as you can plainly see, it was a good run.

looking at the badly faded paint, the huge dent in the corner (which may or may not have helped pay for tickets to ireland years ago) and the nearly rusted out windshield I can't help but think of the words of the Skin Horse...

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

thanks 626, for being such a great velveteen vehichle.

Memorial Day

to all who have served our country... thank you

heros and the worship industry

now i remember why mclaren is my hero.

what does the resurrection mean?

it's Easter tomorrow. which is a bit strange by itself, the first Easter in years that i haven't had "ministry" responsibilities. and to be honest this has forced me to come to terms with a harsh reality. our message does not seem to have saturated our culture as much as we think it has... step back, most could probably give the basic idea if asked about the importance of easter. but simply knowing the plot line isn't the point.

what i'm getting to here is this... how are we/i LIVING the trueness of the resurrection of Jesus? not defending. but demonstrating. being honest with our/my struggles and journey to wholeness. speaking hope in a culture of despair. living generously when you're/i'm told to be consumers. are we/i living in a way that continues the Story of life from death?

a person doesn't have to look around too hard to see how much our culture needs individuals and communities of faith living the nowness of the Resurrection. so let's not only celebrate what the death, burial and resurrection of Christ means to us personally... let's put our heads together to dream of what it means in our relationships, checkbooks, planners, communities, even our environment. may your life be a proof text to the reality of the empty tomb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwz9gtxBT-E

still breathin'

every now and then life seems to go through times where you find yourself coming up for air, realizing that the pace hasn't slowed for days and days and days. good or bad, that seems to be the way of things from time to time.

so here's the quick update: we've been meeting weekly with our launch team (the people committed to seeing water city church happen) and talking through our core values for about four weeks now... yes, it's THAT important. we're fleshing out what it will mean to be a church in oshkosh, pouring out and being poured out. what an incredible chance to dialogue church, faith, life and all that good stuff with people we care about and who care about us. this is pretty much the coolest thing.

so here goes... deep breath and back down in. let the story continue...

one small step for man...

sophi's first steps

enjoy.

little steps

just wanted to let the world know that our little girl took her first step this afternoon. sophi requested that we not post any video from this historic day. she said, "the revolution will not be televised..."

all bundled up

this has been one of the coldest winters i can remember and the little sophster has taken it like a trooper. looks like we may have turned the corner on the cold stuff (40 degrees today). just a little vid of our girl prepared to brave the elements (listen closely and you'll hear amy mention the temperature).

sorry if you were looking for something deep/spiritual today, management opted for cute. but if you look hard enough, you could probably find some life lesson in this.

(insert catchy title here)

i began my new job a few weeks back and if it weren't for those darn confidentiality rules i could post some of the funniest stories of all time. almost makes me wish i had one more round at spencer lake camp this summer to tell some of these as world famous bed time stories. if you've ever heard one of my stories... these put those to shame (except for the one security story but that's a whole rabbit trail not worth going down).

for valentine's day i received a few small things from my ladies: a notebook (for deep thoughts - just in case) from sophi and from amy i got the world's most awesome hardest gummy bears (they rule) and sufjan stevens, greetings from michigan: the great lakes state. amazing. stop what you are doing and itunes it immediately. if for no other reason, to celebrate/mourn my great home state. thanks to brad for the recommendation.

currently listening to

in case you're dying to know...

norah jones - not too late
sufjan stevens - The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras From Illinios Album
u2 - actung baby
gomez - how we operate
amos lee - supply and demand
linkin park & jay z - collision course
new kentucky quarter - carry it around

since they haven't hooked up our cable yet, we're doing lots of deep catalog listening lately. no tv for the past week and a half... i don't know how brad does it. (no television tax. one more reason why the states are far superior)

on language and laziness

about a week ago i was leaving the local grocery store when one of those community bulletin signs caught my attention. you know the ones right by the exit door that are usually covered with middle school drama advertisements. this one flyer had bold print that read "learn english". a good thing to know if you are living in the midwest. later that day i had to run to that store again, and on the way out i saw that flyer again... only this time i took the time to read the rest of the details.

the entire advertisement was in... ENGLISH. (stop... think about it) now, i know the people giving the lessons were coming from a good place, but don't you think they missed an important fact.

the more i roll this one around in my head, the more i am convinced that we most often fail to see life from outside our bubbles. the givens to us are rarely givens to others. especially in faith circles. maybe it's just being lazy, maybe it's because we don't spend enough time with those who live day to day outside our circle. maybe it's because we still think in terms of circles and in and out. here's to living incarnationally... uh, real life with real people, not just those who know my language.

new places

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_WaZkTSwUk



i've decided that one of the unexpected hazards of a new home comes from above. that's right, hanging lights. having hit my head no less than ten times on this stupid light, one would think i would duck... one would be wrong.

just a few quick pics of our new basecamp here in oshkosh.

we're in

we're in. 25 below zero windchill? no problem...

just to worn out to come up with anything clever for the post...i do want to say thanks to everyone who came out and pitched in to help us move the past few days. we would still be packing if it weren't for you. thank you.

countdown is full on

we're loading the van tomorrow. are we ready?

one would think that with the amazing packing abilities demonstrated in the last post, we would be all done and packed up. not quite. back to the boxes... oh the fun.

vs. the dog carrier

after the conference at mars hill our brains were a bit overloaded, jammed full of bell-iness. which meant we needed to let things settle and to let the mental pressure bleed...

no one could have predicted it would have been like this. things started gently enough, as they usually do... with a dare. "i dare you to get in that big dog carrier over there." big carrier moved on to little carrier and one statement... "i think i can do it." the rest is youtube history.

amy (total time: >30 minutes)


shana (time: 15 minutes)


laura (time: >5 minutes)


note: carrier dimensions (26" L x 18" W x 21" H)

moral of the story: don't leave adults unsupervised?

sophi vs. the dogs

while at the "isn't she beautiful" conference in michigan we stayed with amy's good friends shana and kevin. their two little dogs kept things interesting the whole weekend. as you can see sophi can correctly identify at least one animal group now... we are so proud.

stay tuned for even more exciting video from our adventure...

new things

our friends, brad and georgie (molly too) are part of the startup team of a new church (greystones community church) outside of dublin. as if being new parents, or teaching, or working on a phd weren't enough...

i am excited to see how life/faith/community plays out in this setting. i know it will be good. we're pulling for you guys.

church and chili dogs

well, we recently returned from the "isn't she beautiful" conference at mars hill over in grand rapids. two full days of incredible teaching (narrative theology stuff, a journey through salvation using only the bible, study methods ala rob bell...).

i should really unpack a bit here, but i think i will let things "marinade" a bit longer. one thing i do know, is that it was very cool to able to go with amy's brother steve and our good friend laura who are helping us start water city it was quite refreshing to go to a big event and not have my hype meter go off even once. maybe there is hope for the western church...

on a different note, one highlight of the weekend was the discovery of yesterdog one word... fantastic. hotdogs as God meant them to be experienced. take my advice and put "eating at yesterdog" on your "list of things to do before i die"

six days until we move... i better get packing.

happy birthday (year 1)

first couple weeks

six months

one year

it seems fitting that it snowed last night here in central wisconsin... one year ago amy and i slowly made our way to the hospital, because of the snow, to have our first beautiful little girl...sophia mae.

this first year has been amazing, challenging, frightening, tiring and a myriad of other emotions. i am supposed to be writing all this sentimental stuff in her baby book, so i better not use it all up here. we sure love our little peanut.

oscar and time lost

its no secret that i would like to acquire a super power. not a first world country that can destroy it's enemies with a push of a button, a super power such as flight or super fast typing or something equally as cool. most of you did not know this but our dog has been secretly preparing a serum that would allow him to control others. hard to believe i know, especially for those of you who have spent any time with oscar...doesn't seem to be the smartest dog.

but my challenge to you is to stare deeply into his eyes and then try, just try to go about your day as if nothing were wrong. in the end he will get you to do what he wants you to do.


ever wonder where your day went? how you didn't accomplish everything you wanted to? well today you know... this has been three to four minutes you'll never get back (hope it at least made you smile)

oscar says, you will smile. now give me a treat

New Year!

let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year...for 2008. seems i'm a bit late for '07. lot's going on, but for now just a new vid from sophi.



this was funny at first, now her food is all over the floor anytime we have that tray on the chair. live and learn.

soph vs soup

most of us would admit that we don't do well with change. at some point in life we shifted from trying new things to sticking with our favorites. favorite soda, burger joint, person, preacher, film genre... sure we step outside our favorite from time to time, but usually because of a nudge/push from someone else.

sophi's life is one great big change, at least up to this point. new foods, clothes, toys, family... as you can see she wasn't so sure about the soup at culvers. but not one to avoid change she plowed right in and found it to be quite delicious (and went on to paint her face with it). here's to not shying away from change.

although, she does have a favorite blankey already, so maybe i'm way off and we're born to be stuck in our ways. either way, there's no denying the cuteness of this child.

eleven months

oscar is proud to announce that sophi is 11 months old today. as you can see, he is very excited and says that his life has been nothing but extraordinary since january.

old photos, bad sweaters and lives together

I'm not usually one to get all mushy over anniversaries. although i do admit in public that i am a bit of a romantic. anyway on this date, ten years ago, at a certain university christmas party, some quite stylish guys went out on a limb to serenade some ladies they kind of knew. fortunately the soda had been flowing freely the entire evening and these fellas were quite hopped on sugar and caffeine.

this led to much laughter and the need to remember the moment in photographs...


one such photo captured the beginnings of something beautiful...




here's to fifty more years of group shots on funny couches... i wonder if i still have that sweater?

holiday cheer ramping up!

sophi demonstrating michigan's chance for the national title...


pics from our annual "get the christmas tree" outing. sophi sporting the very warm and necessary puffy coat. the aftermath of the trip and finally our fabulous tree...which is currently standing with lights on, but without ornaments (only so much time in week).


on other news, we spent the weekend over with the ullmers in appleton (amy's family). cookie baking extravaganza! family pics at the fox valley's best lit house and home hunting in oshkosh. marking my third drive to the fox valley in one week.


next year for christmas i'm going to ask santa for a non-complicated life. some assembly required i'm sure.

Movement

this should be the place where i insert some fantastic quote or an inspirational scripture or something. it is usually a way of validating or at least adding weight to what i have to say, but not this time...

this past year has been one filled with all types of ups and downs. some downs that actually played out as ups and vise versa. out of all the twists and turns, foggy mornings and bright sun at noon moments one dream has emerged. the idea of beginning a new community of faith, one centered on values that we may not even be able to write out clearly. but that we know are essential if Jesus-following-life is to mean anything to those disconnected from church (myself included). i heard someone once say that Christian life is more than believing properly (orthodoxy), it is right movement as well (orthopraxy). like riding a bike, balance is discovered in the going, doing, moving (except to my brother-in-law and his whole "fixed gear" bike subculture -don't ask).

amy and i, along with some friends and family are on a journey to discover what a faith community, centered on living the kingdom of heaven here (oshkosh) and now, could look like. as of this moment, we've got no mission statement, no meeting place or anything... but we very much feel like God is directing us to step out this way. so here we go, closer up... deeper in.

On faith, love and stuff...

This morning I was hit (once again) with the reality that Christianity is so much more than right beliefs...

"To affirm the approach that I am advocating means we must accept that to be a Christian is to be born of love, transformed by love and committed to transforming the world with love. This is not somehow done by working ourselves up and trying to find the right way of thinking and acting, but rather in letting go and opening up to the transformative power of God. In so doing, we will not merely sit around describing God to the world, but rather, we will become the iconic spaces in which God is made manifest in the world.
Peter Rollins
How (Not) to Speak of God (p 71)

I am in love with the image of followers of Christ as "iconic spaces". There is a danger in describing yourself by what you are not. Having said that, it troubles me that so often the church seems more concerned with describing God, or God life, than in actually living, creating, healing, feeding, inspiring, going, giving, dancing, somersaulting, loving,...

It doesn't get much better...

I don't have anything to add to this. Simply click, scroll down, hit play, listen and enjoy Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Thank you Burnside Writers Collective.

ongoing saga of waking...

sophi in the afternoon. (movie guy voice) this time... it's later in the day...

coats, recess and life

"did you hear that? she said we don't need our coats! guys, she said we don't need our coats today!" you would have thought this little third grader had won the lottery from the level of his excitement. apparently the recess supervisior lady had announced that coats were not necessary after lunch because it was so nice out. i watched him from the side and smiled to myself.

simple pleasure, no coat. but this little man was owning the moment. i was right there with him.

too many days go by without even a second thought about all the little things. sure we are coming up on thanksgiving here in the states so that means everyone is thinking about being thankful. this is different. what if God was all about saying, "hey... (big grin) no coats today." do we hear those moments? life is filled with bruises and all that, but what about the times when a butterfly lands outside your window? or when you can roll your car window down in march because of an unusually nice day? or when a friend you haven't seen in a while connects with you? or you sense God leading and it's been a while? or you just feel loved?

"hey friends, did you hear that? he said no coats! i call the swings!"

they grow up so fast

by the way it is against the rules to be making random comments on the "cute baby voice" that adults must use when speaking to an infant.

Happy Halloween!

Sophi's first Halloween. She is, of course, a ladybug.

She was quite the hit at Nasonville school. As a matter of fact, she got so wired being around all the kids Sophi decided she didn't need her afternoon nap. Daddy was very happy about that, as you can imagine.

Thanks to Grandma Ullmer for her great rummage sale (known as garage sales to the rest of the western world) find... only three bucks.

sad news (tongue in cheek)

this is a sad day. the tigers bowed out of the world series losing game 5 to the cardinals. unfortunately, the boys from detroit never seemed to get things going on the big stage. when it all was said and done they just got outplayed. and so the year has come to an end.

unfortunately, not even my lucky jersey was enough to turn the tide this last game. so much for my ability to move space, time, and baseballs. oh well at least detroit's got the lions...

it was a fun year though. this year's team reminded me how much i enjoy baseball. it's good to enjoy things that are somewhat trivial from time to time.

thanks to my brother back in michigan for the official tigers peanuts. nothing beats watching a game and tossing empty peanut shells on the ground. (too bad amy wouldn't let me throw them onto the living room floor)

(the fam at a game this season over in minneapolis - it really was a fun year)

Pears Don't Stand a Chance!

As you can see, no food is safe now that Sophi is on to solids.

Detroit Tigers World Series 2006

Tonight the Tigers finished off the Oakland Athletics with a game four win in Detroit. Very rarely do I post about sports (mostly because Detroit doesn't usually offer much to brag about... insert Lions joke here) but this cannot go without mention.

I have been going to Tigers games with my family since I was very young. I remember one game I talked my dad into going to was a doubleheader that had a rain delay. Our seats were under the overhang in along the left field line so we waited it out. That was a very full day of baseball. Another time while at Tiger Stadium with my high school church group some buddies of mine and I got Rickey Henderson (A's) to flip us off. Real mature on our part I know, but man we rode him until he finally turned around and gave us the bird. They pulled him the next inning. Growing up, we used to go to two or three games a summer. The Tigers are my link to so many wonderful childhood memories... and so many disappointing seasons. But hey, they have always been my team and I've stood by them.

All that to say that I am extremely excited about our trip to the World Series. A ninth inning walk off homer by Magglio Ordonez was the perfect way to clinch this series and send Detroit on to represent the American League. Baseball... there is something right in the world when the home team wins.

So as we have said in times of old, "Bless you boys... this is our year!"

LOST - television has purpose once again

Last night ushered in season three of ABC's LOST. It's no secret that this has been our favorite TV show for the past few years. This year we decided to make an event out of it. Thus, LOST - the party. Our friends Rich, Bridget and Laura joined us for the event. Drinks were provided by The Darhma Initiative, fish compliments of Jin, Clare made some peanut butter cookies, Hurley dropped off some creamy peanut butter and Locke cooked up some wild bore sandwiches. It was quite a spread.

Some may say that this is a bit overboard. They may be right... but then again, they might be the Others.

Here's to another wonderful season; filled with great stories, knocking off main characters, scary smoke and bad black and white films. I'm sure that at the end of the year we will be just as confused, if not more so. Isn't life great?

a day well spent

yesterday amy, sophi, and i loaded up our bikes and headed over to Sparta, Wisconsin... which by the way is the bicycle capital of america.

we rented a pull behind trailer, strapped the little girl in her car seat, retrofitted it into the trailer, and headed out. the sparta trail is a state park that runs along an old rail line. this means no big hills (although some on the trail thought the 3 percent grade was a bit steep - none in our party though). the fall colors this year are fantabulous and well worth getting out and enjoying. here are a few pics and even a video link of our little adventure.

it was definately one of those perfectly timed relaxing days.

video star?

this goes out to the countless people who have asked for some clips of our little girl. i'm not sure how i feel about this, but i do think she is the cutest thing ever so you win.


sophi in the morning

enjoy

immigration (no class action faith)

this afternoon, as i was driving out to school with sophi to visit amy for lunch, i had on a christian radio station. as disturbing as that might sound, it gets worse. actually, a program was finishing up about faith and tough times,which i thought was very solid. but, after the program was over, one of those short 30 second faith blips came on. radio bumper stickers. and downhill we went.

anyway, the speaker started by asking, "red, white and green?". and then went on to briefly talk about fact that chicago had decided to celebrate mexico's independence day by lighting up its skyline red, white and green. cool, i thought. we are secure enough in our own "country-ness" that we can get excitied about another country's freedom birthday.

i was wrong. the speaker went on to throw in a jab at illegal individuals who are here trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. apparently we (as christ followers) are very against this? or at least should be? whatever. the real thing that struck me as funny/sad was the suggestion that we, the listening audience, should all call the mayor's office and tell them we are against this whole celebration thing.

then the program ended with a little jingle that said it was faith in action. what? are you kidding me? faith in action is concerned with lighting up buildings? with celebrating a neighbors' independence? with validating over 50,000 people of mexican decent in the greater chicago area? i thought faith in action was feeding the hungry, clothing those in need, hanging out with the imprisioned. i guess not.

i shouldn't get too worked up. perhaps this was one snippet from a greater teaching on practical love, serving others, offering hope to the hopeless... or maybe it's just another believer who accidentally forgot that faith doesn't have that much to do with misguided conservative patriotism.

i wonder if the (good)samiritan was legal? did he have the proper paperwork to be traveling down that road? i bet the beat up guy he helped didn't care much.

blended roles and breathing

tomorrow marks the first day of school here in our public school district. this means that my wife, amy, will be off to school in the morning just like she has for the last seven years. this year's difference being, sophi is home with me...

from go we have aimed our life in the direction of amy staying home with our family. up until recently this was still our story line. now, we continue to find ourselves in a state of transition and limbo. which translates as confused roles and sometimes frustration, both individually and collectively. this is by no means a social commentary on cultural norms in families, just our path. i have a feeling that it can be too easy for outsiders to simply tell you how you should feel or what your next life step should be. i must admidt/confess that i have heard myself say, 'you should do such and such with your life...' it's easy enough to do from the outside. i can't imagine three years of this on our terms, let alone someone elses.

and so tonight in the midst of unknown one thing i do know is that this season will very much open up into something else. something more in tune with our wiring. we are not the first to find themselves at a place in the road saying, 'this is not where i am supposed to be...'

and so, breathe in... breathe out... breathe in...

it's good to be alive and breathing air again... (robbie seay). even if we're not sure how to step next. thank God for nexts. may our lives add to Your beauty.