7th Birthday: Armor in the Armoire...

There are several beautiful suits of armor on display at MT. All of them are replicas of period pieces from era of the Crusades, and demonstrate the style and type of heavy plate mail armor worn by Spanish (and other) heavy cavalry units of the time.

Elijah posed in front of several for us (some in "combat pose", others in "Harry Potter Wizard Chess Set" pose), and they are featured here. The sign at the bottom notes that you could even walk away with one of these beauties if you have the cash to support your desire.

7th Birthday: "I'll Take 'Medieval Torture' for $300, Alex!"

Believe it or not, MT has a "dungeon" with authentic torture pieces, many of which were salvaged from period collections dating to the Spanish Inquisition. We breezed through there pretty quickly (as Elijah tends to have a rather morbid sense of curiosity and could spend hours listening to how people are wounded, maimed and broken in various capacities), but saw some really scary stuff. Knowing that many pieces were actually used only increased the "creepiness factor" as we wound quickly through the little lair, and needless to say, we were all rather glad to emerge from the other side. Amidst all the romance and revelry of the Medieval Age, there were some historical elements that truly made it a frightening time to be alive. And yet, set amidst the other elements present at MT, the dungeon only added to the mystique that we might actually have in fact travelled back in time for a few hours to a real Spanish castle in 750 AD.

7th Birthday: A "Marlavous" Lady!

After arriving, we checked in to the main administrative offices at MT and let them know that we had a 2 o'clock appointment with Mrs. Marla Hart, the Sales and Marketing Director for MT in Schaumberg. She is a delightful lady who engaged both Elijah and us with the utmost class and fun, and she is pictured here with Sami and Elijah standing in the primary receiving area for the offices.

From this point, we stopped by the reservation offices, met the ladies who take the reservations and then moved on into the "castle proper". I have to note at this point that throughout the tour, Marla was, actually, absolutely "marlavous" (yes, you may need to go back and reread that :- ): She pulled no punch, pulled out every stop, and showed us the complete in's and out's of the MT workings. By the end of our time with her, we had been so thoroughly treated, so expertly and excellently cared for, and felt so valued that we were simply dumbfounded by the overall experience.

Elijah loved her as well, and has talked about her for the past several days. Pictured below, you can see that the two of them were "buds" by the end of our time, walking down the hallways hand-in-hand as she pointed out each detail and underworking of everything that MT does.

7th Birthday: Castle On the Horizon

The MT castle is an impressive site by any standards, even from the freeway. It's banners are visible over the treetops from over a 1/4 of a mile away, and as we crested the small hill and took the off-ramp onto Roselle Road, we watched Elijah in the back seat as he started to grin from ear to ear and vie for a better view out the window from his car seat.

7th Birthday: On Our Way!

Well... i for one am not one to be able to keep secrets well, but this year, we actually did it well. We departed for Medieval Times (MT) at 12:30 pm on Friday, and Elijah had NO CLUE what we would be doing for his birthday until that time.

Before we left, we brought him into the Atrium and told him that we had arranged for him to have a backstage tour of the facility with the potential to meet some of the knights and people who make it possible, and that we would then return for the tournament and dinner afterward.

Elijah has never been to MT, but has seen it from the freeway a number of times, and has consistently asked when it would be possible to visit some day. Little did we know what was in store for us! Read on!

7th Birthday: Something Special!!!

We have been preparing for Elijah’s 7^th birthday for about 5 years. Seriously. Why? Well, several years ago, I read a book by Robert Lewis called “Raising a Modern Day Knight”, and was intrigued by the practical process that he outlines for giving a compelling metaphor for fathers and sons to rally around as a boy grows. Having grown up in close proximity to Robert Lewis (I attended Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, as a young teen, and grew up around the sons of all three teaching pastors, of whom Lewis was one) and seeing first hand the principles outlined, Sami and I decided to put them into practice and see if we couldn’t begin a pathway to helping him grasp the values and objectives that we were going to try to instill in him as he grows up.

If you know me, you know that I’m a huge student of Feudal and martial cultures, so the “Knightly” metaphor translates easily anyway. However, there are a couple of things that serve as “practical” applications that we have begun to engage:

Family Values – Lewis makes the point that each Knightly family had a series of things it honored and wished to be known for throughout the ages. Most often, these values were commemorated in a “coat of arms” (i.e. a picture or piece of heraldry whose components demonstrated or symbolized something significant). Lewis makes the assertion that “you can’t complain that your children don’t value what you value if you never articulate what those things are! You should write them down, talk about them, explain them, and put them somewhere where they will be able to refer to them over time.” Three years ago, we sat down, therefore, and outlined and defined our 10 family values. They are as follows (complete with definitions, of course, and I will talk more about that later): Love, Honor, Faithfulness, Integrity, Humility, Compassion, Courage, Discipline, Industry, and Community. Thus far, Elijah has memorized all 10 Family values and can recite them from memory. We also have regular discussions about “what they mean” and their application to regular life. Whenever we have disciplinary issues, we attempt to “peg” which value has been violated, as well as honor and praise him when he upholds one or more in the course of a given day.

Significant Marking of “Passage” – One of the other things that Lewis talks about is marking three distinct points of “passage” through a boy’s life with ceremony. You see, in Feudal Times in Europe, a young boy would grow up in his mother and father’s home as just “any other little boy” until he was seven years old. At 7, however, a boy who was either qualified or desired (depending on the region and era) to become a knight would be taken from his home to the regional manor or castle in his area. There, he would become a Paige, whose soul duty was to learn in-depth the nature of service. According to most chivalric values, no man could effectively lead who had not learned the value of hard-fought service in the most menial chores and tasks available. As a result, before a boy could learn the martial skill of combat, he had to learn to fight the dirt and grime of pots and pans in the kitchen, or hay and manure in the stables.

Just as a young boy would be taken from his home, given new responsibilities and new privileges at the age of seven, so we wanted to mark Elijah’s 7^th birthday in similar fashion so that he would be able to always have it pegged in his memory as the beginning point of a journey. As a result, we began scheming more than a year ago to take him to Medieval Times in Chicago (actually Schaumberg) to have as much of an in-depth experience as was possible to solidify the experience and have it “fit” to the knightly metaphor. The following several posts are the result of those endeavors.

Prince and Princess of Paper

Elijah and Peri disappeared into their room and were quiet for several minutes (no, it never happens.. seriously... we were beginning to wonder if they were still conscious after 5 minutes of uninterrupted relative silence) with only the request to having access to paper, scissors and tape beforehand.

When they emerged, Elijah had manufactured from the ingredients mentioned above a full crown (complete with markered jewels and Celtic designs) and scepter for each of them. They weren't sure if they were representative of "Narnia", or just their general feeling of being the King and Queen of the Land of Magruderdom, but either way, they were all smiles and we, their parents, were only too happy to be their humble servants... at least until bedtime.

Rite of Passage...

The Bug can now officially tie his shoes! Woo-hoo!!! After untangling a nest of knots this morning from previous attempts at keeping his laces off the ground, we finally took the time to sit down and demonstrate how to tie the "granny knot".

He took to it instantly (i'm sure he'll grow up to be a sailor some day... avast!!!), and within a couple of minutes, had it down perfectly! Way to go, Elijah!

Notice how gracious Sami was for "chopping" off my lovely new forehead marking in the last picture below. Thanks, Beauty!!!

Why I Hate My Dog!

Okay, so the other day i noticed that there was this nifty rash starting to form on my forehead. I couldn't figure out what it was until i recognized the unmistakable blistering of Poison Ivy. Lovely.

When we finally tracked down the "culprit", we figured that Mina (our completely worthless Dachshund) must have rubbed against some Poison Ivy (Sami scouted earlier this summer and uprooted all that she could find) and then promptly come inside and "nested" on some of my clothes - which she likes to do. I then inadvertently put said clothes on, and as nearly as i can tell (and based on the online research that we did) rubbed against the plant oil in the process.

I tried to cover the nify "Mikhail Gorbachev" imitation for a couple of days with my Chicago White Sox hat, only to find that it rubbed the Ivy raw, thus causing a lovely secondary infection, which i have been treating with Neosporin. To date, most of the conversations i've had with people at work or in various places has begun with, "Dude... what did you do to your head?", and consisted of frequently wandering stares to my forehead, which i pretend not to notice.

Immersed, Sprinkled and Poured...

Okay, so after several weeks of "burning hotness" weather wise, we all gear up for yesterday's Baptism extravaganza here at GCC and wake up to 58 degree weather with impending thunderstorms on the prowl. Seriously, it had to be the coldest September 10th in history, but undaunted, we saddled up and headed to the water. Why? Well, here's a little of Elijah's story.

About three months ago, Elijah approached me and said, "Hey, dad... you know that time of the year when everybody goes down to the water and gets dunked to say that they want to follow Jesus?" "You mean Baptism, Bug?" "Yeah that... uh... well, i'd like to do that." And so began the journey. This was totally his deal. We didn't prompt him, remind him or even tell him it was coming up. He just wanted to do it, so we began the process of helping him understand what it meant. Now that it's over, he's been proudly exclaiming to everyone, "yesterday, i told more than a thousand people that i'm going to follow God!"

On the way out to meet Rob Wegner (my boss and one of the pastors here at GCC), E started to get a little apprehensive. There were some 400 other people "wading in the water" yesterday, and i couldn't help wondering if he felt like some sort of sanctified lemming marching down to the sea. It didn't help that the torrential rainstorm that drenched us before we got into the water already had our core temperature about 10 degrees lower than normal, or that the water was therefore about another 10 degrees colder than last year. But holding on to Sami and I's hands, he bravely marched up to the lady announcing each name and told them, "I'm Elijah Kellen Magruder... and i want to follow God!" She read out, "Now entering the water... Elijah Magruder", and we began to walk in. I looked at Elijah shortly before we got to our "station", and his little lips were already blue (no kidding), but he was resolute. Laughing and gasping from both obvious joy and near hypothermia, he cluchted onto my side and held on as we marched out.

When we reached Rob, Elijah prepped his hands as they had shown him (hold your nose with one hand, and grab your wrist with the other), and looked Rob in the eye as Rob asked him if he had indeed decided to follow Jesus. Elijah answered with a resolute and direct "Yes Sir!", and then went under the waves. He came up laughing and hugging and shouting "I'm so full of joy!!!", which is totally funny, because we have never tried to super-load any of those words, emotions or expectataions, but out they came nonetheless.

We sloshed to the shore, were greeted by tons of family and friends in the "Hug Zone" (a cordoned off area where people meet the emerging dunkees), and then promptly went to dry off and head home.

We finished off with pizza, sparkling grape-juice and a cake that Sami baked specifically for the occasion, which Elijah decorated himself.

It was a VERY good day, and, as Mark Beeson joked, with the torrential rain, being soaked before entering the water, and then being dunked beneath it, we actually experienced simultaneously all three "common" modes of Baptism at the same time: Immersion, Sprinkling and Pouring!

UFO: Unidentified Flying Orneriness

Gigi and Papa (referred to by Peri and Elijah by the singular title: "GigiPapa") took the Munchkins to the Cass County Fair on Saturday while mommy and daddy enjoyed a little "just them" time. While at the Fair, however, GigiPapa managed to capture this glimpse of the two cutest aliens we have ever seen zipping about in their flying saucer.

This is one of those pictures that should be on a postcard somewhere... at least WE think so! Make sure you click the picture here to get a bigger and better look at the photo. The look on their faces says it all.

Peas in a Pod....

Out in the back yard, Sami took a quick second to snap a couple of great pictures of Elijah and Peri together.

Rugged AND Advanced...

We went to Potato Creek State Park today for a fun jaunt through the trails, and ended up taking the "non-wussy" paths just so that we could feel like Lewis and Clark...or something. To commemorate, we had Elijah stand next to one of the trail signs, which not only indicate the type of trail we took, but the fact that he is indeed attempting to be both "rugged" and, in many ways, "advanced" as well. :-):

We took some periodic rests as well, and while Elijah bounded alongside us (talking non-stop the entire time), Peri rode in the "jog stroller" while we huffed and puffed along. Whenever we would stop, she would hang out on mommy or gather things from the forest floor for a quick "ooh" and "ahh" from the rest of us.

We also saw some fun "wildlife" along the way, including a little turtle that had burrowed its way into a little hole by the side of one of the paths, several millipedes, some micro-frogs that hopped quickly out of the way when we approached, and also heard what we called "violin birds" that made the most interesting warble i've ever heard (though we never saw them).

We also were able to experience firsthand what it feels like to be caught in a torrential downpour and to have NO way to getting back to our car in any kind of time to avoid it, so added being absolutely drenched to our list of accomplishments for the day.


At one particular point of the journey, we also had to traverse a long set of very narrow wooden stairs, which Peri enjoyed immensely because we left her IN the jog-stroller while we climbed. While we wondered if she might have lost any IQ points from all the jostling, she was giggling and happy, which we took as a worthwhile trade-off.

All in all, and while we were pretty tired at the end of it, we would say that it was a VERY good day, and we're planning on going back tomorrow, loaded with hot dogs and marshmallows to grill.

Sharks... "Bad Fathers"!

I (Jack) TOTALLY dig sharks! I think they're amazing creatures. Because of that, and because Elijah is equally fascinated by them, we talk about them a lot. Usually, we talk about their predatory capabilities... you know, their ability to hunt and track struggling prey over miles of water, the design of their bodies which requires that they keep moving to breathe, their placoid scale "armor", their total lack of body fat, their electromagnetic receptor "pits" in their noses and nicotating eyelids that protect and guide them the last few instances before they take a lethal bite out of something, and, of course, the power behind their fearsome bites that make them for good reason the single most unchallenged predators in the oceans.

But for some reason, this morning, Elijah (while watching Finding Nemo for the "n"th time) asked about how sharks "marry" each other and have families. I explained that with most sharks, the males don't stick around after courtship. In fact, i explained, most of the time, the males leave shortly after they meet the females and do not help to care for the young at all.

Elijah was incredulous. "You mean... they don't help the mommies to take care of the babies at all?!?!?" "Nope... in fact, God programmed them to leave because many male sharks would probably eat their young if they stuck around." He folded his little arms and with a very indignant expression on his face, pointed at me and said, "Well! I think that they means that they are BAD FATHERS!!! How dare they just leave like that!" I agreed. Even apex predators don't get off the hook (pun intended) on this one.

From the mouths of babes, eh?

A Lesson in Proto-Asian, by Dr. Persephone Magruder

We often swear that what comes out of Peri's mouth sounds more Asian than English, and given that we believe that she and her brother are child prodigies anyway, we are convinced that she has secretly intuited some form of the proto-Asian languages that spawned all modern day languages. Below is a sampling of the sorts of things she says regularly.

Wa yu punon? (lit. "What did you put on?"): What are we going to view tonight?
Wa satsay? (lit. "What's that say?"): Can you please read that for me?
Wan na wacha mumee? (lit. "Want to watch a movie?"): Would you like to view a motion picture with me?
Bok chu hai! (lit. "!!!!"): We have no idea what this means, but it is often uttered as an exclamation of some sort.
deh dee (masculine) (lit. daddy): "Do you understand?" (this phrase is most often uttered universally at the end of a phrase, such as, "Wa yu punon, deh dee?")
mah mee (feminine) (lit. mommy): "Do you understand?" (ibid)
Aisha hidme! (lit. "Elijah hit me!"): "I am wounded!"
Ai gan! (lit. "I can't"): "I am currently unable to comply with your request, honorable parents!"
Ai gan go seep! (lit. "I can't go to sleep"): "I am not drowsy, thank you, honorable parents!"
Ai gan ay dow! (lit. "I can't lay down"): "I am currently unable to motivate myself to lay horizontally, honorable parents!"
Ai sidon wap (lit. "I sit on lap"): "I would enjoy reclining on your abdomen while punching your groin with my heels and digging my elbows into your sternum."
Is aik a bawun! (lit. "It's like a balloon!): "This kabob is quite tasty, and fun to hold at the same time."

An Illustration of Purpose... Or Maybe They Just Look Cool.

Japanese arrowheads have always fascinated me. Why? Because in Feudal Japan, arrowheads were as diverse as the number of enemies that one might fight. Some arrows were used against opponents in enemy armies who wore "scale armor". Some were used against Ashigaru footsoldiers who might not have any armor. Some were "artillery" arrows designed to rain down from above "mortar style" against an assaulting enemy horde. Whatever the opponent, the Japanese believed that the arrow used against them needed to be as unique as the opponent himself.

To me, that says a lot about "purpose". To the Japanese, each arrow was not only a combat implement, but was a combat implement designed for a specific opponent or type of opponent in a specific type of scenario. I think that each of us wants to believe that the same is true of "our purpose". We don't want to just believe that we are "any old arrow" where "any old arrow will do". We want to believe that we are in the hands of a God who fires us with purpose and destiny because we have been specially crafted for that destiny.

I'm still not sure whether that view of God or purpose is accurate... but the arrows sure are cool.
Arrowheads