Itsara » Other

It Means the Study of Music and Culture

Adam Heine — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:42:40 +0000

The hearts of people amaze me sometimes. I guess the things God gives us each to do amazes me. Dano has just graduated and is musing on what to do with ethnomusicology. His idea - no, his heart - is to raise up indigenous worshipers and worship music. I don’t know how one does that (I’m not sure he does either yet), but the dream is awesome. Somebody needs to teach the world that Western music isn’t all there is.

Fair Warning

Adam Heine — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:55:59 +0000

We’re moving in two days, if all goes to plan. There are still things unfinished over there, but if we don’t move this Saturday then whatever other day we do it will be very difficult.

But in particular, the phone and internet are not hooked up over there yet. Until they are, posting here and at Author’s Echo will likely be slim. While you’re waiting, read and comment on any posts you’ve missed. It’ll be fun. Really.

Testing

Adam Heine — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:51:50 +0000

There was some kind of bug with the automatic e-mail system, so some of you might not have been notified of any posts for the last month or so. Sorry about that. Hopefully with this post that’s all fixed. If you’re like me and you have to read everything, start here and use the links at the top to move forward to newer posts.

If you’d rather just skim, go to the front page and scroll down to see if you missed anything good.

Cuz What the World Needs is One More Blog

Adam Heine — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:34:32 +0000

I just sent some queries out yesterday, trying to get my novel representation, but mostly just seeing what happens. When you say, “I want to write a novel,” nobody tells you about all the other things you need to learn along the way that have nothing to do with writing. You have to write query letters and synopses, you have to do a heck of a lot of research on agents, editors, and publishers, and even then you don’t know anything until you actually do it.

To the title of this post, though. There’s a lot in my head on this subject that I want to write about, just to get it out there, but I don’t want to clutter up Itsara with a whole bunch of posts about writing and querying and getting rejected and… basically a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with caring for orphans or living in Thailand or any of that.

So for those of you that do want to hear about my progress in getting published, my education in the publishing business, and the ups and downs of writing, click over to Author’s Echo, a blog where I will do exclusively that.

Can I handle two blogs? I don’t know. For right now, it’s just there for when I need it, but my commitment to this one stays as firm as ever. In any case, hop over there, bookmark it, and grab the RSS feed if you want to keep up with this particular aspect of my life.

Back Online

Adam Heine — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 05:29:52 +0000

I hope I’m not speaking too soon when I say it looks like we’re back online. Sorry for those of you who were trying to see the cutest baby in the world these last couple of days. He’s back now.

A Good Night

Cindy Heine — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:16:54 +0000

It was a typical evening at the Heine home. Everyone was doing their own thing. Dad (Adam) was hanging out with Isaac, Lutiya was showering, Alepa was playing, Sandra was mopping, Ban was practicing piano, Matt was on the computer, and I was ironing. Out of the blue, Matt says, “I’m going to read something to you.” He began to read me a love poem from the internet, just for fun. From then, we both began to look up silly poems on the web, reading them to each other (with feeling, of course) . Matt decides we need some mood music, so he puts on some CD he has with “Right Here Waiting” on it, which then turns into singing the poems to each other. The next thing we know, “I Will Survive” comes on, which of course leads to dancing. Suddenly we are joined by Sandra, Lutiya, and Alepa, who are laughing at us doing our silly dances. Matt and I separate from our partner dancing in order to dance with them too. Next come Dad and Isaac, only one of whom will dance. (Guess who?) Somehow, it’s turned into Mom (me) teaching the kids how to do flips off each other’s backs. It’s 8:00pm, time for prayer on our bed. Most of the kids were already in our room, but Alepa was on a rolling chair in the hall. I tried to get him to come by inviting him to dance with me, but he declined the invitation. So I did the next best thing - roll him over to our bed and dump him off. Soon, all the kids (young and old) want to be rolled and dumped off. Ban was downstairs the whole time, but when she came upstairs, she had no choice but to be rolled and dumped off as well. When all my deliveries were finished, I came back into our room thinking that we should all calm down. But what I see is Isaac doing YMCA (with Dad’s help of course). And of course, the other kids were joining in as well.

Lots of laughs and smiles. What started as a usual Tuesday evening became a night to remember. Thank God for family.

Is This Nepotic?

Adam Heine — Wed, 16 May 2007 07:17:34 +0000

My parents are on their way to Mexico (via Disneyland, apparently), and they’ve started a new blog to talk about it called View from the Terraza. From the first post:

The purpose of this blog is to keep our family and friends posted on what God is doing in our lives. We know that God has plans for us that have nothing to do with retiring, and we are excited to find out what they are. When you start saying “yes” to God, you better buckle your seat belt.

Boy, do we ever know what he’s talking about.

Global Day of Prayer

Adam Heine — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 07:54:13 +0000

I just found this out, but apparently today is the Global Day of Prayer for Burma. Follow the link for more information on why this matters.

Worries, Motherhood, and Advice

Cindy Heine — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:46:31 +0000

Thanks to motherhood, I’m wide awake in the middle of the night. Actually, it’s not what you think. Isaac is not what’s keeping me awake. It’s worries. I guess I always knew I was a worrier. My friend once told me that it’s a mother’s job to worry. Now that we have 3 kids under our care, 2 of whom we didn’t raise since birth, I’ve found all sorts of new things to worry about - mostly about raising them right. I don’t even know what that means. My family’s recent visit got me thinking about how to raise the kids God has put in our lives. I won’t bore you all with the details, but I will stress myself over them! Please pray that God will show us how He wants us to raise our kids. He’s the only one I trust (although I do let everyone else’s opinions get in the way at times).

I was reading my journal the other day, and found a common theme in many entries: worries. I can’t attribute all my worries to motherhood. I’ve been worrying from long, long ago. As I reread all the things I was worried about, I really can’t believe l ever worried about them in the first place. In every single instance, there was absolutely no reason to worry. It didn’t help anything. I know that it’s an issue of not trusting God and/or having some worry addiction (if there is such a thing). The weird thing is that I completely trust God. He has ALWAYS helped us through all the hard times and He’s taught us so much by going through them. I KNOW for sure that He will get us through parenting all the kids He puts in our lives. I really do know this. But why do I still worry? I have no idea. Would you please pray for this, as I can see that it’s a huge problem in my life. Plus, it would probably help my sleep habits as well! :)

On a different note, it’s so awesome to be a new mother. I’m in awe everyday of how amazing it was to have a new human being created inside me, and then giving birth to it. I am also in shock of how Isaac ever fit in me and how he came out. It’s scary to think about. Isaac is sleeping in my lap right now, and he’s just so fun to watch and be with. (Yeah, I know when he wakes me up in the middle of my precious sleep, that’s not my first thought.)

Here’s some random advice for you women out there:
1. Because of movies, books, and women who tell horror stories, I expected pregnancy, natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and recovery to be extremely difficult and painful. None of them were even half as bad as I expected. So, maybe if you go in with really low expectations, you’ll be pleasantly surprised! By the way, I highly recommend natural childbirth. Women have been doing it since the beginning and still survived! If you have any questions, just let me know!
2. Parenting books are sometimes helpful, but mostly just annoying! Be the kind of parent you want to be and ask God to help you. You’ll stress out trying all kinds of things that the books tell you about. People have been raising kids for centuries without advice from books, and I bet their kids turned out just fine. Just love your kids the best that you can.
3. Get a good husband! Adam has been INCREDIBLE, and I just thank God for him. He keeps telling me to just take care of Isaac and myself. He’ll take care of everything else (the house, the laundry, the other kids, etc.). It’s a blessing!
4. Diapers are the best present you can give to new parents. We haven’t bought any yet, and we still have enough to last us at least 2 more months.
5. If you breastfeed, you can say goodbye to any dresses you own for awhile.
6. People are always trying to give advice to pregnant women and new mothers. It’s occasionally helpful, but not always. (Yes, that includes the advice that I’ve just given too!)

Skype

Adam Heine — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:39:36 +0000

Wanna talk to us? For free? Wanna see our faces too? Get Skype. Get a mic. Maybe even a webcam, so we can see you. Our Skype name is now on our contact page. So are our e-mail addresses. (You’ll need those cuz, more than likely, you may have to make an appointment ;-) Just cuz it says we’re online, doesn’t mean we’re on line. You know?)

Note of disclaiming though. We haven’t actually tried it yet. I mean, I’ve done the test call. I know my mic and webcam work. I don’t know how well they work when crossing the bottlenecks that exist at the borders of Thailand’s telecommunications infrastructure. We’ll see.