Dude …

As summer gets into full swing, we’re now halfway (21 weeks or so) into the journey that is preparing for the arrival of our baby. Everything has gone well so far. I’ve been tired, but not had a lot of morning sickness. At each doctor visit, the baby has had a good heart beat and we both seem healthy. Jon and I have made a few purchases, and been given some amazing things, and can’t believe the wonderful deals and great gifts we’ve stumbled into recently. We are very, very thankful for all of this.

Jon can now officially use his "dude date" phrase

The reason we are posting this little update today is because we have some pretty exciting news. Today was an ultrasound day. So many people have asked if we would find out the gender, and we were able to do just that this afternoon. I won’t keep anyone in suspense, after all, the title of this post gives it away … we are having a boy!

Our little guy wasn’t too cooperative for pictures today, but he did let us see right away that we have a boy coming this fall. We’re putting two photos up for all to see. They are the best two we got. He was moving around a lot during the ultrasound, but stayed kind of curled up most of the time, and never gave the tech gave enough of every view she wanted. At least you get to see how we found out he’s a boy, and see his face, which he briefly turned right towards us.

a first look from our son

We’re pretty excited. We’ve tended to think more in terms of a boy than a girl, and so it was fun to find out that maybe we had some intuition about things that was right. But beyond learning that we will have a boy, it was amazing to see how he’s growing and that everything seems to be developing as it should be for the most part. Even with his body not usually being in the best position for the ultrasound, the tech was still able to point out everything she was looking for and tell us that he’s just over one pound in weight. It was an incredible afternoon.

So, now we’re looking forward to picking out a name and more fully planning for life with our son. We’ll keep you all posted once there’s more news. Have a wonderful July 4th holiday weekend!

~ K

2010′s reading list

I don’t really consider myself to be an avid reader of anything but record album liner notes.  I know too many voracious readers to think highly of my own reading lists, but I was a little surprised when I compiled one for a recent job application for a Christian school.  I averaged about one book a month.  (I probably would have read more if I hadn’t recorded two solo albums last year.)

Q:  What books have you read in the past 12 months? Please provide a complete list of titles and authors. Include a brief report on the book that had the greatest impact on you and why.

A:  Alright, in no particular order…

• Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance by Os Guinness
• Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures (Thirty Three and a Third Series) by Chris Ott
• The Foolishness of God by Ferenc Visky
• While Waiting by George E. Verrilli and Anne Marie Mueser
• Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden
• The Vertical Self: How Biblical Faith Can Help Us Discover Who We Are in an Age of Self-Obsession by Mark Sayers
• The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life by Simon Goddard
• A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller
• Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter by Michelle Mercer
• Subculture: The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige
• The Church: One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic by Richard D. Phillips, Phillip G. Ryken and Mark E. Dever
• Psychedelic Furs: Beautiful Chaos by Dave Thompson

Because of the wide variety of books, it is difficult to decide which book packed the biggest punch. (How do you really compare the impact of a books about pregnancy, theology and obscure eighties British rock bands? They’re all important, right?) The book that impacted me the most was probably Paul E. Miller’s A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World. At first glance, it seemed like another cheesy, christian-y book about prayer.

What I found, however, was that Miller wasn’t afraid to attack his pride and self-sufficiency that results in cynicism, hampering his dependency on God. Because my wife got pregnant while we read the book she and and I began to see ourselves in his story, as Miller described his dependence on God in parenting.

-Jonathon

Spend an evening with The Jonathon Smith Experience!

I’m playing another set of acoustic, mostly original songs from 7:00-9:00pm on Saturday, July 2, 2011, at Main Street Coffee House.  I’m rather excited about playing a chill set in the middle of a busy holiday weekend.

For the first time ever, I will play a small set of cover songs. So far, I’ve worked up songs by Nick Lowe, Jim Reeves, Porter Wagoner and John Denver. Maybe I’ll dig for some more old country tunes…who knows? Anyway, here are a couple of my original songs I’ll play.

And another…

The show is free, and the coffeeshop is at 107 South Main Street in Independence.  I hope to see you there!

-Jonathon

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April Showers Bring Overdue Updates & Big Announcements

J&K discovering Kaw Point Park recently (& realizing the sun & downtown KC were in the wrong spots)

As some of you may have noticed, we’ve been a little quiet on what we’ve been up to lately. We didn’t get out Christmas cards with our usual end of the year letter in December 2010, and we’ve also not said much on the blog about the details of our lives recently. We now have some big news to share, so here’s what’s going on with us and some highlights of the past year or so.

Kate finished her Master of Liberal Arts degree in December (which is largely why no Christmas cards got mailed out). She is very relieved to be completely done with school, and it’s nice that now neither of us have classes or homework worry about. Katy has continued to judge winterguard competitions around Missouri, and just finished her second season serving as the Secretary for the local judges association. She’s still working at IAAO helping with marketing/communications and general office needs, and occasionally volunteering at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Jon’s band, My Science Fiction Twin, has been re-energized after not doing much for a few years. They’ve played several shows around Kansas City and are hoping to do some recording soon. Jon also set up a web site with all of his solo material. This past fall he was asked to help organize and host a series of concerts at Bennetti’s Coffee Experience. Bands played in the parking lot every Saturday in October, and it seemed to be a good experience for all involved. Jon is still working as a paraprofessional at Raytown Middle School and has seen his student make great progress (Jon was even nominated for Support Staff of the Year). He continues to seek a teaching or administrative position, and got certified in math in hopes opening additional doors for job opportunities.

We’ve changed churches over the past year. After being in one place for our entire marriage, we realized it was time to find somewhere closer and with more of a focus on certain things we valued. We’re currently wrapping up the membership process at Redeemer Fellowship in mid-town Kansas City. We’ve appreciated the church’s commitment to great teaching and to community involvement. It’s also been wonderful to start connecting with people around where we live, work, and hang out.

Finally, the big news we promised at the beginning (don’t you love that we made you wait until the very end) …

Hey! Who turned out the lights in here?? - March 31, 2011

We’re going to have a baby! We found out in mid-March that Kate was pregnant, and she’s just reached the end of the first trimester. The due date is currently set at November 4, 2011. So far everything has gone really well, with good health reports and minimal sickness, so we pray it remains that way. Most people we’ve told have asked if we’ll find out the baby’s gender, and we think we will. It just seems easier for planning and gift registry purposes.

We’re obviously a bit nervous about Jon’s job situation and becoming parents for the first time, but we’re also very excited as we’ve wanted to start a family at some point, and we believe that God must have a better plan in mind than we do.

It looks like our eighth anniversary and Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays will be very busy and extra special this year!

We hope all is well with those of you reading.

Grace, Peace and Love,
Jon, Kate, and baby Smith
(and Einstein, who we hope likes babies in six months)

I had a dream.

I just awoke from the strangest dream…

I hopped in a Ryder truck with my dog and my godson, Isaac, to make deliveries for a car parts store in Kansas City.  I stopped for breakfast at Napoleon’s Bakery in Westport (which has been closed for months), where I ran into my friend, Ben.  He was scouring the city for country and western albums today, and I told him I really wanted the new TV on the Radio album.

When we finished, Isaac and I walked back to the truck in the rain.  Except it was raining spaghetti, not water.  And it was uncooked spaghetti.  I looked up, and a I got poked in the eye.

We drove to that new repair shop in the old Keith Coldsnow building on Westport Road to make a delivery when my friend, Tim, flew down from the clouds in a Roman chariot, pulled by four reindeer.  A light from heaven beamed behind him, he wore a toga and he held out to Isaac and me the new TV on the Radio album on vinyl.

Then I woke up.

-Jonathon

I heart Raytown

I found these on a friend’s satchel this morning.  Pretty cool, eh?

-Jonathon

Hindsight makes us all (feel) more smart.

I’m fifteen pages into Noam Chomsky’s short 1968 book, Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship, and I found an interesting passage.  In his discussion of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s article, “America in the Technetronic Age,” his criticism may seems silly to us now, especially considering how well-esteemed Chomsky is.

I haven’t read Brzezinski’s article yet, but apparently he did a fair amount of predicting how individuals, with access to the latest technological devices, will surpass universities in a drive for research.  (This seems consistent with some of his writing while a part of the Jimmy Carter administration.)  Chomsky just couldn’t imagine how this could be possible.

Thus we move towards a new world-wide “‘super-culture,’ strongly influenced by American life, with its own universal electronic-computeer language,” with an enormous and growing “psycho-cultural gap” separating America from the rest of the “developed world.”

It is impossible even to imagine what Brzezinski thinks a “universal electronic-co0mputer langage” may be, or what cultural values he thinks will be created by the new “technologically dominant and conditioned technetron” who, he apparently believes, may prove to be the true “repository of that indefinable quality we call human.”  It would hardly be rewarding to try to disentangle Brzezinski’s confusions and misunderstandings.

-Jonathon

A couple books.

I recently finished a couple books, The Vertical Self: How Biblical Faith Can Help Us Discover Who We Are in an Age of Self-Obsession by Mark Sayers and The Church: One, Holy, Catholic & Apostolic by Richard D. Phillips, Philip G. Ryken and Mark E. Dever.  While I found nothing new, conceptually, I encountered some helpful language and paradigms.  (Isn’t this how so many good books are?  It’s not that they necessarily blow your mind with new information, but they can offer tools to better articulate beliefs on a particular topic.)

Sayers argues that defining ourselves in relation to others is the sources of many frustrations.  He goes far beyond the usual sermons I hear about God-shaped holes and filling your life with something besides Jesus.  His suggestions of behaviors we should engage in probably borders on legalism for some, but he is clearly differentiates between justification and sanctification.  (The latter does require our concerted action.)  He also avoids the pitfall of urging Christians to just have radical faith.  He clearly wants us to focus on what Jesus has done for us, not what we can do for God.

I have seen people lose control of their lives and lash out, and I have seen others on the opposite end of the spectrum be too loving (whatever that means) and overextend themselves.  Scads of books kinda address boundaries and the sense of purpose Christians should have, but if we don’t focus and take comfort in our identity as a child of God, it leads to so many problems.

The Church: One, Holy, Catholic & Apostolic is a great read for people like me who spent way too much time in evangelical churches that, in the best cases, ignore church history.  In worst cases, they like to toss it all out the window, presuming to know what Jesus really meant and that they know how church should really be done.

A friend saw me reading it at a local coffeeshop and cautioned me because he thought I was getting a good Roman Catholic brainwashing.  He clearly did not realize the authors were all reformed.  I’m guessing it had also been a while since he read the Nicene Creed.  Since these four marks of the Church are based on New Testament passages, the book is also bathed in scripture.

I found the book to be a helpful introduction to the history of the church.  The authors had a refreshing, ecumenical approach, as the Church is already holy, the fullness of Christ.  Sure, they were critical of denominations that miss the mark on some issues, but it is always with love, humility and a focus on Biblical teaching.  I could imagine a more colloquial subtitle for the book could have been “The Church is Already Holy and Unified in Christ, So Act Like It!”

Next up, a biography of Wayne Shorter.

-Jonathon

English for Kids

Katy and I organized our books last night. It seemed to take forever, but we unearthed some gems I didn’t remember that we owned.

I had found this book, English for Kids, at a book sale at Park University’s library a couple years ago. The book is apparently designed to teach English to Japanese students. Although one could argue how well kids would speak our language after reading the book when it teaches phrases like, “I wannabola SOUP!” (p. 7) or “It’s a glasses” (p. 11).

After re-discovering it last night, I remembered that I had intended some of the book for use in artwork for a future album. I think it’ll still work for that purpose, but I want to share some of the funnier/stranger pages in the book.

-Jonathon

The following may also be useful to know…

Summer stretching on the grass.

It’s been a difficult, yet somewhat encouraging, week. The best part is that I have some great friends who won’t allow me to stay down. We have breakfast, make silly trips to Cargo Largo, text about absurd church signs, listen to records over lunch and watch Ren and Stimpy together. Oh yeah, we also talk.

I think it’s tempting to sometimes think of people’s role in our lives only as a convenient pick-me-up. God has obviously placed them in my life and they serve occasionally in this capacity, but as I mulled this over, I began to realize just how selfish and utilitarian this thinking is. Sure, I have no doubt these friends and family try to lift me up, but I think our exchange is far more rich than that.

Are my friends here to serve me or am I here to serve my friends? I’d like to think that I still have much to offer, that I can help them be better people, as well. This is what keeps me going and can get me out of the house when I just want to close the blinds and take a nap.

-Jonathon