happy leap day

hey!  happy leap day!  it's a day that occurs once every four years, and that means it's my day to take a shower. 

just kidding.  i take one at least once a year, whether i need it or not.

seriously, though, i don't know who invented leap day, but whoever did it is such a snob.  i mean really.  this just a day for crazy liberals who don't believe all the other 365 days aren't good enough.  no, those crazies say we need yet another day so women can propose marriage to men, which is entirely opposite of the created and Biblical order.  soon they'll be trying to turn to form us into their own image and turn every day into leap day, as if 365 days isn't enough for all the good, hard-working americans out there.  we don't need no stinkin' leap day! 

last night i finished "committed" by elizabeth gilbert.  it was a fascinating tale of one woman's wrestling with the whole idea of marriage, and how she finally came to terms with it.  as someone who performs wedding ceremonies and counsels couples who are considering getting married, i found it to be really interesting and worthwhile, particularly for understanding modern ideas about matrimony.  perhaps most valuable, though, was the historical perspective she was able to offer about the social meanings and mores of marriage gleaned from her extensive research on the topic.  it is always good, in my opinion, to discover that there is more to something that what you've come to think of it in your few short decades on this earth.  there is this great pool of wisdom behind us but many times we are too hellbent on racing towards the future to take any heed.  this book was able to provide me with an opportunity to take a dip in that pool, even while also hearing the story of gilbert's own unique journey of dealing with the institution of marriage.  this was a worthwhile read for me. 

____________________________________________________________________

i'm about to hit 100,000 visits to my blog, probably today or tomorrow.  in celebration of doing something much longer than i had ever expected, i want to give something away, but i'm not sure what or how yet, so stay tuned, and thanks for continuing to come back to this tiny little orange corner of the web. 

happy birthday, max!

yesterday was the 11th birthday of our dog max.  we adopted him a decade ago and  inherited his almost-cliche name, but at least gave him the dignity of formalizing it into: maximus drake milinovich.  every dog deserves a middle name.  max's happens to be in honor of the late great british musician, nick drake.  however, whatever dignity we afforded him by extending his nomenclature was soon reclaimed by us as we insisted on treating him like our first child, posing him in various situations and outfits just to hear ourselves repeatedly proclaim, "look how cute!" 

you can tell from these pictures, for example, that max is either into amateur piloting or was made to wear these goggles by his dignity-denying adopted parents.  as much as i want to say it is the former (how cute would it be to see max piloting a small plane, ala the red baron?), it is obviously the latter.  these pictures are part of a photo shoot we did with max for our 2011 christmas card.  i've got about 25 different ones of these, all photos of various levels of doggy discomfort.  but he is such a trooper.  he clearly did his best to grin and bear it, and the results were well worth it, in my humble opinion. 

in any case, yesterday was the 11th anniversary of his birth, and i'd be willing to wager that he's got a sore little dog tail this morning after wagging it so much yesterday due to some extra lovin and snackin and singin and playin.  he even got to eat some bacon.  real bacon.  it doesn't get any better than that (well, except for lifting off the ground in a small aircraft).  a recent british study concluded that the average lifespan of an english bulldog is 6.5 years, while the akc puts it at 8-12 years.  either way, max has lived into a ripe old age and enjoys just about every quality of life you can imagine (other than the small aircraft thing).  he is a blessed dog, i think, but he is also surely a blessing beyond description to this family, and has been for more than a decade now.  first he was an only child, and then he slowly had to give up all that attention, one human child at a time.  but he has handled it all with tail-wagging, heavy-snoring grace.  we love you, maximus drake!  happy birthday!

new collage: green, continental

"green, continental"

mixed media collage on previously painted wood panel (acrylic paint, found papers, vintage papers, glue)

gregory a. milinovich

february, 2012

i thought i'd share with you a new collage i made.  it is fairly large (about 48 inches by 36 inches), and made on top of an 70's-style painting i purchased at an auction for $1. 

i took an old map of the continental united states and carefully cut out each state with as much precision as possible.  then, i traced those states on top of all kinds of different papers, trying to get a variety of patterns and text, etc.  then i cut each of those out again.  then i glued each of them, like a puzzle, on to some art paper.  then, i did a wash over the whole thing with a green acrylic paint wash.  in the meantime, i had pasted old maps all over the old painting, and then muted it with a white gesso wash.  then i covered that with a blue wash, and added all sorts of blue and black detail over that for shading and texture.   then, i cut the united states out (one more time!) from the art paper and affixed it to the old painting, and did a final coat.  i also painted the frame, which had been a cream color, with a glossy black.  so, it was a ton of work.  but i'm really happy with the final product. 

saturday song: church on time

it's late on saturday for a saturday song, but better late than never!  at least, when it comes to blogging.  but not when it comes to getting to church.  well, according to ben harper and blind boys of alabama, anyway!  enjoy!

legomania at the milinovich house

my children (and a couple of the adults in our house, too) love legos.  i'm pretty sure it's not just a phase, or, if it is, it is a really long phase.  quinton's not really into legos yet (unless you count eating them), but both jackson and caedmon are perfectly content to spend hours - hours - in the basement just recreating the things they see in their imaginations with colored plastic blocks.   sometimes they just want to build random things, and sometimes they want to rebuild the sets they have.  but the problem we ran into is that the pieces of these sets were spread out among our many bins of legos, and so building even the simplest of these sets would take hours.  so we made a commitment to organizing all these sets and keeping them all separated.  in the process of doing that, we began to organize other pieces as well, and now we have quite the lego organizational system, complete with two different sets of small shelves (78 individual shelves, altogether!) and many bins full of pieces organized by shape, size and color.  it is a beautiful thing to behold.  and as we built these sets, we kept them put together until we finished all of them, so that we could see them all in one place.  what you see above is the completion of that project.  the pictures below are just a few closeups of our legomania. 

ash wednesday: 2012

today is ash wednesday, the beginning of the season of lent.  lent has traditionally been a time for christians to humbly and soberly face the truth of their own brokenness and sinfulness.  it is a time to take stock.  it is a chance to slow down enough to remember that we can't do this thing on our own, just ashes and bones.  brittle and faltering. 

of course ash wednesday is the first chapter in a lenten story that ends with an empty tomb and a whole new creation of life from death, dancing bones and brokenness turned to wholeness. 

but we start in ashes.  in penitence.  in humility.  in the need of profound grace. 

"ash wednesday 2012"

mixed media collage on canvas (vintage book pages, acryclic paint, beads, glue)

gregory a. milinovich

february 2012

each year for ash wednesday i make a collage.  you can click here to see some of my collages from the past years.  the collage above is this year's offering.  grace and peace to you this ash wednesday. 

pancakes and nannies: a random post

-happy pancake day.  or shrove tuesday.  or, as it is known in these parts, fausnacht day.  in this german version of the old tradition, you empty your pantry of flour and sugar by making doughnuts and eat them readily before lent begins.  here in the milinovich house, we'll be eating pancakes for dinner, as look ahead toward our time of fasting and penitence in lent.  i love lent, and look forward to this time of spiritual challenge and renewal.  but first: pancakes.  yum. 

-we had a very blessed weekend, as we were visited by some dear friends from new jersey.  we just basically hung out and played games and took a walk and went to a dinner at church, but we spelled the weekend out in laughter and love.  this has got to be the good life. 

-having said what i said about lent earlier, i seriously can't believe  it is here already.  i just finished putting away the christmas decorations (not really, but that's what it feels like!).  how is it time for ash wednesday already?  i can't even comprehend how the calendar keeps turning with such relentless fervor.  but it does.  and we must keep up.  or be squashed by the weight of the turned and crossed-off pages. 

-we had president's day off yesterday, so shannon and i worked on some "family documentation," which is to say that i spent part of the day scrapbooking.  yes, scrapbooking.   then, i decided to do something much more macho and watch a movie with my kids.  so we watched nanny mcphee.  i am man!  hear me chuckle at the antics of emma thompson as the ornery yet effective nanny. 

-oh yeah, the best news of all. baseball has arrived. sort of . pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training. others will soon follow. i can just about hear the sound of leather and the wood all the way up here. my anticipation is, as usual, untamed and (probably a little) unhealthy. 

-seriously, though, there's nothing better than spending the day with the fam.  makes me wish i was retired while my kids were at home, and then could work once they were out of the house.  wouldn't that make sense?  i'm thinking of presenting this to my ad council at church.  any bets on how that'll go? 

happy presidents day

i cannot tell a lie: i hope you have a great president's day.

saturday song: willie sings "the scientist"

happy saturday.

a little math for you to introduce today's saturday song....


i love coldplay
+
i love willie nelson
__________________
= i like this song. 

new collage: to my valentine 2012

every year for valentine's day, i make my beloved a small collage.  this is my fifth year doing this, and so now she is starting to accumulate a bit of a collection.  if you visit our house around valentine's day you will see these on display, but since most of you don't get to come over very often, i thought i'd share them here. 

"to my valentine: 2008"

mixed media (found papers, vintage papers, acrylic paint, pencil, glue) on hardcover bookboard

gregory a. milinovich

"to my valentine: 2009"

mixed media collage (found papers, vintage papers, vintage photograph, acrylic paint, glue) on hardcover bookboard

gregory a. milinovich

"to my valentine: 2010"

mixed media collage (found papers, vintage papers, acrylic paint, glue) on hardcover bookboard

gregory a. milinovich

"to my valentine: 2011"

mixed media collage (photograph, found papers, acrylic paint, glue) on hardcover bookboard

gregory a. milinovich

"to my valentine: 2012"

mixed media collage (found papers, vintage papers, vintage photograph, acrylic paint, marker, glue) on hardcover bookboard

gregory a. milinovich

uh-oh

this sunday in church as we continued our series entitled "when christians get it wrong," we dealt with that ever-so-sensitive topic of homosexuality.  in some ways, i suppose, i have avoided talking about thsi from the pulpit for some time, and, in other ways, i have been wanting to preach about this.  basing this sermon series on adam hamilton's book "when christians get it wrong" gave me the perfect opportunity, since his book has a whole chapter devoted to this subject. 

and it should, because our position on this particular issue is - unfortunately - how we have come to be defined in our culture.  in the recent barna survey which lead to david kinnaman writing the book "unchristian" (which is well worth checking out), 91% of the unchurched people surveyed chose the word "antihomosexual" to define christians, thus becoming the most widely chosen word among a total of 20 (10 positive, 10 negative).  so, to make it clear, among those unchurched folks surveyed, christians weren't known for being merciful, for our commitment to justice, or for our love, but for being "antihomosexual." 

this is christians getting it wrong.

and yet i have always been very hesitant to preach about it too much.  living, as i do, in the heart of central pennsylvania, in a region that is markedly conservative, i have wanted to avoid burning bridges.  i have wanted to journey with the people of my congregation, not try and push them over what they may perceive to be a precipice.  and yet, it was time.  we've been talking about getting it wrong about politics, science, other religions, and so i had to deal with this issue.  but, i must tell you, i was very anxious about it.  not so much about what would come out of my mouth, but about how it would be received. 

after i read the text for the morning from acts 10, in which peter has his remarkable vision about what was previously unclean (all kinds of food) becoming clean, there was a pause before i started the sermon.  in this silence, while people anxiously awaited to hear what their pastor was going to say about this topic so often avoided, one voice split the silence in two, boldly.  it was the voice of a child.  and the child couldn't have better expressed my inner turmoil at that moment.  he vociferously proclaimed: "UH-OH!"  i laughed.  the congregation laughed.  and it seemed to take the edge off of the whole moment.  i preached the sermon, and we continued to worship the God who loves us with a love beyond our imagination, and calls us to love others likewise. 

as for the sermon itself, i was basically just trying to get people to realize that faithful Christians and serious scholars from all around the globe are going to have to learn to live with great diversity of opinion on this issue.  we all read the same scriptures, but we all don't understand it the same way.  and we are going to have to love each other in the midst of that.  i said a whole bunch more, of course, but i'm not going to spoil it here.  if you want to hear my sermons, you should come to our church!  seriously, you should come!  we are doing some new things, growing in new ways, and living into a new vision that God has given us to become a community of hope in a place that has come to be marked by despair.  so, come and join us.  we get it wrong sometimes, to be sure.  but we are working on it, trying to remember that what we are called to be is known for one thing, and one thing only: not our judgment, not our upstanding morality, not our firm principles, not our purity, but for our love.  messy, dirty, colorful, hopeful love. 

uh-oh. 

happy valentine's day from the Milinovich family

lego maniacs

this weekend my two older sons were able to participate in a lego building contest in bloomsburg, pa.  they were given several hundred assorted legos and were to build some sort of building.  we used it as a great opportunity to continue to teach them about celebrating creativity and finding purpose and pleasure in playing, not only in winning.  as you can see in the picture above, jackson took it really seriously, designing a large "outdoor house," complete with electricity, a pizza oven, and more. 

i'm not really sure what Cade built, other than what he calls a "house.'  they were to build for 45 minutes, but cade, who was one of the youngest kids in the field of 30, got a bit bored and starting cleaning up his legos before the time was up.  

the local newspaper was there and interviewed both Jackson and myself, along with others.  they ran the story in the sunday paper, and we were both quoted.  you can see the story here.  we had a great time trying something new, and finding another outlet for our current obsession with legos.  (we are currently in the process of building every lego set we own and putting them all together for a picture.  we have 33 built and about 6 more to go!).  the boys got t-shirts and ribbons for participating, and daddy might have gotten them some ice cream on the way home.  as we walked towards the car after the competition, cade proclaimed with the kind of  untainted joy that only a 4-year old can express: "i'm in a LEGO mood!  let's go home and play more legos!"  and so we did. 

saturday song: symphonies

time for saturday song.  today i am sharing a song by an artist named dan black.  the song is called "symphonies."  it seems to be about living life deeply, "sucking the marrow" from life, and not being satisified with the status quo.  at least that's how i interpret it.  the song features a collaboration with rapper kid cudi.  that's a good enough song right there, and you can watch the video of it here. 

but i found this remix one day while messing around on noisetrade, and i LOVE it.  it is remixed by one jeremy henry, who goes by the moniker "haus of glitch."   it plays with the song's lyrics about copying and pasting, and has a great deal of fun with the orchestra blasts and digital noises.  i love electronic music, when its done artfully and especially when it is still maddeningly melodic, as this is.  there is no video to look at below, just the song to enjoy - so, enjoy!  and look for the symphonies in your life today!

need of healing

"need of healing"

mixed media collage (vintage papers, vintage photograph, acrylic paint, glue) on hardcover bookboard

january 2012

gregory a. milinovich

here is a new collage i recently made, focusing on simplicity and shape, and as much as what is not there as what is.  i used an old hardcover bookboard that had been withdrawn from a library and indelibly marked as such, and used that as my starting point.  from there i just kept it simple and played with shape, line and color. 

i intend to have some new works up on my etsy site soon, in case anyone is interested in purchasing any of my art, so stay tuned for that. 

and now, for your thursday, a poem by luci shaw:

Small Song

God of the sea,

God of the rock

and bird and tree,

you are also

the God of me.

The pebble fell.

The water stirred

and stilled again.

The hidden bird

made song for you.

His praise you heard.

You heard him sing

from in the tree.

And searching still

I know you'll see

the love that wings

to you from me.

truck stuck in tree, and the art of bradying

-hey, did you hear there was a football game played on sunday?  yeah, me neither.  i guess there was some kind of madonna concert and they played some football game before and after the show. 

-actually, i did watch the game, and was delighted with the results.  i know i'm going to have to go through at least 300 years of purgatory for this, but here's the honest-to-goodness truth of it:  i love watching boston lose and suffer.  in general i am not nearly so harsh and hateful, but boston (and the baltimore ravens) is the target of all of my disdain.  i won't eat boston baked beans.  i avoid sam adams.  i don't watch movies set in boston.   if there's something i like, and then i find its from boston, i swear it off.   if i'm watching jeopardy, and one of the contestants is from boston, i begin praying for a long and humiliating loss.  okay, so i'm exaggerating here (what i do best), but i'm not completely making this up, i assure you.  which is why, i'm a big fan of the newest craze sweeping the nation.  first there was tebowing, mimicking the kneeling posture of tim tebow, and now there is something called 'bradying,' which is the seated position of one who has just lost the superbowl to a new york team, even after your supermodel girlfriend begged for others to pray for you and your happiness.  so, i'm okay with a few extra years of purgatory, because i am seriously enjoying this:

-hey, great news.  our youth group at church participated in the souper bowl of caring this sunday in church, leading worship and gathering collections for local folks in need.  together, they were able to raise over $430 for a local soup kitchen and about 200 pounds of groceries for a local shelter.  great work by them, and further evidence that we are living into our vision, to become a people of hope. 

-any fathers who are reading would be blessed by reading this fantastic short blog post about what it means to be a daddy.  very much worth a read. 

-and now, for kicks and grins, see if you come up with a funny caption for this: 

wrapping up the birthday festivities

this weekend we celebrated the second half of jack's seventh birthday, and he had another (smaller) bug cake with an anthill on top.  he got many great gifts, especially the lego millenium falcon which is already built and looks amazing.  we had a great time with my mom and dad, and now our son is in his eighth year (dad says that is the croatian reckoning - as i get older i'm not sure i like that so much). 

now it's on to valentine's day.  time to make sure those you love know it without a shadow of a doubt.  love freely and deeply and expressively and wildly and passionately and extravagantly.  love wholly. 

i'm proud of you

i just finished this book this weekend, and wanted to share it with my readers.  it's called "i''m proud of you: life lessons from my friend Fred Rogers" by tim madigan.  it is the true story of an unlikely and unexpected friendship between a journalist from texas and the children's show host from pittsburgh.  sent on an assignment to interview the famous tv figure, madigan was skeptical of rogers' kindness at the beginning.  but the relentless kindness that mr. rogers showed him, along with his natural comfort with vulnerability and intimacy, soon softened his heart and demonstrated that mr. rogers was no joke.  his kindness was not just a public television facade meant to trick the children. he was no charlatan.  he was the real deal. 

then, through email correspondence and phone conversations, the two developed a close friendship that served madigan well.  as he went through marriage difficulty, some depression and related issues, and then a terrible family illness, mr. rogers walked with him each step of the way and demonstrated love and kindness beyond expectation. 

it changed madigan's life. 

one of the greatest impacts rogers had on madigan was in telling him time and time again: IPOY.  i'm proud of you.  it was the mantra of their friendship, and madigan had no idea how hungry he had been to hear those words.  ultimately, hearing those words and living into them helped to save his marriage, his relationship with his father and brother, and set his life on a different course.  it is a compelling story, and, at least for me, a challenging one. 

i want to be like mr. rogers.  big time. 

i want my life and relationships to be marked by kindness.  i want people to know how much i think of them; how much i am blessed by knowing them; and how proud of them i am.  i don't want to be too 'macho' for having good friendships marked by vulnerability, intimacy, trust and love.  i want to take my own belovedness and reflect it on each person i meet, each friend i love, and every encounter i have.  this book helped challenge me towards that, and i hope to keep it written on my heart for some time to come.  a big thanks to mr. rogers for being such an amazing man.  and a big thanks to tim madigan for writing it all down.  i am blessed. 

groundhog day

-well, the groundhog says we've got more winter ahead.  which could mean 6 more weeks of temps in the 40's and 50's.  or it could mean that winter is just getting started.  who knows?  only the groundhog, i guess.  which leads me to the biggest issue i have with this whole groundhog thing.  um, WHY DO WE LISTEN TO A GROUNDHOG?  this is the kind of thing that 500 years from now kids will be reading about in a textbook (or whatever they're using then) and the teacher will say, "yes our ancestors believed that one magical groundhog named phil would emerge on one particular day each year to predict the weather patterns.  it was reported on around the world and people took this very seriously."  we're going to look like idiots.  i mean, even more than we already do.  they'll say, "this was a culture of witch doctors and superstition.  they believed in meteorologists groundhogs and stars that can predict the number of friends you'll make, and cookies that can predict your future." 

by the way, if you're eating a fortune cookie, i can predict your future, too:  you just ate general tso's chicken, so heartburn and indigestion are in your immediate future. 

-you know who i feel bad for on groundhog day?  meteorologists.  they work hard all year, studying charts and patterns and making predictions based on these studies.  they face all kind of criticism for not predicting the weather perfectly.  and then, a stinking groundhog comes along and predicts the weather and everyone believes this nearly brainless animal and we throw a big party.  it's like saying to the weather women and men in local news stations and 24-hour cable weather networks around the country:  "we think your job is such a colossal joke that we'd rather listen to a fat rodent make predictions than you.  take that.  oh, and by the way, will it be cold this weekend?  i need to know what i should wear to that groundhog's day party on saturday."

right, dad?

i am such an independence junkie.  i value my self-sufficiency to a fault.  while there are some stengths in this, there are also some obvious negative aspects, as well.  like being able to rely on others.  or learn with others.  or play well with others.  basically, anything that has to do with others.  so often, the easy route for me is just doing the task at hand by myself, and i too often choose that route. 

this personality trait certainly applies to my faith, as well.  as much as i'd like to think it doesn't, i have to admit that my independence is a stumbling block in my relationship with God.  i mean, why ask God for help when i can easily do it myself?  my humanity and self-absorption can easily cloud my judgment and get me thinking this way, if not consciously, then certainly in the recesses of my mind and in my behavior. 

which is why i appreciate cade.  caedmon is my four-year old.  he didn't inherit my independence.  he likes to be close to others and to cuddle.  he doesn't mind being alone, but seems to be most comfortable in relationship.  and then there's this thing he does that really caught my attention. 

nearly everytime he says something to me, he ends the declaration with the short question, "right dad?"  like this:

you like orange, right dad? 
squinkies are so cool, right dad? 
you have a big belly, right dad? 

and so on.  it can get a bit annoying after awhile, and yet i also find it endearing and have been really cherishing it because i assume its a phase he's going through.  but it stopped me in my tracks the other day when i suddenly found myself asking this question:

when's the last time i said, "right dad?" to my heavenly father? 

ouch.  as always, my children teach me about God, and i am no longer the wise parent dispensing wisdom, but the one who follows the example of my children who seem to know more about God instinctively than i do after countless hours of study and reading.

my independence, i'm afraid, keeps me from asking that very important question.  "right, Dad?" 

it's such a simple little phrase.  it simply requires a short affirmation in response, and as such is a kind of conversational tool.  asking that question is a way of saying, 'we're in conversation; we're in dialogue; we are sharing in this moment and i am trusting you to affirm me when i'm right and correct me when i'm wrong.'  it's like caedmon is saying, "i need you to help me make sense of this world; to tell me when i've got it right or wrong, because i'm not always completely sure.  more than anything, i just want to know that you're listening and you're there and present with me." 

okay, he probably doesn't realize that he's saying all that, but in a way he is.  and it's what i probably ought to be saying to God, instead of my more typical: "oh, hey God.  what's up?  yeah i'm doing fine.  could you help so-and-so and do this or that?  thanks. i'll check in again tomorrow.  i know you must be busy.  alright, peace out.  amen." 

i need to spend a little more time in conversation, and a great deal more time in the context of a relationship.  right, Dad?   i need to just bask in the comfort of knowing that God is my daddy, and is there to love and hold and encourage me.  i need to get my self out of my own headspace sometimes, and recognize the One who is Love, who is grace-full, who is mercy, who is compassion, and who is my only hope.  i need it to become second nature to speak more like this:

i am your beloved, right Dad?
your creation is so cool, right Dad?
you have a big heart - big enough for all of us - right, Dad?

think how much that would delight our Daddy.