Knitting Mania - January 15

I haven't done a knitting update in a while, so I thought I'd share with you some of my most recent projects. Knitting is great for me because I can do it when I have a headache and it helps to take my mind off my headache (unless the pattern is really super complicated!).




Here are the sweaters that I made for Ga'Hoole Girl and Wild Man. I used the same pattern for both. Wild Man chose the blue and green yarn and told me how he wanted the hood and sleeves the same color. The hood is a little too small, but he likes it and won't let me redo it. Ga'Hoole Girl wanted hers done in chenille yarn, which is pretty and warm, but is very hard to work with using the size 5 needles that I needed. Anyway, hers is the pretty purple sweater.

I have recently started felting. This involves knitting an item in 100% wool in a much larger size than I want, then felting it by putting it in the washer with hot water and some jeans for extra agitation. I made slippers for several family members for Christmas this year in addition to a pair for myself. I have also started making soda can holders.

I also knitted a new bathmat. We had some lovely flannel sheets that we got about 10 years ago, and the fitted sheet got really worn out. So, I cut it into strips and knitted it in a checkerboard pattern using my really large needles. It turns out that it is the perfect size, matches perfectly, and is wonderfully soft on the feet.

My current projects are learning to do cables. I got some fun patterns from MagKnits. I am currently working on a set of fingerless gloves with a cool cable pattern for Ga'Hoole Girl. I'm also trying a vest for Mr. Math Teacher.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday today to my dear husband, known to all of you as Mr. Math Teacher. We did our celebration yesterday since he has worship practice tonight. I made his cake yesterday while the kids did schoolwork but then let the kids do the decorating. Here's the picture:

Ga'Hoole Girl had the wonderful idea to put mathematical equations on his cake. So, since he's 41 years old, we wrote "Happy 82/2 Birthday". Then, she made up five equations, the answers of which add up to 41. Those are the other equations spread around the cake. We really had a fun little celebration and we are all thankful to God for giving us such a wonderful husband and father!

My Day - 1

This is my entry in the Homeschool Day in the Life challenge at Writing and Living. I also enjoy reading about what other people do in their homeschool days. The problem, of course, is that I then worry that we're not doing "enough" or the "right" things. I'm getting over that now, though.

Wednesday

8am - I wake up and stumble downstairs for Coke Zero and leftover spaghetti (usually I have toast and cheese, but I had a hankering for the spaghetti). I have a migraine - it's not looking like a good day.

8:30-9 - The kids wake up and drag themselves downstairs. After about 10 minutes on the sofa, I get them to get up and eat breakfast and do chores.

9:30 - I have the kids get started on math and language arts, which they do independently. They work for about an hour without too much trouble, although Wild Man is getting frustrated with bar graphs and I'm not up to getting him all the way through it today.

10:30 - I read to them from Augustus Caesar's World to try and get past Week 12 in our Sonlight curriculum. Then, we have our prayer time (normally we do our Bible reading at this time, but we're way ahead on that). Next, I have the kids go over the books of the first half of the Old Testament - we're working on this instead of a verse this week.

11:15 - Ga'Hoole Girl works on her computer programming while Wild Man practices piano.

11:30 - Lunch time. The kids are supposed to get their own lunch, but things don't work out well today. They get into a "play" argument at 11:45 and I send them to the stairs for a few minutes. Then, I have them finish getting lunch in silence. (Yes, I can be a little crabby when I have a headache.)

12:00 - We start getting ready to leave for reading lesson and piano lessons. We leave at 12:15. Despite this, Ga'Hoole Girl forgets her piano bag.

12:15-1 - Drive into town for lessons. We have been listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on audiobook.

1-2 - Reading lesson for Wild Man. Ga'Hoole Girl works on her new science book (Apologia's General Science).

2-2:45 - Quick stop at the big library. Ga'Hoole Girl can't find anything she likes, but Wild Man gets a Pokemon movie - yippee. I, of course, come back with 4 books. Thankfully, I had returned about seven books.

2:45-3:45 - Piano lessons. Ga'Hoole Girl works on math and science during Wild Man's lesson. Wild Man and I read about lightning during her lesson.

3:45-4:45 - Drive home and continue listening to audiobook. Stop at the small library here in town for me to pick up some books that I had on hold.

5-6 - I bribe the kids to wash dishes because of my headache. I tell them that they can each earn an extra half hour of media. They're thrilled. My dishes get clean.

6-7 - Ga'Hoole Girl and Wild Man make a Schwan's dinner for the two of them and I have leftovers.

7-8 - The kids play and I read.

8-9 - We watch Mythbusters until about 8:30. Mr. Math Teacher gets home at 8:15 and the kids really want him to read, so they turn off the TV so he can read DragonQuest (by Donnita K. Paul).

9-10 - I read and talk with Mr. Math Teacher.

10 - I go to bed!


I'll try to post another Day in the Life in a few weeks since we don't really have a "typical" day.

Schwans

My mother was very good about making sure me and my brother were prepared to live on our own when we moved away from home. I could cook and do laundry well before I graduated high school. In fact, I'm a pretty good cook and I usually enjoy doing it. But, cooking has become a bit of an issue over the last couple of years. With trying to school the kids, I often have less time than I'd like to cook. I also have lots of days where I have the time to cook, but I don't feel at all well. The answer for me: Schwan's.

Schwan's is a company that makes lots of different frozen foods and delivers them to the home, twice a week in my case. The first time I saw their catalog, I thought, "Why would I buy this stuff when I can make it myself for a lot less money?" Now I know. I buy Schwan's to save me time and still give my family a good meal. For example, tonight we had tortellini which I seasoned with olive oil and spices, and a mixed vegetable dish that I just cooked for 10 minutes in the skillet. I have three cooking/serving dishes to wash. When you compare it to a home-cooked meal, it definitely cost more. But, since the actual alternative is eating out or getting take-out, the cost is pretty reasonable.

Between my good old crock pot, my new pressure cooker, and Schwans, I hope to be able to give my family a good, balanced dinner most nights of the week. And, even if I don't get to a full shopping trip, the Schwan's delivery comes every other week. Yet another adventure in my life of domesticity.

Painting - with kids

When I painted the living room and sunroom, the kids were spectacularly uninvolved - by their own choice. The only thing that they did was tell me whether or not they liked the colors. But, now, we are painting Ga'Hoole Girls room. The first thing to understand is that painting in this house is not a short-term deal. I only have about one or two days a week in which I feel well enough to paint, and I'm not ready to let the kids paint alone. So, we plan on painting being a long-term project. In this case, Ga'Hoole Girl and her best friend painted 1/4 of a wall about six months ago. Since then, the room has been an unpleasant yellowish color with 1/4 of a wall a lovely light purple.

On Tuesday, I felt pretty well, so we decided to paint. The kids wanted desperately to use the paint roller. So, Ga'Hoole Girl painted most of one wall with the roller and did an admirable job. My task was the edges, which I enjoyed. Wild Man painted with a brush for awhile and then got his turn with the roller. The good news is that he got lots of paint on the wall. The bad news is that Ga'Hoole Girl and I had to go after him with wet paper towels to clean up all the paint he dripped on the baseboards. But, he had fun.

Another reason we don't paint often is that I want to be in a pretty good mood for it. I want the kids to enjoy their painting time, even if we have to do lots of clean up. And, especially in their rooms, I'm far more interested in developing our relationships and making good memories than having a perfectly painted room.

We only got 1/2 of Ga'Hoole Girl's room painted this week. Next week, we'll touch up the areas that we missed on this side of the room and then move everything to the other side of the room to paint.

Ga'Hoole Girl is a true artist. Her room is going to be a light to medium purple color except for the top six inches all the way around and the wall by her top bunk. Those sections are going to be a deep indigo color. Then, she's going to paint glow-in-the-dark stars on the indigo. She has a gauzy rainbow colored curtain all ready to hang around her bunk bed so that her top bunk can be a reading getaway. It's going to be very cool - and artistic - and colorful.

Pain Management

After almost two years out of the workforce, I can't say that my chronic headaches are any better. My doctor and I have decided on a pain management plan to help me deal with things a little better, though. We aren't changing any of my medications, although we'd like for me to use my as needed medications a little less. I am working with a Christian counselor on pain management using a book called The Chronic Pain Care Workbook. So far, I have been keeping records about my pain, my activity, my diet, medication use, etc. I am also going to be setting some goals very soon. The idea is that we will try to come up with some techniques to manage my pain (and fatigue and sleep disturbance, etc) over the next several months to a year.

In addition, I'm going to go to physical therapy and see if they have any techniques that they can offer. One thing that I have never tried is a TENS unit. I'm also going to see if they have any exercise ideas that may help.

My counselor and I are trying to get me to be more active, as well. This weekend at camp, our family did cross-country skiing for the first time and we all loved it. Well, I didn't love the falling down part too much. But, the actual skiing was really fun. But, I was soooooo sore until today. There are some places around here where we can ski, so we're going to try it out this weekend. If we really get into it, we might see about buying some second hand equipment so we can go to the state park to ski. In any case, I think we have found a winter activity besides the treadmill that I like.

I'll post occasionally as I go through this process. I'm also doing this as I'm working through some stuff about spiritual disciplines. I think that learning to do regular times of prayer, meditation, and silence may also help with my pain issues.

Books, Libraries, Reading

I have developed a great love for libraries in the last few years. I have always appreciated them, but I generally preferred to purchase my books. But, now, I don't have the money to buy all the books I want to read, and I don't have the room to store them. So, I use the library - and I've found many advantages. Since we homeschool, we use the library quite a bit for books for the kids. But, now, since I'm home and use reading as one of my distraction techniques from pain, I read lots and lots. I have always loved to read, but I didn't have much time for pleasure reading when I was working. Getting books from the library allows me to read books from all kinds of genres. I also don't feel obligated to finish a book that I don't like since I didn't buy the book.

I like the feel of libraries. It's so quiet and calm in there - like we've left the busy world behind. I also like the look and feel of books, especially old books. I used to spend hours in the LSU Middleton library just looking at old books and magazines, particularly Life magazine. Our regional library has a great online catalog so I can place a hold on a book that I may have read about that I want to read. There is also a "New Books" shelf where I can check out books that look interesting.

A couple of weeks ago, there was an interesting comic strip in the newspaper. It was "Opus" by Berke Breathed (of "Bloom County" fame). In it, Opus is given a new e-book for Christmas - a device where he sits and reads the text on a screen. The other character tells him how this is the future of reading. For a couple of panels we see Opus reading his new e-book with his eyes getting wide as the light from the device shines on him. Then, in the last panel, Opus has gone back to "real" books and he is curled up in an armchair with popcorn, a drink, and a good old-fashioned book! I have that taped up on my desk right now. I love "real" books.

Dr. Mohler's recent blog entry discusses the decline of reading in our society. I share his concern. Reading is an important skill for everyone. But, being able to decode words is not all that's important. People need to be able to read for information. But, we also need to be able to understand the ideas put forth in writing and be able to deal with those ideas - to compare them with other ideas and formulate our own conclusions based on the information.

As a homeschooler, this is less of a practical concern for me and my kids. We go to the library several times per week. Our curriculum is literature based so that the kids are always reading challenging books and being read to. Even Wild Man, with his dyslexia, is reading daily at his reading level (I am concerned because he doesn't like to read, but I think it's just because it's still so difficult for him). We also use audio books. In addition, my kids see me and their dad reading for pleasure and for information, something that's also important to help kids develop a love of reading.

I also agree with Dr. Mohler's stance that reading is particularly important for Christians. Our faith is based on the person of Jesus Christ, but the tenet of our faith are written in the Bible. Literacy is extremely important for Christians to be able to understand the gift that God has given us.

Unfortunately, literacy in all areas of society appears to be an issue. Mr. Math Teacher finds that he has kids in middle school and high school who do not read adequately for their grade level. How can we help? In our own families, we must promote reading as an important skill to be learned, but also as a fun leisure activity. Schools have to be serious about children learning to read. Churches can also help by providing literacy classes for adults and providing after-school help for students. Individuals can help friends and family members with literacy activities. Our community has extra help for kids after school at the local library.

Somehow our society needs to get away from our utter dependence on television. I'm not completely opposed to TV - I love my History Channel - but so many people are getting all of their information from the TV. I think we can blame a number of our social ills on our need for media. Books require patience and attention. TV allows us to get information in 30 minute segments. Books take us in depth. TV is far more shallow.

I'm not going to be able to solve this issue for all of society, but I can influence my own home. To paraphrase Scripture: As for me and my house, we will read.

Reviews - January 7

Here's the latest installment in my book and movie reviews.



Christmas in Harmony by Philip Gulley

This is a delightful little book about a Christmas in a small town from the perspective of the Quaker minister. We get to see the joys and trials of the pastor and his wife when one of the parishioners comes up with the idea of doing a "Progressive Live Nativity" where the observers go from one house to another to see the whole Nativity scene. It is a funny story with sweet moments as well. I think we're going to have to do this as a read-aloud starting next year.



Christianity's Dangerous Idea by Alister McGrath

Alister McGrath has done a masterful job in describing the history of Protestantism and discussing the future of the movement. McGrath tells us that Protestantism is based on individual Christians being able to interpret Scripture for themselves and that this is the basis of the Reformation. But, this one idea did not just lead to a denomination competing with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches - it has lead to many, many denominations. The first third of the book shows the history of the movement from Luther, Zwingli, Hus, and Calvin to the present.

The second third of the book is a discussion of the manifestation of Protestantism: what are some of the variations of belief within Protestantism? what are some of the variations of practice within Protestantism? how does Protestantism relate to culture, both cause and effect? The last third of the book discusses the future of Protestantism, with an emphasis on Pentecostalism and the Global South.

This is a lengthy book - over 500 pages - but I strongly recommend it for anyone who has an interest in church history. It was helpful in understanding where many of our "Protestant" traditions started. The discussion of the Church in the Global South was also quite strong. McGrath discusses the history of missions and how that has affected the shape of the church in the developing world. He also shows how and why Pentecostalism is making such strong inroads into the developing world. I came away from this with a strong feeling that I know far less about Christianity around the world than I thought I did. So, read this book and be prepared to learn a lot!





Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel

Ms. Hansel has compiled a wonderful set of knitting patterns based on the Harry Potter books and movies. I actually checked this book out from the library several months ago after I saw it on the new books shelf. I then strongly hinted to Mr. Math Teacher how much I would like it for Christmas. Lo and behold, I got it for Christmas! I am currently working on making some Dobby socks. Ms. Hansel has patterns that include "Weasley Sweaters" based on the sweaters that Molly Weasley makes for her kids every Christmas, wizard robes (lots of yarn for that!), an Invisibility Shawl, Quidditch sweaters and socks, House scarves and hats, and elf hats. I'm going to have fun working my way through this book.



Hadassah: One Night With the King by Tommy Tenney

I saw the DVD several months ago and reviewed it favorably. The book and movie are really quite different, but I love the book at least as much as the movie. I think it's best to look at them as completely unrelated entities. The book is the story of Queen Esther from the Bible. Tenney makes the character of Esther (Hadassah) accessible and likable. The plot is believable and keeps moving. I had a hard time putting the book down. Tenney also helps to understand some of the things in the story of Esther that always confused me. For example, why did Esther invite the King and Haman to dinner one night and then again for a second night? Why didn't she just tell the King the first time? Read the book and you'll see why - at least this author's explanation. I very highly recommend this for older teens and above. There is a little bit of sexual content (albeit not explicit) that makes it problematic for the younger set.



The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

You may have heard of "The Secret" - the book and DVD. Apparently, Oprah has talked about it on her show. It's supposed to be quite the rage in some circles. What is "The Secret"? It is a Secret that will lead you to wealth, happiness, and fulfillment. What is it? It is the Law of Attraction. According to this author, you attract to yourself what you think about. As you think, your thoughts are transmitted to the Universe, and the Universe sends to you the things that you think about. So, according to this, like attracts like. If you want to be rich, you need to have thoughts about getting money. Same thing about health, happiness, success, etc.

Are you thinking that this sounds too good to be true? Well, it is. And, it's based on a completely faulty worldview. This is your basic pantheism - there is no personal God, just "god" in everything. The Universe is just waiting to give you whatever you want. There's no explanation in this for evil or suffering. The Secret isn't there for you when you are sick or bad things happen to you because anything bad that happens is something you brought on yourself. There is some good in thinking positive thoughts, but the basis of this belief system are just wrong.

The truth: there is a real, personal God who loves us. There is real sin and evil in this world. God has defeated evil through Jesus. There is no "Secret" about this - just truth.





"Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End"

I really liked the first Pirates movie. I thought the second was rather silly. The third one is downright confusing. There are some good lines. Johnny Depp is wonderful as Captain Jack Sparrow. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are also very good in their roles. But, I had trouble sticking with the movie through the entire two plus hours. So, watch it for the great scenes with Johnny Depp, but don't expect much.

We're going to camp!

Yes, we're going to camp in the middle of winter. Crazy us. But, it sounds like a great chance to get away for the weekend and eat delicious camp food. We can also ride in a horse drawn sleigh, go horseback riding, snowshoe, cross country ski, and any other crazy snow thing that our hearts desire. Then, Monday night is the BCS championship game with LSU playing for the National Championship! Sounds like a great few days!

I Love My New mp3 Player!

Yes, I got an mp3 player for Christmas - not a fancy ipod, but a very servicable (and pretty blue) SanDisk. It turns out that everyone in our family got an mp3 player for Christmas - we're quite digital around here!

After a little false start, I have been able to get music from CDs, music from Rhapsody, and audiobooks from the library onto my new device. I'm sitting here at the computer listening to some classic Newsboys songs.

What I'm really looking forward to is that the kids can put on their headphones (the grandparents gave them around-the-ear headphones - not the expensive Bose ones, but nice nonetheless) while they do schoolwork and listen to music. Of course, I'll probably have to check that they're not listening to audiobooks while they're doing schoolwork - Wild Man would probably do it if he could get away with it! But, they are pretty acoustically insulated from the rest of the world when they have the headphones on, which is nice. Of couse, I have to wear ear buds so that I can still hear important sounds from the rest of the world - like kids asking questions, the phone ringing, etc. Then again, maybe I'll get some around-the-ear headphones, after all. I could stand to be acoustically insulated.

Mousetrap!

"Mousetrap! I wanted to play Mousetrap! You roll your dice, you move your mice, nobody gets hurt!"

Those of you who are Veggie Tales lovers (as we are in this family) will recognize the quote above as being from Bob the Tomato in "The Toy that Saved Christmas". Back when Ga'Hoole Girl was 3 or 4 years old, she would act out that section of the scene. She would turn upside down like Bob was in the snowbank and then say that line just like in the movie.

We now own the game Mousetrap - yippee. Wild Man got it from a friend on Christmas Eve. He wants to play it all the time. The deal with mousetrap is that the mice travel around the board, building a mousetrap the whole time. At the end, the players try to get each other on a certain spot and trap them under the trap. The trap is kind of like a Rube Goldberg machine. My kids love it, especially since they love the Mythbusters episodes where they build something like this.

Ga'Hoole Girl got a new Zelda game from her grandparents. She had requested it, so I sent the info to the grandparents. What I didn't realize is that this game, which has three games from the old Nintendo systems and a trial version of the first one for GameCube, is something of a collector's item. Ga'Hoole Girl is just thrilled with her new game. She and Wild Man have been playing frequently over the last several days. They're going to be in for a rude awakening next Wednesday!

A Tale of Two Adventures in Domesticity

It was the best of time, it was the worst of time . . . . Oh, wait. Wrong beginning. This Christmas season, I have had two polar opposite cooking experiences. I like the call the first one "The Tale of the Three Meat Thermometers." Perhaps not the catchiest title in the world, but it's descriptive.

The Tale of the Three Meat Thermometers
On the day after Christmas, we celebrated with a big Christmas dinner. I started up the turkey, like I do every major holiday. Now, I usually do a pretty good job with turkey - the white meat comes out moist and everything. After the requisite four hours of cooking, the meat thermometer hadn't moved a bit. I decided it was probably broken. Mr. Math Teacher had a meat thermometer on the grill, so he chopped it out of the snow and cleaned it up so I could use it. After another 30 minutes, the temperature was only 140 (was supposed to be 18). I had asked Mr. Math Teacher to go to the store and told him not to wait for the turkey since it was clearly not close to done. At the store, he picked up a new meat thermometer for me. By now, I was starting to suspect that there was a problem with thermometer #2. So, I put in thermometer #3 to find that the meat temperature was actually above 190. I made lots of gravy. I have no idea how moist the white meat is because we just all put tons of gravy over it.

The Tale of the Cool New Pressure Cooker
The next night, I decided to try out my new pressure cooker from my parents. We had some venison stew meat that we expected to have to cook for a couple of hours, so I decided to try a venison and barley soup. I browned the venison right in the pot - part of why this is such a cool toy! Then, I added some onion soup mix, beef bouillon, spices, and barley. After the 15 minutes that I tried at first, the meat was good, but the barley wasn't ready. After another 15 minutes, the meat was wonderful, but the barley was a little chewy (it's not pearled barley). After only 10 more minutes, the dish was ready. Wild Man looked at it with some trepidation, but consented to try it. He pronounced it "delicious"! And there was only one pot to cook. A happy family and minimal clean-up. Does it get any better than this?!

The three day Christmas

This year, we decided to make our Christmas celebration three days long. And it's only partly because I had a migraine on the 24th and 25th.

December 24th, Christmas Eve, is the day we did the religious celebration of Christmas. Mr. Math Teacher was at church for rehearsal then all three services (he plays bass guitar). Wild Man went with him and "helped" in the nursery (the children's director says that he wasn't causing problems). Ga'Hoole Girl and I relaxed around the house until time for church. We went to the third church service since Mr. Math Teacher had to stay the whole time anyway. After church, we each opened a gift and then Mr. Math Teacher read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then, off to bed to await the coming of Santa.

December 25th, Christmas Day, was our gift-giving day. We got up relatively early - we actually had to wake Wild Man at 7am - and spent the next hour or so opening presents. Instead of working all day to clean house and cook a fancy dinner, we decided to spend all day playing with our new presents. [Yes, it was also partly because I still had a migraine, but we all liked getting a whole day to play without having to cook.]

December 26th, the day after Christmas, was our day to celebrate with a big meal. Our meal was rather simple this year, but delicious. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, iced tea, and sparkling grape juice. It was a lovely meal.

I think we enjoyed our time a little more this year since we didn't feel pressed to get a bunch done in a short period of time. We still have until January 2 until we have to get back to "real" life. Until then, more playtime!

White Christmas!

One of the nice things about living this far up North is that we usually have a White Christmas. But, I think today's snow was a little much, even for "The Great White North". They are predicting that we will have 8-12 inches of new snow by the time this storm passes. Church was even cancelled this morning - not a frequent occurrence. But, we will have nice, fresh, white snow for Christmas.

Your Christmas Spirit Level: 75%

Your Christmas spirit is almost as big as Christmas itself. Christmas is definitely your thing. You celebrate Christmas with enthusiasm. You love every minute of the holidays. Your Christmas spirit is inspiring to everyone who runs into you during the holidays. You make everyone's day just a little bit brighter. And that's what the holidays are all about!

Do You Have the Christmas Spirit?

The Christmas Turkey

As of two days ago, our frozen turkey was moved to the refrigerator to thaw. Why is this a big deal, you may wonder? Doesn't everyone put their frozen turkey in the fridge a week early to thaw? Well, actually, no. I have not always remembered to thaw the turkey, so there have been several years (Thanksgiving or Christmas) in which I have been trying to thaw a turkey in a sink of cold water the night before I need to cook it. What a mess! And, we don't have a big sink that holds an 18 pound turkey any more. So, I am quite proud that Mr. Math Teacher and I remembered to put the turkey in the fridge this year!

The Christmas Dress

It's that time of year again - time to buy the kids dressy clothes. Now, you must understand something. My kids rarely wear dressy clothes. Our church is rather casual, so Sunday wear is just regular clothes, but clean. Wild Man did go through a period a few years ago where he really enjoyed wearing dress clothes, but now he tends to wear jeans since he's usually angling to go to a friend's house. Ga'Hoole Girl likes to wear dresses, but she's been growing so much lately that she only has a few dresses.

But, Christmas is different. Both kids are happy to dress up in fancy clothes for this time of year. The problem, though, is finding clothes. It's pretty straightforward for Wild Man. We picked up a shirt and pair of pants at Penney's with no problem.

The issue comes with Ga'Hoole Girl. She's 12 years old and is out of girls clothes. She is a size 6 in Juniors or Misses clothing. But, most of the Junior clothes are inappropriate or downright sleazy!! Not only do Mr. Math Teacher and I not want her wearing such things, but she doesn't want to wear them. So, how to find an outfit that is pretty, covers everything, but still stylish. I was prepared for a long, drawn out shopping experience this week, but was pleasantly surprised. After a quick stop at Barnes and Noble, I said, "Let's stop over here at Dress Barn and see what they have." Ga'Hoole Girl really wanted to go to Coldwater Creek, but that's in the mall and their prices are much higher. But she agreed to Dress Barn. And, would you believe it, she loved the first thing we found - and it fit! She got a black velvet skirt with a flared bottom and a silver and green sweater. Can you tell that I'm thrilled?! No more Christmas shopping. We're done. And, no trips to the mall!

My favorite blogs

Part of my daily routine has been to check out my favorite blogs, so I figured I would share them with you - several of them are linked on the side of the page. Now, you need to understand that I do not always agree with everything that is said by these bloggers. I am interested in a variety of viewpoints, so don't think I've become a 5 point Calvinist because I list a couple of reformed blogs. I hope you find some of them interesting as well.

1. Internet Monk - this is the personal webspace of Michael Spencer. He reviews books and blogs about various "post-evangelical" topics. Today's post, for example, is about how we need to be far less interested in whether other people are Christians and far more interested in how to be better Christians.

2. Writing and Living is written by another homeschooling mom. She reviews books, but also just writes about life as a mom. Her blog is really funny, too!

3. Making Home is another blog written by a homeschooling mom. Her posts are about theology, life, family, etc. Her posts can be rather challenging for me.

4. Crunchy Con is the blog of Rod Dreher, a fellow LSU alum and a writer for a Dallas newspaper. He is the author of the book, Crunchy Cons, which I recommend. His posts are usually about political and social issues. He posts several times each day.

5. Smart Christian is a site that contains all kinds of content for Christians. I usually read the main page which contains links to sites of social, political, and religious interest.

6. Thinking Christian is the blog of Tom Gilson. His articles are usually of religious interest. Check out his good set of articles about "The Golden Compass".

7. Old Earth Creation Homeschool is a blog by a homeschooling mom who is interested in teaching children science from an Old Earth Creation point of view. She lists useful links and articles. She is currently on hiatus because she is taking a class and involved in writing papers and taking tests herself.

8. The Evangelical Outpost is an evangelical blog (as it's name implies!). My favorite part is the "33 things" on Mondays, which is a list of 33 interesting links. Check out this weeks, particularly the first item, which is a YouTube video.

9. Dr. Mohler's Blog is part of Dr. Mohler's website. I don't always agree with his conclusions, but I appreciate his thinking about lots of social issues.

10. Challies Dot Com is the website of Tim Challies. Tim is a reformed thinker who writes on social and reformed topics as well as doing book reviews. Good site.

These are the ten that I check most regularly. I hope you enjoy the list.

Reviews - December 16

I have been on something of a kick on reading about 16th century England. I've already blogged about Innocent Traitor, a historical novel about Lady Jane Grey. That was what kind of got me going on this tangent. So, here are my current reviews:

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
I really enjoyed this book about Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne Boleyn. The author took some liberties with the historical information. For example, Mary is believed to be the older sister of Anne, but the book says that she is younger. In addition, Mary was known to be quite promiscuous when she was growing up in France, but Ms. Gregory has Mary spending only some of her childhood in France and being much more virtuous than history suggests. But, the book itself is quite interesting and a real page-turner. The downside is that there is much s*xual content, not all of which was necessary to the plot. That being said, the plot itself is necessarily rather s*xual, being about Anne Boleyn. I recommend this book if you enjoy historical fiction and the s*xual content doesn't turn you off too much. It is certainly, though, an adult-only book!

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Ms. Weir is the author of Innocent Traitor. This book, though, is an historical account of Henry VIII and his wives (she has also written other books about this time in history). The book is quite thick, but I finished it within about two weeks. It is absolutely fascinating. Naturally, there is lots of information about King Henry VIII himself. He is much more complex than I had realized, and was quite interested in theology. She also includes lots of other historical information about England and the rest of Europe.

The history of the wives of this king is also the history of the Reformation in England. Henry VIII established the Church of England during his lifetime, partly because of his desire to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, partly because he wanted to consolidate power, but partly for theological reasons. Several of his wives had theological interests, which affected Henry and his rule. After Henry VIII died, Edward took the throne, and he was interested in Protestantism. After his death, though, Queen Mary was determined to make England Catholic once again. She executed so many that she earned the nickname "Bloody Mary". Elizabeth, though, brought England back to Protestantism when she took the throne. I learned from this book that much of Elizabeth's (and Edward's) education was from tutors who were interested in Protestantism - tutors that had been selected by Katherine Parr.

My favorite queens were Katherine of Aragon and Katherine Parr - and not because we share a first name! I appreciated that Katherine of Aragon stood up to Henry VIII. She believed that she was truly married to him and she refused to be bullied by him, even though she knew that he had the power of life and death over her. She also stood up to him because she wanted her daughter to be legitimate. Katherine Parr interests me because she was such a thinker. She actually had two books published in her lifetime - quite a feat in the 16th century! Much of her thinking was on religious topics, which almost got her into trouble with Henry VIII. She had a tendency toward Protestantism, but kept it generally secret until Henry died and Edward became king. But, she influenced Edward and Elizabeth toward Protestantism by choosing their tutors.

I thought this book was fascinating and would recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading history. It was well-written and interesting.

From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
This is a book for children that the kids and I listened to during our recent vacation. The premise is that two children decide to run away from home (in the New York suburbs) and stay in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During their stay in the museum, they come across a mystery about a statue that they feel compelled to try to solve. The story is funny and sweet. We listened to it on audiobook, which was a good way to enjoy it. The writing is excellent, and the reading was also quite well done. I strongly recommend this for about age 8 and up.

Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange
This is basically Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view. I absolutely loved it! It is a pretty short read, but very interesting. It is written as Mr. Darcy's diary entries from the time just before Mr. Bingley leases Netherfield until the first Christmas after his marriage. Ms. Grange does a nice job of getting into Mr. Darcy's mind. The additional plot that she adds is plausible and interesting. It all helps to develop Mr. Darcy's character. This is a must-read for any Jane Austen fan. Anyone who enjoyed Pride and Prejudice will probably also enjoy this.

My Nativity sets

I'm not a big one for collecting things, but I do collect Nativities. I just love all the different ways that people have come up with to remember when God broke into history for our salvation. So, what kinds of Nativities do I have? Here they are:

1. Plastic Nativity set that used to belong to my parents and that we used for many years when I was a child. Technically, it now belongs to my daughter.
2. Cloth mache and resin set given to me by my husband the Christmas that we moved up here.
3. Porcelain set that sets on a wooden base that I bought somewhere (that I don't recall).
4. Porcelain set with stable given to me by my mother.
5. Wooden set (2-dimensional appearance and very blocky looking) that I bought at a Pregnancy Center sale.
6. Plastic set bought for the kids as a playset.
7. Small resin set painted gold that my husband gave me one Christmas. We were staying at a local B&B for the night and the set was on the nightstand sitting on a mirror. I commented on how pretty it was, and my husband said that it was mine. He had set it all up!
8. Stuffed set with velcro on the bottom of the pieces with a stable/storage box given to me by a friend. This is not a toy, but a beautiful Nativity set.
9. Nativity Advent calendar which is cloth. The pieces have velcro on the back and there are pockets along the bottom. The kids put one piece on the top part each day with Christmas day culminating with putting Baby Jesus in the manger.
10. Beautiful blue nesting boxes, each with a lovely picture of part of the Nativity. I take the boxes out and stack them up, smaller on larger. It's quite interesting.
11. Nativity scene painted on a feather given to me by my mother.
12. One piece glass Nativity that I got at an arts and crafts sale.
13. Heartwood Creek Nativity Christmas ornaments that I purchased at a gift shop a few years ago.
14. Christmas windmill. This is a contraption that has three levels: the Holy Family and the Wise Men on the bottom, the shepherds and sheep on the second level, and the angels on the top level. There are candles around the bottom with blades around the very top. When you light the candles, the blades turn which makes the Wise Men, shepherds, and angels turn. The whole thing is made out of wood. My husband gave it to me for Christmas one year.

My mom has a Nativity that is carved out of a gourd - that is really cool. I'm always looking for new Nativities, although I don't have much room for display any more. But, it's a fun hobby.

Knitting as a cultural phenomenon

Check out this The Point Radio edition about knitting.

Recipe

Now, I don't post recipes very often because I don't do much adventurous cooking these days. That being said, Mr. Math Teacher and I watched Alton Brown on Food Network's "Good Eats" show. The particular show was about garlic, which I love, despite my Southern (and, prior to that, Irish and English) roots. He did a recipe called "40 Cloves and a Chicken". Yes, you cook a chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Then, you serve the chicken with the garlic cloves as a side dish and the olive oil in which it was cooked as a dipping sauce for French Bread. The garlic cloves are soft enough that they can be spread on the bread instead of butter. Of course, you need to eat this with the entire family, or you'll be stranded in a room by yourself for the rest of the night (or week).

Here's the link: http://http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_16200,00.html

Enjoy!!

Commercials

We recently got cable again so that I can watch TV while I knit. This is really nice to distract me when I have my headaches. I mostly watch documentaries, although I will also watch movies and "Monk" when I can catch it. The kids watch documentaries and some movies with me. They're generally limited to less than an hour a day (unless there's a football game on).

My problem with watching TV is commercials. Now, I understand that their job is to convince me that I need to buy whatever it is that they're selling. I also understand that part of that includes trying to create in me a need that didn't previously exist. But, some of what they are trying to tell us is just nuts! Here are some of my least favorite commercial types:

1. Electronic educational toys - Now, the toys themselves are not bad things. My kids enjoyed several different types and did learn from them. But, the commercials strongly imply that your child must have these in order to learn and develop properly - and, of course, we all want our kids to read by age 3. If you tend to succumb to this type of commercial, remember that children developed (and continue to develop) quite well without having every educational toy on the market. Use good judgement and buy toys for kids to enjoy and don't worry that they are always learning - because they are, whether you plan it or not!

2. The mini-van that brings families together - with electronics. The one that comes to mind most quickly shows the entire family spread out around the house watching TV, playing computer, talking on the phone, etc. when Mom drives up in the van and invites them all to go for a ride in the van. The announcer then tells us about this great van that brings families together. But, they show all the family members in the van engaged in individual electronic activities. Dad is playing with the electronics up front, the kids are watching DVDs or playing video games. Only when they show how everyone can sit around the table in the back and play cards is there anything resembling family activity. My frustration is that they try to sell something that doesn't remotely bring families together by telling us that it does bring families together.

3. Commercials for upcoming shows. This is mostly a problem on channels like USA (which has "Monk") and Oxygen (which has an occasional good movie). I get very distressed when I have to actually turn the TV off (not just mute it) during commercials because of the s*xual content. Oxygen has some show about girls being bad with commercials that are just atrocious. It's especially bad when I'm watching with the kids! Ugh!

4. Commercials for prescription medications. Some of this is probably because I'm a doctor, but some of it is just common sense. For example, how is a patient to know whether Lipitor or another statin is the best for their cholesterol? Just because Lipitor advertises on TV! The same thing goes for sleep medications. My favorite is trying to explain impotence medications to my 9 year old son (who doesn't like me to say "have s*x" when we're discussing things like the Virgin Mary!). I think that the companies must just be trying to get people to discuss the idea with their doctors and then hope that their brand gets prescribed. For example, Lipitor is the most commonly prescribed statin, so just getting more people diagnosed with elevated cholesterol will get more Lipitor prescriptions. But, I'd really prefer if patients and doctors could make their own (relatively) unbiased decisions in this department.

OK, now for some good commercials:

1. Geico Insurance - I love the gecko, especially his Aussie accent. And, when I was considering and insurance change, I checked them out. (Didn't change to them, but my point is that the commercial was reasonably effective.)

2. The beer commercials a few years ago with the frogs. I don't remember the brand, so I'm not real sure how effective the commercial itself was, but it was funny.

I'm sure I'll think of more that I like later on. What do you think? Which ones do you like or dislike?

More Snow!

I really like snow - when I'm inside and it's outside. When we moved up here, I kind of thought that I'd take care of the job thing and Mr. Math Teacher would take care of the home thing, including all the snow issues. Well, now that roles are reversed, it appears that I get to take care of some of the snow issues.

For those of you who are Southerners - you know who you are - here's a little primer on how things work up here where it snows for several months of the year. After it snows, the snow plows come out and plow the roads. In big snow storms, the plows will be out during the storm clearing the major roads. We live on Main Street (which is also the route from the local nursing home to the hospital), so we get plowed pretty quickly. In the morning (or when it stops snowing, whenever is convenient), people come out and snowblow our driveways. There are a few die-hards who shovel (like our next door neighbors), but the rest of us prefer the gasoline fumes and ear-splitting noise of a big snowblower. But, after you blow the snow, you still need to shovel the walkways. And, if the snow plow comes by after you've already cleaned your driveway, you still probably have to go out again and clean the end of the driveway because the plow leaves drifts when it goes by.

So, for the 10 years that we've lived up here, the most that I've had to worry about has been to clean snow and ice off my car and to occasionally help Mr. Math Teacher by doing some shoveling. But, we had a couple more inches of snow Thursday night and Mr. Math Teacher has a cold, so he didn't get the driveway blown before he went to school Friday am. I wanted to let him take care of it after he got back from school that afternoon, but I knew he had a cold and leaving it for him would be crass, to say the least. Then, the snow plow went by, leaving a drift that the poor little Malibu would not be able to traverse. It was time for me to brave the snowblowing task!!

The first trick is to start the snowblower. Ours has an electric start, but it is still a little tricky. It is also self-propelling - but it tries to be self-thinking as well. Suffice it to say that I had my work cut out for me. I got the driveway and sidewalk blown with moderate difficulty. Then, it was time to clear the drift that the snow plow left. I had to do that with the shovel. Not too bad, I figure.

I may yet adjust to living in the Great White North. Even if I do prefer it when sitting inside with a cup of hot tea.

The Family Bed

We don't sleep together in one bed. No one would get any sleep at all!! When we were down South a few weeks ago, Mr. Wild Man slept with me most nights. Talk about a wild sleeper!

Two days ago, Mr. Math Teacher came home from student teaching very tired so he went upstairs to lie down. After about 30 minutes, I went up and lay down with him. After about 10 minutes, Wild Man came and lay down on the side of Mr. Math Teacher and curled up. A few minutes later, Ga'Hoole Girl joined us. For about fifteen minutes, we all four curled up together on our bed. It was a lovely time. It was too soon that we had to get up and get dinner on the table.

SNOW!!

The first snowfall of the winter occurred last night! We got about eight inches, but then we got some freezing rain and sleet as well. Thankfully, we didn't need to go anywhere last night. This morning, Mr. Math Teacher got out to snowblow the driveway. He got the part done that he needed in order for him to get to church. Unfortunately, I had left some Christmas lights on the front walkway (which we usually shovel, not snowblow) and Mr. Math Teacher decided to snowblow the walkway next. Suffice it to say that the kids and I couldn't have gotten out of the driveway to go to church even if we had wanted to this morning. The lights got all caught up in the augur of the snowblower. Thankfully, Mr. Math Teacher was able to fix it all this afternoon and blow off the other side of the driveway so I can get out tomorrow.

We watched Christmas movies and read books while we were snowed in. I made homemade tomato soup on Friday, so we ate lots of warm soup while we watched the snow fall. Does it get much better than this?

Christmas Lights - a rant

I think I like this ranting on my blog - it keeps me from ranting in person!

So, the kids want to put up Christmas lights. They put some up on Sunday, but didn't check to see if they worked, which they didn't. So, today, we went out and pulled down the old lights and proceeded to put up new ones. Of course, we checked the new ones, and both sets of new net lights have sections out so Ga'Hoole Girl is working on those. Some of the other strings are salvageable, but we'll work on that tomorrow. In the meantime, I put up one string of icicle lights. Now I'm done.

I really like living in the Great White North, but my winter plans always entail indoor activities - sitting by the Christmas tree, watching movies, listening to music, playing games, doing puzzles, etc. Nowhere did I plan to put up Christmas lights when it was 21 degrees outside. The plan was for Mr. Math Teacher to do it. But, now he has this job thing, so he can't. I'm sure my family are all laughing while they read this - "We told you so!" Indeed. Well, I'm off to warm my numb fingers. Maybe over the next week, we can get a few more lights put up then I can sit inside, drinking hot chocolate, and enjoying our Christmas lights.

My house

I love my house. It's smaller than our previous house, but it is about 60 years old and very cute. The problem is that we don't seem to have enough room in our house for all our stuff. The conclusion, of course, is to get rid of stuff. But, I'm kind of at the end of my rope in terms of getting rid of stuff. Our biggest issue is books. We don't have enough bookshelves or room for more bookshelves. Of course, Mr. Math Teacher says we should get rid of the excess books. My answer: "Heresy!!" So, I think I'll be doing some serious rearranging and giving away in the next few months. I may even give away one or two books.

Reviews - November 25

While the kids and I were down South, I had the chance to do some reading, and we all saw some DVDs and even went to a movie in the theater. So, here are my reviews.

Dancing Under the Red Star by Karl Tobien
This is the true story of Margaret Werner, the only American woman to survive Stalin's Gulag. I picked this book up off the shelf at the library and figured it might be an interesting read. It turned out to be more than just a good story.

Margaret Werner and her family moved to Gorky in the 1930s so that her father could work in the Ford auto factory there. In the late 1930's, her father was convicted (wrongly) as a traitor and sentenced to the Gulag, where he died. Margaret and her mother continued to live in Gorky, hoping to hear word of her father. They survived the horrors of World War 2 in the USSR. In the 1940's, Margaret was falsely accused of being a traitor and sentenced to ten years of hard labor. Much of the story is about Margaret's survival in the camps.

During this time, Margaret's mother prayed for her, and Margaret had a strong belief in God, although it appears that she knew little about the Bible and Christianity (except that it was banned in the USSR). Margaret was physically and emotionally strong, which helped her to survive her ten year sentence. She was able to participate in dance and drama groups that were allowed in the camps.

After Margaret was released from the labor camp, she married and had a son. Her family was permitted to emigrate to East Germany and then they escapted to West Germany (before the Wall). Her husband became abusive and left her, so she divorced him. She eventually moved to the US with her mother and raised her son.

The book was written by her son, Karl. He tells us that Margaret became a believer in Jesus in 1994. She died in 1997. The Epilogue of the book is Karl Tobien's plea for this country to turn back to Christ so that we can avoid the godless hell that was the USSR. I very strongly recommend this book. I had no idea that there would be a Christian message, but it was a wonderful surprise.

Hitler's Cross by Erwin Lutzer
Lutzer writes this book to show the role of the church in advancing the Nazi regime. It is also a cautionary tale for the church in the United State. Lutzer shows how Hitler tried to co-opt the Church in Germany. Hitler knew that most Germans were Christians, but they were generally culturally Christian. The Christians were, unfortunately, quite willing to distance themselves from the anti-Jewish activities of the Third Reich. The Church became very pro-Germany, even to the point of rejecting Christ. There were a lot of politics discussed, but this is the essence. Churches at first would have a swastica along with the cross in the church, but many of them eventually replaced the cross by the swastica.

Lest we think that we, in this country, are immune to this sort of thing, Lutzer ends his book with an exhortation for the Church in America to stand for Christ. There are two primary dangers for us: 1. Retreat from cultural and spiritual battles to be true to the supremacy of the cross. 2. Become so overburdened with sociopolitical agendas that the Gospel gets lost. Lutzer makes the point that we need to be concerned with reaching people with the Gospel, but also to be active in the cultural arena to make positive change.

This is an excellent book for anyone with any interest in history. I would encourage others to read it as well, although it may be a little heavy on history for some people. In any case, Lutzer sounds a timely warning for our country.

Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir
This is a historical fiction book about the Lady Jane Grey, who reigns as Queen of England for 9 days after the death of King Edward and before Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) takes the throne. In this telling of the story, Lady Jane is a young woman who is brought to the throne by the powerful adults around her. She does have a claim to the throne after King Edward (her cousin) decrees that Mary and Elizabeth, who should be next for the throne according to their father Henry VIII, may not succeed him because of their status as bastards. This decree was not done with the consent of Parliament. Lady Jane is brought to the throne because she is Protestant and Mary is Catholic (she is called Bloody Mary because she executed so many people for refusing to convert back to Catholicism). In this telling of the story, Mary takes back the throne by force, but plans to spare Lady Jane's life. Mary tries to get Jane to convert to Catholicism but Jane refuses to do so and is beheaded.

This is a very interesting book that is appropriate for older teens and adults. There are some rather explicit scenes, but they are not inappropriate to the story. The book is written as episodes from different people's points of view, which I thought was quite effective.

"The Bee Movie"
We saw this movie in the theater. The kids and I really enjoyed it. The storyline is interesting. The animation is excellent. I appreciated that it was a rather sophisticated story, but could be enjoyed by kids. Jerry Seinfeld is truly entertaining. There was nothing objectionable in the movie, so I would recommend it for about age 6 or 7 and up.

"Nanny McPhee"
I wasn't real sure what to make of this movie before we saw it. I had heard rather mixed things about it. The kids and I enjoyed it. I absolutely love Colin Firth as an actor, and he did a wonderful job as a harried father in this movie. Emma Thompson as Nanny McPhee was also great. The set and costumes were quite colorful and fanciful. It was fun to watch. I think this is a good movie for kids over the age of about 7.

Holiday update

The kids and I had an interesting Thanksgiving week this year. I have already posted that we went down South because my dad was sick. Well, we left the Great White (although not yet) North on Wednesday and my dad had surgery on Friday evening. He had part of his colon removed because of diverticulitis. I spent some time Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening in the hospital with Dad while Mom went home to rest. Dad was able to come home Wednesday afternoon and is recovering very nicely.

The kids spent most of their time swimming! My parents have a swimming pool and the kids had a blast since we don't swim much in the winter - there are indoor pools up here, but we frequent them rarely. We visited Dad several times, which seemed to cheer him up a good bit. On the first Friday we were there, we visited a nature center and learned about sea animals and "hammocks" (a certain kind of forest-type of thing). I meant to take them to another nature center with owl exhibits (for Ga'Hoole Girl) and to the science museum, but they wanted to swim most of the time, so I didn't argue.

The kids and I made a nice dinner for Thanksgiving, although Dad was only able to have broth, pudding, and Jello. Friday, though, the kids and Mom put up Christmas decorations. Ga'Hoole Girl and Wild Man were excited out of their minds! Unfortunately, I had a migraine on Friday, so I just laid low most of the day.

I have never been a big fan of air travel, but I must admit that my actual fear of flying seems to have pretty much gone away. I think our trip to Venezuela a few years ago pretty well took care of it. I was a little concerned about traveling by myself with kids, especially since our flights were booked so late and I had no guarantee about seating arrangements. But, all worked out well. The kids are both pretty comfortable with air travel these days. They each had a backpack with everything that they would need for the flight. For one of the flights, I was 20 rows away, but they did just fine.

Overall, I'm glad that we went on this trip. I think we were helpful for my parents and the kids and I enjoyed each other's company. Now we're going to be doing lots of Christmas crafts and getting our own house decorated for Christmas.

I was planning to do a big Christmas unit this month, but I'm going to have an interesting time of it. I have a bunch of movies from Netflix for us to watch, but the books that I want from the library are all taken already - I think other families are wanting to do the same thing. There is lots of info on the Internet, so that may be our primary source of information. We're going to get back to our workbook work tomorrow and I'm going to have them each keep a notebook for the month. I think we'll start this week with the Nativity story itself.

I read several books and we watched lots of movies, so reviews will be forthcoming!

The Spirit of the Disciplines - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Salvation is a Life



Willard starts Chapter 3 by challenging the idea that salvation is just the moment when our religious life begins instead of "the daily life we receive from God." Our entire lives are to be saturated by God and His word. Willard tells us: "A close look at Jesus' "great acts" of humility, faith, and compassion recorded in the Gospel narratives finds them to be moments in a life more pervasively and deeply characterized by solitude, fasting, prayer, and service." From here, Willard asserts that our lives must emulate Jesus in the daily disciplines as well as the "great acts".


Willard also stresses that Jesus had a physical body just like we do. Emulating Jesus requires that we do what He did physically; so our salvation and spiritual life are also part of our physical life.


"If salvation is to affect our lives, it can only do so by affecting our bodies. . . To withhold our bodies from religion is to exclude religion from our lives." We tend to relegate our faith to certain aspects of our week and certain places - Sunday morning services, small group meetings, etc. We are now being exhorted to "take Christ into the workplace". This sounds good, but really points up the mistake we are making of our faith being separate from the rest of life.


In fact, salvation is "not just forgiveness, but a new order of life." Modern Christianity too often describes salvation as just forgiveness of sins. But, in early Christianity, salvation was clearly a new way of living - being reconciled to God. Because of our idea of salvation being just forgiveness, it becomes easy to regard the historical disciplines as quaint oddities, often misguided.


Willard talks about the fact that the cross was actually a rather late development as a symbol of Christianity; the first time it was used was about 430AD. The reason is that the early church thought about Christianity as transcendent life. As the church's understanding of salvation narrowed to "just" forgiveness of sins, the cross as a symbol became more important.


The message of Jesus was one of a new life, and the early disciples understood this better than we tend to. "The resurrection was a cosmic event only because it validated the reality and the indestructibility of what Jesus had preached and exemplified before his death - the enduring reality and openness of God's Kingdom."

Willard now spends several pages on the interaction between faith and works. He says that "works are simply a natural part of faith . . . not . . . to prove that one has faith . . ." Faith displays itself in the New Testament in 3 dimensions: 1. A new power within the individual through repentance and forgiveness, 2. An immediate but also developing transformation of the character, 3. Power over the evils of our present age.

Faith is often seen as a purely "mental" act, but the New Testament is really quite practical and shows how faith influences all of our lives, including the physical. Yes, the body has been corrupted by the Fall, but our spiritual lives are to encompass all of our lives - physical, spiritual, and mental. That is where the spiritual disciplines come in. The next three chapters discuss the theological basis for the disciplines.

Homeschooling and "Real Life"

Homeschoolers are sometimes accused of sheltering our children from "Real Life". I'm sure that there are some families out there that are over-sheltering their children, but for the most part, homeschooling allows for much more "Real Life" than having kids spend so much of their lives in school. Today I'm just going to talk about one aspect of this issue.

Three years ago, our family was down South, visiting my and Mr. Math Teacher's extended families. We had a wonderful time, particularly getting to see Mr. Math Teacher's grandmother, who had just turned 90 years old. We got into town on Saturday night and spent until Tuesday with Mr. Math Teacher's family. We drove his parents (Grandma and PawPaw) to the airport on Tuesday morning. Then, we went to visit my parents for several days. Late Tuesday night, we received a call that PawPaw had died suddenly, soon after arriving home.

As you can imagine, we were devastated. We immediately packed everything back into the van and drove from my parent's trailer in Mississippi to Grandma and PawPaw's house in Tampa - a twelve hour drive. Our kids were with us through this entire time. They were there with Grandma and the other family members and friends who came to visit Grandma before the funeral. During the viewing, I took our kids and their cousin to the viewing for a little while and then back to the hotel to swim. Then, we all were at the funeral together. PawPaw was buried in Louisiana, so we drove Grandma to Louisiana with us and went to the burial service together.

During all of this, the children were active participants as much as they were able. We didn't shield them from what happened. We encouraged them to participate in the remembering and grieving with the rest of the family. I only kept them at the viewing for a short period of time and they were not required to do anything they didn't want to (except be polite).

This Monday, my dad was sent to the Emergency Room because he continued to be ill. He was admitted to the hospital Tuesday morning and surgery was scheduled for tonight (Friday night). Wednesday morning, the kids and I flew down here to be with my mom (Grams) and dad (Grandpa). We have visited Grandpa, made dinner for Grams, and generally tried to be helpful. We are planning to be here until next Saturday.

During both of these episodes, the kids have been completely "off school". But, really, they are learning more from these events than they would from books. They are learning about illness and death - things that our society handles very poorly. They are learning about taking care of each other during difficult times. They are learning to be unselfish. What will help them more as an adult - learning decimals at the right time of their life or being with their family in a crisis? The answer seems obvious to me. This week is another demonstration of why we homeschool - to prepare them for "Real Life".

Eclectic homeschooling or . . . chaos?

I like to think that we do eclectic homeschooling around here, but I'm not real sure. I think that chaos may be a better description. I really love Sonlight, but we use it mostly as a guide right now. A lot of what we do is based on things that come up or ideas that I have. So last week, we researched Venezuela to make our exhibit for the World Fair that our homeschool group put on. Last Saturday, we spent the morning at the library telling people about Venezuela and learning about other countries. Yesterday, I got the bright idea to make rock candy, something I've wanted to do for a long time. We talked about solutions, suspensions, supersaturated solutions, crystallization, and more. Then, we pulled out my microscope and looked at sugar and salt crystals and then at some of the ant corpses from our ant farm. So, maybe it's kind of chaotic, but they're learning.

The Christian Ghetto - a rant

This rant is several months in the making. I chose tonight to write because I've got something of a block on my novel writing - NaNoWriMo is starting to wear on me.

Ghetto (from dictionary.com)
1. a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
3. a section predominantly inhabited by Jews.
4. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.

Being a Christian in modern America comes with all kinds of "ghetto" trappings. We shop at Christian bookstores, wear "Christian" clothing, read "Christian" books, etc. Every new cultural phenomenon is accompanied by warnings about how it is to be avoided by Christians. I'm sure we all remember the Harry Potter psychosis. My daughter couldn't talk about her favorite books with her two best friends because they were not allowed to read HP or watch the HP movies.

The latest event in my life to highlight our propensity to be part of the Christian Ghetto occurred a week or so ago. Our homeschool group set up an art class for the last year or so. My daughter went a few times and enjoyed it. But, the new coordinator found out, quite by accident, that the art teacher was also an energy healer. The coordinator was quite uncomfortable about having her kids in a class (art class, remember) taught by this woman. In her attempts to have another person coordinate the class, the teacher chose to no longer continue teaching. There is a rumor that the church that hosted the class would not host the class because of the teacher's other vocation. This is an egregious example of the Christian Ghetto at work. Family's are so concerned about their kids being exposed to a woman who is an energy healer that they won't even allow them to take an art class with her.

The recent barrage of emails about "The Golden Compass" is another example. While I was happy to be informed about this so I don't send my kids off to see this movie without me, I have been apalled at the handwringing that this movie has invoked. I haven't heard people talking about using this book and movie as a teaching moment for your kids. I have heard how we need to boycott it. And some people are even picketing.

Those most involved in the Christian Ghetto tend to be like me in many ways. We are often Evangelical Protestants. We want to raise our children to love Jesus. But somewhere the desire to teach our children our values gets turned and twisted into bizarre protectionism. The response to the non-Christian world has become to run and hide when it should be to march out and engage. Jesus calls us to be "in" not "of" the world. Somehow, many Christians have decided that even being "in" the world is too much.

How should we as Christians relate to the rest of the world? First of all, we should not be remotely surprised that the world is hostile to our Savior. Jesus told us to expect persecution. Second, we should be prepared to engage our world. This means that we must have a grounded faith. But, it also means that we need to be able to defend our faith - and with more than just "The Bible says it!" We need to understand why people become atheists and how we can talk to them, not work so hard to avoid them. We must teach our children our faith, but we also must teach them what kinds of philosophies and ideas they will come up against in the world and how they can respond intelligently to them.

OK. Rant finished. You may continue with your regularly scheduled lives.

The Spirit of the Disciplines - Part 1

I have been reading this book for a couple of weeks now and really getting a lot out of it. It is quite challenging. Here is a brief summary of the first couple of chapters as well as some of my thoughts. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Preface
Willard starts out by asserting that Christianity is the only answer for fallen humanity. He states that "Christianity can only succeed as a guide for current humanity if it does two things. First, it must take the need for human transformation as seriously as do modern revolutionary movements. . . . Second, it needs to clarify and exemplify realistic methods of human transformation." So, Willard adds, "My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thin - by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself." This book is to help us change the practice of our faith with respect to the spiritual disciplines. By participating in the spiritual disciplines and trying to live the way Jesus lived, we can see real change in our lives.

Chapter 1 - The Secret of the Easy Yoke
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:29-30 that we are to take His yoke upon us because it is easy and His burden is light. Yet, most Christians do not find ourselves truly living this way. Why? Willard compares our Christian lives to the lives of young athletes. A baseball player wants to emulate a baseball star. But, he doesn't do this by just trying to be like the baseball star when he's out on the field. The young athlete tries to do everything just like the baseball star - nutrition, practice, equipment, etc. In the same way, we can't expect to live the Christian life effectively by just doing the right thing in a crisis. We need to live our entire lives the way that Jesus did. We are saved by grace, but the moment by moment victory over sin that is promised to us does not come automatically. It requires practice and discipline.

Chapter 2 - The Theology of the Disciplines
As Christians, we know that we are to be Christlike, but find ourselves falling far short of that goal. The American Church does not do a very good job of helping it's members to "grow in grace". In the last 30 years there has developed more interest in the historical spiritual disciplines: fasting, meditation, solitude, silence, giving. Why the new interest? After the "laxness" of the 1970s, many Christians have become more interested in structure. In addition, the development of Christian psychology reawakened the idea that spiritual growth requires development of habits and character. Willard also points out that the late 20th century saw the blurring of the lines between many Protestant denominations. The effect of this among conservative Christians was twofold: 1. saving faith became (to many) merely a mental assent to correct doctrine and 2. the Bible was no longer "functionally authoritative" over life. Many Christians are looking to get back to a faith that "takes our lives seriously". Willard will spend the rest of the book developing a practical theology and elaborate on the following: "Full participation in the life of God's Kingdom and in the vivid companionshipo of Christ comes to us only through appropriate exercise in the disciplines for life in the spirit."

My thoughts:
I absolutely agree with Willard that American Christianity rarely changes lives. We read in the Bible that we are to be like Jesus and then justify why we aren't. But, what good is faith that doesn't get you through life? I am intensely interested in this topic right now. I have learned so much in my walk of faith in the last few years, but I know that there is so much more that I could be doing. I don't just want to learn the facts of theology. I want to walk with Jesus.

I am also reading a book on meditation and have started meditating on Scripture. That has been so helpful just in the last two weeks. For example, I have spent some time on Isaiah 30:15 and working out what repentance and rest looks like in my life. Our small group recently studied the story of Ananias and Saphira. My tendency so often is to kind of gloss over stories like this that I have heard since I was a kid. But, I spent some serious time meditating on that story and got some insight into lying to the Holy Spirit. God sees everything about us, but He expects us to be honest with Him. That's what got Ananias and Saphira into trouble. What does that mean for me? Well, apparently nothing bad enough for God to strike me dead! But, denial is a big defense mechanism for me. This story makes it clear that God wants us to be honest with Him. That's what gets me to repentance and then to changing my behavior.

This is going to be a really good study for me. I'm discussing this with an online group, as well. It's really good to get insights from others. So, I'm interested in your comments.

The Cat and the Socks

We have three cats and I love two of them dearly. The other one belongs to Ga'Hoole Girl. She can be a very nice cat, but she has a bad habit of attacking the other two cats. So, she's already on my bad side most of the time. She has developed a new annoying habit, though. She takes dark socks and carries them around the house. She will take them out of the clean or dirty laundry baskets, off the table, or from whereevery they are around the house. Then, she drops them somewhere else in the house. There is no rhyme or reason to it. She's not hoarding. She doesn't play with them. She just carries them around. And, she only does it to dark socks, not white socks. So, I'm now training the rest of the family to get the clothes put away quickly so Sophie doesn't carry the socks off. Arghh.

Meditation

I'm currently exploring the topic of spiritual disciplines. I want to learn more about the role of the disciplines in my spiritual life, but I particularly want to learn about meditation, silence, solitude, and fasting. Being a lifelong Protestant, I have been taught about the importance of Bible study, Scripture memory, corporate worship, and prayer. But, I think that many Protestant denominations overlook some of the older disciplines. I don't think I have ever heard a sermon or other Bible study lesson on meditation or fasting. What role do these things play in our lives? Are they just for the monastic types or are they for everyone?

Our twenty first century lives focus so much on productivity and activity, even within the church, that I am afraid that we don't know how to really be with God. I'm not even very good with just being by myself! Of course, my years in training and practice as a physician were also times in which being busy was prized. Rest and meditation were ignored if not outright scorned.

I have been meditating for the last week or so on Isaiah 30:15: This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation,in quietness and trust is your strength." Getting to repentance, rest, and quietness is a challenge. I am currently reading The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard and am really enjoying it and learning quite a bit. I'll write more as I go through it.

NaNoWriMo and more

November is National Novel Writing Month, so we are changing our language arts curriculum for the month to writing novels. Obviously, you can't write a decent novel in a month - and I'm not sure I can write a decent novel at all - so the goal is quantity, not quality. Check out the NaNoWriMo website. This looks like a lot of fun - and a nice change of pace for a few weeks.

Today was the annual candy craziness known as Halloween Trick or Treat hours. Ga'Hoole Girl went out dressed as a travelling minstrel and played her ocarina. Wild Man was a pirate - big surprise! We live right on the main drag of our little town, so we got lots of kids. We ran out of candy again this year, but at least not until near the end. The kids went out with friends, so Mr. Math Teacher and I got to stay home and give out candy to the rest of the kids.

Next Saturday, our homeschool group is doing a culture fair. Our family signed up for Venezuela, so we will be studying everything Venezuela this week. We have our display board and lots of books.

Other interesting things in our lives: My shingles came back for a third time so I went back to the doctor and we decided that it's probably not shingles. It's gone now and my Lyme test was negative. If it comes back, I may end up going to the dermatologist. I'm pretty stumped. Derm was never my strong point.

Ga'Hoole Girl is almost finished with this quarter's art class and then she's done with art for this year. She really enjoys the class, but having to be at school first thing in the morning is really hard because of her dance classes. One of the reasons that we homeschool is so that our kids can get enough sleep and not have to follow the crazy schedules of the schools.

Others First!

I have borrowed this slogan from our pastor who uses it to help his kids learn to be unselfish. Starting now, we are an "Others First!" family. The kids have been having a terrible time with poor attitudes, complaining, not wanting to work, etc. Basically, they are just being kids - normal kids with sinful natures. But, God is calling us all to love others the way that Jesus loves us. For us, that means "Others First!" I have started by limiting their media time to weekends only, except for DVDs and TV shows that I have them watch for educational value (their attitude seems to be worse with more media). I made signs with the "Others First!" slogan and a scripture verse on each sign and placed them around the house. Mr. Math Teacher and I are going to work on our own attitudes. We are also going to start a zero-tolerance policy for negative attitudes and complaining with the kids. Consequences will generally involve running around the house or up and down the stairs. I'm hoping to also come up with some kind of fun things to encourage us to do things for others. Maybe we'll do things like have one day to specifically encourage one person or do secret things for each other. We'll see how things go. So, as of tomorrow, we are "Others First!"

Shingles - Take 2

Monday morning, I woke up with terrible pain where I had had shingles several weeks ago. When I went to the shower, I saw that the rash was back - just like it was before. EEK! I have been feeling kind of "ill" because of the shingles (nausea, fatigue, etc.) and have had more headaches because of it. In addition, my new insurance hasn't come through yet, so I'm on acyclovir for the shingles instead of Valtrex. Acyclovir has to be taken every four hours. I'm starting to think I'm chained to a medicine bottle. We have gotten very little schoolwork done this week, but I think we're just going to write it up to a sick teacher. What a week!

He's reading!!

Wild Man is sitting on the sofa reading a book to himself! This is a big deal to any family, but it is especially important for us because Wild Man is dyslexic and homeschooled. While the NEA wants us to think that only trained professionals are able to teach children to read, homeschool families all over the country are doing a great job teaching them at home. Of course, Wild Man has dyslexia, so he does get help from a "trained professional" once a week, but the majority of his reading education has come at home. It's so cool to see that he's reading the book, but it's really fun to see that he's enjoying it. He really loves stories, so reading will open up a whole new world for him. I'm sad that he has had to work so hard to learn to do something so many of us take for granted, but I hope that he will enjoy his reading and make great use of it!

Geaux Tigers!!

Yes, I am an unashamed LSU fan. Mr. Math Teacher and I were at LSU from 1985 to 1990 - we were present (but not together) at the 1988 game in which the cheering was strong enough to register as an earthquake on the geology departments seismograph. Since LSU was ranked #1 according to the AP poll this week, our family naturally had to watch the game. And, this week they played Florida. I grew up in Florida but have always been an LSU fan. When I was growing up, this meant that I was swimming against the tide. Tonight we had a little LSU football party with just our family - it's hard to find LSU fans around here! Ga'Hoole Girl didn't get really interested in the game until the very end. Wild Man, though, watched every second, giving running commentary.

And, what a game it was! Yes, LSU won, but they were never ahead until the last few minutes of the game. And the last minute was quite a nail-biter - hoping that Florida would not be able to pull a touchdown out under the pressure.

Mr. Math Teacher's would be very proud of Wild Man's enthusiasm. The last time that we saw Paw Paw was on a trip to Baton Rouge a few years ago. We went to LSU and saw Death Valley and Mike the Tiger V. It turned out that we were there on Mike's birthday and the local TV station was out doing a story. They interviewed PawPaw for the story because he remembered Mike I. The story aired that night, and we watched it in our hotel room. Paw Paw died the next night. It's really special for the kids that their last activity with their PawPaw was visiting LSU and Mike.

Another very interesting thing about this game is that the Florida quarterback was homeschooled through high school. Florida passed a law in 1996 that allows homeschoolers to participate in public school athletics. Tim Tebow played football in Florida and signed with the University of Florida after he graduated. He is a great quarterback and had us very worried tonight that he would help his Gators pull out a win. Thankfully, the Tigers held them off.

I hope that this kind of thing will give positive publicity to homeschooling. There are places where homeschoolers are not allowed participation in any athletics or other extracurricular activities. I'm not sure about the law in Wisconsin - Wild Man is still several years from high school. We have had Ga'Hoole Girl taking an art class at the local middle school and have been very happy with the outcome. It is unfortunate that some homeschool families are denied this possibility because the school systems are convinced that the system will be abused. In any case, it reflects well on his family and homeschooling that he is doing so well.