Call It What You Want...

Loving the Old Testament

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:38:12 GMT

This summer, the boys' preschool Sunday School classes have had an Old Testament theme -- which is cool, because I really enjoy the obscure stories of that part of the Bible. Everyone knows about the prodigal son and Saul's conversion and subsequent name change to Paul and so on...

But what about Ehud and Eglon? Jael and Sisera?

I am please to announce that, while steering mostly clear of those stories of blood and gore, the boys have learned about "the hand that belongs to no BODY!" (Daniel and the handwriting on the wall), "the king who was a little boy and who found the Book of God", and, this week, Nehemiah and the broken walls.

In church Sunday, we stayed for Robert's baptism in the 11 a.m. service and the boys heard Mr. Joe talk about whether putting a Bible under your pillow at night when you sleep helps you learn more about God. (The consensus? They're not sure.)

The other morning when I was helping Mark make his bed, I found his Little Boy's Bible Story Book under his pillow.
"Did you put this here to learn more about the Bible like Mr. Joe did?" I asked.
No, he told me. "I kept looking for the story of the broken walls and Nehemiah, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I just kept looking!"

Well. As you might imagine, the Little Boy's Bible Story Book does not have the story of Nehemiah and the broken walls in it. Or anything else about Nehemiah. Not even Zerubbabel. Possibly not even Deborah, and she's not even all that obscure.

It makes me think back to two things from childhood:
* A Bible story book we had with the most gory pictures. Mom cut out John the Baptist's head on a platter, but there were still soldiers with swords killing babies, Solomon holding up a baby by the ankle with a sword ready to divide it between two fighting mothers, and a Hebrew slave painting the doorposts (that inspired many "protective" activities for our own house). Too bad that one has drifted from our family collection...
* A song has come to mind, but I'm short of the ending, and, possibly, the point:
              Shamgar had an ox-goad
              David had a sling
              Dorcas had a needle
              Rahab had a string...
(The ending, anyone? The point, clearly, is that God can use what we have, and we should use what we have for God.)

Mark Starts Kindergarten

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:06:09 GMT

I remember when I started kindergarten. I was so excited about getting to go to "real" school, to have Mrs. Bowers (the most amazing teacher in the entire world, and she was soooo beautiful and wonderful, even if "belly dancing" [whatever that was] seemed like a weird hobby, and how was it anyhow that we knew that she liked to belly dance in her spare time?), to get past "easy math"...

The classroom was magical. There were wonderful dress-up clothes. There was a tile circle with the letters of the alphabet around it. There were tables and chairs and all those kids...

Mark was off to kindergarten this morning. He didn't walk three blocks like I did. He got on the bus.

THE BUS! I didn't get on a bus until eighth grade.

His classroom doesn't have quite as many toys -- there are lots of "learning clubs" with stars on the ceiling to help the teacher designate the places she wants the children to go. There's a lower area with steps down ("The Pit") for storytime. There's a loft. And there's a smiling teacher -- though I'm pretty sure she doesn't belly dance in her spare time.

When Tim and I picked up the boy at school, he was full of excitement: He went out to RECESS! There was a girl in his class named ANNA! She had a RED BOW in her hair! He made a FACE! LOOK, Mommy! It's YOU! His story was "The Meanies Went to School" -- "They were really messy. They ate the kids's pencils. They made a storm of paper. They walked on the ceiling and made paint footprints all over the ceiling! And then the kids were very angry, and they sent them BACK to Meanie-land. And then they went back to school and cleaned up the whole mess. The MEANIES should have cleaned up the mess. But -- eh! -- the kids. But they had fun cleaning up the mess."

The verdict?
"Preschool was fun, but kindergarten is AWESOME!"

Can't wait to find out what tomorrow brings.

A List of Happy Things for Today

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:16:09 GMT

There are lots of things today that make me happy. I will write them here. Please enjoy and make your own list today... or whenever you can find some.

1. My van side door (the awesome automatic door) has been acting up. This does not make me happy. Tim, ever the researcher, found instructions on YouTube of how to fix the problem. This he started on Monday. Yesterday it was even worse. Last night he completed the fix and ... wait for it ... it's all better. It is back to normal again. Score one big one for the Tim!

2. The boys started swimming lessons on Monday at Hamilton Heights High School. This was chosen because both boys could go and because another friend has her girls in class the same time as we were able to sign up. It's Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m., and the boys have Evan as their teacher. It's the two of them together in a lane. Brian, there is no one shouting "BREATHE! BLOW!" throughout the pool area. On Monday, Mark was persuaded to get his face wet. Today he went under the water and stayed for SIX SECONDS! And at the end of the session time, ADAM even went under the water! (I think Evan helped, but no one minded!) Mark practiced floating with his face in the water, too! Both boys are doing great, and it makes their mom very proud. Score TWO for Mark and Adam!

3. Last week I went to Orlando for the Tri Delta Convention. I have never been to Convention before; my real deep involvement with DDD has come since college as an alumnae member. I had a great convention, met some great new friends, and reconnected with my collegiate chapter a little. What terrific girls! How fun was it to have my seatmate on the flight the chapter president from my own collegiate chapter? (AWESOME.)

4. While at Convention, we had "fun night" at Sea World. While we were eating supper, my mouth started writing checks that I was not really prepared to cash, but my friends held me to it -- I would ride the roller coaster. Fortunately the wait for the newer coaster, Manta, was longer than we wanted to do, so we went on Kraken. And, who knew? I LOVED it. (I just watched a YouTube video of it and it made me dizzy, so I guess it wasn't that crazy that I couldn't walk straight when I got off.) I am trying to do stuff that I'm a little afraid of so there's no regret later (too many times I've wished I'd had the nerve to do something, only too late to change it), and this was no exception! I really like it! (I did not go on the other later, and my two friends who did said I would NOT have liked it, so I am okay with that!) Score one for me!

5. My friend Shannon has a new baby boy! His name is Tyler and he was born yesterday! I am sure anyone who reads this who knows Tony & Shannon already knows this, but I am happy for them all the same so it goes on my list! Score one for ANDREW for having a little brother!

Anything you're happy about? Add it in the comments or write your own and link to me. :)

On Giving Generously

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:14:38 GMT

Mark is in vacation Bible school this week (shiver involuntarily), and I know that they give the children an opportunity to give an offering for some worthy cause throughout the week. I understand there to be a "competition" between the boys and the girls for who will get the most money.

So tonight, as he was getting ready to go, I asked if he needed to take anything with him, ready to open my wallet to give him some money for offering. Instead, he ran upstairs, coming back with a whole handful of dollars.

"Some people don't have enough food to eat, but they can buy potatoes," he said, holding up what looked like most of the dollars he's saved from birthdays, etc.
Perhaps I'm stifling his generosity, but I suggested that he didn't have to give all of it, but he could decide how much he wanted to give. He chose $3 of his own money to take to give for people who don't have enough to eat.

Later he explained to his dad: "Some people don't have enough to eat. But they can buy 29 pounds of potatoes, and it doesn't cost that much."
How much does it cost? I asked.
"Five dollars. You can buy 29 pounds of potatoes for five dollars."

I don't know the details of the program, but apparently he was listening. And he didn't once mention bringing in more money than the girls. (Of course in his age range, there are few girls anyway, so it's just as well!)

Tomorrow I will give him some money for offering, after he taught me to be generous.

Sharing my love of shelving units

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:44:21 GMT

Today the boys and I went to Menards to buy yet another set of shelves. I love shelves, and our basement -- such as it is -- is always in need of some more. I think once our whole basement is full of shelves, then I might have enough.

I let myself go down and work on them while the boys played nicely upstairs, because naptime today will be dominated by a birthday party we're headed to. When I got them done, Mark came down to inspect.

"THAT looks like ORGANIZED!" he said, surprised. "I thought it would still look like a dump down here!"

"Thanks," I said.

"Was it hard work?" he asked. I answered that it was.

"But it was worth it," he told me.

He's very pleased, apparently, with the results. Now perhaps the extra toys and stuff won't just be piled in the walkway.

It was worth it. :)

Reflections on Reading

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:45:55 GMT

This winter, my brother The Thief proposed a challenge for himself -- and anyone else who wished to try it. (For those who wish to read the original blog post, the date was January 20.) I am up for a good challenge, and so I decided to join. The challenge? Reading the entire Bible through during Lent.

Lots of people asked where I would find the time to read the entire Bible in 40 days. This amounted to 30 chapters a day, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation, with Sundays off. Frankly, when I am quite interested in a book that I've checked out from the library, I can read it in a day or two. (Usually these are riveting fiction books -- often in the mystery category -- but still!) I can make time to read if I want to.

Thus began my Lenten journey. Instead of "giving something up" for Lent, I took something on. (Of course, this led to "giving up" recreational reading, which completely vanished for the period, to instead focus on my new discipline.) The plan that worked best for me was to do my reading in and among my housework in the morning, and then, when the boys were upstairs for their naptime, to finish whatever reading I hadn't already completed -- before I was allowed to start working on "projects." Because it's spring, the season is starting on the Prairie, and everyone wants their clothing finished, this meant that I had to get cracking in order to work on people's clothing. Sometimes I would start the next day's reading before I went to sleep at night.

I started a few days early, and only once didn't complete my reading in the given day -- a Saturday, when I started sewing in the morning because the guys were gone and then we had a church dinner that night -- but was able to borrow a little of Sunday to finish it. I finished on schedule, the Wednesday before Easter.

It took about an hour and a half per day for reading. I used Eugene Peterson's The Message for my reading for a couple of reasons. First, as a paraphrase rather than an actual translation, I thought it would be easier to read -- you know, modern language and all. Second, I figured this version, less familiar to me than the ones I usually use (NIV, NASB mostly), and as I tend to skim when I'm reading familiar passages, I wanted to try to make sure I would read a little more closely.

So. In the end, a challenge like this, just done to get it done, isn't worth much. What did I get from it? Did I learn anything? Do I have anything to "take away" from the Lenten Bible Reading Challenge?

1. I do have time to do whatever I choose. It's all about priorities. This is not said to shame anyone else who didn't find the time or was unable to finish. This is said as a point for me. It's all about what I make time for. (And during Lent, I didn't do much cleaning around the house...)
Reading through the Bible from start to finish is a great way to get the "Big Picture". Many times I have tried to read it through on a "plan" that included a little bit of the Old Testament, a little bit of the New Testament, and a little from Psalms (a typical one-year Bible plan). It turns out that just doesn't work for me. Reflecting on the fact that I like to organize my closet by color as well as type of garment, and that I used to shelf my books alphabetically by author (and by order of publication within the author), is it a surprise that I prefer reading the Bible in the order it's published? No jumping around for me. While I realize that the books are not in order in the Bible chronologically, I don't like jumping around, and this exercise certainly involved no jumping. And when things came up in Obadiah that I recognized from earlier, it made a lot more sense. The major and minor prophets wrote a lot about the exile of the Israelite people -- when I just read about it in another book, while a little repetitious, it makes more sense. once again, Big Picture.
Reading the Gospels and other books written by different people give different "flavors" to the stories and passages. When the paraphrase is compiled by one guy -- with consultation from others, to be sure -- some of the flavor is lost. I missed that. I also found that I didn't care as much for the contemporary language as I thought. It just didn't "sound right", possibly because I've been so familiar with the actual translations. (A few times I thought about switching to one of my "regular" Bibles but decided to finish in The Message if only for the completion factor. Aside from liking things "in order," I also have a compulsion to "finish".) Peterson himself would say this isn't a substitute for a regular Bible translation, but that it's a good place start or a nice addition.
I found neat stuff that I either don't remember having read before or had never really comprehended before. I have read the Bible through before, but over a several-year time period, and never as an adult. Ezekiel (aside from the weird wheel thing) was a pretty interesting book. Ezekiel 18 was great. Psalm 119 sometimes doesn't get a fair shake because it's sooooooo long. (Hey, what's 150 verses when you're reading 30 chapters???) It's a really good chapter.
I feel like, with the "Big Picture" I have a better grasp of "THE BIBLE" as a whole. Far from a full understanding, of course, but better. It is an ongoing, developing story, whether narrative, prophetic, poetic, or just downright crazy. When you read it "all at once" it's a lot easier to follow the story.
I didn't study what I was reading. i just read it. I tried to read it closely enough that I wouldn't re-read a passage a few times with no memory of having read it, but in order to finish, I couldn't really spend a lot of time on it. Study is for a different challenge. Read and study the Pauline letters during Lent? Study the Gospels during Lent? There are many study options to take on another time.

Will I do it again? Maybe in a long time. Not next week.
Would I recommend it to others? Yes. It was a great exercise and experience. But not to those who would "beat themselves up" for "failing". I wouldn't see not completing it as a failure, but simply as not finishing.
Would I use the same Bible? No. Next time I do it I'll use one of the translations.
Ha. I just said "Next time." It makes me chuckle. Last week i said "Never again." It might be like The Thief, who, upon finishing a marathon, said, "I never want to do this again"... until he decided to do another marathon.

Right now, I'm reading other books. But because I've gotten accustomed to reading "hard" stuff, I'm finding it easier to read things that don't move quite as quickly as my favorite Susan Wittig Albert book. I recently finished Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford (a little slow for the reader of a quick mystery novel, but fun all the same) and am now reading the 500+ page Reminiscences of Levi Coffin. (I do plan to hit the library soon for something a little more fun.)

So. I read the Bible through during Lent. Now I need to go do some laundry.

Spring Break

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:13:16 GMT

We've returned from our Spring Break trip to do a little work around the house with the rest of the week. I like not having to go straight from vacation away back to the daily grind, aside from a chocolate event tonight for me, work tomorrow night (also for me), Tim teaching Sunday school and me in the nursery and then having confirmation all on Sunday...

Here are a few pictures of the fun week:

The boys are in the car, ready to go. Mark is carrying the cross he made in school to take to Grandma. Adam suggested she could put a "mag-a-net" on it and hang in on the "'frigerator".

We spent Friday afternoon to Wednesday morning at Mom & Dad's in Kentucky, including the necessary Easter activities like coloring eggs

Church with the family

Finding Easter baskets in the basement. The "easter bunny" left a trail of candy from the stairs around the corner to where the baskets were. Mark excitedly ran along the "trail", while Adam carefully picked up each piece of candy. Note the armload of candy when he arrived at the baskets.

Hunting Easter eggs in the backyard. Grandpa hid the 48 eggs that Grandma had filled, and the boys had a wonderful time running around finding them.

Mark ended up with a few more than Adam, so here, you see Mark sharing some with his little brother. What a sweet boy! (In the end, we just dumped all the candy into a communal bowl anyway, but the gesture was worth seeing.)

"Look happy about the Easter eggs you found" was the instruction. Adam, of course, has his own way of doing things.

Candy Fail

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:21:26 GMT

Wouldn't it be fun to have a taffy pull as one of the guest activities for Ella's Birthday Party on the Prairie?

Oh! That would be SO COOL! I know we have recipes in the Buckeye for candy!

(voice of reason): Maybe we should try it out ahead of time first.

So we tried ahead of time. The recipe said not to stir the ingredients, so we did not.
First attempt:

Candy-ish but granular.

Second try attempted to change the first error: stirring before putting it on the stove.

Then we placed it in the pan for cooking.

We cut the recipe down in order to not go through all of the sugar and other ingredients in the house as we were not stocked up like America's Test Kitchen.

Boiled until it reached soft crack stage (about 280 degrees).

Poured it out on a buttered pan.

Turned the edges in when cool enough to handle (or not). Those are the fingers of Ellen (left) and Mel (right).

It still is too hot to handle, but cooling and stringing rapidly.

Ellen assures us this soft, golden-colored blob of lava is moving in the right direction. It's still wicked hot.

Mel adds some flavoring. It turned out to have no effect on the finished product but made a nice smell.

Well. We tried to pull it, and burned our hands. We tried to pull it into sticks and it cooled and hardened too quickly to really make the sticks we'd hoped to make.

Ellen contemplates the candy piece. It does look okay...

Hmmm... actually, it tastes pretty good, too.

But Mel's burned hands reveal that maybe this isn't as guest-friendly as we had hoped...

Back to the drawing board.

(P.S. It is very tasty and tastes like butterscotch candies.)

How to Photograph Children in a few easy steps

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:28:41 GMT

Guys, can you both sit still and smile?

Okay. How about looking at the camera?

No. At me.

Mark? Put your shirt down.

That's so nice. Now can you look at me?

Um. Please note that the peanut gallery in the background is laughing at my efforts.

Wow.

No, I didn't want a picture of a dog.

Or another dog.

Seriously, guys!

Hmm, maybe there's strength in numbers?

Let's get more involved here.

Perhaps if we get the awful faces out of the way...
(Please note Grandpa, standing in the back, sneaking out to make a video of me trying to photograph the precious children.)

Um, okay, as long as it leads to a cute picture in a minute...

Not yet. Except for Andrew. Boy, he's cute. And cooperative.

Getting better. Maybe this is why the parents usually have to be in the picture.

I think I'll take what I've got and call it good.

Maybe we should have tried this before dessert.

Back at the Machine

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:41:31 GMT

A while back I received a mysterious package in the mail. The contents turned out to be some fabric over which I had drooled some years ago -- fabric which a beloved friend had purchased and never sewn into a dress. Appropriate for 1836, it is a delightful riot of blues, yellows, reds... in short, perfect. And Mer could no longer use it, and would it be possible for me to find a use for it?

It began with the book Costume in Detail, a very fine book with line drawings of actual garments in various collections from 200 years of glorious fashions. Some years back, on our first trip to England (sorry Mel, yes, I am a brat) I was able to see some of the items included in the Snowshill Collection (prominently featured in this book). In fact, the dress I have chosen to reproduce with Mer's lovely fabric is one from the book, and one I actually saw. Can I pass on this idea? (No.)

Paula gave me a pattern, which I cut out, tried on my duct-tape form, and altered to get the basic shape at the back, neck and shoulders that would work with the dress design. I then draped muslin over the shoulders and back to create a sort of cape-like collar for the back and gathered bands that drape from the shoulders to the waist, meeting in the center of the bodice. Once I finally got those pieces shaped properly, I then cut new lining pieces out of muslin, and then re-fit them to the dress form, and used them as my pattern pieces.

These are the back collar pieces. They end at the shoulder, and are sewn into the armscye at the front edge. The book gives appropriate measurements, which, in a couple of instances, ended up being accurate when I forgot to measure one or the other aspect. Nice when things work out well.

Sleeves, complete with double piping on the cuffs, are sewn in. It's hard to enjoy all the detail as the fabric (and background) is plenty busy, but this part worked out great. Totally excited about this!

Shoulder detail. Once again, I will have to figure out how to photograph this stuff to show detail. But cool. And working out correctly.

Waistband sewn on (double piping at top, also will be added at the bottom.

The dress still needs the neckline finished (more double piping, anyone?), the back finished (who doesn't love a row of hooks and eyes?) and the skirt sewn together, attached, and hemmed. For those who are keeping track, I'm about to enter into the world of handwork. I'm also adding a belt to fit over the waistband -- not sure what the original belt looked like, as it was missing from the original (as was one of the front bands), so I am going to make it a self-fabric belt, well-starched, with hooks and eyes to close it.

Closer detail of the front bands where they meet the waistband at the center of the bodice.

More pictures to come as I progress. I think I'll need some nice sleeve puffs of my own?