A quirky meme, an award, and a blessing

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I’ll start with the blessing first. 🙂 My mother-in-law has been hard of hearing for as long as I have known her, about 30 years. But it has progressively gotten worse. In the last ten or so years she hasn’t been able to hear but about five words of the sermon at church, yet she still went faithfully out of obedience and for the fellowship.

Our church just recently got some sort of hearing device that somehow connects with the sound box through an FM transmitter (I think…I am not entirely sure how it works). My mother-in-law has trouble hearing sometimes even with her hearing aid (she’s getting a new one next week which I hope will help), and she had to take her hearing aid out to use this — but she was able to hear the sermon for the first time in years! She eagerly looked up every passage the pastor referred to and was just delighted. It was so fun just to watch her reaction — and such a rebuke in that I can hear easily and yet get distracted or sleepy so often and forget what a privilege it is to hear the Word of God preached.

Mama Bear at Bear In Exile tagged me for a meme in which I am supposed to:

1) Link to the person who tagged me.
2) Mention the rules.
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself.
4) Tag 6 other bloggers by linking to them.
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.

Quirky? Me? 😀

Let’s see —

1. I am directionally challenged. If the sun isn’t rising or setting for me to have a reference point, I have no idea which way east or west or any other direction (except at home, of course, where I can remember which way the sun rises and sets). I need to have directions written in exact detail — and even then I sometimes miss a turn.

2. I love fall colors (orange, rust, yellow) outside in autumn but don’t like them in decorating or on my clothes.

3. I can’t wear my wedding ring because, since TM, I have sensory problems with my left hand, and wearing my ring causes a hitting-the-funny bone type sensation in my finger.

4. I am a fanatic about hand-washing before eating or handling food. With soap. (I have had to add that in in my instructions before meal times to my kids even through their teen-age years).

5. Susan‘s egg carton quirk reminded me of my own, only mine is opposite to hers. I get my eggs out of the carton first from the middle, then subsequently to the right of the middle and then to the left (ok, I am not so quirky as to go in definite right to left order, but I go from one side to the other), so that the eggs on either end are last to be removed. I do actually have a reason for that. 🙂 Once or twice I picked up the egg carton from one end when all the eggs were at the other, and consequently almost dropped it because all the weight was on one end. So I do it this way so the weight is balanced. Really. It’s not because of any OCD tendencies. 😀

6. I cant stand when people jiggle or bounce their foot up and down when sitting. Somehow I pick up on the vibrations and it feels very disconcerting to me.

OK, now to tag six more people and find out their secret quirks. 🙂 I have actually seen this meme around and can’t remember where all I have seen it, so if I name you and you have already done it, please forgive me. And as always, a tag is not binding — only do it if you have time and want to.

1. Alice at Hello, My Name Is Alice
2. Jen at My 3 boys and I
3. Bet at Dappled Things
4. Ann at From Sinking Sand
5. Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee
6. Susanne at Living To Tell the Story
7. Melli at Insanity Prevails.

…and anyone else who would like to!

Finally, my sweet blog friend Alice awarded me the

Thank you, Alice! I so appreciate it!

I have seen this around, too, and wish I knew where it originated. But I want to pass it on to Ivory Spring, Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee, Susanne at Living To Tell the Story, Susan at By Grace, and Rita at The Jungle Hut.

Have a great Tuesday!

With all our feebleness

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Two glad services are ours,
Both the Master loves to bless.
First we serve with all our powers —
Then with all our feebleness.

Nothing else the soul uplifts
Save to serve Him night and day,
Serve Him when He gives His gifts —
Serve Him when He takes away.

C. A. Fox

With my mother-in-law’s moving here plus my husband and I both reaching the half-century mark, I have been thinking a lot about aging and the decline of our strength and abilities. And though originally this post was just going to be about aging, I realized many of the principles also apply to those who are affected by illness or injury.

I discovered the above poem in Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank. L. Houghton preceding the last section of the book which told about Amy’s final years. After spending most of her adult life as a missionary in India, she suffered a fall which rendered her an invalid for twenty years. She remained in India. It is remarkable that these days most mission boards would send an invalid missionary home, yet Amy continued to have a ministry there.

In the early days after my TM diagnosis, though I wasn’t a complete invalid, in my “down” times I would think of the word “invalid,” meaning someone who is ill to the point of not being able to function, and change the accent to the second syllable to mean something that is not longer valid, or in other words, useless. Invalids can feel invalid. But they are not. God has a purpose for every person on the planet.

Our culture tends to glorify youth and vigor. But “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (I Corinthians 1:27) and to showcase His strength (II Corinthians 12:8-10).

Elisabeth Elliot wrote in A Lamp For My Feet:

But my limitations, placing me in a different category from… anyone else’s, become, in the sovereignty of God, gifts. For it is with the equipment that I have been given that I am to glorify God. It is this job, not that one, that He gave me.

For some, the limitations are not intellectual but physical. The same truth applies. Within the context of their suffering, with whatever strength they have, be it ever so small, they are to glorify God. The apostle Paul actually claimed that he “gloried” in infirmities, because it was there that the power of Christ was made known to him.

If we regard each limitation which we are conscious of today as a gift–that is, as one of the terms of our particular service to the Master–we won’t complain or pity or excuse ourselves. We will rather offer up those gifts as a sacrifice, with thanksgiving.

I used to think, “Lord, I could serve you so much better without these problems.” But it’s as if He were saying, “No, this is what I am using to shape your service for Me.” As life changes, either through illness or aging, we need not lament what we can’t do any more. We can seek God’s will for what to do now.

As I wrote earlier, sometimes God’s purpose for our decline is that other people might learn and grow by ministering to us. This is hard to accept, because we don’t want to trouble them, we don’t want to be an inconvenience, we don’t want to need that kind of help. But graciously accepting that kind of help can be an example and a blessing to others.

My mother-in-law and I were discussing some of the…indignities of aging and wondering why the Lord allowed people to have to go through those kinds of things. Of course, our bodies are affected by the effects of the Fall of man and the entrance of sin in the world, one of those effects being decline and death. But years ago I heard one preacher say that our bodies fall apart as we age to make us willing to let loose of them. We have such a strong instinct of self-preservation, of wanting to live to see our children grow up, then our grandchildren, etc. But God can use the gradual decline of our bodies and their functions in order to wean us away from this world, to remind us that this body is just a temporary tabernacle, and to set our minds on getting ready for heaven.

Titus 2:3-5 tells us that older women are to teach the younger a multitude of things. I don’t think this always has to be in a classroom setting. It can be, in our culture, but at the time it was written there probably were not such things as seminars and retreats for women. But by their example and specific opportunities to say a word or give a testimony or share something learned along the way of life, older women can both teach and model those characteristics mentioned in Titus.

Psalm 71:16-18 says, “I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”

That’s our ultimate purpose: to show forth His strength and His power.

Psalm 78:2-8:

2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:

8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

Living on machines

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Barbara Harper

For some people, the thought of being hooked up to a machine in order to live is daunting. No, more than daunting…more like being the living dead.

This was the view of my brother’s fiancee when my father was found unconscious in his apartment after suffering what was apparently a small stroke several years ago. She had worked in a nursing home and had seen many people put on a ventilator for the rest of their lives. She felt if he needed a machine to live it was his time to go.

I believe she was wrong, though well-intentioned. Thankfully she was over-ruled.

My father was on a ventilator for about a week. We were called in from out of state, and thankfully he improved. Unfortunately he was taken off the ventilator only the day we had to leave, so we were only able to talk that one day, but we had been able to communicate through notes, eye contact, holding hands.

That last day in the hospital was the last we saw of him. He lived another six months before passing away in his sleep.

Some would say, “Well, the ventilator only bought him six more months. Was it worth it for so short a time?”

Yes, it was. A lot of good things happened in those six months. He lived with his son, who had often lived with him. Their relationship had not always been smooth, and I think it did my brother a world of good to give back to his dad in that way in his last months. My dad was able to attend his son’s wedding. He had lost a leg while in the hospital, but even with his physical limitations, he had an enjoyable final six months.

There are some people who actually live active lives on a ventilator full time for years. One of my heroes, Jim Lubin, has been on a portable ventilator for about ten years, since being paralyzed from the neck down with transverse myelitis. He began the Transverse Myelitis Internet Club, which has been one of my lifelines since my own diagnosis. He set up and maintains the disABILITY Information and Resources site, a Quad List Discussion Group, a Vent-Users Support Page, the Transverse Myelitis Association’s web site and others, all with a sip-and-puff method of using the computer, which you can see here (Jim is the second man speaking and later demonstrates how he uses the computer):

Some years ago I read a book called Charlie’s Victory by Charlie Wedemeyer, a coach who develops ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. When his disease began to impact his breathing, his wife took him to a hospital, where the doctor told her it was time to let him go. A nurse told her about portable ventilators, and the doctor was actually angry when Mrs. Wedemeyer told him she wanted to try the portable ventilator. But she insisted, and Charlie left the hospital having many more years…in public motivational speaking!

Living on a ventilator would not be anyone’s first choice of lifestyle, of course. But these and many others are proof that being on a ventilator is not living death.

I know there are complicated situations, and I don’t presume to have pat answers to them. Joni Eareckson Tada very ably wrestles with such questions in her book When Is It Right To Die? She discusses there the difference between sustaining life and prolonging death.

But for this particular moment, the main point I want to make is that, if the time comes when someone suggests a ventilator or other machine for yourself or a loved one, don’t immediately dismiss it. Machines can be a great aid to many more enjoyable and productive years.

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: What IS that?

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Barbara Harper

PhotoHunt

Theme: What IS that?| Become a Photo Hunter

This was an interesting one! I drew a complete blank until this morning when this caught my eye:

Any ideas? Parched ground during a drought? A close-up of my dry skin? Dried cookie dough?

Click –>here<– to see what it is.

Updated: I am sorry the link isn’t working!! My settings are for public viewing. I tested it and it worked fine for me, but when I tried it in Internet Explorer it came back “Private.” Grr!!

Anyway, here it is:

This goes along with the theme, too: it’s hard to tell what a finished project will look like while it is in progress, perhaps making onlookers wonder what it is:

But the details and finishing touches bring it into focus.

It reminds me of that saying, “Be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet.” We are all works-in-progress.

Visit TN Chick for more Photo Hunters.

BlogHop ’08

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Pensieve is hosting a BlogHop — kind of a meet-and-greet event for bloggers. More details are here: the sign-up list is here where you can add your link and peruse others. I just discovered it last night, but I think it’s ok if the party extends through the weekend. 🙂

She suggests we include a brief intro, and perhaps links to our favorite posts and maybe even a few recipes (you can’t have a party without food, right?)

So…Hello, my name is Barbara. 🙂 I usually sign myself as Barbara H. to distinguish myself from other Barbara bloggers. I am a SAHM of three boys, ages 23, 20, and 14, and I have been married to a wonderful man named Jim for 28 years. My blog is about…my stray thoughts. It’s a mixture of the serious and funny, the spiritual and the homey, everyday happenings and heavenly contemplations. Some of my passions are to encourage us to spend more quality time in the Word of God, to draw closer to Him in everyday life, to see Him for Who He is, and to encourage women in whatever walk of life to be their best for Him and to lean on Him for grace and strength.

Some of my favorite posts are listed in my sidebar. I am not a great cook, but some of my favorite recipes are listed here. Chicken Enchilada Bake is a family favorite, as are Pudding Chip Cookies.

Thanks for stopping by — you’re welcome any time!

Book Review: The Count of Monte Cristo

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I was only vaguely aware of the title of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas until…I saw the Wishbone version on PBS years ago. (Don’t laugh — I benefited from a lot of culture on children’s programming. 🙂 ) But that put the intriguing story on my mental list of books I wanted to read some day. I have been working my way through some of the classics over the last few years and have just finished reading the Count.

In the past I had read The Three Musketeers and The Man In the Iron Mask by Dumas, and I have to say I was disappointed in them, in the darkness of the latter especially. The ending differs from any film version of it I have seen. So I approached the Count with a little bit of trepidation, but it is my favorite of these three Dumas books.

Originally published in the 1840s, the story is that of Edmund Dantes, a young sailor on the verge of being promoted to captain of his ship and of marrying his longtime sweetheart. Mercedes, in France during the era just before Napoleon’s Hundred Days. Edmund has enemies he is not wary enough of, a jealous shipmate and another who loves Mercedes, and these two plot together to implicate him as a Bonapartist traitor. The main piece of evidence comes into the hands of one prosecutor who could potentially be harmed by its contents, so to protect himself he destroys the evidence and lets Edmund go to prison.

Edmund, of course, despairs, tries to see the governor of the prison to plead his cause, and is rewarded with bring thrown further into the dungeon. He decides to starve himself until he hears the faint sounds of digging, and the possibility of interacting with another human being other than his jailer revives his desire to live. He and the other prisoner, Abbe Faria, do make contact, and the Abbe becomes something of a mentor to Edmund, teaching him all he knows both of education and society. Thus his fourteen years in prison actually serve to make him the man he later becomes.

When the Abbe dies, Edmund sees his chance to escape by placing the Abbe’s body in his cell and hiding himself in the Abbe’s burial shroud. The Abbe had told him of and bequeathed to him a treasure buried on the island of Monte Cristo, which Edmund finds and the uses to perfect his new persona as the Count of Monte Cristo. He then sets himself to reward those who were loyal to him and stood by him and to exact vengeance on the three men who were instrumental in imprisoning him.

The story is quite intriguing as the reader understands the Count’s ultimate purpose but wonders exactly what he is up to as events unfold. Some characters who appear at first to be a distraction to the main plot are found actually to be integral to it. Though at first his designs fall into place perfectly, the Count eventually finds many unintended consequences of his actions and has to wrestle with his conscience before God to determine the best way to ultimately do the right thing by the various people affected by his actions.

Wikipedia describes this as an adventure novel, and it certainly is that, but it is full of intrigue as well. Those I would not call it a Christian book, there are many Christian principles throughout. Modern readers would find it a bit melodramatic in places — at least six times various people threaten to kill themselves due to shame or loss. I don’t know if that was a popular mode of dealing with problems at the time or popular literary plot device. Though it does drag a bit in places overall the book is very well crafted.

The 1998 Tom Doherty associates version that I read says that it is complete and unabridged, which is what I wanted, but I was disappointed to find that it was not complete: in reading over the Wikipedia summary, I found several strands on the plot that were not in this book. Some of the situations now make more sense to me. I wouldn’t look at the Wikipedia listing, though, until after you have read the book as it does detail most of the plot and you’ll lose the fun of discovery if you read it.

I’ve seen reference to several film versions, and if you have read the book and seen any of the films I’d love to know which film version you think is best.

Show and Tell Friday: Grandma’s Things

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.

As many of you know, my mother-in-law just moved here to SC from ID and now lives in an assisted living facility just a few minutes from us. Since Mom was limited in how much could be carried on the plane, my sister-in-law has been sending us a few boxes at a time of Mom’s things.

One of the first boxes to arrive contained one of my all-time favorite pictures of my father-in-law, the flag from his funeral, and his VFW hat with several pins. My husband and youngest son put them together in my mother-in-law’s room like this:

I thought that made such a nice little vignette and added a touch of home to her room. It was her idea to put the cap on the picture frame like that — a nice touch!

Here are a few close-ups of some of the items:

I don’t know who put the medals in the case with the flag, but I thought it was a good idea.

Also in the package, among other things, was this little cross-stitched piece I did for Jim’s mom several years ago:

And this is my work-in-progress for her room, almost done. All that is left is a little border.

I wanted to persevere and finish it tonight, but it was after 11 p.m. when I got to this stage and I felt I’d better lay it aside — when I work on things like this too late I tend to make more mistakes. Yellow is her favorite color. I am thinking of making one for myself in shades of pink. 🙂 It’s small — maybe 4 x 5 inches — so I thought I’d have it whipped up in a week or so, but it’s talking longer. The shape is a little warped from being stretched in the hoop. but it will straighten out when it is washed and pressed.

You can go to Kelli’s to see more Show and Tell partcipants.

Thursday Thirteen: Books I read to my children

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Barbara Harper

When I made up my book meme a couple of weeks ago, one of the questions I asked concerned book we may have read to our children. I found so many others books that I had forgotten about mentioned in other people’s answers that I decided to focus a Thursday Thirteen on books I enjoyed reading to my children.

1. The Little Engine That Could.

2. Gus the Bus. This appears to be out of print not, but it’s one my kids loved reading over and over even after we had to tape it together. It’s about a dutiful school bus whose tires one day get too much air in them, which sends him through meadows chasing horses and such while all the kids are in school. When the bus driver finally finds him, discovers the problem, and brings him back, He goes back to his routine, but with a little smile and a daisy stuck next to his mirror.

3. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom as well as others in the Jesse Bear series. Sweet stories, lovely art work.

4. Dr. Seuss, especially, of course, the perennial favorites The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.

5. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey.

6. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

7. Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter Roop. This was one of my favorites, about a girl who has to keep the lighthouse lamps burning when her father is delayed from getting back home due to a storm.

8. P. D. Eastman. books, especially Go, Dog, Go, and Are You My Mother?

9. The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer.

10. Golden Books, especially The Poky Little Puppy, The Little Red Caboose, Scuffy the Tugboat.

11. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton.

12. Arch books, but I was choosy with those. I don’t like Bible story books that are flippant or where the characters are drawn in a cartoonish way. I wanted my children to respect those stories and to differentiate between them and other stories.

13. The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth N. Taylor or one like this.

We read multitudes of books when they were younger, but these are the standout favorites that come to mind. As they got older they liked Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett and others.

I can’t wait to read some of these to my grandkids some day!

You can visit other Thursday Thirteeners here.

(Graphic Courtesy of Grandma’s Graphics.)

In which I discover del.icio.us

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Does anyone know why they put the periods where they do?

I heard of del.icio.us a long time ago but wasn’t interested at first in discovering what it was. When you first start computing or blogging, there is a lot to take in! But after seeing how other people use it and seeing references to it or links to it on other people’s blogs, I can see it’s value. One value for me personally is that I can take my long list of particular blog posts which I have bookmarked under that creative title and tag them easily into categories. It’s actually a lot quicker and easier than bookmarking.

There is a great You Tube video explaining it in plain simple English here.

So I finally started my own del.icio.us here. I will probably put a link to it in my sidebar at some point.

I am in the process of adding all my old bookmarked pages a little at a time. Two new ones added today are:

20 Tips to Save Money on Gas

and

13 Ways to Maintain Your Brain (I need all the help I can get.)

Also, though I don’t have this on del.icio.us, I wanted to mention a site I discovered at a link at Lizzie‘s, the Homeschool Freebie of the Day site. I don’t think you have to be a homeschooler to participate. They have resources that would be of interest to many people. Today, for instance, is a free download of Homestead Simplicity: A Primer, which has a lot of great tips and recipes for homemade household items. Each free download is only available for one day, though. You can sign up there for a weekly e-mail letting you know what will be coming up in the week ahead. It’s a great resource.

An award and a road trip

Posted on July 15, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage graciously gave me the Arte y pico award.

You might be saying, “….Huh?” 🙂

The creator of the award at at http://arteypico.blogspot.com/ says:

“What is the meaning of the expression: Arte y Pico? Basically, ironically, it translates into a wonderful phrase in Mexico, “lo maximo.” LOL! It will never find its counterpart in English, but if it HAD to, it would be something like, Wow. The Best Art. Over the top.

This award is “dedicated to many who nourish and enrich the spirit and creativity. They see dedication, creativity, camaraderie, joy, and above all ART, much art. I wish that this prize is entertaining to all those bloggers and to bloggers who day by day share this space and enrich it a little more each day.” Arte Y Pico

Miss Sandy said of me: “Now I know this award is supposed to be about art, and Barbara does make art but that is not what her blog is about, it is about heart. Barbara has a pretty heart that loves the Lord, her family, and others. I have only recently “met” her and want to thank her for decorating my life with her presence.”

Wow! I am so honored. Thank you so much for those kind words. I am not an artist, but I do love and appreciate artistry and creativity.

The rules are as follows:

1) Select 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) The award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show a link of “Arte y pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of the award.

The five bloggers I would like to pass this along to are:

1. Gretchen at Lifenut for her artistry with words. Take this hilarious story of her son’s birth as one example, this touching post about playing hurt, or this one titled, “Leave.”

2. Writer2b at Findings for the same reason. I discovered her through Semicolon‘s weekly Saturday Review of Books, and so enjoyed her style of writing that I soon subscribed to her blog.

3. Dawn at 4:53 am. Her creativity shines through her beauitful photography and craft work.

4. Anita at My Country Cottage Garden. I think I first met her through Kelli‘s Show and Tell Fridays. She has a gorgeous garden and does beautiful projects for her home. It was through her that I found one of my favorite new books, Sew Pretty Homsestyle by Tone Finnanger. (I still haven’t made a project from it, Anita, but I feast my eyes just looking at it. I do hope to make some things from it “some day,” though!)

5. Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home and Seasonal Delights magazine. Her creativity and artistry is expressed all throughout her home. I enjoy looking at and being inspired by the beautiful yet simple touches that make her home lovely, welcoming, and homey.

Finally, I saw this road trip test at Gram‘s, Melli‘s, and Alice‘s. I was going to take it at first because road trips are not my favorite things. But it was fun and pretty accurate except the last line.

The Road Trip of Your Life