Book Review: The Centurion’s Wife

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The Centurion’s Wife by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn is set in Israel immediately after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

Leah is the niece of Pilate, but due to a financial disaster in her family, she becomes a servant to Pilate’s wife, Procula, until a marriage can be arranged for her. Leah does not want to marry, but her pleadings avail little. Procula had had troubling dreams about Jesus during His trial which continue to plague her, and she sends Leah out to try to find the disciples of Christ and learn what she can about whether revolt is planned among them. She befriends some of the women who followed Christ and is drawn to them while at the same time she is increasingly troubled about her impending arranged marriage.

Pilate had thought he appeased the Jews by giving them the crucifixion of Christ which they had clamored for, but now with the news that Jesus’ grave is open and His body missing, Pilate is concerned that His followers are planning a revolt. One of his centurions, Alban, has a good relationship with the Jews in his area, so Pilate sends him to learn what is going on and to ferret out any information he can. Alban is the centurion whose servant Jesus healed and whose faith Jesus praised, yet in this story it is thought that the faith that his servant could be healed was not quite yet saving faith. Alban sets out first of all to find the soldiers assigned to guard Jesus’ tomb: something doesn’t quite add up, because if the disciples had broken into the tomb and stolen Jesus’ body, the soldiers on guard would have been killed for letting that happen. But they are alive, and Alban wants to hear their side of the story.

What Alban and Leah both find separately has profound implications for their future.

I have to admit I approach Biblically-based fiction somewhat warily. It has to be understood that the events and personalities beyond what the Bible delineates are products of the authors’ imaginations, and sometimes an author’s characterization can ring not quite true with one’s own summations. But I have read all of Janette Oke’s books and many of Davis Bunn’s, and I felt they wouldn’t go too far afield. I just happened to pick this book up just after Easter, the same time setting as the book, and it brought to mind what that time must have been like. Pilate thought he had closed a chapter in regard to Jesus but now finds he may have more trouble than before; the disciples are convinced at this point that Jesus has risen and they are waiting, at His command, but they don’t know what is next; other people don’t know what to make of the events. It’s easy to imagine the incredulity many experienced upon first hearing that Jesus is not just missing, but resurrected, yet for several reasons they can’t just dismiss the possibility.

It took me several chapters to really connect with the characters, but I can’t put my finger on exactly why: perhaps it was just that initial confusion and unrest conveyed by the times carrying over into my perceptions. But I did feel more drawn in as the story progressed. I enjoyed “meeting” some of the early disciples: my favorite was Martha. I felt her personality was the most well-developed and realistic. Every church kitchen has a lady like her: bustling, efficient, matter-of-fact, perhaps a little too blunt, yet she had learned well the lesson Christ taught her. Mary Magdalene seemed the least well-developed and almost a little too other-worldly to me.

Overall I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next in the series.

So what is this I’m eating?

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Barbara Harper

I noticed this “ad” on my egg carton one day and was a little taken aback. The eggs I was scrambling certainly looked natural! 🙂

It goes on to explain that the “natural” eggs came from hens fed a certain diet. Still, I am looking at these a little more suspectly…

What’s On Your Nightstand: April

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the last Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

I was surprised at first to find that I had not participated in this since January, but then I remembered that was primarily because I was still in the unabridged Les Miserables and To the Golden Shore all those months and didn’t want to just keep listing the same books.

I did finally finish Les Miserables and reviewed it here. I am still working on classic missionary biography To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson about Americas’ first missionary, Adoniram Judson. I just recently started In Trouble and In Joy: Four Women Who Lived for God by Sharon James, a collection of short biographies and writing excerpts of four women: Margaret Baxter, wife of Puritan preacher Richard Baxter; Sarah Edwards, wife of Jonathan Edwards; Anne Steele and Frances Ridley Havergal, both hymn writers. Anne was the only one I knew nothing about before the book. I’ve only just started it within the last week or so, so it is too early to have much of an opinion on it yet.

I read The Centurion’s Wife by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn but haven’t had a chance to review it yet. It is set during the time just after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, about a young woman, Leah, who is a servant to Pilate’s wife, sent out by her mistress to find out more about Christ’s followers and their intentions. She is betrothed against her will to a centurion who is sent out by Pilate on the same mission. It took me a while to get into the book, but overall I enjoyed it. I hadn’t specifically planned to read it just after Easter, the same time frame as the book, but that’s when I happened to start it, and it added a nice dimension to enter into their experiences around the same season as the setting of the book.

I also completed Passionate Housewives Desperate For God by Jennie Chauncey and Stacy McDonald, a book primarily encouraging stay-at-home wives and mothers. Overall it was good, but there were a couple of things I wouldn’t agree with quite 100% the way they were presented. More on that when I am able to review it.

I also read the last of the Four Seasons of Marriage books by Palmer and Chapman, Winter Turns to Spring.

I am not sure which of the books on my Spring Reading Thing list I will pick up next, but I would like to go through some of the Christian fiction books I have listed there.

I have also been consistently reading a daily devotional book titled Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer. I am convinced it is the devotional book for me for this year. It has ministered to me greatly and I have quoted from it several times here.

You can join in sharing what’s on your nightstand or see others’ entries here.

Ladies’ Luncheon ’09

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Thanks to those who prayed for the ladies’ luncheon. Everything went very well!

I had mentioned before that a lady in my church knew of someone who did a one-woman dramatic interpretation of one of my all-time favorite books, Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose. It is about a young missionary wife in the Philippines at the time the Japanese took over during WWII. Her husband and most of the other men in their compound were taken captive, then later the women were sent to a separate prison camp. At one point she was accused of being a spy and put on death row. This might not sound like a cheery ladies’ luncheon topic — but the main emphasis in the book is the triumph of faith — how God met her needs, physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, through all that she experienced. As I told the ladies, I don’t think Darlene would have wanted anyone to exalt her, or even her faith, but she would have wanted them to see the One she had faith in and to know that He could meet all of their needs, too.

It would take too long to tell of the connections between people involved — and most of you wouldn’t know them, anyway — but the Lord did open doors for this young lady to come and present this drama for us. The same lady who told me of her volunteered to do the “leg work” for the program part, talking to the drama coach at school about using props, etc. That was a blessing to be able to just turn a major portion of the luncheon over to someone else! I’ve never been able to do that before.

The title of the book comes from Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I wrestled for a long time with whether to use that as our theme verse or I Peter 1:7: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” That verse was certainly manifested in Mrs. Rose’s life as well. But I went with Hebrews 11:1 since it really was the theme of her life.

I chose a rose as the motif, since the author’s new last name after she remarried after the events of this book was Rose, and pink, because I like pink roses, and gold to represent the I Peter 1:7 passage.

Here is one of the tables:

One of the centerpieces a little closer up:

This may sound silly — but one of the things I was most pleased about was the little gold curlicue things in the vase. I got the idea from some more extensive gold swirly things around a candle at a bridal shower recently. I was going to borrow the whole idea, but candles of the size I needed and amount I needed would have been too expensive. As I wandered around Hobby Lobby, I noticed the flower stems were on sale half price, so I went ahead and got the roses, then also found these curly things on stems in kind of an orange-red color. I tried spray-painting them gold, and thought they came out great.

At one of our ladies’ meetings we worked on these bookmarks as favors:

The base of it looks brown here, but it is gold. We decided they’d look best laminated. Our church has a laminating machine, but…it just didn’t work on these. The plastic peeled right off. The gold card stock was a little heavier than usual, and our machine is old. It has to warm up to 250 degrees to adhere, and it got there, but when I ran these through the temperature dropped to 245. I was kicking myself because I could have laminated these the week before, but I didn’t think there was any hurry — I figured it would only take me an hour or so to do. An hour and a half later with it still not done — and the day before we were to decorate — left me very frustrated. I took them to Office Max, and they were able to laminate them, and at not too bad a price, though one way they tried it didn’t work because of the thickness. But we finally got them done, and I loved how they turned out.

Moral of the story: do as much as you can as much ahead of time as you can even if you think you have plenty of time.

We often have a heavier, dinner-type meal (baked chicken or something similar), but I saw on the caterer’s menus an assortment of wraps, and decided to try that this time along with a broccoli salad (which I had never heard of, but it included bacon and shredded cheese, and you can’t go too far wrong with those 🙂 ) and a fresh fruit tray and brownies. I thought everything tasted great.

We had a lot more volunteer help to set up and clean up, so that was a blessing. I mentioned cheerful helpers as one of my five favorite things last week. I don’t know if people realize just how much of a blessing that is when they just pitch in, and then do so with a smile. And my dear husband and oldest son agreed to help in various ways, being there for the caterer to set up while we were in the program and then helping put the pulpit and chairs back on stage afterward.

I had stopped in at the rehearsal after we decorated the night before where the two sound men from church were working with getting the lights and sound cue recording all coordinated. Everything came together really well, and the young lady did a tremendous job with the program. I should have forewarned people to have tissues handy. 🙂 There were several things that spoke to my heart again even though I have read the book a number of times. I was really glad the banana story was included — if you’ve read the book, you know what I am talking about; if not, I’ll let you discover it. It’s one of my favorite parts.

Usually we have some type of little game and door prizes, but I really wanted to give away some copies of the book this time. We had enough in our budget to give away 20. I love getting good books, especially the kind that feed your soul, into other people’s hands.

On a personal note, we had invited my mother-in-law, but she is really uncomfortable in social settings. Whenever I would mention it, she would start out saying she didn’t think she would go, but I would gently try to reassure her that it was in the same building where we have church and we would eat where she had joined us for a church dinner once, so it wasn’t all unfamiliar territory. I also mentioned here last week that a lady at church had begun going to see her once a week or so, and my mother-in-law really likes her and communicates well with her. I asked this lady if she would mind sitting with my mother-in-law since I would have to be up and down and wouldn’t be able to be with her all the time, and she very graciously agreed. When my husband reminded his mom of the luncheon the night before, she almost went into a panic, but he reassured her again. I wasn’t going to try to insist that she go if it was really going to be traumatic for her, but I felt if she would step out of her comfort zone, everything would be ok and she would enjoy herself. And she did — step out and enjoy herself, both. I was very proud of her!

And for me…I tend to get so nervous the day or two before these things, even though everything is going well. I have asked the Lord to take that away, but I guess it is just part of the package, and I just try to ignore it and carry on. Once we get started I am more or less fine: it’s just the time previous that my body reacts nervously in ways I’ll spare you the details of. There were some problems along those lines, but everything turned out ok.

All in all, everything came together very nicely, and the Lord’s help was evident in every way, from the ideas to the people and things needed, to good health for all involved (especially during allergy season!) and most of all in the program itself . Thank you again to those who prayed!

And even though I immensely enjoyed it…I am glad it’s over. 🙂

My faith looks up to Thee

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Barbara Harper

This hymn is one of the earliest I remember learning as a child.

My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away,
O let me from this day be wholly Thine!

May Thy rich grace impart
Strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire!
As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee,
Pure warm, and changeless be, a living fire!

While life’s dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread, be Thou my Guide;
Bid darkness turn to day, wipe sorrow’s tears away,
Nor let me ever stray from Thee aside.

When ends life’s transient dream,
When death’s cold sullen stream over me roll;
Blest Savior, then in love, fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!

~ Ray Palmer

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on April 24, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites.

My favorite moments from this week:

1. Getting a good start on getting the house painted. We’ve been wanting to get at that for a long time. I wrote more about it and showed pictures here, but this picture shows the old on the left and the new on the right.

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2. Cheerful helpful people. Our church’s ladies’ luncheon is tomorrow, and a number of ladies volunteered to help set up beforehand and then clean up afterward. Then earlier this week, I was at the school office where one of those ladies was volunteering that day while talking with another lady about helping her with something else going on this week. She also regularly helps me put labels with our church contact information on tracts. She’s a little bit older, and all her kids are grown and on their own, and I just appreciate that she uses her time to help others and does it with such a cheerful spirit. Plus another older lady has, on her own initiative, starting visiting with my mother-in-law at her assisted living facility, which my mother-in-law really enjoys, and agreed to sit with her at the ladies’ luncheon tomorrow so that while I am up and down taking care of things, she won’t be alone. That is such a blessing.

3. I know I have mentioned spring before and the dogwoods in bloom before, but it is still such a joy to see things greening up after winter and to see the dogwoods and azaleas in bloom throughout the neighborhood. Plus, my kitchen window, unfortunately, faces right into a neighbor’s family room behind us, and when the trees put out their new leaves that view is blocked and I feel like we both have a little more privacy. 🙂

4. Funny comment of the week: Jeremy works from home, and one day in particular he was having trouble getting going mentally with his work. He had been just generally puttering around on the computer. When he was telling me all this, he said, “I don’t get paid to play games on the computer and watch You Tube videos at work like other people do.” Cracked me up.

5. The devotional book I am using this year, Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer, has been used of the Lord to speak to me often this year. The April 22nd reading had an application I had never thought of before concerning Jacob’s wrestling with a man the night before meeting his brother, Esau, who, the last Jacob knew, was after his life:

when the sense of loneliness steals over the spirit, and the starry hosts expand overhead, it is then that we may come into personal contact with One, whose delights from of old were with the sons of men. He is the Word of God, but He is also the Saviour, the Lover and Friend of man.

In our first meeting, He will wrestle with us to break down our stubbornness; He will touch the sinew of our strength till we can hold out no more; He will withdraw from us till we insist that we cannot let Him go; He will awaken a mysterious longing and urgency within us, which He alone can satisfy. And as the memorable interview ends, He will have taught us that we prevail best when we are at our weakest, and will have whispered in our ear, in response to our entreaty, His own sublime Name, Shiloh, the Giver of Eternal Peace!

I love how, after a busy week in which I didn’t think I would have five favorite things, after thinking about it, I can come up with more than five, and instead of thinking, “Wow, what a busy week,” I am left thinking, “Wow, it’s been a great week.” Thanks, Susanne, for spurring us on to do that!

You can see other favorites of this week at Susanne‘s.

Updated to add: Our ladies’ luncheon is tomorrow. Those of you who pray, I’d appreciate your prayers if you’re willing! Everything is going well (except for a laminating machine that wouldn’t laminate the bookmarks we made for favors. Unfortunately I had not done them last week, which would have given me more of a cushion to deal with it, because I thought it would only take an hour or so. It took an hour and 40 minutes — and still wasn’t done. What we did try to do, I had to peel the laminating plastic off of. I took them to an office supply store today, and they can do them this afternoon for around $20 — not bad, considering.) But even when everything is going well, there is still a little underlying pressure or nervousness til it is all over. I’ll post pictures either this weekend or early next week.

Booking Through Thursday: Symbolic? Or Not?

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The weekly Booking Through Thursday question for today is:

Suggested by Barbara:

My husband is not an avid reader, and he used to get very frustrated in college when teachers would insist discussing symbolism in a literary work when there didn’t seem to him to be any. He felt that writers often just wrote the story for the story’s sake and other people read symbolism into it.

It does seem like modern fiction just “tells the story” without much symbolism. Is symbolism an older literary device, like excessive description, that is not used much any more? Do you think there was as much symbolism as English teachers seemed to think? What are some examples of symbolism from your reading?

Wow, I was surprised to see my question pop up today! Unfortunately it’s a day when I don’t have a lot of extra time to deal with it, but I’ll look forward to see what others had to say when I can.

I haven’t read a lot of modern fiction, but it does seem to me that, just as there is more free verse poetry now than the more heavily structured kind, fiction seems more “free verse” as well, employing fewer literary devices than it used to. I mentioned description as well — many older books are filled with minute descriptions of places and people, whereas today, if the description doesn’t advance the plot line or have some telling necessary detail, people get impatient with it. I think many modern readers want their books served like their fast food — something quick and simple that fills the need of the moment. That is not a bad thing in itself: I enjoy fast food as well as home-cooked multi-course dinners just as I enjoy both the quick and simple fiction as well as the old classics. But one is certainly a lot richer than the other.

Interestingly, I did a quick search on “Symbolism in literature” and found articles at polar opposites: “The Silliness of looking for symbolism in literature” by John T. Reed, which, as you can tell by the titles, espouses that there is no, or at least very little purposeful symbolism (I do disagree with his harsh words against English teachers), and “Symbolism in Literature” by Karen Bernado, which seems to be saying in one part that it doesn’t really matter if the author intended symbolism or not; it is all open to interpretation, and if something symbolizes something to you, that’s great. Personally, my views would be somewhere between those two. I do think there are times, especially these days, when an author writes a story just to write a story with no symbolism intended. But I do think a degree of symbolism can greatly enhance what the author is trying to convey. On the other hand, if I were to write a book, I think any symbolism I used would be specific and purposeful: I would not want Bernado’s approach that what I had written was open to interpretation and anyone could see any symbolism they chose.

One good example of symbolism I’ve seen was in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I said in my review of it:

The symbolism of the tree in the title and in the story is clear: the tree that “liked poor people,” that grew in “sour earth” where it wasn’t given much inducement to grow, that continued to grow even after it was cut down, is parallel to Francie’s life.

Another excellent example is The Chronicles of Narnia. You can enjoy the story without understanding what it symbolizes, but when you realize the symbolism in it, you’re blown away by the depth and beauty in it.

This discussion ties in somewhat with another question I submitted and hope we get to some time, which is whether our experiences with literature in school enhanced our love of it or interfered with it. I have had both types of English teachers. Some were very clinical and academic, losing the excitement of the story in examining its parts, and others used the academic study of literature to enhance the enjoyment and learning from it.

When someone falls

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Barbara Harper

I had a bit of a wait in a not-so-fast-food drive-through last night, and I was listening to a radio preacher in the mean time. I think the general topic of the message was about temptation — he did talk about that a while. But at one point he mentioned (not by name) someone well-known in a particular church who said all the right things and took all the right stands and yet fell into the sin of adultery: worse yet, he would not admit it until he realized irrefutable evidence was available. Members of the church were hurt and scandalized…and it was at that point my turn came at the drive-through window, so I don’t know the rest of the story or why the preacher brought it up.

I don’t know (or want to know) who he was talking about, but it brought me back to my early married days when someone I had looked up to as a spiritual leader in college fell into the same sin. He was on the mission field at the time, would not repent when confronted, then went on to live a very secular lifestyle, lived as though he never had been a professing Christian, and antagonized his wife when she attended church.

I have to admit that hurt. And I was only a friend: I only had a glimpse of what his wife went through, and I was especially concerned for his children and for the students at the Bible institute he had been a part of on the mission field. When things like this happen, it can cause some to be shaken in their faith. Perhaps they think if this person fell, anyone can fall (and I think this may have been the point the radio preacher was getting to). Or perhaps they think if this person wasn’t genuine, as in the case mentioned (though genuine believers do fall into sin, too, as David did with Bathesheba) then how can any of it be real?

For some people it’s not a distant scandal involving a famous preacher that has shaken them, or even a spiritual leader in their own church, but someone much closer: a father, brother, or personal friend.

However much it hurts and baffles, someone else’s fall is no reason to become confused or discouraged and throw in the towel — or, as some unbelievers might, to point the finger and use the situation to discount all of Christianity. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). We’re responsible for our own walk and our own lives no matter what anyone else does. His grace is sufficient for our every need.

What are some wrong reactions when someone falls?

1. “I knew it all the time: I knew something wasn’t right about them.”

Love “believeth all things, hopeth all things” (I Corinthians 13: 7b) — not to the point of naivety, but in general expecting good rather than suspecting evil. In the situation I mentioned, after the fact several people brought up to the pastoral leadership situations and concerns they had from years before when the man was in graduate school. The pastor and elders had to say this was not the time for that: those things should have been brought up at the time, if it was something serious enough to be of concern. Who knows, perhaps a confrontation then would have prevented the serious damage that occurred later.

2. “Can you imagine? Can you believe it? I would never do such a thing!”

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall (I Corinthians 10:12). We’re all sinful beings: given the right circumstances and temptations, any of us is vulnerable. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).

3. “If he fell, if he couldn’t live the Christan life, there is no way I can.”

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it (I Corinthians 10:13). These situations can be a wake-up call, reminding us of how much we need to walk closely with the Lord and how much we need His grace to keep from sin, but, as mentioned earlier, we should not lose hope.

There are Biblical ways to respond to such a situation that are beyond the scope of this particular post, but I’ll just mention them in passing: Galatians 6:1 says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Matthew 7 speaks of taking the “beam” out of our own eye before trying to remove the speck or “mote” from someone else’s (interestingly, most people stop with the first verse of that chapter, the “judge not,” and misapply it in all kinds of ways, but miss the fact that verse 5 indicates we are supposed to help each other with these things — but we’re supposed to have the right attitude and take care of our own issues first). Matthew 18:15-20 outlines the course of church discipline, and what steps are taken depends on the reaction of the offender; I Corinthians 5 shares the extreme end of church discipline when the offender does not repent after every other attempt has been made. If you read both of those chapters closely, the hopeful outcome is restoration and forgiveness, not a self-righteous denunciation of the offender. There are other reasons for church discipline: the purity of the church (someone going around in open, unrepentant sin is going to tempt others to do so just by their “getting away with it”) and the testimony of the church (many times the New Testament lays out a certain course of action so that unbelievers won’t blaspheme). But the primary purpose of these actions is to help bring the offender to realize what he has done, confess and repent of it, and to restore him to fellowship with God and others.

Also, all of these verses about church discipline do not mean that we turn into spiritual policemen, constantly watching out for others to misstep so we can pounce on them. No, there are times to exercise forbearance, to overlook a fault. We handle an unkind word or leaving socks on the floor far differently than we would handle stealing, lying, or immorality, though those “lesser issues” might still need to be dealt with.

But my main reason for writing today is not so much to talk about church discipline: I wanted rather just to encourage us that, even though it wounds us when someone else falls, and we pray for that person and do all in our power to see them get things right, our ultimate focus should be on the One Who will never fail us.

Hebrews 12:1-2: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

“The greater the weakness, the nearer He is…”

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Barbara Harper

“Our very weakness gives opportunity for the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to be manifested. That blessed One never leaves and never forsakes us. The greater the weakness, the nearer He is to manifest His strength; the greater our necessities, the more have we ground to rely on it that He will prove Himself our Friend. This has been my experience for more than seventy years; the greater the trial, the greater the difficulty, the nearer the Lord’s help. Often the appearance was as if I must be overwhelmed, but it never came to it, and it never will. More prayer, more faith, more exercise of patience, will bring the blessing. Therefore our business is just to pour out our hearts before Him; and help in His own time and way is sure to come.”

~ George Mueller
Quoted in the April 21 reading of Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer

This brings the song “In My Weakness” to mind.

Catching up

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Last week was spring break for Jesse. Jim took the week off to start on one of our biggest and most needed projects: painting the house. This is the “before” view:

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The shutters on the left of the house are faded; the shutters on the right are peeling. We didn’t know that the ones on the left were made of plastic until Jim took them down and piece of it broke off. The ones on the right were made of wood.

With a split level, there are odd little places with pieces of roof sticking out from the rest of the house and little patches of paneling. I was inside the “sun room” at the back of the house when Jim and Jeremy were on a little section of roof to paint the wall above that and below the main roof. I took this picture from inside the sun room looking out at them.

Yes, Jim is climbing a ladder on a roof. Yes, I did pray for safety a lot during the week!

Jeremy and Jesse working in the front:

This is the contrast of the new color on the left and the old one on the right:

I was a little alarmed at first because the new color looks more yellowish (though not so much in this picture) when I was trying to avoid a yellow tone. When I told Jim’s mom we were painting it off-white, she said, “Ecru?” Unfortunately there are scores of tints and shades in that color family! But when I look at a wall of the new paint by itself it doesn’t look yellowish, so I think it’s fine. Better be! It’s too late to change it! I was just frustrated with myself in my color choice, but it will be fine in the long run.

Jim working on the front:

More prayers for safety!

Jeremy did most of the shutters and gutters:

While I was walking around taking pictures, I thought the view of the sky through the dogwood tree was pretty:

This is the view this morning — the lighting is a little different because the previous pictures were taken on a sunny day and it is overcast this morning. The old is on the left, the new on the right:

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I like it. It looks a lot lighter and brighter.

When I was looking at colors, I didn’t even think about the area around the windows, but changing that from dark to light makes a lot of difference.

Jim was frustrated that he lost two days of painting due to rain at the beginning of the week. He used the time when it wasn’t actually raining to do some prep work, cleaning and scraping. He had mercy on Jesse and didn’t make him work as much as he could have so he could just relax some over spring break. Jesse did get to have a friend over one night. Jason doesn’t get a spring break from his school and had a heavy week of homework, so he wasn’t able to help much. I felt bad that I didn’t contribute more. I am no good on a ladder: one of the residual effects of TM is balance problems. I did have some extra time on Saturday and offered to help Jeremy with the shutters or gutters, but where he was set up on the patio there wasn’t much room, and he was enjoying listening to his iPod while working and didn’t really need or want help at that point. I did provide lunch and dinner. 🙂 I don’t usually make lunches for all of us: years ago when the kids discovered the joys of sleeping in, they woke up at different times and ate at different times, and if I made them each something to eat whenever they got ready, I would have been in the kitchen all day. So they usually make their own lunches. But this week they usually took a lunch break all together, and I figured having a meal ready was the least I could do. And, of course, I’m the chronicler and photographer. 🙂

The greatest majority of it is done. The wall on the left and a little patch of siding on the right is all of the “big” stuff, and Jim will have to rent a ladder to reach the peak (at least I think and hope he is planning to. He did mention the possibility of putting a ladder on top of the van. :O ) They also need to do the doors. But there is some tedious little stuff left, like the wood parts on the window panes. We’ll just have to fit that in as we can.

Today everyone is back to school and work. I sure enjoyed not setting the alarm clock last week. Funny how 6:30 is “sleeping in” these days!

This Saturday is the ladies’ luncheon at church. We got the favors mostly done at the ladies’ meeting last week, and I have a pretty long to-do list before Saturday, but, though it is going to be a busier than usual week, it doesn’t feel really pressured and overwhelming. Even so, there is a little underlying feeling of nervousness that seems to be a part of planning any event, even though things are going well and there’s nothing to worry about and it is all in God’s hands anyway. I just try to ignore it and carry on. 🙂 But I’d appreciate your prayers that everything go well and especially for the lady doing the presentation of Darlene Diebler Rose’s Evidence Not Seen as she prepares. I’m praying that neither of us is adversely affected by the pollen that is so prevalent this time of year!

I was playing around with StumbleUpon last night after noticing in my blog stats that someone viewed one of my posts via Stumble. I clicked on the link, but it didn’t show me what page was viewed: it just took me to a page saying someone had viewed one of my posts, which I already knew. I had already signed in with them but just hadn’t done a lot with it. I looked around and read several things. I didn’t know if I could “stumble” any of my own posts, and I tried it just to see if I could. I was astounded this morning to see that the posts I had stumbled had all received over 90 views just since last night via StumbleUpon, and one, When there is no hunger for God’s Word, received over 2,000 views! I guess it works!

I think that about catches us up with the goings-on here. This will be a busy week preparing for the ladies’ luncheon; next week I’ll have the ladies ministry newsletter/booklet to do; Jason graduates in May, and his fiancee and future mother-in-law are coming for that, so there are some house projects I’d like to get done before that. Jesse has a sports banquet coming up as well as a piano recital and choir concert in May. Then when his school gets out later in the month, I’ll have a breather for a while — until Jason’s wedding in August!!