(Graphic courtesy of Crosscards.com)
Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, receiving His love and sharing it with those around you.
Merry Christmas!
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Friday’s Fave Five
It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.
The last Friday’s Fave Five before Christmas! And the next to last one before the end of the year! I hope you have a quiet moment in the midst of all the Christmas activities to count the blessings of the last week.
1. A Christmas potluck lunch. A small church we visited a couple of weeks ago announced they were having a Christmas potluck last Sunday. Normally, due to needing to get home so Great-grandma’s caregiver can get off on time, we can’t stay for things like that, but this church meets a little earlier than usual, so we thought it would work out ok, and we explained to the pastor that we might have to leave before everything was over. The timing turned out to be just fine, and it was quite an enjoyable time. We don’t know yet if this church is “the one,” but I really enjoy the people. Updated to add: I forgot to mention, the pastor and his wife are from South Africa and brought everyone one of those crackers – the wrapped gift you pull on and it makes a loud pop and opens to reveal a small gift. These contained little gifts – a bouncy ball, a small top, a miniature skateboard key ring, etc. – and a paper crown and joke or riddle. It was fun to see what everyone got and to read the jokes and riddles to the others at the table. But what was most fun for me was that I had heard and read of those but had never actually seen or received one, so I particularly enjoyed that!
2. A salvaged meal. I generally make a chicken/potato/carrots crockpot meal for potlucks and company, and got up early to assemble it for the dinner last Sunday. But I miscalculated the time, and half an hour before time to leave, the chicken was almost as raw as it was when I started. It would only have a little over an hour in the crockpot once we got there, which wouldn’t be enough time at all for it to get done. I resigned myself to not being able to take it, figuring I would just turn it on low and we’d have it as a family later. But Jim suggested putting the inner pot in the microwave – so we tried it, and it worked! We put it in for five minutes increments, stirring in-between until time to leave, then did so a couple of times there. Though some of the potatoes weren’t quite as done as normal, overall it was ok, and I was glad to have been able to contribute. One boy in his early teens asked the pastor’s wife who made it because he really liked it and wanted the recipe. That touched my heart!
3. Christmas cards. Though we receive fewer every year, I’m glad a number of people still send Christmas cards. I love both sending and receiving them and I especially love the family newsletters and catching up with loved ones.
4. Our 38th anniversary! Jim and I celebrated 38 years of marriage this week by going out for breakfast and then for dinner. It’s almost the only time we go out for an evening meal, since we have to pay extra for someone to stay with Jim’s mom, so it was a treat in many ways.
5. Time to talk. Of course, my husband and I do talk every day, but at our anniversary breakfast we had a more extensive time than usual, and it was good to have that time to talk more in depth. He had started his Christmas break that day, and though we both had things to do, we also weren’t rushed and were able to enjoy the time.
We’re looking forward to having the family all together as our oldest comes home this weekend, and then we’re highly anticipating Christmas, especially with a three-year-old! I hope you all have a wonderful time with family celebrating the birth of our Savior!
Back to the Classics 2017 Wrap-up
It’s time to wrap up the Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate. Karen creates the categories each year, and participants can gain entries for a prize – a $30 gift certificate towards books! – based on the number of books read. Here’s what I read for the categories this year, linked back to my reviews of them:
1. A 19th Century Classic. Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy (1899)(Finished 9/6/17)
2. A 20th Century Classic. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (1915)(Finished 7/25/17) and Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington (1901)(Finished 3/8/17)(I read the text of Up From Slavery which was included in the book Uncle Tom or New Negro?: African Americans Reflect on Booker T. Washington and UP FROM SLAVERY 100 Years Later)
3. A classic by a woman author. Middlemarch by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)(1871)(Finished 4/18/17)
4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written or published in a language other than your native language. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)(Finished 7/15/17)
5. A classic published before 1800. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605)(Finished 7/8/17)
6. A romance classic. Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed (1902)(Finished 5/3/17)
7. A Gothic or horror classic. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)(Finished 7/14/17)
8. A classic with a number in the title. Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (1853)(Finished 2/8/17)
9. A classic about an animal or which includes the name of an animal in the title. Old Yeller by Fred Gipson (1956) (Finished 5/2/17)
10. A classic set in a place you’d like to visit. The Story Girl by Lucy Maude Montgomery, set in Prince Edward Isle, Canada. (1911)(Finished 2/1/17)
11. An award-winning classic.The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Newberry Medal, 1962) (Finished around 12/8/17)
12. A Russian Classic. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (1886)(Finished 8/30/17)
Karen also asks that we let her know how many entries we qualify for so she doesn’t have to figure them for each person. Since I completed all twelve (even 13! 🙂 ), I’m eligible for three entries. She also asks for an email address: barbarah06 (at) gmail (dot) com.
Karen has the categories and information up for the Back to the Classics 2018 Challenge here if you want to look it over and think about participating next year. I’ve been trying to incorporate classics into my reading the last few years, and this has been a fun way to do it.
I’ll also put in a plug here for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge 2018, which will be hosted here in February and would dovetail nicely with the Classics Challenge. The Little House books would fit in the 19th century, woman author, and children’s categories, and some would fit in the travel or journey category.
Next week after Christmas I’ll post the list of books I’ve read this year and a list of my favorites of the year.
(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books)
Book Review: One Enchanted Christmas: A Novella
In One Enchanted Christmas by Melissa Tagg, Maren Grant had one of the best nights of her life one December evening. Her book was about ready to be published, and as she developed a serious crush on Colin Renwycke, the model posing for the cover of her book, he actually asked her out. They had a wonderful, “enchanted” evening going to dinner and then a carriage ride around the city, ending with his issuing an open invitation to come visit his family’s farm, even to stay there and write for a while.
A year later, even though Maren only heard from Colin once, via a postcard reminding her about his open invitation, and at the urging of her best friend, she decided to take Colin up on his offer. She had begun to think of him as her story’s hero, and was stuck in her next novel. She decided seeing Colin’s home and town might provide her with inspiration. She couldn’t reach him, so she decided to just show up. He had told her where to find the key if the family was away, and as she tried to retrieve it, who should arrive but – not Colin, but his brother, Drew, mystified as to why this woman was trying to break into his house.
After much explanation and the fortunate recognition of her by Drew’s niece, Winnie, who had read Maren’s first book, Drew invites her into the home he shares with his sister and niece. He had inherited the family farm and was trying to make a go of it as a haven for his siblings and himself, helping out with their problems the best way he knew how. He and Colin had argued over the inheritance, and Drew had not see his brother since. He begins to entertain the hope that this author might draw Colin back to the farm.
But as Drew shows Maren around town and as she unavoidably gets pulled into some of the family issues, they find they mesh well, her playfulness a complement to his seriousness. He may not want Colin to rediscover Maren after all.
My thoughts:
I had never read Melissa Tagg before, and romances aren’t my favorite genre, but this was a delight. I loved how Maren and Drew interacted, and a quirky narrator popped up occasionally to summarize, give background information, etc. Though the story has something of a romantic comedy feel, there’s drama as well from the family issues and misunderstandings. It’s a little light on the faith element, but otherwise it’s quite an enjoyable Christmas read.
(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books and Carole’s Books You Loved)
Book Review: The Shoe Box
The Shoe Box by Francine Rivers is a novella about a boy named Timmy who has had to be removed from his home and placed with foster parents. He carries a shoe box with him everywhere he goes, but doesn’t show or tell anyone what’s in it.
Though the situation with his family is hard, his foster parents care for him tenderly.
One day he’s motivated to give his greatest treasure to a special person.
And that’s about all I can say without giving away too much, because this is really more of a short story than a novella. I wish I had known that going in, because the surprise and distraction of being only 50% through the Kindle version yet getting to the end took away from the enjoyment of the story (the rest of the Kindle version was a preview for another book). But it’s a sweet, touching story with beautiful illustrations, interspersed with the author’s family traditions and recipes.
(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books and Carole’s Books You Loved)
For God’s Glory
Recently I was reading a post from someone who had a child with a disability, and he mentioned that God did everything, including this, for His own glory.
While I agree with that statement, I think non-Christians and skeptics, and even some Christians, have trouble with the idea of God allowing what we would think of as bad to happen for His own glory. What kind of person does everything for his own glory, anyway?
Well, when humans seek their own glory, it’s usually self-motivating and undeserved. Sure, we’re to give honor to whom honor is due, and there may be times an authority has to demand the respect due their position. The latter is usually not for selfish motives, but to be able to enforce the authority they’ve been given to keep whatever order they’re in charge of. But if we say someone is seeking glory, we think of them as prideful and maybe even a bit immature and would probably be quick to think of their faults which would undermine any glory they think they deserve. Everyone wants significance, everyone wants to matter, but that’s different from seeking glory.
God, on the other hand, is perfect. He’s also the sovereign, almighty ruler of the universe. He’s the only One who deserves glory in that sense. But He’s not an egomaniac striving for attention. He is also good and kind and wise and loving.
He doesn’t seek glory because He “needs” it. He seeks it because we need it.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
It’s only when we see His glory that we see our own need and His sufficiency, that we get to know Him better and love Him more. It’s only by beholding His glory that we’re changed to be like Him.
What about those hard things that God allows for His glory, like a man who had been blind all his life, or a man who had been lame for 38 years, or the death of a beloved friend? I remember one time being especially troubled about the man lame for 38 years: maybe I was around 38 at the time and could not wrap my head around being lame for a lifetime. Why had God let him languish for so long before healing him? In each of these cases, the healing or resurrection magnified the Lord even more: their long duration (of the blindness or lameness) or difficulty proved that this wasn’t a trick, a set-up. If Jesus could heal such hard cases, that was a further evidence that He was God. But what about the poor people in such a state? 2 Corinthians 4:18:18 says:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
I had a friend one time get offended that God called the trial she was going through a light affliction when it was anything but light to her. It was heavy, weighty, burdensome. But He wasn’t “making light” of it: He was saying that our affliction would seem light compared to the “eternal weight of glory” being prepared for us. We can’t even imagine what that will be like!
What I think most people mean when they say God did or allowed something hard for His own glory is that somehow through those circumstances, people were drawn to Him or learned something of Him that they would not have any other way. Somehow in the least likely situations, suddenly they see Him clearly. Sometimes through someone else’s ministering to them, sometimes through unusual provision, sometimes in peace or a reminder of God’s love from His Word. But all of a sudden, a ray of light pierces the darkness. We see a glimpse of His glory, and then we’re assured of His love and power and ability to take care of anything we’re dealing with. More than that, we see His majesty and greatness, and we’re lifted out of our own fog and doldrums into pure worship.
And [Moses] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth…
Exodus 33:18-23; 34: 5-6
God’s desire for us to see His glory isn’t for egotistical reasons: it’s to show us His goodness.
May this be our prayer:
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. Psalm 27:4.
(Sharing with Inspire Me Monday, Glimpses, Literary Musing Monday, Tell His Story, Coffee for Your Heart, Porch Stories, Faith on Fire)
Laudable Linkage
I don’t usually post these two weeks in a row, but I came across a number of good reads this week!
Answering Claims That the Bible Contains Errors, and Why It Matters That It Doesn’t, HT to Challies.
What Expository Preaching Is Not, HT to Challies.
God Has a Heart for the Vulnerable. Do you?
Doing Church Away From Church Isn’t Church, HT to Challies.
Nine Questions to Ask Yourself to Prepare for 2018, HT to Challies.
100 Years. 100 Million Lives. Think Twice, HT to Challies. I’ve been quite alarmed in recent months to see young people lauding communism. “For many students, casually endorsing communism is a cool, edgy way to gripe about the world.” “Communism cannot be separated from oppression; in fact, it depends upon it. In the communist society, the collective is supreme. Personal autonomy is nonexistent. Human beings are simply cogs in a machine tasked with producing utopia; they have no value of their own.”
On Leaving Jerusalem. “While the media is great at capturing events, they are not so great (or so interested) at capturing context or proportion.”
Living Out Our Faith. Great ways to serve the Lord as a family.
Crying in Home Depot at Christmas.
Lastly, I don’t know anything about the speaker here or the film he talks about, so this is not an endorsement, but a friend shared this on Facebook and I found it interesting. I had never heard what he shared about the significance of Jesus being wrapped in swaddling clothes before.
Happy next to last Saturday before Christmas!
Friday’s Fave Five
It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.
In this busy season, I love the opportunity to pause and reflect over the best parts of the previous week.
1. Sleep. A couple of nights in a row, I woke up during the night and then couldn’t get back to sleep for a couple of hours. Sometimes when that happens I pray, most often I turn on some soft music. I want to keep everything conducive to going back to sleep, so I don’t get up except to use the bathroom. I was particularly frustrated when this happened on a Saturday night (as it too often does), afraid I’d be sleepy, draggy, or irritable all through church, but thankfully that didn’t happen. I took a long nap Sunday afternoon, but when the same wakefulness happened that night, I set my timer for a short nap Monday. And Monday night and following I went right to sleep and didn’t wake up til morning.
2. Rest. It’s a busy season, and I pushed myself more than normal a couple of days. I always look forward to evenings – I try not to be on the computer or working on a project at night when my husband’s home. Even if we’re not doing anything directly together, I enjoy being in the same room while we read our tablets. But those couple of days, I especially looked forward to getting the day’s work done and sitting with my feet up for a while.
3. Getting Christmasy things done: packages mailed and Christmas cards sent this week.
4. New Christmas decorations. I’m not sure why I’ve felt inclined to add to our Christmas decor this year – a combination of half-price sales and Hobby Lobby gift cards, I guess. 🙂 I decided to look for a very small tree for what I call the spare or front bathroom, and found this:
Though this bathroom is a lot smaller (we don’t have much more counter space than that), it’s also less messy and cluttered, so this fits well there whereas in the others it would be just one more item. And this is the bathroom guests usually use.
Then, I saw this neat idea on a friend’s Facebook page: using oversized balls outside on plant hangers. I put one where we usually have the hummingbird feeder, outside my kitchen window:
And this one is by the front door (amidst my sadly overgrown rose bushes that need cutting back):
The flowers are a circlet that I usually put around the globe of the sconces in the family room, but just hadn’t done it yet this year. But the hole in the middle fit the ornaments perfectly. I think I’ll take them off, though, and replace them with a bow lest the sunlight fade the flowers. I don’t usually do much red – we have some red in the Christmas decorations, but no red in the house otherwise. I got silver at first, but returned them. The red shows up outside so much better. I have a few plant hangers outside the window by my computer and I am thinking of adding some there…:) But then, I don’t know if these are meant for outside, so I might wait a bit and see how they hold up in the weather.
5. A sweet exchange between Timothy (my grandson, 3 1/2) and Mittu (my daughter-in-law). Mittu has been recovering from an infection and not feeling well. She was drinking some tea, which Timothy thought was coffee.
Timothy: Coffee make you feel better?
Mittu: Coffee makes everything better. But you know what always makes me feel better?
Timothy: Me! Me! Me!
Happy Friday!
Book Review: French Women Don’t Get Fat
French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano is certainly an eye-catching title, even acknowledging that it’s more likely a generalization than an absolute statement.
Mireille Guiliano was born and raised in France. When she came to America as an exchange student in college, she put on weight, and even when she went back to France, the bad habits she had picked up led to more weight gain. Her concerned mother took to to a doctor.
His prescription was first to write down everything she ate for three weeks. Then he sat down with her to evaluate her eating habits.
Like an addict’s, my body came to expect too much of what had once been blissfully intoxicating in small doses. It was time to enter rehab, but fortunately Dr. Miracle had never heard of cold turkey. (The French don’t much care for dinde at any temperature) (p. 22).
For the next three months I was to pare back, finding less rich alternatives, reserving the real thing for a special treat–as it is intended. This was less deprivation than contemplation and reprogramming, because, as I would discover, achieving a balance has more to do with the mind than with the stomach…(p. 24).
After cutting back for three months, she could gradually start adding items back in, in moderation. But she was to begin with 48 hours of nothing but water and “Magical Leek Soup” (which she says is delicious. I’ll take her word for it.)
Obviously, if one is overweight, there’s no getting around the need for cutting back somewhere. But the emphasis in this book is in the subtitle: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure. Rather than dieting, guilt, and deprivation, she advocates balance, eating foods fresh and in season, and truly enjoying one’s food, concentrating on the food and taking pleasure in it rather than eating mindlessly while doing something else. The most pleasure we get from food is in the first few bites, so savor those bites. Aim not for a certain size or number, but rather “‘well-being’ weight, the one at which a particular individual feels bien dans sa peau (comfortable in his or her own skin)…the weight at which you can say, ‘I feel good and I look good'” (p. 23).
She says that for the most part, French women don’t go to the gym, preferring to incorporate more movement into everyday life. “It always astounds me to see people who live no higher than the fourth floor taking the elevator” (p. 211).
A few other principles that stood out to me:
Do not eat on autopilot (p. 31).
On the whole, “offenders” are foods we tend to eat compulsively, with less actual pleasure than you might think. Often they are poor versions of something better (p. 32).
French women never let themselves be hungry.
French women never let themselves feel stuffed (p. 254).
French women typically think about good things to eat. American women typically worry about bad things to eat.
Learn to say no, with an eye to saying yes to something else.
Seasonality (eating the best at its peak) and seasoning (the art of choosing and combining flavors to complement food) are vital for fighting off the food lover’s worst enemy: not calories, but boredom. Eat the same thing in the same way time and again, and you’ll need more just to achieve the same pleasure. (Think of it as “taste tolerance.”) Have just one taste experience as your dinner (the big bowl of pasta, a big piece of meat), and you are bound to eat too much, as you seek satisfaction from volume instead of the interplay of flavor and texture that comes from a well thought out meal (p. 118).
She shares recipes, seasoning information, different tips for different stages of life. This being a secular book, some of its philosophies and principles I would not ascribe to, like the information on alcohol and meditative breathing.
As an adult, she divides her time between France and America, so she’s well familiar with both mindsets. She has shared these principles and practices with others through the years who have asked how she can “get away with” seeming to eat so much yet staying slim, and they have found them successful as well.
While I wouldn’t minutely follow everything she says (I don’t think I could ever get “hooked on the sensation of that tender grayish glob of seagoing goodness sliding down your throat” [p. 100] – oysters), I’ve marked some recipes to try and gleaned quite a lot of good thoughts and especially attitudes.
(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books and Carole’s Books You Loved)
Book Review: Keeping Christmas
In Keeping Christmas by Dan Walsh, Stan and Judith Winters are empty nesters. Stan enjoys having a little more freedom of schedule and quietness, but Judith’s life has always been wrapped up in her children, and she misses them. She’s sad that they can’t come for Thanksgiving, but when she learns that none of them can come for Christmas, she falls into a deeper depression than Stan has ever seen. She doesn’t even have the heart to decorate the Christmas tree. That was something they had always done together, and most of their ornaments are what Stan calls “ugly ornaments,” ones Judith made with the kids.
Judith’s best friend does her best to distract her, with minimal success at first. Judith doesn’t think her friend understands, since all of her children and grandchildren live in town. But her friend conveys that just because they’re all there doesn’t mean everything is idyllic and shares some of the family conflicts and quandaries.
Judith and Stan had developed different and separate traditions for their after-Thanksgiving activities, and not only had they hardly talked over their meal, but Stan had even left the TV on. But as he tries to help lift Judith’s spirits, he becomes more attentive. Finally he has an idea, one involving the box of “ugly ornaments” and some sacrifice, but it’s his last option.
My thoughts:
Though predictable, this was a sweet story, not just about helping an empty nester mom’s depression, but about a husband and wife learning to reconnect after all their kids are gone. I’d be a little concerned that moms in the same situation reading this might be even more down since the Hallmark-type happy ending in the book is not likely to happen in real life. But perhaps there’s enough in everything else the characters go through and learn to be beneficial even without that ideal ending. Overall a nice, heartwarming Christmas novel.
(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books, Literary Musing Monday, and Carole’s Books You Loved)
Stray Thoughts 