Friday’s Fave Fives

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FFF birds on a wire

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

It’s been a cold one here, with ice and snow and subzero temperatures – and another round of snow and ice is expected for tonight. I am very thankful we’ve all been safe and haven’t lost power. I was thinking this morning as I looked on my weather app that it’s funny to think of 27 degrees as “warming up.” We’re supposed to get into the 40s tomorrow – that will feel downright balmy after this week.

Here are some favorites moments of this week:

1. Fresh eggs. Some years ago was the first time I ever had eggs fresh from a farm, and man, what a difference. We’ve talked off and on about trying to find a source for them here but never really pursued it. Then I saw a friend from church on Facebook talking about where she got hers, contacted her and she was willing to pick some up for me when she gets hers.

2. Valentine’s Day is a favorite every year. We had our usual heart-shaped meat loaves and cupcakes and played some games afterward.

3. A wonderful sermon on grace, a subject we probably can’t hear too much about, from a visiting speaker at church. In one sense, if we’ve walked with the Lord for a long time we might feel like we know all about it, but we need fresh reminders, and this particular message really spoke to my heart and brought up one aspect I hadn’t really considered before.

4. Figuring out how to access photos on my WordPress app. I used to have to send pictures on my phone by email to my computer, download them there, then upload them into my blog. It was very simple to learn how to add them directly into a post with the WordPress app on my phone – I just hadn’t taken the time to look at it until this week. Should have long ago!

5. Baby’s first snow pictures. Love, love, love these!

Timothy is not really standing on his own yet except for a few seconds at a time. Jason said this heavy snowsuit and layers of clothes underneath making it hard to bend his legs helped a lot. 🙂

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BONUS: It is my sweet daughter-in-law’s birthday today! Happy birthday, Mittu!

We’re hoping to celebrate tomorrow, after we see what the weather does overnight.

Happy Friday!

 

Book Review: By the Shores of Silver Lake

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Silver LakeBy the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder opens on a sad time. Everyone in the family except Pa and Laura have had scarlet fever, and Mary has been left blind. Pa has no idea how he will pay the bill for the doctor, who has come every day. In the previous book, On the Banks of Plum Creek, the family had experienced a devastating grasshopper invasion, prairie fires, and blizzards. They were about at the end of their rope at this point, when a relative visits with a job offer for Charles. Her husband was a contractor working with the railroads, and needed a good man to be the “storekeeper, bookkeeper, and time keeper” at a railroad camp.  The job would pay $50 a month, and there was an opportunity to claim a homestead. Ma doesn’t want to leave and wants the family to be settled, but agrees this opportunity seems providential. The sale of their farm covers all their expenses and provides a little extra. Pa goes on ahead to start the job while Ma and the girls continue to recuperate and gain strength and then get ready to move. They come later on the train – a new experience for all of them, and I particularly enjoyed Laura’s description of how it both scared and excited her. Laura “knew now what Pa meant when he spoke of the wonderful times they were living in…in one morning, they had actually traveled a whole week’s journey.” Pa later muses, “I wouldn’t wonder if you’ll live to see a time, Laura, when pretty nearly everybody’ll ride on railroads and there’ll hardly be a covered wagon left.”

First they get used to the railroad camp, where Ma instructs the girls to stay away from the “rough men,” but Pa indulges Laura’s curiosity one day and takes her to see the construction and explain it all to her.

Then, when that section of the railroad is done and the camp breaks up for winter, the Ingalls family is offered use of the surveyors’ house for the winter. The surveyors will be gone for the winter but the house is snug and well-stocked, and that will allow the family to save money by staying on instead of having to travel back East. Plus they’ll get a head start on claiming their homestead before spring, when great numbers are expected to travel west. But their nearest neighbor is 60 miles away on one side and 40 on the other. Introvert that I am, that would be a little too isolated for even me! But as it turns out, they do have more visitors than expected, and as they are in the only occupied house on the prairie at that time, they provide a lot of hospitality when people come.

There are dangers with wolves, unruly men, claim jumpers, horse thieves and the possibility that Pa might miss out on his claim. There is a joyous Christmas, lots of violin playing in the winter evenings, the springing up of a new town almost overnight come springtime, meeting new friends and unexpectedly coming across a few old ones.

A few observations:

Laura is almost 13 and starts out a little weary this time, as the main helper to the family after Mary’s illness, though Mary eventually recovers some abilities and helps keep little Grace entertained.

Their parents ask Laura to be Mary’s eyes and describe things to her, and I can’t help but think that sharpened both her skills of observations and her descriptive ability. Mary tells Laura she “makes pictures when she talks.”

There is one remark by and about Ma concerning Indians that makes one wince and would be considered racist today. I think it was primarily motivated by fear: they had had some scary encounters with Indians in Little House on the Prairie, and of course the Indians had right to be upset with the white man’s encroachment on their lands. But their main ways of fighting back were, of course, terribly frightening to white people, so it is no wonder there were bad feelings on both sides that took ages to begin to overcome (and is not completely overcome even now).

I appreciated the way Ma tried to teach the girls to “know how to behave, to speak nicely in low voices and have gentle manners and always be ladies” despite the rough and uncivilized places they lived.

During the days of building a building in town and then a claim shanty were days that would have been very hard for me, as they lived in unfinished places (waking up one morning with a foot of snow on top of them in the house from an unexpected blizzard) and continued building around themselves. It was for them as well, but they took it in stride. Pa comments once, “That’s what it takes to build up a country. Building over your head and under your feet, but building. We’d never get anything fixed to suit us if we waited for things to suit us before we started.”

I am glad Laura included words to many of the songs that Pa played and the family sang. I knew many of them, and that helped me imagine the scenes.

Laura catches a fleeting glimpse of her future husband, Almanzo, but at this point she’s primarily interested in his beautiful horses and has no idea of their future.

Laura shares her Pa’s desire to explore and would rather continue to travel and see new places rather than settle down, but Pa promised Ma they would finally stay put.

I was puzzled by Ma’s suppression of the girls’ outbursts of emotion, laughter as well as anger. The family did laugh quite a lot, but there were times Ma restrained them in situations where, these days, we wouldn’t have a problem. I think that was just what politeness and”ladylikeness” looked like at that time. I am all for teaching children restraint and self-control; it just went farther than what we would consider necessary by today’s standards.

Once again I enjoyed this glimpse into our country’s history as well as into the Ingalls family. There is always much I admire about them. This would be an excellent book for children to read to understand how the Homestead Act worked out in real life and what people had to go through to settle in a new area then. But it is a good book to just read for enjoyment as well.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Odds and Ends

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I thought I’d share various “stray thoughts” on my mind lately, none big enough for its own blog post:

  • The big news here is the weather. Of course, the southeastern US has not had it nearly as bad as New England, but then, we’re not equipped for it either. Counties can’t afford all the necessary equipment to just use once or twice a year. We were supposed to get snow and ice yesterday, but just got ice. Jim went on in to work but Great-Grandma’s caregiver didn’t make it here today.

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  • One of my main concerns is the power going out, especially in regard to heat and pureeing and heating Great-Grandma’s food (and, let’s be honest, I like having access to my media as well. 🙂 ) Last night I heard there were over 11,000 local people without power. Hoping they can get it all repaired soon. We do have one space heater, so we can all huddle together in one room if need be.
  • This is the forecast for the rest of the week. Yikes! -13?!

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  • In other news….after my last oral surgery, I once again thought something that comes to mind often when one of us has some kind of procedure: I wonder why doctor’s offices don’t send you home with samples of the medicine or at least call it in while you’re there so you can just pick it up on the way home? Trying to drop my prescription off and answer the pharmacist’s questions with my mouth stuffed with gauze was fun. 🙂 And then I had to go back again and pick it up. Similarly, I felt bad when having to take Jim fresh from kidney surgery or one of the kids from wisdom teeth removal through the interminable drive-through at the pharmacy, get them home and settled, and then leave them alone to go back to pick up meds. I can understand small offices and clinics might not want to keep some of the stronger prescription painkillers on hand since it might increase the likelihood of break-ins, but hospitals would have them on hand. I actually remember the days when pharmacies would deliver prescription medications to your home. 🙂 That would be nice, but probably too expensive these days, and probably too much risk of robbery.
  • Speaking of medical matters….It seems like every medical appointment I make, they tell you the time of your appointment and then ask you to come in 10-30 minutes early to fill our paperwork or do preliminary procedures. I wish they’d just give you the time they want you there. I look at the appointment card they gave me and have to think, “The appointment’s at 9, but what time am I supposed to actually be there??”
  • Am I the only one that uses delicious.com to save links any more? Whenever I save something there, it tells me I am the first person to save it, and I know I am not the first person to read it, so I wonder how others save or make note of things they’ve read online that they want to remember. I’ve heard a lot about Evernote but it seems complicated.
  • When I first started blogging, the prevailing advice was to put something interesting in the space that a person first sees when they come on to your blog, something that will make them want to scroll down and read the rest. Nowadays I see not only blogs but web sites that have almost a full screen photo as the first thing you see when you come to the site, and you have to scroll down to read any content. Funny how those things change over time. Neither way is intrinsically better or worse, but personally, I’d rather be able to start reading the blog post or article when I first come to the site rather than having to scroll down just to find it.
  • Speaking of photos: I really enjoy the creativity I see on Facebook and Pinterest with different kids of photo set-ups these days. But if I could offer one thought to those setting up photo shoots for engagements, weddings, babies, families, or whatever: what your relatives and friends want to see, and what I think you’ll most want to look back on, are people’s faces. An occasional hazy or distant or silhouetted  shot in a larger group of shots is fine, but get some close ups of those loved faces.
  • If onomatopoeia is words that sound like what they are (ping, fizz. etc.), is there a word for words that don’t sound anything like what they are? Like sublime, which means, according to Dictionary.com., “impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe, veneration, etc.; supreme or outstanding,” but doesn’t sound like any of those.
  • Jesse was telling me about a cop that proposed to his girlfriend by having two other cops pull her over as if she were in trouble for something, and then he showed up with the engagement ring. I don’t think I’d be in much of a mood to discuss marriage after being pulled over. 🙂
  • One of the app games I play with my sisters is very similar to Wheel of Fortune, and I thought I got the phrase we were playing as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – only I put Arc. Sigh. Sounds like a geometry story problem. 🙂

Well, that’s probably enough rambling for one day. Hope you’re having a good day and staying warm!

 

Valentine’s Cards

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I have an embarrassingly large supply of materials  to make cards. Most have been picked up on sales or with coupons. I have used some over the years to make personal cards or for projects for our ladies’ group and missionaries, but I have quite a lot on hand still. Often by the time I think of making a card for an event. I don’t have enough time. But this year I determined it make Valentine’s Day cards for the family, and I thought I’d show them to you. I perused my Cards and Papercrafts and Valentine’s Ideas Pinterest boards for inspiration and used a few there as springboards but came up with a few others on my own.

This was Jim’s:

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The key is a little 3-d sticker and the only thing I bought especially for these cards: everything else I had on hand. He’s enjoyed joking that keys to my heart can be bought at Hobby Lobby. 🙂

This was Jeremy’s:

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The inside said “…To wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day.” I think the brown hearts look like chocolate, and they’re a great way to get hearts on a man’s card so it’s more masculine looking than the pink ones I gravitate to. 🙂 I usually make heart-shaped chocolate cupcakes decorated with sprinkles or icing for Valentine’s Day, and I thought these were reminiscent of those or of chocolate candies. Most of the hearts of various sizes on the cards were made with punches.

This was Jason’s:

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The inside says “That’s our love for you,” meaning it’s so great it can’t be measured. I just realized last night or some time this morning that I didn’t have a heart on his. Sorry about that, Jason! Here’s one for you: ♥ 🙂

This was Mittu’s:

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The inside says “On Valentine’s Day and every day!” The little envelope was made with help from a template I found by searching online for “small envelope templates.” I have a neat punch that rounds off corners and used that for the words here. By the way, the words were all printed out on the computer with the Bradley Hand ITC font except for the letters for “LOVE” here, and those were from a page of punch-out letters. My own handwriting, I’m sorry to say, would not make for a pretty card. The words on the other cards I cut out with a scissors with a torn-paper-looking edge. That one is a little more forgiving than, say, a scalloped edge. I have a hard time cutting in a straight line, so this particular scissors helps. I have a mini paper cutter for longer straight lines.

This was Timothy’s:

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The inside says, “To our favorite snuggle buddy.” It was inspired by this pin, but when I tried to click through to the site to see if the card maker had instructions or a pattern, I couldn’t find the original site, nor could I find it by searching Google using the terms I thought I had originally found it with. So I had to wing it (pun intended. 🙂 ). Then I realized this card was going to be from both my husband and I, so I needed more than just one adult with the baby bird.

This one was Jesse’s:

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I think the inside just said “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

With the last two, I was running out of both time and ideas, so they are somewhat similar. This was Great-Grandma’s (or Mom, to my husband and me):

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Sorry about the shadow on this one. The inside says, “Your example has taught us how to love….May we show you as much love as you have shown us.”

This was for Jesse’s girlfriend, Meaghan:

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All of the borders were from packages of stick-on strips – very handy! And Hobby Lobby has them on sale 1/2 price pretty frequently in the scrapbooking section.

And on the back of each card was this stamp with either Mom, Grandma, or Barbara written in accordingly:

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They were a lot of fun to make, though they did take quite a bit of time. Actually once I decided what to do for each one and chose the decorative papers, it didn’t take long to put them together: the decision-making was the hardest part.

I’m hoping this will jump-start me into making more cards rather than buying them this year. It will probably depend on how much time I have before each occasion and whether I remember to start on then in time. But I think they add a nice touch.

Occasionally I’ve thought about starting an Etsy shop to sell things like this. But I’d also like to do more writing and various other things, so I am not sure of which way the Lord would have me use my time yet. So for now I’ll just do them as I have time for the family and think about the possibility of expanding on them later.

 

Quotes about love beyond Valentine’s Day

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In the past I have written about how much I love Valentine’s Day, how we celebrate it, foods we use, favorite love songs, quotes, etc., and I plan to enjoy some of those things to the hilt today (I hope you can, too!) This year I wanted to do something different. All of those other things are fun, but real love (not just romantic love, but loving our families, our neighbors, and even our enemies) involves more and is often difficult, especially when our different wills, desires, or habits clash. These quotes help me in the everyday life, rubber meeting the road kind of challenges of loving other people. Maybe they’ll be a help to you, too.

The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally; it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, April 30

Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.

– G K Chesterton

To love those whom we do not like means that we treat them as if we did like them — to choose to act kindly toward them even though we do not like them….The Bible does not ask us to like the brethren, it asks us to love them, and that means, therefore, something like this: we may not like certain Christians. I mean by that, there is none of this instinctive, elemental attraction; they are not the people whom we naturally like; yet what we are told is that to love them means that we treat them exactly as if we did like them. Now, the men and women of the world do not do that; if they do not like people, they treat them accordingly and have nothing to do with them. But Christian love means that we look beyond that. We see the Christian in them, the brother or sister, and we even go beyond what we do not like, and we help that person. Love your brethren — that is the exhortation with which we are concerned.

— Martyn Lloyd-Jones on I John 3:16-18 in his book Children of God

How many of you will join me in reading this chapter (I Corinthians 13) once a week for the next three months? A man did that once and it changed his whole life. Will you do it? It is for the greatest thing in the world. You might begin by reading it every day, especially the verses which describe the perfect character. “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself.” Get these ingredients into your life. Then everything that you do is eternal. It is worth doing. It is worth giving time to. No man can become a saint in his sleep; and to fulfill the condition required demands a certain amount of prayer and meditation and time, just as improvement in any direction, bodily or mental, requites preparation and care. Address yourselves to that one thing; at any cost have this transcendent character exchanged for yours.

– Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also many things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called “being in love” usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending “They lived happily ever after” is taken to mean “They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,” then it says what probably was never was or ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be “in love” need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense — love as distinct from “being in love” is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both parents ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be “in love” with someone else. “Being in love” first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to find inward peace? – A.W. Tozer

As we remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, we see how good it was to find our own strength fail us, since it drove us to the strong for strength. – Spurgeon

Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1b-3.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. I Corinthians 13:4-7, ESV.

 

Friday’s Fave Five

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It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

I try to keep a running list during the week for things to possibly include for the Friday’s Fave Five, and it’s a good thing, because sometimes on Friday when I sit down at the computer, I can’t even remember what happened yesterday, much less since last week. That’s one of many reasons why I love the FFF: it reminds me of my blessings and reminds me to be thankful for them. Here are a few from this week:

1. A baby shower for a lady at church. I love brunch showers and all the breakfasty things, the time to fellowship with other ladies, and watching all the cute little baby things being unwrapped. (Something that amused me for this shower: usually when I wrap a baby gift, I’ll write “Baby…” and the last name on the card: Baby Smith, Baby Jones, etc. This family’s last name was Bottoms, and it didn’t strike me until I started to address the card that it would be to Baby Bottoms. 🙂 Got a good chuckle out of that.)

2. A hairdresser who makes house calls. One thing we had to iron out when Great-Grandma came to live with us was haircuts. It would be difficult, though not impossible, to get her to a salon, but then we’d have no way to get her in one of their chairs, and her Broda chair is too high in the back for someone to reach around to cut her hair while she’s in it. Her former caregiver used to do it: it was above her job description, but she offered to give it a try, and it worked out well. When she left last December, we weren’t sure what we were going to do. I tried it once but wasn’t pleased with it (I have no hair-cutting skills!) Our current caregiver said that she knew a lady who came out to the home of her last patient, so we arranged for her to come out this week. Everything worked out well and she charged us less than what we were expecting. She cut her hair while she was in bed, and she was leaning forward enough for her to be able to reach. She had one of those hairdresser capes that caught most of the hair, but it was done right before her shower, so we were able to change her and the sheets afterward.

3. Kyle eating. A man from our church had a lung transplant over a year ago (it may have been a double lung transplant – I can’t remember for sure.) They’re still dealing with issues related to that and working on his healing. He has had trouble with his esophagus for some time – not sure whether it is connected to the lung issue or a separate issue, but it caused him to aspirate some food into his lungs: not good when you have lung issues in the first place. So he has not been able to eat or drink by mouth for months now. I just cannot imagine – what I can imagine isn’t pleasant! But just this week he passed a swallowing test and was able to eat real food again. That just made my day, maybe my whole week, when I heard.

4. Ground beef on sale. That might sound silly to include, but the price of lean ground beef has been so high for months that I just haven’t bought any. We use ground turkey for most things anyway, but I have a few recipes where ground beef works best. I was going to splurge and buy some for the little heart-shaped meat loaves I often make for Valentine’s Day, and lo and behold, they were marked down. Still too high in my opinion, but I figured I wasn’t going to see that price again any time soon, so I bought 4 packs in order to be able to make some of those other recipes later on as well. I was delighted.

5. Button decorations. I finished off the last of my Christmas gift card to Hobby Lobby with these cute button decorations for my sewing/craft room. They’re each 7 1/2″ across. Honestly, I thought they were way overpriced, but I got one with my 40% off coupon one week, and when I went to do the same another week, they were on sale 1/2 price, so that made them fairly reasonable. Now I have to decide where to hang them.

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Sorry for so many lengthy explanations. 🙂 Hope you’re having a good week, and Happy Valentine’s Eve! 🙂

The Quiet Person in the Small group

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A church’s small groups or Bible studies can help people to get to know one another and provide a more interactive approach than the main preaching service. I’ve seen a number of articles and blog posts about how to help one’s small group function at its best, and one item that always comes up is what to do about the quiet person who doesn’t say much.

The usual advice is to call on that person by name during the discussion time with a direct question, such as “Mary, what do you think?” May I say on behalf of quiet people everywhere: please don’t do that. Asking the group members to “turn to their neighbor” to discuss one on one a question from the study isn’t much better.

People may be quiet for any number of reasons. Maybe they’re introverts, shy, lacking in confidence to speak out, or just a quiet personality. All of those things don’t necessarily go together: introverts are not always shy and quiet people aren’t always lacking in confidence. But all of them cringe at being put on the spot, especially in front of others.

Small group leaders should naturally make leading their group a matter of prayer, part of which would be asking for wisdom in how to minister to the various personalities in the group and facilitate the best kinds of interaction.

Some people may not feel comfortable about speaking out in a group. I’m not talking butterflies in the stomach nervousness: I’m talking full-blown anxiety. Calling on them will only increase that fear and make them unlikely to come next time. It helps that person to be friendly and talk with them before or after the group: maybe over time she’ll feel comfortable enough to speak out. If she does share something while talking alone with the group leader, perhaps the leader can say something like, “That’s a great thought, Susan. Would you mind of I shared that with the others during discussion time, or would you like to, perhaps?”

Some may be mulling things over. Introverts in particular take a while to process what they hear and learn. That person honestly may not have an answer for you, or she may still be thinking about something from two questions ago. It might help someone like that to ask at the end of the discussion if anyone has any thoughts on anything discussed that day: that way she can feel comfortable bringing up a thought from earlier without feeling like she’s holding up progress for everyone else. Or, at the beginning of the next session the leader could ask if anyone has any thoughts from last week’s discussion: if someone has been processing the discussion through the week, she’ll be more likely to have something to say about it after some extending time to think about it.

Some might not contribute to the discussion due to fear of saying the wrong thing, especially in a Christian discussion. While we don’t need to let a falsehood pass just to be nice, we can handle it in a gracious way: “I can see how you might come to that conclusion. But consider this aspect…” People are more likely to contribute to the discussion if they feel safe doing so.

Some of my blog friends have mentioned their small groups getting together socially apart from their regular study, perhaps after one study and before beginning another. This is a great way for group members to feel more comfortable with each other and might facilitate more interaction in the regular group meetings. A quiet person is not likely to be the life of the party even in a purely social setting, but she may get to know one or two people a little better, and that’s progress.

Naturally small groups work best if there is a good deal of balanced interaction. Some translate that into thinking their group time has been a “success” only if everyone has participated, i.e., spoken and shared something with the group, every time. But may I suggest that’s putting form above function. It can breed thoughts like, “I have to think of something to say so people don’t think I’m unspiritual,” which adds even more pressure to the quiet person. A person may be benefiting greatly from her time there, yet never say a word, at least during the group discussion. After all, listening is participating.

OK, you might say, she might be getting something, but what is she giving? Maybe nothing to the group that day except her presence. But maybe she takes the truths she has learned and applies them in her own life, or teaches them to her children, or discusses them with a close friend, or expands on them in a blog post.

Sometimes one aspect of wanting to see everyone participate is wanting to see results, and those are not always for us to see: sometimes we just have to trust that God is using His Word in people’s lives even if they don’t tell us about it.

I’m not suggesting that everyone reading this opt for silence during the next Bible study or small group get-together, nor am I suggesting that quiet people should never extend themselves (perhaps a topic for a separate post some time). They We should. But they’ll we’ll be more likely to without the artificial pressure of trying to come up with something to say just because it is expected.

Finding Time to Read

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(Photo Courtesy of Wallpaper Craft)

I frequently get asked how I find time to read, so I thought I would expand on the answer here.

If you’ve been reading here any length of time, you know books are important to me. A few months ago I listed every reason to read I could think of, and all of those reasons are important. So because reading is a priority, I make time for it. But I really don’t find that hard to do. Granted, I am in a season of life that makes it a little easier: when I had young children in the home, I may not have read as much, but I did always try to spend some time each day reading. A few years ago I saw a comment on 5 Ways to Make More Time to Read that resonated with me: a Michael D. Perkins commented, “Reading allows me to thrive.  If I don’t, then I feel stagnant.” I feel exactly the same way. If I don’t have some time to read every day, I feel mentally and intellectually dry and dull.

I read more some days than others, but I do try to read (from books, not just the computer) every day. I rarely just sit down during the day for a lengthy time with a book unless I’m in a part where I don’t want to put it down or unless I am not feeling well. Here’s where I usually fit in in:

1. In the bathroom. I hope that isn’t crass or TMI. 🙂 I used to have a link to a cute article on that, but apparently it has been taken down. In searching for it I did find Why Do Some People Read in the Bathroom amusing. It’s mainly a profitable way to spend the necessary time in there, rather than just staring at the wall. More than one person referred to it as their Fortress of Solitude. 🙂 Some think it is unsanitary, but I don’t think a book left in the bathroom is tainted any more than the clothes you’re wearing while in there, your toothbrush, etc.

2. Any waiting time. If I am going to a doctor or dentist, a book is a must. Not only does it help pass the time in an edifying way, but it helps me combat nervousness by occupying my mind. Also, before the boys started driving on their own, I usually took a book with me when I picked them up from a youth activity or ball practice. That way if their event ran overtime, instead of stewing in impatience I looked on it as a few stolen moments to read.

3. Driving. Well, not while I’m driving. But if we’re going somewhere more than 20-30 minutes away, I bring something to read. I’m thankful I can do that: I know it makes some people carsick to read in the car.

4. Sundays. We’re not legalistic about it, but we try to make Sundays different and more restful than other days by not doing any work other than what it takes to get to and from church and meals on the table and then cleaned up. Sometimes we don’t really get to rest until after the evening services, but it’s nice to come home then and relax, knowing that I don’t have to toss some laundry in or whatever. Sometimes these days we’re Face Timing with Jeremy or doing something with the kids or doing stuff on the computer on Sunday evenings, but otherwise, if there is time, I like to stretch out on the couch with a good book.

5. Evenings. If there’s nothing on TV and everyone is otherwise occupied, I might pull out a book.

6. Meals. Usually if I am home by myself, I am at the computer for breakfast and lunch. But sometimes when I have had enough of the computer, I’ll read a bit while eating.

7. In conjunction with devotions. If I am reading a Christian non-fiction book that is not a biography, this is when I’ll usually work it in. Just occasionally I will take a break from reading the Bible through and read a book like this in place of devotions, or I might read it after devotions. But it takes a different mindset for me to read non-fiction: I can’t just pick it up here and there and get as much out of it like I can with fiction. I like to read it in chapters or at least in sections at a time.

8. Audiobooks. I began listening to them when we moved to our present location and I had more driving time than I was used to. I don’t enjoy time in the car at all, and I used to chafe at a 20-minute drive (though I know some people would think that is a dream commute time). But listening to an audiobook if I am by myself makes the time fly by. Now I also listen to them while getting dressed and fixing my hair in the mornings and occasionally while cooking. Classics are especially good for that: they often have some slow passages, and I don’t mind that nearly as much if I am doing something with my hands while listening. They’ve enabled me to get to many more books that I would otherwise.

9. Exercising. I know some who read while on the treadmill or stationary bike. I couldn’t do that on the treadmill – I guess my head bobs too much, but the constant up and down motion made it hard to read. I have listened to audiobooks, however, while exercising, and they made the time go much faster.

I used to be pretty much a one book at a time person. But now I usually have one in the bathroom, one with my Bible, one  audiobook, and one on my Kindle app for those unexpected waiting times. As I said earlier, I rarely just sit down and spend an hour with a book: usually I read in snatches anywhere from 5-20 minutes at a time. But you can get through a decent amount of material in 15 minutes or so a day.

How about you: do you fit reading into times I haven’t thought of?

Happy Birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder!

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Today is the birthday of two of my favorite authors: Charles Dickens and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sherry at Semicolon posted a great tribute to Charles Dickens that I really enjoyed reading, so I thought I might borrow  a couple of ideas from her format to do the same for Laura. Mine won’t be as extensive because I am just now sitting down to the computer and want to post this today – but maybe I’ll expand on it for next year.

Some facts about Laura you may or may not know:

  • She was born on February 7, 1867 and died February 10, 1957 (that’s why we hold the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge in February).
  • She didn’t start writing the Little House books until she was in her 60s.
  • She had originally written one book called Pioneer Girl, but was advised to expand it. This manuscript has just been published for the first time (it was out of stock when I ordered it and I am eagerly awaiting it!)
  • Laura’s daughter, Rose, was already a successful writer by the time Laura started writing, and the two collaborated on the Little House books. There is a great deal of controversy over exactly how the collaboration worked: some say Rose basically wrote them, others say she merely helped shape them. My opinion, from what I have read, is the latter, and I am wary of writers that claim to “know” one way or the other.
  • Before Laura wrote her books, she wrote a column for the Missouri Ruralist: most, if not all, of those columns have been compiled into a book called Little House in the Ozarks (liked to my review.) There are over 140 articles or columns arranged by topic, and the topics range from WWI, women’s progress, and “the greatness and goodness of God,” but most are just observations drawn from everyday life.
  • There was a Japanese series based on Laura’s novels called Laura, The Prairie Girl.
  • Both Laura and Almanzo were fairly short. She was 4’11” and he was 5’4″. They had the kitchen in the last house built for their height.
  • When asked why she didn’t write more books, one time she replied that the money she received from them cost her more in taxes. “She never found taxes on those who had labored their way to prosperity to be an incentive for even more labor” (Stephen W. Hines, I Remember Laura, p. 97). But another time she said that if she wrote more, she’d have to get into some of the sad times of her life (p. 122).

Some of my favorite quotes of Laura’s from her columns in Little House in the Ozarks:

  • “Let’s be cheerful! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger. Let us be as careful that our homes are furnished with pleasant and happy thoughts as we are that the rugs are the right color and texture and the furniture comfortable and beautiful” (p. 37).
  • “It is a good idea sometimes to think of the importance and dignity of our everyday duties. It keeps them from being so tiresome; besides, others are apt to take us at our own valuation” (p. 130).
  • “Just as a little thread of gold, running through a fabric, brightens the whole garment, so women’s work at home, while only the doing of little things, is like the golden gleam of sunlight that runs through and brightens all the fabric of civilization” (p. 207).
  • “Here and there one sees a criticism of Christianity because of the things that have happened [during WWI]…. ‘Christianity has not prevented these things, therefore it is a failure’ some say. But this is a calling of things by the wrong names. It is rather the lack of Christianity that has brought us where we are. Not a lack of churches or religious forms but of the real thing in our hearts” (p. 265).

Favorite moments in Laura’s books:

  • When Mr. Edwards endured an arduous journey to bring Christmas presents to the Ingalls girls.
  • When Pa played his fiddle in the evenings.
  • When they thought they lost their dog, Jack, and he found them.
  • The church Christmas party where Laura gets her fur cape and muff.
  • The girls bringing in all the firewood during a storm when Ma and Pa are away after they heard about a house of children who froze.
  • When Laura admires the kitchen Almanzo built for her in the first home together.

Fun links about Laura:

I think Laura is one of those people who gets prettier as they age. Here are pictures of her at different stages of life:

1884:

laura_ingalls_wilder

1918:

Laura-Ingalls-Wilder-1918

1936:

lauraingallswilder1936

Every time I read Laura’s books, I admire the strength and resolve of their family. It wasn’t a perfect family, but there was love, industry, strength, and much more to respect and learn from.

Friday’s Fave Five

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FFF birds on a wire

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Another week flown by already! Once again we did not get snow that was forecast (yay!). But I had a 2 hour long dentist appointment to do the first part of getting a bridge put in (boo! I was so wrung out when it was over!). Most weeks are like that – a mixture of highs and lows. Here are some favorite parts of this week:

1. Timothy being excited to see us. He has smiled for months, but for the last couple of weeks, when he sees us, he smiles and gurgles and bounces and kicks and waves his arms. So sweet and fun!

2. Eating in and out. Friday night Jim brought Red Lobster home, and Saturday Jason and Mittu invited us out to a breakfast/brunch restaurant they found called The Egg & I. It was a fun excursion and good food.

3. The end of road construction. They’ve been working on adding a stretch of road and an overpass and repaving part of the old road for what seems like ages, and it was finally completed this week. So nice to have all lanes open and the orange and white barrels taken up! I think I was one of the first people to drive on the new part: it was still closed when I passed by running errands, but open on my way back, so I gave it a test drive. 🙂

4. Time alone. When my kids were in high school, I had seven hours a week day to myself, and thought that pattern would continue on as they got older and left home. That hasn’t been the case, especially with Great-grandma and her helper here and Jesse working evenings. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to complain and I love my family, but like any introvert, I operate best with some alone time to “hear myself think,” as my mom used to say. I’ve learned not to go around and lament about it or insist on it, but just to trust that God will provide it when He knows I need it, and this week He did. It was delicious. 🙂

5. Reaching out. At the risk of sounding antisocial with my last two here…I had noticed that I could spend a whole morning at church without really saying much to anyone but a surface, “Hi, how are you, fine, thanks.” And church is for more fellowship than that. So I’ve been trying to remember to pray on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings that God would help me not to be so closed in but to be open and friendly and to interact more with people, and He has. I share that partly as an encourage to others who feel the same way: we may not be comfortable as “greeters” shaking hands with everyone who comes in the door, but God can lead us to interact with others in quieter, one on one ways.

Happy Friday!