Friday’s Fave Five

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Another week has flown by, and I don’t have much to show for this one. I think I am recuperating from last week when we had family here and were doing something almost every day. 🙂 Here are some favorite parts of this week:

1. Fresh, clean sheets and pillows plumped up from being washed and dried. One of my favorites of life’s little pleasures.

2. A good doctor visit for Jesse. I am ashamed to say he has not had a physical in the three years we have been here, and several before that were only sports physicals. Thank God he has been remarkably healthy. We finally got that done, and except for his lab work being a bit low in a couple of areas, easily remedied, everything is fine.

3. A belated Father’s Day. Jim didn’t want to open gifts or anything when my family was here over Father’s Day, so we focused on my step-father that day, and honored Jim this last Sunday. It’s fun to have the family all here (Jeremy via FaceTime), to get him some things he was wanting and a couple of things he was not expecting.

4. Grilled ham steaks. I had gotten these for when my family was going to be here but ended up not using them, so Jim grilled them last Saturday, and because we had extra we had enough to use for several days. Yum!

5. Leftovers. I adapt some meals for just the three of us, but others I make as I always have and use the leftovers for lunch or sometimes even for another dinner. Thankfully my family doesn’t mind – depending, of course, on exactly what’s left over (some leftovers are left until they grow fuzzy stuff). We’ve had some that everyone liked this week, besides the ham, and it’s nice to have an easy meal just heating up leftovers, especially on Wednesday nights when our church has prayer meeting and meal time is a bit rushed.

Hope you have a great Friday!

FFF daisies

Friday’s Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, who invites us to share five of our favorite things from the last week. It’s a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club: Chapter 10, Drama

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Chapter 10 of The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer, which we’re discussing a chapter at a time at  The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris, is about drama.

I didn’t think I would get much out of this chapter. I have little if any ability in regard to acting anything out. I remember one night at church when I was a child and we were supposed to be acting out a scene from the Bible where people were mourning (I think maybe the widow in the New Testament whose son had died whom Jesus raised to life). We either had veils or handkerchiefs – I remember all that showed for us “mourners” was our eyes, and I couldn’t stop giggling, but that left me red-faced and teary, so I suppose it had the same effect. 🙂 I tried maybe once doing a skit in college and was miserable at it. It’s hard for me to keep a straight face even when as a family we are trying to surprise or put something over on someone.

I also wasn’t sure how Edith would incorporate drama into home life. I can see its use in the church or in Christian ministry, but in the home, at first the only application I could think of was in reading aloud to children. And that’s primarily what she talked about, though she ventured into some discussions of the value of reading books, different types of books to read, etc.

Some of my favorite times with my children when they were young were when I read stories out loud to them, and though I’m not great at doing different voices for different characters, I made an attempt and also tried to convey the different emotions of what we were reading. I agree with much of she she said when one has young children, but if no one is interested as they all get older, if no one besides Mom would enjoy reading a book aloud together, then there is not much else one can do with that, at least until grandchildren come along. The Christian school where we used to live they did have moms and grandmothers come for class library times to read stories aloud for the elementary classes instead of the librarian always doing that.

I’m surprised she didn’t venture into other areas that could use dramatic talent. One family in a former church had a mom who was very dramatic, and she was frequently asked to take on a character for cantatas or dramatic productions at church, and she and various members of her family were involved in a local community theater: she was the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and I think one of her daughters was Lucy, and the whole family as well as several church members enjoyed seeing them do that. I think of Little Women and the various plays they put on, little puppets, even finger puppets, that we used with our children, pretending their stuffed animals were speaking to them or acting something out, etc. At lot of their play involved acting our various scenarios: school, church, etc.

There are various ways to incorporate drama into family life, even for those of us who don’t necessarily have any latent dramatic longings such as she describes in the first few paragraphs. It can definitely be used for fun, but even reading the Bible aloud can and should be done, yet not overdone, with feeling rather than in a deadpan monotone.

So I did end up having my imagination sparked and getting more out of this chapter than I thought I would.

What’s on Your Nightstand: June 2013

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What's On Your NightstandThe folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.

It’s months like these when the fourth Tuesday occurs when there are several days of the month left that tend to throw me, but thankfully I did remember. It’s been a busy month (seems like I always say that…) with two sets of company, but I did get some reading in.

Since last time I finished:

Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell for Carrie’s Reading to Know Book Club for May, reviewed here.

The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond, a closer look at I Corinthians 13. It’s a very short book: I should try to read it once a month or so for a while.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. I finished listening to the audiobook but I was going through the Kindle version as well (both were on sale around the same time) to highlight some things, and have not finished that yet. Hope to get my thoughts together for a review soon.

The Merchant’s Daughter by Melanie Dickerson, based loosely on Beauty and the Beast, reviewed here. Liked this one very much.

The Duet by Robert Elmer, about two older people who are complete opposites in many ways but are attracted to each other, reviewed here. Not wowed by it, but it was pleasant.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, reviewed here. This was quite fun, especially the audiobook version read by Katherine Kellgren.

I’m currently reading:

Through Gates of Splendor, by Elizabeth Elliot, a missionary classic, for Carrie’s Reading to Know Book Club for June, selected by myself.

Light From Heaven by Jan Karon, last of the Mitford series, via audiobook.

The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer along with Cindy at Ordo Amoris who is hosting a read-along book club where we discuss a chapter at a time. My discussions are here.

Next up:

Invisible by Ginny Yttrup. Her first novel Words was one of my favorites of 2011, so I have have high hopes for this one.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book II: The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood.

The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis for Carrie‘s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge

Possibly The Wind in the Willows for Carrie’s Reading to Know Book Club for July. I saw a video of it some time ago that I didn’t really care for, but that may not be the story’s fault. I might give it a try.

After that, I’m not sure, but I have a few books stacked on my Nightstand and scores downloaded into my Kindle app to choose from.

Spiritual Snobbery

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In a Sunday School lesson a couple of weeks ago, I can’t remember the exact context, but something came up about different ways saved and unsaved people react. One man pointed out that we came up with fairly tame reactions for the saved and fairly awful ones for the unsaved when actually saved people can display awful reactions and even unsaved people can display kindness, love, thoughtfulness, etc. That struck a chord with our teacher, who then spent the next two Sundays teaching about “Spiritual Snobbery.”

It jarred me a bit to think of it as “snobbery,” but that’s exactly what it is when we think we’re “better” in any way than anyone else. That led me to remember a situation when a young woman brought together her extended birth family and adopted family. The adopted family were Christians, the birth family primarily was not. Admittedly the circumstances were a bit awkward for everyone, made more so by two completely different cultures in the same room. But instead of the Christians in the room reaching out to the lost, they pretty much kept to themselves and ignored them, making them feel like outcasts and outsiders. The non-Christians didn’t approach the Christians saying, “Can you tell me how to get what you have?” There was nothing displayed that they’d want to have. Instead, they withdrew and kept to themselves.

By contrast, Jesus went out of His way to minister to the “outsiders” of His day: He took special pains to speak to the woman at the well, He called a tax collector to be one of His disciples, He ate with publicans and sinners, He accepted the love of a fallen woman, the hero of one of his parables was the Good Samaritan when the Samaritans and Israelites were enemies.

Our Sunday School teacher brought up Isaiah 5:21 (“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!) and II Corinthians 10:18 (“For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth”), discussed some of the dangers of “spiritual snobbery” and some of Jesus’s rebukes of the Pharisees, and then discussed some ways to combat spiritual snobbery. I’d like to share the ways he mentioned along with some others that came to mind.

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Cures for Spiritual Snobbery

1. Remember where we came from.

See Ephesians 2:1-14. We were dead in sins, apart from Christ.

2. Remember God’s grace.

Also from the above passage, we were saved only by the blood of Christ due to His mercy and grace, not because of anything good in ourselves or any work we could do.

3. Remember any good thing we have is from God.

“For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (I Corinthians 4:7, ESV).

4. Cultivate genuine humility.

– See the difference between the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14).
– “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV)

5. Recognize that partiality is a sin incompatible with true religion.

See James 1:27-2:17.

6. Love our neighbors as ourselves.

Mark 12:30-31: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

7. Esteem others to be better than ourselves.

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3).

8. Develop compassion.

Keep their end in mind if they don’t come to Christ, empathize with their trying to solve their problems without Him.

9. Remember common grace.

Because everyone is made in the image of God, even though we’re marred by sin, some still retain a reflection of Him. Rosaria Butterfield pointed out in Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert that the gay community she came from was very caring of each other, and it was eye-opening when the gay community and the Christian community ended up side by side while trying to minister to someone in need.

10. Realize that even if we did every single thing right, we’d still have nothing to brag about.

Luke 17:10: “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Have you ever noticed a tendency toward spiritual snobbery in yourself? What has helped you to combat it?

I’m linking here today:

Book Review: The Duet

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DuetIn The Duet by Robert Elmer, Gerrit Appeldoorn is a widower who is supposed to be retired from his dairy farm in the primarily Dutch community of Van Dalen, Washington. But he struggles trying to figure out what he is supposed to do with himself, especially when his son, who has taken over the farm, fusses at him every time he tries to do any of his old chores.

One day he meets his granddaughter’s new piano teacher, widow Joan Horton, and is instantly attracted. Their many differences cause sparks to fly at first: he is staunchly Calvinistic and opinionated, has rarely been outside Van Dalen, and spent most of his life with mud on his boots. She is a Nazarene, citified, not Dutch, refined, a world traveler, on her way to becoming a department head in her university.

In addition, each faces various problems with a son and a major crisis.

I had picked this up because I loved Robert Elmer’s Wildflowers of Terezin (linked to my review) and wanted to check out another of his books. This one has its sweet moments, and I love when a love story involves someone other than the young, svelte, and beautiful, but I didn’t like it quite as well as Wildflowers. Maybe that’s because I found nothing in Gerrit that was appealing to me except his relationship with his granddaughter. But it was a pleasant read and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

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

The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club: Chapter 9: Writing – Prose and Poetry

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Chapter 9 of The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer, which we’re discussing a chapter at a time at  The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris, is about writing.

I’m a little late reading and discussing it this week because we had family here until yesterday, but this is one chapter I did not want to miss.

I’ve enjoyed writing since I was very young: poetry as a child and teen-ager, various journals (which I am grieved to say I threw away in my teens), letters, a handful of magazine articles, a few magazine columns, several years’ worth of monthly newsletters for a church ladies’ group, and a nearly 7 year old blog. I’ve always enjoyed expressing myself in that way, and find I can think things through more easily by writing about them. It’s hard to work through a swirling tangle of thoughts, and by writing I can take a strand at a time, pin it down, and then sort through them all.

I’ve often wondered if God might have something more for me to do with writing. For years I’ve had a desire to write a book, but I don’t know if that’s just a personal ambition or something from the Lord. Edith encouraged me by saying, “Writing for the enjoyment of expression – like music or painting – does not need an audience of more than one,” and “If you simply love to write and want to do it, my advice is write. But write without ambitious pride, which makes you feel it is a ‘waste’ to write what will never be published. Write to communicate to someone, even if it is literally only one person. It is not a waste to write beautiful prose or poetry for one person’s eyes alone! (p. 136).

She mentions several homey ways to write: notes in lunchboxes, cards, letters, writing out our prayers and praises to God, etc. She challenges us to write not just for people whose views are similar to our own. I love her description of trying to “formulate something in writing which will give them the feeling that they have been spending the evening with you, toasting their toes at the same fireplace with a pot of steaming tea by their sides while you have talked earnestly to them” (pp. 137-138).

She encourages us, too, that not everything we write will be a “masterpiece,” or “accomplish its purpose, and more than each meal is going to be the ‘perfect meal’ or each painting the ‘perfect painting,'” but each time we write we can do so “in a way which comes across as giving of oneself” (p. 140).

I received a thoughtful, handwritten thank you note this morning, a treasure in this electronic age, and can enjoy the reading of it over and over and the remembrance of my friend and our time together. Some of my treasures are letters, especially those from my mom, who did not write much (she preferred calling to writing), especially now that she has passed on. I have little from my maternal grandmother, who dies when I was four, besides two handwritten recipes, another treasure.

I was reminded, while reading this chapter, that Laura Ingalls Wilder and other writers didn’t start until later in life, and that she wrote magazine columns before books. That encourages me that sometimes things that have to be left on the back burner are more flavorful for their time there. Isobel Kuhn, a very expressive writer, began by writing “circular letters” of the people they ministered to in China for their supporters, lively descriptions rather than bare-faced facts and figures, and out of that grew her writing of several books. That encourages me that writing “where we are” can develop the skills for a wider audience later.

So I am encouraged and refocused, to write as unto Him, to write as giving of myself, to write to encourage others, to write earnestly so as to make the other feel they’re right beside me, and to trust Him for leading, guidance, and grace to write in whatever venues He provides.

And I am so very glad God communicated to us through writing, through the written Word and the Living Word.

Family Visit and Friday’s Fave Five

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Wow, I don’t think I have ever been away from my blog for a whole week before! My step-father, two of my sisters, and one nephew from TX came for nearly a week-long visit and just left this morning. We had a great time with a balanced amount of just hanging out and talking and then going and doing some fun things. All of us except Jim, Jason, and Mittu, who had to work, drove a couple of hours to meet up with another sister, her significant other, a niece, and her daughter from SC in Asheville, NC. for  few hours yesterday, and one night we got together at a restaurant with an aunt and uncle from across town that we’d been trying to get together with for three years – we joked that it took family coming from TX to make it happen. We did a lot of talking, eating, and laughing all week.

This has been a whole week of highlights, here are five of them:

1. Visiting with extended family, of course. 🙂

2. Meeting my great-niece for the first time. She’s two and absolutely adorable.

3. Playing games. We had several rousing hands of Apples to Apples one night and Taboo another night.

4. Going to Jason and Mittu’s for dinner one night. She makes a wonderful easier and lighter version of Chicken Cordon Bleu that is one of my favorite dishes, had some neat egg salad bites for appetizers, and chocolate waffles with ice cream for dessert.

5. Dixie Stampede. A rootin’, tootin’, wild west revue type of show is not necessarily my favorite, but the whole experience  of a dinner show with the family was great fun. We had a fun, wonderful waiter. One of the food items you get is a whole small rotisserie chicken, and as he was serving those he was calling out, “Chicken nuggets!” I had seen on the web site that they don’t offer serving utensils as part of the experience, so I slipped some plastic ones in a plastic bag for us. When our waiter saw them, he said, “Cheater, cheater!” and when he was gathering up plates afterward joked about not wanting to touch the “contraband.” They serve one food item at a time (which works out well, because they serve a massive amount of food, and you’d never be able to eat it all at one time), and when he delivered the corn on the cob, he joked, “Try eating that with a fork!” They do give you a warm, wet cloth at the hand to wipe your hands.

All in all it was a great week! But I am officially giving myself the day off today, except for laundry, and I foresee a nap in my future since we got up with them at 4 a.m. to see them off. And I will try to catch up with you all throughout the day.

Linking up with Susanne‘s Friday’s Fave Fives today:

FFF daisies

Friday’s Fave Five

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FFF daisies

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week,  wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Another week has flown by. Whew!  Here are some of its highlights.

1. A game night. This is actually from weekend before last but I had forgotten it by Friday. Jason and Mittu came over for a game of Settlers of Cataan, which we hadn’t done for a while. It ended up being about the closest game of that I ever remember playing.

2. Crescent rolls without seams:

Barbara's Cell phone pics 198

I have a couple of recipes which use crescent roll dough rolled out, and you’re supposed to press the seams together. They rarely stay pressed, so this was nice to see.

3. Annette’s Snickerdoodle Bars, made when my friend from last week came. I think I have mentioned them before: they’re a highlight any week I make them. 🙂

4. A nostalgic breakfast. My friend who came through last week on her way to see her daughter came back through last night, and we went out for breakfast this morning. We were headed out to one place when we saw the sign for Shoney’s breakfast bar. That used to be our go-to place when our kids were babies: they’d have regular coupons, and kids ate free. So we went there for old time’s sake, and they had many of the same features I remembered.

5. An eventful phone call. A man in our church has been on a list for a lung transplant and just got the call last night to head up to PA for surgery. I haven’t heard any word yet as to how everything went, but we’re hoping and praying for the best.

I may be scarce this next week as I have family coming in from out of town.

Happy Friday!

Spurgeon on criticism

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Someone posted this quote on Facebook recently:

“Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be. If he charges you falsely on some point, yet be satisfied, for if he knew you better he might change the accusation, and you would be no gainer by the correction. If you have your moral portrait painted, and it is ugly, be satisfied; for it only needs a few blacker touches, and it would be still nearer the truth.” Spurgeon

The first sentence especially resonated with me. I was just discussing with my son yesterday that the first response to any criticism should be to examine it to see if there is any truth to it. I’m amazed at people who can’t take the merest suggestion that they might be doing something not quite right without becoming defensive and blowing up, or, in opposite fashion, becoming wounded and closing in on themselves.

Yet I have to admit, my first response to criticism isn’t, “Thank you: you’ve give me something to think about.” I might not say so out loud, but my first thoughts are likely to be something like, “You don’t understand,” or, “How DARE you!” or, “Oh yeah? Well take a look at yourself and deal with your own faults!” Not very pretty, is it? My first response should probably be, “Yes, and you don’t know the half of it!”

It should be no surprise to us that we’re not perfect, and no surprise that someone else notices that fact from time to time. Proverbs has much to say about hearing reproof:

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Proverbs 6:23.

He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth. Proverbs 10:17.

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured. Proverbs 13:18.

The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. Proverbs 15:31.

He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. Proverbs 15:32.

A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. Proverbs 17:10.

We can take comfort in the fact that God sees believers through His Son, Jesus Christ, and that once we savingly believe on Him, His righteousness is transferred to our account because He took our sinfulness on His. Because of His amazing grace, those who have believed on Christ for salvation become God’s children, and will have a home with Him in heaven. Our eternal life begins NOW, not when we die.

Yet until we get to heaven, we have a sin nature to contend with, and we’re instructed to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18). II Timothy 3:16-17 tell us: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (ESV). Part of that growing, completion, equipping, is realizing those areas where we have a problem and then seeking God’s grace and relying on His Word to change us. So when we receive a criticism, instead of just brushing it off, we can see if God means to use it to show us something we need to know about ourselves.

There is only one perfect person in the universe, and as we behold Him, He changes us to be more like Himself:  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. II Corinthians 3:18.

Book Review: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling

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IncorrigibleI hadn’t planned on reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, but I had seen the title on different people’s book lists, and when I saw the audiobook was free (through today, June 12) via Sync, I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did.

The story involves a star graduate from Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope Lumley, age fifteen, who is taking up her first assignment as a governess. Her charges are unusual: two boys and a girl with somewhat…canine tendencies, having been raised by wolves. Lord Ashton found them, but Lady Ashton is less than pleased.

Penelope is up for the challenge, which has its various ups and downs, along with several mysteries: How did the children come to be living alone in the woods? What happened to Penelope’s own parents? Why does Old Timothy, trusted servant and coachman, seem to be lurking about when Penelope is outside with the children?

The writing is a delight, with the quirky flavor of the Lemony Snicket and Mysterious Benedict Society books and an abundance of colorful similes, odd sayings of Swanburne’s founder (“If it were easy to resist, it would not be called chocolate cake”), amusing asides, and references to Dickens and Sherlock Holmes.

Katherine Kellgren’s reading brought the book wonderfully to life, with a variety of accents and tones for the different characters.

I’m hooked, even though it is technically a children’s book (but then, some of the best books adults love are children’s books, e.g, Narnia, Anne of Green Gables. etc). I already checked out the second book from the library.

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

And Carol‘s Books You Loved.

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