We Rest On Thee

Posted on by

Last night we watched End of the Spear, about Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and the other three men who were speared to death by the Indians (then known as Aucas, now as Waodani, their name for themselves) they wanted to try to reach for the Lord over 50 years ago. I had seen it before and thought the others had, but they didn’t remember it. There was so much more of the story I wished they could know: I’d recommend the companion documentary, Beyond the Gates of Splendor.

The story made the national news at the time, and then in the following years Elisabeth Elliot told it in more detail in the book Through Gates of Splendor. The title comes from this hymn which the men used to sing together — I am thinking they sang it the night before they went out, but I don’t remember for sure.

We Rest On Thee

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.

Yes, in Thy Name, O Captain of salvation!
In Thy dear Name, all other names above;
Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.
Jesus our Righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.”

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise;
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.
When passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.

~ Edith G. Cherry

The tune is to Finlandia by Sibelius, by which we also sing “Be Still My Soul.” Oddly, I have never heard it sung in church. I’ve only heard it on the radio. But many times when I think of these men, this hymn come to mind. The first few lines of the third verse especially resonate with me.

By the way, the foe they were going against was not the Aucas/Waodani. The foe was Satan, “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (II Corinthians 4:3-4)

Ephesians 6:10-13: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Updated to add: My friend Bobbi found this version on You Tube, which sounds like the recording I hear on the radio:

Crafty goodness and contests

Posted on by

There is something about seeing what other people are creating that inspires me, even if I don’t do their particular craft. In that vein I wanted to share with you some of the really neat stuff I’ve seen lately.

But first, I wanted to share a couple of contests that a couple of friends are having.

My friend Susan at By Grace who is a missionary pastor’s wife in Canada, is hosting a contest for her daughter who does nice work making jewelry. She has an Etsy shop called edcdbeadz, and if I recall correctly, I think she is trying to earn money toward college (though even a teen earning her own spending money is a help to a parent. 🙂 ) Anyway, she is giving away this handcrafted necklace:

See this post or click on the photo to enter.

Then Jeanne Winters of Inspiring Ideas, who designs the “Simply Inspiring” line for Hallmark, is hosting a Mother’s Day giveaway of this from her line here.

Amy at inspire co. is hosting a stitch-along that I am really tempted to do. The idea arose after several crafters did a 39 squares stitch-along: they created a grid of 39 one-inch squares and stitched one square a day, showing us their progress along the way. Besides Amy‘s, I also followed Dawn‘s progress. Amy enjoyed it so much, she wanted to do another stitch-along. this time with the theme of counting our blessings. She created a separate blog for it called, not coincidentally :), Counting My Blessings with a list of participants on the sidebar. Already through that I’ve found another crafty blogger whose style I love at Dishy Vintage. It’s been a long time since I did any embroider besides cross stitch, but I love the depth and dimension of embroidery. I’ve never designed my own, though. And between now and the ladies’ luncheon is the busiest time of year for me, next to Christmas. But I am still tempted…it would be so much fun. Or I might just enjoy watching a few others and then maybe doing my own this summer.

Skip To My Lou has some great teacher appreciation ideas along with links to past posts along the same lines. Great for unique end-of-the year teacher’s gifts. She also shows how to make sachets out of vintage hankies that you don’t want to cut up and easy and inexpensive floral centerpieces that I think even I could do.

Tipnut has a link to this cute salvaged patchwork bulletin board.

Crazy Mom Quilts shares how she organizes scraps of fabric and a quilt made from scraps about 1″ wide.

And though I don’t quilt, I enjoyed Sew, Mama, Sew’s article on Maintaining Your Quilting Momentum. It has some great tips for storing fabric — which I do have a lot of — and need to do something with. I just clicked on the site of the author of that particular post, Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio, and saw she is having a Spring to Finish Challenge to motivate to finish a project of some kind this spring.

spring to finish big

And though I don’t crochet, I know some of you do, and Vanilla Joy has had several crocheting videos and tutorials lately.

So many neat things to do, so little time…….:-) But I still enjoy them vicariously. 🙂

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on by

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

1. My Swiffer Wet-Jet. No, this is not a paid product placement. It doesn’t totally eliminate the need for an occasional deeper cleaning, but it is great for a quick mop-up.

2. This bug zapper.

It smaller than a tennis racket but larger than a fly swatter, which is nice because that makes it easier to actually connect with the bug. You press a button on the side while swinging at a bug, and when it connects it zaps it. Jesse even saw smoke ascending from a wasp he zapped. 🙂 That may sound cruel, but it is probably better than drowning it in bug spray or whapping it with a fly swatter and having it flail around til someone can grab it with a tissue and flush it.

3. I know I mentioned Texas Sheet Cake last summer when Jeremy made one for my birthday last summer, but I had a hankering for it again, so I made one. So good. Officially my favorite cake. I need to find or figure out a way to make a smaller version, though. It makes a cake the size of a cookie sheet, and though it’s flat, it’s very rich. It was all too easy to cut off a little square every time I went into the kitchen. To cut it down to just enough for everyone to have one serving would be perfect.

4. Ladies who extend themselves to my mother-in-law. She is friendly when people speak to her but has never been one to initiate friendships. She’s uncomfortable around a lot of people and has always been content to have just a few special friends. So it has been nice since we moved her here that a few ladies at church make a special point to come over and hug her and talk with her, and a couple of them go to see her about once a week. That’s a blessing to us as well as to her.

5. Fun family conversations, especially when we’re all together. This was a while back, but Jeremy was showing us some of these photos resulting from a man who gets up in the wee hours of the morning to take pictures of sleeping bugs covered in heavy dew. Though the shots are amazing, Jason remarked how odd it would seem to be on a date with a girl and try to explain doing this for a living.

I wish I could remember the exact words, because the conversation was so funny, but it developed into a scenario of the guy then throwing water on the girl so he could take her picture and the date not ending well.

I love my family! ♥

And just one more: I know I have mentioned this before as well, but I am amazed and grateful that the Lord meets our needs for the day so aptly in His Word. I was reading something a while back about how the writer preferred church services that were spontaneous and wanted the preacher to say whatever came to him at the moment rather than studying and planning ahead, as if the only way the Holy Spirit works is by spontaneity, giving someone what they need in the moment. He may do that sometimes, but He also works through preparation, planning, and study as we seek Him through the whole process. And this is a perfect example, when a passage I am reading in the course of progressing through the Bible, written thousands of years ago, or a devotional book written decades or even hundreds of years ago, has exactly what I need today when no one but the Lord could have known what my particular needs for the day would have been. Marvelous!

Happy Friday, and I hope you have a great weekend!

Flashback Friday: Funerals

Posted on by


Mocha With Linda has begun a weekly meme called Flashback Friday. She’ll post a question every Thursday, and then Friday we can link our answers up on her site.

This week she writes:

I’ve had our bloggy friend Lidna on my heart as she is grieving the loss of a dear friend. And while I don’t want this to be a gloomy or painful Flashback Friday, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on how we experienced grief in our early years.

How old were you (approximately) when you attended your first funeral? Did your parents shield you from death and grief or was it viewed as a natural part of life? Did you experience any significant loss(es) in your growing up years? What were your early impressions of death and dying? And while I do not intend this in any irreverent way, are there any amusing memories associated with a death or funeral? If you have kids, how have you handled this subject with them? Feel free to share as vulnerably or as shallowly as you want!

As always, the questions are simply suggestions to prompt your memory and give you a starting point. You don’t have to answer them specifically, but you are welcome to. I know there are likely some tender memories on this subject, and most of our FF’s will be more lighthearted, but both our fun and our serious memories have made us who we are today.

My mother’s  mother passed away when I was about 4, but I don’t remember much about her. I wasn’t taken to the funeral. My grief in relation to her is more from wishing I’d had a chance to get to know her better. A great uncle passed away when I was a little older, and I was not taken to his funeral either. I don’t really remember much from my childhood having to do with death, dying, or funerals.

I did not attend my first funeral until after I was married. Someone from our church had passed away, and I thought I would feel very uncomfortable going to the viewing and talking to people while a dead body was in the room, but it was fine. It was actually a kind of reassurance, in an odd way, that the person really was no longer there, that the body is just a shell and the real person had gone on. And I thought I would dread funerals, but they were actually wonderful opportunities to support one another and put everything into perspective.For a Christian, the Bible says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” Psalm 116:15 and that when we leave this body, we’re present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:7-9.) As much as we would wish to have out loved ones back, to talk with them or hug them once more, we couldn’t wish them back to this world of sin and pain, away from the presence of the Lord. So we seek His grace while missing them, with the expectation that we’ll see them again. I can’t imagine not having that hope to hang onto.

I missed the funerals of both of my remaining grandparents: my last grandmother passed away on a Christmas Eve of a year when I had two small children, and the thought of taking a sudden trip at that time just seemed overwhelming. Then my last grandfather passed away a few years later when my own father was visiting and gravely ill, so I could not leave. At the time I consoled myself with the thought that the ones who had passed on weren’t really there, so they would not mind whether or not I came. But later I regretted not attending and having the opportunity to share those moments with my extended family.

The first funeral I attended of a close family member was my father’s several years ago, and then my mother’s just a few years ago. Though hard, my mother’s especially, is a precious memory. There were times that week I thought I would never make it through the events to come, but God wonderfully supplied His sustaining grace.

The only funny thing that I can recall was at my mother’s. The viewing was the night before the funeral, and the family arrived an hour before anyone else was scheduled to come to have a private time. For those of us coming from out of town, it was the first time to see my mom since our last visit; for those who had been at the hospital when she died, it was the first time they had seen her since that day. It was hard for us all. But after each having a moment to spend some time at my mom’s side, we all sat down on the couches in various states of tearfulness, and my mom’s sister said something that cracked us all up. I wish I could remember exactly what it was, but it was something like, “If you breathe through your mouth, you can’t cry.” It was just what was needed to change the mood in the room a little bit. Then she had her daughter read a very sweet tribute that she had written, which they asked my husband to read at the funeral the next day. Someone made a copy of it for all of us, and I keep it with the program from her funeral.

With my own children, we have always taken them with us to funerals. I felt that it was better to teach them how to deal with death than to shield them from it until it happened to someone they were particularly close to and have it then be a much harder experience. Though it is uncomfortable and no one likes death, it is actually therapeutic to visit with family and friends and to remind ourselves of the reality of heaven.

Earth Day 2010

Posted on by

(Photo courtesy of the morgueFiles.)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1.

The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Psalm 24:1.

A wonderfully balanced blog post I just discovered: It’s not easy being green…and conservative.

Top Ten Poems

Posted on by

Over Lent Sherry at Semicolon asked readers for their top ten “classic” poems — classic being defined here as older than copyright protection. Beginning the day after Easter, she has been counting down the top 100 in chronological order for Poetry Month. It will be interesting to see what favorites pop up that I’ve forgotten. She’s also including a bit of information about each one and sometimes a video of someone quoting it, plus such luscious quotes about poetry in general.

The ones I sent in were:

1. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

I think this would be the most familiar poem to most Americans: I think most could quote the first two and last two lines.

2. How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The quintessential love poem.

3. To A Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant

This might not be as familiar to most people. As I wrote in the post I linked to, I had originally read it in college, but it especially spoke to me when Elisabeth Elliot quoted some of it in her book The Savage My Kinsmen after her husband’s death.

4. To a Mouse by Robert Burns

Burns is one of my favorite poets. In this one he empathizes with a mouse whose nest he accidentally overturned while ploughing, and it contains the lines, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, Gang aft agley,” or, as we often quote it in modern English, “The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry.”

(Side note: you know what I would love: for Henry Ian Cusik, the Scottish actor who plays Desmond on “Lost,” To make a recording of his reading Burns’ poems.)

5. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Another one I think many would be familiar with. I am not much for spooky stories generally, but Poe does such a good job conveying the atmosphere here.

6. A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

Sung beautifully by the King’s Singers here (only a snippet, I’m afraid.)

7. To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet.

Another one that might not be as familiar to some, but the first two lines might be:

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee.

That was all I could think of at the time. At this point I’d add Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 (the one about “the marriage of true minds” and “Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds.” And the more I think about it, the more several other poets come to mind. I might have to make a revised list when Sherry is done. 🙂

And I didn’t even think about Biblical poetry, but Sherry mentioned that first thing. All of the Psalms as well as other passages are poetry, though different, of course, that modern English poetry. She listed Psalm 23 as probably the most familiar and well-known Psalm, and I would agree.

And while I have snippets of other poems and names of poets running through my brain now, I’ll leave you with some favorite quotes about poems. It’s hard to define just what we like and what speaks to us about poetry, but here are some attempts:

“You cannot translate a poem into an explanation, any more than you can translate a poem into a painting or a painting into a piece of music or a piece of music into a walking stick. A work of art says what it says in the only way it can be said. Beauty, for example, cannot be interpreted. It is not an empirically verifiable fact; it is not a quantity.”~Wendell Berry, Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition (Seen at Semicolon’s).

Poetry should… should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance. ~John Keats

God is the perfect poet. ~Robert Browning

Poetry is life distilled. ~Gwendolyn Brooks

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. ~Thomas Gray

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. ~Robert Frost

Poetry is ordinary language raised to the nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words. ~Paul Engle, New York Times, 17 February 1957

You can tear a poem apart to see what makes it tick…. You’re back with the mystery of having been moved by words. The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps… so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash or thunder in. ~Dylan Thomas, Poetic Manifesto, 1961

Happy Poetry Month!

The Week In Words

Posted on by

http://breathoflifeministries.blogspot.com/2010/01/announcing-week-in-words.html Melissa at Breath of Life hosts a weekly carnival called The Week In Words,which involves sharing something from your reading that inspires you, causes you to laugh, cry, or dream, or just resonates with you in some way.

Here are a few:

From Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs:

Flint Lockwood: Come on, Steve. We’ve got a diem to carpe!

OK, technically I heard that first, but I was looking at the film on the IMDb website and looked through the quotes to get it exactly, so I did read it, too. 🙂 This was a book my son loved when he was younger, and I want to get it now and read it again and see how it compares to the film. But I just love that quote!

Here are two about books:

From a friend’s Facebook page:

A little library, growing larger every year, is an honourable part of a man’s history. It is a man’s duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life. Henry Ward Beecher

And I am not sure where I saw this one — possibly at Semicolon‘s:

“The student has his Rome, his Florence, his whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his books the ruins of an antique world and the glories of a modern one.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And from a recent Elisabeth Elliot e-mail devotional, originally from her book A Lamp For My Feet:

What Fits Us For Service?

Is there any Christian who does not long for some special experience, vision, or feeling of the presence of God? This morning it seemed to me that unless I could claim such I was merely going through motions of prayer, meditation, reading; that the book I am writing on discipline will prove to be nothing but vanity and a striving after wind. The Lord brought yesterday’s word to mind again with this emphasis: it is not any experience, no matter how exciting, not any vision, however vivid and dazzling, not any feeling, be it ever so deep that fits me for service. It is the power of the blood of Christ. I am “made holy by the single unique offering of the body of Jesus Christ” (Heb 10:10), and by his blood “fit for the service of the living God.” My spiritual numbness cannot cancel that–the blood will never lose its power.

Top 100 Children’s Novels Meme

Posted on by

I saw at Semicolon that Betsy at Fuse #8 has been counting down the Top 100 Children’s Novels from the survey she took back in January. Then, Teacher Ninja turned the list into a meme: which of the Top 100 Children’s Novels have you read? I’ve put the ones I have read on bold print, the ones I have only an acquaintance with in italics.

100. The Egypt Game – Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard – Banks (1980) I liked them until I got to the end and was very disappointed at what was behind it all.)
98. Children of Green Knowe – Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches – Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren (1950) (Saw a film years ago, not sure if I ever read it — don’t think so.)
94. Swallows and Amazons – Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn – Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted – Levine (1997) (Saw the film, haven’t read the book)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School – Sachar (1978) (I don’t think I read this, but my oldest son did and enjoyed it.)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall – MacLachlan (1985) (Saw the Glenn Close film and I think I read the book, but I can’t remember for sure.)
89. Ramona and Her Father – Cleary (1977)
88. The High King – Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday – Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek – Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse – Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief – Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three – Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book – Gaiman (200 8)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family – Taylor (1951)
78. Johnny Tremain – Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember – DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust – Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog – Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers – Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain – George (1959)
72. My Father’s Dragon – Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning – Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy – Lovelace (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society – Stewart ( 2007)
68. Walk Two Moons – Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher – Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins – Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes – Streatfield (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago – Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake – Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock – Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl – Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart – Funke (2003) (Saw the film)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars – Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins – Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG – Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows – Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays – Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell (1960)
49. Frindle – Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks – Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy – Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls (1961) (Saw the film, think I read the book, can’t say for sure.)
45. The Golden Compass – Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest – Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie – Wilder (1935)
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Baum (1900) (Who hasn’t seen the film? But I haven’t read it. Janet has.)
39. When You Reach Me – Stead (2009)
38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret – Blume (1970)
35. HP and the Goblet of Fire – Rowling (2000)
34. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach – Dahl (1961) (Saw the film, didn’t care for it.)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – O’Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic – Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh – Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising – Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess – Burnett (1905)
27. Alice I and II – Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet – Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women – Alcott (1868/9)
24. HP and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods – Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux – DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief – Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt (1975) (Saw the film.)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Dahl (1964) (Saw the film, think I may have read it, not sure. I think oldest son did.)
18. Matilda – Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee – Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy – Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie – DiCamillo (2000)
14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia – Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit – Tolkien (1938)
11. The Westing Game – Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth – Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables – Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden – Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes – Sachar (1998) (Saw the film.)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter #1 – Rowling (1997)
2. A Wrinkle in Time – L’Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte’s Web – White (1952)

Some of these I’ve not heard of. Some I have wanted to get to but haven’t yet. I am surprised to see The Hobbit classified as a children’s novel.

Some I have read that are not here:

The rest of the Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery
The rest of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The rest of Louisa May Alcott’s books that could be classified as being children’s novels (Little Men, Jo’s Boys, Eight Cousins)
The rest of the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
The Little Lame Prince
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (sweet story)
Heidi
One or two of the Boxcar Children series
Several Encyclopedia Brown books
A few Hardy Boys novels
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (I think…)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn or maybe both.
Black Beauty
The first few Lemony Snicket books
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (though that is probably classified as a chapter book rather than a novel.

…and possibly others I am not remembering. By the time my kids got to novels, either their reading had dropped off dramatically (my younger two) or their reading outpaced my own (my oldest).

Let me know if you do this so I can come over and compare lists. 🙂

I’ve Found a Friend

Posted on by

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love, and thus He bound me to Him;
And round my heart still closely twine those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine, forever and forever.

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life, but His own Self He gave me!
Naught that I have mine own I call, I’ll hold it for the Giver,
My heart, my strength, my life, my all are His, and His forever.

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! All pow’r to Him is given,
To guard me on my onward course, and bring me safe to heaven.
The eternal glories gleam afar, to nerve my faint endeavor;
So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever.

I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! So kind and true and tender,
So wise a Counselor and Guide, so mighty a Defender!
From Him who loves me now so well what power my soul can sever?
Shall life or death, shall earth or hell? No! I am His forever.

~ James G. Small

A public service announcement concerning walkers

Posted on by

No, not the walkers babies use, but the ones the elderly or disabled use.

1. Do not pull or jerk on the walker, even if trying to help the person over a bump. There are several reasons for this:

  • It throws them off balance.
  • The walker is an extension of themselves and it is an invasion of their personal space as much as if you pulled on their arm.
  • It can make them feel helpless and embarrassed.

Sometimes, however, the person may appreciate a little assistance if they are having trouble maneuvering. If you see someone trying to get their walker up a step or over a hump, be patient and observe for a moment and see if they are doing all right or seem frustrated. If you think they might like help, offer first. “Mrs. Jones, can I help you get your walker over this step here?” Don’t just jump in and jerk it. Gently lift it, especially being careful if they are leaning on it for balance: you may need to let them take your arm as well, depending on whether they can balance on their own for a moment or need help with a step.

2. The person with a walker usually understands that he or she is a little slow and you may want to get around them, and that’s fine, but please don’t cut in too closely — the sudden movement and closeness can also cause balance to waver.

3. Some people can’t stand long even with a walker. They would love to talk with you, but may need to sit down first.

4. If you see someone coming with a walker, please move out of their way. Often they feel conspicuous and cumbersome and are embarrassed to ask. Some are not, though, and will just call out a cheery, “Beep, beep!” or something similar — please don’t be offended.

5. Similarly, please don’t be offended if they accidentally bump into you. Sometimes, especially with older people, their depth perception is affected as well. Some might not even be aware that they bumped you, but most would be horrified.

I am writing both from the perspective of having used a walker for several months after TM, but also from my elderly mother-in-law’s perspective now. I think most people mean well, but have just never thought about or experienced some of these things from the point of view of one using a walker. A little patience and thoughtfulness are much appreciated.

Please feel free to share anything I may have forgotten or not thought about, but please keep it positive. I don’t want people to think we’re ranting or griping at them, but rather just informing and educating.