First Steps!

Yes, we have a baby walking at 9.5 months - that just makes me crazy, but I'm still encouraging her to keep practicing!

the less he said

. . . Later, I came to see that Mr. Dickens and Mr. Wordsworth were thinking of men like me when they wrote their words. But most of all, I believe that William Shakespeare was. Mind you, I cannot always make sense of what he says, but it will come.

It seems to me the less he said, the more beauty he made. Do you know what sentence of his I admire the most? It is 'The bright day is done, and we are for the dark.'

I wish I'd known those words on the day I watched those German troops land, plane-load after plane-load of them - and come off ships down in the harbor! All I could think of was damn them, damn them, over and over. If I could have thought the words 'the bright day is done and we are for the dark,' I'd have been consoled somehow and ready to go out and contend with circumstance - instead of my heart sinking to my shoes.

p. 63, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

That which demands my attention

What has been demanding my attention this week:

Three day Parent Practicum for Classical Conversations (down in Rock Hill, SC where you there?) I now know how my kids feel when I present them with an intimidating lesson only to have them complete it with a pleased smile and the comment, "Wow, that was fun!" We tried out some Logic excercises, which I was dreading, and found the challenge relaly enjoyable!

Mother in Law coming to meet Baby L for the first time tonight! Busy, busy cleaning the house and changing beds, making meals and cleaning bathrooms.

Speaking of Baby L - she took her first few STEPS last night! So a good deal of our cleaning time has been spent coaxing her into a few more steps . . . who can resist?

And finally, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, a delightful book on loan to me from Dear Neighbor (on loan to her from her mother). I'm on page 33 and thoroughly attached to Juliet Ashton!

I'm so behind on my blogging, but those cute little baby legs are far too distracting. . . . I hope my blog friends will forgive if I'm slow to respond to comments or get promised posts up. I know you will, right?

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civil-ization

Civilization has never been the product of armies and factories. It is the fruit of the always tenuous marriage of the farmer and the merchant.

Andrew Kern, Quiddity blog, May 10, 2009

the frailty of modern science

The only science we have or can have is human science; it has human limits and is involved always with human ignorance and human error. It is a fact that the solutions invented or discovered by sciece have tended to lead to new problems or to become problems themselves . . . Our daily lives are a daily mockery of our scientific pretensions.

p. 32-33, An Essay Against Modern Superstition, Wendell Berry.

Summer is HERE!

Sometimes you just gotta pack it in and surrender to it. Yes, I mean SUMMER!

I had another 4 weeks or so of school planned out to try to get us all caught up on the lessons we've missed this year due to the adoption (various appointments, meetings, days where I had a ton of paperwork to finish, and of course the extended travel). My plans were so wonderful! The kids were willingly going along with them, too. But on Tuesday morning I woke up and was just, well, D-O-N-E. Ever been there?

At about 10:05, after putting Baby L down for her morning nap, I looked around at my children happily entertaining themselves and engaged in some really great unstructured playtime, and I made the decision: School's over.

Even though we will continue reading, independently and together, and playing edu-games during our summer break, most of our days will be fairly free and relaxed. So, what did we do on our first day of SUMMER?

Here are some pictures:













Baby L enjoying her "cruising" abilities.














S says he's "dressed for every occassion". Dress-ups don't get boring, do they?











The boys found an old stash of Dixie cups, which were perfect for biulding a great wall. This is about as high as it got before it toppled over.











Every year we celebrate the first and last day of school with an "ice cream dinner". Of course they are all hungry for "real food" within an hour, so we came home to burgers, too.














Not one to skip out on a little something sweet.














Baby L was a bit unsure about the whole thing. She did eventually give it a try and LOVED it, but she looks quite uniterested here. (Although from the look of those legs, you'd think we feed her ice cream all day long!)

Welcome, Summer. I'm so glad you are here!


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RePost: Establishing a Summer Routine

Boredom is the big beast of summer isn't it? Nobody wants their kids to be bored! Well, I have a GREAT PLAN that will help you eliminate boredom from your summer... A ROUTINE!

I know that sounds like a contradiction, right? But seriously, I find that one of the biggest reasons my kids get bored is that they don't have a reliable structure to their day. This works fine for a few days, but very soon they are like little spinning tops roaming around the house spinning from activity to activity. However, when I have some sort of regular routine (not a schedule, mind you!) we all do so much better.

Our schedule this summer will include: morning and afternoon chore times, family projects (household projects like cleaning out the playroom), outside playtime, Read or Rest time, screen time (TV, video game, computer), Read Aloud time (where I read aloud or we listen to a book on tape) and game time (educational games to keep schooling, but in a fun way).

So, do you want some help getting your summer routine started?


1) Decide on the big rocks of our daily life. Plan for these and let them be the "anchors" of our day.

Some examples are: regular meal times, planned snack time, chore time, learning time, play time, read or rest time. Pay attention to the flow of these various "anchors". Try to plan for good variety of structured vs. unstructured and active vs. passive.



2) Provide some visual cues for the expected flow of our day.

If your kids are pre-readers or highly visual (verses verbal), make a picture chart. Find or draw simple pictures of each of the daily "anchors". These also help with #4 - transitions. Here's what I did last year: Visual Schedule

Help for Kids' Speech offers suggestions for visual ways to cue children in to expectations for the daily routine. The article mentions the website Do2Learn which offers various picture cards that can be accessed for free. There are loads of other resources in their subscriber areas, too.

Another idea comes from Family Fun: a doorknob daily reminder. You could use this to remind kids of special events or "themes" for each day. (Park Day, Errand Day, Class Day, etc.)



3) Set distinct moods or tones for certain types of activities or times of day.

Quick moodsetters are music and light - moodsetting will also help with #4 - transitions. For example, if you want to get your kids up and going (maybe for chore time or because you are going out for a playdate) make sure the house is bright and try turning on some cheerful or exciting music. In the evening when it is time to wind down, lower the lights in the house and turn on some quieter music. We love the Putumayo Kids CDs (you can listen to samples).

Another important aspect of moodsetting is tone of voice. Pay attention to the tone you set, too. I read somewhere that parentss should be the thermostat not the thermometer of their home (a thermostat sets the temperature; a thermometer just reacts to it).

Collect some CDs that are particularly energetic or quiet or whatever you need and keep those handy. Or do the 80's thing and make a mix-tape! :) "Mom's Quiet Down Music" or "Mom's Get Up and MOVE Music".



4) Work on establishing good transition habits.

Some kids are very easy transitioners and other kids need a lot of help in this area. I have one of each and one inbetween. Here are some quick ideas:

• Five Minute "Heads Up" - particularly useful when ending a fun, unstructured activity


• Assessment and Feedback- After chore time is an excellent time to gather the kids and assess how well they did or to "go see" their work. In fact, a "go see" to point out what might have been overlooked followed up with some "good job" kudos is probably a good idea. If you use a chore system or reward chart, this might be the time to incorporate that.


• What's Next? - Encourage the kids to complete what they are doing by telling them what is coming up next. "When you finish cleaning up the breakfast dishes, we are going to walk to the park." or "After lunch it will be time for Read or Rest."


• Until tomorrow - Sometimes kids are satisfied to transition to a new activity when they know the one they are currently being asked to stop is one they will get to do again another day. "We'll come back to the park next week." or "You'll get to do playdough again tomorrow."


• Consolidate- consolidate activities to reduce the number or transitions. (But don't go so far as to spend hours doing the same thing - like chores!) An example might be cleaning up from breakfast and moving right into chore time instead of letting them have playtime after breakfast and chore time later in the morning.

5) Make it a team effort.

Sit down together and go over the daily routine and your expectations. Talk about the fun stuff you all want to have time for this summer and how your daily routine is going to help you have time for the fun stuff.



Want more ideas for beating the boredom beast? We ARE That Family is hosting a "Mom I'm Bored" Works-For-Me-Wednesday and there are TONS of great links!

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Celebrating Pentecost

Come Down, Oh Love Divine

Come down, O Love divine
seek thou this soul of mine
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing

O Comforter, draw near
within my heart appear
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing

O let it freely burn
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming

And let they glorious light
shine ever on my sight
and clothe me round the while my path illuming

And so the yearning strong
with which the soul will long
shall far out-pass the power of human telling

For none can guess its grace
till Love create a place
here in the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

words by Bianco di Siena (c. 1434)

We got all dressed up in our Ghanaian batiks to celebrate Pentecost and the remembrance of the birth of the Church's mission to go into the world making disciples. Here is a photo:

You'll notice little baby L is not in the photo - she was napping after a long day at church. I'll post a photo of her soon in her very spiffy batik dress.

It was a lovely Pentecost celebration! After being absent from church and The Body for over a month, it was wonderful to be back. Everyone noticed how much baby L has grown! Tonight is our church's Ladies' Twilight Garden Party, so we won't be having a Pentecost meal. But I do have some ideas for a meal, so we might celebrate in style tomorrow night.


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Pentecost: Reignite Your Ember!

Pentecost, for the Western church, is this Sunday. I'm posting this a bit early to participate in the Carnival of the Church Year for Pentecost.

Welcome to new friends (and old) visiting from the Carnival of the Church Year: Pentecost! I hope you'll enjoy my submission and stick around to check out my blog a bit.


Have you heard this story? There was a man who had been a devout believer and active church member. One day his pastor noticed that he was not in church. Nor was he the next Sunday. Nor the next. It became obvious that something had happened and this man was no longer attending church. When the pastor went to visit the man, he found him sitting peacefully beside a crackling fire. The man invited him to take a seat, but had no interest in discussing the matter. The pastor joined him and they both sat in silence.

After a while, the pastor took a pair of fireplace tongs and grasped one of the flaming embers. He brought the ember out of the fire (and out of the pile of other flaming embers) and set it on the hearth away from the flames. The man sat watching the ember. He noticed that it stayed glowing red for a bit, but slowly began to darken and cool. Before the ember had entirely gone out, the pastor returned the ember to the fire where it quickly began to glow again. He returned the tongs to their place, said his goodbye and left the man to contemplate that ember.

The next Sunday the man was back at church where his heart was rekindled.

Somehow that story, with its fire imagery and message about the Body of Christ, seems appropriate for Pentecost, doesn’t it?

The Holy Spirit can exist in us when we are separated from other believers by time or distance or circumstance (and does exist in us as individual believers), but the Holy Spirit came from Heaven and breathed on a gathering of believers…and there is something to that! We need other believers to stay “kindled” with the fire of belief, don’t we? There are times when our ember may be out of the fire for various reasons, but we are wise not to keep it out too long for fear it may extinguish completely.

I’m in one of those seasons right now with the new baby. Her schedule is very important to maintain, more so than it has been for my biological kids, and our church service occurs right in the middle of her morning nap. We’ve taken her anyway and let her nap in the baby sling, but it is still hard on her (and me!). So, the result is that I’ve missed a lot of church lately. Luckily I’ve found other ways to stay “kindled” – a ladies’ bible study – until I can resume regular church attendance, but it isn’t quite the same as being in worship with my church family.

My church family kindles the Holy Spirit in me. I become that cold, dead ember when I am away for too long. Oh, the Holy Spirit is in me as a believer, but I am much less likely to feel His warmth or the flicker of His flame when I am long separated from the company of my faith family.

This reminds me of something I read by Dallas Willard in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines. In the book he looks at the disciplines of the Christian life that sustain, encourage, and challenge us thus growing our spiritual life in Christ.

“When we understand that grace (charis) is gift (charisma), we then see that to grow in grace is to grow in what is given to us of God and by God. The disciplines are then, in the clearest sense, a means to that grace and also to those gifts.” p. 156

He divides the disciplines into two main types: disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. The disciplines of abstinence are: solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity, secrecy, and sacrifice.

“In the disciplines of abstinence, we abstain to some degree and for some time from the satisfaction of what we generally regard as normal and legitimate desires. “Normal” desires include our basic drives or motivations, such as those for food, sleep, bodily activity, companionship, curiosity, and sex. But our desires for convenience, comfort, material security, reputation or fame, and variety are also considered under this heading.” p. 159

While the disciplines of engagement are: study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship (this is the one I’m getting at…I’ll get back to it momentarily), confession, and submission.

“The disciplines of abstinence must be counterbalanced and supplemented by disciplines of engagement…Roughly speaking, the disciplines of abstinence counteract tendencies to sins of commission, and the disciplines of engagement counteract sins of omission.” p. 176

The discipline that I’m getting at is Fellowship:

“In fellowship we engage in common activities of worship, study, prayer, celebration and service with other disciples….The fire of God kindles higher as the brands are heaped together and each is warmed by the other’s flame….

The diverse gifts or graces of the Spirit – all of which are needed in some measure by each person from time to time – are distributed among the separate members of the body of Christ, the church….

…fellowship is required to allow realization of a joyous and sustained level of life in Christ that is normally impossible to attain by all our individual effort…In it we receive the ministry of all the graces of the Spirit to the church.” p. 186-187


Pentecost is a fitting time to assess our commitment and engagement with our church home, our faith family, our body of Christ –whatever you wish to call it - and determine our need for the discipline of engagement in the area of fellowship.

While I am at peace with my current season of being slightly removed from my particular body of Christ in fellowship, I am aware that this needs to be a temporary and infrequent occurrence. I look forward to resuming regular attendance on Sunday mornings, because I need the Holy Spirit’s movement in the Body to kindle my faith, my ember!

There is a prayer I learned in Cursillo that I've always loved and seems appropriate for Pentecost...

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Are you interested in reading more from Dallas Willard’s book, The Spirit of the Disciplines? I highly recommend it!



Want to read more? Be sure to check out the rest of the Carnival...and my Pentecost posts from 2007: Peals of Pentecost and 2008: Come Holy Spirit - and just added: Celebrating Pentecost 2009 (with photos of us in our Ghanaian batiks!).

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Tuscan Garbanzo Bean Soup

As you might have noticed from my post frequency, May is a ridiculously busy time in my family! End of school, summer plans being formed, son's birthday party, and state homeschool convention.

Well, here's what we are having for dinner tonight. It is simmering away on the stove right now!

Tuscan Garbanzo Bean Soup

1 c medium pasta (shells, elbows, etc)
2 T olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
a couple dashes of garlic powder
3 T fresh rosemary or 2 tsp dry
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (opt)
1/2 c chopped canned, stewed or sun-dried (packaged in oil or softened with water) tomatoes
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 cans 16 oz Garbanzo beans, drained and divided

Cook pasta according to package directions.

At the same time, in a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until just soft, add carrots and saute a few minutes more. Add garlic powder, rosemary, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Add 2 cups of water, tomatoes, carrot, and garbanzo beans, reserving 1 cup whole beans. Bring to a boil, stiffing occasionally, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 7-10 minutes.

Puree vegetables (in blender or with a hand blender) and return to saucepan. Add pasta and remaining whole beans and heat through adding water if soup is too thick.

Top with cheese at the table!
2 T grated parmesan

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