Gifts

It was a gift to happen upon this the other day.

"Do our prayers sometimes go wrong because we insist on trying to talk to God when He wants to talk to us. Joy tells me that once, years ago, she was haunted one morning by a feeling that God wanted something of her, a persistent pressure like the nag of a neglected duty. And till mid-morning she kept on wondering what it was. But the moment she stopped worrying, the answer came through as plain as a spoken voice. It was "I don't want you to do anything. I want to give you something"; and immediately her heart was full of peace and delight. St. Augustine says "God give where He finds empty hands." A man whose hands are full of parcels can't receive a gift. Perhaps these parcels are not always sins or earthly cares, but sometimes our own fussy attempts to worship Him in our way. Incidentally, what most often interrupts my own prayers is not great distractions but tiny ones--things one will have to do or avoid in the course of the next hour."

--C.S. Lewis, "Letters to an American Lady"

My New Favorite Website

I popped on facebook the other day to see if anything exciting was going on outside my walls and noticed a friend had posted this video.



I instantly became a fan, and naturally had to start stalking his website. Extremely super cool that you can choose from different playlists (left side of the screen), click listen, and have his amazing music play away. His music blessed our home most of the day Saturday.

You can even download a few of his songs for free, and print out some of his sheetmusic. I printed out "All of Me." Yah. Don't expect any concerts anytime soon. The five flats were scary, but then I read all these testimonials from 14 year olds that hated their piano lessons until they started playing Jon's music which they can now play to perfection and I figured if THEY can do it... I'll let you know, but give me a few years. While you're waiting, go listen to Jon play it. It's the first song that plays when you bring up the website.

I love one of the comments I read on his website - that they felt like they've heard his music before. Like in heaven.

Wisdom Knockin' At My Door

One of the byproducts of good weather is more door-to-door salespeople. I'm sure my neighbors shake their heads at me because I am not good at getting rid of them. I cringe when I see them, but I feel like I need to be considerate, nod happily, and be amazed at their miracle product, then kindly turn them down.

So this very nice older black gentleman from Houston, Texas came selling Advantage cleaner yesterday (the one you can eat but will give you diarrea. There is another you can eat that won't - a lady selling that came a couple weeks ago, $79/gallon!). He was so full of stories and wisdom I asked him at one point why he isn't in a classroom inspiring kids. He chuckled and said he just shares it freely wherever he goes, things he's learned on the road. I kept wishing I had a pencil and paper to take notes, but among the several he shared with the little girls about being good kids and good family members, here's one that stuck with me:

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

Snappy, isn't it? I even tried it out on the kids later, and the boys chuckled and thought it was cool. He also threw out that a team means Together Everyone Accomplishes More, but I already knew that one.

Bison vs. Wolves

A few weeks ago we watched a movie about Yellowstone, and there were a few lines that made me grab the laptop to get them down. They were talking about how things have been going since wolves were reintroduced, how the wolf packs hunt in their own very specific territories, and how one pack especially is very good at taking down bison.

Narrator: "If a bison stands it's ground it has a much better chance of survival."

Cool Cowboy Ranger: "It's actually easier for a wolf to kill an animal running away from it than if it stands its ground. It's very difficult if the prey faces the wolf. Wolves don't like that."

Very powerful imagery. Usually we hear about wolves in sheeps clothing, coming to slyly make away with their prey, and certainly that happens. Much of what deceives is not easy to spot, or enters so secretly that it's a problem before we hardly know it's there. But with so much in the world that IS easy to see, it was nice to watch how the hunt works in regards to bison, which stands its ground. Good reminder to put on the whole armor of God, and stand.

Simple Woman's Daybook

I saw this on someone's blog a few months ago. I don't feel like looking up the "official" rules of this, I just feel like being simple.

FOR TODAY - MARCH 30, 2009

Outside my window... the new snow and blue sky is beautiful!

I am thinking... of how to simplify, and the things I should be focusing on that are really important.

I am thankful for... my husband. I'm thankful that he loves us. I'm also thankful that he likes to do his best. He's driving to Wyoming through possibly snowy roads because he wants to give good service for his company, and so he can hopefully be back in time to serve well in his calling.

From the learning rooms... we are going to start reading Fablehaven 4 later, then watch "Night Crossing," a movie about two families that escape East Germany in a hot air balloon. Amazing what people will do for freedom.

From the kitchen... our latest batch of bread is running out. Maybe more today or tomorrow.

I am wearing... Carolyn. She wants to be attached to me today for some reason.

I am creating... book lovers. Adam told me yesterday that books are sacred at our house, so if he borrowed five nice books from grandma's house he would take good care of them.

I am going... to get the kids an early lunch so we can go for a walk.

I am reading... Mrs. Mike. I haven't read it for years and years, and I'm enjoying it. Just needed a quick read while I think of where to go next in my reading.

I am hoping... this weather will figure itself out soon. We were having fun watching things coming up from the garden, but they need more sun to do much growing!

I am hearing... house and kid noises. Wish I could hear the birds outside, but want to keep the warmth inside.

Around the house... there are always things to be done. Thinking about it makes me weary, so I'm going to stop.

One of my favorite things... is being happy with who I am, but always looking to be better.

A few plans for the rest of the week: going to the zoo on Thursday after Sammy has a blood test, watching my nieces on Friday.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Something New For Today

Kathryn wrote about photography, which sent me to find something at Pioneer Woman, and while there I saw something about macro photography which I'd never heard of, but learned basically means "those pictures taken of things really up close."

In googling for that technical definition, one of the search results was for macro images. Wow. This is my favorite so far.



Flikr had some great examples too.

Isn't it neat that we learn something new every day? I feel especially neat that I learned about macro photography.

Who Am I

A few thoughts that are not my own.

From Music and the Spoken Word last week:

"Throughout our lives we interact with many people who form their own opinions about us. But at the end of the day, we are alone with ourselves, deciding who we really are and who we really want to be. No matter our circumstances, we can choose to live honorably and compassionately—or not. We can choose to change and become a better person—or not. In a sense, each of us is our own best critic. And despite our blind spots, we know more about ourselves than anyone else. When we open our hearts in sincerity and truth, we see strengths and weaknesses, areas of accomplishment and areas that need work. And that’s life: trying to improve, progressing and growing, learning and becoming all that we are capable of becoming. Instead of avoiding the truth about ourselves, let’s look ourselves “straight in the eye” as the well-known “people’s poet,” Edgar A. Guest, wrote almost a century ago:

AM I TRUE TO MYSELF?

I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand, with the setting sun
And hate myself for things I have done.
I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and self
I want to be able to like myself
I don't want to look at myself and know
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.
I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know;
I never can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.

From Challenge to Become by Dallin H. Oaks:

"The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become."

Thanks little Ethan for helping me to see me today. "Teacher! I love you!"

Challenging CPSIA

Malcom Smith protested CPSIA by very publicly selling three dirt bikes affected by the law, more info here. I'm very interested to see what the result will be. If only stay-at-home mothers, used book sellers, and librarians had the money to back them that those guys do.

From Thomas Jefferson, "What country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?"

To My Brother, Whom I Slept With

The other day the boys WOULD NOT STOP POKING AND PICKING ON EACH OTHER. I finally said, "Okay, if you can't get enough of touching each other, you are sleeping together to-night!" (Insert lightning and thunder clap.)

By bedtime I forgot, but after everyone was all settled for the night Melanie (little mother) reminded me. "Maaaaaaa-ooooom!" (you know, that two toned "I'm tattle-telling-about-something" Mom?) "Aren't the boys supposed to sleep together tonight?" Grumble, grumble, growl. "Okay boys, Melanie is right."

So Sammy sidled into Adam's bottom bunk and they cozied in with a head at each end. I was very surprised how little I heard from them when I left the room. Thought it would be something like unto Bill Cosby's "To My Brother Russell, Whom I Slept With," but it was surprisingly quiet. (If you haven't heard that Cosby bit and you live close, come borrow our copy. If not, find a copy.)

Morning breaks, not a complaint at all.

A few days later they decided for fun to sleep together on Sammy's top bunk. I didn't realize or I would have put a stop to it - visions of one kicking the other off the bed in the middle of the night and all that. Again, quiet boys, though Sammy said Adam kept kicking him all night long. This coming from the king of climbing into bed next to mom and kicking HER all night.

Why beds, really? A few months back I knew something had to happen with the boys' room but didn't know what. I tossed around just mattresses they could lean up against the wall in the morning, or no beds no mattresses just sleeping bags. They thought both were cool, but we ended up getting hand-me-down bunkbeds with bookshelves on each end that my brothers slept on when they were kids. The boys think they are ultra sweet because they can pile all their stuff at each end to play with when they are supposed to be sleeping. It allowed us to move a big bookshelf out of their room, so that solved at least part of the space problem.

Sammy was quite the bed escape artist when he was a baby. I guess he has always really needed me at night, because that lasted till about a year ago. I don't remember how old he was when he learned to kick his leg back and hoist himself up enough to climb out of his crib, but we attempted to foil his plans by swapping the crib for the playpen. This added a few inches height to his cage, and few days of me going to him instead of him coming to me. Or maybe it was hours? Either way, it wasn't long before he figured out that the same trick would work to get him out of the playpen. When we realized we had been beaten by a less than 1 year old, the crib mattress just went on the floor. I remember one friend telling me she had mentioned it to one of her family members as a, "See we're not as radical as they are" type of statement. I still wonder why putting my child to sleep in the playpen or on a mattress on the floor is so strange.

I found it incredibly refreshing, like another family thought it was okay to "break the rules," to hear about a family that lived in a 3 bedroom home with their seven children - mom and dad in one bedroom, two girls and the baby boy in another, and four boys in the other. She said her husband built a triple bunkbed and two of the boys shared the bottom. Cool. I don't understand why some families think it's such a great thing to split up all their children into separate bedrooms. I bet those boys have stories and stories to share about their brothers, whom they slept with.

(By the way, when I thought of triple bunkbeds I thought of one on top of the other and didn't realize there were other really cool options for triple bunks!)

CPSIA on Law and Order

Law and Order SVU played an episode tonight about a man who chewed on odd things from the time he was very young on up (hunks of pencil, toys cars), was severely developmentally delayed, and eventually shot and killed someone. The issue? LEAD POISONING.

I've heard of product placement, but law placement is new to me. "See people? If we don't get rid of lead in EVERYTHING your child could eat it and shoot someone! The CPSC are the good guys! So stop sending us letters and stop calling us!!!"

No wonder I don't like to watch TV. The network execs do a bad enough job playing shows worth watching, but when politicians get involved, it's just plain gross.

Just for fun, read this post to from the Common Room. If you've noticed any of your old books going rancid, send them my way.

Go Mommy Bloggers!

Gifts

As Randy Pausch puts it in "The Last Lecture," some kids win the parent lottery and I think Kathryn's and Cindi's (and many others that I also admire) won. I think there are far less "gifted" children than there are children that have been gifted with great parents.

For one fine example, go read Kathryn's post on OCD (not what you think).

More on Book Choices

I got this quote by Richard H. Cracroft e-mailed to me the other day. It goes right along with this post from a month ago.

"Because life and time are short, we will be able to read only a few thousand books in our lifetime. When we pick any book, we are ruling out hundreds and thousands of other books. How important it is then, to choose time-proven great books that will foster the Holy Spirit and enable us to rise to greater levels of truth and beauty and insight and understanding and, hence, spirituality. Many great men and women have found that a steady, systematic approach to literature has enabled them to fill their beings, in a lifetime of good reading, with the great thoughts of men and women of all ages, for through reading great books we are put in touch with the great minds of all time, and we become their spiritual and intellectual heirs."

This is in response to a question about how to judge literature as good or bad. The rest of the article is excellent too. I highly recommend it. If I wasn't already getting picky about what I read, this helped me be even more so.