Thursday, October 29, 2009

Heading Out



Busy day today with October
blue sky that made you love
Autumn. We watched Makoto
Fujimura talk about Beauty in
Culture
in class today. Heading
out to cross over the mountains
that have a rockslide so will get
detoured and take longer ~~
to go to a Film Conference.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Elizabeth Goudge Giveaway

I adore Elizabeth Goudge's stories.
I have a wonderful collection through
the years so seeing a giveaway on Sara's
blog
sent me to IN THE GARDEN for a Goudge
Giveaway. Cindy is wonderful to do this!

It is Pilgrim's Inn . An old copy!It is part of
the 3 part Heart of the Family books she
wrote. Encouraging quote:

...he was not old. Only sixtyish.

—Elizabeth Goudge, Pilgrim’s Inn



Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Benignus



This is the word that Stephen
Mansfield used most to describe
the Guinness family. Our lecture today
by Dr. George Grant, friend of Mansfield,
went over the Chivalric Code and this is
one of the parts. The Boy Scouts use this
also. It transformed society. Transformed
families. Biblically based.


It means benevolent. More than kindness,
it finds hurts to meet. It is a form of mercy.
Some may resist the kindnesses so one has to
find ways to to reach those who
resist. It helps the poor,
the needy, and strengthens with encouragement.
It brings a smile to a heart with practical
means.

That is what the Guinness family did.
It changed culture. It changed families.


Imagine.


Monday, October 26, 2009

The Battle

Dr. Niel Nielson , Pres. of Covenant
College, preached yesterday morning
after a bagpipe ushered in worship.
His text was Joshua 5 : Joshua
and the people of God coming into
the Promised Land and preparing for
battle. Here is his blog on this.


Lessons:

1. Remember your baptism and who you
are. ( circumcision)

2. Take the Lord's Supper ( Passover)
Feed on Christ.

3. The Commander in Chief of the Army
is right beside you: where you are standing
is holy. He will win. He is fighting.


Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Search for God and Guinness



The Search for God and Guinness:
A Biography of the Beer that Changed
the World

by Stephen Mansfield
Published: Thomas Nelson Publishers

A book about beer? The title gives away
part of the story: the Guinness family and
how they used their wealth to bless others
and change cultures as godly leaders.
This is a tremendous story to read as an
antidote to our economic climate. Here is
a company founded on biblical principles
and a family who accomplished ways to help
the poor, their city, their workers, and even
sought out missionary work.

Arthur Guinness started the business in 1759
in Dublin. Mansfield gives the history of what
extraordinary things an ordinary family can do.
His was 10 children.Guinness' Brewery changed
the culture by providing for its workers, even
paying for days in the country! I wanted to work
for them. Another descendant flourished in the banking
industry and carries on the "culture of
generosity" as Mansfield terms. Another
descendant , Henry Gratton Guinness became
a prominent preacher with Spurgeon and
Moody. His children marry into the Hudson
Taylor family and carry on missionary work. I
would highly recommend this book to anyone
who yearns to know godly men in the past
who led and changed lives. Mansfield gives
excellent lessons at the end of the book.

Did you know the first Sunday Schools in Dublin
were started by Arthur Guinness?
If your husband ( worker) went to war,
you were given half of his salary?
Henry Guinness, in 1910, predicted the
restoration of Israel in 1948.

You will want today's CEO's to read this book
as well as young men.


Shhh......this book is going to be among our
Christmas gifts.


search-for-god-guinness

Friday, October 23, 2009

finished



I finished The Search for God
and Guinness. Really good book
that answered some questions I had
about the Guinness family who were
missinaries. Missionaries, bankers,
and yes, good beer brewers. Extra-
ordinary lessons from their
benevolent care of their workers and
of Dublin. Review coming next!


Thursday, October 22, 2009

Warm Autumn daysd


Gorgeous days.
Almost friday.
We are quiet here tonight.
Amen.

The weekend is almost here.
Friday is a totally free day
for us. It sort of is a catch up
day or it can feel like Saturday.

Have you got a math person in
your house that keeps doing math?
I have one right now. I had one who
calls me and just got married last
Spring. Now his little sister is thinking
deeply about math. AND she is a reader.
I love to see how learning happens.
How the mind takes on ideas, even
mathematical ones. Today we explained
some rational numbers to her in the car
and she is still pondering them. My mind
does not think that way. That is perhaps
why I think it is fascinating to figure out
a math problem or any other problem.
You can almost see the wheels turning.
I'm thankful for those moments because
in homeschooling there seems to be no
bell ringing to say class is over.



Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A day in the foothills



Day was spent going up to the
foothills of the Appalachain
Mountains with clear blue skies
and a warming Autumn day.
We went for the funeral of Brad's
girlfriend's grandfather who was
90. Long life. Gorgeous day that
was spent with this son in travels.
That is rare in a large family ~~
time with one son. My daughter
and I do alot together because we
are the "girls!" Then at dinner my
friend in Denver called and it was
snowing!!!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Ordering our Days


As the telephone rang at 8:35 this
morning, I wondered what child of
mine was calling. It was the dentist.
How did they know I was going to call
them to change an appt. on Weds? "Can
you come in this afternoon instead, we
have a cancellation?" I had prayed in church
yesterday for the ordering of my week as my
son arrived to sit by me with the news that his
girlfriend's grandfather had passes away in
his sleep at 90. No health problems, just
sleeping into eternity. This morning I smiled
up to God as He answered my prayers to go to
the funeral on Weds. and already had ordered
my week. He knows. He orders our days. I am
so thankful!

And my broken tooth is fixed!
"Crown Him with many crowns.."



holy experience

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Christmas Arrived



In the form of Victoria Magazine.
May take a cup of tea and sit with
the Nov. Dec. issue. I've got soups
simmering to freeze and eat so
it is quite warm and smells wonderful.
I got The New Laurel's Kitchen Cookbook
from the library to learn a few things.
Bon Appetit!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Weekend upon us


It's been a dreary, rainy week with
a funeral within the days and
a trip to a nearby Abbey-Monastery.
Silence is good. Quiet. I could have
brought that beauty back to my life,
but alas a mom of many children
sometimes has to see that quiet
in the bathroom or the middle of
the night! One son gave me a call~
we're coming ( girlfriend also)
to see that movie ( Where the Wild
Things Are) and to spend the night.
Camping was wet ( with RUF) so plans
changed for Fall Break. The Lord
plans our days , doesn't He.
Amen to that.

Now to cleaning the boy's bathroom!

Got Diana Krall on to work by.,...



Thursday, October 15, 2009

P.G. Wodehouse



Letters from Hill Farm has a birthday
tribute to this British author today,
I have a few of Wodehouse but haven't
read them. Have you?


That reminds me of Emma WOODhouse!


Quotes:

I like my soul the way it is. It may not be
the sort of soul that gets crowds cheering
in the streets, but it suits me.

The Cat-Nappers



For as a dancer, I out-Fred the nimblest Astaire.
Jeeves in the Morning



The great lesson we learn from life is to
know when and when not to be in the
center of things
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Taste of Heaven



Truly we have been blessed to spend
some weeks during the past 30 years
on an island south of Cape Cod.
Block Island, Rhode Island.

We have stayed in that cottage ( the one
which has a barn shape on the right)
which is a famous because a composer
lived there in the early 1900's.
Smilin' Thru is the name of his song and
the cottage was named that.
It looks out to a pond
which you don't see from this photo.
If you walk to the right , you will go
to Rodman's Hollow which is a trail
that goes down below sea level then
up to the sea. We only stayed there
one week the summer one of my sons
graduated from high school. I think
that summer was late June into July.

I remember looking out the top bed-
room window to the huge pond as
the moon shone. I've never had that
experience before or since then.
The ceilings were low so we sort of felt
like giants in a dollhouse! My sons could
come and go as they pleased . Safe place.
They would go down the west side of the
island and one house had several golf
holes set up to play! Free! It always felt
like we had stepped back in time when
children could walk anywhere or bike
anywhere. Good, good memories.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Winston

There is no doubt that it is around the
family and the home that all the greatest
virtues, the most dominating virtues of
human society, are created, strengthened
and maintained.” ~Winston Churchill

Monday, October 12, 2009

Rainy Monday and Gratitude



"It is an old and hackneyed idea to have
a library in one's house; it is a new and
rewarding idea to have a house in one's library."

Christopher Dawson

I'm thankful for the way God brings me
to things I am to read. Or hear.
Or be taught. Now to have a house in
one's library is a new thought.

holy experience

Saturday, October 10, 2009

thoughts



We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

Little Gidding, The Four Quartets

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Makoto Fujimura


Between Two Waves of the Sea


But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity


T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding, The Four Quartets

Tuesday, October 6, 2009



I was delighted to find a book called
Wendell Berry Life and Work by
Jason Peters. It's in the computer
and I look forward to getting it
this week!


The first chapter is called:
Ain't They the Berries!
I love biographies and autobiographies.
This is a collection of essays about
his life and work.
The author meet him in 2004
and writes this:

He showed me a hillside field and said, "one of my great pleasures in life is to mow this field with a team of horses."


He gave me more time than I deserved that day, and since then we have had a few occasions to
meet, either at his house or elsewhere, for a drink or a meal and always for several jokes. He tells a joke as well as anyone I know.

Wendell Berry is the sort of writer you avoid reading at your own peril. Few can write sentences as clear, as immediate, and as faithful to intent as Berry can. You don't often see that these days.

His great concern is the life and health of the world, which he believes we can secure only by dismantling the extractive economy that has given us this standard of living that is neither practically sustainable nor morally defensible. He says, "we must achieve the character and acquire the skills to live much poorer than we do." That's a sentence worthy of contemplation.



Wendell Berry by Jason Peters: Book Cover

Monday, October 5, 2009

Gratitude for bikers


It was fun to pray and support
this Canadian blogger and her
family as they biked to earn $$
for Refugees around the world.
Ann has a wide ministry through
her writing and testimonies.
Bookmark her blog if you haven't.
You will be blessed deeply and widely.
You'll find yourself thinking about
Jesus and life and dirty dishes !!
They all mean life. Beauty.
I'm thankful for Ann's writing .
Pray for her as she writes and clicks
that camera. All to the glory of God.


Got me again



I have read Donald's Miller's new
book in a weekend. Easy. It is sort
of what happened after Blue Like
Jazz but lacks the depth I hoped he
would be revealing. It sort of skims
the idea of story and I want to talk to
him and say "You are in God's story
and God's story has a happy ending."
I'm almost done and maybe it will get
there. Anyways, this morning I read a
bit and here was this poem by W.H.
Auden:

"(she) was my North, my South, my East,
and West
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight , my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever:
I was wrong."

That was at a funeral of his agent's ( of his
speaking tours) wife. She went right into
the arms of Jesus. I cried. The Beauty
of Tragedy. ( title of the chapter.)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Returning to the canvas


My friend Anna moved away
as her last children, a set of
twins, set off to college. They
stayed here instate. She moved
halfway across the country to the
mile high city. Empty nest.
Hands that draw and paint.
She was on hold during the years
of homeschooling and child
training. Oh hold from her artwork.
She has a studio now
and here is some of her work.
She has a show coming up.
Now I would like to get a jet
plane............

Ranier Maria Rilke has become
a mentor to her as God's whispers
came through his writing in the
move west. So seeing this painting
to him, moved me to tear up and
declared the glory of the Lord.
You know when you walk with
someone through times that end
in letting go ( except there are cell
phones, there are computers, there
are airplanes), it brings tears.
She sees life in the pattern of metaphors.
She told me once as we were on a trip
to Maine, to sit on the high cliffs of one
of the islands and SING out to the ocean
a hymn. A new song. Indeed the Lord is
bringing her a new song unto Him.



Autumn Day

Lord, it is time. Let the great summer go,
Lay your long shadows on the sundials,
And over harvest piles let the winds blow.

Command the last fruits to be ripe;
Grant them some other southern hour,
Urge them to completion, and with power
Drive final sweetness to the heavy grape.

Who's homeless now, will for long stay alone.
No home will build his weary hands,
He'll wake, read, write letters long to friends
And will the alleys up and down
Walk restlessly, when falling leaves dance.


Ranier Maria Rilke

Thursday, October 1, 2009

A Bit of Mitford


While standing in line at
Trader Joe's this afternoon,
a couple with grey hair and sort
of a New England look to them in
how they dressed, had to wait
for their card to go through.
Afterwards, the lady said, " At a
book signing ( I've written a couple
of books) , this lady asked me to sign
it saying : "N-a-i-l" . I said NAIL? She replied
"Yes, N-E-A-L......N,,a,,,i,,l." Emma
and I cracked huge smiles.We
are about done reading
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski OUT
LOUD. It reads like that. You have to
have a thick southern accent to read
it and it's fun. Besides you learn who
"Crackers" are. "Hit sure is purty!"
"o'er thar..." You get the picture.
So Emma and I sparkled.
Then as they left , the cashier said,
"Weren't they just like that couple in
'Golden Pond'......his hat was like
Henry Fonda's and she was like...??"
"Katherine Hepburn.


This author told me what books she
wrote and I have one of them.
Then she said,
"You will always remember my last
name because it is how we should be:
Loving."
I asked her if she knew our friends
down at Wycliffe Bible Translators Center
south of our city. YES, she use to work
with him. Here is a link to the
prologue which is a short and amazing
story of God bringing them together.
I love the way it begins like all good
stories: Once upon a time....
She does a little bit like K. Hepburn.
Notice those high check bones!

You just don't think you live
in Mitford, then God gives you a
taste.Real taste. Sure tastes good!
Wish I had more time with her.
Now to find the book on the
shelves.


item photo