Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year



Feeding Birds
By Rumer Godden

‘Scatter us crumbs we
midget are your charity.’

Charity starts in a nest,
the human breast;
like birds
it needs no words
but sings
when it is given;
has wings
to lift
the spirit up,
by gift
of this small water cup,
to heaven;
and warm and light as feathers the bread
spared to see creation fed.


Love in a crumb is a mystery;
bread is the Body of charity;
little nerves of finch or tit
fly down to feast and quicken it;
robin, blackbird, sparrow, wren,
feasted, quicken it in men.


( above: Orchard Cards , UK)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Sacred Meal


When seeing the list of books to review from
Thomas Nelson Publishers ( Booksneeze),
this one immediately got ordered.
This past fall I had a deeper sense of joy
in taking communion while on a trip.
This made me think deeper to how I was
taking practice to this sacrament. Nora
places this "practice"into her own story
yet examines communion in Scripture and
historically. She developed a hunger for
Communion. I felt challenged in my heart :

" In the clear water of our lives lies
undiscovered wine."

Tasting of the joy of Christ comes sometimes
when there is an attitude amongst all of
" glad and generous hearts"( Acts 2:46).
There are whiffs of that when you follow
Jesus. I never have served Communion
which Nora does do in the Episcopal
church as a lay minister.
The act of serving would make Communion
different, I imagine. I don't think that
is where the joy is that Jesus gave. It is in
the communion with Him and with the
communion of the saints.


Nora challenged me to think about this
sacrament in terms of community, the
body of saints.
" Holy Communion was a web, a web
of people who were being stitched together.
And tomorrow, we would need
to be stitched together again.
Over and over. One person to the next.
And I , today, was doing the stitching .....
I was making basic stitches, nothing fancy,
nothing permanent."

The joy that Jesus said to do in remembrance
of Him (a sacred meal) is found in this
sacrament. Our sins are forgiven. Amen.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Friday, December 24, 2010

A Christmas Eve Baby




HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
Bryan who turns 27 today,
very early in the morning, putting
him on Christmas Eve! He is
next to his wife Ashley, who is next to Gordan
and the others on the right:
Evan, Brad, and Emma.

photos taken on Thanksgiving

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Study in Brown words today


Have to write this in brown,
but do read here
at Tonia's blog:

What I really want to be is this morning’s sunrise, a gentle light illuminating dark. I want to be a harp note thrumming constant praise underneath the cacophony; a tiny yellow flower hidden in a vast deep wood; a precious ointment shimmering in an alabaster box, poured out on the feet of Christ in love. And when someday I go home to God I hope to leave behind a trail, marked with the faithful foot scuffs of a woman who was not afraid to let the mystery of Christ speak loudest in her silence.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Gratitude Monday


We are here: the week of
Christmas with all the preparations
and gift giving and singing and
worship and kids coming home
and baking ( although not yet in
our home with Christmas cookies)
and cards and warm drinks.....
Handel's Messiah, a Love Feast,
An Irish Christmas.....
reading
this
and this
now a stack from the library
which includes this.

God gives us nourishment.
Richness of beauty.
I am so thankful
for the glorious music
this season.



Saturday, December 18, 2010

A Gift of the Magi


One son is giving the gift of his
hands ~~ handmade gifts to his
girlfriend. She is an artist so has
made him many fun things!
He said " Maybe I will knit her
a scarf." Mind you, he has only
knit once , way back in homeschooling
for our handwork.

He did do a lengthy project on
chain mail ~~ a knight's headpiece
and hood that covers the shoulders.

What he did yesterday:
made an audio book for her.
Harry Potter!

It reminds me of The Gift of the Magi
by O'Henry...........that good Greensboro
writer. He is one of my husband's
favorite writers.

We read The Best Christmas Pageant
Ever last year with all the kids and
their female friends ( one wife). This
may be the story this year , around
a holiday dinner.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/gift_of_the_magi_400.jpg

Friday, December 17, 2010

Before I loose my place.......Wendell Berry quote

http://eriewire.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/wendell_berry_imagination1.jpg?w=240&h=320


This is a great book to stir up
your soul this Christmas.
I am not underlining but need
to journal on some of the ideas
and great sentences Berry crafts.

" I have been lucky to have a few
friends with whom my conversation
seems never to resume but to continue,
and Hayden is one of them."

From his essay : My Friend Hayden
( Hayden Carruth, poet and friend :
Great poems in Winter North ...
( out of print)
which Berry attributes as a book
that helped him and he treasures)

" I have become his debtor."

Alas, such friends.

Thursday, December 16, 2010


SONG OF ANGELS, WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Added blog links


This design has my links on the
bottom. So if you are interested
most are people I know. I've added
a few more:

Ivory Blush Roses
who does the most exquisite needle
work! It is snowing on her blog today!

Small Meadow Press: Leslie Austin
The Bower

I've bought notecards from Leslie the
past couple of years. Gorgeous and
a style that makes your heart sing.

Lanier Books
Lanier is a book lover and a word lover.
Read to see! She sells old books too!




Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Shirley Hughes' new books


One of our favorite picture book
authors and illustrators is England's
Shirley Hughes. I love her because
she writes of the ordinary things a
child does in childhood. Her new
books are just as wonderful! Shirley
is 83 . The first one is based on her
childhood in Liverpool and a mother
with two children and very poor.
It was in Shirley's mind and heart
to write such a story based on the
1930's in her childhood place. It is
a touching story at Christmas of
kindness and loving one another so
don't let the title fool you. It is a
longer book than the one below.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwRCg9pw5dALJFx3e2GrETtWKByJCCTfhwTrtf2i4T4wYnigHuXYQ33kbe2n7VJxH78zeqRvfkLo_vMtCs62jOyVYVa3_YHUAfOkySko1jrp8KmzRX5xHI4PgqFJJjfVdOvl_BXRV3vM/s1600/610VIuLU7vL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Her other new book tells exactly
what the title says.
Not alot of writing on each page and
the illustrations are priceless.
Lily just doesn't want to go when she
has to stay at a neighbor's because
her mother is sick.

Good interview of Shirley last year
from the Guardian.

http://images.indiebound.com/919/650/9780763650919.jpg

Monday, December 13, 2010

LEE : A LIFE OF VIRTUE

Lee: A Life of Virtue (The Generals)

There have so many books written about
Robert E. Lee and this author has focused
on the core of who Lee was to debunk some
of the myths. John Perry tells the story of
a man we should remember for
his high calling in our nation and as a
hero. General Lee gets wrapped into issues
as one studies the Civil War. This book tries to
unravel those issues to the man who
made decisions based on his devotedness to
Christ.

The book is a bit dry in places but the
premise is good. We need statesmen such
as Lee today . He lead the South, even with
an flaw that was too trusting of his
commanders who believed they had a better
grasp of the situations. But he was honorable
and to not be would have been unthinkable.
He never abandoned his personal standards.
A gentleman. A true warrior.
That is what we need today.



Thomas Nelson Publishers, book review
Find out how you can do this here.

Gratitide this Advent


It is bitterly cold today.
Even more in the mountains
where one of my sons is
finishing up exams. He is
bracing for weather that is
now feels like -10 with the chill
factor. Not sure when this
guy will get home for Christmas!
Surely by the end of the week.


The Messiah was extraordinary
this past weekend at our church.
It was a drama of Handel's life with
choir, soloists , and strings from the
Charlotte Symphony ~~ I've heard
this performance 3 times now and
my eyes still well up with tears at the
beauty. Surely......

"Surely, He Hath Borne Our Griefs/And with His Stripes/All We Like Sheep," 1741

Text from the Bible

I'm thankful for my husband's job that
comes up to 30 years next week. He could
retire but he has some work that greatly
interests him next year with the Big Blue!
Our children are celebrating by taking us
out to dinner. They are thankful which is
a blessing. Tim Keller has a great definition
of blessing but it is in the car and in a book
that is in the car.........and it is too cold to
go out to get it. I'll post it this week!




Friday, December 10, 2010

IN Mitford


We drove up to Boone today
and just as we got near Blowing
Rock , there was the SNOW.
The rest of the day was magical.
Snow, snow , snow.........
Just picking up my freshman
as he finished exams today!

Good timing as I just finished
Jan Karon's lastest book.

Monday's weather in Boone:
Snow squall and temperatures
in the teens with chill factor below
zero. Exams cancelled already.

My senior still has two more exams
to go in that storm.
Yes, two up there just for this year.
You probably have some overlapping
of children where one catches up with
the other and they spend that year
together. Last year was the youngest
two singing with their dad in The
Messiah in the choir. This year only
Dad from our family sings this weekend
for 3 performances.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Winter Song


I finished Jan Karon's new
book that takes place in Ireland.
IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS
Winter cold and staying home today
meant a fire. I couldn't
resist drinking my morning tea and
reading. I miss Father Tim once again.

Now getting Christmas books out.
One is Winter Song by Luci Shaw
and Madeleine L'Engle. What is good
about this book is that it goes into
Ephiphany. You can read most of it
on Google Books here. I have an earlier
edition and like the cover better.

Another series are Miss Read's
Christmas books taking place
in English villages. The Village
Christmas and The Christmas
Mouse and No Holly for Miss
Quinn. I also have started
Elizabeth Goudge's Christmas
Book. I usually don't like fragments
of stories in an anthology but I've
read alot of her books so I'm peeking
back into the stories for Christmas.


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51039hLCVYL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Quote


When He came, there was no light. When He left, there was no darkness." Martin Luther

Monday, December 6, 2010

Gratitude Monday


I've gotten to see my sister
two times in less than two weeks.
She lives 2 hours away.
Last night we went to An Irish
Christmas with Keith and Kristyn
Getty. We were blessed with joy.
I was thankful for the time together:
a shared concert.
We had Julia Child's Lamb Stew very
late upon returning. Scroll down in
the recipes from the director's favorites.

Quite cold here today.
Emma is caroling tonight.
Many will be blessed on this
cold wintry night. Seems like a lost
art ~~~ singing in December in
neighborhoods. Great choir so
it should sound magical!
She wishes we had snow. They
do up in the mountains. We did
see snow on top of a van in the
parking lot ~~ that tells you how
cold it is!


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Roasting to make Turkey Stock

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_orRs9ov04z4siWjcmbSthht6VB2i00MXEQHYMSEwys2If455Ykt9i2NFfJTDo934decmDmjGm99TCm90rb9qntijOVePRPyeycqRkP6juzTLyA4Rifd3WChz_yYxqqyHirCj3ogMafE/s1600/Norman-Rockwell-Thanksgiving.jpg
( Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want)

I am working on my turkey
this afternoon. I'm sure most
have already done that! Me,
I had to let the bird rest and
eat pasta for a couple of days!
Then I really forgot about it
in the basement frig!

Now , the bones are roasted
with this recipe which is from
a magazine but I'm not sure
which one :

TURKEY STOCK

Roasting the bones and vegetables
deepens the flavor of the
stock. Can freeze for 3 months
or in frig. for 3 days. ( just remem-
ber 3!!)

Bones from a 12 lb turkey
1 peeled carrot, cut in half crosswise
1 celery stalk , cut in half crosswise
1/4 onion peeled and quartered
4 qts. cold water
1/8 tsp black peppercorns
4 thyme sprigs
4 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Cut turkey carcass into quarters.
Place bones, carrot, celery, and
onion on a jelly roll pan or roasting
pan. Bake for 35 minutes, stirring
once.
3. Place bones, trimmings , vegetables,
water, and all the ingredients
in a large stockpot. Bring to boil.
Reduce heat. Simmer for 3 hours.
Skim occasionally.
4. Strain sotck over a large bowl.
Cool stock and chill for 8 hours or
overnight. Skim any fat.




Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Magic of the Season


"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder."
—E. B. White



"The Shortening winter's Day is near a close"
1903
Joseph Farquharson ( 1846-1935)


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Dearest Friend


http://images.indiebound.com/063/026/9780674026063.jpg

The book I am
reading :
Letters of John and
Abigail Adams.

He was Lysander. She was Portia.
She wrote him : My Dearest Friend.
He wrote her: Miss Adorable.

I adore a book of letters. I adore
autobiographies. We are studying
American History, so when Emma
( who is reading a biography of
Abigail ) said "Abigail loved Shakespeare"
I could show her Abigail's letters that
had some lines from plays and of
course, Portia from A Merchant in
Venice. Today when I asked her who
Abigail loved, Emma said John!!!!

He wrote her at times about the
education of their children while
he was away at the Continental Congress.
Here is when his son John was 10.

" Tell Mr. John ....that the moral
Sentiments of his Heart, are more
important than the Furniture of his Head.
Let him be sure that he possesses the
great Virtues of Temperance, Justice,
Magnanitmity, Honour and Generosity,
and with this , added to his Parts he
cannot fail to become a wise and great
Man."

" Does he read the Newspapers? The
Events of this War, should not pass
unobserved by him at his years.
As he reads History , you should ask
him, what Events of this War, strike
him most? What Characters he esteems
and admires? Which he hates and abhors?
Which he despises?

No doubt he makes some observations,
young as he is.
Treachery, Perfidy, Cruelty, Hypocrisy,
Avarice,&c &c should be pointed out
to him for his , Contempt as well as
Detestations. "

June 27,1777 , Philadelphia



Monday, November 29, 2010

Be Still



VI
Sit and be still
until in the time
of no rain you hear
beneath the dry wind's
commotion in the trees
the sound of flowing
water among the rocks,
a stream unheard before,
and you are where
breathing is prayer.
Sabbath 2001, Wendell
Berry


Painting by Carl Larsson

Friday, November 26, 2010

Friday that is not black


Not much shopping done by those
in this house on this Friday after
Thanksgiving. We seem to like to
hang out together and eat and read
and watch movies and eat! I am so
thankful for my sister and brother
who came ~~ we are the bottom 3
out of 8 children. This was the first
time since our Mom passed away
six years ago that we have had Thanks-
giving together. AND there they were:
Scripture written on a folded card the
size of a placecard. They were from
a Thanksgiving at my mother's or sister's
house years ago. Memories flooded back.

I'm thankful for this legacy: Scriptures
of thankfulness read by those who were
tiny babes when they were written.
I'm thankful for prayers of our parents
and grandparents. I'm certain of God's
faithfulness to us through those prayers.


"God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Monday, November 22, 2010

Monday before Thanksgiving




Potato Planters 1861


Definitely mean the word THANKFUL
and the word FOOD.
Don't you want to pause and
write down what you are thankful
for in a journal for the grand and great
grandchildren to read in
your handwriting!

We are preparing for a small
crowd of my side of the family
coming here on Thursday.
It will be fun.
Small means 17 people. That
is only 2 of my siblings and their
families ( except one wife, a nurse,
who will be in Op. Room working,
bless her if you need her in the
city she lives in)

What are you making that is a
tradition?

Thinking about what we will sing
as we start the feast:
Celtic Women singing "We gather
together to ask the Lord's blessing..."

Jean-François Millet was born Oct. 4, 1814. His rural paintings are mostly naturalistic depictions of hard-working peasants. However, his Angelus (c. 1857) has a more overt mystical quality to it… Salvador Dali was fascinated by Millet’s canvas, writing an analysis of it and palimpsesting it in his 1933-5 canvas Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s Angelus (located in St. Petersburg, Florida):

paintings by Millet

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Makoto: 4 Holy Gospels


This is what I want for
Christmas.

Read more here.

Reading and Writing: "Q "

http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/images/people/arthur_quiller-couch.jpg

Arthur Quiller-Couch, but do not
pronounce it like a sofa!
~~ just call him Q.


“You are indeed the heirs of a remarkable legacy--a legacy that has passed into your hands after no little tumult and travail; a legacy that is the happy result of sacrificial human relations, no less than of stupendous human achievements; a legacy that demands of you a lifetime of vigilance and diligence so that you may in turn pass the fruits of Christian civilization on to succeeding generations. This is the essence of the biblical view, the covenantal view, and the classical view of education. This is the great legacy of truth which you are now the chief beneficiaries.”

Two books that he wrote on the
ART of Reading and the ART of
Writing that were lectures at
Cambridge in the early 1900's.
Both are online and worth doing
both: reading alongside with a
pen and a journal.


FROM THE ART OF READING:

The first promise is, that What Is, being the spiritual element in man, is the highest object of his study. 33
The second promise is that, nine-tenths of what is worthy to be called Literature being concerned with this spiritual element, for that it should be studied, from firstly up to ninthly, before anything else. 34
And my two quotations are for you to ponder: 35
(1) This, first:

That all spirit is mutually attractive, as all matter is mutually attractive, is an ultimate fact beyond which we cannot go…. Spirit to spirit—as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
36
(2) And this other, from the writings of an obscure Welsh clergyman of the 17th century:

You will never enjoy the world aright till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the stars

From THE ART OF WRITING:

Perspicuity.—I shall waste no words on the need of this: since the first aim of speech is to be understood. The more clearly you write the more easily and surely you will be understood. I propose to demonstrate to you further, in a minute or so, that the more clearly you write the more clearly you will understand yourself. But a sufficient reason has been given in ten words why you should desire perspicuity.



Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Reading and Writing: Wendell Berry


“What I have learned as a farmer I have learned also as a writer, and vice versa. I have farmed as a writer and written as a farmer.”


"Real reading, of course, is a kind of work. But it’s lovely work. To read well, you have to respond actively to what the writer’s saying. You can’t just lie there on the couch and let it pour over you. You may have to read with a pencil in hand and underline passages and write notes in the margins. The poet John Milton understood that the best readers are rare. He prayed to his muse that he might a “fit audience find, though few.”

"It’s awfully hard to have an idea that somebody else hasn’t already had, you know. The French writer André Gide worried that he wasn’t original enough, and then he finally consoled himself by realizing that the same things need to be said over and over again, because the times change, and the context shifts, and the language changes, and ideas need to be expressed again in new ways, to be submitted anew to the test of sentences. But I don’t have much gift for abstract ideas. I’m usually moved to write by practical problems that I’m interested in.
"

Read Ann Kroeker on the most recent Wendell Berry: last wee
k.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Reading and Writing : Amy Carmichael


Thou shalt have words
But at this cost, that thou must first be burnt ...
Not otherwise, and by no lighter touch,
Are fire-words wrought.

from Walker of Tinnevelly
(one of those flip the page of the
old book site!)
by Amy Carmichael
( full poem here)



Stuart Blanch, Archbishop of York

wrote in Learning of God about
Amy Carmichael's reading
that influenced her writing:

"She found a strange and surprising affinity with those writers who — so it would seem — floated inconsequentially into her orbit. In her there was, as it were, a cry of recognition: "It is the Lord!" ... It was by a miraculous alchemy that all these seemingly varied experiences of the living God combined in the hidden life of a largely unknown woman, confined to her room in a distant dependency of the British Empire
."

Frank L. Houghton's Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur quotes Amy in a letter to a friend :

"I feel like offering a slab of chocolate to anyone who will tell me of a superfluous word, i.e. a word that has no work to do." The effort of editing, revising, cutting everything "superfluous" lies at the heart of all really good writing.

From Gold Cord:The Story of a Fellowship:

"It is the eternal in books that makes them our friends and teachers — the paragraphs, the verses, that grip memory and ring down the years like bells, or call like bugles, or sound like trumpets; words of vision that open to us undying things and fix our eyes on them."

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Start of the week before Thanksgiving

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/07_02/rembrantDM2007_468x311.jpg

The Shipbuilder and his Wife, Rembrandt


They are doing their work.
It takes two of them.

Last week was full of work
that included lots of people.
I am thankful for how I am
energized by the relationships
today. God can fill us with rich
food that way. Sometimes I
become needful of isolation and
quiet but today I am ready to
start again.

~I'm thankful for the two gals I
teach with! Truly a blessing!
~I'm thankful for Nancy who
skyped into a workshop morning
on Saturday. I was in awe at
technology!
~The head of this conference came
to give the workshop . I'm thankful
for his calling.
~ Book Club was extraordinary with
a banquet table before us for an
evening discussion of The Prodigal
God by Tim Keller.
~ A young man from New College
Franklin
came to our class to tell us
about this new college and sat around
the table with 16 students eating pizza!
~ A homeschool meeting of Middle-High
School moms on poetry! That subject
always stirs my heart and mind and
even my soul. I'm thankful for the
faithful women educating their children.
They are passionate and determined!
~And my dear husband went to the
Big Apple for a business trip. Then was
fun to hear from him. He's now texting
all on one trip!Never really did much
before with this " way to
communicate" technology!

I love Rembrandt's light.
Shadows are there from the
daytime light from the window. His
light always blesses those who it falls upon.
That is how my week was.




Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Prodigal God ...Keller

Book Club tomorrow night
on this book, a reread and a
good reread :

http://www.deebrestin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/the-prodigal-god.jpg

I just did a picture study with my
sibling Poetry class ( Robert Frost now)
on Rembrandt's painting. Makes me
think of Henri Nouwen's wonderful
book with the
painting on the front:

http://images.betterworldbooks.com/038/Return-of-the-Prodigal-Son-Nouwen-Henri-J-M-9780385473071.jpg

Monday, November 8, 2010

Seeing the best at the Frist




It is an extraordinary collection
in Nashville from the Musee
D'Orsay. Beats a trip to Paris
but wouldn't that be lov-e-ly!
We spent last friday at the
exhibit to see Degas, Monet,
Manet, Bouguereau, Whistler's
portrait of his mother, Renoir,
Pissaro, Cezanne,......it is worth
a trip!

http://www.thebarbarycoastnews.com/media/1/Impressionists-degas455.jpg

Thursday, November 4, 2010

New Letter by Makoto Fujimura

Letter to a Young Artist.
Extraordinary letter
A.....Read here.

http://www.rabbitroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/matthew_14_a1_thumb-300x300-1-150x150.jpg

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Squeezing in a Hello



This week is one of those weeks
that is full and could overflow,
but God knows all of that and more.
So I will talk to him and see the whispers
of His Power.


Glorious , joyful time in Franklin
at the Film Conference. The blessing
is always people! I saw a friend who
I taught with. I saw Linda and
Jeannette along with some others
from Charlotte who have migrated
WEST! Of course, the guy in the bow
tie
and others who led a nourishing
film conference. More on that soon.
Emma is singing tonight at a homeless
shelter, tomorrow at a church lunch,
and friday before Chanticleer.
Full. Joyful. Abundant life.
Gratitude.



Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Rewatching a classic........It is a universal truth


We were struck by the beauty
of the filming of Pride AND
Prejudice by Focus Films as
we rewatched it the last couple
of days. The camera looks down
halls, sees into windows, watches
as Elizabeth Bennett walks or
swings like she's in a Vermeer
painting.

You see we finished
Foyles War last week. So we've
been rewatching favorites.
It is sort of like comfort food.

We will be watching these films
this weekend:

The Steps of Worship: Film and
the Dance of Litany


Good blog by Greg Wilbur on The
Dance as Litany.
Have you seen any of these?
I have seen the first one and the
second. I have read this review of the
last one
written by Jason Saxon
Smith: The Educated Imagination:


A thesis I propose concerning this film is that Marilyn Hotchkiss' story, imagery, and symbolism reflect the work and mission of the Church in the world.
.



http://radicalcivility.org/film/places2.jpg

http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/372/276/31/EnchantedCottage.jpg

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Method of Grace



That is a title of a sermon that
George Whitefield preached on the
onset of the Great Awakening in the
1700's...American Colonies. That
also is what my high school students
were to read for today's class.

One of these students called on her
way , an hour's drive, to class.
"Can I write on that sermon in my
journal?" She was catching up on
something else for me and wanted to
do that too. . So I said:
"You can lead the discussion today!"

She did and all of them wrote how to
apply what Whitefield preached to their
own mind, heart and soul.

Ben Franklin was a close friend of
Whitefields. He wrote:

"wonderful...change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street."

The Lord gave me something .....
Grace. I was searching for what to do
in class when she called.
The Lord cares more than I
ever can imagine about the hearts
and the minds of each in class today.
He showed me that!
I could have sang! Imagine walking
our streets as Franklin did and
hearing...........psalms!





Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday rain of gratitude


Weekends can mean boys coming
home and one did for Fall Break.
Our cat, Oreo, had her ears perked
and sort of a "who is that" look on
her whole body: Gordan's voice
came booming up the stairs and
then she knew who he was! Good
weekend and all the guys but one
came here for some time during the
weekend. The other was kayaking
to Capers Island, SC to camp for his
Fall Break. Gorgeous weekend. The
skies alone gave you a good mood
and a longing to travel and be outside.

One new soup that I made by Julia
Child: Mushroom Soup. Recipe from
a blogger.
Mine from Julia's book.
The same in both places.
Gordan loves mushrooms. So you
know when anyone in the family
comes home after being away, what
do you do? You cook for them.
You cook what they love.

Heading out of town towards the end
of the week to a film conference.

I read alot in Jan Karon's new book.
It put a good mood in my heart.




Friday, October 22, 2010

It arrived .........

Font size


http://images.indiebound.com/120/022/9780670022120.jpg

I read two chapters
outside on the back deck
while having an hor d'oeuvre
in the gorgeous late afternoon
sun. Must have some amethyst
in the sky as the sun set............
according to this poet:

"October" by Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

Amazing.....when things happen



Like on Saturday.
To the Farmer's Market.
Then my husband catching
up with me. We go to the
Thrift Store ......because I
just had gotten up in the
morning and thought I better
go. For what? We have
everything we need. So I went.
Don't you know when the Spirit
moves upon you , you listen.
You go.

At the Thrift Store, Ken finds
some denim shirts which he loves
to wear. Half price. They are already
cheap and now cheaper. I then
decide to look at the tops because
they too are half price. That keeps us
there longer than just running in to
look about. We found a lamp and if
you knew our household, we are
hard on ~~ lamps and chairs.
So again, my husband is happy.
$3.00. He leaves ( we are in 2 cars)
and then in walks a dear friend who
has gotten a job and I don't see as much.
There we hugged , exclaimed God's
goodness in her just stopping by to
look at baby books. She was just with
her new grandson. There we praised the
Lord in gratitude and went out for
coffee! We caught up.

All day long I felt loved and cared for
by my heavenly Father.

I'm thankful for a daughter-in-law
who stopped by late Sunday afternoon.
Just to catch up.






Thursday, October 14, 2010

Best Selling Book: 1662



My high school literature class
has just read 30 stanzas of the
best selling book in 1662.
Imagine.
That was a huge number in the
New World.
Did you ever read any of it or know
about it in your education?

It is The Day of Doom by Rev. Michael
Wigglesworth. He wrote 208 stanzas.
He was taught by the first Pres. of
Harvard, then a seminary, Rev. Increase
Mather. Then Rev. Cotton Mather
preached Wigglesworth's funeral.
A Bible and a good education = this
work.

Today we listened at the end of class
to Keith Green's song: The Sheep
and the Goats
. Remember him?
He wrote There is a Redeemer,
Lord, You are Beautiful
( this has a live track...really good!)
You Put the Love in My Heart,
Easter Song, How Majestic is Thy Name.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Vh-g0xucPifiC0mJmPIEY_Q2ZYWOEdG95decUYTFDP81NrI7Oh7QxaVW00XgN34cmLEwY-PjIczQ2OCRRQmOy3qoXXxO9olQZiK1N5RBAiKfQyeSqiW8nIrqEHAgH0l-SGHv5c6okqUZ/s320/wigglesworth+day+of+doom.jpg


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Books from the library


http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51G4QdFRyDL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU15_.jpg

http://www.vaboomer.com/tomato-garlic-book.jpg

http://rgr-static1.tangentlabs.co.uk/images/bau/97815592/9781559213929/0/0/plain/letter-from-new-york-a-journal-of-the-city.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ETFC30JZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BXB1T0JQL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

And several Betsy Tacy books.
I never read them having all those
boys! I want to read all of them.
Have you?



Monday, October 11, 2010

Monday Gratitude

My husband said this past
weekend that Monday is Canada's
Thanksgiving.They celebrate on the
weekend. It is not the same Pilgrims
but for the homecoming, not harvest,
of Martin Frobisher: explorer of the
Northwest Passage in the late 1500's.
It was to celebrate his long journey and
survival.Later, Henry Hudson didn't make it
back. So I thought about Ann....and her
blog that talks into our lives. Aren't you
thankful for her?!

I am for others that I do know:

Beth
, for a wonderful bird walk on Weds.
and her class for my daughter. I praised
the Lord that I could walk at the Greenway
for 2 hours without pain! ( see Emma on the
far left in the back)

Amber
, for seeing you more now! You keep
me thinking of how to live well unto the Lord!

Dotsie, for all your encouragement in letters,
emails, and teas! You have put so much into
my daughter's heart too!

Tammy
, for your visit this past summer! And
your love for your daughter, math for my
daughter, and hopefully will see you soon
( getting you up here to speak).

Nancy, for new titles of books and digging in
together on the net for how to do all of this
home ~~ school ~~ ing a la Charlotte Mason.
Hope Canada was so very good.

Jennie
, your love of Charlotte Mason,
leading our book discussion last year
and digging into those ideas!

Melissa
, your motherhood strengthens
me! You know I find myself praying for you
and your family. It's your transparent writing!
And escaping into books. Good ones!

Sara, thank you for your postcards that
lifted me up postsurgery! I got reading
your blog when you posted on Elizabeth
Goudge! Good book titles from you!

George,
I have been changed by this man's work.
Thank you.




Sunday, October 10, 2010

Sabbath Reading

From Makoto Fujimura
in the style of Revelation
to the churches:
A Letter to North American
Churches from an Artist.