Finished: A Long Way From Chicago

Loved it. Read it again.

A Long Way From Chicago, Richard Peck

Finished: Danny the Champion of the World

This is the first book by Roald Dahl that I have actually enjoyed. In fact, I like it so much, I'm reading it to the kids.

Danny the Champion of the World, Roald Dahl

Finished: Babette's Feast

A collection of short stories (anecdotes of destiny) by Isak Dinesen. Enjoyable first read. No need to reread, except for the first, and most famous.

Babette's Feast, Isak Dinesen

Finished: A Day No Pigs Would Die

Another goodie. For the kids to read later (high school).

A Day No Pigs Would Die, Robert Newton Peck

Finished: The Cay

Excellent. Definitely a re-read by the kiddos when they are "of age".

The Cay, Theodore Taylor

Finished: Dead or Alive

Tom Clancy - you should write your own books. They're much better that way. Once they were timeless. Now you're adding current pop culture references like Starbucks and Angelina Jolie, and it's just not nearly as much fun. But I'll read them anyway. Because I still like them.

Dead or Alive, Tom Clancy

My Experiment

Here's an experiment I retroactively am trying to see if it speeds up the "home improvement project time".

Step 1: Put foot in freestanding sink that is not securely attached to the wall.
Step 2: Turn on water and begin to use pumice stone to slough off dead, dry skin on heels that has accumulated because you walk around all the time, inside and out, in your bare feet.
Step 3: (And this is really important...) Lean into sink with too much pressure, as though you're trying to stand in it.

Result: Sink totally comes off the wall. Make sure you catch the sink and turn the water off. Then call for help. (Realize that whomever you may be calling to might be using headphones to watch Inception for the 45th time on the computer, so you may want to stomp on the floor some to get his attention, being sure to not awaken the children, because, after all, it is 10:30 at night.

Hypothesis to be tested: Causing sink to come off of the wall will result in a new sink being attached correctly to the wall in a faster amount of time than fixing the original problem. (We've know about the problem for 6 months. Therefore, if a new sink is installed in less than 6 months, this experiment will be a success, and I will recommend it to all my friends.

Hope?

"the Universe in its abundant grace will provide for you and carry you and your family through this challenging path. All the love, peace, and joy that exists are yours and exist inside you... just be in the moments and try not to judge them."

I read this attempt at encouragement today from one person to another. I'm still processing its implications. I had begun to write my thoughts about it, but they were just going all over the place. I'm just going to let stand on it's own for now.

Came and Went

This is a quote from a Fox News article regarding the recent Camping "came and went".

"The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he (Camping) said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there's no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on Oct. 21."

May we never stop preaching the Good News of Christ!

And Speaking of Police

I thought this was really funny.

Police Action

I'm thinking that when I drive by a police officer my instinctive thought should not be relief that I wasn't caught, but shame that I was not abiding by the law to begin with.

Every Sunday

I ran across this thought this morning, and it rings true: Every Sunday is a weekly Easter.

Baked Whiskers

I ran across this term today, and that's all I have to say about it. Do you know what it is, without looking it up?

True Humility

Tim Challies hsd a book review on his website today. In talking about battling envy, he paraphrased the author's assessment of Charles Wesley, "To delight in the superiority of another. There is humility." It occurred to me that while this works horizontally, with our relationships with others, this should describe our relationship with God. We should delight in His superiority, not trying to master or control our situations, but rely on him alone. This is, indeed, humility.

VW - Seriously Cool

The Green Desktop

So when did the trash can on the desktop become the recycle bin?

No Record of Wrongs

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

I would advocate keeping this to the forefront of your mind when reading your e-mail. It may just be the right thing to do to hit the delete button. No need to read it later. Or forward it for discussion.

Calling All Banana Lovers...

Just so I can be sure to be fair and balanced, here is a health report on that most malodorous of fruits, the banana.

Got Networking Issues?

With All Due Respect

Doesn't the very phrase "with all due respect" imply that there is no respect due?

Holy Sonnet

I prayed some of these lines for a non-believer today.

This was my prayer: "Batter her heart, three-personed God. Take her to you, imprison her, for she, except you enthrall her never shall be free, nor ever chaste, except you ravish her."

I love this sonnet.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

John Donne

Mom in a Day

I think this is just as funny, every single time I've seen it.

The Timing is Off

This clock was a wedding gift, and I just noticed it's error - 14 years later.

Christmas for Real

There's nothing like Neil Diamond singing "Joy to the World".

Helpful Counsel in Counsel

Succinct. Counsel. Good.

Read Ed Welsh's thoughts.

Guardians of Time

Here is a thought-provoking, challenging and extremely helpful post on guarding our children's time and raising them to be worshippers of God. Thanks to the husband for forwarding this one.

Excerpts: The Autobiography of Mark Twain

"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it."

Chapter 1, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, edited by Charles Neider

Excerpts: Surprised By Joy

"You may add that in the hive and in the anthill we see fully realized the two things that some of us most dread for our own species -- the dominance of the female and the dominance of the collective."

Surprised By Joy, chapter 1, C.S. Lewis

Which Word?

I had to choose tonight between 2 words:

Hullaballoo and Brouhaha

It was a tough choice.

Finished: The Sea of Monsters

John? When's the next one coming? John? Hello? Are you out there? I want to keep reading.

The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan

Finished: Surprised By Joy

I actually found this book difficult to read, with all of the literary allusions and philosophical meanderings. I did enjoy it, however, but would only commend it to a certain type of person.

I did like the picture of being pulled into God...such irresistible grace.

Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, C.S. Lewis

Bacon

Are 4 pieces of bacon too many to put on my salad? If so, I can just eat one.

Nutty Bars

Those Little Debbie Nutty Bars I bought on a whim at BJ's? What was I thinking? They are TERRIBLE for you! I can't give them to the kids as a treat. I'll just have to eat them myself.

Finished: Robinson Crusoe

I know this book has wonderful insights and value to it, but here are my two thoughts:

1. What!? No chapter breaks?

2. I thought his guy Friday was a main character. He doesn't show up until over half the book is through!

Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe

Finished: The Lightning Thief

A terrific middle school book by Rick Riordan, this has just the right mix of Greek mythology and modern day life to make a good read. John - pass on the rest of the series to me, will you?

This is much better than the movie (of course). Percy Jackson and the Olympians are seemingly challenged, ADHD, dyslexic kids who are actually offspring of gods and mortals. An interesting way to explain dyslexia...their brains are hard-wired for Greek, which they can read just fine.

I know my son will like these books when he gets a bit older.

The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

The Great Physician

One stanza of a myriad, by George Herbert.

Now heal thyself, Physician; now come down.
Alas! I do so, when I left my crown
And Father's smile for you, to feel his frown:
Was ever grief like mine?

Just For Laughs

This is the kind of thing I find hysterical! Catalog Living.

Talk to the Man

When you're in the grocery store, make sure you stop and chat with the Herrs' man if he's stocking the shelves. He's got coupons in his pocket!

On My Towel

Always looking for good reading material in the bathroom, I resorted to reading the tag on the hand towel. I thought I'd pass along the very interesting information that it contained.

"Machine Wash Warm. Tumble Dry. Wash Dark Colors Separately and Before Using. Do Not Bleach. Avoid Contact With Medication Containing Benzoyl Peroxide."

Cars

It's really hard to find a used car these days. Everything is pre-owned.

Finished: The Wrecker

True to Clive Cussler, The Wrecker was Tom Clancy on sedatives. I say that because while Clive is somewhat enjoyable as a story-teller, and knows his "train talk", he doesn't compare in his ability to come up with as complicated and marvelous of a plot.

An easy read.

The Wrecker, Clive Cussler

Finished: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

A far cry from the other book I just finished!

This was highly recommended to me by someone who doesn't know me well and referred to me to form an opinion by someone who does.

Horrible.

And that's all I have to say about it.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney

Finished: Anne Bradstreet Pilgrim and Poet

It is always an encouragement and a discouragement to me to read of godly women, their trials, and their response.

Anne Bradstreet is no exception.

Bearing severe trials, she constantly put her eyes back onto Christ. I want to be that way. I desire to have nothing but a God-ward look when I am pressed to disbelieve or despair. But in reading her life and her poetry, I realize that her godliness is not separate from her sin. She is so real about her struggles and temptations. Similar to King David, she lays out her fears and through her pen-song, is brought to an ever-increasing trust in her Saviour.

A pilgrim I, on earth perplexed
with sins, with cares, with sorrows vexed,
by age and pains brought to decay,
and my clay house mould'ring away.
Oh, how I long to be at rest,
and soar on high among the blest!

Mine eyes no more shall ever weep,
no fainting fits shall me assail,
nor grinding pains my body frail;
with cares and fears ne'er cumbered be
nor losses know, nor sorrows see.

And when a few years shall be gone,
this mortal shall be clothed upon...
in weakness and dishonour sown,
in power 'tis raised by Christ alone.

Lord, make me ready for that day,
Then come, dear Bridegroom, come away.

Anne Bradstreet: Pilgrim and Poet, Faith Cook

Target Practice

I guess this product is why Target is called Target.

Finished: Our Mutual Friend

You know, if you give a character the name Eugene and make him dispicable, it doesn't really matter what happens in the end, does it?

This is a definite read-again, as I believe all Dickens are. Love the characters, love to hate the characters, love to see how they carry on together or destroy one another...

Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens

The Forecast

I suppose if you're from Mercury, 87 degrees may be considered colder.

Finished: Fahrenheit 451

A good point made in this novel...

Toward the end, the main character is told he is Ecclesiastes. In other words, he is the one that carries it around in his head, so he is classified as the carrier of that book. Aren't we, as Christians, to become the words that we read in Scripture? If we carry God's Word in our heads and in our hearts, then they should change us. We should become known by the Word imprinted upon us.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Excerpts: Seeing With New Eyes

"Those you counsel must know that God is gracious. They must receive and depend on real grace. No one can truly change who does not know and rely on gifts from the hand of the Lord. Since Christ is both Giver and Gift, attempts to change without grace are barren of the very purpose, power, and Person that change is about. Self-manufactured changes do not dislodge almighty me from the center of my tiny self-manufactured universe. Still in the futility of my mind and the hardness of my heart, I only act a bit different. Successful living without grace describes mere self-reformation: get your act together, save your marriage, get off your duff and get a job. Failure in living describes failed self-efforts: when you can't get a grip, you despair. Christless, grace-less attempts at change conclude either with the praise of your own glory or with your shame."

Seeing With New Eyes, David Powlison, Chapter 2, p 48

Successful Parenting

Ed Welch of CCEF posted this the other day, and I found it encouraging. Well, as encouraging as something can be when you realize that you haven't "arrived".

I was challenged in contemplating the question, "What are you learning about Jesus?"

What am I learning about Jesus?

And if I can't come up with something, then get in the Word!

Finished: Pudd'nhead Wilson

Entertaining Mark Twain. Wouldn't read it again, but glad I read it once. I'll hang on to it.

Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain

Finished: Moll Flanders

Weird. A book purporting to be against immorality by revealing the (successful!) life of an immoral woman and her supposed redemption.

Interesting. Not really worth an additional read.

Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe

Word Derivation

While I know that nettoyant pour le corps means body wash (it says so on the bottle), I can't help thinking every time I see it that it means soap for dead people.

Finished: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

You know, I always thought that 20,000 leagues was a measurement of depth, but through my (third!) reading of the book, I realized that it is the measurement of distance travelled under the sea.

I really, really like this book: the time it was written coupled with the technology foreseen...add to that the remembrance of the DisneyWorld ride when I was in 5th grade, and the mysterious Captain Nemo, and add to that the compelling plot, the mysteries of the deep...

I'll keep picking this up every few years and reading it again.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne

Control of Birth Control

Al Mohler has a timely commentary on The Pill.

Bird Song

Normally background noise with their twitters, cheeps and chirps, I understood the birds I sat outside while dawn broke this Resurrection morning.

Alto started, Cardinal constant in Cheerfulness. Bass resonated, Dove full of Sorrow, unmatched in his Grief. Soprano joined with her descant, Chickadee with reminders of Hope. Tenor, it seemed, had forgotten his part.

It was fully morning. The dawn had broken. The birds went back to their twittering.

Yet Tenor had not forgotten, was not late, as Owl, when all was silent for a moment, reverberated his part, declaring Truth.

The choir was joined by a part not written, a rogue line in the music, Flicker mocking.

Then all was silent.

I waited for Owl to reverberate Truth. I waited, knowing that Truth was the answer, the next line. But Owl was silent.

Instead, after the mocker, Grief came again, Dove resonating.

And they began their song anew.

Joy. Sorrow. Hope. Truth.

Search Me, O God

In self-righteousness, I protest, "But what about all those other things that I do?"

This in response to, "Why didn't you remember to do this? And how could you forget to do that? And that other thing...I can't believe you didn't do it!"

The bottom line is that those things that I have been "called out on"...the things I didn't do...I should have done. Self-righteousness has no place protesting against neglecting to exhibit love and gratitude. While I recognize that I cannot do it all, surely there are things that I overlook or neglect that are to my shame when I do not do them.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. " Psalm 139:23-24

A Timely Link

In the midst of conversations about contentment, paying for children's college educations and adoption, this post covers it all. Even boob jobs. (Her words, not mine.)

Please read it.

A Brilliant Marketing Campaign?

"A Chicago area urology practice is promoting vasectomies by informing potential patients that if they get the procedure done right before March Madness, that they’ll be able to stay at home for a few days to recover and watch some of the games uninterrupted reports the Southtown Star." (read more)

So, is this a strategic marketing campaign? After all, most men don't require an excuse to sit down and watch a series of games on TV. This just gives them an added incentive to be able to do so under doctor's orders. And on the surface, I think it sounds like an absolutely brilliant marketing campaign.

But is there a hidden agenda? Is it an attempt to sterilize our male population? I mean, can a guy just walk into the doctor, say "Hey, sign me up" and there's no further discussion about it? Are there any questions asked, protocols followed other than a few waivers and consents signed? I am sure the answer to this question varies by doctor.

And the procedure is reversible. In that sense, it isn't a permanent sterilization, should someone change his mind. But does the procedure enable more activity with less consequences? Would mass sterilization of our male population actually be of benefit, or would we find it leading to even further depths of immorality? Does marketing vasectomies in this manner trivialize the procedure into something to be done on a whim, with no consideration of the consequences?

You know, there are times when I should ask myself, "Is the kitchen clean yet?" And then I should go clean it. This may be one of those times.

Check This Out!

My sister opened an Etsy shop, that you simply must visit, just because it looks so nice!


Go see kassiescreations.

Glad I Read That

The back of my deodorant container caught my eye this morning.

Directions: Put on underarms only.

I was just getting ready to smear some on my head. Good thing I can read.

For My Own Contemplation

I was interested in this article in Newsweek about antidepressants, that poses an interesting dilemma. Posting it here for contemplation.

Integrity

Andree Seu has some great thoughts on integrity today at WORLDmag.com. Here's a taste:

"I want to be a person of “integrity,” not of spare parts hanging out all over the place that need to be constantly tucked back in, like Scarecrow stuffing his shirt in The Wizard of Oz."

I'll Show You My High Beams!

It was a dark, dark night. I was driving home from church. The car coming toward me had the audacity to flash his high beams at me.

"You wanna see high beams? I"ll show you high beams." And I flicked my lights back at him.

I pulled up to the traffic light, wondering why people felt it so important to flash beams at people when they were annoyed by the intensity of the lights. I mean, can't we just let things go? So you had a moment of discomfort when my bright lights hit your eyes.

Then the light struck me. There were no beams coming from my car. My headlights weren't on.

Excerpts: A Quest for More

"It is possible for us to profess allegiance to the big kingdom and yet, in our daily choices, be fighting for the success of the kingdom of one.

...there is grace for this battle! In the person and work of Jesus Christ, God has made ample provision for you and me as we live with kingdoms in conflict. His grace blows a hole in your self-contained kingdom, and in his redemptive love he reaches in and pulls you our, again and again."

A Quest for More, Paul David Tripp, pp 66, 68

I just love that visual. God's grace blowing a hole in my self-constructed wall and His great arm of mercy reaching in and plucking me out!

Finished: Debt of Honor

I picked this up at a book sale, not realizing that it was already in my basement and I had already read it. No matter. Enjoyed it again. (How could you not enjoy espionage, national security and "Get me the President!"?)

Spoiler: Jack-boy becomes president. Didn't we know that from the very first Clancy book?

Debt of Honor, Tom Clancy

Finished: The Possessed

What a terribly depressing book! I loved it! However, because pretty much everyone dies in the end, I've decided to not rename my children things like "Kirilov" and "Stepan Verkhovensky". The back cover sums up the book quite well: "...the young men...combine fanaticism, treachery and self-contradiction to incite an entire town to pillage, arson and slaughter." Premise: man creates chaos to match his tortured soul.

Thank God (literally) for Christ.

The Possessed, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

So Cavalier About Sin?

There are two bakeries that I pass relatively frequently: Sinfully Delicious and Sinful Delights. I find the names distracting. They do not entice me to purchase their goods at all.

The names' purposes are to allure and entice...to get you into the shop and purchase supposedly delicious baked goods. It is ok to name the stores this because it's a lie? It isn't really a sin to eat them, therefore, you can call it sinful? But then, isn't the lie a sin?

Why aren't casinos named things like "Spending in Sin" and whorehouses named "Sin and Stuff"? Why do baked goods qualify to have sin in their titles, and it's ok?

This is more a random thought...perhaps I'm overreacting a bit. But there should be great caution in how we utilize the English language. How many times (and I hear it over and over again) have you heard the phrase, "That's such a sin", but it's not referring to sin at all?

Our world does not recoginize the evil and destructive nature of the sin that dwells in us.

The Tongue

I was encouraged, edified and admonished (sorry, couldn't come up with another "e" word) by this post this morning.

A Beating Heart

As I draw closer to my midwife appointment, more and more anxiety sets in. I say to myself, "If only I could just hear the heart beat again. Then my fears will be stilled."

It occurs to me that the same thing occurs when feelings of doubt and questioning rise up within me about my spiritual life. If only I could sense that my heart was right...if only I could hear my heart beat.

Doubt and anxiety are rebellious irrational things. They rise up out of our hearts when logic defies them.

So this is why I can sing:

I lay my wants on Jesus; all fulness dwells in him;
he heals all my diseases, he doth my soul redeem:
I lay my griefs on Jesus, my burdens and my cares;
he from them all releases, he all my sorrows shares.

I rest my soul on Jesus, this weary soul of mine;
his right hand me embraces, I on his breast recline.
I love the name of Jesus, Immanuel, Christ the Lord;
like fragrance on the breezes his name abroad is poured.

stanzas 2 and 3, I Lay My Sins On Jesus, Horatius Bonar

Cultivating Thankfulness

As we teach our children to pray, we begin with simple thoughts of thanks. "Thank you for food. Thank you for dad. Thank you for peanut butter sandwiches."

I've noticed a habit in both of my older children that they continue to pray in thanks for requests. "We thank you that you would get Aunt Kristen home safely." "We thank you that you would help me sleep without a bad dream."

Perhaps it isn't quite intentional on their part, but I've learned a bit of anticipating the goodness of God in requests when they pray like that.

Swiss Cheese

My spouse wondered why I eat it.

My comment was that it made me feel holey.

His comment was that it makes him feel neutral.

Disgusting!

I find it revolting to look through the coupons from the Sunday paper, find one that looks really yummy, then discover that

IT'S DOG FOOD!

Finished: Me and Mr. Darcy

Just a waste of time book. Why do I bother? Because I'm exhausted and need something to keep me awake. Don't read it.

The premise is that every woman wants a Mr. Darcy. Then the book sets out to show why that isn't so.

Me and Mr. Darcy, Alexandra Potter

Not So Fun

It just isn't as much fun Christmas shopping when on the way there, you get a ticket for turning the wrong way, and the cost of the ticket is how much you were planning on spending.

Finished: The English Patient

So I can see why this would be chosen to be made into a movie, although I have no desire to see it. The text leaves you a bit muddled as to who is speaking and who is listening. But all in all, a rather compelling saga about putting life back together (or not) after wartime.

The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje

Homeless. Hungry!

I was driving home from an appointment this afternoon. I passed a man sitting on the side of the road holding a sign.

Homeless. Hungry! Please help.

My initial reaction was to lock the doors. Then my heart softened, and I remembered that I had a container of crackers in my bag. (I carry crackers wherever I go these days.)

I rolled down my window, eager to offer something to a hungry man.

"I have crackers. Do you want crackers?"

"I can't take the salt," he refused.

I can't take the salt.

Finished: The Worthing Saga

I find it revealing of the compelling nature of the Word of God that people can't help but use it in their own "creation" of society.

The Worthing Saga, Orson Scott Card

Go Fish

My kids have a Golden Book Go Fish game. In this game, you have to get four of a kind of the characters from certain Golden Books. My son and my daughter have two entirely different strategies on how to play this game.

My son plays to win. If you drop a card, and he sees it, there is no mercy. He asks for it the next time around. He strategizes, asks for different cards, remembers who had what the last time he went. He alternates players to ask on different turns. As a result, he ends up with a lot of matches.

My daughter, on the other hand, has only one goal: to get all four cards of the Poky Little Puppy. If she's got one in her hand, she asks for them every time. She'll ask you again, and again, and again. She does not stop until she gets all four. Subsequently, the number of matches that she gets are few, and she is devastated if someone asks her for the Poky Little Puppy, and they are removed from her domain.

There's something about that single-minded devotion to a particular thing that resonates within me. It's not the right way to play. Or is it?

"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." 1 Chronicles 28:9

Because You Need To Know

One ostrich egg is equal to 22 chicken eggs.

Finished: Overdose of Death

On a Hercule Poirot kick. He's not my favorite, but then again, I don't know French.

Overdose of Death, Agatha Christie

Finished: Curtain

Agatha, Agatha, Agatha. You surprised me this time.

Curtain, Agatha Christie

Finished: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM

It didn't seem to matter how endearing and resourceful Mrs. Frisby was. When I heard the scurry under the stove, I hightailed it upstairs and spent the rest of the night there.

Children's Literature

Here's an interesting insight from Al Mohler, and a caution to know what the books and movies our children read and watch are about.
My complaint about Harry Potter falls exactly into this category: the boy is disobedient and often doesn't get disciplined as he ought because he's "the one". As if our children's brilliance and talents supercede our parental authority! Likewise with the Goofy Movie. Such disrespect Max has for his Dad!

Amazing Grace

Click on it. I'm ready for being there ten thousand years, just like that, but better!

CLICK

**NOTE: I don't know who these men are, but I can worship while they sing, even if they aren't worshiping (which I don't know if they are or not, so I'm just sayin'...) That's why the ten thousand years will be better.

I've Got To Stop Posting Before 7 AM

This is just getting out of hand. But I just got this error message when I was posting a comment on a blog:

"You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down."

The Vowel

This is a sentence to explore the usage of vowels:

His immanence was imminent.

The Bottom Line

So, the bottom line is that you're just the same as everyone else, it just manifests itself differently. So quit being so critical.

Finished: The Umbrella Man and other stories

I know understand why I didn't like James and the Giant Peach. It is because Roald Dahl was meant to write short stories...this is his forte.

I absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed every single short story in this collection. (You can disregard the fact that I like most short stories in general...there's just something about that genre.)

At any rate, this collection did not disappoint me. At first when I saw who it was by, I thought to myself, "I've had enough of him". Glad I read the "and other stories" part on the cover, and decided to read it.

The Umbrella Man and other stories, Roald Dahl

Learn It, Live It

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11

He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9

I'm going to try to let it go, now. Lord, help me live it.

Finished: Nemesis

Halfway through, I figured it out. Wa-hoo. Hopefully, that wahoo is not an indication that familiarity breeds contempt.

Nemesis, Agatha Christie

Finished: Dances With Wolves

Kevin Costner ruined this book for me. I could have forgotten, because I don't think I ever saw the movie, but his face is plastered on the cover of the book. And every time he thought or spoke, all I could think of was whiny-nasal-monotone-voice-man, Kevin Costner.

There is a gem hidden within the custom of naming people. The names given to the Comanche people are all meaningful, based on what they have done or what their personalities display. Stands With a Fist, Kicking Bird, Wind in His Hair, Smiles a Lot, Dances With Wolves...

It causes me to consider my family: From Trial Comes Joy, Reads Forever, Deer Legs and Cheer-giver.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Why is it that Jack gets to be the star of all of the nursery rhymes?

Link It: The Pharmaceutical Umbrella

Vely Vely Intelesting.

An insightful line: Take away the profit motive, as government-run medicine often does by forcing drug companies to sell at discounted prices, and innovation will dry up.

Making Old Age Happy

Tim Challies has a beautiful excerpt up on his site reflecting on how to make our old age happy.

The important practical question is, How can we so live that our old age, when it comes, shall be beautiful and happy? It will not do to adjourn this question until the evening shadows are upon us. It will be too late then to consider it. Consciously or unconsciously, we are every day helping to settle the question whether our old age shall be sweet and peaceful or bitter and wretched. It is worth our while, then, to think a little how to make sure of a happy old age.

It's worth the read.

Finished: Crooked House

Another Agatha Christie completed. These books are great to read just before bed. They're interesting enough that you don't fall asleep on them, but not so interesting that you read until the wee hours of the morning just to see who done it. This one had an interesting psychology to it as well.

Crooked House, Agatha Christie

Excerpt: Speaking Truth In Love

I had read this some time ago, and was reminded of it in reading RB's blog. (I'd link you there, but if you're not one of the "in" folk, you'd just come up empty.) I thought an excerpt of what I had read would be timely.

From David Powlison, Speaking Truth in Love, Suffering and Psalm 119

How do you handle a sleepless night? You're lying awake; where do you go in your mind? How do you feel? It just so happens that Psalm 119 mentions being awake at night four times.

I remember your name in the night and keep your law....At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous ordinances....I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for your words. My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on your word. (vv.55, 62, 147-148)

A sleepless night is not the harshest form of suffering. It brings you down by slow erosion, not devastating landslide. Sleeplessness is tiresome and tiring. That much is obvious.

Now to the less obvious. What do you think about when you lie awake at night? Does your mind run to tomorrow? Do you pre-solve every problem that might arise? Does your mind run to yesterday, brooding over your own failures? Do you replay the hurtful videotape of what someone else did or said?

Do you just run away, turning to escapist, feel-good fantasies? Do you lie awash in your hobbies, immorality, athletic dreams or vacation plans?

Or in the long night hours, do you cycle through anxieties: money, kids, terrorists, singleness, church problems, sickness, loneliness, and lots more? Do you sink into a pool of depressed resignation? Or do you attach all your hopes to some promise of sleep? If you pray, is the focus solely on your desire for sleep, based on Psalm 127:2?

Does Psalm 119 have anything to say about these parking places for the heart? It changes every one. Whether the hours are marked by tedium or swept into some dark frenzy, those hours are largely God-less. Psalm 119 describes hours full of God. It doesn't promise sleep (though rest is a good gift); it promises to change sleeplessness.

Still More Closely To Him Cling

I was trying to brush my daughter's hair. "It hurts!" she cries. She wraps her arms around my waist, shoving her face into my belly.

It's really hard to brush hair in that posture.

Not so with God. The more tightly we cling to Him, the more He can accomplish through us.

Finished: Going To Ground

Amy Blackmarr reflects quite poetically in this series of essays. Her stream-of-consciousness-like manner carries the mood of the essays well, and she has a pleasant manner of writing that is rather moving.

I had won this book, and was unsure of what was in store for me. It is a book that I would pick up again to soften me into a more thoughtful mood about what is going on around me. Her writing took me to a once upon a time vacation in Maine.

Going To Ground, Amy Blackmarr

Finished: Middlemarch

I really had to discipline myself to get through the first half of this book. I found not a character in it had that all-redeeming quality that I enjoy in a good read: honor.

By the second half, all of the dishonorable characters had been established and introduced, and what was left was to sort out what miserable strains they all needed to follow to bring the book to it's climax and end.

Now I have the DVD to watch, and it's one of those rare times that I'm hoping it's nothing like the book.

Middlemarch, George Eliot

Finished: George Washington Carver: The Man Who Overcame

Quite by accident, this book came into my hands. It wasn't on my list. In fact, I didn't even know it existed. But one day, while a friend stopped by to pick up a book to read, he just happened to have this in the front seat of his van. "Would you like to read it?" But of course!

George Washington Carver truly was the man who overcame. This book, in a very easy manner, relates his life story. His life made me cry. His life made me laugh. His life made me marvel at the way God can use even the weakest among us to do amazing things. I was moved by the humility of this man. I am so glad I learned more about his life.

George Washington Carver: The Man Who Overcame, Lawrence Elliot