Today marks one full trip around the sun for our first (just by a hair) granddaughter, Avery Marie.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
There is Love
These announcements are different today than the ones I made when I first began writing in this space. Our family is growing through marriage and grandchildren these days. We have recently gained a daughter of the heart through our third son, Asher, and could not be happier for them.
Marriage in the time of Covid is not without its unique challenges. Fortunately, this young couple is extremely modest and thrifty and truly desired a small, intimate wedding anyway. It was just immediate family for the ceremony and we celebrated together at home afterwards. Friends dropped off reception style decor at my doorstep in the days leading up to the big event. My friend Annie graciously agreed to capture the day for us. The kids announced that it was one of the best weddings we have had in the end.
"Well a man shall leave his mother, and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one
As it was in the beginning is now until the end
A woman draws her life from man and gives it back again
And there is love, there is love."
Noel Paul Stookey
No Profit
'Been studyin' 'bout that blue hoss," he said when we were halfway to the corral. "awful full o'fight, ain't he?"
"Yes, he is," I said, "but he's been letting me feed him some pieces of biscuit this past week."
"No profit a'fightin' a man as ain't lookin' for a fight," he said. Then he spit on the ground and we went on.
I was pretty sure Zeb was telling me that when I'd tried to ride Blueboy before I'd let him know I was looking for a fight and that he'd keep right on fighting me as long as I gave him anything to fight against.
"Takes two to fight." Mr. Batchlett said.
He Knows What He is About
“God has created me to do Him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good; I shall do His work.
I shall be an angel of peace,
a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it…
if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.
If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him,
in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.
If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
He does nothing in vain.
He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers.
He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”
―
Each brings a gift
There's a place for each Small One
God planned it that way
Time is passing, days are few
Give while you can to one smaller than you
All things living great and small
Each brings a gift that is needed by all
Small one, Small one, Don't look so blue
Somewhere a friend is waiting for you
Someone still needs you to brighten his day
There's a place for each Small One
God planned it that way
from The Small One by Don Bluth
If you haven't seen this short film treasure, treat yourself this week.
Christ of the Mines
While exploring Silverton, CO we stopped to admire this gorgeous shrine up on the hill. Built in the 50's to ask God's blessing upon the mining community, it has been said to have brought prosperity and protection to local workers. The full story here.
Lake Louisa
While hiking last weekend we came across the remains of the Lake Louisa dam. The ground we walked on had once been part of a 5300 acre reservoir intended to irrigate the high desert and bring settlers in to farm the area. We recall from reading Ralph Moody that the whole area had been home to grazing cattle. I have been day dreaming about this spot for days and found the whole story with many photos from the dam break here. A 15 foot wall of water ran for miles and miles right into downtown Denver which is a half hour drive today. Gone was the oasis in the desert. Fleeting work of human hands. It's amazing really.
October Binder
from the archives:
Friends know my deep, abiding love for Pinterest. Let me tell how much easier homeschooling, homemaking, and all things creative are today! I remember the tremendous struggle it once was having a list of poetry to memorize, for instance, and not being able to track down a particular piece in print. Countless dead ends or false starts accrued simply because there was no way to access all the materials or patterns or whatnot. My gratitude for the internet, generally, and Pinterest, specifically, is therefore profound. So many resources right at your fingertips. You have to be smart about how to gather and make use of them however. Good ideas you cannot quickly access will not likely be put to use. It is wonderful to have it online but since we cannot and would never dream of doing all there is to do it helps to decide which of those fun things would make the most of our month and then start to plan.
I am busy printing out pages and creating binders for each month so our lists are at the ready and can be slipped out when we run to the store or library. Some of things included in our binders are:
recipes we plan to make
craft or decorating projects we hope to finish
books we will look for,
poems we will recite
hymns we will learn
seasonal worksheets
coloring pages
quotes (seasonal or liturgical)
Before I put these in page protectors I snapped some photos of some of our October pages:
There are numerous links to free fall printables, so one of those will be the cover.
One or two crafty or food ideas for each week to include feast day desserts and a birthday cake and a gift.
The book basket is never exhaustive but rather just a smattering of titles pulled from our modest stash which will be supplemented by library books, ebooks, and online articles.
Some links we are enjoying:
If you keep seasonal binders, baskets or pin boards I would love to see them!
Civil Discourse
Like so many families we gathered to watch the debate last night. Like so many families – across the political spectrum – we are full of emotion and thoughts are swirling. What best summed up for me was this commentary:
“….what we saw on TV is exactly what is going on in our country. What they displayed last night was just a publicized, played-out version of what is happening on social media right now; people yelling at each other, talking past each other, cutting each other off…no one able to actually engage in a debate on the issues.
People are so firm in their stances that they can’t even speak respectfully to each other. We have lost respect for each other as humans. Yes, we should blame Trump and Biden (and Chris Wallace, too) for the display they put on last night.
But we should also be taking a good hard look at ourselves too, because…
this is exactly what many of us look like from the outside as well.
The debate was a sad reflection and representation of where our country is right now. We can do better, people.” -Shanti Landon
There are any number of things about what unfolded last night that we can be outraged over. I won't point fingers, nor defend the indefensible. I'd just say go ahead, vent those frustrations. When we are done, though, we need to take a step back and consider very honestly first, what we know about formal debate and second, how closely we follow those guidelines in our personal and social lives.
If our conversations, our posts, our memes were placed under the national spotlight how would we fare? How would our tone come across? Would our positions be compelling or off-putting? Do we generally engage or repel? Consider how we respond to criticism: Do we remain calm?
Resort to name calling?
Become defensive?
Turn the attack around?
Complain about problems or create solutions?
The Mother Love mass reflection reminds, “Has not a slight contradiction, the shadow of an insult, made me lose my self command and inspired me with thoughts of aversion?”
I can answer that in the affirmative. Oh yes, I can. I bristle, y'all. Full of the Spirit one minute and full of spitfire the next.
For school today we first discussed what civil discourse is – and is not – as outlined by American University here:
Civil Discourse is…
• Truthful
• Productive
• Audience-based
• About listening and talking
• Each Speaker's own responsibility
Civil Discourse is not…
• Mere politeness
• An exercise in martyrdom
• About telling other people who they are
• Purely performative
You begin to see the problem, don't you?
We then printed out some guidelines for civil discourse on the US Courts site here. These can and should be applied to a wide variety of interactions. We would be better for it personally and collectively.
I want to mention that I ran across a comment online this morning along the lines of 'desperate times call for desperate means.'
“We are in a battle and have no time/need to observe polite chit chat.”
Think about that.
Do we believe civility is merely desirable or obligatory? The answer is important. I’ll go ahead and play the WWJD card. I’m going to make the argument that even on the battlefield there are generally accepted rules of engagement. Even in wartime there are bounds to our behavior beyond which we harm our own character as well as our opponents.
The key virtue in fruitful debate is objectivity. You are debating the validity of ideas and actions, not the worth of persons. That last part ought to be a given. Our own egos ought to be so secure that we are able to separate ourselves and our emotions from the facts presented. This becomes more difficult when debate deteriorates.
Families and friendships are destroyed by our failure to observe these basics, though, so we will keep discussing over here. We will take this opportunity to check ourselves and keep striving to do better. To that end we will be working through the civil discourse lesson plans here We will go through the freebie here. Teachers Pay Teachers has some great graphic organizers here.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, which many students study in debate clubs, are worth a visit. (note: they had far more than two minutes to speak.) We will probably even check out some more contemporary debates such as the one between Reagan and Mondale. (note: at the 26min point both candidates are asked to establish that they are "real" Christians and even challenged about missing church services.)
They are a serious palate cleanser and should serve to dispel any meritless comments like, "this is how it has always been," because it has not. What has changed has changed in the second half of my lifetime and sadly, too many adults who grew up with better example are tossing it aside with abandon in their own discourse.
Hopefully we will take the skills learned here in class out into the world and do better.
One conversation at a time.
Ultimately this is what we can control. We can make civility cool again.
Commit the Day
In an interview with Dr James Dobson the author Emilie Barnes relates that she found herself frustrated and overwhelmed as a young mother. The house was a mess and by the time the children were put to bed she could not point to what she had actually accomplished in the day. She prayed sincerely for how she could commit her day, her children, her husband, and her work to the Lord. She says:
So I began, first of all, from that time when I had those five little babies under five years old, I began to get up before dawn, as Proverbs 31 says, and I spent that little time with the Lord. And I committed my day, my works unto him. And it was because of that that all of a sudden things began to get put together. The days that I spent that five or ten minutes with the Lord, gave him my day, those children, emergencies, interruptions, all the things that were going on in my life, it seemed by the end of the day I'd had time for a nap or to sit down and read a magazine. My meals were in order. My family seemed to be happier. Now, it wasn't perfect every day, but the days that I really committed my life and my works were the days that I found success at the end of the day.
Starry Sky Journal 