Reflective Beauty

An Exciting Announcement

2011-09-27T09:23:00.004-05:00

from my Georgian laddie

Last Wednesday, September 21, 2011 ... I became engaged to be married! :-D

Words cannot express my delight and joy at what the Lord has done!

I hope to tell more of our story for my dear blog readers soon. In the meanwhile, I shall say he is the best of men, a lover of the Lord and family, an old-fashioned manly man, a true kindred spirit, and I am excited about spending the rest of my life with him!

Book Review - The Final Hour

2011-07-26T14:43:00.004-05:00

The Final Hour is the fourth and final book in the Homelander series, an action-packed yarn about love for country, family, and values - and the cost of standing against terrorists who would have them obliterated.

Ever since falling into Charlie West's story last year, I have been anxious to see how it ends... and if the poor fellow ever gets to rest!

On the surface, these books are about a fairly normal high school kid running away from terrorists, solving the mystery of a forgotten year of his life, and putting his top-notch karate skills to use. Oh, and getting wounded and wearied beyond belief in the process.

I was in Abingdon State Prison. Locked away for a murder I didn't commit. Waiting for the men who were coming to kill me. With nowhere to run.

What keeps him going, besides the fact that he's the hero in an action/thriller book?

The answer, my friend, is all that flows beneath the surface in his patriotic and God-fearing veins.

Make no mistake - this book, like its predecessors, is first of all a thrilling read. I knew when it came in the mail that I had better be careful about opening the cover. I have sped through the other books like my life, instead of Charlie's, depended on it.

But it is the heroic and noble character of Charlie West that makes me want to sneak a set of these books into the room of every adventure-loving boy I know.

Charlie respects life and, however nasty the villain, he chooses to never kill needlessly. He hates to lie (old fashioned, eh?). He values freedom and morality. He takes full responsibility for his actions. And when left by all allies, facing impossible odds, he presses on to his last breath.

"You're not alone, Charlie. You're never alone"

These books were written particularly for teen guys, for whom too little quality fiction is written these days. I'm thankful to Andrew Klavan for seeing the need, and for writing a series that is anything but wimpy or dull.

But I can attest that even 26-year old ladies can enjoy Charlie's story. It may not be Homer, Tolkien, or Dickens, but between the fast action scenes, explosions, and karate moves lies a tale every lover of freedom may embrace.

*Thank you, thank you to Thomas Nelson for the free reviewer's copy of this book! You did not pay me, nor did I have to give a good review. I just liked it that much.*

Book Review - The Ale Boy's Feast

2011-07-23T06:33:00.005-05:00

The Ale Boy's Feast

The fourth and final book of The Auralia Thread opens with House Abascar's journey northward, seeking a home. But evil haunts them in many guises. If the fabled city exists, how many of the dwindling house will reach it alive?

The forest has become bloodthirsty in root and twig. The young king Cal Raven has disappeared. Shar ben Fray is galivanting in the southern desert.

And the Ale Boy?

Ah, the ale boy. The poor little fella is getting tired of rescuing everyone. Will his job never be done?

Mystery's Gift

Jeffrey Overstreet has crafted a tale here that stands out as creatively different from many other Christian fantasy novels. His plot is surprising, his language rich. His characters don't fit into molds. Twists pop up just when you think you've got it all worked out into a tidy allegory, leaving you gasping in grief, thrilling with delight, or simply blinking in astonishment.

The ale boy is probably my favorite of the wild cast of characters. Still, as wonderful as they were, the characters are only a few of the crown jewel of these stories. Shining out brilliantly are pictures of creativity, beauty, mystery, and unforeseen grace.

Caution

This last book, even more so than the previous three, contains some darkly violent images. These moments are used deliberately to show the disgusting and deadly nature of evil, but I wonder if they might have been carried off with a bit more suggestion and less detail. A similar warning should be given for the temptations faced by adult characters, which, though appropriately shown as evil, make these not children's books.

I tend to agree with author Rachel Starr Thomson, who called the series "highly moral, but not simplistically so" in her excellent review here.

Conclusion

The tale ended well, and I could not read anything else immediately after. I felt I had been on a long journey myself with all the characters. While many loose ends were tied up by last few pages, a few were left blowing wistful and mysterious in the wind of wonder.

I was left with a strong reminder of the beauty in the world and the creative urge in us that reminds us of where we come from, who we were meant to be. Auralia's colors did their work well.

*Disclaimer* - I received a free copy of this book for review from Waterbrook Press. But I didn't have to like it. :-)

Computers, Coffee, Chai, and "Caps"

2011-06-23T18:43:00.000-05:00

This is what my friend Catie and I do when we find ourselves in the possession of neat old hats.

We wore them to the library, too. :-)

‘Whenever you wear your hat, your day will be special.’ – Margo Nickel

"The right hat may also enliven our imagination of the past....an old-fashioned cloche, a picture hat, or a toque trimmed with a pouf of polka-dotted veiling is just enough to make us feel as if we were living in another, romantic age." ~ Unknown

"Saying you don't look good in a hat is like saying you don't look good in shoes!" ~ Unknown

"If a woman rebels against high heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat." ~ George Bernard Shaw

Book Review - The Monster in the Hollows

2011-06-18T16:13:00.003-05:00

I stayed up till 3 a.m finishing The Monster in the Hollows, book 3 of the Wingfeather Saga. After a horrid streak of writer's block, I finally bring you my review.

Puppies and pumpkin stew! Peril and perfidy!

After many battles and adventures, Janner and his family come to the Hollows, where the travelers find peace, puppies, and pumpkin stew aplenty. Finally they can settle down to some sort of normal life.

Oh. Except that Kalmar, heir to the throne of Anierra, has turned into a Grey Fang. And as Throne Warden, Janner must protect his furry brother from suspicious townsfolk, a monster lurking in the shadows, and his own nagging anger.

Monsters, Mystery, and the Maker's Magic

The Monster in the Hollows seemed a bit slow for a while, especially after the non-stop action of North! Or Be Eaten. But actually, the tension never ceases. It's just different. Janner and his siblings must face new challenges, such as learning to deal with suspicious Hollowsfolk, finding their place in the interesting school, and perceiving truth beneath layers of deception.

Much of the story is like a quiet afternoon when the wind has died down, but the sky is darkening and heavy with clouds, and the air tingles. The small choices Janner makes in his heart - resentment or sacrifice, anger or joy, cowardice or bravery - these are battles as crucial as fighting the deadly Fangs of Dang.

And the plot does thicken and the action quicken, and the last chapters flow as Janner and his family face bloodthirsty enemies, love laid down, and failures the Maker turns to flourishes.

"Play, Leeli," he said, and her song lifted into the hall and swooped among the boughs, echoed off the ancient walls and fluttered among the crowd. It seeded the soil of many hearts, and only the stoniest rejected it and held to their murderous yearning. The rest, though, felt themselves believing, as Janner did, that the world was bigger and more terribly beautiful than they thought.

The Monster in the Hollows, by Andrew Peterson

The last few paragraphs rather reminded me of some of Tolkien's writing where he zooms out to give you a grand bit of epic language, and you feel the tale marching on to the final conflict.

My reviews of previous books in the Wingfeather Saga:
Book 1 - On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
Book 2 - North! Or Be Eaten

Review coming soon...

2011-06-13T01:18:00.000-05:00

This book shall be reviewed shortly.

After I have re-read some of my favorite bits.

Passover

2011-04-19T08:43:00.001-05:00

Monday night (the beginning of Tuesday by Jewish reckoning), we celebrated Passover with some friends via Skype. Despite some technology glitches, we were able to have a delightful time together, laughing, listening in awe to the story, reading truth together, letting tastes linger as tangible pictures on our tongues. Remembering the One who is our great Deliverer. The Bread broken for us. The spotless Lamb of God.
Homemade matza (unleavened bread)


The other end of our Passover table was hundreds of miles away! :-)


Take, eat, remember.


Remember the story of deliverance.

Remember the Light who shines in the darkness.

Hush and hark!

2011-04-06T23:00:00.003-05:00

My harvest withers. Health, my means to live—

All things seem rushing straight into the dark.

But the dark still is God. I would not give

The smallest silver-piece to turn the rush

Backward or sideways. Am I not a spark

Of him who is the light?—Fair hope doth flush

My east.—Divine success—Oh, hush and hark!

- George MacDonald, from Diary of an Old Soul -

At the Feet of the Smile Giver

2011-03-27T16:22:00.000-05:00

I know that I’m a shadow
But I’m dancing in your light

~ J. J. Heller ~

- scribbled a while back -

I had been gloomy lately, played the victim. Quite without reason, especially in light of recent pain in my church family.

After all, I was not the parent whose little girl died suddenly of a common flu. I was not getting a knee replacement or surgery to remove cancer and going through painful recovery. It was not I who sent my baby girl into intense surgery, and now face the challenge of learning to do basic care for her in the large, bulky cast.

My sorrows are not so huge. But even patience, self-control, trying to trust God while life rushes by in a whirl - even these are burdens. Sometimes I feel alone, and think I will never grow.

But since this Sunday morning, the light of God's compassion and might have shone on all these, and reminded me of a secret too well kept.

Laughter in the dark.

This morning Tyler talked about the Abundant Life that Christ came to give. Not a list of rules wherein misery means holiness. Not a promise of more stuff or an easy life.

If I believe in Him, I have everlasting life. Not "I will have." It is mine now. Will I act sad and dead with that gift ready to burst forth like a mighty acorn seedling?

Then in Sunday School, Laynce Nix talked about discipleship - which is being an apprentice of Jesus. Sitting at His feet all the time. Someone asked for practical application - she knows He is God but the ice needs breaking outside, the horses fed, the chores done.

And Laynce suggested that in the everyday moment, hectic or mundane or ordinary, be a disciple.

That thought was not new, but somehow struck me new. I can choose obedience, remember He is present, and just be with Him. Rest joyfully in my smallness next to His greatness.

"And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant." ~ Matthew 23:10, 11~

I want that, Lord! Awareness of You every moment. Not focusing on my nothingness - You have made me something, and I forget! - but rather focusing on Your Muchness.

This excites me like being called on a great adventure with someone better than a Jedi master, better than wise Gandalf. Oh great Christ, I am choosing to be Your apprentice, to learn from You whatever the circumstances.

Today, for instance, at the youth group Super Bowl party, which I would really rather not go to. But You, Master, ask me to love people and make more disciples, and maybe this is part of that. Anyways, if You will be there too, my complaints float away with that knowledge.

Teach me to pray without ceasing!

Help me learn from You, gentle and lowly of heart, and find rest for my soul.

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11:29,30

~

Cloudy, grey, and damp outside. Cookies and spicy chai tea inside. A finished, sealed letter to a friend waiting cheerfully plump on the shelf for Monday mail. Cozy socks, pastel blue and over my knees.

Sitting at His feet that tread the dawn.

Book Review - Jane Austen

2011-03-26T05:27:00.016-05:00

Despite my love of her novels, I never read a Jane Austen biography until I recently thumbed back the cover of an almost-squarish little book by Peter Leithart - Jane Austen (Christian Encounters Series).

Well-Researched
Numerous excerpts of letters fill these pages and give evidence for the portrait Leithard paints of Jane for us. I imagine it might be easier when writing a biography to rely on previous biographies, but Leithart primarily sticks to original sources. And what better sources than words of Jane and those who knew her?

Concise
Leithart is a good writer, painting a vivid picture of lively, childlike "Jenny" without getting bogged down in dull information (no offense meant, I hope, to those of you who love lengthy biographies - I tend to drown in seas of information). His words were a breath of fresh air and a pleasure to read after the last book I read. And going from a fantasy tale to a biography, that's saying a lot for me.

Balanced
By sticking to facts and making a few reasonable deductions, Leithart strikes a wonderful balance, both in showing Jane's flaws and fine points, and in giving a reasonable idea of her Christianity:

"Early biographers often turned her into a model of Victorian Christian domestic femininity, and emphasized her Christian faith in an evangelical idiom she never used. In reaction, many more recent biographers all but ignore her faith. Both of these extremes distort Austen's life and personality."

And again:

"Biographers minimize Austen's Christianity mainly because they cannot believe that her acerbic, sometimes childishly cruel wit, her satires of the clerical imbecilities of Mr. Collins and Mr. Elton, and her playful silliness are compatible with deep Christian faith...The assumption that Christian faith is incompatible with a satirical spirit is entierly wrongheaded. Nietzsche's lie that Christianity is a killjoy religion is a demonstratable falsehood. English satire was, after all, the creation of clerics. Austen was hardly the first Christian writer to look sceptically at the clergy. Chaucer did before her, and so did a host of late medieval writers...And who can deny the combination of boisterous cheer and profound faith in Lewis and Chesterton?"

Pleasing Design
A minor point, but my copy of the book is nearer to squareness than most. Compact, small, and the cover has the delicious feel of textured watercolor paper. Very satisfying to hold.

One of A Series
I may eventually check out more books in The Christian Encounters series, biographies of Christians across the ages, such as John Bunyan, Winston Churchill, and J.R.R.Tolkien. Each is written by a different author, so they may not all be as enjoyable to me as this one. But I'm especially interested in the one about St. Patrick which was written by Jonathan Rogers, author of the great Wilderking series and writer at The Rabbit Room.

Conclusion
Quite enjoyable. If you want a well-written biography from a scholarly Christian perspective on Jane Austen, do check this out. And then tell me if I'm silly for loving the compact almost-squareness of the book and the great feel of the cover's paper.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book for free from Thomas Nelson.

Book Review - Dragons of the Valley

2011-03-11T00:24:00.003-06:00

Last year, I read the first book of this series, The Vanishing Sculptor. It was fun, but very meandering (especially for a fantasy/quest sort of tale). When I got a chance to read the second book, Dragons of the Valley, I took it, though not quite as eagerly. I expected it to be about the same, and I was right. I am still sad, because this book has so much to like about it, and so much potential... but I found it rather tedious to read.

Good points:
- hilarious characters, like the wizard Fenworth and the little pixie-like Kimens. And Bealamondore was a great hobbit-like artist character who has to learn to be brave.
- clean and spiritually encouraging, for the most part (the Christianity felt a bit heavy-handed and pasted in, but it was a good effort)
- Great puns and odd descriptions

Lacking
- It had one of the most rambling, plodding, unorganized plots I've ever met. Some of the main huge plot points didn't make sense to me.
- The writing, while it had it's witty and vivid spots, was often choppy and tedious. I found myself skimming the last chapters, which I never do with fiction.
- It felt like the story couldn't decide to take itself seriously or not. Often I felt I could hear the author laughing to herself. Well and good! I'm all for corny jokes and fun nonsense in their place. But then it was hard to take seriously the threat of the world falling apart, or to reconcile it with the incredibly grim antagonist.

My concluding blurb for this book - Enjoyable in spots, but tedious and disjointed overall.

P.S. - Donita, K. Paul, if you're reading this (which in this internet world is quite possible), I want you to know that I do enjoy your lovely sense of humor! :-) Lady Peg is quite fun.

*Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Press to review in their Blogging for Books program.

Book Review - God's Smuggler

2011-03-04T09:50:00.002-06:00

Recently resolved to read more non-fiction, particularly biographies, and extra especially autobiographies, I finally took a reputed classic called God's Smuggler from my shelf and resigned myself to a "real life" story of facts and dull chapters.

But upon cracking the cover, I was sucked into a grand adventure.

From the time I first put on wooden shoes - klompen we called them in Holland - I dreamed of derring-do. I was a spy behind enemy lines, I was a lone scout in enemy territory, I crept beneath barbed wire while tracer bullets scorched the air about me.

Andrew was a Dutch boy growing up durring World War II. He was actually very clever and ornery as a child. As a young adult, after trying unsuccessfully to satisfy his longing for adventure and fulfillment, he became a Christian, and began an adventure greater than he ever dreamed.

He was struck with the hunger for God's Word in the Eastern European countries; churches in Russia, Hungary, Albania, etc, oppressed by the stifling darkness of Communism, were desperate for encouragement, and for Bibles.

And thus began Andrew's mission - to smuggle as many Bibles and as much fellowship, discipleship, and hope as possible to the Church behind the Iron Curtain.

As biographies go, this was a very exciting one! Coming from a novel-lover, that's saying a lot. ;-) Funny in parts, moving, challenging.

I don't know quite what to think about his almost reckless way of daring God to provide (for instance, sometimes he would deliberately put a Bible in plain view on his car's seat, so if a border guard saw it and let him through anyway, Andrew could be certain of giving God all the glory). But then, I have never done such risky things for Christ, so I don't know if my faith is small, or if God just calls different folks to trust Him in different ways.

"That's the excitement of obedience," he said. "Finding out later what God had in mind."

Highly recommended! Not only an exciting, hopeful, true story with a passion for God's might word and a heart for His church, but a look at the man who started Open Doors, and whose work is being passed on today. Soon after I read God's Smuggler, I learned of the connection to BEE World, a ministry my church is involved with, and it was thrilling to know... the story goes on.

March is here!

2011-03-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

Happy March!

Redbud trees are blossoming, seeds are sprouting, projects are rushing along, and babies are growing. Look at this little guy, born around Thanksgiving last year! See his manly eyebrows, his strong grip, and that fierce intimidating stare!

My little friend Isaac and me. (Isn't he a cute little man?)

Upcoming Book Reviews:

God's Smuggler - Brother Andrew

Dragons in the Valley - Donita K. Paul

Jane Austen - Peter Leithart

Little Weekend Gifts

2011-02-19T11:38:00.002-06:00

Today is my mom's birthday, but we did some celebrating yesterday. Part of that included the necessary visit to Barnes and Noble. We were going to get dessert, but neither of us were that hungry. So we enjoyed refreshing Izze drinks.

I found this book I've been eager to read, by one of my favorite bloggers.

The lovely Mother was looking at a book of cute little stuffed critters. Fun fun!

This morning, I read this excellent book. It told me, "Give thanks to the Lord, for..."

For what? Why should we be thankful? What could pull us out of our self-focused sad little worlds, and look to God?

"Come here," the pages whispered, "and let me tell you the best-kept secret, the one you usually forget, or ignore, or think too stupendous to believe."

He is good.

Good.

Really and fully good.

The laughter at the back of the world.

Here is Bella our cat watching one of her favorite shows on her wide screen. She's fascinated with it, though I don't always understand the plot. Some of the major characters are birds.

Clean sheets - ah. Nice.

May your weekend be full of seeing, of noticing the little things God gives.

(If you haven't noticed, I have been trying to take more pictures and blog with them. At the moment I'm borrowing a brother's camera. I know basically nothing about photography, but I want to get my feet good and wet first before I take a class. Thanks for being patient through these rather rambly picture posts. :-) Hopefully I will also get into a more consistent blogging habit, and post more meaty stuff as well.)

Garden Day at the Ranch

2011-02-18T14:58:00.002-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I visited my friend Sarah at the Triple L Ranch. The weather was perfect for enjoying the outdoors, so Sarah and I set to work preparing her garden beds, newly framed by her hardworking husband David.

We watered the dirt to help break down the huge dirt clods, then started breaking up the soil with rakes and pulling out rocks, throwing them in orange buckets.

(Not that anyone could possibly remove all the rocks around here, mind you. But at least we were getting the big ones.)

Fearless Rebekah went on an adventure with Gal the dog.

Then, of course, Rebekah wanted to play in the dirt too. ;-)

Silly bug.

Never a dull moment with this one around! She's so fun. Today she was proclaiming loudly, "I love you, Mommy!"

Little Isaac woke up, and that was all of garden work for the day. Inside we reviewed some verses we're memorizing together (we're about 3/4 through Isaiah 53), got dinner ready and the table set (with the help of Rebekah and a little neighbor friend), and then as I was leaving David arrived. He was kind enough to snap this picture for me. Even Gal managed to jump in just for the picture.

"No, look at Daddy, Rebekah!"

Home again home again!

Always love the drive back, and it was a beautiful time of day.

Declaring His glory pretty well, don't you think? :-)

Paid for with Blood

2011-01-19T08:29:00.000-06:00

My brother Zach, at Marine Basic Training Graduation, is second from the back.

Someone has paid for me with blood. How the knowledge lifts my sights beyond the moment's hot desires!

~Elizabeth Elliot~

Just as we should not scorn our soldiers' sacrifices, neither should we forget the death Christ died for our sins. If I remembered, I would be less likely to rush into selfishness.

Book Review - Coming Day

2011-01-16T17:28:00.000-06:00

Coming Day - by Rachel Starr Thomson

The Final Battle

Treachery and division are tearing apart the Seventh World. Evil factions right and left are seeking to capture the Gifted and steal their powers, wipe out those dear to them, and destroy all freedom and hope and mention of the long-absent King.

The evil Morning Star is coming, bringing all the hordes of Blackness with him.

The last straggling bands of Gypsies and the few brave farmer rebels of Pravik prepare for the final battle. But only the King can save them. So Virginia the blind seer sets out on a fool's errand to find him.

What follows is a race to find the King and unite the Gifted to usher in his coming. And that coming is something they never could have expected.

"...all ends here are only beginnings."

Last night I stayed up till about 4 a.m. to finish reading Coming Day. Sobbing. Laughing. Closing the book, turning out the light, and seeing from my pillow the clouds sail past black branches and a lone bright planet in the sky.

Crying with joy in the dark.

It was so good, I hardly dare write about it, for fear I'll get it wrong. Yet I must - for myself, for Rachel, for my blog readers, for anyone else who might enjoy this epic tale of good against evil.

As far as the plot goes, I confess it went by in a bit of a blur. Captures followed by wild escapes, battles, wounds, friends dying. Walking in darkness to find a fabled King, when instinct says to run and help imperiled friends. Seeing the world ending... and then beginning afresh.

I don't think I've been this spiritually encouraged by a book in a long time. I felt that I turned a corner in the last few chapters, and found that the story which began in a strange land, a land vaguely similar to my own but the stuff of legend, had ended up all the way in my own room at 4 p.m.

It was not a startling jolt from a world of wonder back into my own dull life. Rather, it was like waking from a glorious dream to find that the best parts have been true all along. The King tapped me on the shoulder, and his eyes are laughing still.

I closed the book with a thrilling, aching joy. And the prayer of Rehtse, "both prophecy and petition," echoes through me:

Your kingdom come, we pray.

Come soon.

Book 1 - Worlds Unseen | Book 2 - Burning Light

What I did with my Friday

2011-01-14T22:40:00.003-06:00

Today I got to stay at home mostly - yay! I confess, I was a bit lazy. Here's some of what I did:

reading
blogging about my book
cleaning kitchen
more reading, reading, reading...
making dough for challah and cinnamon rolls
having a splendid time seeing Tangled with my lovely mother
coming home to bake my breads
eating cinnamon roll
next up - more reading!

Tangled was fun. Aside from a possible jab at stay-at-home daughters, or rather, "horrid over-protective mothers who repress them and keep them from following their dreams"... sigh. Poor girls like Rapunzel don't get to do anything but clean kitchens and make cinnamon rolls and read and blog...

;-)

Yes. Anyways. I don't want to make a huge deal of that, since the repressive "mother" was a actually a witch, and not Rapunzel's mother at all. And real stay-at-home daughters are rarely locked inside their houses! Home is base of operations, not a pretty prison like poor Rapunzel had. But Rapunzel thought she was running away from home, from her mother, and even though she clearly felt wrong about it some of the time, it might need more discussion with little kids.

Otherwise I liked it very much. Aside from the above possible problematic interpretation, it's a classic story of a girl who longs to see the beautiful, wonderful things in the world, has adventures, falls in love, and eventually discovers she's a princess and has a family much better than her vain, fake, lying kidnapper.

I suppose it's a bit like we Christians, when we find we're royalty and children of God. How can we go on living the same way once that's clear, and continue to submit to our old tyrants of safety and comfort and sin? And perhaps even non-Christians suspect there's more to life than meets the eye, that greater powers are at work "outside the tower," beyond what they can see and touch.

If only we could get out and see the flying lanterns! They can't be just stars. We have a feeling they mean something.

Alright, enough rambling. Good review here. Have a lovely Saturday!

P.S. The horse was tremendous.

P.P.S. I really shouldn't do two posts in one day, especially when I have such trouble doing even semi-weekly posts. This is not a regular thing. End of public service announcement.

Seeking the King

2011-01-14T13:26:00.001-06:00

I am getting very drawn into this story, particularly what will happen with the Highland Seer Virginia, and the Darkworld priestess Rehtse.

Imminent danger is suddenly and surprisingly gone, and the two girls just climbed up a hill after tumbling down a rocky slope. In what felt like one of Tolkien's little eucatastrophies, the unexpected escape was followed by laughter.

The world is silent but for the wind and trees, alive and sleepy and peaceful. The next stage of their journey to find the King beckons.

They have no map. One is blind, the other has lived below ground all her life.

Virginia cleared her throat. "Rehtse? Are we lost?"

"Shh," Rehtse said. "I am waiting."

A moment later, Rehtse lowered her hands, gathered her skirts in one hand, and tucked her other hand into Virginia's elbow. "Come," she said.

"Do you know where we are?" Virginia asked.

"No," Rehtse answered.

"Did the King answer you?" Virginia asked.

Rehtse hesitated. "Not - that I could hear."

"Then where are we going?" Virginia asked.

Rehtse smiled. "All paths in this world belong to the King. If he can use the Blackness to deliver us from wicked men, then he can turn even wrong steps into right ones. We are seeking him, so we will trust the road to lead us to him. But he cannot guide us if we don't move."

Coming Day

by Rachel Starr Thomson

Find the book at Amazon here, or visit the series website, WorldsUnseen.com. No, Rachel's not paying me to talk about her book. I just think it's that amazing.

Thankful Thursday 201-220

2011-01-13T07:16:00.003-06:00

Today I am starting to I do my "Thankful Thursday" posts regularly again! (my variation of Multitude Monday)

201. Yesterday I was sitting inside with my Bible and morning coffee when I heard a cry of joy from outside. It was my mom. Looking at me through the window, she held up to view our chickens' very first egg! It was a little thing, but exciting. The chickens got a nice breakfast of leftovers. :-) We found a second egg this morning, huzzah!

202. Being able to comfort others with the comfort with which we have been comforted

203. Anticipation of a trip to visit my friends at the Triple L Ranch

204. Late night coffee and chocolate

205. Coming Day, the third and final book of Rachel Starr Thomas' Seventh World Trilogy. I look forward to the pleasure of reviewing it on my blog soon.

206. The deliciousness of a warm building that only biting, bitter cold makes you appreciate

207. Old verses I learned in Sparks that still come back to me.

208. Candlelight

209. Chris Rice

210. Friends who are passionate about good theology

211. Cozy wool sweaters

212. The scent of lavender

213. Getting to see my little brother play basketball. (They have lots of out-of-town games, so this doesn't happen too often.)

214. A friend's excitement about her fabric design that's making her money here.

215. The AWANA council time message, given by one of the elders, about little things that make a huge difference. A seed. A word. A cup of water.

216. Fountain pens with nice, flowey blue ink

217. A pretty blue-and-brown journal, a Christmas gift from a dear friend

218. Opportunity to share about journaling

219. A friend who just announced she's pregnant! :-D

220. Another dear friend and her husband who have wanted children for a while. It's hard to be in that place, waiting for something so good, while trusting God's perfect timing.

"And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

~Matthew 10:42~

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-09T22:25:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted anything on my poor blog in ages, and it's time I put out something to anyone who might still want to read it.

I've been slowing down lately, in the quiet of the new year, and today I thought to myself, "Self, what did you read this year?" One of my few well-kept habits is to record books I read. Here they are. Some were re-reads of favorites, some were ho-hum, some were wonderful surprises, and some I even got around to reviewing.

2010 - Books Read by Rael

Worlds Unseen - Rachel Starr Thomson
Burning Light - Rachel Starr Thomson
Humility - Andrew Murray
Passion and Purity - Elizabeth Elliot
Flatland - Edwin A. Abbitt
Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis
Glaen - Fred Lybrand
The Last Thing I Remember - Andrew Klavan
The Long Way Home - Andrew Klavan
The Great Divorce - C. S. Lewis
The Heavenly Man - Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway
The Final Quest - Rick Joyner
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
Dug Down Deep - Joshua Harris
The Vanishing Sculptor - Donita K. Paul
Safely Home - Randy Alcorn
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness - Andrew Peterson
The Four Loves - C. S. Lewis
Calm My Anxious Heart - Linda Dillow
The Little Lame Prince - Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
North! Or Be Eaten - Andrew Peterson
Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens
The Ordinary Princess - M. M. Kaye
The Truth of the Matter - Andrew Klavan

Hopefully more soon! I really have missed blogging. What sort of posts would you like to see here in the future? (And what really good book should I read this year?)

"The Realest Thing About Me"

2010-11-15T23:02:00.001-06:00

As a believer I have the blessed opportunity to gaze into my own heart and see Jesus Christ. To find the mad paradox of His beauty and light and goodness and truth breaking irresistibly through the many chinks and cracks of this very flawed human vessel. To call myself a saint, of all things, and to laugh at the gorgeous joke of it and to know that it’s the realest thing about me.

~ Lanier Ivester, The Two Trees ~

I just read a marvelous post by a one of my favorite online kindred spirits. I first "met" Lanier through reading her vivid posts on the YLCF, but she has now also joined the writers of the Rabbit Room. Do read the post here, and be encouraged.

Oh, and the poem she quotes was surprisingly familiar to me, as parts of it make up this song from my favorite Celtic singer:

Had to share that. Now I'd better go write and get my characters out of trouble. ;-)

Currently Busy...

2010-11-06T00:26:00.000-05:00

... with NaNoWriMo!

If I know you somewhat (i.e. if I think you're a real person who won't steal my story ideas, hehe!), you're welcome to read the story on my *whispers* super-secret blog. Just comment with your email, or send me a note at rael{dot}henson{at}gmail{dot}com, and I'll send you an invite.

I'll be back eventually. :-) Bye for now! *dives back into novel-writing*

Scribbled Thanks

2010-10-12T03:12:00.002-05:00

171. Sweaters

172. The crisp, neat smoothness of clothes freshly ironed

173. Honey from friends' bees

174. An ever-patient, ever-loving, bearing-all-things mother

175. A second letter from Zach

176. The throbbing purr of Bella-cat when she flops down beside me cozily.

177. Conversation about communication

178. Enough cinnamon rolls to share

179. A safe weekend trip

180. Cool stories from my dad about Belize - especially the Indiana Jones cave, and the spot where they shot a scene from Star Wars

181. Brothers to pray for and help me grow

182. Cool night air drifting in through the open windows

183. Delighted squeals from a 3-year-old girl, feeding our chickens from her hand.

184. The invention of Playaways - so handy and enjoyable on trips and while puttering around the house!

185. A slivered new moon

186. The growing friendliness of the chickens (even if it is because they know who feeds them)

187. A surprise visit from old friends on their way through Texas

188. The bravery of such friends to adopt.

189. An evening watching TV shows with Whit and the Mother

190. Seeing a lady in the store console a little lost girl and help her find her parents.

191. The West Texas friendliness of smiling at complete strangers

192. Hearing someone who just moved here say it was better than California, and more like their hometown. :-) I don't hear that too often!

193. A sign for the "Open A Bar" Ranch. Hehe.

194. Madeline L'Engles's marvelous, thoughtful little book, A Circle of Quiet

195. Raspberry ginger ale

196. Lavender Blueberry Dark Chocolate

197. Limited funds, to better enjoy the above by making it rare. ;-)

198. A reminder that Light Isn't Boring

199. Clean sheets

200. Home sweet home, and crickets singing softly into the night.

The Back of the World

2010-10-06T08:21:00.003-05:00

"Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world ... If we could only get round in front!"

~ The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton ~

I listened to The Man Who Was Thursday over at Librivox just recently. It's one of the strangest surreal books you may read, but at the bottom (or the back) is that deep, wise, childlike humor Chesterton was given that make his works a delight.

This idea that we only see the back of things intrigues me. It is a theme of the Great Story, and it shows up again and again.

Slavery ending in songs of joy beside the sea.

A smelly little shepherd who is actually a warrior poet, chosen as king.

Wandering strangers who eat your food - divine messengers.

And then, the main character shows up unexpected and in disguise. People hoping for rescue were disappointed, He claimed to be God, visiting as a lowly man the ones he made, bringing life to their sick and hope to prisoners... But all he said was so preposterously good, it could not be true.

He didn't even look like God! How were we to know?

He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Isaiah

Perhaps you disagree, but I think we have a gloomy propensity to believe the worst is happening rather than the best in disguise.

We expect the Lion to eat us, not invite us to a feast.

Like Syme, it seems the world is turned upside down, and anarchist will rule the world. Who is a friend? Is anyone real and substantial? How can we escape the never-tiring, enigmatic man called Sunday? Or how can we catch him and find who he is?

Like Orual in Till We Have Face, I go through most of life complaining, martyr-like, overwhelmed with the sorrows and horrors of the world and my own ugliness, seeking answers and the face of the Lover who eludes me in a dance of mystery.

Like Sam's moment of horror in The Return of the King, when Frodo declares the Ring is his, and Gollum wrestles him in the cracks of Mount Doom - Everything has gone wrong, and The End of All Things has come.

But then like Sam, suddenly we we wake up in surprise, and find everything sad has come untrue.

Autumn Has Come!

2010-10-04T06:00:00.036-05:00

Hey, good people! I've neglected this poor blog lately, so here is an update sort of post. I have been working part-time at the non-profit organization which shall remain anonymous, and enjoying that. I've also been busy with AWANA, youth group, and Bible Study. And still, thankfully, I have some time to spend with some friends and my dear family. Though we're all getting so busy, I may need to fight for family meals and make sure they happen.

The fall weather is here! Cooler air brings lovely reprieve from West Texas summer heat. People were decked out in sweaters at church yesterday, and hot chocolate, snickerdoodles, and fall decorations are making appearances.

On a more somber note - Lately I have been finally learning who I am. I long knew I held certain core values, like homeschooling and openness to many children - not as law for others, but as things I see supported by Scripture, things I believe passionately to be good and beautiful blessings. But it took a painful experience to help me realize, not just in theory but in fact, just how important these things are to me. When it comes to relationships, I cannot ignore or quiet that part of who I am or think I can easily change it. And I think if God gave those dreams to me, He did so for a reason, and He will show me what that is in His good time.

So I'm praying boldly to the God who invented Romance to lead me where He will, and to bring good wives to all my dear brothers in Christ, wives who will perfectly complement them and follow them anywhere. I know we still have choices, but He is also totally sovereign. Oh the beautiful frustrating mystery of it!

And while I pray, I'm running into the Strong Tower, which is always serene and safe in the midst of battle.

In summary: God is good, relationships are hard and wonderful... and fall is here! Three nice categories for my list of blessings, which I have not been counting for several weeks.

~ Fall ~

141. Sunday nap under a quilt - restful and cozy!
142. Fellowship with sweet friends in a coffee shop after church
143. Brighter stars (I think cold air makes them sharper, don't you?
144. A plaid wool skirt and shawl - heather grey, lovely, warm, and Scottish.
145. Spiced Chai
146. Cassette tapes of The Hobbit in the car- wonderfully dramatized, but with the most horrid Renaissance musical interludes. ;-)
147. Simmering homemade chicken and vegetable stock on the stove
148. Fall flowers from the garden - a sweet bouquet in a white pitcher
149. Chickens the size of doves (they're growing fast!)
150. October - the Birthday Month in our family!

~ People ~

151. Two-year-old people. I kept a little girl this weekend so her mommy and daddy could go on a date. I forget how disturbing it can be to have a stranger show up for the day instead of your parent. I don't blame her for crying, and ordering me from her room, and sobbing "No Tankyou!" when I begged her to come eat dinner. Sometimes I just need to crawl back in bed and take a nap, too. Sometimes I don't want to be around anyone. And sometimes I forget what patience mothers must have, and God infinitely more!
152. My dear co-worker, T. She makes me laugh so much. Not many people will break out in musical numbers with you while editing documents, or discuss the pointless aspects of Facebook, or commiserate over the lack of commas in AP style. And she has the coolest hair, which she cuts herself.

one of my glorious occupations ;-)

153. Absolutely superfluous screaming during silly games. Not that I do it. But when others do, I'm learning to laugh instead of get annoyed.
154. Gentlemen who make sure ladies find their way to cars in the dark
155. Grandparents and Rosa's Cafe for Sunday lunch
156. Exuberant hugs from M.
157. The cellist and guitarist, lovingly lending their talent during Communion to remind us of Christ's beautiful sacrifice.
158. Hearing a mom complain about the infant-hood of her child, how exhausting it was, glad she was older now. I was sad, because I've never had even one child, but I have heard other moms treasure those fleeting months. I hope if I am ever blessed with one or more children that I can enjoy every moment of that beautiful sacrifice. I'm thankful for the reminder that it will not be easy, but sad to hear complaints about motherhood. And I think - What am I complaining about that someone else longs for? Am I enjoying my freedom to serve as an unmarried lady as God's current gift, fleeting as it may be too?
159. Compassion and forgiveness when I am weak, fearful, and unintentionally hurt others.
160. Abundant opportunities to minister to my little sisters in Christ, and grow myself from spending time with them!

~ God ~

161. Strong Tower
162. Everlasting Love
163. Shield
164. The Tender One who tends my soul
165. Love better than mine
166. Ancient of days
167. Fighter of Guilt Monsters
168. Coming King
169. The Prairie Maker

170. The Dream Giver

Happy Monday to you! I still owe you a post on letter-writing. Hopefully that will come soon. Anything else particularly you'd like me to blog on?

Candles, Yawns, Smiles... (121-140)

2010-09-14T00:45:00.001-05:00

121. Fire.

122. Candles.

123. Paintings by 2-year-olds.

124. Midnight snack of homemade Chocolate Cheesecake.

125. A gently-drawn smile, jumping out from a sad face in a moment of joy.

126. A patient cashier at HEB.

127. Homemade lemonade in my lunch - in a Mason jar.

128. The satisfaction from organizing bathroom cabinets, bookshelves, stuff for the attic

129. Freedom from stuff as we toss it or give it away

130. Getting to help friends move stuff to their new house on the Ranch.

131. The fun of assembling a little girly bookshelf.

132. Being alone.

133. Not being alone.

134. Morning sunlight making fallen leaves glow golden

135. Yawns.

136. Toes.

137. The good long phone conversation with my friend Catie, about books, stories, getting tired, Corgies, hospitality, organization, craziness, graduations and weddings, and maybe a visit from her later this month, all the way from New Mexico! :-)

138. A homemaker-hearted Mommy.

139. A God who doesn't give up on us. :-)

140. Younger girls interested in learning homemaking skills, and a possible opportunity to teach them!

Quotes on Letter-Writing

2010-09-08T02:45:00.003-05:00

Soon I'll be posting on how I go about writing letters. Hopefully with pictures! Until then, enjoy some quotes on why letters are so nice.

Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. ~Lord Byron

And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
~W.H. Auden

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call. ~Liz Carpenter

The one good thing about not seeing you is that I can write you letters. ~Svetlana Alliluyeva

Correspondences are like small clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up. ~Sydney Smith

Grammar is the grave of letters. ~Elbert Hubbard

A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely. ~Pam Brown

101-120

2010-09-06T22:58:00.002-05:00

101. Spiderman - all three films, each with something different to teach about everyday heroism.

102. The chicks' quickly growing wing feathers... and claws, and tail feathers, and independence!

103. The comforting, warm, homey smell of chicken pot pie.

104. Dogs basking in the late summer sun.

105. Watching old movies with my mom and two of my brothers.

106. 100-year old books, discovered at the local used bookstore, for a dollar each.

107. Butter.

108. Herbal tea, perfect for a not-quite-well tummy.

109. A washer and dryer that work.

110. A good meal and conversation with my Mom and brother Jonny.

111. Old humorous poetry

112. The fresh feel of a clean face.

113. A successful house-and-dog-sitting job completed - no major disasters, no break-ins.

114. Getting to see my dear and much-missed friend Melissa, sharing our stories over coffee and scones, tough advice and empathetic encouragement.

115. Being reminded (by Melissa) of how abundantly God desires to bless us, sometimes waiting until we've given up all our dreams to Him so He can then give them back in more splendor.

116. Being reminded by Spiderman that "Sometimes, to do what's right, we have to be steady, and give up the things we want the most. Even our dreams."

117. Spending time with my friend Kate over the long weekend.

118. Playing with little Rebekah, "reading" her a worldless picture book.

119. The gift of a stoneware casserole dish - thank you, Sarah!

120. Being able to sleep in my own house tonight.

Ah, September. You're here!

2010-09-01T23:31:00.005-05:00

September 1st... just saying it thrills me to the bone, for many reasons. It heralds more fall coming on. It holds some friends' birthdays. And, it means in precisely two months, my favorite writing challenge of the year shall begin.

Yep. National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. The 50,000-words-in-a-month challenge. Click the picture above to see the website and learn more about the madness.

I wrote down a few character ideas tonight, just for fun, and already I want to know what happens with the happy plumber's family and the hardworking, silent young man who lives in their guest house. They live in the same little town as the Thistlebanes (for those of you who know that family).

I have absolutely no idea of plot yet.

I do think I have decided to give Melod and Co. a break this year. I want to venture once again into the weird and wonderful small-town minds, to experience what we call "everyday" happenings, which are so entirely mysterious and unplumbed that we usually don't see them.

Like when we go outside at night to get something from the car, and we forget that there's an upside-down hole right there above us, light-years deep, nothing between us and it but air and clouds and atmosphere, and that only because of a few laws of physics and gravity am I not falling headlong into outer space.

Um, yes.... Probably time to stop writing for tonight.

But I am getting cautiously excited about the approach of the 1st of November. Time slips by fast, and I have plenty to get in order before frantic noveling ensues!

In other news, AWANA started tonight (hurrah!), and on my way to and from it I experienced an earnest West Texas dust storm, the musty smell of rain in the desert, warm sprinkles of rain, grand rumbles of thunder, and a huge full rainbow. :-)

81-100

2010-08-30T22:40:00.003-05:00

(I'm going to try again to do these on Mondays. We shall see.)

81. A long, slow Saturday afternoon. It was actually restful, refreshing, and it slipped off into night leaving me more ready to face Monday than I have been in a while. A good Sabbath.

82. My brother Zach, man and Marine-in-the-making, prayed for and farewelled and boldly gone off to boot camp yesterday after church.

83. Sandwiches, especially on Hawaiian buns.

84. A mother and a brother to make sandwiches for.

85. A "little" brother (age 16, taller than me) who's neither ashamed or too busy to meet his sister (me) at Barnes and Nobles to quietly sip stuff and read our respective books in companionable silence

86. The nearness of fall, announced by slightly-cooler weather.

87. Books by Charles Dickens, like Dombey and Son. Somber. Moody. Autumnal. Understatedly humorous. Filled with great moral depth, and the comforting knowledge that Dickens will probably let some of the good characters end happily. Way better and more wholesome than Twilight, but with plenty of bleakness to satisfy those of us who go in for melancholy and darkness-with-light-peeping-through-the-cracks sorts of tales.

88. Loreena McKennitt's music - also autumnal.

89. Well-kneeded bread dough, after several rises, a smooth lump of elasticity.

90. Energy to make bread again.

91. The smell of fresh bread - pitas, which all puffed up nice and plump.

92. The spicy-sweet smoked aroma of bacon frying in a pan.

93. AWANA starting up again this Wednesday - I miss my 5-6 grade girls! I also miss the games, songs, council time, memorizing the Word, and hanging out with different members of my church family.

94. The fact that my mom and some other ladies are about to study the same book my Bible Study group just finished. It was a really good one, so I'm excited for her. :-)

95. A warm sun - a cold sun would be so disappointing, wouldn't it?

96. Our six warm little chicks.

98. Vanilla Chi tea.

99. A reminder to not be obsessed with my service, but rather with who I am in Christ.

100. The unending love of my Savior, and the treasures in heaven He calls me to lay up. Because most things on my lists, blessings though they be, are only fleetingly mine. I'm glad to know that if I became a penniless beggar on the street tomorrow, I would be just as rich as ever in the things which matter.

Guess what we got?

2010-08-30T15:09:00.000-05:00

Little Grey says hello.

Rambles from a borrowed basement

2010-08-20T13:57:00.002-05:00

Here I am, sitting on the floor of a lovely homeschooling family's basement, where Sarah and Catie (sisters of the groom) and I are staying. Another young lady (Courtney) is over practicing violin duets with Sarah for the wedding. They're both great musicians. Ah, I love homemade music :-).

In midst of listening to Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, I was over on the YLCF, reading some excellent reposted articles for single ladies on love and trusting God. Excellent stuff, about beauty, expectations vs. ideals, patience, and God's perfect faithfulness to give us the "no"s that will actually turn out to our greater joy.

Good stuff. I am so weak, but He is strong.

The fact of the matter is that the only way to true peace with regard to our future mate is by way of an age-old path called surrender. In fact, it’s the only way to true peace about anything. And the more comfortable we are with that idea, I believe, the happier we are in this life. We sometimes think of surrender as a last resort, an arms-folded acceptance of an unpleasant situation, rather than the gateway to all the delights our Father’s blessing and joy.
~ Lanier ~

Surrender. Not mournful, but eagerly expecting good things from my Father. That's what I need and am praying for.

In other news, my brother Sam (the best man... in many ways, thinks this adoring sister ;-) ) drove down last night from Iowa- hurrah! Dear quiet Sam, friends with jolly Aaron since they were nine years old. I still haven't seen him yet - he's hanging out with the bride's family, and Joy and Aaron (or "Jaron," as the about-to-become-one-person is being affectionately called, hehe!) It's funny seeing the confused wildness that happens even with a small wedding, with friends coming from all over, and families galore, and pennies pinched and rehearsal dinners hand-decorated....

"The brisket in the borrowed freezer needs to come out to thaw!"

"Don't forget the black pants!"

(playing with kids at the park) "Wait, Ethan, you probably shouldn't be eating sand."

"Ellie, you like gnawing that lotion bottle, don't you?"

"Emmie, how did you manage to fall down again?"

"Can you add something to the lists for Wal-Mart and Sam's?"

It hasn't been all stress, though. Not with these folks. :-) Earlier we three "big girls" did have time to play with the littles in water. It was an amazing fountain at the park, designed flat and slanting into drains, so it barely holds water. But it shoots out these sporadic streams of water, so the adventure is to run through and try to not get wet... A few of us didn't dodge in time, but then, getting splashed is fun too. ;-)

Farmington is lovely. It's a pretty little edge-of-the-mountains sort of town, with enough hills to be pretty but not block the huge sky.We listened to the new Andrew Peterson CD about five times driving up from Albuquerque, across the rolling hills, and last night in the pouring rain as we drove around town running errands.

This is a very odd post. But ah well. :-) I think we're about to head off to the next thing soon, so I should wrap this up. Dress rehearsal this afternoon, then the rehearsal dinner, then tomorrow the two giddiest people in the world will share their first kiss and head off to their secret honeymoon destination "somewhere in Colorado."

They're about to go dancing in the minefield, and sailing in the storm. :-) May the Lord bless their new family with greater things than they can imagine.

(picture added August 24, 2010)

Thankful Thursday 71-80

2010-08-19T06:00:00.071-05:00

"Now we're counting stars and counting sand,
little feet and little hands
we're counting joys"
~Andrew Peterson

71 - Andrew Peterson's article on Boundless: Buried Treasure: The Adventure of Staying Put

72 - Coffee in airports

73 - Not having to drive Wednesday (good, because I got a dangerously small amount of sleep)

74 - Airplanes - almost as exciting as dragons

75 - Some four-year-old children at the airport, who were as thrilled about the grasshoppers on the window ledge as they were about watching the airplanes. They might as well have seen fairies; they couldn't have been more enthralled and exclamatory.

76. Headaches... because at least it means I still have a head. :-)

77. A God more exciting, and more trustworthy, than an airplane - He takes us on wilder, more dangerous rides, but He is even more worthy of trust than a huge metal bird with a human pilot.

78. Friends who rescued me from my vigil at the Albuquerque airport.

79. Driving through northern New Mexico - rain and rolling hills, mountains and cloud-shadowed sky, and Andrew Peterson singing about family and marriage and God's love and nearness and justice in our darkest hours.

80. Little bitties - Ethan of the happy face and ever-protruding tongue, Ellie all plump and keen-eyed and serious. Ellie granted me more smiles than I expected, since last I saw them she was fussy, and Ethan was the happy fellow. I guess she likes me. :-) And Emmie the cheerfullest 3-year-old I know.

Thankful Thursday (51 - 70)

2010-08-12T01:00:00.001-05:00

Busy days! Edit and writing work, cleaning out our utility room, listening to Andrew Peterson's first fantasy tale, going to ladies' Bible study, eating too much ice cream, drinking too much tea... not blogging enough, but working to record the blessings, still. Because God is good apart from circumstances, but even in this world He doesn't leave us without abundant hints of His bountiful goodness.

(Oh, an update: For anyone who was wondering, I didn't quite finish the Boundless Summer Challenge. Maybe next year. The last week got me - I got behind on the writing part, and then life grew too crazy. But it was an amazing experience, and I hope to go back before too long and finish the last few Tasks. I got so much out of the ones I did, and hope I keep doing things like them!)

Here we go. This is too fun! :-)

51. The big West Texas sky

52. Signs

53. Psalm 139

54. Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith" on piano

55. Air conditioning

56. Stamps, handwritten silly note, an octopus card

57. A friend's birthday dinner of sandwiches, "special" sauce, and laughter

58. Rain seen from a cozy deli, pattering on cars, trying to blow open the stained-glass and wood door

59. A mother who loves history

60. Church history, and people who love reading about it

61. Too much laughter, when everyone needed it

62. Guacamole

63. My dear friend Sarah C.'s kindness and wisdom and friendship

64. The smell of rain in the air which greeted me as I walked out of HEB, arms loaded with produce :-)

65. Rain when the sun's shining

66. The tall candle on Cheryl B's kitchen table that had melted crookedly... tilting sideways, as Sarah M said, "like a sunflower reaching for the sun." We pointed the stretching wick towards the window, and I think we were both solemnly happy for its effort.

67. The art and joy of reading aloud, and being read aloud to.

68. Air conditioning ... oops, I put this twice. Air conditioning more than one day in a row, then! :-)

69. A little brother who gives me rides when I ask, in the glorious and ancient white monster.

70. A God who is way bigger than all the "What if"s and "If only"s I could ever come up with. :-)

Thankful Thursday

2010-07-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

Finally I'm doing another thankful post! This is to continue recording my blessings with the Gratitude Community. Ideally I'd do it Monday and use the cool banner Ann has on her website, but Thursdays seem to work a bit better for me. :-)

31. An abundance of newly-met kindred spirits

32. The cheery tea cup painted with one of my favorite flowers - wild rose.

33. The loves God gives us to bless others (me: baking, one-on-one coffee dates with sisters, a home and family to share)

34. The amazing rescue and protection, by God, of the little girl in our church family. She fell 15 feet from a tree, landed on her head, fractured her scull and suffered some bad gashes on her face, was airlifted to a special hospital, and after surgery and a whole churchload of people praying, is recovering amazingly. No known brain damage, already walking and talking a bossing her brothers around. Thanks for Rebekah's life, Lord!

35. Second winds

36. Sleep

37. Fleas. Hehe, And for not having them anymore. ;-) Betsy and Corrie could be thankful for fleas in concentration camp. I can surely be thankful for the same, minus the concentration camp!

38. A little vase of garden flowers

39. Awana leaders and a passionate commander

40. The Gospel - good news - of Christ

42. Frantic, flurried, flustered, prayers that God hears anyway

41. A lovely bowl of lovely food to satisfy my gnawing stomach

42. Pans of beautiful peaches from my grandparents' trees

43. Songs written and sung by a modern-day Inkling that get better each time

44. An America that (for the present) is quite unlike China, and does not limit family size or force abortions and sterilizations on women.

45. Homemade basil pesto

46. A Scottish Blacksmith, a Farmer Marine-to-be, an Engineering Thinker, a Programming Wise Man, and a Music-lover.

47. Being blessed with having the above for my brothers. :-)

48. The Boundless Challenge - such a growing opportunity!

49. The crazy times, to help me cherish the quiet times more

50. Libraries

Boundless Summer Challenge - Task 14

2010-07-29T04:19:00.001-05:00

Life is sacred. Think about it.

Spend a few minutes rummaging around Heartlink, a ministry of Focus on the Family that affirms the sanctity of human life.

Come up with six reasons why we should be concerned about protecting pre-born life.

I've known that abortion existed and is wrong since I was little. Ages ago we went to a rallies and held signs proclaiming the sanctity of life. I've seen some heartrending videos, sat in worldview lectures, and supported Pro-life organizations like Care-Net. But I'm not sure I've ever actually written a list like this. Of course, even one reason should be enough, and there are far more than six. But here are some of the most important reasons we should be concerned about protecting the pre-born:

1. Conception is the beginning of a life, a human, a soul, a bearer of the image of God. (Psalm 139:13-14, Genesis 1:27)

2. Each human life is of infinite value to God. I should value what He values. He showed us that He values life when Christ died for the most unworthy an insignificant of people.

3. Christians are are called to defend life, especially for those who cannot defend themselves. (Psalm 82:3, Prov. 31:8)

4. Abortion is murder, presenting a threat to all life. Infanticide and regular euthanasia are almost upon us. Next might be those people who can be accused of posing any sort of bother to society (Christians?). Here's a quote from Treebeard, a character in The Lord of the Rings, illustrating that we cannot isolate ourselves forever without eventual consequences, and choosing to do right is far better than living with a defeatist or escapist attitude:

“Of course, it is likely enough, my friends,” he said slowly, “likely enough that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has long been growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now. It was not a hasty resolve. Now at least the last march of the Ents may be worth a song.”

5. Abortion hurts the mother. Sin always has consequences and affects more than we imagine. The mothers are victims themselves - emotionally distraught, not supported, scared, lied to. The abortion industry is a big industry, not interested in providing options or speaking truthfully or actually seeking the best for pregnant women. These women need our compassion and help and the love of Christ!

6. We must never value something for its convenience, or size, or what it can do for us. Lives are being ended quietly every day, without a sound. It's so atrocious - it's hard to believe, hard to even think about. It's easy to forget, to only help the people in front of me, to speak for those who might one day do something nice for me in return. It's easy to feel defeatist about the long battle. But if we really desire to do things for the least of these, to practice unconditional love, to show we value what God values even when it is tiny and hidden away, then we cannot remain silent.

Very convicting. Lately I haven't taken action or even prayed about what I should be doing to stop abortions and minister to hurting women. Talking to God about this issue is the least I should be doing!

Can you think of other reasons we should be concerned about protecting tiny lives that I haven't listed?

Boundless Summer Challenge - Task 12-13

2010-07-28T06:42:00.001-05:00

So, I've been behind in updates on the Challenge - insanely crazy last few days, filled with great fellowship, work, and tending animals and gardens. But I've kept up with the tasks themselves, for the most part. Here's a quick update:

Task 12 - Make Church a Priority

"So use your gifts to serve your church. Be eager to be a part. Embrace your need for the church. Build your life around your church. Imitate Christ, who loved the church and gave himself up for her (Eph 5:25).

Pour your life into it — make Jesus' passion your passion." Joshua Harris, Pour Your Life into It

This weekend, the assignment was to read a couple of articles about the Church, and then do one of three things: 1) find and go to a church if you normally don't, 2) get plugged in if you're not already, or 3) do something to show appreciation to the pastoral staff.

I'm fairly involved with my church already (AWANA, youth group), so my task was #3. I decided to make cinnamon rolls, which I brought up to the church office on Monday morning for the staff, elders, interns, and whoever might be there. Wrote a little note to the "unsung heroes." :-) I also made sure to thank our preaching pastor for his excellent sermon.

These articles, the memory verses in Romans, and the sermon Sunday (about doing what you're designed to do) have reminded me that God designed everyone with different gifts and passion. Occasionally we are called to do things we're uncomfortable with, but usually we can serve God best by doing what we enjoy for others! I enjoy baking, and sharing our home with people, and inviting girls out to coffee. So I'm going to do those things, and not apologize anymore saying I "only" do such-and-such, which is an excuse Satan has probably encouraged me to use for years, resulting in selfishly used time and opportunities lost due to laziness.

Task 13 - Beginning of Worldview Week - Memorize Romans 12:1-2 and read or listen to John Piper's sermon "A Cause Worth Living For."

I learned the verses a while back in AWANA, but they need a little polishing. I'm still a bit clumsy with last week's passage - Step it up, Rael!

Good sermon by Piper! Great reminder of the great truth we know that the world is dying to hear, seeking a life of thrilling significance in so many things when only God will give it to them. How can I keep it a secret, or be ashamed of the gospel, or be intimidated by initial rejection? May God help me share!

(More later, when I actually have time to write!)

Andrew Peterson's "Counting Stars"

2010-07-25T01:31:00.000-05:00

This came in the mail today.

Walked outside into the evening air to check, because I've been waiting long... and there it was, in crisp manila packaging, waiting behind the other envelopes. For Rael. From the Rabbit Room. CD-shaped.

And I jumped up and down like a kid at Christmas in front of our mailbox. And carried my treasure into the house, and let it sit in its cellophane packaging, and did some other stuff. Almost afraid of the first listen, because there can only ever be one.

Finally I did listen, headphones on and lyrics before me, to take in the stories and songs Andy had to tell.

Well told. Beautifully, sorrowfully, full of love and children and ache. Darkness that we cannot shake. Hope that lives on in the night. Stars shining forever beyond Sauron's reach.

Andrew Peterson's done it again. How does he keep writing this stuff that gets better and better?

I beseech thee, good reader, if you have any love for acoustic and intimate songs that whisper of God through the beauties and sorrows, songs of this world where God waits just around the corner and watches from the blackest sky, ready to hold you up when you've almost forgotten hope - do give this a listen.

And then another.

And another.

Because Andy's music is like that. There can only be one first listen, yes, but like any good story, every song is better with each telling. There's always more to those words than can be caught right off. Listen long enough, and they start to soak into your soul's skin and tell you stuff.

May the telling go on and on until the stars we count with Abraham become breathing things we hold.

Until faith is sight.

Until the waiting is over and the Reckoning done.

Just Because...

2010-07-23T02:16:00.001-05:00

Tasks 10 and 11

2010-07-23T01:15:00.000-05:00

Task 10 - Time to Explore Mentorship

This task involved reading about mentors, watching a short video, and then doing one of two things:

1. If you don't have a mentor, take some steps to get one.
2. If you're already being mentored, take steps to mentor.

I'm being mentored by my friend Sarah C, so I did the second one. These were the specific instructions:

Make a list of younger adults/teenagers in whom you see potential, and who might benefit from what you've learned over the years.
Write down specific things that you would like to share with someone younger than you that you feel would benefit them as they walk through a life stage you've walked through.

So, I did just that in my journal. I've been thinking about mentoring some younger girls in my church lately, or at least spending time with them one-on-one. Helping with youth group is fun, and it's been a start to help me get to know some of my younger sisters, but it's hard to get past the surface sometimes in a group.

As far as specific girls, I made a list, but also I'm going to wait and see if God lays anyone specific on my heart, or (which could be a way He speaks) see who really wants to spend time with me, hehe! Because I wish I could spend quality time with each girl every week, but that's not very feasible. And God doesn't ask us to change the world by spreading one person thinly over millions. A few good relationships, built with shared life and conversations that are deep and long and weighty - this is what He works with.

So tomorrow morning I'm taking a young lady to get coffee at a local cafe. Should be fun!

As far as what we shall talk about - I confess I'm a bit nervous. I know I have been incredibly challenged and encouraged in the past by mentors who took the time to ask hard questions, and listened intently, helping to dig things out of me I didn't even know were there! I want to learn to do that. And to speak words of truth into people's lives, not fluff or meaningless chatter or sermons, but real encouraging words. I wrote down some of my life experiences I could share, and some things I'd tell my younger self. But mainly I'm praying for wisdom and quietness, to get to know my little sister better, and know how best to love and encourage her.

I'm just plum excited! :-)

Task 11: Time to Be a Friend

Find someone who doesn't usually go out or who doesn't seem to be very connected with others and invite them out for coffee, or invite them in on your weekend plans.

For this task, I kept trying to think of someone who might be falling by the wayside. I know they're there. I've been one. The problem with trying to find them is . I'm still praying for open eyes to see those left-out people, and the courage to make an effort to reach out to them.

But now, I'm going to count my coffee date with the quiet young lady from church tomorrow. She's one of the few homeschoolers in the youth group - most of them either go to public school or the small classical school. I remember what it was like to feel left out (quite unintentionally, and perhaps unavoidably) of the inner circle of people when I was going to the classical school part time and still homeschooling. So maybe I can help or encourage her in that area. I'm so excited for me, too - a younger sister to go to coffee with, who loves fairy tales and beauty and quiet thought! I'm sure we're very different in many ways, but that will just make things more exciting. ;-)

Boundless Summer Challenge - Task 9

2010-07-20T22:01:00.002-05:00

Today's assignment was to perform a random act of service and kindness for someone.

I offered free babysitting to a young mom. She's been sick lately, and I offered to give her a break by playing with her little boy. And/or, if she and her husband want to go on a date night later, I could watch him then. She hasn't got back to me yet, but I said I would keep bugging her so she knows I'm serious. ;-)

I've been wanting to do this more, since it's something I as a single have time for, and it's a way to bless and encourage married people. :-) It's also a way I can get a glimpse into their life, and perhaps appreciate more the trials (and joys!) of taking care of a child, something they do every day! AND, it's a good reminder that these folks are my family, and I want them to be able to rely on me now and then as I will definitely need to rely on them!

That's it! I'm only sorry I didn't do more today! I suppose I'm allowed to do them later, not for the Challenge, right? ;-) Some of the ideas, like paying for someone's meal or coffee anonymously, sounded like too much fun!

Boundless Summer Challenge - Tasks 7 and 8

2010-07-19T23:05:00.000-05:00

This weekend, the Task had two parts. I shall now report on both, and end with today's Task.

(Task 7, part 1) To wrap up Relationship Week:

The assignment was to spend some time with an elderly person and ask them about their relationship successes and failures, and what they've learned. The neighbor I planned to talk to was out of town, so I ended up calling my grandma (who came over only Friday, but I missed my chance then). It a little awkward, since we don't usually talk about anything too serious on the phone (aside from gardens and brothers and cat stories, which are entierly serious), but I decided I'd rather tell her right off about the challenge, and she was eager to help.

She started dating my grandpa at 15 (!), and married him at 18. And interestingly, her advice to folks nowdays was to not rush impatiently into marriage. We both agreed that people are far less likely nowdays to marry so young. Much more emphasis on college, starting carreers, doing other stuff... Being the dedicated Boundless reader that I am, I found myself wanting to go into a long discussion about how maybe her generation had their priorities straighter than ours... but I thankfully didn't say (very) much. Anyways, the point of the Task was to listening to her, not hear myself talk! :P Ick. Learning more how bad a listener I often am. What have I been missing?

Once I decided to be quiet, I think my eyes started opening. It makes sense now why she has always been so emphatic about us kids going to college - she never did, and I think she feels she missed out on lots of stuff. Hmm. Even as I still hope to be married, and often wish I had been married years ago when I had all my prime childbearing years before me (25 is supposedly the peak, after which fertility in women begins to decline) I should remember that this time as a single need not be wasted. There are many productive things to do for God. And the grass can always look greener, married or not.

Another thing she saw was that sometimes people got married who, though still married years down the road, could not be heard to say one kind word to one another! She said it is definitely good to be friends and to have common interests.

One last thing - my grandma told me about my grandpa bringing her flowers - roses, wildflowers, and just recently some squash blossoms! ;-) How sweet. :-)    I told her I was so thankful for their marriage.

(Task 7, part 2) To start off Community Week:

The next assignment was to listen to or read a sermon by John Piper. I've been a fan of his for a while, and his sermons are always so passionate and instructive, so this was no pain. :-)

One of the things that struck me was his words for those who feel they have nothing to offer to the Body. Maybe we're disabled, or clumsy, or inept, or whatever. Some would tell us we need self-esteem. But we actually need God-esteem. Romans 12:6 says we have gifts, and we should use them. So to claim we have none is not a sort of humility - it is actually, whether knowingly or ignorantly, calling God a liar, and being a rebel!

I don't want to rebel against God! So I need to watch what I say about myself. And I need to graciously remind others that they have gifts, given by God, for the good of others. And as Piper said, the best way to "find ourselves" is not alone off in the woods somewhere. It is with our family, life rubbing on life, seeing for my brother, my sister, what they cannot see themselves. And letting them see for me.

Task 8 - Memorize Romans 12:3-8

I've started this one, but it will take me a few days. It's rather a sizeable passage, and today was quite full. Good stuff to have memorized, though! I printed it in a cool font, and am carrying it around with me to work on in spare moments.

I've been thinking lately about my dear local church family. For the past year or two, I feel like I've been on a honeymoon with them. Now, as I've been getting to know people better, it's like any relationship - flaws become evident, weaknesses and inadequacies show up. Basically, what could have become an idol is crumbling. Which is good! The trick at this point is to press on with them, and remember that even imperfect people are absolute treasures, as near and dear to me as my own arms and legs. Which they are, literally in the spiritual sense. I need them. And wonder of wonders, they need me! I no longer need be critical if someone is not the best of ears - maybe he's an eye. I can now appreciate him for his ear-y-ness. ;-) Another person might be an eye, but maybe they need me to be the best toungue I can be for them.

Just thinking about this makes me ecstatic. Maybe the honeymoon doesn't need to end. ;-) I love how God set us up to help and depend on one another. So glad Church is more than a Sunday morning gathering!    So glad God gave us weird and hilarious illustrations to help us remember!

(Some of) What I'll Be Doing This Weekend

2010-07-16T23:03:00.001-05:00

July 16-18: Relationships Week/Community Week

To wrap up week one's focus on relationships, make plans to spend time with an elderly person this weekend — someone from church, an older family member, someone at the local nursing home, someone from work. Ideally, you'd be with them in person, but if that's just not feasible, it's OK to chat with them on the phone. Sensitively ask them about their relationship successes and failures, and what they've learned from those relationships.

After you've completed this task, write a comment below: Describe your experience spending time with this person and what you were able to learn from them.

To start off the second week of the Challenge's focus on Community, Listen to or read this sermon by Dr. John Piper: "We, Though Many, are one Body in Christ," based on Romans 12:1-8.

After you've completed the reading, write a comment below: What new insights about Christian community did you gain from this sermon?

This is basically two tasks, but we get the whole weekend to do them. They both look quite enjoyable! The first thing I must do is to either decide which elderly person to seek out... or to keep my eyes for someone I was going to run into anyways.... I think I'd better start off being strategic, and if God wants to bring a random person into my path instead, I'll try to watch for that opportunity as well. The rules doesn't say you can't talk with more than one elderly person. ;-)

Cheerio until Monday, or sooner! :-) I'm off to clean the kitchen and listen to the end of a Tommy and Tuppence mystery!

Boundless Summer Challenge - Task 6

2010-07-16T10:07:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's task was a bit difficult. That's why I didn't even finish writing this until today.

One of the reasons I have rarely done specific "relationship" posts on this blog is that I don't think I can say anything well that hasn't already been said excellently, whether on Boundless, or YLCF, or by the wise elders at my church. Also, I simply feel unqualified, as a single lady who has been terrified of guys for much of her life, to give advice on getting married!

Here's the Task instructions:

1. Read through some of these articles and make a list of essentials in a marriage partner. Take a few minutes to pray about your requirements, sincerely asking God to show you what qualities He desires in your partner.

If you're single, then make a list of people you are "interested" in (even if only mildly) and cross out the ones who do not meet the above essentials. Hm.
If you're dating or engaged, take time to think about ways you could improve this relationship and discuss with your fiancé what qualities you really appreciate about them.
If you're married, go back to those things that drew you to that person and the qualities they have that you appreciate. Talk to them about this.
2. After you've completed the bullet points above, write a comment below[on the Boundless Line post], exploring in general terms (no specifics needed) a couple of the qualities that you identified.

Make a list of people you're even mildly interested in? Hmm. That's a bit odd. Sounds almost like trying to decide which house to buy. But I guess the point of this is not so much the precise people on the list. Mainly, it's to see if we're being biblically or worldly in our attractions.

As it happens, I actually made the second list (qualities I'm praying for in my husband) earlier this year. Should have done one ages ago. I had some council from one of the elders in my church, which helped me see a bit more clearly through the bucket-loads of qualities I had sloshing about in my mind. The only two requirements absolutely in Scripture seem to be:

1. A Christian (II Cor 6:14)
2. Must be able to provide for his family (1 Tim 5:8)

That's all! But sticking with that, of course, one can still make an unwise choice. And even if there's nothing logically unwise about the person, there's still a huge amount of freedom involved.(Ack!) Just because someone is marrigable doesn't mean you are the person to marry them, or that if you don't marry them that you're in sin. So I have a short list of other things, still with Scriptural support, I think (but not explicitly commanded as requirements for marriage), what are vitally important to me, and will hopefully be helpful considerations when I am in a relationship. Beyond those, I also have a list of Preferences (important, but not deal-breakers), and Likes (just minor stuff for consideration).

Much to think and pray on.

I hope all my unmarried readers will be praying, too! We have an amazing God who wants us to pour out our frustrations and heartbreaks and longings and joys to Him. I'm learning that whether I get the answers I want or not, the joy of drawing near to God can overshadow even my saddest days with a cloud of unimagined glory. :-)

This is one of my favorite quotes from articles, because it reminds me to hope.

"Nobody really "settles" in a biblical marriage because God has designed marriage as a wonderful gift that gets better with age. This is what people worried about settling don't seem to get. They think joy in marriage is all about the original choice one makes about whom to marry, rather than how they nurture and build their marriage. Again, this misses the picture of biblical marriage.

Bottom line, the real danger for God's people in pursuing a spouse is that we will "settle" for the world's vision of self, love, marriage and even romance, rather than a vision of those things steeped in scripture and rooted in the love of Christ. Biblical love and marriage ask more of us than the world's selfish pursuit of non-existent perfection. But the rewards are infinitely richer."

Scott Croft's article, Settling (the original version)

Boundless Summer Challenge - Task 5

2010-07-15T00:29:00.014-05:00

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love...

~ Romans 12:10 ~

This was Wednesday's assignment:

Visit or call your closest friend. (No texting, Facebooking, tweeting, or IMing.) Ask them how YOU can be a better friend to THEM.
Ask if there are any areas you can improve, or ways that you can be there for them in a better way. Don't let them get off the hook by saying that you're doing just fine.
Spend some quality time asking questions about their life, focusing the conversation on them instead of yourself.
Write a comment [on the Boundless Line post] letting us know how it went.

What a good assignment! Oddly enough (or was it more than chance?) this was another case of the task fitting right in with what I needed to do anyways! My dear friend Catie, who I've known since I was 7 and she was 3, has been on my mind a lot lately. Lots of changes going on in her family, what with lots of traveling, and her older brother marrying one of her dear friends... I've tried calling and emailing her these last few days, and she left a message on my phone and sent a reply email... and tonight I finally called and got to hear her cheery voice for real!

We talked about various stuff going on in our lives, books we're reading, struggles we're having... I asked how I could pray for her specifically, something she started a while back but which I thought to bring up this time. And I finally asked what I could do to be a better friend. She thought about it, and finally said, "Keep in touch more!"

Duly noted. Not complex at all. But vitally important.

The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place.
~ George Bernard Shaw ~

(Do look at this card - the illustration is perfect!)

Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
but their echoes are truly endless.
~ Mother Teresa~

Gratitude for my Daddy

2010-07-13T23:02:00.031-05:00

I've begun the Boundless Summer Challenge, and so far it has been more challenging than I expected. More reading and writing and soul-searching, as opposed to just little tasks one could pull off in 10 minutes. I've gone from excitement about it to a bit of resentful grumpiness at feeling like I "have" to meditate on truth and be changed by it in a day. But I think as long as I remember it's a bit of a discipline, a means for grace and for God to change or teach me as He will, no matter my apparent success or not, then I shall enjoy it much more.

Part of today's assignment is for guys to try to show love to a woman in their life (wife, mother, sister, etc.) and for girls to demonstrate respect to a significant man (husband, dad, brother, etc). I decided to make a list of things I respect about my Dad, which I will list as this week's blessings. :-)

It's odd - part of me feels like that's cheating... But no, it's actually a sort of integration and melding of things God's been nudging me towards lately - recording my blessings, and increased gratefulness for my family. The life He calls us to is hard, but it's also much simpler than I usually make it.

I know I missed last week - out of town. And yes, I know today's not Monday, again It's barely even Tuesday anymore! Ah well. ;-)

Why my Daddy is Amazing

(an only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg list)

16. Once, when I was away at college and had major car problems, my Daddy came and rescued me. He took the car to a shop and got the problem fixed. He also got me my first cell phone around then, so I wouldn't get stuck on some lonely road again without being able to call for help. I knew when he said "Call me if you need anything" that he meant it, even if it meant driving a long way. I felt so cherished. Thanks, Daddy.

17. He drives all the way from Houston (8+ hours) just to visit us on random weekends.

18. He used to play The Bug Game with us on the living room floor ages ago. If you're wondering what The Bug Game is, good reader, I'm afraid it's rather beyond description. Let's just say it involved wrestling, tickling, increasingly challenging levels, and at least four of us piled up on the "Bug" at some point. We probably asked every night, to the point of extreme annoyance: "Daddy, are you tired?" (translation: not "Daddy, how was work? We care about you and hope you get some rest now" but actually "Do you have enough energy saved to be the Bug for our entertainment?") It was always the highlight of the night when dear Daddy was not too tired to play. Or, perhaps my grown-up eyes can see a bit better now... I'm sure you were actually still tired some of those times, Daddy, but you played with us anyways.

19. My Daddy is clever and great at fixing things. He's an engineer, but not just of drilling rigs and computer programs. He engineers things like homemade boats, and clamps, and who knows what else. He's a very hard worker.

20. He was brave enough to have six kids, and helped my mom through the pain and sorrow of several miscarriages and losing little Elliot (who died several days after his birth). I say it takes a brave man to keep on trusting God for whatever children He might want to give after that! If he hadn't, if he had said, "Four is enough," then my two youngest brothers, Isaac and Whit, would not be here.

21. He and my mom decided before any of us came along that they wanted to teach their kids at home... back before they even knew such a thing was called homeschooling. I am ever so grateful they chose to be radical in that way, and I'm excited and hopefully to one day carry on that legacy of homeschooling and really knowing my kids.

22. He and my mom did some deep theological study before us kids were born. I know that's a huge reason why I grew up with such a biblical foundation, and probably partly why I find theology so interesting - it was talked about often at our house, outside, in the car, as we walked along the way...

23. My Daddy taught himself Russian, y'all! He went over there for work, and decided he'd rather make the effort to learn to speak to language, rather than go the boring way of always using interpreters. He got so good, actually, that some Russians couldn't detect an American accent when he spoke! You know, once you're grown, it's supposedly far harder to learn a new language than it is for children. Well, my Daddy laughed in the face of such odds, and learned one. Good example for me. It's never too late to learn a language, or a new instrument, or any such thing.

24. He has this awesome manly engineer handwriting. :-)

25. He's got a great sense of humor.

26. He likes a good cup of tea.

27. Whenever he comes to see us, he usually brings us each a Breakfast-on-a-Bun in the morning. Yum! :-)

28. He's got the coolest blue-grey eyes.

29. He reads my blog. :-) Not just any dad would make that effort to know what his daughter's been doing, even amid all my rambling and non-informative posts.

30. Even though he's not perfect (neither am I!), he's one of my heroes, striving for wisdom and faithfulness and goodness, doing what he can to take care of the people in his life. I am so blessed to be your daughter. :-) I am so blessed to call you Daddy.

1000 Gifts and Recent Adventures

2010-06-29T07:53:00.004-05:00

Been wanting to join the Gratitude Community for a while. I know it's not Monday anymore, but I wrote most of this yesterday... anyways, happy un-Monday to you!

Someone asked me recently what adventures I've had. So I thought I'd list recent adventures, mostly of the small sort, as my first compilation of Gifts.

1. Learning how much I don't know about the future, and other people's minds, and my own self. And how it's a mixed blessing. But mostly good, because God made it that way, and it helps me learn trust.

2. Pretending I live in the country...watering some friends' garden and trees, feeding their chickens, skinny cats, and barrel-of-a-black lab named 'Rilla (Gorilla). Enjoying bits of dirt and sun, water splashed on my feet, quiet conversations with the critters... and with my Father.

3. Precious time journaling and listening, more than I have in quite a while. Rediscovering the joy of scribbled words on a page. Of comforting, gently-prodding bits of the Word memorized Longing for cut-in-stone answers... but even more, craving His nearness.

4. Munching Rosa's Cafe burritos with a younger sister in the faith, discussing old books and study habits and selective memory and CDs we listen to over and over and over and over...

5. Learning, slowly, to give my anxious heart to One who can calm it, instead of burying it in business.

6. Buying clothes... something I always put off, but needed to do... and actually enjoyed. It's been exciting to actually find feminine, modest, lovely clothes. May I never wish I were a boy! :-)

7. Hearing about two friends' courtship and engagement - hurrah for Aaron and Joy! I remember when Aaron was a little boy collecting snakes, lizards, basset hounds, birds, cats, inventing the silliest stories with his Playmobile characters. And when I first met Joy, she and her clan of siblings were reading Redwall books and Greek mythology and producing their own plays and speaking in unique accents. Now he's a vet who's still wild about animals but wilder about God and family, and she's an intelligent, lively, lovely young lady passionate about truth and home. Engaged in a spot in the mountains nicknamed Sherwood. Perfect. :-)

8. Waking up at 4 a.m. feeling rested, with plenty of time to think and read and pray.

9. Exploring musty shelves at the used bookstore. Finding a fresh, crisp copy of The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis for $2. Exactly what I was wanting, but didn't expect to find there. A surprise present from God that almost made me cry.

10. Renewing old acquaintances with two sisters, homeschool graduates, setting a day to investigate the downtown coffee shop.

11. Soaking up a Sunday School lesson focused on observations, not assumptions.

12. Sending snail mail, handwritten notes and pretty stickers across town.

13. Enjoying unexpected rain after intense dry West Texas heat

14. Eating garden-fresh tomatoes with basil, vinegar, and cucumber

15. Starting this list, officially, which I've been unofficially doing off and on for years, looking forward to a more regular habit of thankfulness.

Anyone want to do this with me? I probably won't be consistent on the day of the week. I just want to record God's specific goodness and grace. I want to open my eyes today, but also 10 years from now, to catch glimpses of His faithfulness and intimate involvement in my life.

Note: I'm playing with layout... I liked my old one terribly, and might switch back... But meanwhile, please excuse any drastic changes that show up here. :-)

"the best love letters"

2010-06-24T19:32:00.002-05:00

"...the best love letters are the ones simply breathed and lived and laid down with a life." ~Ann Voskamp~

Ann over at Holy Experience is such an inspiration and calming presence to me, though I've never met her. This is a lovely post of hers I just read and had to share: How to Really Write a Love Letter

Meditate on these things (not my list of complaints)

2010-06-02T23:29:00.001-05:00

I am thankful for:

Wednesday-night Bible study
sweet fellowship with young ladies
godly, wise mentors (today, especially Cheryl B.)
pens and paper
afternoon naps
spicy-sweet dessert tea
ice cream
air-conditioning
a Sovereign God, who has everything planned and under control
a Jealous God, who wants us to be His only
a Patient God, who lets us make choices, even wrong ones, so we can learn
a Loving God, who knows exactly what His children need
a Wise God, who gives simple (thoughnot always easy) instructions for life
my own copy of God's Word
bagels
Izze (Sparkling Blueberry)
the invention of braiding
the adventures to be had while house-sitting
the creativeness of people
the unexplainable
an affectionate little dog

Echo

2010-05-28T19:21:00.004-05:00

You call me beloved.
I echo, till
weak, faint, fading away,
dying, trying, I say, still,
what You, Beloved,
first put into Word,
battered against your Father’s mountain,
sounding the perfect echo
that began the avalanche of saints' songs.

~Rael~

written in 2007

Literary tag

2010-05-26T22:52:00.006-05:00

If I have ever been tagged before, I have not noticed. Until now. Thanks, Merriette! :-) This is very rare, you know, but I'll do it for you and my own amusement.

1 - What is your favorite book?
The Lord of the Rings. I know, big surprise.

2 - Who is your favorite character in that book and why?
Samwise Gamgee, closely followed by Frodo (or vice versa, depending on when you ask me). Sam is humble, down-to-earth, not especially clever or good with a sword or handsome or dashing or well-spoken, but he feels things deeply even when he can't say why. He knows that he's part of a Grand Story. He's also a hero in the highest sense of the word - faithful to the end, persistent and persevering and sacrificial, who carries his friend Frodo up Mount Doom. He reminds me of Jesus, who is even more faithful and persistent than a hobbit, and who carried our sins and sorrows up a Hill when we could not. And after the Evil was destroyed and it was finished, then came the waking, and finding that everything sad was coming untrue.

:-) Oh, and Sam is a gardener, a cook, and a wellspring of hilarious phrases from the Gaffer. How could I not like him best?

3 - If you could spend a day as a character in the book who would it be and why?
Rosie Cotton. Because she gets to live in the Shire, marry Samwise, and have lots of cute hobbit children. ;-) Only a day would be too short to do all that, though, so I'm ignoring that part, muhaha.

4 - Would you rather read Pride and Prejudice or Little Women?
I've read both, and P&P would probably be a quicker read, but at the moment I'd pick Little Women. We're about to watch it for my "Young Ladies Film Society" (i.e. movie night for girls from church), and I'd like to be able to notice the big things they added/changed in the film.

5 - Where is your favorite place to read a good book?
I've had many. Once it was the tree in my grandparents' back yard, which alas, is now gone. Often on my bed, in the car, by a cozy fire, or at the kitchen table with a plate of something yummy. These days, it's mostly on the couch. With a mug of tea or coffee, ideally, and sometimes a bit of chocolate.

I shall not tag, but if you want to answer the same questions, of course you're quite free too.

Lovely Wednesday night to you all! I think I shall go refresh my coffee now, and read my current book - Dug Down Deep, by Joshua Harris, which I did end up buying and which has been quite refreshing and good.

Barren

2010-05-26T07:27:00.008-05:00

Our desires for fruitfulness are inborn.

Certainly we can try to be fruitful in greedy, selfish ways, or by wrong means. But the desire itself is not wrong. We were designed that way, which is why God told us at the start to be fruitful and multiply. He didn't say it as a burden - He meant us to be happy, satisfied in His abundance, to fulfill our role of kings and queens.

Yet after we let the Serpent twist our views of God and His goodness, we were sent from our perfect Garden. Now, roaming the dark and thorny world, we are thwarted at every turn.

Barrenness.
Poverty.
Broken relationships.
Unsatisfying work.
Thoughts that wander into gloom and despair.

I went out yesterday with a friend to the middle-of-nowhere West Texas desert prairie, and walked around a bit amongst the thorn-laden mesquites and rocks and dirt. I thought of a choice I felt I had to make recently, which hurt someone dear to me and made me sad as well. The consequences of that choice are more difficult to bear than I could have imagined.

Crackling grass scorched in the summer wind.

Earth parched and dusty. Nothing could hope to grow here.

But then, in the death and stillness of the air, there rises the sweet smell of wildflowers, and their tenacious blossoms, prickly and small and lovely, shine at my feet.

I think, perhaps, our lives can be like this. Sometimes everything seems not only unfruitful, but even dead.

Wait. Out of the death of loss, something is about to grow.

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls —
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

All the food, all reason to keep working, all the hope for the future appears to be gone. Nothing is fulfilling its designed purpose.

Yet the writer is not simply accepting the death and barrenness as his lot to be born mournfully, with a face of woe and despair. Instead, he's actually choosing from deep in his soul to smile, to be glad! Because he remembers God is good, and He saves in more abundance and more mysterious ways than in making wildflowers spring up in the desert.

I want to choose joy. I want to grow old with smile wrinkles outnumbering my complaining lines. I want to rejoice in the Lord when my life feels like a barren desert. Because that is the best growing soil for faith in God who makes all things new.

Harris, Humility, and Hunger

2010-05-13T19:27:00.000-05:00

"What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place.

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Last night I roamed among the shelves of Barnes and Nobles with my mom and older brother Sam (visiting from Iowa). Settling myself in an overstuffed chair, I read bits of two books by Joshua Harris: his newest one, Dug Down Deep, and an older one which I somehow never got around to reading, Boy Meets Girl. Here are good summaries from the author on what these books are about:

Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matter is my reveling in theology in my own simple way – not too polished, sometimes awkward, less than scholarly, hopefully gracious and faithful. Even though these are deep truths, I don't pretend to be swimming in the deep end of the pool. I'm splashing in the shallow end. But if my splashing can inspire you to dive in, I will have succeeded.

~~~

I know the last thing most singles want is more rules and, in Boy Meets Girl, I wanted to offer an alternative: an intentional, God-pleasing game plan for finding a future spouse. In the book, I discuss how biblical courtship (a healthy, joyous alternative to recreational dating) worked for me and my wife Shannon, to give an encouraging and practical example for readers wanting to pursue the possibility of marriage with someone they're serious about.

The little bits I read in that hour were both refreshing and challenging.

Perhaps its that "Humble Orthadoxy" that stands firm on Scriptural truth with a heart of humility and love for people even as we abhor sin. Perhaps its the realization that Harris came from a similar background as me (a big family of conservative homeschoolers), so his struggles and challenges sound very similar. Or perhaps its the fact that he shares how he's grown in living out the Christian faith in such a vulnerable and passionate way.

Anyways, I woke up this morning hungry. Hungry for more of those good books. But mainly hungry for more Scripture, where my roots should always be growing deeper. The fact that I am neither as humble nor as firm in my convictions as I should be is not excusable. But neither is it cause for despair, because that's the point - truth is true whether I follow it or not. And how much better to see where I'm wrong and change, something God always invites us to do.

As Gandalf says with his quiet, winking smile, "And that is an encouraging thought."

Pride juggles with her toppling towers,
They strike the sun and cease,
But the firm feet of humility
They grip the ground like trees.

G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse

Have you been "hungry" for a particular book lately, or found any good quotes on true humility?

Authentic Relating

2010-05-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

"Authentic Relating" is something I've been trying to practice lately. It means being willing to share the truth about what we think and feel with others, to show them our real selves, and to be willing to hear them without jumping to conclusions. It means not using manipulation, or trying to find out what they want to hear. When it's working well, it's two people interacting - with each other, not with pretend versions of themselves.

Let me tell you, it's tough! But after all the pain and tears, I think it will be worth it, because truth and love always are.

"Authenticity is the courage to love

with a rigorous inside-out consistency."

Authentic Phony, from Boundless

"Truth is the lifeblood of relationships."

Glaen, by Fred Lybrand

Do I Value Life?

2010-05-02T23:49:00.004-05:00

I've been thinking about children, family, and the old question of "How many kids do you want?" lately. Reading lots of blogs, writing rambling thoughts... Some of it reminded me of why I believe as strongly as I do. Some of it pointed out various lies and traps of Satan I have fallen into, generally regarding reactions motivated through fear. But also a bad habit of almost worshiping big families for their numbers alone.

I confess, I need often be reminded that, as much fun as I think a huge family would be, the number God has in mind will be perfect, whether it be ten, one, or none. It is my inward attitude toward the sovereign God and my neighbors that is the most vital, as I was reminded in these words from Stacy MacDonald:

You see, it’s not about numbers—an out of wedlock mother of eight who is paid by the government to stay unmarried and dependent on the state could easily out breed most of us, if given enough incentive.

No; it’s about faithfulness. It’s about instilling in our children, our church, and our culture a passion for purity, children, family, and most of all, Jesus. It’s about raising up godly seed (Christian children) who aren’t focused on living for their own fleeting pleasures; but, are instead committed to glorifying God and enjoying Him forever—which involves loving one’s neighbor as one’s self.

"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”" (Galatians 5:14, ESV)

But you see, before we can do that, we have to believe it. Really believe it. We have to believe it so much that we are living it out each day without even thinking. We must value each life as much as we value our own—way down deep…

Life. Its value, it seems, is measured only in what it offers us—or how it threatens to inconvenience us. The more I contemplate the value of children, the more I realize that my view of children is bound up in how I value life. Am I truly loving my neighbor, my own family, the lost, the poor? Am I looking for ways to bring more and more glory to my Lord?

…Here’s the thing. It’s not about whether or not you believe birth control is a sin. It’s really not about that at all, and in some ways it distracts us from the real point. The real issue is far, far more important. It’s about loving God, loving our neighbor, loving life, embracing His revealed will, and working hard to live out the Gospel honestly and faithfully before a watching...and desperate world.

Read the rest of Stacy's gracious post

Honestly, I am selfish. Loving people, investing in their lives, is a challenge for me. Often I’d much rather go off and do my own thing – watch a movie, read a book, have time by myself with my own cup of tea. The mindset and life God calls us to is hard stuff! Do I have what it takes to love even one person for the rest of my life? Even for ten years? One year? A day?

No. Alone, I don’t. But with God, all things are possible.

Hullo!

2010-04-30T10:17:00.001-05:00

I have not disappeared. I could say things have been crazy... but then everyone says that... and I just did, too... and then, it's probably a basic fact of life for most of us Western World Dwellers. Craziness of some sort, that is.

Anyways, I just wanted to say hey! And to share a great homemaking quote from an amazing book. This is part of the reason I value homemaking as a high and noble calling, which I am grateful to be able to pursue:

Through the whole panorama of Scripture (and through most of history), we see the home and family as woman’s context. Home was not woman’s prison — it was her base of operations, from which she engaged in commerce, ministry, charity, medicine, the arts, and more. The family, though, was always her priority.

-Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin, from their book So Much More-

"The family, though, was always her priority." Good reminder to not get so caught up in the "stuff" of homemaking that I forget to love the people I'm doing those things for!

Quotes from "The Princess and Curdie"

2010-04-21T16:51:00.004-05:00

"A mountain is a strange and awful thing. In old times, without knowing so much of their strangeness and awfulness as we do, people were yet more afraid of mountains. But then somehow they had not come to see how beautiful they are as well as awful, and they hated them - and what people hate they must fear. Now that we have learned to look at them with admiration, perhaps we do not feel quite awe enough of them. To me they are beautiful terrors."

"Nothing that could be got from the heart of the earth could have been put to better purpose than the silver the king's miners got for him. There were people in the country who, when it came into their hands, degraded it by locking it up in a chest, and then it grew diseased and was called mammon, and bred all sorts of quarrels; but when first it left the king's hands it never made any but friends, and the air of the world kept it clean."

"He might have been a captain, they did believe! The good kind people did not reflect that the road to the next duty is the only straight one, or that, for their fancied good, we should never wish our children or friends to do what we would not do ourselves if we were in their position. We must accept righteous sacrifices as well as make them."

~from Chapter One of The Princess and Curdie~

by George MacDonald

Study, Random, and a Goose Egg

2010-04-08T23:05:00.003-05:00

When was the last time I challenged myself to find out if a long-held belief or way of doing things was actually Scriptural?

When was the last time I dove into some serious Bible study, taking notes, making lots of observations, seeing what is there instead of what I want to see?

When was the last time I was able to flip open a Bible and humbly explain a concept or principle, without fear of having taken anything out of context or of making it say what it didn't?

Too long ago, that's when.

Well, I plan on doing some deep digging in the following days. I might even post some of my findings here as part of the process. And hopefully at the end I'll be able to explain with Scripture, clear thinking, and personal conviction why I believe some of the "odd" things I do. :-) And if my views change in the process, so much the better! What better to change me than Scripture?

In other news, I've been:

spending time with my dear dad, who visited this weekend - I love you Daddy!
lunch at my grandparents after church
good conversations with my friend Erik :-)
drinking some lovely white and herbal tea I got for Christmas
writing book reviews
learning to write press releases
picking early flowers from our garden and putting them in a teacup
eating chocolate
cooking
watching Arsenic and Old Lace with two sweet friends (I hope I didn't scar them for life, hehe!)
admiring my brother Zach's muscles (he's getting ready for the Marines)
listening to barbershop quartets while my mom cuts Bob's hair
thinking about the blessing of children, homeschooling, and media discernment
helping my mom carry little seedlings inside every night, and outside in the morning
taking my Puppy to AWANA for Stuffed Animal Night
listening to Adventures in Odyssey
fiddling with piano and irish whistle
not wanting to buy anything else from China
pondering the amazing beginning of the sentence "But God..."
walking with a mom, her little girl, and their dog
drinking in wisdom from an elder
chatting with my Thinkling friends on Google chat
getting on Blogger too often without actually posting anything ;-)
looking at my goose egg I painted and scribbled on
taking too many pictures with my webcam

Well, I don't have anything else to say, and it's getting late, so adios from the West Texas hobbit hole!

Book Review - The Last Thing I Remember

2010-04-07T01:36:00.005-05:00

The Last Thing I Remember
By Andrew Klavan

This was a totally engrossing, action/suspense packed, honest and wholesome adventure. When my mom was telling me about it, I thought it sounded like a modern-day Christian take on Hardy Boys. After reading it, I'd say not quite. There's more meat to it. More suspense and tension, and a bit more violence, but also more inner-struggles and heroic choices that were soo refreshing to find in such a "cool" modern yarn! It also struck me as a great book for guys, though I enjoyed it very much as well.

Charlie West was just a normal kid. Good grades, decent at karate, with a slightly-distant dad, a over-anxious mom, and a silly older sister. He has his loyal friends, a teacher who likes to harass Charlie for his faith and patriotism, and a kindhearted girl who scares him more than anything. Life wasn't perfect, but neither was it impressive.

There was nothing in it, in fact, to explain how Charlie wakes up to find himself captured by Islamic terrorist planning his demise.

As he attempts to escape and find out what has happened since he went to sleep at the end of that normal day, Charlie begins a journey of discovering many things. Who he is. What's actually important in life. What it means to never give up when you know you're right. The joys of home and family and peace and justice, so little appreciated by most people until they're gone.

It was this last point that stuck out to me the most. So many teen adventure, and novels in general, encourage us to wish for escape, to be discontent with our humdrum lives. I know. I've felt it. It's a temptation to escape for a while, to live on the wild and dangerous side, to have the thrilling life of adventure we see in so many stories.

But I believe that the mark of a truely healthy, edifying, and great book is that it doesn't simply provide temporary escape from which we're reluctant to return. Instead, they send us back to real life with a new appreciation and greatfulness for what we've been given, for the people and blessings and trials of our own. Really good books encourage us to love the humdrum life in all it's everyday glory. Because it is glorious, if we will only see it as an invaluable gift, a precious blessing we must sometimes fight to preserve.

The sequel, The Long Way Home, was also good. I can't wait until the other two books in The Homelander Series come out!

(The only warning I would give to parents is a very mild and clean romance and more intensity and violence than Hardy Boys. Consider reading it yourself first. You just might have a hard time putting it down!)

Posted for the March of Books on YLCF

Book Review - The Great Divorce

2010-04-07T01:35:00.003-05:00

The Great Divorce
By C. S. Lewis

I've now read this little book twice in less than a year, and I'm sure I'll be dipping back into it for decades to come. What a gem! It's a fairly quick read, but since it's Lewis, you might want to go slow with a pencil to mark all the great quotes.

The premise is this: a busload of people from a dull and dreary town are taken to a wonderful land and given the choice to stay or go back to their self-centered lives. Tragically, few actually choose to stay. Convictingly, their reasons are often all too familiar and close to home.

I had the amazing opportunity to read this for the first time last summer for one of my Next Step Discipleship classes. For one week we broke into discussion groups, taking turns reading passages aloud, and talking about the book. In my group was Ian Campbell, a tall Scotsman with an amazing accent.

Well, at some point in the book, George MacDonald shows up. He's an old Scottish preacher whose writing greatly influenced Lewis. And his parts were read by the only natural person in our group - Ian from Scotland.

Let me tell you, that's a memory I won't soon forget. :-)

'There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."

~ C. S. Lewis ~

Posted for the March of Books on YLCF

Book Review - The Heavenly Man

2010-04-07T01:33:00.003-05:00

The Heavenly Man
By Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway

I don't read enough Christian biographies. Maybe one a year. The last one was A Severe Mercy (which my mom's reading right now), and that one was glorious. But partly its enjoyment came from the magical writing. Whether the writing is engrossing or not, I know there is a wealth of wisdom and insight waiting to be gleaned from the lives of saints who have gone before.

This book has been sitting on our shelf for years, but what finally drove me to take it down and dive in was a newly-wakened desire to get into the mind of the house church Christians in China. And let me tell you, it was eye-opening! Not amazing writing, but definitely an amazing tale.

Brother Yun's story covers his conversion as a young boy in a poor village, his frequent persecution, torture, and imprisonment, and his ministry to everyone from house church members to prison guards. It is a testimony of God's faithfulness and the joy he offers to those who embrace persecution (Matthew 5:10)

"I didn't suffer for Jesus in prison. No! I was with Jesus and I experienced His very real presence, joy, and peace every day. It's not those in prison for the sake of the gospel who suffer. The person who suffers is he who never experiences God's intimate presence."

~Brother Yun~

Posted for the March of Books on YLCF.

Hope Comes Galloping

2010-04-04T09:37:00.001-05:00

I long to see him face-to-face. I long to put my hand in his side, and touch the scars. I want to thank him and to worship him without this confounded veil between us. Just fighting to believe can make you weary, and faith is hard to hold.

But we are given moments of reprieve. Easter comes around and the pews are full of every-Sunday sinners and once-in-a-blue-moon saints. The ice melts. The daffodils glow like little suns. We remember the earth-shaking fact of the resurrection of Jesus, and hope comes galloping in from the east, trumpeting the tune of victory.

~ Andrew Peterson ~

Read the rest, and listen to an achingly lovely song, here:
Easter Song of the Day: "Risen Indeed"

He is risen!

Book Review - Glaen

2010-03-24T03:01:00.006-05:00

Glaen - by Fred R. Lybrand

I’ve always been skeptical of books that claim to be novels but are actually nothing more than sermons in (lame) disguise.

Glaen was not one of those books.

The subtitle says it right off - A novel message on romance, love, and relating. No tricks. The message is the main point of the book. But once you know that, you can relax and dive into a compelling story woven through with relationship principles that we learn along with the main character, Annie.

Glaen reminded me a little of Peter Kreeft’s books in which Socrates travels to different places in time to have lively discussions with everyone from Marx to modern college professors. But more plot happens in Glaen, so it’s a bit more readable.

Enough about the style. What, you might ask, is the book actually about?

A Girl, a Professor, and an Assignment about... Relationships?

The Socrates-like character, the mysterious professor Glaen, helps Annie, a college student, with an assignment about how relationships work. She makes observations, notices lies and countering truths, and discovers the “secrets” of great relationships that are almost too simple to believe (but rarely practiced). Her observations come in the midst of interaction with her parents and friends.

This is not another dating vs. courtship book. I guarantee that the core principles in Glaen are applicable to you, whatever the state of your relationships – single, dating, or married.

Personally Challenging

This book came out at a perfect time in my life! Not that I have fully begun to live out all the truths, by any means, but I have been given unmistakable opportunities to practice them.

I can’t give away the plot, or tell you everything Annie discovers – you’ll have to read the book yourself to find out! But I will share one truth (for now) and how it has challenged my thinking and actions.

Lie – If you follow the right process, you will be guaranteed a good marriage.

Countering Truth – No process can guarantee a good relationship, because there are no future guarantees in relationships. Relationships happen in the present.

A while back I adopted the notion that if I just do things carefully and right, God would give me a permanent (and reasonably perfect) marriage some day. To this end, I began reading about and clinging to the concept of courtship instead of dating. It seemed such a great plan, I thought.

But as various conversations in conjunction with this book have been teaching me, even the best plan cannot guarantee the future. Cling to good principles, yes, but then leave the future to God and focus on being honest, putting others first, speaking the truth in love, and relating without strings or requirements.

Here’s a quote to that effect that I copied and stuck on my desk:

When someone accepts the fact that she cannot know the future, then a new kind of power or opportunity comes into her life. She can quit trying to force and manipulate the future. She can quit trying to control her relationships. In fact, she should finally be able to start enjoying the relationship once she gives up on trying to guarantee its future.

Glaen, page 77

This principles in this book are tough, but in the end also incredibly freeing. If you’re hungry for truth that will help you start relating in a way that works, go with Annie and meet the strange character, Glaen.

Posted in the March of Books on YLCF

short-and-fast posting attempt

2010-03-04T08:17:00.000-06:00

Can I write and post an entry in 7 minutes? Let's see! How about a cool picture?

Yikes - took me 5 minutes to decide on a random one! This is from my trip several years ago to Iowa to visit my older brother, Sam. I think we're at Panera Bread. Don't I have a fine brother? He's not only handsome - more importantly, he's a man of character and deep thought.

Wow, there went my 7 minutes of blogging! Things to do today, places to go, people to see... farewell!

A random ramble - West Texas Wind

2010-03-02T09:31:00.002-06:00

Note - I wrote the following "ramble" probably two-and-a-half years ago, when I was living with my Abilene family out in the country. Sometimes little things stir memories which simply must be recorded, and this was one of those times. Reminds me of where I've been, of days past, of God's whispers and gifts from my childhood. He's the same God today, and no less full of wonder and beautiful mystery.

Today I smelled the wind. He was lusty and strong, and brought smells of watered grass. Not sure why, since it was only a warm winter day, with more ice to come. Maybe it was just the grass’s growing pangs, like the souring scent of a bowl of bubbling yeast dough. But it said, “Remember me, old friend? I know you, girl from the West Texas middle-o-nowhere town.”

And I remember the little league fields, my brothers playing, I on the cold stands or in the dirt with toy animals, whipped about by the unchecked gusts. Or stepping outside to dibble in my garden, to carry trash to the huge dumpster and hope I wouldn’t have to chase any old napkins across our acres, or running out on adventures through the back lot of mesquites and tall grass and threat of rattlers and lure of forts.

Sometimes it could be such a cold through-your skin chilly wind. Or in summer it was hot and parching, like a giant trying to melt the ice that actually wasn’t on you. Spring and fall, though, were nice. Then it was gentler, with the excitement of change. Growth and coziness. The two beautiful calls, one outdoors, one in. The heath and hearth both beautiful, both hinted and hummed and heavily hearkened by my friend, the gusty wind.

"Even though You take him..."

2010-02-28T15:42:00.002-06:00

I'm still thinking about my last post. Here's a song by Andrew Peterson about Abraham and Isaac that exemplifies the faith I want. I'm not even a parent yet - I need help imagining this!

Holy is the Lord

Like I said, I'm not a parent yet, but the time to practice this faith is always now.

What am I still clinging to tightly, which God may be asking to hold? Long-held convictions which (though I hate to admit it) may not be true? Old ruts which I thought were right for so long, but which may need to be filled so I can live a more Christlike life, moment-to-moment, choice by choice? Little moments of self-gratification? Assumptions which keep me "safe," but which could be hindering truth from coming out, and real relating from happening?

Big things? Little thing?

Some things He asks us to give are sinful. Others are good.

It is all of me He wants, not just the parts I think need changing. Am I willing to give all? Do I trust my God?

Holy is the Lord, Holy is the Lord

And the Lord I will obey

Lord, help me, I don't know the way

Mine

2010-02-26T10:49:00.003-06:00

And all the time the joke is that the word "mine" in its fully possessive sense cannot be uttered by a human being about anything. ~ The Screwtape Letters (Chapter 21), by C. S. Lewis~

One must be careful of the awful smallness and selfish possessiveness that can creep in with that small word "mine."

In Till We Hace Faces, it was one of Orual's deepest flaws, hidden from herself until near the end. She thought she loved her sister Psyche. But her "love" was a possessive hunger that wanted Psyche all to herself. Better for her to die and still be Orual's, than for the God of the Mountain to love, woo, and steal her away.

When I was over at the my friends' house last week, Sarah was trying to break her little girl Rebekah of the habit of saying "mine" of almost everything. "It's not nice to say 'mine,'" she would say. She wasn't concerned with Rebekah using it in a purely true and factual sense. But it is clearly an inborn tendency to call things "mine" which are not ours at all (like Sarah's drink from Sonic which Rebekah tried to claim - even Sarah's jacket!).

Even when things are "ours" in some sense, they should never be clutched and clung to, but rather held with an open hand. Even when I'm married, and I say "my husband" - even then he will not be mine so much as Christ's.

He alone makes, redeems, and truely owns anything. He has purchased us with His blood! How can I claim any rights or ownership of anything?

Because God really owns all, He sometimes takes away what is "ours" (friends, family, posessions, health) to work on them, or us, or both. He cares for His own better than we know.

Lord, please help me learn to not say "mine" the wrong way. Instead, help me hold out everything in my hands, look to You, and say, "Yours."

When the King calls, will you give what you cherish the most to Him?

Psyche's Longing

2010-02-09T09:08:00.002-06:00

"What is it?" said I, looking down at her lap where our four hands were joined.

"This," she said, "I have always - at least, ever since I can remember - had a kind of longing for death."

"Ah, Psyche," I said, "have I made you so little happy as that?"

"No, no, no," she said. "You don't understand... It was when I was happiest that I longed most. It was on happy days when we were up there on the hills, the three of us, with the wind and the sunshine... where you couldn't see Glome or the palace. Do you remember? The colour and the smell, and looking across at the Grey Mountain in the distance? And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing, always longing. Somewhere else there must be more of it. Everything seemed to be saying, Psyche come! But I couldn't (not yet) come and I didn't know where I was to come to. It almost hurt me. I felt like a bird in a cage when the other birds of its kind are flying home."

~ from Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis ~

Drizzly Day

2010-02-02T22:24:00.005-06:00

This morning I went up to write at Barnes and Noble. I indulged in a warm and chocolaty Cafe Mocha (with whipped cream, of course!) and a pizza pretzel, purchased with the help of a gift card. Thanks, Jonny my dear brother!

The whole day has been foggy, grey, wet. A bit chilly. You'd think it would be perfect to get tons of writing done. But instead I mostly read about self-publishing (probably the route we're taking with the Hope for Relationships book) and looked at the Forgiveness chapter. I also looked at the Chicago Manual of Style, which I've read is a necessity for serious writers. In a quick flip-through, though, it seemed huge and confusing to me, and most of it seemed like stuff I'd never need to know. And it was about fifty bucks. Maybe I'll get it on sale sometime. Maybe.

Then I ran an errand, came home, deboned a chicken, and made soup and stock and a bowl of chicken meat for chicken salad later. While listening to Adventures in Odyssey and the Boundless Podcast.

After that, I went to visit my friend Sarah C. She's perky, sensible, cheerful, and wise, and she's excited about so many of the same things I am (like homeschooling, wives staying at home, gardening, frugal meal-planning, raising animals to eat, sewing). We've been walking together every week lately, but since it was not so nice outside today and her little girl, Rebekah, was still sleeping, we just talked and ran to the post office (Sarah's husband was home - don't worry!). Sarah is such a blessing, like the older sister I never had. I'm so thankful the church body is really a family, and I actually do get her as a sister! :-)

Then I came home and wrote a flier for the tea party we're having after AWANA Quizzing. Drove through the drizzle to pick up Bob from basketball practice. Came home again, ate delicious Chicken Enchilada Soup if I do say so myself... hey, I may have mixed up the ingredients, but God made them, so I think I can be delighted with soup to His glory. :-) And watched a Leave It To Beaver episode on Netflix with Whit (Bob), until he left (again) to watch another MCA team's game.

And here I am, writing this rambly post, listening to the chicken stock on the stove boil down so it will take up less room in the freezer. Thinking about the book I've been reading - Passion and Purity. Wondering how best I can trust God and wait patiently for my man to lead at the right time. (Until we both say "I do," only God knows for sure who he is, anyways!) I'm thinking about how much I assume I know guys' minds, when I ought to have a quiet spirit and respect them enough to speak or be silent as they choose. Lord, help me!

Well, I'd better stop blathering on. Tomorrow is near. Besides normal book and house work, I need to research the science behind bread, learn what kinds of bread they made in the medieval ages, dig out books on calligraphy and knotwork and illuminated manuscripts, and maybe repair my blue medieval dress. Three dear and creative kids are coming over for a fun homeschool afternoon in a few days, and I need to be prepared. What fun - I don't even have my own kids yet, and already I get the joy and excitement of practicing hands-on teaching!

Oh dear, I'm about to fall asleep here. Have a lovely Tuesday night, and I hope your Wednesday is full of happiness in God!

Sacrifice before Rebirth

2010-02-01T13:23:00.005-06:00

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ~ John 12:24 ~

If I hold spiritual blessings or friendship for myself they will corrupt me, no matter how beautiful they are. I have to pour them out before the Lord, give them to Him in my mind, though it looks as if I am wasting them... ~Oswald Chambers~

The very longings themselves can be offered to Him who understands perfectly. The transformation into something He can use for the good of others takes place only when the offering is put into His hands.

What will He do with these offerings?
Never mind. He knows what to do.

~Elizabeth Elliot~

A good and perfect gift, these natural desires.

But so much the more necessary that they be

restrained, controlled, corrected, even crucified,

that they might be reborn in power and purity for God.

~Elizabeth Elliot~

Humility

2010-01-22T14:16:00.002-06:00

Do not look at pride as only an unbecoming temper,
or at humility as only a decent virtue.

The one is death, and the other is life;

the one is all hell, and the other is all heaven.

~from Humility, by Andrew Murray~

Tiptoeing through this small-but-weighty book lately, I've been challenged to see not only my acts of obvious pride, but also my inherent spirit of pride.

Murray reminded me that "the danger of pride is greater and nearer than we think."

Thankfully, "the grace for humility is greater and nearer, too, than we think." As Murray says, "The humility of Jesus is our salvation."

All praise and glory to the Lamb of God, who humbled Himself even to death on a cross for you and me!

photo taken by my Mom :-)

Book Review - Burning Light

2010-01-18T01:37:00.009-06:00

Yes, it's another book review. Yes, I am doing other things besides reading these days. Yes, I'll try to do a life-update sort of post soon.

But first I must tell you about this story! Burning Light is the second book in the Seventh World Trilogy, the first of which I reviewed in my previous post. Here is epic, beautiful, well-written fantasy that sings of Christian truth.

The story deepens

The Order of the Spider is moving. It is snatching Gifted children from their homes, seeking to use them for evil, making them forget their own names. The Empire is ruthlessly hunting out the Gypsies, killing and taking captives. The rebels of Pravik cannot remain hidden forever.

The King's return draws nearer. But so does the darkness seeking to rend the Veil of protection. And some of that darkness is already devouring men's hearts.

Nicholas Fisher goes on a journey to free a captive. On the way he will discover who he is. He will hear many things. And he will experience the Song of the Burning Light.

While this story is mainly about Nicholas, Maggie does show up again for a bit, as do other folks from the first book. And there is a wonderful range of new characters. Michael O'Roarke, the young chieftain searching for answers and safety for his clan. The young lady named Miracle, one of the Gifted. The mysterious people from a secret and secluded culture. The strange white wolf. The evil Unnamed One, once a man but now consumed by evil, burning with desire to rend the Veil and unleash the darkness into the world.

My assessment

The middle of a series can be a hard book to read and, I expect, to write. But Rachel Starr Thomson has done very well here. This second book in her Seventh World Trilogy is just as exciting, just as full of wonder, and even cranked up a few notches from the first book. It's much more intense, and dark, and sad. Characters grow miles deeper. Wonderful and horrible new places in the Seventh World are explored. I think even Rachel's storytelling and word-smithing improved, and that's saying a lot!

At times the tale felt just a touch chaotic, with so many characters and plot lines. But that can happen with any middle part of a tale. And I never was lost or bored, believe you me!

Another interesting thing. Perhaps I am dense, or I was reading too fast, but something happened with a certain character that I didn't see coming. I think Rachel may be unique in her approach to writing characters' relationships - they keep surprising me, and I begin to wonder if that's because they are so life-like. Real people are never as predictable as average book characters. ;-)

I will probably be reading this one again near December, before the third book, Advent, is released. I await it eagerly. In the meanwhile, I'll be telling folks about this fabulous series (which you can purchase at her website, Rachel Starr Thomson, or on Amazon) and reading Rachel's thoughtful posts at her Inklings blog.

Book 1 - Worlds Unseen | Book 3 - Coming Day

Book Review - Worlds Unseen

2010-01-10T21:12:00.003-06:00

Beyond the everyday existence of men and women lies a realm of ancient beauty and goodness and light. An exiled King calls his people to awake and remember him. But an unspeakable evil is seeking to break into the world of men and rule by misery and cruelty. The Veil that keeps that evil back is wearing thin.

Worlds Unseen follows the stories of several young people who realize that the miserable world of the Empire is not all that exists. Maggie has a song in her heart, just waiting to be drawn out. Nicholas hears what others don’t. Virginia, the blind girl, sees visions.

From the grey city of Londren and the highlands of Anglsie, through the forests of the gypsies, and deep in the ancient tunnels of the Eastern city of Pravik, Maggie and her friends will need all the courage, faith, and love they have to stand against evil. And they will be changed in ways they never dreamed.

Here is what I wrote to Rachel, the author, upon finishing the book the first time:

Oh my goodness. When you put Worlds Unseen on your site as a free download, you certainly knew what you were doing. ;-) I am so hooked. Now I need to decide if my budget can handle hard copies of it and Burning Light. I definitely want these to keep, in tangible papery form!

Thank you for this story! I am in rather a state of shock (the end-of-an-amazing-read sort of shock), and it might be a while before I can write a coherent review for my blog. But for the moment, I mainly wanted to thank you for your well-told story of life and death and tears and growing up, of ashes and newness and the bright, starry thread, of monsters and scoundrels and everyday heroes stepping bravely into battle against evil. Thank you for a picture of worlds unseen, of faith that hopes and believes when the night is dark. Of a King who is coming. Oh, I loved it!

I love your descriptions of all the mysterious, otherworldly characters, like the wind and animal and tree spirits, and Virginia's visions. Ah, beautiful! That is stuff that really encourages me. It reminds me of how little I really see of reality. What all is going on beyond my senses? It's far more than I think, both worse and far better than I can dream.

Now, after reading it for the second time four months later, I found the book just as compelling. The writing is excellent. From the sweeping scale of lands and peoples to the vivid details of small moments, this book shines. The characters are real, each with their own struggles and strengths, and I already love them dearly. Nicholas, the kindhearted Gypsy boy, was probably my favorite character, and I was thrilled to learn that the second book is mainly his story, as the first was Maggie’s.

As far as Christian fantasy goes, I thought it was beautifully done. Magic glinted from these pages, but when it was used selfishly it was always shown to be bad. The source of the good power was always the King, and nothing brought greater joy and comfort and hope than when characters realized He was with them. Nor was there so much direct allegory that it took away from the story, which seems to me to be the other ditch Christian fantasy writers can fall into. Overall, a sense of bittersweet longing pervades the whole book.

I’m sure I shall be reading this again, as well as recommending it to friends. In the meanwhile, please excuse me while I dive into Book Two – Burning Light.

(You can visit Rachel's website HERE.)

Book 2 - Burning Light | Book 3 - Coming Day

Writing Styles - Personalities

2010-01-05T22:18:00.001-06:00

I just realized today that when I find myself begrudging people I know of their talent and skill and knack to write, it's like wishing I could have the same or "as good" of a personality as them. That's silly. And quite wrong. If I would instead rejoice in their wonderful abilities, and try to be the best I can be at my own writing, I can enjoy the delightful range of personality and variation God created.

Father, help me be humble in my writing!

Do Not Fear

2010-01-03T16:19:00.002-06:00

Do not fear.

Those three words are at the heart of the good news of Jesus. Before he enters into our wrecked lives we have good reason to fear. Before his grace restores us we are a ruin, a foggy graveyard in the dead of night. We’re too lost even to ask for direction, too feeble to beg for help. We may be wealthy, successful, beautiful, even happy–but we know that our deepest heart is a wasteland, a vast, black emptiness of stone and sorrow. To know that emptiness is to be afraid, and that fear is good. That’s the kind of fear that leads to humility, the kind of helplessness that leads to repentance.

But once we’ve heard the Lion roar, once we’ve felt the earth tremble beneath his feet as he strides through the valley of death to gather us up, when we have looked into his loving eyes and seen the forges of heaven there, when we have finally stopped running, when we have given up and have at last let him heal us where we’re truly broken, everything changes. The wasteland is green. The graveyard is a garden. Our senses sometimes tell us otherwise, and it’s hard to believe, but faith gives us eyes to see his invisible face, ears to hear his silent voice.

~Andrew Peterson~

Read the rest of his post HERE. I've been struggling against all sorts of fears lately. This was a great reminder to me that my Hero has come to chase those fears away, if I will let Him.

Book Review - Green

2009-12-22T14:34:00.002-06:00

Since Green is part of a series, I shall try to explain the big story first.

The Circle - Black, Red, and White

Every time he dreams, Thomas Hunter goes back and forth between two worlds, fighting evil. In our world, terrorists wield a deadly virus which threatens to wipe out all humanity. In the world of colored forests and pools and deserts, the evil black bat Teeleh plots to turn the people against Elyon (Hebrew for Most High), their Creator and Lover. In both worlds, Thomas must understand the threat, and do what he can to save those he loves.

I love this stories. They're fast-paced and modern in style, but the sense of parallels to Biblical truths are amazing. At the heart of them, they're about the Great Romance, the love story God is writing for His people. They show our utter fallen nature, our complete repulsive and rebellious nature, and yet how God still woos and calls and comes to rescue us. They show how He wants our hearts, and how He gives us the freedom to reject Him, but how that can never stop His love.

Green (short summary)
After three books, the series basically concluded, though there were a few odd loose ends hanging. But it was satisfying. So I was surprised to see a fourth book come out now, years later. What else could Dekker do with the series?

Write a Book Zero, apparently. A beginning and ending. What a strange idea! More on that later.

Green starts up years after the end of White, in the world of forests and sand. Thomas and the Circle are losing hope. They have waited for Elyon's return for a long time, and Thomas' son, Samuel, wants to rid the world of the Horde forever with his sword. But the Circle has been told to love their enemy, and Thomas' wife still has hope for the Horde's redemption. Thomas seeks hope for the Circle, and in the process creates a doorway between the two worlds once again.

Thomas returns to our world. And unspeakable Evil enters the other world, seeking to crush the Circle's last breaths of hope.

An apocalyptic chain of events follows, and we rush along to the ending, wondering who will believe in Elyon at the end when everything seems hopeless, and who will reject Him and fall into darkness forever.

The ending is strange. In an odd way, it connects back to the beginning of the series. Hence, it is "Book Zero."

Likes

- First, as confusing as it still is, I think it was very clever to connect the beginning and ending like this. It was definitely a unique idea!

- Certain characters did get redeemed, which was marvelous.

- Loved how the theme of waiting and longing and wishing to see signs of God's presence were so similar to our time today. Come, Lord Jesus! But in the meanwhile, teach us to live by faith and trust You when all else seems hopeless.

- There were evil vampires. Yes, this actually made me happy. I could have done without some of the nastiness, but there was no question that the very idea of vampirism is completely opposite of sacrifice. One takes life, the other gives it. And I feel there were still some truths in this book regarding blood's significance (a biblical idea) which I may have missed.

- Again, wonderful contrasts between good and evil.

Dislikes

- I don't mind seeing some of a story from evil's perspective, but in my opinion this book went overboard. I kept feeling dirty, reading about the sensual evil and blood lust of the bad characters. The bad guys get way too much page time, as I see it. Almost felt like more than the good guys. Maybe that's why I never felt as close or invested in the protagonists of Green as in the other books. And not being so invested made me just not care as much about the whole book.

- For the above reason, I would not recommend this book to kids, whereas I might recommend the other three if I thought they were mature enough. This one was definitely darker and contained more sensual descriptions. Those spots really bothered me, and I'm 25.

- Another certain character didn't get redeemed, which was very bothersome. Necessarily heartbreaking, perhaps. But not a wonderful way to end the story.

- Theologically, I was bothered by the ending. In fact, the structure of the whole thing bothers me, though as I said it was a nifty idea. But history as circular, not linear? Maybe Dekker is playing with the idea that God is outside of time, and that therefore it's not as clear-cut and understandable as we think. But theoretically, the whole series could be seen as an eternal time loop, wherein one character is never redeemed... Ahh! The thought drives me crazy.

- Since writing the original three books of The Circle, Dekker has written The Paradise Novels and The Lost Books, all of which apparently tie in somehow to The Circle. I have not read those, so there were lots of characters and events referred to in Green which I felt I should know about but didn't. Dekker fanatics who have read those series may find the ties back to other books fabulous. But not having read them made me confused. I think there would have been a better flow between Green and the other books if Dekker had written it right after White, before he got so wrapped up in side plots and characters.

My Verdict

I did not think Green was nearly as good as the original three books (Black, Red, and White). It had some very good moments, and I wanted it to wrap up nicely, but it left me feeling unsatisfied. Most of the time it just didn't feel like the same series.

I've been debating about whether I would recommend this book. I 'spose if you're a Dekker fanatic, or you really want to see some loose ends tied up, go for it. Then tell me what you thought. But if you're expecting another book like the first three, I think you'll be disappointed.

Maybe there's a reason why three is such a perfect number. I rather wish Dekker had agreed.

For the Sake of My Sisters

2009-12-10T21:48:00.003-06:00

(another picture from my mother, taken on the snow day last week)

I don't have anything monumental to share. Plenty of little things have kept me busy...

On second thought, I suppose one of those little things is big enough to post about; I've started hanging it with our youth group at church.

Depending on my reader, the topic of youth group might be controversial. I might be making everyone shake their head in wonder at my confused and unwise little head, either regarding my past ideas or my current stance (again, depending on my reader). So if you're getting ready to throw snowballs of disagreement, please throw gently, and don't put rocks in them! ;-) This is my journey. Yours may be different. Let's love each other anyways, shall we?

Funny, I never thought I'd be helping with a youth group. Even a year ago I would have protested loudly. Anything but that! Some of this had to do with my own feelings of uncoolness (at 25 I can still feel, and unfortunately look, like an awkward 18-year-old). But that was actually insecurity and pride in disguise. Also, I thought youth groups were usually more damaging than helpful, since they have potential to splinter family time and lump a buch of immaturity together where it can be even more immature.

Some dear friends (on both sides!) may gasp in shock to hear me say all this, but I think I'm changing my mind: not all youth groups are fundamentally wrong. *gasp! shudder! stagger in shock!*

Of course I still wish all familes would do everything together. But until I have a husband to follow who decides how we will do things, and since neither of my parents object, I'm throwing my lot in with my curent church family, full of wise and godly folks. I was asked to be an adult female presence at youth events, to engage in conversation with girls, to provide that five or ten minutes of attention that let them know they're loved and cared for.

To my own surprise, I was compelled and eager to say yes. It's already exciting!

I still have my reservations. (Hope those are allowed!) I still believe youth group can be damaging if it's only a way the younger set isolates itself from the rest of the church family. And I still believe even the best youth group in the world cannot compare with parents discipling their own kids well.

But I also see a church in which those two concerns are largely answered by parents who really are discipling their kids and showing by example what godly adulthood is. I see young people who serve each other, who serve the younger kids in nursury and AWANA, who serve their families and the community. And I see little girls growing in young women, girls I know "of" but want to actually know, who I now have the opportunity to hang out with regularly in the midst of their busy schedule.

Finally, I remember my short time in a different youth group about 8 years ago, when my world was falling apart, and how a dear youth leader's wife showed me love and attention and got me started journaling my thoughts to the Lord. I've never been the same since. If I can encourage even one young lady as much as I was encouraged, I would count my time worthwhile.

That's not an arguement per se, just some of my rambling thoughts on how God is changing me, teaching me to walk with people in real life (Ephesians 4:1-3). Sometimes my paradigms shift so wildly, it's embarrassing to tell anyone about the shift - ether they can't believe what I think now, or they can't believe I ever thought what I did. But I want to record these for my own benefit, and perhaps they will encourage someone else, too.

And MBC youth, you're stuck with me and my funny hats, silly accents, and uncoolness for a while! ;-)

~ ~ ~

Now, on a very different note, here are a few thoughtful posts on Christmas I can across lately. They were so lovely, from two beauty-loving Christian ladies, that I wanted to share them:

The first is from farmer's wife, homeschooling mom, and poetess, Ann Voskamp:

4 Ways to Celebrate Christ in Christmas

And the second is from a sweet southern lady, Lanier Ivester, a homemaker, literary artist, and shepherdess:

Glad and Golden Hours

A fine weekend to you all!

It actually did snow!

2009-12-04T16:43:00.000-06:00

My lovely mother and I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning. School and other things were canceled because of ice on the roads, so we got to enjoy the fresh lovely whiteness! And as you can see, I decided such a walk called for a cloak and a bit of melodramatic excitement.

Here are a few other pictures my mom took:

Lots of trees had not lost their leaves yet, but they were falling this morning with the snow, like showers of lovely green and gold snow themselves, making such a loud pattering sound!

Beautiful and Christmas-like, eh?

Farewell for now! I need to get back to work... and I think I need to finish off the snow ice cream.

"Can you do the Battle Song?"

2009-12-03T20:20:00.004-06:00

I am currently drinking Earl Grey tea, reading Hope for Relationships stuff, hearing about the possible snow and ice tomorrow, and listening to the Narnia soundtrack. And thinking of Samantha, who loved to come into my room while I was staying with her family in college, leap onto the bed, and beg to hear "the Battle song."

Marvelously good times. Don't you love it how certain songs can remind you so strongly of dear places and people and special times?

Just Barely, by the Skin of My Teeth!

2009-12-01T01:16:00.000-06:00

NaNoWriMo Begins!

2009-11-01T07:16:00.001-06:00

I won't be doing my writing until this afternoon or this evening, as it turns out. But the adventure begins today! Frightening, exciting. Hard work and long hours ahead. Here we go!

(Short post, I know. But I couldn't leave an ingredient list up on a day like this, could I?)

Better than $5 a serving

2009-10-22T20:03:00.000-05:00

Today I made chicken, vegetables, and noodles with sauce for supper.

Chicken - $1.50
Noodles- 50 cents
carrots and zucchini - 75 cents
Seasonings - 10 cent
Onions from our Grandparents' garden - free
Herbs from our garden - free

Meal for about eight (only four of us here now, so we had lots leftover) - not quite $3, if my estimations were right. Nice. :-)

Rainy Days - Perfect Cooking Weather!

2009-10-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

(image from the BBC production of Little Dorrit)

It's been rainy here today - I love it! While I was driving Whit to school, we listened to Andrew Peterson's Clear to Venus album and kept hearing rain mentioned in songs. I thought that was cool. :-)

Today I have done the following:

-Smashed my finger in the suburban door. Ahaha, that was painful. But what could I do but laugh? I only smashed it because ... well, not quite sure how it happened. It had something to do with the umbrella...

- Made chocolate cheesecake, with raspberries and whipped cream as topping, for my brother Whit's birthday. Hurray! He's 16, and quite a fine young man. I am a blessed sister in each of my brothers. :-)

- Baked chicken from the freezer, since the oven was hot... I guess we'll have chicken again... Hey, in pita bread! Mmmm...

- Ground some wheat...

- ...And mixed up some dough for pitas, which is rising at the moment

- Washed dishes

- Listening to musicals and Frank Sinatra

- Spent too much time on Facebook...

- And now am finally sitting down to do some editing/writing. With mint tea and a sprinkle-decked donut. Aren't I so disciplined? (no answer needed, thank you)

~~~

Little Elba, how’s the rain in South America?
Does it fall upon the rooftops of the sick?
Do they thank the Lord for coming up with such a great idea
and dream about a place beyond all this?

~from Andrew Peterson's song, Land of the Free~

Would you like to read my NaNoWriMo novel? Old and/or New?

2009-10-16T08:58:00.001-05:00

Life has been busy lately! Just yesterday I was blessed to be able to show a mother from my church how to make bread. She has a daughter with so many food allergies it's a challenge every day coming up with anything for her to eat. Most bread has either some form of corn, soy, or a grain which she can't eat, so the brave mother is learning to make bread which she can eat. We had lots of fun all morning, and she went home with a couple of kinds of bread for her family to try. I'm so glad I do not have a full-time constricting job to keep me from doing random ministries like that! Food allergies are more scary than I used to think, too. After talking with the mother of a daughter with a frightening amount of them, I can now be more sympathetic when I meet people (and their families) who have them.

*drumroll*

Now for the news. Are you ready? I would like to give more people a chance to read last year's NaNoWriMo novel, Brecken's Quest (or The Un-monstering) Unfortunately I am still slightly paranoid that some stranger might find my few brilliant paragraphs, and steal them, which would be tragic if I ever re-wrote it enough to try to publish it. But if I know you in real life, or have shown yourself to me to be a genuine person, then I will share my story with you.

So, if you want to read, or re-read, a wild adventure of a brother and sister searching for the lost King, encountering monsters of all shapes and sizes, friends winged and friends many-toothed, secret passages and magic gifts, loads of corniness and wonderful moments, and a young, rediculous, happy, encouraging bard named Melod - then please let me know! My email is rael.henson[at]gmail.com, only insert @ where it goes... there, do you think that will confuse the Dread Monsters of Spam? I'll risk it for the sake of my readers. ;-) Or if I already have your email, just comment!

Or if, perhaps, you don't care to re-read my old tale, but would like to follow my new one as I write it (beginning in 16 days!), let me know that, too! It's energizing to write for a live audience, and (if you don't want to steal my marvelous *cough* tale) I would love to have you aboard.

This year, it is going to be a wild ride. (I'm also much busier - it will be challenging to write/edit four hours for work while I have about 1600 words of a novel to pound out afterward every day! Should be interesting. Can I do it?) This tale will involve some old characters (Melod will be back, of course), outlaws, a lost and unlikely treasure, a cook whose ingredients are never right, a servant girl who sees more than people suspect, a young man who's eyes are being open but must pretend to still be blind, and an enslaved nation of people desperately in need of hope and light and truth. Surprises await reader and writer both! Would you like to join me?

Meeting Andrew Peterson

2009-10-07T10:03:00.002-05:00

A few years ago, my older brother Sam and I were driving for five hours across Texan and New Mexican desert to visit old friends. Sam is a computer engineer, a wise and quiet man of thought, so he brought excellent listening material for the trip - talks from the Truth Project, John Piper speaking on God's glory, and a CD by some guy named Andrew Peterson who he thought I would like.

Far Country - Listen!

I did. Oh, how I did! Those moments of listening to Peterson's stories and poetry filled me with new longing for Home. I was lifted above everyday life to get a glimpse of the bigger picture, wider and freer than even the vast plains and endless desert sky. More homelike than the welcome of candles and music and laughter at our little trip's end.

I hope you like it, too.

(By the way, if you know me apart from online, I don't have this, this, or this album yet. Oh, and my birthday's coming up... *cough, cough*)

Little Pretties

2009-10-03T13:32:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd pop in at my blog for a few minutes. Greetings from my desk on a beautiful Saturday afternoon! Doesn't this cup of garden flora look delicious? It smells like a whole field of wildflowers and honey. Mmm....

And don't candles make you feel studious and excited? I love how they brighten up any little corner. They're almost like cats on the hearth, a dog at your feet, or the perfect background music. Why in the world does a little fire enchant us so?

Here's Little Dorrit the Desk, and the lower edge of a hat quilt that was handmade by my great grandmother.

Alright, as you can see, my desk is so pretty and cozy that I must get back to work at it. Goodbye for now!

Am I too comfortable?

2009-10-01T08:55:00.000-05:00

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,  

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,  

When we arrive safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.  

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity ,

And in our efforts to build a new earth,  

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.  

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas  

Where storms will show your mastery;  

Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.  

We ask You to push back

The horizon of our hopes;

And to push us into the future

in strength, courage, hope, and love.  

This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.

Sir Francis Drake, 1577

*"The Hostage" was painted by Edmund Blair Leighton.

A Morning in the Life

2009-09-29T09:02:00.000-05:00

With all my bookish posts lately, I feel the need to write something more personal and everyday. I enjoy getting glimpses of people's habits and schedules, so howsabout a "what does your morning look like" post? Mine's often a little like this:

~~~

Alarm!!!!!! Promptly shut off and ignored - bad habit! Finally... ok. Get up. Up. Up.... Stumble into the kitchen and turn on the coffee pot (if I set it up the night before... otherwise there might be a pot to wash and beans to grind first) and commence to wake up. Here would be the part I get dressed for the day... if I had picked out my clothes the night before, which I usually don't. Another bad habit.

Now Coffee and Bible and sometimes Journal! :-) This makes me happy, especially when I'm up early enough to spend time pouring out thoughts and prayers onto the page. Journaling does not make one more spiritual, and the words of Scripture are far more priceless than any feeble prayer or thought I could scribble. But for me it's an amazingly rich and rewarding discipline. When I get beyond mechanically reading to actually "seeing," the real excitement and wonder begins. And the best way I've found to do that is to write to the Author, to ask Him about it and try to say it back to see if I understand, and to record my life in little marks as a way to tangibly offer myself back to Him. Sometimes the morning is rushing, and distractions fill my head, and nothing makes it onto the page. And that's alright, because there are no commands about journaling or Quiet Time At Six A.M. Or Thou Art Not A Christian. God doesn't show up in the morning between 5 and 7 and then disappear for the rest of the day.

About 6:30, time to make lunches for the Bob and the Mother! Usually sandwiches, fruit, sometimes yogurt and cookies... Pumpkin cookies today, which I actually made last night! Haven't cooked enough lately, so I was excited (as were a few other folks around here, I think!)   They stay at school for a huge part of the day, so they need lots of sustanence! The Mother stays busy teaching Latin and preparing and grading, and Bob sits discussing in classes like Greek and Logic and Great Books and Algebra and Bible and History. Bob also studies up at school and later runs with the cross country team, which practice ends around 5-5:30, so he needs a LOT of food. He's a bit like a Hobbit who has drank gallons of Ent water, who also runs all the time and is decidedly not rounded. Just imagine.

Breakfast! Today it was eggs and pumpkin banana bread. Sometimes this is our quiet little family time at the kitchen table, when we eat together and talk, but today it didn't really happen. I wonder why? We all seemed a bit distracted and rushed... Oh, and uh...I was probably too distracted on my laptop at the kitchen table to invite sitting and talking.    Oops.

And then they're out the door, and the house is still.   Now, on to the stuff of the day!   I need to write for work for about five hours, water plants and do some cleaning, maybe make some pizza dough for tonight, and do a little brainstorming and work for something that's happening tomorrow... It might not all get done. That's the potentially frustrating beauty of this job - flexibility! May I use it as a blessing today, and not a curse.

So, that's just a bit of my flawed morning, lived by a flawed girl, but blessed and led by my Father in so many good ways which I don't deserve.

I pray you have a blessed and exciting day, my readers! Remember, the Lion is not safe. But He is good.

~~~

P.S. My brother Zach, who has been gone nearly 2 months, just returned from Peru! He had the coolest beard, but is back at work today so I'm afraid it's gone now. Praise God for his safe return and all his adventures!

Review of Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart

2009-09-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

I was given the opportunity to do another review for a free copy of a book, this time for the Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart blog tour. This is too much fun! I feel like a real writer, doing all these reviews. ;-)

Four or five years ago, I borrowed and read the first three books of Chuck Black’s Kingdom series. While the writing was not great, the storytelling swept me away, and the pictures of Biblical truths had me eagerly rereading Scripture to savor the source of the echoes. Each book ended with the piano music to a haunting (but not too difficult) song, which I simply loved.

Chuck Black has been off my radar for a few years, but recently I discovered he’s still writing books set in the world of Arrethtrae, and I suddenly found the third of his second series in my hands. I usually refuse to start in the middle of a series, but I couldn’t find copies of the first two in time and had to just jump in. And in The Knights of Arrethtrae series, each book focuses on different characters, making them more episodic than epic. There’s an epic level, of course, but it’s explained in the first few pages.

Sir Dalton’s story was a decent kids' adventure, an allegory full of medieval motifs like swords and knights and battle. The main character learned some important things about being a Knight of the King, and there were some great pictures of spiritual principles about doubt, faith, friendship, and freedom.

Most of the time I felt it was a bit too heavy-handed on the allegory to get let readers fully immerse themselves in the story, but when I did get lost in it, it was wonderful. While allegory is not my favorite form of story, I don’t think it's evil. Sometimes formulas and direct correlations are helpful, sometimes they are just dry and distracting.

For a fairly short, kid-friendly book, Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart was a thoughtful look at doubt in the life of Christians and how to combat it by knowing Christ and His Word well. For timeless, better-written (but more challenging) allegory, find Pilgrim’s Regress or The Faerie Queene.

Beware Talking Coffee Containers

2009-09-25T07:52:00.018-05:00

I'm already enjoying my new shiny NaNoWriMo travel mug. It's a lovely satiny brown, with a cheery blue NaNoWriMo logo on the side and the word "AUTHOR" beneath proudly proclaiming my fondness and ability of madly writing a novel in a month.

But last night as I rubbed its smooth metallic interior, and listened to the pleasant swooshing sound made by thwopping the lid on and off, I practically heard it talk. It was sneakily suggesting it could be My Precious, and it would make me very happy, and no one else must touch my shiny new present, oh no they must not...

Rather creepy, let me tell you, to almost hear inanimate objects say things like that.

I think letting other people use it might be a good way to combat its scheme to possess me. Here's another way - I can tell on it (er, really on myself) to God:

Lord, loosen in me the hold of visible things;
Help me to walk by faith and not by sight;
I would, through thickest veils and coverings,
See into the chambers of the living light.
Lord, in the land of things that swell and seem,
Help me to walk by the other light supreme,
Which shows thy facts behind man's vaguely hinting dream.

~George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul ~

I have a feeling things are talking to me more often than I realize, and too often, I am obeying their commands like a witless slave.

But though we can't see beyond the Veil yet, we can choose to trust God that there just may be far superior coffee containers there. And perhaps (but this is too wild!), just perhaps our attention will be so captured by such amazing and delightful Beings (One in particular), that we won't be thinking of coffee at all.

So how can I use my travel mug for God's glory? How can I be a faithful steward of this temporary thing that is either my tool... or my master? These are questions I ask myself, when at the back of my mind I know the answer:

"Stop writing this weird blog post, Rael, and get after the work set before you today, before the coffee is old and molding in that nice new mug of yours!"

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." ~Matthew 6:19-21~

Smith of Wootton Major

2009-09-24T08:02:00.007-05:00

Yet another book review! I know, I need to stop reading and do more writing of my own books. ;-)

Smith of Wootton Major (which I read last night for the second time) is one of J. R. R. Tolkien's lesser-known little stories. It's about several cooks, an apprentice named Alf, a blacksmith's son (who grows up to be the Smith of the title), Faery, a silver star, and the Great Cake. But it's actually quite serious, and there is much to ponder here regarding worlds beyond our every day, and imagination and creativity and vision, and criticism, and beauty and sadness.

But, it's also just a great little fairy tale. The most important person in the town of Wooton Major is the Cook, so of course it has to be interesting. ;-) No dragons are fought, and no one dies except for natural deaths, but there is somehow more peril here than in Farmer Giles of Ham, of a different (and not necessarily bad) sort. It is a fairly slow and quiet story, fairly short, and a good one to read, ponder, savor, and then sigh fondly about after you're finished.

If you feel in need of a thoughtful little story, you might consider giving this one a try. Then let me know what you thought!

(This is not the edition I own, but I wanted to mention that the Pauline Baynes illustrations, which are in mine, are delightful. She adds such a wonderful touch to books.)

2009-09-23T08:26:00.002-05:00

Last night I finished reading Worlds Unseen. Amazing. I'll try to do a review soon.

Today I shall be busy writing for work, going to the eye doctor, baking potatoes, and later on going to AWANA at church. And somewhere in there I need to squeeze about four errands. Busy busy!

I am trying to blog every day. They say say writers should. But I can't think of anything else of interest to share at the moment, so farewell!

Happy Birthday to two famous heroes!

2009-09-22T08:03:00.004-05:00

Well, today is the birthday of two of "the most famousest of hobbits (and that's sayin' a lot)" - Bilbo and Frodo Baggins!

Yay!

One of these days I want to throw an official hobbit party, complete with lots of food, maybe a reading from Fellowship of the Ring, a "no shoes allowed unless you're Gandalf, which you're not" rule, and presents for everyone who comes. But not this year.

I am planning on cooking up some mushrooms to go with supper, though. ;-) And since the weather's turned so lovely and cold, I'll probably be wearing my cloak most of the day... and going barefoot, of course. ;-)

Hobbit Day (Wikipedia)
Hobbit Day and Tolkien Week

Writing, Reading, and the North Wind

2009-09-21T14:31:00.007-05:00

Last night I did something very frivolous. I ordered the NaNoWriMo travel mug, all for myself. *guilty grin* I had considered it before, but it seemed wasteful. But last night, I just did it. So there. I am not under a law to never buy nice liquid-holding containers. Well, but wouldn't a NaNoWriMo T-shirt be better, I pondered? It sounded more excusable. But I decided - Nope. A mug will be far more useful to me, and more fun. This is an amazing mug. I plan to make it pay its own way over many, many years of supplying me with warm caffeinated fluids.

Today I wrote for work most of the morning and a little into the afternoon. Then I did some dishes and a tinsy bit of housework while listening to Adventures in Odyssey, and then I settled myself on the floor with pages of story spread out, reviewing story bits I barely remembered and trying to make sense of a decent plot out of it all. Not there yet! This is one reason I so regret not finishing my first NaNoWriMo story. Once you loose the flow and forget where you were going, it's immensely difficult to pick it back up and finish the thing. At least for me. Especially when I tried a while back...meaning I now have at least three different versions to sort through. It could take a while.

Then the rest of this evening, while eating some amazing vegetable soup made by my lovely Mother, I have been swept away in Worlds Unseen, a fantasy novel by a young lady named Rachel Starr Thomson. She is a bit older than I am and still lives happily at home with her family. She has become a very inspiring example to me of the both dependence on family and of the energetic productivity a young lady can thrive in, instead of just sitting around waiting for life to start at marriage or diving off on her own lonely career. I have grown to respect and admire Rachel over the years, first through her thoughtful posts on Boundless, but also on her own blog, which I link to in my sidebar.

Rachel's book, Worlds Unseen, is amazing, and the first book is free to download. Beware, though. If you like well-writen fantasy from a Biblical worldview, it will suck you in! I already know I will be buying the second book (and possibly a hard copy of the first).

The air has been still and warm most of today and this evening as we all waited for the predicted cold front. No wind, no wind... But a few minutes ago, I heard it. The trees rushed as the North Wind came sweeping through branches and fences, proclaiming in wild and familiar voice the coming of cold. It was a thrill to recognize it's coming. I forget... How I forget!

More writing tomorrow, hopefully of both work and fun, and perhaps I'll finish the marvelous story about Maggie and her assorted friends, and the strange and wonderful and frightening world she lives in.

Oh, and tomorrow...er, today (I need to go to bed!) is exciting for another reason, too. Can you guess? Find out in my next post! Here's a clue: it has to do with a two literary characters who share something.

Because I love quotes...

2009-09-16T08:43:00.004-05:00

These are only a few of many that struck me from the first few chapters. Enjoy!

Janner missed his home... He missed the rhythm of life at the cottage. He missed the hot meals, the slow change of the land as the seasons turned, and the family of birds that nested in the crook above the door where he, Tink, and Leeli would inspect the tiny blue eggs each morning and each night, then the chicks, and then one day they would look in sad wonder at the empty nest and ask themselves where the birds had gone. But those days had passed away as sure as the summer, and whether he liked it or not, home was no longer the cottage. It wasn’t Peet’s tree house, either. He wasn’t sure he had a home anymore.

North! Or Be Eaten, pages 2-3

Podo and Leeli shared a special bond, partly because each of them had only one working leg and partly because of the ancient affection that exists between grandfathers and granddaughters.

North! Or Be Eaten, page 6

“I’m parched, to paraphrase the wise words of Lou di Cicaccelliccelli.”
North! Or Be Eaten, page 10

Boys sometimes forget that before one leaves on an adventure, if at all possible, one must pack. There are situations in which packing is secondary – such as escaping a burning building – but if there is time to plan and arrange and discuss before leaving, then it is a fact of life that grownups will do so. When children say it’s time to leave, they mean “It’s time to leave.” When grownups say so, they really mean, “It’s time to begin thinking about leaving sometime in the near future.”

North! Or Bea Eaten, page 14

“The digtoad (bumpy) is one of the few creatures in Aerwiar that poses no threat to humans, except perhaps to those humans for whom moist stretchy, warty skin is fatal to the touch."
~ Bahbert Ollister Pembrick