Bella

I have heard this was a good movie. I finally watched it this weekend and it is quite possibly one of the best movies I have seen.

Dover Books

Dover books are some of my favorite resources. They are super affordable and lots of fun. Lately we have enjoyed several of their coloring books. And don't think about preschool-type coloring books when thinking of these books. They are incredibly detailed. These books are like "advanced level coloring books."

C has been going through the Human Anatomy Coloring Book. It is a great way for her to engage her artistic side while also learning about the human body. Once C colors a page, she then teaches her younger siblings the information contained on the page. I am always impressed by the amount of information the books contain on the coloring pages.

Some other books we have hopes of diving into this year, or at some point, we may not get to them all this year:

Great Scenes From Shakespeare's Plays

National Parks Coloring Book

Musical Instruments Coloring Book

Color Your Own Monet Paintings

Color Your Own Renoir Paintings

Medieval Tapestries Coloring Book

We also have some coloring books on pirates, which, again, are full of all sorts of historical information. And some other non-coloring Dover books. I appreciate the prices of their Thrift Editions. They make a variety of books very affordable.

Greenleaf Academy 2009/2010 Schoolyear

I had such high hopes of getting the kids back into school, mid-August, but now I am going to be really happy if we get going next week. At a modified pace. We have had too much going on and have been enjoying just settling in here at home and savoring the last days of summer. I have gotten C going at a very slow pace-as in doing a lesson here and there every few days. The boys have been doing Explode the Code on-line (which I LOVE!!!!), so they are doing a bit of school. We just aren't into our real "school mode" yet.

What I have been doing is organizing and cleaning out. It has felt so good! The other day I went through the stuffed animal tote (shhh...don't tell the kids, they haven't realized I did this-which really makes the point for me that it needed to be done) and I gathered stuffed animals like crazy. I took them to our local thrift store. (NOTE TO SELF: Don't take the kids in there any time soon, lest they see some familiar looking stuffed creature and become distraught over how much they loved it now that they no longer have it.) The cleaning out and organizing is going well.

I am realizing how many toys we have and how many are actually played with. There are many more toys than are played with. The play room/school room now looks so much better now that things have been cleaned out. Love it! And now that things are much tidier and more organized, starting school sounds really appealing...except that we keep getting distracted by things like blackberry picking and sunny days and errands to run and...

A pathway of grief.

Today I learned that my grandma has pneumonia. This the same grandma that fell and broke her pelvis, the same grandma that was recently placed in a care center. This sort of thing is a mix of emotions. She is almost 93 and has been in a mental decline over the last several years. It hurts to see my parents having to make such hard decisions, even when they are compatible with my grandma's stated wishes and in line with the good judgement of doctors. It is hard to hear from my parents about the nurse that made them feel guilty about the path they are on, even though this path has been set in place by a good doctor that has treated my grandma for over a decade.

This grief has been one step at a time. My grandma is still living, but she is more and more gone at the same time. Little by little she has lost abilities and memories. The grandma that I knew, that tried to teach me to knit (tried being the key word), that traveled extensively with my family on vacations, that, when I was growing up, we met every Sunday for lunch has slipped away. But she is still here and she is still a person and she still needs to be lovingly cared for. End of life issues are just difficult. There is the balance of accepting death, although not what God designed us for, acceptance is still necessary. But to balance that with still caring for and loving a living person. Of still valuing life because life is valuable even when it does not contribute in the ways we typically deem important.

This grief over my grandma is complicated by her complete lack of interest in God and spiritual things. I think the grief is deeper in this case. Deeper because we are likely coming to the end and unless she has a faith in God, from her younger years, that was quite hidden or unless God in His mercy chooses to grab onto her in these last days, in spite of her lack of ability to cry out to Him, then it is a very final goodbye that we may soon be saying. And that causes a deep pain in me. It reminds me to look forward to the next life when death will be gone and when, I believe, God will grant a peace in accepting even the very hard things of this life. But for now, it just makes me grieve. For now it makes me go in my room and cry for a few minutes here and there. We are loosing grandma steps at a time and I am grieving in little bits along the way.

Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park by Lee H. Whittlesey

After our time in Yellowstone recently, I was motivated to read this book. I had purchased it awhile back at a garage sale. It is a bit dry (boring) in parts, and it is certainly morbid in parts, but still worthwhile, in that it is a good reminder that Yellowstone is nature. It is not an amusement park. It contains dangers.

This stood out to me as we drove through Yellowstone this summer and watched people approaching bison, getting dangerously close, just to get a "good" photo. Or when we saw a smallish crowd of people parked along both sides of a road, where one side contained a steep drop off. There were enough cars parked that the road had basically become functional only as a single lane road. What were all these people racing to see? People with their small children in tow... They wanted to see a bear. I admit, I would have liked to have seen the bear. But not in that situation. Not a wild bear, with a road that was so crowded that had an emergency occurred it would be super difficult to get everyone out of there. Not with my children all in tow and right up close to a wild bear. No way!

Here is a cool link to a short video of the author, Lee H. Whittlesey speaking about some of the topics contained in his book.

I especially enjoyed the section following the last chapter. It is titled, "Conclusions: Pay Attention and Don't Sanitize the Woods." That section of the book is summed up in this way, "Dangers are simply a part of wilderness. And when one enters wilderness, one must take it on its own terms. As Dr. Don Despain said long ago, Yellowstone is not 40,000 elk or 4000 bison or 10,000 hot springs or 200 lakes. "The resource is wildness." And unlike a zoo or a museum or an amusement park, the whole of that wildness depends almost totally on its wholeness. Dangers are a part of that wholeness.

While appreciating its wholeness, we must never abandon a healthy respect for wilderness. Wilderness is impersonal. It does not care whether you live or die. It does not care how much you love it.

So while we are loving the Yellowstone wilderness, while we play in it, indeed revel in it, taking it on its own terms and helping to protect it, we foolish mortals must always remember to respect it. For not only can it bite us, indeed, it can devour us."

A fitting end to the book. But, I also appreciated how the book encouraged people to come and enjoy this national park of ours. Come, enjoy it, appreciate it, but respect it. Use common sense and accept the risks involved. It is easy to want a safe way to enjoy wilderness, but wilderness, by its nature, is not safe. And that is much of what makes it beautiful and worth preserving.

Anther Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders by Mary Pipher, Ph. D.

This book was an interesting and insightful look into how people age and how to help our elders age in a more dignified way. Both of my grandmas are now elderly and recently my parents had to make the extremely difficult decision to place one of my grandmothers in a nursing home. It was such a difficult decision since she had begged to never have to go into a nursing home.

About two months ago she fell and cracked her pelvis. That changed everything as far as what was going to work for her living situation. My parents have done so much for my grandma. They have sought to honor her wishes in innumerable ways.

We have seen signs of dementia for the past few years, so even though she still asks to go home from the care center on occasion, more often, she does not seem overly aware of where she is now living. She seems happy, content in many ways. As difficult as this process has been, she seems to be adjusting very well. But, it is still hard. Hard to watch a loved one age and decline in health. Hard to have to make decisions that are contrary to a person's prior requests. But we are also learning along the way. My parents are, even now, while they are healthy and active, desiring to plan for their elderly years.

Some parts of the above mentioned book that stood out to me include:

"A great deal of social sickness in America comes from this age segregation. If ten fourteen-year-olds are grouped together, they will fight with one another. They will form a "lord of the flies" culture with its competitiveness, social anxiety, and meanness. But if ten people aged two to eighty are grouped together, they will fall into a natural age hierarchy that nurtures and teaches all of them. Because each person has a niche, competition will subside. Each person will have something unique to contribute. Values will deepen, and experience will grow richer. For our own mental and societal health, we need to reconnect the age groups."

Reading that made me think of some of the reasons why I homeschool my children. I appreciate the opportunities that we have, as a family, to interact with a variety of people at a variety of ages. I am thankful for the time my children have had to spend with my grandma. Now that she is in a care center, our time with her is very different. Had my children been in school last year, when we were more involved in some of Grandma's care, they would have missed that. I likely would have done it while they were in school. I am so thankful that they were able to be a part, for a short season, of caring for an aging person. I am thankful that they came to love her in that time, so now as she is fading away, they still remember bits of who she is and the time spent with her when she was more aware.

"Our parents' generation handled pain and trauma in an understated way. When my mother-in-law was seriously ill, I wanted to talk about the stress, to emote, and to say "I love you." My parents-in-law joked and avoided discussions of the serious situation. Phyllis watched TV and played cards...They were kind to me, but I am sure they thought I was overly emotional. I felt they were ignoring important issues... There are different ways of acknowledging pain."

"People often say they wish they could erase parts of their lives-harsh words spoken, days spent in self-pity, moments being crabby when they could have been laughing, or family meals spent feuding. People regret, as Ferlinghetti put it, "picking their noses when they could have been dancing."... "I would have been kinder to people." Most people wish the had done more for others."

"We cannot help the birds of sadness flying over our heads, but we need not let them build nests in our hair."

"Good copers keep busy, focus on interests, and take things one day at a time. They are not worriers or overburdened with angst. They have mostly happy memories and thoughts, and balance their sorrows with humor."

The author notes that the "resilient old" have certain qualities in common: reasonable expectations, taking responsibility for their own choices, and strong spiritual beliefs.

"You don't give back to the same people who give to you. Not at all. You give to different people and they in turn will give to someone entirely different. Not you. That's the sloppy economy of gift and love. ~Lorrie Moore"

"Writing this book, I learned the critical difference between young-old and old-old age. I saw the effects of stress and loss, and I learned the importance of connections and control. I witnessed the incredible calculus of old age-that as more is taken, there is more love for what remains. The great lesson to be learned in this last developmental stage is acceptance."

"To learn from the old we must love them, and not just in the abstract but in the flesh, beside us in our homes, businesses, churches, and schools. We want the generations mixed together so that the young can give the old joy and the old can give the young wisdom."

Bacon

When I make bacon, I regularly proclaim to my family, "This is the last time I am making bacon!" I always end up making it again. I think I want sympathy or loads of gratitude for my "suffering" so they can eat bacon. I can't stand how the grease splatters and burns or how the house smells like bacon for hours and hours. Other people say they don't smell it, but I can still smell it.

I cooked up some bacon the other day and was saying my normal, "I am never making this again" as the grease splattered. Then I spoke with a friend on the phone and she said, "Have you ever cooked it in the oven?" The oven? Why, no, I haven't tried that. I have tried the microwave, but the flavor is a tad disappointing. But, the oven. I had not thought of that.

I googled it, found some tips on how to do it, and then went for it. I arranged the bacon on a stoneware pan, baked it and the result was perfect bacon! It was perfectly crisp and flat and the taste was delicious! Now I can quite my whining about bacon!

Am I a Christian?

How do you know if you are a Christian? Click and read The Acid Test of Being a Christian by Dr. Timothy Keller. Good food for thought.

Thanks, Jawan, for first sharing this on your blog!

Curling/Straightening Iron

My curling iron broke. I had had it a long time, so it had been a long time since I had looked down the curling iron aisle in stores. When I went to buy a new one, the options were bountiful. I finally selected a combo deal-it is a curling iron and hair straightener all in one. C was thrilled because that meant my old straightener would be passed on to her. I was a bit skeptical about how well it would work. Would it leave a crease in my hair because of the line where the straightener opens? It does not leave a crease. And I love it! I love only having to store one item where I used to store two and I like that I can plug one thing in and then decide how I want to style my hair. I can curl the ends and then straighten and go back and forth to my heart's content. I had no idea there was a two in one deal like this until I purchased mine and I am quite happy with it.

Creation Adventure Team

At the Creation Museum I picked up the two Creation Adventure Team DVD's. They are a tad cheesy and seem a bit amateurish. Somewhat like a Bill Nye wanna be. I had to laugh as I searched for them on-line, there seems to be no middle ground. People either LOVE them (four and a half stars!) or HATE them. The "hate" link I included was on the milder side, some contained material that I just didn't want to link to.

I guess I am the middle ground on them, because I did like these DVD's. The cheesiness kept me from loving them, but they were likable to me. I appreciate that my kids, after watching lots of Bill Nye, and enjoying it, have the opportunity to see a different side of things. As critical as some comments I read about these DVD's were, it makes me wonder why. Why is it such a problem, to some people, to present Creation science or Intelligent Design ideas to kids? I am not sure. My kids get plenty of evolutionary theory from Bill Nye, from museums we visit, and from so many other sources. I like for them to learn about some of the theories of creation science and ID as well. Isn't science about weighing facts, making hypothesis and testing them? Isn't science about looking at all sides of an issue and at a variety of theories? So, as cheesy as these little movies may seem at moments, my kids still enjoy them and I appreciate that they are learning a bit more about the ideas of creation scientists in a fun and entertaining way.

Wallace, Idaho and the Red Light Garage

Some last photos of our travels back home. One the highlights of our trip home was our stop at the Red Light Garage. The milkshakes we had were, quite possibly, the best milkshakes ever. And the decor was eclectic and lots of fun. I would consider planning some trip along I-90, in part, so we could spend some time in the quirky town of Wallace.

The Faith of the American Soldier by Stephen Mansfield

I ran into a local book store to grab a book for a gift. At the checkout counter was a stack of books and CDs that could be purchased for $5 with any other purchase in the store. One of the books was The Faith of the American Soldier. I grabbed it. It was a quick read and gave me a good understanding of the history of Chaplains, the warrior code and how faith on the battlefield has evolved over the years. Some things that stood out to me:

"Millennials seem to love the person of Jesus but run from the churches that preach His name. They want a community defined by faith, but they find the traditional church too performance-oriented, too much a pastor's personality cult, and too removed from the realities of their daily lives to be of any use to them...Many are eager for spirituality but suspicious of institutions, hungry for truth but bored by systematics, inspired by stories but repelled by standards, desperate for religious experience but put off by religious style, hoping for spiritual family but disgusted by empty conformity, longing for God but wondering if He is there."

"...the influence of faith among soldiers at war today rivals that of any American war. That faith...is of a new and nontraditional variety. Yet it is no less heartfelt, no less influential in the lives of soldiers."

"What clearly does not "work," what does not survive the crucible of war, is a simplistic, one-answer-fits-all kind of spirituality..."The soldier who has an easy religious answer for everything is the one I watch carefully," one commander said. "If a soldier doesn't have enough flex in his thinking, if his religion is a rigid set of unchangeable explanations for everything that happens in the world, then war is going to mess with his mind in a serious way.""

"What most Americans yearn for is an armed forces of men and women who live by a code of honor, one that takes ethical boundaries, inspiration to excellence, love of country, sense of heritage, and reverence for God and combines them into a noble martial lifestyle...if the military does not offer its warriors a more spiritual code, it can expect the new generation at war to reach for codes of nontraditional faiths to fill the void."

There are so many other key parts of this book that I have not quoted. It is a great book for anyone who has wondered about how spirituality relates to war. It does not dive deeply into the subject, but it does introduce the topic and provide a helpful overview.

Speedy Delivery

Last week I ordered some books for school. Yesterday they arrived. Isn't it fun to get a box in the mail? So, what arrived? We now are the proud owners of:

On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

A Rulebook for Arguments by by Anthony West

The New Oxford Guide to Writing by Thomas S. Kane

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Strickland

Prima Latina Instructional DVD Set

Saxon Math's Algebra 2.

And I now need to find more space on the bookshelves and make some time to actually read these books before passing them on to the kid(s) who will be studying them this year.

"500 MILES!!!!" she screamed.

All day i have had a song in my head. Finally, I decided to look it up on itunes, but I was thinking it was "10,000 Miles" and I couldn't remember who it was by. Then, as I was cooking, it came to me, "500 Miles by the Proclaimers." Ahhhh...that feels good to finally have that figured out.

Squash Casserole

At potlucks at church in GA, it seemed someone always brought Squash Casserole. I had never heard of it, but, wow, it is delicious! So, upon returning home I looked up some recipes on-line.

I found a Paula Deen recipe, that I made a few changes too-not that I am a better cook than Paula, I just adjusted the ingredients I had on hand or wanted to use instead.

The changes I made included using dried onion instead of fresh, using fresh garlic instead of dried and using multi-grain crackers for crumbs. I also mixed the crumbs into the the rest of the casserole instead of placing them on top. That occurred because I was cooking with interruptions (that is how i normally cook these days) and dumped them in and mixed before I realized they were supposed to be on top. Opps. But a fine-tasting mistake. I also placed the casserole in the crock pot instead of the oven-it was too hot to heat up the kitchen. The crock pot worked really well. I set it on low for a couple of hours, ran some errands and it was warm and ready at dinner time.

Certain members of the family didn't care so much for this, but a certain other family member is requesting it for a birthday dinner. So, that means she REALLY likes it. And I like it too. And those who don't like it just leave more for those of us who do.

A worthwhile read...

Stop cleaning the kitchen and read a book. Or maybe I should say stop reading my blog and click on the link.

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