New Toy

Daddy said we needed a 4-wheeler.  It couldn't wait until we got moved.

It must be nice for daddies to have children to give them excuses to buy toys they also enjoy.  chuckle  When we go out to work on the house, we always have to make time for rides on the 4-wheeler.  Destry has discovered a great jumping ditch and has even put the 4-wheeler to work in hauling off old carpets we're removing from the hardwood floors.

Alan's justification for the 4-wheeler:  The kids are going to need it to ride down the dirt road to the river so they can explore, catch frogs and turtles, and go fishing. 

My interpretation?  Daddy is looking forward to trapping season!

Regardless of the motive, I'm seeing big grins all the way around.

What I Learned in Narnia

I thoroughly enjoy CS Lewis, and particularly his Narnia series.  I get even more out of his books as an adult than I did when I first read them in junior high, which supports his popular quote “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.”  I usually like the actual Narnia books far more than other books about Narnia, but after reading Douglas Wilson's book, What I Learned in Narnia, I have to highly recommend it for Narnia lovers to read alongside their beloved friends.

One of the best things about this book is that Wilson refuses to usurp the proper place of the Narnia books.  If you don't know Puddleglum, Tirian, Digory, Lucy, Caspian, Trumpkin and Aslan, he says to put this book down and go read the Narnia stories.  "This is like a conversation between good friends about some other good friends, talking about what a good time we all had and why.  But in order to have that conversation, we have to have had the good time first" (11).

Wilson goes on to thoroughly examine the proper and improper attitudes and behaviors of various Narnian characters toward seven themes:  authority, confession of sin, nobility, spiritual disciplines, love of story, thorough grace, and love for Aslan/love for God.

The truth is, I started this review several months ago when I first read the book with Briana and Destry alongside our reading of the Narnia chronicles in our worldview study.  I loved the book so much, I couldn't condense my review.  But in conjunction with Carrie's book club and her obsession with love for all things Narnia, I decided to revisit Narnia this month through the wonderful lessons Wilson highlights.  (The assignment really was to read one of the actual Narnia books, but I decided to tweak the assignment).

I'm forcing myself to limit my discussion to the two sections that stood out to me the most.

• True and false authority.  False authority is based on selfishness and grasping and exemplified in Jadis and Uncle Andrew who try to put themselves above all authority but their own.  "True authority can only be exercised by leaders who delight in submitting to authority themselves" (17).  False authority is also frequently gained through manipulation, trickery and groveling before others (consider Ahoshta and Shift) and is motivated by a desire for power.  True authority, on the other hand is sacrificial and humble and prompts obedience.  "True authority and submission is one of the great lessons of Narnia--not only how to rule without being a tyrant, but also how to obey without being a mindless follower or a slave" (37).  (I think the section on authority stood out to me as I have simultaneously been reading Atlas Shrugged--what a contrast!)

• Memory and forgetfulness.  "Remember, remember, remember the signs," Aslan said to Jill in The Silver Chair.  "Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night".  In my 16 years of parenting, I would hate to try to number how many times I have heard "I forgot" as an excuse for disobedience.  But "remembering to obey is itself an essential part of obedience" (89).   If we focus on "the signs", the commands of God's Word, that will be our focus and we won't forget; we won't be distracted by the comforts of the world.
  "Meditating on God's word should be an activity that permeates your whole day, even filling in those little spaces of free time that you get when you are walking down the street. . .Repeat them.  Memorize them.  They are the signs by which God guides you through the confusion of the world, and without them you are lost" (88).  "There is a direct connection between lack of spiritual discipline and lack of both joy and spiritual fruit in your life" (93).
• Just as Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum got distracted by anticipating the comforts of Harfang and neglected remembering and reciting the signs, so do I get distracted by life on Earth and neglect God's word.  But my excuse of not remembering God's will when I give in to temptation is really just another sin to confess and repent--first for neglecting to consciously and deliberately remember, and second for succumbing to the sin that His Word would have steered me clear of had I allowed it to permeate my very being.  I found this section particularly convicting.

I will stop there, even though there are many more gems that blessed me.  After you have thoroughly devoured Lewis's Narnian chronicles, I suggest you luxuriate in the lessons Douglas Wilson brings to light.

Tyrell Turns Two

"Every good and perfect gift comes from above."  This verse has always fit Tyrell and two years later, he is still evidence of God's good and perfect gifts.

He loved his birthday this year.  I would hate to guess how many cupcakes we stabbed with candles so we could sing "Happy Birthday" and watch him blow them out.  Over and over again.  We all cheer and clap like a bunch of crazy people as the fire is extinguished and then he stands in his high chair like a dignified little old man and bows graciously at the applause.  How could we not relight the candles again and again for a performance like that?

He was blessed with many gifts from all his family--all kinds of "boy toys" like cars and racetracks and tools and a lawnmower. 

He also received an Elmo guitar from Grandma which he loves to play and sing and dance with.  Most of the time he holds it like a violin, which just makes us laugh (thanks to big brother Destry's influence, I'm sure!)

I am so thankful for the gift that he is and the joy he brings the rest of the family.

Anticipation

I'm getting excited to move to our new place.  We've started painting a couple of rooms with the help of wonderful family/friends and hope to move in about three weeks.

I think Alan is most excited about the large garage/shop.  He's looking forward to working on one of his many projects, and I'm tickled that the doors are tall enough to accommodate our high top conversion van (especially when the ice and snow arrive).

It's so quiet and peaceful.  Wouldn't you know Alan wants to move a rooster in even before we get moved!

Personal Peculiarity

I love these little funky i-clip bookmarks.  It's a very silly little thing, I realize that, but they are much more fun to keep my place in the books I'm reading than the random scrap of paper I used to grab.  They are magnetic, so they just close right over the page with a satisfying click.

Unfortunately, other members of my family have jumped on the bandwagon.  I am only reading two books right now, but I have seven empty spots.  There's my peculiarity--I'm OCD about irrelevant things, like my i-clip bookmarks.  (Why are they called "i-clip"?  I have no idea.)

I'm missing five clips--they seem to have evaporated or escaped to the nether regions of couch or chair crevices.  (Oh, and just fyi, my birthday is one month from today and I linked above to another set I think is really fun, although these shoe clips are cute too. giggle)

Barter

By Sara Teasdale

Life has loveliness to sell,

      All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

      Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And children's faces looking up

Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,

      Music like a curve of gold,

Scent of pine trees in the rain,

      Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

And for your spirit's still delight,

Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,

      Buy it and never count the cost;

For one white singing hour of peace

      Count many a year of strife well lost,

And for a breath of ecstasy

Give all you have been, or could be. 

 

     The poem says it well.  Homeschooling (like life) is barter.  There's a tradeoff.  There is strife, and there is a cost.  But, the lovely things are worth it.  The beautiful things aren't easy.  There will be times of crying, of praying for patience, of frustration, but there are also hours on the couch with my children, pouring truth and beauty into their souls.  To me, it's worth the cost.

    Eyes that love you, arms that hold, indeed.

From The Homeschool Experiment by Charity Hawkins (posting here so I can read it again)

Farewell 'Fro

We did it.

We actually cut my baby's hair.  He did great--he sat so still and wasn't scared at all.

Have I mentioned how much I loved Tyrell's afro?  I think it was the absolute cutest thing ever.  And I loved his two strand twists, and thought him adorable in his cornrows.

But he had so much hair.  And it's so hot.  And it took a really long time to detangle and style.

And Daddy said it was time for it to go.

I *knew* it would show that I no longer have a baby, but rather a two-year-old BOY.