Through Gates of Splendor

I'm still a little behind, but I did finish reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot for Carrie's book club in June.  While life has been busy and my reading time has been limited lately, I do have fond memories of Destry's obsession with The End of the Spear, a movie based on this same story of five missionaries who were killed by the Waodoni of Ecuador who they were trying to reach with the gospel.

I am very glad I read this book and recommend it.  At times it's a little tedious as Elisabeth heavily quotes letters and diary entries from the five men, yet at the same time, that's part of what I most appreciated about her account.  The men's reflections on their commitment to Christ and their willingness to literally lay down their lives are both inspiring and convicting.  In a culture saturated with selfishness, covetousness, greed, materialism. . . .well, their perspective stands out.

Jim Elliot's perspective on life--or its thorns that choke the seed:
"The Lord has given me a hunger for righteousness and piety that can alone be of Himself.  Such hungering He alone can satisfy, yet Satan would delude and cast up all sorts of other baubles, social life, a name renowned, a position of importance, scholastic attainment.  What are these but the objects of the 'desire of the Gentiles' whose cravings are warped and perverted.  Surely they can mean nothing to the soul who has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ. . .No doubt you will hear of my receiving preliminary honors at school.  They carry the same brand and will lie not long hence in the basement in a battered trunk beside the special gold 'B' pin, with the ruby in it for which I studied four years at Benson.  All is vanity below the sun and a 'striving after wind'.  Life is not here, but hid above with Christ in God, and therein I rejoice and sing as I think on such exaltation" (17).

"He makes His ministers a flame of fire.  Am I ignitable?  God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.'  Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame.  But flame is transient, often short-lived.  Canst thou bear this, my soul--short life?" (18)

His ruminations were so good and reminded me, yet again, that my desire is to "set my affections on things above, not on things on the earth"--and to share that vision with my children.

Commentary on the American church:
"What if the well-filled church in the homeland (America) needs stirring?  They have the Scriptures, Moses and the prophets, and a whole lot more.  Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers" (20).

Distraction of day-to-day life.  Even on the "mission field":
"It's hard to stay on top of it all, hard to keep rejoicing, hard to love these ungrateful Indians.  It's hard to keep our primary purpose in view when we get so swamped with secondary things" (56)

I found this quote regarding Ed McCully's discouragement interesting.  I think it's easy for us to think a life serving God will be more exciting, more fulfilling, more meaningful "somewhere else."  But the daily tedium of life can distract us from our mission wherever we are serving, whether it's in our homes with our husbands and children, in our local community, or in some faraway land and culture.

Reactions to the men's murder (applicable to other times of suffering):
"I want to be free of self-pity.  It is a tool of Satan to rot away a life" (236).  (spoken by one of the wives--now a widow.  Isn't that so true?)

"(The massacre) was interpreted according to the measure of one's faith or faithlessness--full of meaning or empty.  A triumph or a tragedy" (270).

I consider how we interpret the events of our lives.  Do we view them through a lens of faith?  Or the lens of our own selfishness?

The way the Lord uses our interests and passions:
I've heard elsewhere that the very things that our children drive us crazy doing give us clues as to their giftings and what they will do with their lives.  Consequently, I couldn't help but grin as Nate Saint served the missionaries by fixing up broken planes just "as he used to rig model planes as a child" (70).  I can't wait to see what my children end up doing in their service to the Lord and how I will reflect on the foreshadowing I was privy to in their early years.

Softball Fun for All

My three older kids thoroughly enjoyed homeschool softball.  Alan and I think it's perfect too.

 They had all games on Tuesday nights in our local town from 6:15-10ish.  We didn't have to travel all over the country and we didn't have different kids in different towns on the same night.  Oh, and it was cheaper for all three to play than for just one to play Little League.

Another thing we liked about it was the sense of fellowship.  The kids were all friends who enjoyed learning and playing together.  I had two different people comment to me that Briana and Destry were such encouragers.  I much prefer that atmosphere than one of extreme competitiveness.  The parents enjoyed the fellowship with one another as well, rather than criticizing coaches and yelling at umpire calls.

They were really such a nice group of kids.  We had some concerns the last year that Destry played Little League.  The world can be such a rough place!  Both the other boys and the coaches had terrible language.  We overheard a couple of inappropriate conversations from some of the teen boys too, and the sportsmanship was simply terrible.  Playing softball with the homeschooled kids has been a welcome change as they for the most part profess to be following Christ.

Easton turned out to be quite the little hitter.  Here he is actually hitting a triple way out into left center.  He still needs to work on his fielding skills, but he loves it.

Book Recommendations for a Retreat

If you knew someone who was headed to his cabin for a couple weeks with the intention of reading, what books might you loan him?  He's in a different season of life than I am, that's for sure--I can't imagine such a prospect!  He is a believer, 60 years old, doctor by profession, three adult children.  I sent him with a box of these books, each tagged with a post it note sharing what I liked about it:

1.       Gifted Hands by Ben Carson

2.       1776 by David McCullough

3.       Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

4.       Humility by CJ Mahaney

5.       Crazy Love by Francis Chan

6.       The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield

7.       They Smell Like Sheep by Lynn Anderson

8.       Radical Restoration by F. LaGard Smith

9.       The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer

10.     Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

11.     Life at the Bottom by Dalrymple

12.     The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

13.     A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini

14.     And the Mountains Echoed by Hosseini

15.     The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

16.     The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

17.     Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham

Can't wait to hear his thoughts!

Easton Turned Seven

One of my favorite points from one of the homeschool conferences I attended (post to come later) was:

The days can seem long but the years go by fast.

Each birthday reminds me of that fact.  It doesn't seem possible that Easton has been a part of our family for seven years--yet on the other hand, it's as if he has always been here!  He had lots of fun celebrating by having a few friends over to play and eat cake and ice cream.

 He had seen a cake at Hy-Vee with a tractor on it and requested a "tractor cake" for his birthday.  That was easy enough--so sweet of him to give his mama a break this year.

His guest list included Trey, Justin, Wyatt, Clancy, Caleb and Joshua.  They are a nice group of boys.

 Silly, yes, but nice, nonetheless.

 They kept very busy playing lots of boy games and especially enjoyed playing Battleground with Easton's cool big brother, Destry.

Still Kickin'

Life has been B-U-S-Y!  Busy, but good.  I've been a little surprised that I haven't really even missed blogging.  I've been working on a scrapbook of this last school year, however, and as I've used my blog as a resource, I've realized how fun it is to go back and read it, so I'm going to try to be a little more consistent here.

So, let's see here, where have we been?  There was the Walk for Life to raise money for our local crisis pregnancy center (for which Alan is now serving on the board), a couple music performances we attended, and both a piano recital and violin recital for Destry. 

 Then there was the homeschool track and field day which was tons of fun.  The kids raced, did long jumps, softball throw, obstacle course. . .all kinds of fun stuff.  I got a kick out of this shot of Destry and Jarret racing--mostly because Destry is racing in jeans AND his cap.  He at least made the concession of wearing tennis shoes instead of his work boots!  He managed to beat is good friend, Jarret, in both the sprint and the longer run, but I think Trevor may be able to beat them both next year.

For the homeschool achievement night, Destry played a piece on the violin and Kiana stole the show with a couple of ballet routines.

She was simply adorable and not afraid of the spotlight at all.  Two other mothers ordered the little ballet dvd Kiana has been using for her "lessons" for their little girls who were entranced at Kiana'a performance.

Briana sang a song from The Sound of Music while Destry accompanied her on the piano and Emily played the clarinet.  Destry also accompanied Emily as she sang "Think of Me" from Phantom.  The kids also had fun choosing some of their artwork, handicrafts, and Lego creations to display on our table.

As far as a weight loss update, I've stalled at 21 pounds lost and am hoping to pick it up a little better in the next few weeks.  I'm just happy I haven't gained back, even though I don't think I'll make my original goal of fifty pounds off by my birthday.  Maybe 35. . .or even 40!

I'll try to update you with other events over the next few days, but meanwhile know that we are enjoying SUMMER--complete with dandelions and lawn mowing.

What Am I Reading?

I'm way behind in writing reviews of books I've read, and I'm a little overwhelmed at all the books I have going at the moment, so I'm going to list what I'm reading now for my own sake so I hopefully manage to finish them all this month.

A friend in my local book discussion group chose 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and I am 46% through it.  It is far from my favorite book I've ever read, but I think I am stubborn enough to finish plowing through it.  I'm sure it was particularly amazing at the time he wrote it, but I get bogged down in the descriptions of various species they see as well as the technical descriptions of the submarine.  Incidentally, in case you were like me and wondered at the title, 20,000 does not indicate how deep they were in the water (that measurement is called fathoms).  Leagues refers to how far they traveled while under the sea.  Now, that makes a lot more sense, doesn't it??

Carrie's online bookclub is reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliott this month.  I don't think I've ever read this one, although our family has watched End of the Spear many times, so I'm looking forward to it.

There's another book I've been reading in small bursts for a few weeks because it is rather disturbing.  Kathryn Joyce, the author of The Child Catchers:  Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption, definitely has an anti-Christian bias in her writing, but I think she has a small element of truth to her message.  I don't agree with most of it-- I know some of her facts are distorted and I am aware that she has quoted people I know without their permission and out of context--yet I'm still finding it worth reading.  I would just love for another Christian, adoptive parent to come along to read and discuss it with me.

I actually read The Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide to Romance by Heidi St. John in one sitting Tuesday night.  It was written in a very conversational style and is a quick read, but there are several nuggets in its pages.  I am going to read it again--hopefully with my husband as I think it will be good for us to discuss together.  I'll try to get a review written one day soon.

I'm also hoping to read Sparkly Green Earrings:  Catching the Light at Every Turn by Melanie Shankle.  I expect this to be an enjoyable yet encouraging little peek at the life of a mother.  I had been hearing about this book and when it popped up as a free Kindle book one day, I snatched it right up for a light summer read.

 There, I think those are the books on my list for June.  Looks like a fun month for reading.  The next few book reviews I hope to get written will be of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed, and I might revisit Huxley's Brave New World since Destry and I recently finished reading it together.

Gifted Hands

I read the inspiring story Gifted Hands by Ben Carson last month, then Briana read it, and this week Destry read it.  We are all enjoying "free reading" in our relaxed afternoons.

This book was printed in 1990 and has been on my "want to read" list for at least five years at the recommendation of a dear friend and mentor.  I don't know why it took me so long to get to it.  If you haven't read it, you'll want to put it at the top of your list now.

I wonder if we might not be hearing more about Ben Carson as he is becoming a more nationally known figure (especially after that prayer breakfast earlier this year).  I would love to say I think he has a chance at the presidency, but I just don't believe he does.  Our country is choosing leaders who reflect its prevailing morals, work ethic, and intellect and Ben Carson stands too far above the average American in each of those three areas to get enough support and votes to even get on the ballot.

Back to the book, Gifted Hands tells Ben Carson's story (I understand there is a movie based on the book which I have not seen).  In spite of  hardships and what many would call an "underprivileged homelife", Carson learned the value of faith (Seventh Day Adventist), education, and hard work and has accomplished a successful career as a well-respected neurosurgeon at John Hopkins.

As too many children experience, Ben was left without a father at a young age, but I was encouraged by his love and admiration for his mother.  She inspired her boys to work hard and study hard and was one of those mean moms who limited television and required the reading of books (and even book reports when she herself couldn't read them!).  I will insert here that I am especially glad to read a story about a man whose mother had such a positive influence on his life since all the books about raising boys talk about how important dads are.  I, too, limit television and require, er, encourage the reading of books! grin

I was fascinated by this book overall.  Carson seems to be very wise in many different areas.  He is honest about his own temptations, including struggling with seeking others' approval, materialism, pride, and his temper, but overall stresses honesty and integrity.  I appreciate his common sense approach to education, race relations, healthcare, and other topics that people seem to blow out of proportion.  His personal story is inspiring, his experiences in major cases (like surgically separating Siamese twins) are simply fascinating to read, and his willingness to serve younger generations by sharing his story make me admire him.

After finishing Gifted Hands, I promptly purchased America the Beautiful:  Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great, also by Carson, but my husband has commandeered it so I don't know when I'll get to read it. . .