Reviews of A Few Recent Fiction Novels

I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne for my local book discussion group.  It is not one I would have picked up on my own, nor would I likely have persevered through it were it not for the fact others were reading it and expecting me to finish it as well.  I already shared that I got bogged down in both his descriptions of the plants and animals in the ocean as well as the sometimes technical descriptions of the submarine, but that was mostly in the first half of the book.

It did get more interesting as the story continued and I enjoyed adventures like fighting sharks and octopi and escaping the iceberg.  I tend to prefer fiction stories with strong characterization, however, which is not Jules Verne's forte.  I never got to know the Captain (or understand his motivations) or his involuntary guests, so I just never managed to care too much about what made them tick or what was going to happen to them.  I'm glad I read it, it was interesting, but I can't see myself ever reading it again, nor can I recommend it as an enjoyable read.

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 In the middle of reading the above, I just needed an easy break, so I pulled a Lynn Austin book off my shelf of thriftstore finds.  Wings of Refuge told the story of a woman who had recently discovered her husband's affair and both her children were independent and in college.  She leaves these life-changing experiences to participate in an archeological dig in Israel. 

 As she is examining herself and her faith, she gets caught up in international intrigue, learns the tough stories of some of her fellow archeologists, and discovers fragments from the life of a woman who lived in the first century.  Lynn Austin manages to tell the stories of three different people from three different time periods around the common themes of Christ's love, forgiveness, and perseverance.  I always know I can count on Lynn Austin for an easy yet meaningful story.

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I picked up Nightmare Academy by Frank Peretti for a quarter at a thrift store and zipped through it one afternoon while my little ones were napping.  If you've never read a Peretti book. . .well, that man can write a story and it will be guaranteed to make you think!  They are a little bit strange--but interesting.

This particular book was especially intriguing as it addressed the idea of absolute truth.  Is there such a thing?  Wouldn't we all get along better if we just stopped believing in such a thing and thus stopped disagreeing?

Imagine government-funded research to "explore new techniques in education from a global perspective" culminating in the recruitment of runaways living on the streets to participate in an experiment to eradicate belief in absolute truth.  Throw in a little Lord of the Flies flavoring, some dystopian undercurrents, and two christian teen investigators with some worldview grounding and you've got Nightmare Academy.  It was thought-provoking, if a little scary. 

Homeschool Conference Junkie

"My name is Shonya and I am addicted to homeschool conferences."

I just thought I would get that out of the way.  I love to go to conferences each year, and some years I even get to attend more than one--this was one of those years.  (insert happy face)

I first went to the NICHE (Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators) conference with my family.  I was disappointed that Gregg Harris was ill and unable to fulfill his speaking engagement as I have such respect for him.  He is one of the veteran homeschoolers and has fruit to show, which pretty much describes the type of person I like to go to for advice and wisdom.  But we still had a really great weekend and we were very encouraged. 

My favorite nuggets of wisdom came from Diana Waring (whose history recordings I have enjoyed with my big kids for several years and you may remember this book review):

My job description (I just loved this!):
"I am the administrator/instructor of an exclusive, multi-level academy, designed for the express purpose of fostering genius in a select group of creative individuals."
Children's Needs for Learning:
She had many great tips here, but my favorite was their need to have a safe place to learn.  One aspect of a safe place is someone to walk along with them, to enjoy them and enjoy learning with them.  Proverbs 16:21reminds us that "sweetness of the lips increases learning".
I Wish I'd Known:
As I referenced in my review of Through Gates of Splendor, Waring is the one who said "I wish I'd known the characteristics that drove me crazy were the seeds of who they would become."  Think about that one for a minute!

After the conference, we went to watch the Iowa Cubs play ball.  It was a perfect night for it!

The next conference turned into a Moms' getaway.  Did we ever have a good time!!  I am really blessed with friendships here and was so touched that some new friends invited me to go to the conference with them.  Mindy, Wendy, Sarah, Dian (not pictured) and I rode to Omaha for the Teach Them Diligently conference amidst much talking and giggling.  Yes, we had lots of silliness and fun, but we also had some meaningful conversations about everything from parenting to church struggles to adoption ethics to homeschooling to individual walks with the Lord and more.

Three other friends also rode to Omaha with their husbands for the conference.  Below are Alana, Sarah, me, and Wendy in the back with Amy and Shari in the front.  This conference was as much about building relationships for me as it was about gaining knowledge and encouragement for homeschooling.  This is a great group of ladies, although I am quite sad that Wendy will soon be moving to Oklahoma.  :(

This was also an incredible conference.  I kept hearing the same message over and over and over again.

Homeschooling is about discipleship.  Homeschooling is about relationships.  Point your children to the Lord.  Rely on the Lord to carry you through.  Show your children that your faith is in HIS immutable character.  

Heidi St. John was both enjoyable to hear and had some great points.  The one that pierced my thick skull was:

God will finish the work He has begun in our children--it's not up to me.  I just need to lay my life down in service to Him.  He will do the work.

Debra Bell was also there.  (Yippee!  I just think she's the greatest--I might even want to be her when I grow up!)  She shared tons of wisdom, both practical and philosophical.

• Write down your priorities and values.  Don't let the enemy distract you with academics, etc.
• You won't have this time (referencing the teen years specifically) again--recognize how critical this time is.
• Bring the eyes of faith to the journey.  Trust God.  Pray for needs and trust Him to provide and/or open doors.

I always come home from the conferences with fresh ideas and renewed vision.  I'm not sure why most conferences coincide with the END of a school year in May and June.  Does anyone know of a conference in August to get me pumped for the school year?  I would go to another one!  :)

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.