love to paint

Last week, I had an unexpected visitor.  The former owner of our new home stopped by.  I am thankful that she didn't stop by sooner.  I had been planning on being gone, but was unexpectedly here and I am thankful for this so that my mom didn't have to field her visit. She came in with her little dog and of course our golden retriever went crazy.  It was difficult.  Then, I took her around and showed her what we'd done with the house.  She liked the changes--especially the french blue paint in the dining room.  I was glad for this.  It was a short visit and then she was off on her way. I have struggled with my feelings towards this woman over the past month.  Often I have been upset with her that the work she had done wasn't fully done.  The workers she employed wouldn't do the clean up for their projects and the finishing work.  So, we had to come in and do that.  I've also been upset as I learned that there were problems s...

Yesterday in the car, I turned on NPR and listened to a local talk show radio host interview an author about parents and their expectations of their children.  The host was talking about how parents have unrealistic expectations of their children so they can't live up to them.  My 8 year old daughter suddenly says from the back seat that no child can be good enough.  It took me a second to comprehend what she was saying and then I remembered what the sermon at church on Sunday had been about and the Bible study discussion from Sunday night.  I probed her and asked what she meant.  I learned that she understood that none of us are good enough to earn God's love.  We are loved by God and are good enough because Christ died for our sins.  We are saved by grace through faith--not by our own good works.  She didn't understand why the adults on the radio were having the discussion at all.  I reminded her of a time when she told me she was a horribl...

My last post was about my coming to terms with the fact that everything cannot get done.  I've been working on reminding myself of this truth every day.  Yesterday was hard.   The project I most wanted to get done was to install the blinds in the den.  The girls weren't able to do their school work very easily last week due to procrastination and the fact that the sunlight was right on their desks and often blinded them.  We need to work on the procrastination, but the blinds could be fixed.  So, that was what we spent much of our morning and early afternoon doing.  Once my husband had installed the blinds, I still had to prime and paint the window frame.  I also had to shorten two of the five blinds.  Amidst this, I was also priming and painting a large board that is to be affixed in our hallway to cover up the hole made by the plumber last week.  About five-thirty as I was finishing up painting up the window sills, the former owner ...

This weekend I completely derailed our plans for Saturday afternoon by trying to squeeze one more task in.  I do this pretty regularly--try to squeeze in getting one more task done.  Sometimes it derails me or my family and sometimes it doesn't.  I've been this way as long as I can remember.  I underestimate how long it will take to get something done or how long it will take to get somewhere or how long it will take to cook something.  I have operated from the view that Everything Must and Will Get Done .   But the reality is that Everything Cannot Get Done .  I am realizing that I need to accept this and operate from this perspective instead.  Instead of thinking I can and must squeeze everything in, I need to prioritize and put first things first.  This means that I need to put what needs to be done ahead of what I want to get done.  If I think that everything must get done then it gives me the leeway to do what I want to do first ...

After my last post, I talked with two of my good friends about what I'd written.  I realized that I should give a little more explanation about some parts of the post. One of the lessons that has impacted me the most from reading so many books over the past four years is that I need to consider who is writing the books I'm reading.  What is their perspective?  What is their worldview?  What are their religious beliefs?   A few years ago when the movie series based on C.S. Lewis' Narnia Series came out, there were several books and a lot of attention given to "finding God" in the series.  My husband read Alan Jacobs' book The Narnian and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Afterwards, we discussed the book series.  What I came to understand is that C.S. Lewis was a Christian, as was J.R.R. Tolkein.  Both men wrote from their perspectives of the world.  They didn't set out to write Christian allegories, but their faith naturally permeated the wo...

I had a very interesting conversation with my brother on the way to the airport yesterday.  We talked about various books and movies and then he asked me what I thought of the Twilight books.  Just to give you some background:  My brother and his wife live in Italy and have lived abroad for several years (both before and since they've been married).   I tried to explain what I thought.  I began by telling him about an interesting article about how mormon theology is deeply woven into the book series.   http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=22-08-024-f  is an interesting article that digs into this.  I haven't read the book series, but have read a few pages here and there.  Basically, they're movie scripts that easy enjoyable reads--as I've been told by friends.   But, my brother was really asking me what I think of them.  I don't think they're wise to read.  That is my honest opinion.  There are so many bo...

As I finished posting the review just now for the Writer's Guide, I realized that I didn't want that to be my only post for the first day of the New Year.  What a horrible way that would be to start off the year! This past year has been such a crazy one.  The past 2 weeks along have been crazy!  We closed on our house Dec. 6th, moved on the 10th, my mother in law moved into our home we refinanced--both on the 21st, had Christmas Eve at our home with 13 people, Christmas Day with 9, New Year's Eve with 19, and New Year's Day with 10.  My family plus my mom is 6 people, so we start everything with a built in crowd ;)  The holidays were a busy blessing.  I enjoyed the time with everyone so much, but now I'm tired and ready to rest.  Amidst all of the holidays, the unpacking and house fixing pressed on. So, today.  New Year's Day.  I've been pondering a particular topic a lot lately as my mind has festered and dwelt on one particular issue ...

I found it a bit ironic that one of the books I had the opportunity to read (and of course review) this past month is The Christian Writer's Market Guide 2012 .  Reviewing books on this blog and Amazon for over the past 3 years has been an interesting experience.  In some ways, it has opened my eyes and cut through my cynicism that there are good, solid Christian books being published.  In other ways, my cynicism about the publishing industry has grown.  In those ways, I have been quite discouraged. Last January, I attempted to contact several magazines to get more publicity for the great books I come across.  I was trying to find out if there might be an opportunity to review for any of these homeschooling magazines.  One of the first two magazines said yes and I've had several of my reviews published this year in that online magazine.  I thought I'd try my hand and contact a few more.  Every single one said "no."  I learned that rejectio...