love to paint

A friend of mine called on Wednesday and asked me how our school year had ended.  I told her then that we had just started back the day before.  Sort of.   We start back with math and finish up the Explode the Code book they were working on at the end of the year.  But, it's just one math lesson a day instead of 2 like they normally do during the school year.  Starting this way takes a little pressure off the rest of our year.  I also noticed that the kids and I both needed a little more structure.  One full month of playing was enough for them.   So, we've begun. This year is a little different.  Eli starts kindergarten, Sami's in 2nd, and Autumn's in 5th.  Usually my room is already to go before the other year ends.  Not so this year!  We started Tuesday with my room in chaos.  Still we pulled out math and just did math.  I have a lot of work to do this week.  Notebooks to get in order. New materials to o...

Common Grace is the idea that there is a measure of grace extended to everyone--common to all.  Wikipedia defines it this way:    " It is “common” because its benefits are experienced by, or intended for, the whole human race without distinction between one person and another. It is "grace" because it is undeserved and sovereignly bestowed by God. In this sense, it is distinguished from the Calvinistic understanding of "special" or "saving" grace, which extends only to those whom God has chosen to redeem." Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_grace Last fall, a friend of my husband's recommended that he read Abraham Kuyper's book on Common Grace.  So, I was excited to come across a new translation from Christian's Library Press titled Wisdom and Wonder: Common Grace in Science and Art .  Kuyper's book  De Gemene Gratie was actually a large three volume work.  There aren't any full translations of Kuyper's book in...

Three seemingly random thoughts... 1)  My middle daughter loves to read Revelation.  Revelation?  Really?  Yes, really.  I'm not exactly sure why, but it may have something to do with how much she loves the Chronicles of Narnia, if I were to wager a guess.   2)  A friend of mine told me that her mom's pastor doesn't believe in Hell and preaches that if you are a good person, you'll go to heaven.  My friend was concerned about new believers who hear this message. 3)  A few years ago, Rob Bell wrote Love Wins created quite a stir by proclaiming that God would not send people to hell, or at least only a very few.  He proclaimed that a loving God would not send people to Hell.  What he actually believes is difficult to pinpoint, because he is known for making unclear and evasive statements. Three thoughts that all link together because of a common thread--hell and death.  Is there really a hell?  What does it look like...

Last year, I read a Christian Fiction book that I really enjoyed, A Change of Fortune by Jen Turano.  It was a melodrama, which is apropriate--I think--for historical fiction.  Why I liked it was that it was funny.  There were a few scenes that genuinely made me laugh.  I have found this to be rare in Christian fiction.  Because of this, I looked forward to reading the second book in the series.   The second book is titled A Most Peculiar Circumstance .  This story focuses on Miss Arabella Beckett, the sister in law of the main character from A Change of Fortune, Eliza.  She is in trouble at the beginning of the story and Mr. Theodore Wilder rescues her and returns her to her family.  The remainder of the story focuses on the chemistry between these two characters and threats to Miss Beckett's safety.   The verdict? The writing is fine.  It isn't unusually good, but it's fine.  I didn't laugh the way I had hoped I mig...

This past week my husband and I went to a Christian camp full of junior high kids.  Our kids went along with us.  We split the counseling duties.  I went to everything in the mornings and my husband went in the afternoon / evenings.  There were a lot of interesting things that I noticed and thought about, but one of them was the constant presence of the internet and cell phones--even at a Christian retreat.  I didn't expect this, because our kids had been asked to not bring anything electronic and I didn't see them using anything at any of the meetings or carrying any phones.  But, the two college counselors did have their phones and we did too, in case we needed to find each other or get a message to each other. At one point in the week, I thought about my summers that I spent on staff at Quaker Meadow Camp in the Sequoia National Forest in my 20s.  There was a phone in the staff lounge, but people didn't have cell phones back then.  We still u...

The Lord has given me an interest in many things that you've probably seen me write about on this blog--anywhere from evangelical feminism to mental health concerns and learning and processing disorders.  My interest in mental illness began during my sociology studies in college.  Since then, God has brought many people into my life who have shared their stories and lives with me.   A few years ago, I read the book The Mind has Mountains: Reflections on Society and Psychiatry by Dr. Paul R. McHugh.  It was a wonderful book that gave me much food for thought about mental health and our society.  If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it.  Dr. McHugh goes against the grain of popular thinking in this book and examines the truth of what he saw in his patients.  He was the head of the school of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University for a time.   Since then, I've read a few other books about mental health, including PTSD: Wounded Warrio...

I find prequels disconcerting.  For example, I can't bring myself to watch the new movie, The Hobbit .  I loved the Lord of the Rings Trilogy , but Gollum and Bilbo Baggins make me cringe.  In the case of The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein wrote it prior to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but since I didn't read it first, it would be like watching a prequel since I've already seen the trilogy movies.   It's an interesting thing to me when authors write prequels to books after they've written books that come later in the story's timeline.  Sometimes they can be hard to follow and figure out.  Usually, a prequel starts and stops before the previously written story begins.  In the case of a book I read recently, the author began the story as a prequel and then wove the story line into the stories of the previous two books in the trilogy.   The book is Slow Moon Rising , by Eva Marie Everson.  Ms. Everson and I had an interesting dialogue via Chasing ...