Perspective

Our pastor made an excellent observation today. He noted that we view our lives as independent people. We want God to give us lives that will make us happy, healthy, comfortable, fulfilled. We rarely contemplate the effects our lives (or what God gives us) will have on others. After all, it's all about me, right?

Our pastor offered a different perspective. What if I asked God to give me a life that made His people happy, healthy, comfortable, fulfilled? What if the point of my life were to benefit God's people -- His church -- instead of myself? Okay, so that's an old idea, but look at it practically:

Perhaps my trials are for the benefit of other Christians.
Perhaps my sufferings will make them healthy.
Perhaps my sorrows will bring them comfort later.

How often have the sufferings of Christians from hundreds of years ago, helped, comforted and benefited you?

Our pastor encouraged us to see ourselves as part of a larger plan, to see our lives and what God brings about, as necessary pieces in a big puzzle. My life may not bring me happiness, health, comfort, or satisfaction in and of itself. But it can still bring those things to others,  in ways I can't anticipate. I found this comforting today. It doesn't make me feel like a pawn in a game; it makes me feel useful, valuable, in ways I can't imagine now.

On the Town

Each Friday Mother and I go grocery shopping, and, um, other-shopping. We have a pleasant round of resale shops that we frequent. I noticed these appalling pierced earrings at one store and just had to share:

Just down the street is a wonderful toy store, and they aren't afraid to leave their fun stuff out on the curb for their customers to enjoy. Here's their bear, an old friend. He sits on the bench, enjoying the summer sun.

These soldiers have been outside the toy store for many years. I have older photos of all four children, lined up beside them. Last Friday, it was only Julia and Philip, but I had to get a picture anyway, for old time's sake. Julia bemoans the fact that she is "tail-end Charlie" in our family line-up, and there are many, many photo albums with the other three children, and not her. By the time she was very old, I had started taking digital photos, and although I have them on my computer (usually), I don't make hard copies. Philip is holding a bag of the world's best English muffins from the local bakery, and sporting a beautiful blue vest his grandmother got him for a dollar :) We do love our deals!

When God Directs our Reading

I wasn't planning to do this, but I want to share with you what I wrote in my journal this morning, when I first got up. The words were privately written, but God knew my heart:

"Why am I here? I have no idea why either Adam or I are here. I know it's not a divine mistake, yet still I can't shake the feeling that I've stepped onto the wrong time line, and I'm supposed to be somewhere else, working, with Adam working, ministering, doing something useful. I look around for useful things to do here, and they're few. Why would God give us nothing to do? In spite of what I know to be true, it's impossible not to be nagged by the thought that we are unacceptable, unusable, unworthy for service. Why else would He do this?"

Later, at the end of my devotional time, I read these words by Rev. Spurgeon, in Morning and Evening:

"He that watereth shall be watered also himself." (Prov. 11:25)

"We are here taught the great lesson, that to get, we must give .... In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our efforts to be useful, bring out our powers for usefulness."

And then, moments later, I read these strong words from Chambers's My Utmost for His Highest:

"At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says -- Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom.I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper."  And then these words: "If I say, 'I wonder if I am of any use,' I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord."

Both men focus on the godliness of humility, real humility that does not esteem oneself to be valuable and necessary, and that doesn't see one's inactivity as a waste to mankind. It is hard to wait, to be inactive, to have little to do. I'm sure God has in mind for me to be doing something with this time; I hope I find out. It must involve resting or thinking or musing or waiting. But perhaps I should stop wondering why our talents are not being used. Clearly that is the wrong attitude to have. If they're not being used right now, it's because God doesn't need them. Good reminders, and I am repeatedly amazed and grateful at how God guides my daily readings so that my mind is informed to follow Him aright. These additional readings were no coincidence.

The Ongoing Afghan

I finished all the crocheted granny squares I could squeeze from my 3 skeins of the variegated yarn -- 35 squares. I laid them out on a twin bed. According to the pattern, I should have 77 squares, but made with much thinner yarn. Certainly, I should have more than this:

35 squares might make a good lap throw. But I do want it bigger.
So my dear friend, Hunter, gave me a large skein of beautiful blue yarn -- a perfect complementary color.

I've made three more squares with it. I'll do at least five, perhaps more, and scatter them randomly throughout the throw surface. And I'll need to find yarn to do all the joining of the squares, and the border. But so far, I must say I'm pleased :)

Homeschooling Books for the Year

It's that time of year:  a homeschool post about our upcoming studies! Yippee! (I can hear the thunderous excitement around here ....)

So, here's the layout for the 7th grader. Standard Saxon math textbook with test forms, etc. These books are brand-spankin' new; I've had them ever since Philip was supposed to be homeschooled in 7th grade, but wasn't. I knew they'd come in handy one day :) The science book is just a resource that goes with a MASSIVE chemistry kit I found recently at an education store. I'll have to get a photo of it some time. It's the one recommended by Susan Bauer, that is no longer available -- except in wonderful stores that have older stuff that's never been opened!

Grammar/language stuff -- I don't usually do vocabulary with Julia, because she really doesn't need to work on that area. However, this book caught my attention, since she loves Latin. I think she'll enjoy it. The English Workshop text is one I've had for years, unmarked. It's published by Harcourt, I think. I really, really ended up disliking the Easy Grammar workbook last year. Ugh. A smattering of this and that, each day. If you want to find a rule for a particular exercise, good luck in that book! Very poorly organized, IMO. This book, and its sequel, will probably last her 3 years, and after that she won't need any more grammar help. The spelling book by Rod and Staff is also a new approach. Last year we used an old Christian Liberty spelling book, with daily exercises and weekly tests. Boring. This one digs more into the words and will be interesting for her.

On to the fun stuff. History:  Julia is doing the Early Modern Period this year, 1600-1850. She's already declared that she hates American history, and for the same reason that many children in our nation do:  they've studied it, ad nauseum, almost every year throughout elementary school. If you're in public school, it's heavy on the Indians, and if you're in Christian school, it's heavy on the Pilgrims, but either way, it's kind of endless. That's one reason I adore the Classical method, and it has been a joy for 2 years. This year, as we look at some American history, we'll also focus a lot on British, French, and other nations. Julia is looking forward to studying Africa, her favorite continent.

And literature. This is an assortment, and doesn't include young adult fiction that she'll be checking out of the library to read. We'll do excerpts of Don Quixote, but all of Robinson Crusoe. Swift's "Lilliput" and "Brobdingnag," but not the others, and all of Candide. I might substitute Tom Sawyer for Huck Finn. That short story book, by the Stegners, is excellent. If you ever want a short story anthology that would serve well for teaching American literature, that's it. Same for the Major American Poets by Mentor. Both excellent texts. Almost anything not in there, is free online.

Since Julia is my only child left to homeschool, this year I'll be able to dedicate myself entirely to her work. More than before, I plan to read along with her as we study the history and literature. Before, if it was a classic, I'd read it already, but I didn't necessarily read it again, fresh, when she studied it.  One of the little secrets of many (but not all!) homeschool parents is that they don't actually read the material they're teaching their kids. That's a huge drawback. We call it 'allowing our kids to be self-directed,' or 'self-educating,' but honestly -- would you want a school teacher in the classroom to be teaching your kids something she had never read herself?  What could she possibly have to say about it? I strongly advise homeschooling parents to read the material. Discuss it with your child. If you don't, then you're simply keeping them out of another educational system, but you're not really educating them. You're not teaching them a thing. You're handing them a book and hoping something happens in their brain.

I haven't decided what to do for her Bible class this year. She did lots of memorization last year, and I think I'll give her a break from that, and have her do poetry memorization instead. We might do a simple devotional study together each morning. I think that would be refreshing.  Perhaps twenty minutes, right before painting time?

Painting with Julia

This morning the cool breezes were blowing on the west porch, and I decided it was a painting morning. Here's who I decided to paint:

"Little Pom"

Pom Pom gave her to me. And I must digress briefly and say that I've been inspired by Pom Pom and her friend Lisa. (Check out those blog links to see some of their work.) They paint with watercolors, often from other people's paintings/drawings, and then trace the images in black pen. And they're lovely. It's simple, relaxing stuff.
So, here's my beginning on the doll, whom I'll call "Little Pom."

And here you see how much the black pen finishes her up, and really tidies the whole picture. I love it!

So, I kept going. I had a flash of realization from Pom Pom that one of the best things to paint is someone else's painting. I mean, it makes sense! If I do what they did, all the issues of dimension and proportion and perspective should take care of themselves. Here's a picture of pears on my tea cup this morning:

Here's my rendition. I was planning to line it in black pen too, but Julia said no.

What do you think? Black pen or not?

Here was our painting table on the porch, before we started. Julia loved doing this together. I want to paint a LOT this school year. Would each morning on the porch be too much? Probably -- sigh.

Julia decided to paint fruit from the tea cup too. (We kept forgetting, and dipping our brushes in the tea!) Here are some apricots, we think. We weren't quite certain of the type of fruit. I think they're very good!

Here's a (fuzzy) photo of the original.

She also did some apples, and they're beautiful. I like the colored backgrounds. She may do a whole sheet of them.

My mother was enthusiastic about our efforts, so she gave me a photograph of Tasha, for me to try. Oh my! I'm no portrait painter! This was my sorry attempt. It looks vaguely like a corgi (or a fat fox), but not much like Tasha.

I like this one better; it's my version of one of the corgis from Tasha Tudor's cookbook. A bit large in the neck and shoulders. I'll have to keep trying.

And that was our morning of painting. I find it so very relaxing and soothing, to paint. I need to do it more, but I've never considered myself any kind of a painter or artist. My oldest brother Max is the artist. I'm the pianist and singer. We tend to put ourselves into categories, and sometimes I think we're the poorer for it, aren't we?

The Garden Spider

This lady lives by the front door. She regularly rids us of yellow jackets and other undesirables.

I love the little "zipper" line of her web. Anybody know what kind she is?