A Few Special Quotes

'The flowers smell sweetest after a shower; vines bear the better for bleeding; the walnut-tree is most fruitful when most beaten; saints spring and thrive most internally, when they are most externally afflicted. Afflictions are the mother of virtue. Manasseh's chain was more profitable to him than his crown...All the stones that came about Stephen's ears did but knock him closer to Christ, the corner-stone.' - Thomas Brooks

'Opinions will not pass for true religion on the day of judgement.' - Ralph Venning


'It is very observable that the eagle and the lion, those brave creatures, were not offered in sacrifice unto God, but the poor lamb and dove, to denote that God regards not high and lofty spirits; but meek, poor, contemptible spirits God will accept.' - Thomas Brooks


'The Spirit can take a sailor drenched in worldliness and sin, - a profligate captain of a slave ship, - and make that man a most successful minister of the gospel, - a writer of letters, which are known and sung wherever English is spoken. He has done it already. - He did it with John Newton.' - J.C. Ryle

'Others think that because they have given up their riotous ways, and are broken off from evil company or some particular lust, and are reduced to sobriety and civility, they are now real converts. They forget that there is a vast difference between being sanctified and civilized.' - Joseph Alleine

'If our hearts be established by the word of God, we may set God and his truth against all troubles that can arise from Satan, and hell, and the instruments of Satan, or our own hearts.' - Richard Sibbes

'If you have good hope, keep it always ready. Have it at your right hand, prepared for immediate use.' - J.C. Ryle

'He is not drowning His sheep when He washeth them, nor killing them when He is shearing them. But by this He showeth that they are His own; and the newborn sheep do most visibly bear His name or mark, when it is almost worn out and scarce discernible on them that have the longest fleece.' - Richard Baxter

'Set the grace of faith on work, keep it on the wing, preserve it on exercise; and faith exercised will be able to comfort the most dejected soul in the world, and to raise it above all the troubles that can be imagined or befall us.' - Richard Sibbes

'Fear not,' Joshua; 'fear not,' Moses. What was the ground of their comfort? 'I will be with thee.' He was with St Paul in all conditions, therefore he bids him, 'fear not,'. (Acts 27:24).' - Richard Sibbes

'It is only when we are utterly desperate, and feel quite hopeless, that we look to Him and realize our need of the strengthening of the Spirit in the inner man, and pray for it as we have never prayed before.' D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

I've Got A Massive Hangover

Musical Talent?

It's no secret that my oldest child has absolutely no love for music whatsoever.  He doesn't care for it.  Never has.  He couldn't read notes, he couldn't hold a tune, and if he could get away with it, he wouldn't sing either. 

 

Then he went to school.

 

He discovered the recorder--yes that screechy plastic pipe that drives us all batty.

 

Suddenly Eric is bringing his music book home every night.  He pulls out his recorder and plays the same 3 notes over and over--turning it into a little ditty.  He is serious about his work.  He asks his younger sister to write the notes above the music.  G A B B A G etc.  And the boy pipes on.  He loves the recorder.  His mother has decided to remain silent.  Her wishes to hurl the wailing piece of plastic into the manure pit are suppressed.  Her boy has found something he loves.  He has found an appreciation for music--something we never thought possible.

 

Pipe on son!  We will continue to listen to your efforts and encourage you.

 

I am looking forward to when your class will be learning the guitar...for so many reasons.



 

 

Acquiring New Books

I have my own ways of acquiring and shelving my own books.  I do a fair amount of research before I buy anything.  Most of the books I own I have read before I ever bought them.  I can not STAND the thought of having 'junk' on my shelves.

 

First, I spend upwards of an hour perusing the contents of each book.  I read chunks, I familiarize myself with the table of contents, I get a good feel for the content of the book.



 

Next, I write (in pencil) the date and occasion of when I obtained my book.  In this case, I received these 2 books on January 19, 2014 (Looks like I messed up the date--I'll change that!)  on my first visit to the Free Reformed Church in Monarch where we went to hear Dr. David Murray preach.

 

Then I officially make the book mine by placing my own stamp on the front page--top, right hand corner.



 



 

See?  Every book of mine bears the mark.

 



Then the book gets shelved until I can get to it--usually within the next 2 days.  It may look intimidating but... 

....I know where to find my books.  I've made a personal connection to each one.  Right here...snug with the others.  I KNOW what's in my library.  I've read my library.  I love my library.



Keeping Busy

Courtney has had no problem keeping busy these last few days.  She does not appear to miss her siblings at all.

 

Today she asked me for a cup of water.  I gave one to her.  Then she poured the water from her plastic tumbler that I gave her into a ceramic coffee mug.  She pulled out a painting with water coloring book and pulled out a paintbrush.  I was rather amazed!

 

Notice her painting style.  First she dips the brush.

 



 

 

Next, she sucks the water out of the brush.

Then she proceeds to paint.

 And finally, she shows me the finished product.  Well done Courtney!  This exercise kept her busy for 20 minutes so I was extremely pleased.  We will be ding this again!

Courtney's been helping me bake cookies....

Playing with her people.....

And faithfully drinking her milk like a good girl......errr, using a toothbrush.  Once again, notice her unusual style.

First she drizzles some milk on the table with her finger.  Then she 'mops' it up with her trusty toothbrush.

And finally she slurps the milk out of the toothbrush.  Hey...she has all day. 

 

I've also caught her sucking water out of the water nipples in the chicken barn while she was tagging along with me today.  She unwrapped 6 brand new bars of soap.  She's taken my camera and looked at all the pictures on my memory card.  She downloaded something on my computer.  She shoved crayons in my printer and ate the tires off her brother's tractor. 

 

Anyways, it's been interesting.

The First day of School

Well, this was certainly an eventful day!  Eric, Lindsay and Paul went to school.

I dropped them off at school, got them settled in their classrooms and left again....very much wondering how they were going to do....  Dan took me out for breakfast (along with Seth and Courtney) and then we headed home. 

My day was....quiet.  I was restless.  I didn't know WHAT to do with my day.  I did some laundry.  I vacuumed.  I baked a 'Welcome Home' cake for the kids for when they would come home.  I couldn't get myself to read because I felt guilty about spending workable hours on leisure.  I am going to have to grow into this new schedule.  Courtney kept asking where the kids were.  Lincoln looked forlorn.

Finally it was time to pick them up!  And that's when I heard all the fantastic stories.

Eric liked school but he found it very hard.  He was completely exhausted.  He decided that he liked all the subjects, but he HATED French.  Nothing made sense to him.  He said he just sat there and didn't understand anything that was said.  He had to go to the bathroom quite badly and the teacher said he could go if he could say 1 French word.  Eric couldn't come up with anything so he decided just to sit there and hold it.  He said that by the end of the lesson he was going to EXPLODE!  Later there was a group project and everyone wanted to be his partner.  At the end of the school day the teacher allowed the boys to have an arm wrestling competition.  Eric was second in the class.  He LOVES his classmates.  He LOVES school.  He HATES French.

Lindsay made friends immediately.  She came home with 3 cards from 3 different girls.  She also had 2 friendship bracelets.  Lindsay got to have music and the teacher let her play one of the songs she did for her piano recital.  Lindsay also found the work difficult but absolutely LOVES the social aspect of school.

Paul....oh Paul.  Paul told me that all the work was VERY easy.  He finished it VERY fast (yup, that sounds like Paul).  He had to sit quietly so he played with his pencils.  He started sword fighting with them and making faces at some of the other boys.  Of course, they all loved it.  Once again, that sounds EXACTLY like Paul.  Poor teacher--but I did warn her.....  Needless to say, Paul has made friends already--though he doesn't remember their names.  When we homeschooled, we worked all the way to lunch without a break.  So when Paul was at school today, the bell rang to signal the first break (10:00) and Paul, assuming it is noon, promptly grabbed his lunch and devoured it.  Then everyone went out to play for recess.  The bell rang again and all the kids ran back to the school.  But wait, one kid still remained on the playground--Paul.  Once Paul realized that he was alone he ran to the school.  The doors were locked and there stood Paul pounding on the doors, trying to get in.  He didn't realize that the bell signalled the end of outside time.  Realizing that he was missing, his teacher let him in.  At noon he realized his lunch had already been eaten and all he had left was a licorice.  Poor guy.  But Paul LOVES school.  He says it's WAY better than homeschooling.  He's looking forward to tomorrow already.

I found out that it gets BUSY when the kids get home.  Listening to their day, cooking supper, deciphering agendas, tackling homework, reviewing catechism, doing piano lessons, completing chores...we got through it just fine.  All the kids, especially Eric, were exhausted.  They all went to bed before 8.  Eric had no desire to even stay up until then.  He was so done.

But they did well.  I am proud of them.  I have to figure out how to enjoy my days without guilt pressing down on me.  I do get a lot of housework done.  All this will fall into place.  There is a lot of adjusting that needs to be done.  But I'm thankful for these answers to prayer.  We all did well.

2 Books

I am pretty excited about the 2 books I started today.

The one book is a 1307 page exposition on the book of Hebrews written by Arthur Pink.  This will be my main read of the year--seeing as it is going to take me all year to get through it.  The wording is not difficult and I like what I have read thus far.  Hebrews is my favorite book of the New Testament and I have long wanted to tackle this book.

The second book is a 586 page history of the Soviet Union's use of the Gulags by Anne Applebaum.  I can't believe the referencing that went into this book and, being a total history fanatic, I love this book already!  I picked this one up at the public library.

Seeing as these 2 are going to take some time, I have asked my most creative child, Lindsay, to make me a couple of bookmarks for these 2 books.  She was very touched by my request and happily got busy.

Never 4 Again

"Mommy, take a picture of me cause pretty soon you'll NEVER have a 4 year old like me again," says Seth as he laughs maniacally and runs outside to play. It's true, next month he'll be 5 and he knows that bothers me....little stinker.

 

Top 10 Reads of 2013

This year I wrote up a book report on every book I read this year.  As a result it has been much easier to put together my top 10.  I tallied up the results last night and here's what I came up with:

I finished 31 books.
6  Biographies
11  Fiction
14 Non-fiction
I read 8687 pages in total

1) The Mourner's Comforter by C.H. Spurgeon--  "Heavy heart, this book is for you."  With this Spurgeon begins this book using Isaiah 61:1-3 as his guide.  The Lord Jesus came to preach to the broken, the afflicted, to those that mourn.  He trades ashes for beauty.  He trades the oil of joy for mourning.  He clads His people in garments of praise and plants them as trees of righteousness.  Book of all books!  Spurgeon is such a son of consolation!  He describes my brokenness perfectly.  He bandages my bleeding wounds.  He understands mourners perfectly and pours the compassion of Christ upon them.
2) Killing Fields, Living Fields; Faith in Cambodia Don Cormack-- A very thorough retelling of how the Cambodian church began, suffered and yet grew under the Khmer Rouge regime.  She had a wondrous 5 years when the church grew by leaps and bounds.  Baptisms were still being performed as the Khmer Rouge overtook the city.  I found a real love for the Cambodian people through the reading of this book.  Their zeal to make the gospel known to their own people is truly precious.  The horrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge is startling.  To think that only 3 church leaders survived this awful genocide is staggering
3) The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert Rosaria Butterfield-- A woman tells her journey from being a post modern feminist lesbian to a Reformed Christian.  As a professor and popular speaker for gay activists the ripples that her conversion caused were enormous.  She calls her conversion a train-wreck of a journey--her entire identity was overhauled.  She asks todays Christians some hard questions.  When we pray for the lost, do we really know what this means?  Are we willing to shed our cloaks of self-righteousness to walk beside the lost?
4) Spurgeon, A New Biography Arnold Dallimore--A well written, easy to read account of the Prince of Preachers.  We get a bit of his childhoodd, his rise to the pulpit and an excellent overview of all the projects he undertook.  The book also spoke much of Mrs. Spurgeon and the work she did.  I would have LOVED to hear this man preach.  Better yet, I would've loved to hear this man pray.
5) The Meaning of Marriage Timothy Keller--This book is like no other book I have ever read about marriage.  This book is Christ-infused.  It tells us WHY we are married, why we STAY married, and why God is GLORIFIED in our marriages.  The reason is God.  Too often books on marriage are horizontally based.   This book focuses on a purely vertical vision of marriage.
6) Tears in the Darkness Michael & Elizabeth Norman-- A true account of the Bataan Death March where the Japanese overtook the Americans in the Philippines in WW2.  The Americans were treated poorly in the Japanese POW camps.  Once the war was over and the Americans released, the book continues to record how the Japanese were put on trial and punished for war crimes.
7) Survivor--Sam Pivnik Sam Pivnik--Sam Pivnik tells his own story of surviving Auschwitz.  He worked on the ramp--the area where people were herded off the trains.  He witnessed Mengel's selections.  He witnessed his entire family (aside from one brother) go straight to the ovens.  He worked and he took chances.  he survived Auschwitz.  He survived a death march.  He survived the sinking of the Cap Arcona.  He survived to see his brother again.
8) Seeking the Face of God Martyn Lloyd Jones--This book is comprised of 9 sermons on select psalms.  They all center on a theme of seeking God and what exactly that looks like.  I really appreciated the simplicity with which he conveys huge truths.  You cannot simply believe in God.  the knowledge of God must deeply, deeply affect you.
9) Climbing Rosalind Goforth--Jonathan Goforth's wife writes of her experiences as a pioneer missionary in China.  They had many hardships but won many fields for Christ.  They uprooted and travelled often, they lost children, battled disease and lived in appalling conditions.  Yet how faithful God was to them!  This book prompted me to buy a book about her husband Jonathan Goforth which I read to my kids.  They LOVED it!
10) Joseph-His Arms Were Made Strong David Searle--This book reads like 18 sermons on the story of Joseph.  It has LOADS and LOADS of practical application.  Reading this book has made Joseph my favorite Bible character.  My favorite chapter was definitely chapter 9 entitled "Father and Son Re-united.  It's a great exposition on Jacob's difficult life as a pilgrim.

Some thoughts:

* These numbers and this list does not take into account my daily Bible reading or the chapter books that I have read out loud to my kids.
* Interestingly, I did not finish ANY Puritans in 2013, though I am currently working my way through a longer, more complicated piece by Thomas Goodwin.
* There was a 2 month period last year when I did not finish ANY books.  (This rather amazed me).
* Not one fiction book made the top 10.  I tend to gravitate towards biographies.  I guess I prefer reality.  I certainly prefer 'soul food.'
* According to my book reports, 6 out of the 31 books I read I would NOT recommend to another.

Next post I will share what reading challenge I am taking on for 2014!