the beauty of "why"

(This post is a bit more philosophical than most . . . enjoy . . . )

Once Gemma passed her third birthday, it was like a switch flipped on in her little mind and everything was “why?”  Her little cousin who is ten months older had gone through exactly this stage and it was kind of funny to see Gemma mirroring her so precisely.  It was also a bit annoying, to be honest!  “Why is it Tuesday?”  “Why is her name ___?” The worst moments came when I would try to curtail the questioning by including the reason in my statement to begin with, and it was as if it didn’t matter one bit.  “We’re going to hold hands to be safe.”  “Why?” “To be safe.  That was the reason.”  “Why?” I thought I’d mentally prepared myself for the “Why is the sky blue?” stage, but I was finding these questions not only baffling but wearing.  I wanted to honor her curiosity with answers, though there were times when we just had to put a stop to it.  Some of the questions got me thinking, though, and ended up being very beautiful. 

I remember the day at the dinner table that Gemma first asked “Why do we say ‘in Jesus name’ when we pray?”  After some thought, John came up with this catechistic response:  “Well, Gemma, there are three reasons really.  Can you repeat them after me?  The first is that God is very holy.  The second is that we are not holy.  And the third is that Jesus brings our prayers to God.”  After that, she would often ask “Why do we pray in Jesus’ name?” and I think it was just so that she could hear this simple doctrine reinforced.

“Please keep your teacups on the carpet, so they won’t break on the tile.  “Why?” “Carpet is soft, and if the teacups fall, they will probably be fine.  But the tile is very hard and could break your teacups if they fall on it.” “Why is carpet soft?” Sometimes when the question “why?” seemed pointless, I’d be tempted to respond with “It just is.  There isn’t really a reason.” Usually it started with a “normal” three-year-old “why?” and the string just continued as she questioned every answer.  But our three-year-old had stumbled into world-view stuff, and I’m thankful that my mathematical side started to resurface in answers like this:  “Some things are true by definition.  You can’t prove anything without starting somewhere, without assuming a few basic facts.  We start with the assumptions that God exists and that He has revealed Himself to us in His Word.”  At this point, John would start to roll his eyes because my words were clearly over Gemma’s head.  But they are principles of reasoning which I hope will stick with her when she is older.

Other times, our conversations went more like this:  “Why is Snow White’s dress blue on the top and yellow on the bottom?”  “Well, Gemma, that’s because whoever drew her like that—probably Walt Disney—decided that those would be nice colors for her dress.”  “Why?”  “Well, I don’t know, but the one who designs something gets to choose!  When you draw your own pictures, you get to decide what they will look like.”  But there was something deeper here than drawing.  The one who designs gets to choose.  She gets to decide on the ins-and-outs of what she designs.  He gets to make the rules for His creations.  This is not only a logical conclusion, but it is also underscored in the Bible in such passages as Romans 9. 

As I ponder the major internal struggles of our culture today, I think that this concept lies at the root.  As a nation, we’ve hallowed “freedom of choice” from the very beginning.  I’m not saying that this is entirely wrong; it led to a nation free from the tyranny of Britain and look how many incredible things have happened in this unique, prosperous country to this day.  But I think that we have our major struggles because some value freedom of choice higher than God and His designs for us.  Usually we get along all right because most people will stomp on the inclinations of their hearts if acting on them would harm someone else.  (We basically all agree that cruelty is wrong, right?)  But some of us also believe that God created us, and the one who designs gets to choose.  He gives us the freedom to make choices, which is great, but He also has a guidebook—and it is so much more than a guidebook; it is the great story of His plan to rescue His people from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ—but it is a guidebook nonetheless.  He tells us in His book that the tiniest human being has been knit together by His loving hand and is known to Him, and that’s why some of us counter “a woman’s right to choose” with “well, wait a minute, you can’t choose if you’re hurting someone else.”  The Designer set the laws of science, physics and mathematics into place, and what a joy it is to discover them.  The Designer put together our bodies and gave us a thirst for knowledge.  He made the rules for morality, and how we spend some of our money, and for sexuality, and told us, “No, you don’t get to choose that, either.  I’ve already chosen how it works best and you need to trust Me.”  To assert otherwise is just as silly as trying to tell Walt Disney that Snow White’s dress should be all blue, and Mickey should have been a bear instead of a mouse.

This brings us back to the teacup question--what we rely on as our basic presuppositions.  You may choose not to believe in the Creator and Designer God, and instead answer these questions with “There isn’t really a reason.”  Many do.  I think however, that if you apply this principle consistently, you will find yourself in a world of nihilism, which is hardly a satisfying one. Personally, I’m thankful that we humans have a limited freedom of thought and choice, and that our Holy Father has not left us to ourselves and our own devices.  The work of creation scientists has never held more significance in my understanding.

Now Gemma is four, and I’m relieved that the unending “why’s?” have settled down a bit.  I’m also thankful for what I learned through that season:  sometimes it is helpful and beautiful to ask those inane simple questions because of the basic truths that come to the surface when I think hard enough about the answers.  Praise God that there are answers, even when I don’t understand them.  

big changes

In the last three months since I claimed I was going to try to post a lot more and didn't (oops!), there certainly have been a lot of new big things happening. One is actually a little thing (at the moment)....a happy little feminine thing....

Two little somebodies like to pretend that they have babies in their tummies, and all because I actually do. Though we'd been hoping and praying for another baby for a number of months, the exact timing of this little one was a bit of a surprise, after experiencing a second miscarriage in November. The Lord has been so good to us. 

Somehow, we're 19 weeks along already. Last week was the big anatomy ultrasound when we all got to see her sweet profile and face for the first time.

We officially agreed on Gemma Grace's name about a month before she was born, and although we came up with Ruthie's first name fairly quickly, she didn't have a middle name until the hours after she made her debut. So, true to pattern, we're still taking our time coming up with a name we both love for daughter number 3, and once we do, we'll mostly likely keep it a surprise until she's born.

Where she will be born may well be a surprise even to us. Back in April John got the unexpected news from his superiors at work: you can't work from home anymore. What that means practically is that we are moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in a few short weeks. We're excited about this new adventure! We have several friends in the area we're looking forward to reconnecting with and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to California weather!! 

We love the East Coast, though, the freedom we've had to visit our families, and the simplicity of being only an overnight's drive away from the majority of the folks we love. Plus we have strong church ties here and honestly love our home and community on Cottage Lane. So, we're doing what we can not to sever those ties; plans are in place to rent our home out to a friend while we get the newlywed experience of renting an apartment which we never quite had! Hopefully it won't be terribly long before we're back here again, but in the meantime we have a cross-country road trip with two girlies and a bunny to get excited about. 

A new apartment, a new maternity practice and a new-to-us minivan are all in the works as of this week! We've already felt the help of the prayers of our friends and family in coming to decisions about these puzzle-pieces, and we appreciate further prayers for wisdom and patience with each other as we actually dive in to this journey. 

easter finery

Several months ago, Mom offered me a pair of ruffled yellow gingham pillowcases, and I was happy to say yes!  I had given them to her for Christmas probably 15 years ago, back when her bedroom was yellow and hunter green.  She had repainted since, was cleaning out, and I was having visions of making matching little girl night gowns, like the one I made for Gemma last year.  It's a darling little pattern!  So, I started them a few weeks ago, fully intending for them to be nightgowns . . . go ahead and laugh, but as I finished them up, John and I agreed that they could pass for dresses!

We aren't usually the type to get new dresses for Easter every year, mostly because we've been so blessed with hand-me-downs that I usually pick out something special and spring-like for each girl and that's that.  There's something quite sweet about matching, though.  It was when I settled on the Beatrix Potter buttons from my button jar that my mind was made up, I think.  

Back when Mom and I were fabric-shopping for our wedding, we bought a yard of lovely lace (or is it embroidered netting?) without any concrete plans for it.  It ended up saving the day on the morning of the wedding when my dress was too low-cut in front, so a piece of it is still in my wedding gown.  Then, I took out two more little cuts to fill in the necklines of the bridesmaid dresses Heidi and I wore for Derek and Liz's wedding.  I'm not sure what brought it to mind again, but I decided to put the remaining bits to some use.  First I cut strips from the plain netting end and stitched some simple puff rosettes for our girlies' shoes.  (We're slowly transitioning to minimal shoes for our children, and I decided that leather ballet slippers would be preferable to anything with a heel for this summer!)  Then, on Saturday night, I cut some more strips, this time including the embroidered edge, and zig-zagged them together on my machine until they were long enough to make into bows.  Somehow my finicky hot glue gun cooperated, the zig-zag seams hid just perfectly and they are just the sweetest bows I've ever made!  Gemma had already "made" a bow with her friends for Easter, though, so I wasn't about to deny her the pleasure of wearing her own handiwork.

This may be the best photo of the two of them together . . . Ruthie had a little Easter Basket to take home from her Sunday School class, and Gemma did not, so she was very very interested in sister's.

And what's an Easter photo without Thumper, our new pet, enjoying his Sunday carrot?  :)

So, nightgown dresses, haha!  One more thing!  Since the original tutorial is only written as a size 4, I had to draw up my own pattern pieces for size 2, and I'm more than happy to share them if there's interest.  Let me know!

favorite books for preschoolers

One of the reasons Charlotte Mason's ideas about homeschooling appeal to me so strongly so far is because of her emphasis on "living books."  I (think I) have always shared this desire to enrich our little ones' lives with quality literature, vibrantly illustrated and full of ideas!  Anyway, a few years ago I shared some of our favorite baby/toddler books, and we've certainly found new favorites as our children have gotten bigger.  I figured it was about time for an update.  :)   Here are our top 5 titles/authors/series:

1.  Robert McCloskey

We love his award-winning stories, written in the 1940's and thereabouts.  In my limited understanding--because apparently I need to read Charlotte Mason's 6 volumes on education, *gulp*--in my limited understanding, McCloskey's works are quintessential Charlotte Mason books.  They are full of ideas, no fluff, no twaddle.  And somehow he brilliantly illustrated them with just pencil/charcoal and paper!  You learn science through a story without even meaning to.  :)   The best thing is that these are all at the library, too.  Our favorites are Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine (Gemma's current favorite), and Make Way for Ducklings (we've been to see the duck monument in Boston's public gardens!).

2.  The Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik

Gemma loved the Little Bear books so much that we had her three-year-old birthday was all about Little Bear.  :)  Now, Ruthie has taken a fancy to them, which just tickles my heart!  We love the sweet, simple illustrations and precious stories.  Although they are actually written as early readers, the stories are fully accessible even to two and three year olds, so I'm glad we didn't wait.  Our favorites of the series are the original Little Bear and Little Bear's Friend, but there are three or four others that we've found at the library, too!

3.  The Little Black Pony books by Walter Farley

Along the same lines, this series is also an early reader series, with simple short sentences and big type.  But Gemma just loves these books, and I'm happy to see her interest branching out beyond princesses now and then.  :)  My mom introduced these to her, because they were her own favorites as a child.  The boy and his pony have a real back-and-forth friendship, and these books are full of ideas and great, realistic illustrations.

4.  Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman

I look for classic fairy tales at our local library somewhat regularly, as part of our little ones' cultural education, I guess!  This one takes the cake.  Every page is an artistic masterpiece in my opinion (and I do believe illustrations are what Hyman is most known for).  We also appreciated that the story seemed pretty original.  I haven't read "the" original Little Red Riding Hood, but we've found that some retellings soften the story line a bit for modern readers.  In this version, Little Red does get eaten by the wolf, yet rescued alive by the woodcutter, and the story closes declaring that she learned an important lesson about obedience.

5.  The Jonathan Mark books by Jacqueline Sibley

Of all this list, these books will probably be the hardest to find.  They were published in Britain in the 1970's and are now out of print!  We were introduced to them on a Lord's Day in Northern Ireland, and once we started reading, Gemma wanted to read all six or eight that our hostess had in one sitting!  After some ebay-watching, John managed to find three for her for Christmas that weren't insanely expensive, as most are.  So, what we love about them:  the sweet narrative of four-year-old Jonathan Mark as he goes about his normal days, asking big questions and learning about the greatness of God.  He does normal four-year-old things, like going to the doctor and the park, and spending a week at Granny's house.  Although they're full of child-level theology, they're much richer  in story than simple moral tales, which is why we like them so much.

Honorable mentions:  The Very Fairy Princess series by Julie Andrews (yes, that one) and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.  Disney stands ready to saturate our little girls with stories of grown-up princesses dressed in alluring ball gowns with a strong tendency toward falling in love at first sight--or first kiss, or first dance.  This series, on the other hand, gives our princess-crazed daughters (i.e. Gemma) a relatable princess-crazed little girl who deals with little girl "problems" in the context of a healthy family.  Gerry's enthusiasm and honesty are winsome, and Gemma loves these books.  My only complaint is that the illustrations are sketchy almost to the point of being sloppy, and the talk of "a sparkly feeling inside telling me it's true" is a bit mystical and silly, so I usually edit that as I read.

As far as Bible stories go, we now also have a copy of the ever-popular Jesus Storybook Bible . . . but the Big Picture Story Bible is still our favorite, and still the only one we just read straight through without modifying words or editorializing.   It's still the most freshly illustrated story Bible I've encountered, too.

That about does it! As I read more on Ambleside online and Simply Charlotte Mason, it's great to compare their extensive reading lists for preschoolers. Any favorites of yours that I'm missing?

gathering up the fragments

Sometimes you hit "post" and nothing happens!  This was one of those times, when I thought I'd posted Saturday, but chrome crashed and lost a third of my post.  ah, well...

I thought we should have some well-rounded, home-making bloggy fare for a bit before I launch into the next exciting trip journals!  This is a post I've been thinking about for a while, and I'm actually borrowing the phrase "gathering up the fragments" from the old More with Less Cookbook.  My mother regularly relied on this Mennonite book, and she kindly found me a copy when I was in college. It's full of budget-friendly, use-what-you-have recipes, and many of them are vegetarian.  That's about as connected this post will be to that book, though, because this is my own giant list of what I do with leftovers!  (I'd love to see yours!)  And just for fun, I'm including some really old, unedited food-related photos of Gemma Grace.  (Ruthie wears those clothes now!)

Of course, I will happily reheat leftover meals for my lunch, or even make extra on purpose to freeze for other days.  This list is less about fully-prepared meals and more about, say, leftover rice.  So let's start there.

Leftover Rice

• Rice pudding
• Fried rice
• Casseroles that require cooked rice, like Chicken/Broccoli/Rice or pizza rice casserole
• Also, Gemma will gladly eat cold rice for lunch . . . 

Stale or Leftover Bread

• French Toast
• Bread pudding (I make a marvelous Blueberry-Lemon bread pudding.  It's a Southern Living recipe!)
• Cube it, toss in some oil and seasoning and roast on a cookie sheet to make croutons or stuffing mix.
• Crumble or zap in a food processor to make bread crumbs for chicken parmigiana, etc.

Leftover Potatoes

• Slice them and fry them up for breakfast :)
• Or if they're already mashed, form them into little pancakes and fry them up for breakfast
• Mash them up with some milk and use them as the topping for shepherd's pie (I often freeze them and do this later).
• Add to chowders, or make extra potatoes on purpose to make potato soup!
• Sweet Potatoes:  make muffins

Leftover Meats

There are, of course, many recipes that call for cubed, cooked meat.  If I have only a little bit, I usually slice it up for pancit or stir fry . . . in fact, we're having steak stir fry tonight!  :)  There are always sandwiches, too.  Whenever I have a bone with some meat on it, though, I make soup.

Ham

• Slice and fry for breakfast along with eggs
• Quiche
• Hawaiian Pizza
• Ham and dumplings
• Chicken Cordon Bleu
• With a ham bone, I usually make Lentil Soup

Chicken/Turkey

• There are lots of recipes for cooked chicken, so I'll just include a link to chicken pot pie
• With a chicken carcass, there's always chicken noodle soup, but my husband prefers thick soups like white chicken chili.  

Red Meats

• Hot roast beef sandwiches, especially if you have leftover gravy
• I've dabbled in curry, but need to practice some more
• My favorite soup for beef and venison is barley soup! 

Miscellaneous

• Waffles - I make up all my batter and save the rest for a quick breakfast for my children later in the week.  They're very tasty warmed in the toaster-oven.  (I hear they can be frozen, too, but we never get to that point!)
• Pancakes - these I don't care for as much on the second day, so I tend to just refrigerate remaining batter and use it as soon as possible.
• Oatmeal - Make oatmeal bread!
• Boiled eggs:  Egg salad, or add to many cold salads
• Scrambled eggs:  Add to fried rice
• Coffee:  Make a chocolate cake.  (But usually I just reheat and drink!!)

How's all that for gathering up the fragments?  I still have no good uses for leftover pasta . . . are there any out there?  Pasta salad, maybe?  I suppose if all else fails, there's composting, or maybe you're one of those happy people who have chickens.  :)

thinking about schooling

"In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother’s first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air."

(Charlotte Mason Vol. 1, p. 43).

I've started my reading about education and homeschooling curricula, just scratching the surface, really. There are abundant options, of course, and none is "the gospel," (nor is homeschooling itself the gospel of education). Charlotte Mason really does seem to be my favorite so far, but I wanted to learn a bit more before committing to an approach, and make sure I didn't just choose her because I like the name Charlotte!

Gemma was two and a half when I started getting asked "is she in school?"  I had no idea it would start that early, though she's always had lots of hair for her age, so maybe she looked older! But especially now that she's 4, it's not such an unusual question.  So far my answer has been "We're actually thinking about homeschooling, but we'll see where our family is at when she's school-age."

My heart still insists on asking "Why such a rush? Why can't we let them be children for a while?"  Yet it's a balance between this and not wanting to deny her a formal education if she's ready (or if Charlotte Mason is mistaken, and we should be pushing for her to be reading in Kindergarten).

I'm always happy to hear others' opinions on the matter, or your favorite book and curriculum choices!

Ireland, the end

July 22- For our last full day in Dublin, I didn't journal anything, but thankfully things did improve considerably upon the previous day!  Our little ones finally discovered the "kids' check in" in the hotel lobby, where they climbed up the stairs to receive little coloring packets.  :)

 We enjoyed another full-Hilton breakfast, Dublin-style.  

Once again, we parked the car and made our way into the city.

Thanks to the bus ride the previous day, we got a feel for what we wanted to make sure we saw--Trinity College, where resides the Book of Kells, and the Guinness Storehouse.  

Admission to the Book of Kells included a brief tour of the campus, so we joined another tour group and learned a bit of the history we probably should have read before we went.

Tradition has it that if you are walking under this arch when the bell tolls the hour, you will fail your exams for the term.  I imagine this is not a prime make-out spot!

This statue of a provost with a grimace-like smile depicts the man who supposedly was the last to resist the admission of women into the college.

Our guide had a good personality for the job, and was required to part of the original Trinity College school uniform.

This sculpture was supposed to mean something besides Death Star, which is all I remember!

Once that part of the tour was finished, we were invited to join the line of people waiting to go into the library where the Book of Kells was kept.  However, we realized that we hadn't put enough money on our parking ticket for such a long line, so John left with Gemma to catch the bus while Ruthie and I waited our turn.

The Book of Kells and several other ancient documents were preserved in the basement of this building.  We saw them first (no photos allowed, of course), and then finished the cycle in this delicious old library, lined with marble busts of famous scholars.

Ruthie was a bit of a challenge the whole time, so I didn't spend long there or in the very nice gift shop.  We caught the next bus and headed on to meet John and Gemma at the Guinness Storehouse.

Yogurt helped.  :)

I guess John and Gemma had some fun while they were waiting for us in front of the gate!  

The storehouse was neat; I believe the museum is relatively new.  We aren't really into beer, but we learned a bit.

The design of the building itself is quite fun.  The self-guided tour begins at the bottom and continues upward, with the top level being all glass.  Everyone then drinks his included pint in front of a splendid view of the city.

 

One pint was more than enough for John and me to share, so we used our second drink voucher to get an orange Fanta for Gemma, which she thoroughly enjoyed experiencing.

After that, we drove into a large park in town and found a playground to relax at for a while.

We decided to make our last dinner in Dublin a pizza!  

Later, I remember that we returned to the hotel to put Ruth down for a nap and let John work for a while.  Gemma may have slept, too; I know that I set off on foot for a shopping center a quarter of a mile away to get sandwiches and snacks for the evening and the next morning.  We had just enough time in the morning to grab a roll when the breakfast buffet opened and head out to the airport.  

What a delightful way to spend some of the hottest weeks of summer!  It was a trip we will remember for a life time, How thankful I am for God's good provisions to us, enabling us to go celebrate with Jenni and Sam.  How thankful I am for God bringing them together!