Dappled Things

 Blogger Friend School Assignment # 12

As we begin the New Year 2007, let’s look at what were our Hits & Misses for 2006. This could include anything at in your life. Perhaps you tried a new curriculum, a different approach to discipline, a new cookbook, a better (or worse) way to organize your time. Maybe, you joined a new group, or tried a new class.

The assignment for this week is make a List of “HITS” and a List of “MISSES”!

Extra Credit (from Training Hearts Mom): Take your favorite Homeschool item and write Raving Review! Be sure to share from the heart and be honest. In your review include the 5 W’s and the H…Who, What, Where, Why and How!

As I was writing down a list of what I consider the “hits” and “misses” of my life this past year, I realized that for every hit there seemed to be a somewhat related miss. It suddenly just jumped out at me while I was looking at the list. While I don’t think some of them are directly related; some of them definitely are. So here they are.

Hits

1. Our new puppy Banjo

2. Dressing more modestly

3. The Greenleaf Guide To Old Testament History

4. Headcovering

5. Our new bed

6. My new kitchen

Misses

1. Spending time with my girls

2. Reading my Bible

3. Wise Up! Wisdom in Proverbs

4. Pleasing my husband (a.k.a. keeping up with the housework)

5. Getting on a good sleep schedule

6. Cooking better meals more often

Now I shall explain.

Numbers One
On January 5th of 2006 our sweet little Boston Terrier was born and we were able to bring him home in early March. Banjo has turned out to be a wonderful addition to our family. He’s been a breeze to housebreak and has such a good temperament. God has really blessed our family with this puppy. On the other hand, I have had a strong desire to spend more time with my girls and feel like I haven’t done as well as I possibly could have this past year. This is not because I have given all of my attentions to Banjo, but it did seem superficially related when I was drawing up my list. It is a hard thing to explain to non-homeschooling moms how you can spend just about each and every hour of your waking day with your children and still feel like you haven’t spent time with them. I miss the days when they were younger and schoolwork didn’t seem as pressing. Now that Lily is in high school and I have to think about what her transcript will ultimately look like, I suddenly miss the days of tent-building in the middle of our living room and of paper dolls. I want to play games with my girls and read to them. I find myself resenting the shadow “college” has cast over our days.

Numbers Two
Now this year I have had a good deal of success and satisfaction in dressing modestly. I am far more comfortable in dresses and I feel like it has been a blessing in my life. On the other hand, I have felt like a failure at spending more time in God’s word. When writing up this list, I realized that, as satisfying as it may be to be dressing modestly, it is a small thing compared to keeping nigh unto God. It almost makes me feel like a hypocrite. I feel like a beautiful vase that remains empty.

Numbers Three
This year I decided to pull out a Bible curriculum that I bought a couple of years ago for Lily, but decided wasn’t really for her. I thought, for some bizarre reason, that I should give it a try with Clara. It is a very nice study of Proverbs, but it is a workbook. We don’t like workbooks. We really, really don’t like workbooks. So, after several attempts at using this curriculum, I dug out our The Greenleaf Guide To Old Testament History and asked Clara if she would like to snuggle up and read the Bible with me. She agreed that this would be a great thing and we are all very glad.

Numbers Four
For several years now I have felt like I should wear a headcovering. Nobody in our congregation wears a headcovering, so whenever I questioned 1 Corinthians 11, everyone would say they thought that a woman’s hair was the covering mentioned in those verses or that it no longer applies to modern day Christians. I kept having a nagging feeling that that wasn’t enough. I read and reread this scripture and studied the Greek words that were being translated until I understood that God wanted me to wear a headcovering. I do not bind this on other women. This is between me and my God. I do not think that women who do not wear a headcovering will not have their prayers answered. I don’t think it is a salvation issue. I just feel like it is an issue I needed to address in my life. I started wearing a headcovering in the spring of 2006 and have felt many blessings come from having chosen to do so. It has made me more aware of my place in God’s plan for my marriage. I can see how it has changed my heart attitude in many ways. The other side of this though, the “miss”, is that I know perfectly well what pleases my husband and I continue to neglect those things. I know that he is happiest when we have a tidy home and I am in the bad habit of letting things slide around here. I want to work on that this year.

Numbers Five
I have been having sleep problems for quite some time. I know that I need good rest and that I can let my sleep schedule get completely turned around in a matter of days because I tend to be a night owl. My beloved husband took me out shopping for a new bed this summer since we had been sleeping on the same one for twelve years. He felt that a new bed would help to alleviate some of my sleep problems. He had me lie down on several mattresses until I picked the perfect one. I felt like the princess in The Princess and the Pea. I have never slept on a mattress such as this. It is absolutely dreamy. It was a hit, for sure. Getting myself on a regular sleep schedule, however, has been a terrible miss. It is after one in the morning as I type this.

Numbers Six
Now you are going to wonder how I ever came into such a blessing with my husband when I tell you this. After living in our home for ten years and having to cook in a kitchen that was fifty years old, my husband took me out to pick all new everything for my kitchen. New cupboards and cabinets to replace the cupboards with doors that were falling off of their hinges and drawers that were without fronts. A new counter top to replace the one with cracks running through it and awful black, bubbled burn marks on it. And, no, I didn’t create these horrific burns. He even got a new stove with a convection oven and a microwave above the stove and a new refrigerator. And a new sink and a garbage disposal and…Okay, I will stop now. I got a brand new kitchen because my husband loves me like no other man could ever even come close to trying. And, for several months, I cooked like I had never cooked before. I discovered Allrecipes.com and never have to wonder how to cook another piece of meat again. At some point, though, I quit. I am not sure why. So the kitchen was a hit and my cooking turned into a miss.

So there you have it. My wonders and blunders of 2006. I suppose I could use the “misses” to create a nice little New Year’s resolution list. I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution list before. What do you think?

Since Mama Squirrel was able to be so humble as to admit her floundering with this challenge, I feel that I, too, must ‘fess up.

I can say that I joyously finished Northanger Abbey after dragging it out for over a month. Heavens! I was thoroughly glad to be done with this book. I love Jane Austen, but this book has to be her one awful book. I felt like I was at our local shopping mall frustrated from making any progress by a walking wall of young teenage girls ahead of me. Yes, a walking wall. You know what I am talking about. When the group ahead of you or, even worse, coming towards you all walk side-by-side causing you to either stroll slowly behind them or play chicken to see who will move out of the way first when headed toward you. Did I ever tell you how much I hate shopping malls? Anyway, back to our story.

The entire first half of Northanger Abbey is precisely like walking behind a gaggle of young teenage girls who appear to be of very little brain and have very little supervision. They spend their time talking about clothes, boys, silly books and more boys. They are parading around the mall, er, dancing hall giggling to themselves and continually passing by the young man working at the sporting goods store while pretending not to notice him.

Catherine, the “heroine” of this book, while being quite naive is a good sort of girl. She never seems to develop into anything more than that, though. The character that caught my interest was that of John Thorpe. If I could have reached through the pages and turned him into a possum, I would have. He would then have been just as vile a creature, but of no consequence to Catherine or me, for that matter. I am not sure if he upset me more or if Catherine’s naivete around him annoyed me more. Needless to say, I don’t particularly like to spend half a book being increasingly annoyed by a character.

The second half of the book was spent at Northanger Abbey. There we find Catherine in a chapter of one of her own Gothic novels. I thought maybe things would get interesting there at the Abbey, but the only thing that got interesting was Catherine’s wild imagination. It was so obvious that her imaginings had no basis in reality that it was as if the novel had been padded with fluff that further impeded me from finishing it.

When the book finally came to its tidy ending, all I can say is that I was much relieved. And, after having been to Bath and Northanger Abbey for much of the novel, Catherine’s home was a much more cozy place to be. I could actually feel the warmth of the home with very little in the way of description of it. I’m glad it ended there. I felt entirely exhausted from the trip.

The second book I read was Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America by Jeff Pollard. This was a quick read and I was glad for it after trudging through my first book. The book’s premise is that the bathing suit industry has led us all into a state of comfort with being nearly naked in public. As someone who strives to dress modestly, I have to say that I could not really argue with anything that was stated in this book. I do wish that it had been fleshed out a bit more. (Pun only partially not intended.) Having said that, though, I do believe the author accomplished what he set out to do. It is a scripturally sound book that examines the bathing suit industry’s impact on our culture and seeks to examine what Christian modesty truly is while realizing that it does go beyond mere apparel. I will be reading The Beauty of Modesty: Cultivating Virtue in the Face of a Vulgar Culture by David J. Vaughan soon and hope that it will give me a little more to satisfy my appetite for this subject matter.

So, I have two books down and have started on my third, My Antonia by Willa Cather. So far, it has caught my interest. Let’s hope it continues to do so. I believe I have until the end of the month to finish two and a half more books. I will do my best.

I am sending out a prayer request to those of you out there who are thus minded. I have been having a terrible time trying to sleep and I am not sure why. As many of you may already know, I gravitate towards being a night owl, but I have not been able to sleep normally for the past month.

Lately, a typical cycle will be for me to spend several days in a row without any sleep except for a two to three hour nap I take in the mid-morning. I can’t seem to sleep at night at all during this part of the cycle and sometimes don’t even feel like taking the mid-morning nap! After several days of this, I feel exhausted and end up going to bed between seven and nine o’clock in the evening and sleeping until seven to ten o’clock the next morning. Most often I feel like I could continue sleeping all day.

So, it seems to be either feast of famine around here. I love those evenings when I am sleepy and I can curl up in bed with a good book and read for about thirty minutes before dropping off to sleep. I am really praying that, with God’s help, I will be able to go to bed around nine-thirty and read for about thirty minutes and go to sleep by ten. Then I would like to be able to wake up by seven.

In the meantime, I remain puzzled. And, to be honest, I don’t even sleep well when I do sleep. I toss and turn and feel overheated or achy all night. This is having a serious impact on my daily life. So, again, I ask for your prayers, advice and any Bible verses you think might be applicable.

Thirteen Things I Found Under My Tree

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.”
- Burton Hillis

1. 8 large white bath towels

2. 8 white hand towels

3. 8 white washcloths

4. 4 white king-sized pillow cases

5. 1 warm throw blanket with matching “napping pillow” and “napping socks”

6. 1 leather-bound Thompson’s Chain-Reference Bible (KJV)

7. 4 beautiful modest dresses

8. 1 set of Jane Austen novels, Sanditon by Jane Austen and “Another Lady”, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

9. 1 good book on learning to crochet, 2 books on crochet stitches and 1 book on knitting techniques

10. 1 set of crochet hooks & dark blue and black yarn

11. The A&E Literary Classics – Romance Collection Megaset (DVDs) which includes Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Victoria & Albert, Tom Jones, Jane Eyre, Lorna Doone, Ivanhoe, and The Scarlet Pimpernel)

12. 1 happy family

13. 1 good nap

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A Very Nearly Wordless Wednesday

I’ve been washing my Christmas presents today.

“Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which
what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.”

- Dag Hammarskjold

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As you can see, Banjo had a very merry Christmas! He spent the day happily chewing on his new rawhide bone while lying on his new fluffy bed. Banjo was a good boy this year! And that is a very good thing if you consider that it was his very first year. He will be celebrating his first birthday on January 5th.

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
” Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Luke 2:1-14

Very Nearly Wordless Wednesday
Ed. 5

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I had a hard time finding something annoying for the photo theme this week. I finally found something that has been annoying me for quite a while. This dress. It is the first thing I have ever sewn and, early in July, I had it all finished except for the hemming. I started it and got this far in just a week thanks to the cheerful encouragement of my sister who was visiting at the time. Once she left, though, I never touched it again. I find this very annoying. I have enough material to make four more dresses. I just find it very upsetting that I got this far with a dress and I not only never finished it, but I would feel intimidated at the idea of trying to sew another one after all this time has passed. I really, really want to sew my own dresses. Anyone want to suggest how to make a nice even hem?


Isn’t the material pretty?

Very Nearly Wordless Wednesday
Ed. 4