Favorite Five Fridays.... Just another Week

I started the year thinking about favorite things....what are my favorite things....noticing the things that make me smile.  My life is the kind of life that can be full of the drudgery of everyday...breakfast, make bed, dishes, school, school, more school, lunch, dishes, more school, laundry, choir, dinner, read to the kids, go to bed and start over.  One day I started noticing that although everyday has a very similar rhythm there are things in those days that make me smile, things that spark my interest or things that just bring delight.  Each one of those things is a gift from God, something tangible that brings me joy.  It is my goal over the next year to write about five of my favorite things on friday... an alliteration for my father. I started the year writing about school and books and I could probably spend the rest of the year writing about those two subjects.  But I am determined to dig deep and share some other parts of who I am.  Hold onto your hats, this is going to be a crazy ride!

This week I was trying to come up with my list of five things when I read this quote in The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller

C.S. Lewis spoke of a secret thread that unites every persons favorite books, music, places or times.  Certain things trigger an "inconsolable longing" that gets you in touch with the Joy that is God.

This has lead me on an internal journey to discover what that internal thread is, I wonder if after a year I will be able to identify that thread.  Maybe it will pop-out after I have made list after list of my favorite things.  Tonight my list of favorite things doesn't fit into a category like books, or school or movies... its just five of my favorite moments out of the week.  Times when JOY was present and was shining through everything.

• Benji making omelets for everyone for breakfast
• Snuggling with Malaki on the couch
• Watching Mika playing games with her dad
• Waking up to coffee already brewed.... thank you Jen!!!
• Paul taking time to run errands with me
• and the list could go on..... buying Broncos shirts with Jen, grocery shopping with Malaki, teaching Mika prime factorization, watching The Mentalist with Paul, reading Les Miserables, dinner with Paul and Jen, teaching Malaki the books of the Bible... just another week as a wife and mom, but wow! so much to be thankful for.

Ponderings

Blessed are the singlehearted, for they shall enjoy much peace.  If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from the clearness of spirit which is life and peace.  in that stillness you will know what His will is.    - Amy Carmichael

Coffee House Books

I have noticed that each year as I start reading books they often seem to fall into a theme.  Sometimes I plan it this way and sometimes it just happens.  One year I had the "Year of the Potok".  I read almost all of Chaim Potok's books.  Another it was all about Elizabeth Goudge.  This year (2011) wasn't so much about a specific author, but a specific genre...... juvenile and young adult fiction.  This has a lot to do with necessity.  I really try to read the books my kids read both for school and out of school.  Sometimes I read them before they read them, sometimes I read them while they are reading them and of course there are times that I read them after they have finished.  On this list are quite a few that we have read out loud together and quite honestly those are my favorites, there is something so magical about entering into a story together.  I marked these books with an RA.

The books I read this year are listed into categories to help you recognize books you might want to read.  I hope you'll even pursue the juvenile fiction.  There are a lot of great books that are great reading for both young and old.

My Coffee House Book Menu for 2011

Hot Chocolate made with real chocolate melted into coconut milk....true awesomeness and perfect for my kids

• The Underneath by Kathi Appelt  (RA)
• Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic byJennifer Trafton (RA)
• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Jester (RA)
• The Heart of the Samurai by Margi Preus (RA)
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth Gearge Speare
• Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson
• The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne (RA)
• The House at Pooh Corner (RA)
• Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye
• Eagle of the 9th by Rosemary Sutcliff
• The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdall
• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdall
• The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene Du Bois
• The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
• 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson (RA)
• I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge (RA)
• Tabitha's Travels by Arnold Ytreeide (RA - this was our advent book this year)

Chai...super great down to earth non-fiction

• Still Life by Mary Jenson
• Flyboys by James Bradley
• Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison
• So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore
• Bruchko by Bruce Olson
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Heart of the Story by Randy Frazee
• Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson
• Somewhere More Holy by Tony Woodlief
• Have a Little Faith by Mitch Album
• Pilgrimmage of the Soul by Phileena Heurtz

Cappuccino... a classic

• Apology by Plato
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Eight Cousins by Louisa Mae Alcott
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Fair Trade Whole Bean Coffee - an every day experience, one not to be discounted by its everyday-ness, these are books I might read again or they are books that changed my everyday

• The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
• Leadership Education by Oliver DeMille
• Teaching the Restless by Chris Mercogliano
• Zen to Done by Leo Babauta
• Radical by David Platt
• Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
• Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado
• Behold the Lamb of God by Russ Ramsey
• The Gift of the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
• Facedown by Matt Redman

Caramel Macchiato... books read for enjoyment of it all and they ended up being worth it

• Day after Night by Anita Diamant
• Fiddler's Gun by A.S. Peterson
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris (just so you know I have never laughed so hard)

Folgers.... not necessarily my favorite but better than the gas station variety

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - this book made me think, I love that in a book
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - I enjoyed the story but not the world's best book
• Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos - a great concept, but not well written

Gas Station Coffee that has been on the burner all day.... I'd drink it in a bind, but I'd rather avoid it

• The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson - I was really drawn into the plot of this book, BUT they are super graphic and I didn't like that, so I found myself doing some skimming 
• A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay - I was expecting something amazing after Sarah's Key and this one totally fell short
• The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Steig Larsson

2012

Its amazing how years come and go whether we want them to or not.  Some years have come with a flurry of excitement, some with dread and others with peace.  2012 comes with expectation.... I'm expecting big things to happen.  But with that expectation comes fear.  I hadn't really put my finger on the fear I was feeling until I read another blog, "A Holy Experience", http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/01/what-the-new-year-needs-most/.

After reading her thoughts and feelings as she entered the new year, it dawned on me....I'm fearful.  I'm afraid that I will not love my husband and children well, I'm afraid that my dreams for the future will disappear with the turning of the year, I'm afraid that I won't grow in grace but that I will stagnate.  I don't  want 2012 to be the year of fear, I want it to be the year of expectation, the year of intentionality, the year that doesn't just disappear but is one to remember.

Here's to 2012, the year of expectation!

Favorite Five Friday.... Books

Here it is again, Friday and I've spent the entire day pondering some of my favorite things and decided to share my favorite books.  The dilemma is I have confined myself to five favorite things, this was not a task I was sure I could handle.  But eventually I came up with five of my favorite books.

1.  The Bible.... I sorta feel cheesy including this, because I feel like it is a given, I am a follower of Christ and thus I should love His book.  I had to include it because this book is like air to me.  The more I read it the more it changes me.  And so it is my first and foremost favorite book.

2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy... This favorite has a story behind it.  It is my utmost favorite novel because it started me on a literary journey.  It was this book that stirred a hunger for classic literature in me, as well as a love for Tolstoy.  I first read this book as an 8th grader.  I was in an honors English class and we were given a list of classics to choose and this is the book I chose.  I spent my entire Christmas break reading this book, but the book was clearly over my head.  I was lost in the Russian names and nicknames and wasn't always sure what was going on.  Instead of asking my teacher for help, I wrote my book report with the knowledge I had acquired and turned it in.  He returned it to me with a big fat red zero on it and told me I missed the whole point, but I could rewrite it and turn it in in a week.  So, once again I poured over the book and checked out other books on the book and I rewrote the paper and got an "A".  I had missed the point, but the extra time studying it cleared it up for me and gave me a love for the story.  I have since read it a couple more times.  It is now a book that I can just pick up and read certain sections because they speak to me.

3. Instruments in the Redeemer's Hand by Paul David Tripp... This is one of the best books on life I've read.  I have read this book over and over and I keep gaining wisdom.  It is the best book I've read on counseling, marriage, parenting, and everyday relationships.  It is actually better than the books I paid $60,000 to read for my masters.


4. Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge.... Sometimes you read a book and it hits you at just the right time, that was this book for me.  A mentor had suggested this author to me, I checked out this book and one other of her books.  I kept trying to read this book but I couldn't get past the first couple of chapter.  I had the book the entire time I could check it out but I just couldn't get into it.  I read the other book I checked out and loved it, I read it in one weekend.  I loved Goudge's language and her story of hope and growth in relationships.  That summer I picked up Green Dolphin Street and it spoke to my heart.  Its about two sisters who couldn't be more different and they fall in love with the same boy.  It was in this book that I saw my need to control, my tendency to nag and my tendency to lack joy in my relationships.  I knew that I didn't want to be the controlling sister, I wanted to be the joyful, peaceful sister.

5. The Sense of the Call by Marva Dawn....  This is another book that started a journey for me, a journey of rest and joy.  There is not much to say about a book such as this, it speaks to mind, it speaks to my heart and it strengthens my soul.

The First "Favorite Five Friday"

I thought it would be fun this year to share with you some of my favorite things.

Awhile ago we were knee deep in school and I was overcome with delight.  Delight in what in what we were doing... delight in my children... delight in the books we were reading.  I wanted to share with you a little bit of what we do and what I love.

1. I absolutely love our science.  The kids are totally engaged and we are all learning new things. We are studying the human body this year.  Every week we create a model of whatever we are studying and then read a section from The Way We Work by David Macaulay and whatever fun books we've found at the library.  This book on skinned knees was super fun, you'll never look at pus the same again, and if your kids are like mine they will talk about macrophages eating and dying and pus all the time.  My kids beg for science, they would like to do it everyday.

2. This year Malaki is doing the Primary Arts of Languge (PAL) Reading and writing (published by Institute for Excellence in Writing).  For the last two years we have done everything possible to help Malaki with his phonics and reading.  When I came across this program I just knew it would be perfect for him, the Phonetic Farm, the games and the the blend of whole language and phonics as been a great combination for him.

3. The word of the day.... rocks!  The kids love hearing the word of the day first thing in the morning and we write it in our class journal.  its fun to watch and listen to them try to use it.  We use the dictionary.com widget on my phone, which is on the front page of my phone so its the first thing we see.


Benji's journal post also brings delight.  If you can read it in this picture you will notice his sense of humor shining through.. created by Benji, directed by Benji, wrote by Benji.  

4. I love the opportunity to pour great words from great authors into my kids.  We start school by reading together and writing in our journal.  This year we are reading Our Country's Founders  by William J. Bennett.  It is great for discussion, vocabulary and as well as history.  I firmly believe that one of the ways to make the classics digestable for kids is to introduce them and keep introducing them.  The more the classics are read and discussed, the less they feel like a foreign language.  

5. The mess!!!  I've tried every which way to make school an organized neat affair, the dilemma is that I'm the one teaching and I'm neither organized or neat.  But I love that somehow the mess on the table is a description of where we've been and where we are going. And when its all said and done for the day we put it all back in its containers and the crate so that we can make a mess tomorrow.