Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Book Review: Anne Bradstreet by D.B. Kellogg

This book is from a series of biographies called Christian Encounters. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan whose family helped establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was a devout woman, wife and mother. She was also a well-educated, thoughtful and insightful poet. Not only were her works published, but they were also popularly and critically acclaimed. At a time when many women were unable to move beyond the common societal expectations, she did so with grace and humility. Other strong women were excommunicated or even executed for overstepping their place as "the weaker sex," but Anne Bradstreet was an example to strong, smart women while maintaining the respect of her peers.

Because I like history (especially colonial America) and New England and poetry and reading about ground-breaking women, I enjoyed this book. I found it to have quite a lot of information, which caused it to be a little heavy or dry at times. Also, I sometimes had a hard time keeping up with many of the minor characters or the timeline and felt the organization could have been a little better. There was so much information presented, almost an overview of the whole age/colony, rather than a deeper look into Bradstreet's faith or personality. Still, I'd recommend this book to someone looking for a biography or an interesting book on church history.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Monday, September 13, 2010

How was your weekend?

I'm going to be limited in the blogosphere for a little while. Our computer bit the dust this weekend. It just won't turn on. My hubby just got his Droid, and while any other time I'd happily climb on a soapbox about all of the things we needed more than a fancy phone (though he did need a phone), now I am just happy the 3G network kept me from having withdrawal.

To be honest, I've been saying for a while that maybe I didn't need to have the computer at home. It can be so easy to waste WAY too much time reading ridiculous Facebook status updates or watching cats run around IKEA. I have lots of other stuff to do, and maybe removing the distraction would be hard but helpful.

And I didn't miss it for the first part of the day. Little Sis and I ran errands. I spent around $5 (including tax) out of pocket at CVS and got two boxes of cereal, some Nivea body wash, vitamins, candy corn, gum, two bottles of Lysol toilet cleaner and two airwick refills, and some extra "filler" candy (to be able to use my Extra Care bucks.) I had $5 in ECB when I started, too, but I have $5 left again for next time. Wahoo!

We also went to pick up the leftovers from the things I consigned at the Fall consignment sale. I was disappointed with how much was left. I am wondering if it is because they started the sale on Labor day weekend this year. Boo.

The highlight of the morning was just the time spent with my little girl. She is the funniest kid I know. We listened to her favorite songs as we drove all over town: "The wheels on the bus," "Byda bridge" (London Bridge) and "Packey Doodle Dandy." Too funny. She has been crabby off and on lately, and I just discovered her two year molars poking through. But still, most of the time she is very understanding for a two-year-old. She asked if we could buy something that was obviously placed quite strategically in the check-out lane. When I said no, I was braced for a fit, but she just gave me that precious "alright" that she says fairly often. That doesn't mean she didn't have a giant meltdown tonight when she held out a forkful of eggs to see what the dog would do (eat them, duh.) or when I lifted her off of the sinkside stool instead of letting her climb down on her own. Ah, two year olds. Never a dull moment.

Big Sis is thriving in kindergarten and gets to attend a waterslide party tomorrow for her coupon book sales. We didn't sell many, but enough to meet the minimum. It was a nice bonus, because I had already prepared her for missing out on this one, and she was surprisingly okay with it. She could barely contain her excitement when she got off the bus today with a note in her folder giving us the details of the water party. I'm happy she is doing so well. And a little sad that she is so grown up. She is even (knock on wood) trying to actually play soccer (rather than socializing) this year.

Hubby is swamped with the beginning of the soccer season, but otherwise our lives seem to be settling into a "normal" routine. We've got a great Bible/book study group on Sunday nights where we are discussing Radical by David Platt. We've had good food and great times with friends on the weekends, and we've also had a little time to sit down and watch a few more West Wing episodes. Oh- and football. Of course.

Thankfully, we do have a computer set up now- an ancient laptop that used to belong to my mother in law. It will allow me to check in from time to time, at least.

So do tell- what have you been up to?

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Song for Sunday: loving purpose solely...

Children of the Heavenly Father

lyrics by Karolina W. Sandell-Berg, translated by Ernst Olson

Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in Heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish;
In His holy courts they flourish;
From all evil things He spares them;
In His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord His children sever;
Unto them His grace He showeth,
And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy.

Lo, their very hairs He numbers,
And no daily care encumbers
Them that share His ev’ry blessing
And His help in woes distressing.

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers:
Your Protector never slumbers.
At the will of your Defender
Ev’ry foeman must surrender.


Monday, September 6, 2010

Contentment...

I had never read this before. Now it is my prayer to be able to say these words...

Psalm 131 (English Standard Version)

I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.

2But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.


Or how about this version?

Psalm 131 (The Message)

A Pilgrim Song
1God, I'm not trying to rule the roost,
I don't want to be king of the mountain.
I haven't meddled where I have no business
or fantasized grandiose plans.

2 I've kept my feet on the ground,
I've cultivated a quiet heart.
Like a baby content in its mother's arms,
my soul is a baby content.

3 Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.
Hope now; hope always!


Saturday, September 4, 2010

Insomniac

Not me.

Her.


This little darling that should have been worn out after our trip to the playground yesterday instead fought her nap hard. Then, when she finally did fall asleep, I had to wake her up so she would be tired for bedtime.

No dice. She fell asleep ok (aided by Benadryl, because she was eaten alive by buggies at the playground) but woke up shortly before I went to bed.

And stayed up.

I lost count of how many times Daddy or I put her back in her bed. She would wander out into the hallway or halfway down the stairs, just wanting to hang out. After I went to bed, I put the gate up in the hall, to keep her from falling down the steps or getting into things. But the next time she woke me up, I found her in the bathroom, opening drawers and banging her toothbrush on the counter. Thankfully all the medicines and cleaners were under the sink behind a child-proof lock, but it was still alarming to see her just chilling there, for who knows how long.

So, even though I knew it could be a problem for Big Sis if she had to get up to pee in the night, I put the gate on the bedroom door. And I told Little Sister that if she kept getting out of bed, I would have to put her to sleep in her crib (which we still haven't taken down, because who has had time?!) . We fussed at her. We rocked her and rubbed her hair. We re-tucked her in under her many blankets, and then we threatened to take those blankets away when they became distractions. We listened to her playing with the singing Tad doll in her bed around 3AM. Finally, at around 4:30, all was quiet.

Until Big Sister woke up, climbed over the gate and wandered into our room at 7:15. She slept through the whole thing, woke up feeling wonderfully rested and wondered who would get her some cereal.

Yawn.

Friday, September 3, 2010

wow...



Watching the sunset from our porch never gets old.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Facebook updates

While I was on an involuntary blog hiatus, I satisfied my urge to share the silliness, seriousness, and everything in between from our household by posting it on facebook. But there are a lot of you (blog friends and Ohio family in particular) who are not connected to me on facebook, so I thought I'd share some of the highlights you might have missed. (If you've already read all of this, please forgive me. I'm not trying to be a narcissist! I'm just hoping to give my family an update and document this madness for myself!) Here goes:

I found the bright spot to getting up early to take Big Sis to kindergarten: "Informer" on the radio.

I shared that I appreciate my hubby so much. The poor guy was mowing the yard in the dark because it was literally the only time he had to do it all week. And then I added, "August is kicking our butts." Ha!

Last week I was pretty sure that the number of times Little Sister said, "Aw DUDE!" - in random but appropriate situations- was nearing double digits.

I wrote this letter to the cat: Dear Keaton, I just want to remind you that two years ago we spent a small fortune and devoted countless hours to keep you alive. We've asked for little in return- just some purring and cuddling and that you STOP PEEING ON THE RUGS!

I gave Little Sis a shiner while rushing her to the potty. I pretty much ran her face into the doorknob. I've cleared a spot on the mantle for my Mother of the Year award.


I made the sad realization that my toes were cramping from the <2" heels I wore to church one Sunday. It has been a laid-back, flip-flop kind of summer!


And THIS status update from the past few weeks is my favorite. Now. At the time, I was a little- okay, a lot- irritated:

"Are you FREAKING kidding me?!?! While I was bathing the girls, the dog took and ate an entire tub (opened this morning) of margarine. I get the table scraps. I even take a little responsibility for leaving the muffins out a few weeks ago. But I did not see this one coming... "

(followed by)
"oh it gets even worse. The reason she did this without the other (narc) dog telling on her: he was outside, tracking down and killing the cutest baby bunny I've ever seen. "

(and finally) " pancakes. apparently she also ate the rest of the pancakes I made for dinner and saved for John to eat after church. I hate dogs."


There. Now you're all caught up.