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Showing posts from December, 2020

5 Books That Have Changed My Life- #1 The Bible

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  Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light Unto my Path -Psalm 119:105                  Saying that the Bible has changed my life is like saying that sunlight has changed my life. There is no life without the sun, and for me, there is no life without the Word of God.   It has changed everything . And not just in my life, but the lives of my parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. It is safe to say that I would not exist if not for the Bible. A lot has been written about why the Bible is True, why it is historically accurate, why the current Biblical Canon is reliable and how the book came to be in its current form- if you have questions about any of those things, there are resources out there that will answer your questions. A good place to start is The Bible Questions by Hal Seed. Many do not believe the Bible is True. And often, upon respectful inquiry, I discover that many who claim not to believe the Bible have read very little of it. Sometimes their imp

Books that have Changed my Life #2 Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson

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                   A few years ago, the Lord gave me a calling that was obviously impossible by all worldly measurements. I had somehow found myself newly leading a ministry organization that was on the edge of collapse. For the first time in my life, I received a clear and individual calling from the Lord. The conversation went something like this:                 Me: “Lord what would you have me sacrifice in order that others would come to know you?”                 The Lord : “Rebuild the ministry I’ve put into your hand.” Me: “Oh, Lord, I meant like money or stuff. Lord, rebuilding this thing would be IMPOSSIBLE. I can’t DO IT. I don’t even know how.” The Lord : “With me, all things are possible. Rebuild it.” Me: “But it’s going to be WAY HARD. I don’t want to do this! It’s going to hurt!” The Lord: (S ilence ) Me: “Yes, Lord. I will do it.” I began the work, and I began building my team, and the further we went, the worse things got. We discovered more problem

Books That Have Changed My Life #3 -Trim Healthy Mama

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            After the birth of my second child, I was searching for ways to lose my extra baby weight. I’d used The Whole 30 to lose weight after the birth of my 1 st , but if you’ve ever tried the Whole 30, it’s great while you’re on it, but it only lasts 30 days, and then you don’t know what to do. I knew I wanted to stick with unprocessed, whole foods, but even unprocessed whole foods, when eaten without guidelines, did not help me lose that last stubborn 20 pounds or so. I tried veganism, briefly, reading the book Eat to Live , whose author believes that humans can live off the protein in broccoli, and apparently don’t need much fat in their diets. It worked okay for me for a few months, and I did lose weight, but I often felt exhausted, it dried out my hair and nails, and worst of all, it stripped the fat from my breastmilk, and my 1-year-old nursling stopped gaining weight. I returned to whole foods again, and of course gained back everything I had lost. Fortunately, my

5 Books That Have Changed my Life, #4- "Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

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  I sometimes tell my son, “Lying to others is a sin. But lying to yourself is also a sin, and it is the worst kind of lying, because after a while, you will believe yourself, and you won’t know the difference between your lies and the Truth anymore.” C.S. Lewis focuses on this theme of lies and Truth throughout his book, ‘Till We Have Faces, based on the timeless myth of Cupid and Psyche. This has always been my favorite myth. It is not part of the original Greek Canon of mythology- it was first written down by a Roman, Apuleius, in his work, “The Golden Ass.” I don’t recommend the “Golden Ass,” unless you just really love Roman literature, BUT imbedded in the middle of this bawdy, bizarre, rambling Roman comedy is a myth of ethereal and timeless beauty, “The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche.” If you’re not familiar with this myth, you can most closely relate it to other stories it eventually birthed, such as Beauty and the Beast.             Lewis takes this myth and re-tells it

5 Books that have changed my life- #5 The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn

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  In 2007, my husband and I moved into a travel trailer on my in-law’s property to start building our new custom home.   We had $60,000 in remaining student loan debt and we needed to save at least $300,000 to build the house.  We would need to save $72,000 a year to make this happen in 5 years. Desperately afraid that this goal would be impossible, I began researching budgeting and stumbled on an excellent book by Amy Dacyczyn called The Tightwad Gazette . Though many of the suggestions are dated (even more so in 2020) and didn’t always apply to our situation, the book is extremely well-written and an enjoyable read. The overall philosophy of the author has drastically shaped my thinking about our spending habits. I learned to ask myself: “Does what I’m spending satisfy me as much as the money is worth?” You will never have enough money to buy all the things you want- so what do you want MOST? For me, having a beautiful paid-for-home, being debt-free, and staying home with

The Story of Us: 2020

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       My husband knows what he is getting for Christmas this year.  Every year he wants the same thing: The Story of Us.  Every year I sit down and write out, month by month, the events of the year, the adventures of our family, and our hopes for the future.  In the past, I've printed it out and included photo sheets, but a few years ago, I found out about a website called Blurb that lets me create a magazine on my computer, and for a pretty reasonable price, will ship me a one of a kind full-color book. It reminds me a lot of when I used to be a high school yearbook advisor.  These gifts are priceless year after year, and I'm always astonished at how much I have forgotten throughout the year.  This year was particularly painful to write as I sifted through the many pictures and events that shaped 2020. Still, the sifting is good. It gives me time to process many griefs that I had pushed to the back of my heart throughout the year to make room for new tragedies, new changes.

When Giants Shrink

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  “Aslan,” said Lucy, “You’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?” “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” -Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis       This passage meant nothing to me as a child when my mother read it to me. But now, as I read, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” to my children for the first time, I cannot read it without tears.     All the giants in my life- teachers, grandparents, parents, pastors, leaders- have gotten smaller as I have gotten older. They have grown older and as they age, chinks appear in their armor, they become less capable of doing the many things they once did, they shrivel, they leave, and ultimately, they die.       Sometimes, worst of all, they lose their faith or are overcome by sin.     I  still have not recovered from the first time this happened to one of my giants. And the older I get, the more and more of my giants shrink.          M y fear is this: if these gia

Caden's Life

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  I thought about Caden* again today. It happens every time I sit down at the piano. For a year in high school, my mother had arranged for me to have free piano lessons from a kind neighbor who lived down the street. I babysat her children for an hour every week, and in exchange, she gave me a 30- minute piano lesson.   The lady had two children, a girl who was about 5 years old, and a 3-year-old, Caden. The thing about Caden was that his mother had contracted toxoplasmosis when she was pregnant with him (that’s the thing they warn pregnant women about and why they should avoid changing kitty litter) and the result for Caden was severe birth defects. At 3 years old, he sat in a special chair most of the time. He could not walk, he could not crawl, and though he was bigger than a 6-month-old, developmentally he could do only about what a 6-month-old could do.   As far as his future was concerned, children with his condition did not usually live past their 10 th birthday. Occasion

Hogboon* Houses and Griffins

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                  What should I do with the children all summer? I prayed this last spring when all our summer plans had been cancelled, the library was closed, the schools were closed, and even church was closed. I was facing 3 months of unscheduled time with my 3 children- ages 3, 5, and 7. No one could help me and nothing I could do would open the world again.                 As I prayed, I got a glimmer of an idea. Later that day, I took out a huge sheet of paper and had a brainstorming session with the children. What creative, non-screen, projects did we want to work on this summer? The list soon filled up with all the things we don’t usually have time for: Creative Writing, Drawing, Sewing, Hikes to the Creek, Unicorn Tea Parties, and Pottery made the list among other things.                  I could not control the world, but I could look around and see what resources we had in our own home, and I happen to have a large electric kiln and a foot-powered pottery wheel from my