Tag, You're IT!

Thanks to Camille at There is a Season, I am also an official member of the blog world. She tagged me!

Here's the rules for those I'm tagging. Check the list after my 6 THINGS to see if you're it then

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Now for Six Random things about me:

1. I like DARK chocolate. Milk chocolate is a waste of time.

2. I like all of the Romance languages, and know a smattering of Italian, Latin and French.

3. I want to go to Italy some day.

4. I went to boarding school for three years: King's Hall, Compton. Graduated top of my class.

5. I wanted to be a doctor when I was a young girl. Loved biology. Wanted to help people.

6. Officially an animal lover, I think horses are best, followed by dogs...but really, I like all animals. I even like insects and find them fascinating. But I don't like nasty insects in my house. Flies, ugh. Cockroaches, double ugh.

7. I have a love of poetry, but I am not selective. I like everything from kids' poems to sonnets, and limericks to iambic pentameter.

I broke the "rule" and included seven random things about myself. Oh, well.

People that I am going to tag (And I am cheating by tagging my own flesh and blood!):

Adeena - fabulous mother and wife, eldest of 12, gluten-free baker extraordinaire!

Sarah - creative newlywed, doglover, pig farrower, amateur photographer!

Linda - lover of God, horses, and her family; fiery debater, amateur musician!

Amy - brilliant wife of a rocket scientist (who was also brilliant in choosing Amy), cyberfriend, and someone I'd love to meet in real life some day.

Jacqueline - Creator of the Canadian Home Educator's Carnival, and a Newfoundlander!

Kim from Canada - Fellow homeschooler and Fellow Canadian - who could ask for anything more?

Have fun tagging others, Ladies!

Sigh...

I was going to write about our Sunday Stroll, but I can't do it justice, because I gave my camera (full of great pictures) to my son, so he could put it on my computer desk. All of the household is quietly sleeping, except me. I spent a good half-hour looking for the camera and becoming increasingly frustrated.

I now quit. I am going to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream.

The soul of man is like the rolling world,
One half in day, the other dipt in night;
The one has music and the flying cloud,
The other, silence and the wakeful stars.

~Alexander Smith

Blessed Mother that I am...

I had a rough day. Spent most of the day in bed with a stomach flu that left me weak, shaky, headachey, and nauseated. Not much energy to do anything. I slept, I read, I sipped tea.

Later on in the day I found the energy to drag myself to the couch, where I watched "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" and "The Rescuers" with my children.

I really hate days like this. My "Type-A" Personality makes me want to accomplish something every day, and I don't like to be in a position where I don't get anything crossed off my never-ending, ever-growing list of things to do. However, I do know that God at times chooses to slow me down and give me a reminder that the world will go on without me. Today was one of those days.

I was about to head to bed when my dear Linda told me that she linked to my blog and added a quote from Tertullian. I had to check it out!

Linda's post, Reflecting at Easter-time, blessed my heart. My daughter is a woman after God's own heart. She is creative, gentle, intelligent and articulate. Most of all, she loves the Lord with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength. She is passionate about justice and gets angry with fools, and on top of that she has the greatest sense of humour! She is the family's "official jester", as appointed by her oldest sister.

So, I don't have anything to say tonight, except this: I am blessed. Go read Linda's post to see why.

Surfin' the Web

My desk is cleaned off (!!) so I finally had a bit of time to relax and surf the web.

Here's a great letter that every mother should read. It teaches us to put off the old (wo)man and put on the new (wo)man. It teaches us to renew our minds as we learn to think God's way about our circumstances.


http://counterculturalmom.blogspot.com/2007/12/letter-to-mean-mommy.html

An excerpt:

If you could just stop blustering and ordering everyone around long enough you might see an eternal perspective. You would realize that there is so much more to life in Christ than the day-in-and-day-out ups and downs. Step back for a moment from the immediate stressors. Why, there isn't a hair that falls from my head that the Father is unaware of. He cares for birds and flowers in the field. How much more does He care for me and my family? (Matthew 6:25ff) Not only that, but He is working every circumstance in my life for my good and for the good of my children who love Him. (Romans 8:28)

One of my goals this year is to encourage my reluctant writers to write more. So I did a little browsing on Notebooking sites.

Here's an interesting article, "How I began Notebooking"
http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.php?page=Beginnings-in-Notebooking

While I was on that website, I followed her link over to Cindy Rushton's site. This is super-full. Actually, I find it too busy. Too much going on. This lady has so much energy! But, if you like a busy website with all sorts of info about writing, notebooking, homeschooling, and marriages (plus a whole lot more) you may enjoy a visit here.

http://www.cindyrushton.com/

One of my favourite jumping-off websites is Phil Johnson's bookmarks. If you like Christian History, go here first:
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/bookmark/apol.htm

Then to Dr. Michael Haykin's blog on Church History:
http://historiaecclesiastica.com/

Janice Van Eck has an interesting blog, Pressing On. She wrote in one post:

An avid reader of Sir Francis Bacon, Wilberforce quotes this in his diary (around 1784/5):

Illi mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi
It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself.

Wilberforce concluded: "The shortening of private devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. This must not be."

Her blog is another one that is worth perusing. http://janicevaneck.blogspot.com/

Finally, an amazing blog on cooking without wheat or gluten. If you, like me, find yourself having to change your entire way of eating, this blog will inspire you to cook creatively: http://www.bookofyum.com/blog/

That's it for today.

Why blog?

With the proliferation of blogs in cyberspace today, one has to wonder why it's worth the bother to take some time out of a busy day and write one's thoughts. After all, you can read blogs on any subject from wellness to politics to gluten-free recipes!

I am in the process of re-reading a puritan volume by Thomas Brooks, called "A Mute Christian Under the Rod". In the "epistle dedicatory" (introductory comments) Mr. Brooks explains why he has written the treatise. I echo his thoughts here:

1. I have learned a thing or two about life, especially during trials and tribulations. I desire to encourage others along the path to glory.

2. As Brooks says, "What is written is permanent; litera scripta manet, and spreads itself further by far, for time, place, and persons, than the voice can reach." I can share my experiences and knowledge world-wide, and impact others even after I have left this world.

3. People forget. They learn to endure, they grow in grace, but they soon forget what they have been taught when the next storm hits. I want to post reminders that God is good, that He is in control, and that there is a silver lining in every cloud if you watch for it.

4. I have been there, done that. I am a mother of 12, a grandmother of soon to be 15, a wife for nearly 35 years. There are things I can share that will help someone, somewhere, should they happen to stumble upon my blog. It's obviously written with a Christian perspective, and I hope it will be an inspiration to others in the spirit of Titus 2.

5. God has used some of my writing to bless others, to exhort them and encourage them on the path to righteousness. My prayer is that my blog will do so in some small measure again.

6. I hope to be able to give right advice (the right salve for the sore), unlike the "lying pen of the Shoferim"- the priests who were unwilling to tell the truth about upcoming judgment. I want to be honest, to call sin, sin, but to give hope.

7. Others have encouraged me to keep writing. I do this in part for them. I especially do it for my family, so they can see my heart for God.

8. There isn't anyone else who has experienced what I have experienced. I am the only one who can tell my story.

So, I blog.

And I hope and pray that it will be a blessing.

Thanks, Thomas Brooks, for the inspiration. Your pen lives on!