Jennsblog

Here’s what we did last weekend:

This became:

This:

The girls, Nevin, and I painted our mudroom white.  Then Mark and I (mostly Mark) put down vinyl tile.  We have now renamed the mudroom, “the sunroom.”

We know it isn’t perfect, but it is a vast improvement over what it was like out there.  Now if we could go back to the weather of earlier this summer, we could actually sit out there.  Oh well, it will be there as the summer turns into fall and cooler weather comes.

Here’s what our friend Ken helped Mark do this morning (well, Ken did most of it):

And here’s a photo with one of our hammy children:

I really should have a photo of the ugly old ceiling fan so you can appreciate the improvement, but just trust me, it was ugly.  It was also too big and so wobbly that the lights haven’t worked for months.  Of course, now the lights are bright enough that I will have to clean the kitchen floor more often.  I’m willing to live with that.

we’ve had a some birthdays:

We’ve been to the Magic House.

Doing things aroud the house:

And we went to visit boy scout camp:

We’ve also been to a Cardinals game, the science center, Grant’s Farm, the park, the pool, and the library (countless times).  I should have a photo of Nevin reading because he has read 18 Redwall books + many others since school let out just more than a month ago.  Finally, we had Mark’s parents here to visit last week after they spent a couple days with the girls in Branson.

In the middle of all this activity, I have been working at my 2 at-home part-time jobs, and Mark has been working on various work projects, sending out many job applications, and doing occasional pulpit supply.

So I interrupted this very busy summer to give you an update.  Hopefully, I’ll find time in the coming weeks to tell you about the books we’re reading and the other activities we get around to.

I am mostly too dense to understand the posts that Dr. Peter Leithart puts up on his blog. But this one scratched my political itch. It is my prayer that Dr. Leithart is a prophet in this instance.

I was able to get back to the library Wednesday and checked out Belong to Me again.  I wasn’t feeling great yesterday, so I used that as an excuse/opportunity to finish it.  I enjoyed the story and the author’s ability to draw me in to the community she created.  This isn’t a recommendation, so if you decide to read it, don’t blame me if the morals, etc., are offensive to you.  However, if you like contemporary television dramas, you will probably like this book.

I might write more about this book later, but I might not.  For now, let’s just say I did ok with picking this book based on the cover.

In the midst of summer busyness–caring for the kids, yardwork, household projects–I have been trying to get some reading done. Well, I had to return Belong To Me (mentioned in my last post) to the library. I had Mark check it out for me when it was due last week, and then today, it was due again, and I figured they wouldn’t let me check it out again. I am more than half-way through, and I want to finish it. I just haven’t had the time to get to it.

I did finish The Good Earth, and it was worth reading. If you don’t know, it is the story of a farmer in China before the revolution. The farmer, practically worships the land. With the help of his stalwart, former slave wife, O-lan, Wang Lung survives a brutal famine and goes back to his land to farm it and become rich. He amasses more and more land, and becomes a lord in their small town. He also takes a second wife, a real sign of wealth.

What is great about this book are the themes that run through it–the benefit of hard work as opposed to slothfulness, the benefit of long-term faithfulness as opposed to betrayal, true humility versus false humility, being grateful for the gifts you receive in this life, etc., etc. The story is set in a pagan culture where false gods are honored and the people are superstitious, so the benefits of the gospel are missing. But the good and beneficial elements of these qualities to families and communities are still evident.

After I finished the book, I checked out the 1937 film based on it from the library. The movie had a happier ending and Wang Lung’s character was more foolish than in the book, but it was still a good reflection of the novel.

From looking at amzon.com, it looks like there are 2 sequels to the first one: Sons and A House Divided Maybe I’ll get to reading them next summer!

Summer is here–well, almost. Charis graduates from pre-school tomorrow, and the other kids have their last day of school on Thursday. Then, whew-hew, it’s summer!

St Louis has not felt very “summery” yet. I know it is still technically spring, but with all the rain and cool temperatures, it is not the typical hot spring prelude to summer we experience here. I like to think that means we won’t have the typical 95+ days this summer, but that’s just wishful thinking.

Books

I am reading a couple good books. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is compelling, but it is not a great read when our country is at the beginning of a recession. I just got to the part where the storyline gets more positive, so I am hopeful that I will feel better as I get further along. We’ll see. I am enjoying the writing, though.

Belong to Me by Maris de los Santos is a contemporary novel on the NYT bestsellers list. I picked it up at the library today because I liked the cover.

I choose books all the time because of the cover. My short stint working for a book publisher in the 90s caused me to be obsessed with good book covers. I am not ready to recommend this book, but I am enjoying the writer’s style and getting to know the main character. Since it is a bestseller, it is only a 7-day-loan, so I should have more to say about it soon.

I am also reading Parenting Today’s Adolescent by Barbara & Dennis Rainey. So far after a little more than 2 chapters, it hasn’t told me anything I don’t know. But I am hoping it will offer some insights as we enter a new phase of parenthood that I am honestly not prepared for. I should have been reading everything available about 2 or 3 years ago. Now I am playing catch-up with our oldest boy having just turned 12. I really see why I need to be praying and seeking God in His Word now more than ever as I face our children entering adolescence one after the other in rapid succession! Can I just say that I entered their infancies and toddler years exhausted, but the next 15 years (span from Calvin being 12 to Charis being 20) are the scary ones to me. May I never lose sight of the need to bathe our family in prayer!

Other Thoughts

You just can’t blog about everything. With that in mind, please pray for us more than you may have already been doing, or start if you haven’t been. We need it.

I have many friends who love vonage. So please don’t comment if you are one of them. I know it works great for some people. But, we tried vonage from November 07 thru mid-April 08, and it was not a good experience for us.

Here are my complaints:

1. When we were on a phone call, if we got on the internet, there was horrible static or interference.
2. If we were on the internet and the phone at the same time, the internet connection slowed down.
3. Vonage billed us for service for the entire month of April, even though we disconnected in the middle of the month.
4. Vonage customer service was only able to repeat to me the same information without allowing me to talk to anyone other than the CSR who answered my call. I have a charge on a credit card from Vonage that infuriates me, and no one there will put me through to someone who can give me some satisfaction.

My plan:

1. Dis Vonage on my blog - check
2. Write a letter to the company - will do immediately.
3. Tell everyone I know how much I hate Vonage.

Rant over. Proceed with your day.

Or, Confessions of a Jane Austen fan.

I have always loved the Jane Austen books I read–Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma. But I confess that 2 were often hard for me to read: Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. So earlier this spring, I set out to try Persuasion again. In 6 weeks I waded through only 7 chapters, and let’s just say I wasn’t enthralled. It seemed like the sentence construction in this book was just too convoluted for me to get my brain around. So, I took Persuasion with me on our cross-country trek to MT. After a few hours of driving when boredom was beginning to set in for Mark, I said, “Hey, I could read Persuasion out loud to you.” Mark agreed to the plan, and we were off.

After just 2 pages of my reading aloud, we were both laughing at the ridiculous Sir Walter Elliot. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t see the humor in this book in earlier attempts to read it. By the time we arrived in MT, we were on chapter 8. We finished Persuasion on our return trip in Columbia, MO. So now I can add it to my list of Jane Austen novels read. Now I have to work on Northanger Abbey. I think it is supposed to be a parody of the Brontes and all their “gothicness.” Perhaps the parody notion will help me conquer NA this year, too. We’ll see. . . . .

This is the view from the back yard of the home we have been staying in for the past 4 days.

The weather since leaving Rapid City, SD, last Thursday morning has been anything but “cold and miserable.”  We have enjoyed cool sunny days with temps in the 50s - 60s and evenings with temps in the 40s - 50s.  The kids played outside more in 4 days than they have in the past several months.  We have also enjoyed great hospitality from new friends in Montana.  It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  I am grateful for the opportunity to see such grandeur.

Here’s one more photo, just for fun.  This one is from a rest-stop on our drive out.

said the very cheerful drive-thru employee at Burger King in Rapid City, SD, yesterday morning when it was 30 degrees, with howling wind, and snow falling.

It was cold and windy and, to us, quite miserable when our day started yesterday.  But as we headed west, we eventually got to the other side of the snow, then rain, then overcast skies to beautiful sunshine and breathtaking vistas as we winded through the mountains.  Gorgeous.  Hopefully, there will be pictures.

Friends loaned us a GPS system, and we forgot our google directions, so we depended on the all-knowing box attached to the windshield for the entire trip.  It didn’t let us down, despite our occasional lack of faith in it.

We arrived safely to our destination and enjoyed a pleasant evening of good food and new friends.

More later.