I love interview shows on National Public Radio. I love to hear a musician or an author interviewed on one of their shows. I always feel so connected to the artist/author. Perhaps it’s the seious, low-volume voice of the interviewer that gets me. I don’t really know. I just know that over the years, I have heard interviews on NPR with an author or musician, and it wouldn’t be long before I wanted to own the book or cd (Often the interviews gave me great ideas for cd gifts for hard-to-buy for family members.)

It has happened again. I heard an interview last week with author Marilynne Robinson about her new book, Gilead. Now, since I am recently into reserving books at the library, I planned to reserve this one. However, instead, I told Mark it would make a nice Valentines Day gift for me, and voila, I own it. So far I am enjoying the book as much as I enjoyed the author’s interview.

First, I was drawn in by the lovely cover. Matte finish. Cool art. Good cover copy praising the author’s last novel. I confess, I am one who believes you can tell a book by it’s cover–especially a novel. But that’s another entry . . .

I hope to write more about this book when I am finished. In the meantime, if you want a good source for recommended reading, turn on your NPR station.

In a recent entry on Leslie’s blog, (link to come, doing this quick) she listed a book called Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell as one she has read lately. Her description of the book was tantalizing enough to me to cause me to reserve it with the local library. I picked it up today. As soon as I saw it, I realized that it is the book on which a movie that Mark and I watched over Christmas was based. I felt sort of silly that I hadn’t realized it when I first read about the book, but I felt more happy than silly that I was now going to have an opportunity to read the book.

I never heard of Elizabeth Gaskell, but the introduction to her novel makes it clear she was quite a player in the literary world of the 1800s. One of the most notable facts about her is that she worked with Charles Dickens, and he could not reign her in regarding her particular agenda for the project on which they worked together.

The “‘takeaway” from this blog entry should be to: look for the dvd of the movie “Wives and Daughters.” It is an A&E production that rivals all the Jane Austen movies they have produced; also if you get a chance, read the book too. I am already enjoying it after just getting it from the library today. (Waiting for the boys to finish gymnastics class does have the fringe benefit of a quiet opportunity for reading.)

My apologies for reposting this. My husband tried to remove spam from the comments and accidentally deleted the post. He rebuilt this but lost the comments

“Teeth! Teeth!”

Translation: I want to brush my teeth. We know this because Charis comes running toward us holding the toothpaste and her toothbrush while gleefully yelling “Teeth! Teeth!”

“Feet! Feet!”

This is new. Charis has just started saying “Feet! Feet!” when I am washing her hands and face after a meal. To humor her the first time, I went ahead and ran the washcloth along the bottoms of her feet. (The cloth was on its way to be laundered anyway.) Since then, touching the top of her foot with the washcloth seems to suffice.

Yes. This is the girl I blogged about who speaks in complete sentences. But these are not instances of said speech pattern.

At the end of last week, our church sponsored a ELM (English Language Ministry) worskshop as beginning training for members to start an English as a second language ministry to recent imigrants to the St Louis area. It was also to serve as training for some who will go on a short-term missions trip to Juarez, Mexico, on the Texas border this summer.

I attended the workshop, and I found it interesting and helpful. First, I was fascinated with the concept of teaching adults English by using the same method toddlers use to learn the language. I guess I was fascinated because we have a toddler at home, and I could readily see the parallels. Our toddler girl is a fourth child who is a few years younger than #3, so she hears English spoken a lot more than the others did. From what we can see, it seems all of the additional exposure she gets has made her learn more quickly. She speaks in complete understandable sentences much of the time at 21 months old. This is definitely earlier than her siblings. Our foreign students are supposed to learn English in the same way–by hearing it spoken over and over again in different contexts.

In our workshop, as our students we had 3 Liberian refugees who are now located in St Louis. It was great to have actual non-English speakers with whom to practice. I also had the opportunity to try to communicate with one of the Liberian women when I picked her up at her home in South St Louis to drive her to the workshop. It was difficult to have a conversation, but I appreciated her friendliness and patience with me, despite my slowness in understanding.

I came away from the workshop anxious to see our church start its own ELM, and, hopefully, I will be able to be a part of it.

Being from west central PA has few distinctions, so I must take advantage of the opportunity to note one of them. Next Wednesday is Groundhog Day. The Great Prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil will make his appearance minutes after the sun rises to let us know how much more winter we will have to endure.

Punxsutawney is about 20 miles south of where I grew up. The funny thing is, I am associating myself with Punxsy (nickname for the town used by locals) when I actually attended high school at Punxsutawney’s rival DuBois Area High School (home of, you guessed it, those other gnawing rodents, the Beavers). I do have familial links to Punxsy though. Both my parents are Punxsy natives. My mother’s parents lived there all their lives, and my paternal grandparents lived on the outskirts of the little burgh for several years. Now my 2 older brothers live in the Punxsy “suburbs,” and their children and grandchildren go to school there.

As a native of the area surrounding Punxsy, I encourage you to at least tell someone “Happy Groundhog Day” next Wednesday. It gives most people a little smile, and the locals in the Greater Punxsutawney Metropolitan Area enjoy their annual day in the spotlight.

Well, if you read Mark’s blog, you know we are now in St Louis. We have enjoyed being here for about 2 months, and we feel pretty settled. There are still some boxes to unpack stacked in the garage, but the majority of things have been assigned a place in our new home.

One of the best parts of our new situation is that we now have some of the modern conveniences that we were missing in rural OK. Here’s a list of small things I am thankful to have once again (although I have learned that you can live without):

1. DECENT WATER PRESSURE!!!!

2. Crystal clear water for washing clothes and everything else.

3 .Driving 2 minutes to the grocery store instead of 25.

4 .Driving 4 minutes to the pediatrician’s office instead of 25. (OK, you get the idea)

5. A free zoo and other great free activities for the kids.

6. A garbage disposal in the kitchen.

7. An attached garage with electricity and without rodents.

The list could go on. But I’ll stop. God is good.

“I luh you. I luh you.” Imagine a very cute 20 month old girl singing this over and over again to a tune very much like the Barney theme song and grinning all the while, and you will know something of how I feel at least once a day. Pretty sweet.

After several weeks of not blogging, I want to take a moment to say Merry Christmas to anyone who stops by my blog. I suspect the numbers are small since I haven’t posted anything new in so long, but I decided to do it anyway.

To say we have been busy the last 2 months would be a huge understatement. We have had so much going on, I just now feel like we’re coming up for air. It is hard to believe that Christmas will be here in only five days.

Celebrating God’s incarnation seems like an appropriate time to be thinking of God’s blessings in my life since His becoming man is one of the greatest blessings He has given us all. So here’s a few things I thank God for:

* A godly husband
* Four beautiful healthy children
* Extended family who love us
* Christian brothers and sisters who care for us
* Basics like a place to live and food to eat
* And, today I am most thankful to be celebrating 13 years of marriage to Mark.

God is good.

Milk baths, mud baths, massages–all the day spa rage. Today at breakfast, my 18-month-old added vanilla yogurt baths to the list of beneficial grooming. It seems to be especially helpful for the hair and face. (A picture would be nice with this post, but alas, I still use the old-fashioned kind of camera.)

I am glad that Charis’s foray into the health and beauty arena today made me smile instead of yell. Progress.

I used to write a bit. Writing was a big part of my working life before I had children and became a SAHM. In the time since then, I have dabbled in writing and editing when I have had the opportunity. Yet, I really would like to do more writing than I do–between the cleaning, cooking, schooling, etc., etc., etc. If I really want to write more, I just need to DO IT (thanks to Nike, you all know what I mean). So below you will find a review I wrote about 2 years ago. I might have posted it on my blog then–I can’t remember. However, I found it recently when I was purging old computer files. I thought it wasn’t half-bad, so I decided to post it. I am hoping it will serve as a reminder to me that I want to write more.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

This book was picked for Oprah