Here is one of my favorite dialogues in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:

“All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?”

“Yes all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover skreens, and net purses. I scarcely know any one who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.”

“Your list of the common extent of accomplishments,” said Darcy, “has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse, or covering a skreen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half a dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished.”

“Nor I, I am sure,” said Miss Bingley.

“Then,” observed Elizabeth, “you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished women.”

“Yes; I do comprehend a great deal in it.”

“Oh! certainly,” cried his faithful assistant, “no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.”

“All this she must possess,” added Darcy, “and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”

“I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.”

Now, I am far beyond being considered a “young lady,” but I still have an idyllic concept about being somewhat “accomplished.” That is where the photo of the book at the beginning of my entry comes in. I picked up this book from the bargain table at Barnes and Noble when I stopped there to pick up a book one of the children needed for school. I learned a little of how to knit when I was a young girl, and last spring, I picked up a couple of sets of knitting needles at a yard sale because I thought I would like to try it again. I have looked at a few knitting books since buying the needles, but this one was a great price. Besides, I might not only learn how to knit; I might also learn how to be “cool” in the process.

I can imagine myself giving up on this little endeavor before I even get started, but I hope I can make at least one thing–a scarf or something very simple. Then I can add “knitting” to my list of accomplishments.

In 2006, perhaps “blogging” can make the list of desired skills by all “accomplished young ladies.” Darcy and Bingley might approve of this suggestion, but I am certain Miss Bingley would protest such an idea.

Here’s Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione, and her little cat, Crookshanks at our church’s annual fall festival.

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And here’s the little cat all by herself.

Instead of the $1,200 playhouse at Sam’s Club, I could . . .

put quality new flooring down in the upstairs of our house.

do a mini-remodel of the downstairs bathroom.

repair our roof 4 times over from the famed July 19 wind storm damage.

put a nice dent in the school tuition bill.

have custom built cubbies put up in the back porch/mudroom.

I have no intention of doing any of these things, but I am just awestruck that a 10 X 10 molded plastic structure could possibly cost over $1,200. Charis loves it though. She likes to visit it every time we go to Sam’s Club. I am glad that visiting it is enough 🙂

I have been really disturbed about the shooting of the little girls in the Amish school in PA. I know that practically everyone is disturbed by it. However, I think this has bothered me more than other school shootings for some reason. Perhaps it is the fact that these children were more innocent than most (ie. naive, sheltered). Perhaps it is because three of the victims were around the same age as my oldest girl. Perhaps it is because they are from PA, where I am from. Whatever the reason, I am trying to pray for the families, and I guess I am posting about it to ask that others remember to pray for them.

I had hoped to get in one more entry before September ended, but I was too slow about sitting down to write it. So here it is October already, and I thought I must post before another month gets away from me.

Here’s the news: I started a job back at the end of July. I quit the job on Friday. I have been working for a friend, so we’ve arranged for me to work for the next 2 – 3 weeks so I can help get through a couple of things. As a family, we were really thankful for the job, but it has been hard to maneuver all the family’s schedule around my working. Mostly, Mark needs me at home to manage stuff here so he can handle all his work and pursue various options for his future work. I am looking forward to being mom and manager of the home again on a full-time basis.

At the beginning of the school year I mentioned praying for the kids and their relationships at school. Mostly, I was concerned about their need for friends. I continue to pray about this. However, I should mention that I have seen some positive developments in the friendship department with the children so far this school year, and that is an answer to this ongoing prayer. A couple of weeks ago we had friends over one evening, and Evangeline said to the husband of the couple, “I have way more friends this year at school than I did last year.” This was without any prompting from us at all. We are also seeing some positive improvement in school for Evangeline and Calvin; and Nevin continues to be our steady middle child. Thank God for these blessings.

On a less serious note, I wanted to mention the acquisition of a new home appliance. In the nearly 15 years we have been married, I have never bought a new vacuum cleaner. The closest to new we’ve had was the reconditioned one I was using up until last Saturday when I bought Hoover’s Dyson clone from Sam’s Club. So far, I LOVE it! I just can’t believe how dirty the house has been! When I see all the dirt it draws out of places I have been vacuuming regularly for months, I am amazed. New and effective houshold appliances offer more emotional boosting power than one might think!

That’s all for now. It’s late, and I still have some laundry to fold.

Ok, not the newpaper. This is just my post on my trip to LA that I know all 6 of you have been waiting for . . .

First, it had been about 4 years since my last solo trip anywhere. I know lots of moms never get this opportunity, but once every 4 years isn’t extravagant; is it? To put this in perspective, 4 years ago, I was only leaving Mark to care for 3 young children instead of 4. Charis wasn’t even a thought at that point. Also, the last solo trip was to attend a women’s retreat. It was a good time and all, but it was still a “conference.” You know what I mean! The trip to LA was a bit surreal. I was walking through the airport with no children calling out to me. Yes. I missed them. But it was great to just decide to go into a store on my own without worrying about who would touch what, etc., etc.

Once I got to LA, Michelle met me at the airport. The next day, the two of us footloose “gals” headed out to Universal Studios. Cheesy touristy thing to do? Yes. Of course. But it was fun, and on our little tour bus we drove past the street where they were filming Desperate Housewives. It was too far away to see any actors, but I did recognize the big yellow house that the Solices live in on the show.

On Friday, Michelle and I headed to Huntington Gardens. It was beautiful, and we walked through most of the Japanese Garden and had “high tea” in the tea room on the gardens’ grounds. It was a nice girly kind of day. We topped off the day with steaks cooked by the man of the house and a get-together with the women from their new church.

Saturday was spent with the whole Craw clan driving around Hollywood and browsing at the LA Farmer’s Market. We stopped in the American Girl Store near there, and I picked up a new brush for Evangeline’s Samantha’s thick black hair.

On Sunday, I enjoyed worshipping with the young congregation of St Andrew’s Community Church. The liturgy was oddly familiar, and the core-group of believers rendered it robustly. My trip ended Sunday afternoon with a direct flight back to St Louis on an half-empty plane where I could relax and read without any of the typical cramped quarters in the coach section of airplanes.

When I arrived home, Mark and the kids greeted me warmly. They were happy to have me back, but I know my time away this time was easier on Mark than it was 4 years ago even though there’s one more child. This time, instead of a 6-, 4-, and 3-year-old, he had a 10-, 8-, 7 and 3-year-old. Those years of maturity made a difference to him. Sending them to school two of the days I was gone probably made it easier, too!

I don’t know when I’ll get to go on a little vacation by myself again, but I sure enjoyed some time to myself as well as some uninterrupted conversation with Michelle. It was a nice break from our somewhat stressful reality.

Just over a week ago, I came back home from 4 wonderful days visiting with my friend, Michelle, and her familiy in Los Angeles. It was great to have time to visit with her and not have to stop mid-sentence to correct a child or stop some impending disaster. It was a bit surreal to be in the airport without anyone needing me. Sometimes I forget that I am a person apart from the other persons in my life.

The week since my trip has been harried and crazy with work to do, so I haven’t blogged about my adventures. I hope to be able to do so soon. I hate that I have not blogged in a while after getting into more of a blogging groove than I have had for a while. Until I have a big enough time to write a real entry about my trip, have a great week! (Yes. I am assuming I won’t write anything until the end of this week.)

Today is Sunday. As on most every Sunday, we piled in the van and headed off to church. Today was different. Daddy wasn’t along because he was out of town. Ok. So this should really be no big deal. Before Daddy was an assistant pastor, I wrestled with 3 small children for about 6 years by myself in the pew every Sunday.

However, number 4 was never around in those days. Number 4 is cute. She is also the BABY, and she knows it. There is great indignation when I correct her. So today, whe was super wiggly and just a tad loud while playing with her little doll during the sermon. So I took the doll away and made her big sister put away her dolls, too. No dolls to play with or make noise with, that’s ok. Number 4 is resourceful. She can make a ruckus by moving from one seat to another or throwing her head into my chest when she sits on my lap. Then I thought, “I’ll give her the nice quiet Teddy Bear. She’ll hold it quietly and sit nicely on my lap while she cuddles with it.” What kind of drugs was I on when that thought went through my mind? Did she sit nicely on my lap and cuddle sweetly with the Teddy Bear? Oh no. She started tossing it in the air. Before I could get control of the situation, the bear landed in the lap of the girl behind us. Thankfully, that girl was our senior pastor’s teenage daughter, and their whole family thought this antic was funny.

After another 10 minutes or so of her wiggling around and moving from place to place, the sermon finally ended. I breathed a big sigh of relief, and we headed to the fellowship hall where wiggling and giggling and talking are acceptable behaviors.

You may be wondering about the diet efforts. Well, I must confess they haven’t been going well for about the last month. Excuses abound. However, I think the number one excuse has some merit. I started working a very-close-to-full-time schedul about 3 weeks ago, and it has been hard to get things together and plan for meals. This has been a big transition for our family, so the diet has been a casualty. That being said, exercise has not completely ended, and I don’t feel that all my work of the spring and early summer is lost. So getting back on the wagon soon should get me headed in the right direction once again.

Work . . . I took a full-time job that started a few weeks ago. In August, I am working part-time mainly because of Mark’s travels. I am also taking a short vacation by myself at the end of the month using frequent flyer miles to go to CA to visit Michelle and Garrett Craw. In September, I am supposed to begin working a more full-time schedule.

The last week, Mark has been gone. First to NY to speak at a conference, and now of to CA to participate in Garrett Craw’s installation service for his new church plant. His absence has made me more thankful for him than ever. He really is a good dad, and he takes on a lot more responsibility for the children than many dads do. With working in the mix, I have also experienced a taste of what it is like to be a single mom with all the responsibility of keeping up with a work schedule and getting the kids to childcare or school. Keeping up a juggling act like this on a daily basis would horrify me. I am so very thankful that Mark is a good husband and father and that this is not required of me year-round 24/7.

The kids went back to school yesterday. Their school starts off with a half-day, and then day 2 (today) gets things going full-swing. They are happy with their teachers, and it seems like things are off to a good start. I have some concerns for my oldest and youngest school-age children this year, so if you think of it, pray for them and for me that school would be a positive experience.

One thing I am trying to pray about for all 3 kids at school is their friendships. They struggle with making good friends, yet they are very social. So they hurt when friendship situations don’t go as they had hoped (like most people do). So I am trying to pray for them all everyday specifically in regard to their friends. One big hope/request is that they would each find one good friend at school who likes them as much as they like the friend. (Did that make sense?) If you’re someone who prays for me/us on occassion, this is something you can pray for, too.

My loving husband, Mark, tagged me for this little blog game. In the name of submission and procrastinating, I will post my answers.

1. One book that changed your life:

Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald. I read this in college, and it taught me a lot about the relationship between personal integrity and devotion to God. The irony was not long after this book was published, the author committed adultery. However, he later repented publicly and accepted church discipline for his actions; his relationship with his wife and family was restored as well.

2. One book that you