The Blue Bowl

All day I did the little things,
The little things that do not show;
I brought the kindling for the fire
I set the candles in a row,
I filled a bowl with marigolds,
The shallow bowl you love the best--
And made the house a pleasant place
Where weariness might take its rest.

The hours sped on, my eager feet
Could not keep pace with my desire.
So much to do, so little time!
I could not let my body tire;
Yet, when the coming of the night
Blotted the garden from my sight,
And on the narrow, graveled walks
Between the guarding flower stalks
I heard your step: I was not through.

You came into the quiet room
That glowed enchanted with the bloom
Of yellow flame. I saw your face,
Illumined by the firelit space,
Slowly grow still and comforted-
"It's good to be at home," you said.

Blanche Bane Kuder

Doesn't this poem so beautifully describe what it is like to be a wife and mother? I love it! I discovered this poem in a book called Everyday Graces by Karen Santorum. This is a wonderful book for children about manners. Karen has collected poems, short stories and excerpts from books to illustrate different manners to children in a simple and gentle way. 

Here are some other manners books that I've heard are good and would love to add to our collection:

  

I have a little boy...

I have a little boy. He really is a super sweet little boy. Sometimes, however, I don't understand little boy ways and I get frustrated. For instance, I'll ask my boy to help clean up. When I turn around I see him slowly working with one hand...the other hand is tightly clutching some special toy that he doesn't want anyone else to get. This almost always makes me angry. I try to explain to him that he can't clean as well when he is holding onto something and only using one had. He would be able to work much more efficiently if he had both hands free. I pray that this doesn't reflect how selfish he is, that he can't even set one little toy down for fear that his sisters will snatch it away. Over and over I explain this to him, day after day, it doesn't help. He doesn't understand. I don't understand.

So, one night when we had a chance to discuss some different things, I shared this with my husband. I want to be understanding.

By wisdom a house is built, 

by understanding it is established. 

Proverbs 24:3

The Lord suddenly, clearly filled my mind with understanding. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned here, bit by bit, little by little, about letting go, surrendering. Just as Abraham believed in the Lord and was willing to let go of his only son as a sacrifice on the altar, we too need to let go of whatever it is that we are holding to too tightly. What is my Isaac? What is it that I need to let go of in order to be more useful to the Lord? Could my boy slowly learn this lesson too, just as I am slowly learning it?

OR could there be a good side to this boy habit? I only call it a boy habit because I've only ever seen little boys do this...I'm sure there are little girls who must do it too though...I'm a big girl and I do it to- in a different way, a heart way. I began to reflect the wisdom that Jean Fleming shares in her book A Mother's Heart.

In one part of the book, she encourages moms by reminding them that there are usually two sides to everything. Yes, your child might be very messy, but perhaps that means she's also very creative. Not that we can overlook the bad habits of being messy, but that we should be careful to also see the good in our children. So, I began to think what this habit could reflect other than selfishness! 

Perhaps there is a good quality in that part of my boy that drives me crazy that I'll one day rejoice about! Perhaps, he's being protective. If he is this protective of this little toy now, will he grow to be a protective brother, son, husband, and father? I pray he will!

Thank you Lord for giving me understanding in this matter! I won't be so quick to scold him now. Now, I can address him as I ought rather than responding in frustration. I still need to teach him to set his toy down so that he can do the job well, but instead of sharply snatching it away myself or putting it out of his reach as a punishment for being selfish, I can encourage him to set this toy that he wants to protect somewhere safe, so that he can use both hands and work diligently. 

416. lessons learned from little boys

417. Selah's big hugs

418. baby sign language

419. unexpected help

420. warm baby cheeks with heads and eyes still heavy with sleep

421. a new coat

422. the helpful advice of my children

423. privilege of praying for friends

424. a chorus of birds singing outside my window

425. bright sun breaking through heavy gray winter clouds

425. winter walks

426. new fabric

427. clean rooms...even if but for a night

428. the smell of fresh roasted coffee

429. lingering evidence of a good workout

430. beanbag chairs, books, and bedtime

431. This poem by Irene Foster (taken from the book mentioned above)

Here is the poem that Lucy is currently working on memorizing.

The Cupboard

by Walter de la Mare

I know a little cupboard, 

With a teeny tiny key, 

And there's a jar of Lollypops

For me, me, me.

It has a little shelf, my dear, 

As dark as dark can be, 

And there's a dish of Banbury Cakes

For me, me, me.

I have a small fat grandmamma, 

With a very slippery knee, 

And she's the Keeper of the Cupboard

With the key, key, key. 

And when I'm very good, my dear, 

As good as good can be, 

There's Banbury Cakes, and Lollypops

For me, me, me. 

Isn't that a cute poem? I think I know why she likes it so much...it is almost true. True except for the "fat grandmamma with a slippery knee" and the "key on the cupboard", but she does love going to Grandma who always has treats and candies for her! She once asked me what kind of treats Grandma had in the bowl when I was little and was very surprised to hear that we didn't always have a bowl of treats out when I was little. :)

I LOVE the break in our morning when we casually read a poem! It is so relaxing and refreshing. We all look forward to it. Mayme even has some poem books that she loves to read. (This one and this one.)

We don't analyze or study the poems, we just read them for the pleasure of it. Sometimes though when a particular poem has a really great message, I can't help but commenting on it.

I was delighted this morning when I remembered that I would get to read A.A. Milne's poem books with Jude next year!

This year I am reading through this poem book with Jude (see below), and Lucy is reading through various poems by Walter de la Mare.

What is your favorite part of your school day? Do you have any favorite poems? Perhaps I'll have to share some of our favorite poetry more often.

Did you know?

Ok, so before I begin, I want to make sure that you understand that this post is just to offer a bit of information. I am in no way trying to be critical. I am not offering my opinion on what I think you should do. If you read an opinion in the text below, it is not my opinion, it is the opinion of some professors from Trinity Theological Seminary (at least that is where I think they are from). I am just informing you of this bit of news because we ran into some confusion with it in our Life Group. This, is nothing new under the sun. It is nothing out of God's control. It is nothing that God can't use and work through. I just want to inform you so that you can avoid the confusion if you feel it is necessary. :)

So, here is the deal. The publishing company is coming out with a new version of the NIV Bible. What they are doing is combining the old TNIV (which many believed to be very faulty) and combining it with the NIV, and changing some things to make them "more accurate" based on current research. However, they are not giving it a new name; it will continue to be called NIV. Basically, within the next year or so, if you go to buy a NIV Bible from the store, it will not read the same as your 1984 version. This new version, or new NIV is not released yet, however, it is being used on Bible Gateway as the default NIV option. If you want, you can select it to specifically use the 1984 NIV. We had some confusion during our Life Group one night when Tyson was reading some verses from NIV on Bible Gateway (which we didn't realize was the new version coming out soon in print) many, many verses were worded differently. Tyson spoke with some friends and coworkers who looked into this matter by consulting some old professors. At the end, I'll post what they had to say in case you are interested in looking into this more yourself because it doesn't seem that the publisher will inform, promote, or advertise in any way that this new version, c. 2010 NIV, is actually different from the NIV that most people have (c.1984).  

Ok, enough said. I just wanted to let you know in case that will cause any issues. If you want, www.biblos.com is a good online site to use that currently still defaults to the 1984 NIV. As for me, I'm fond of ESV, but most of the verses I already have memorized are a conglomeration of KJV and NIV.  I love them all! I love God's Word!!! Hope you have a chance to bathe yourself in His Words today!

The promised added info, which is stated more clearly than what I said:
I talked to a couple of my profs at Trinity and gathered more info along with some articles they recommended.  
In short, the New Niv is going to replace the NIV and TNIV which are both slated to be phased out by 2011.  They have made some corrections to the gender neutral language but have not totally alleviated the issues.
Here are two comments that come from CBMW that summarize things well.
“there are some significant problematic passages in the new NIV(2011) that have been retained from the TNIV, not the least of which is the deliberately ambiguous rendering of authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12 <http://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Timothy%202.12>  as “assume authority.” The CBT says that this leaves the interpretation of the passage open, but it actually intentionally introduces a crucial ambiguity that is not found in the original NIV (which accurately translated authentein “have authority”). The new NIV(2011)’s translation ofauthentein designedly lends itself to a common current egalitarian misinterpretation of this passage (i.e., that Paul is only addressing the case of women illegitimately “assuming” authority, rather than prohibiting women from having/exercising authority as teacher/shepherds of the church).”
And
“So, though we are genuinely thankful for the many positive changes in the new NIV(2011), and though we are deeply appreciative of the very different process by which our friends at the CBT and Zondervan pursued and unveiled this new version, we still cannot commend the new NIV(2011) for most of the same reasons we could not commend the TNIV.  Our initial analysis shows that the new NIV(2011) retains many of the problems that were present in the TNIV, on which it is based, especially with regard to the over 3,600 gender-related problems we previously identified.  In spite of the many good changes made, our initial analysis reveals that a large percentage of our initial concerns still remain.  CBMW will be releasing an exact percentage after we complete our full detailed analysis.  We are also still concerned about the frequent omission of the words, “man,” “brother,” “father,” “son,” and “he.” 
 
This is the full article and is probably the best and most current info:  http://www.cbmw.org/Blog/Posts/CBMW-Responds-to-New-NIV2011
 
These are also helpful and were released in 2009 when the plans where announced.  Al Mohler has some good comments in the first one listed:
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/evangelicals.welcome.niv.revision.with.cautious.optimism/24117.htm
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2009/09/breaking_transl.html
 

A Good Little Read

All the Places to Love
by Patricia MacLachlan
paintings by Mike Wimmer

Looking for a good book to read to your little ones? This one is great. I could hardly read it without crying the first time. It is definitely Charlotte Mason approved! (That is the homeschooling method we are planning on using which I'm sure you'll hear more about in the future.) This book, which we stumbled upon, at the library (...and by stumbled upon, I mean Mayme pulled off the shelf along with a handful of others) is full of beautiful painting and gentle conversation that pulls your heart into the story of an American family and their love for and ties to the land they live on. Only someone who has spent hours loving and living in the nature around them could describe it so gently and beautifully and in such a way that makes it come alive to you. Anyway, it may have been the post pregnancy hormones, but this book is one that Lucy and I both fell in love with and wanted to share with you. Hope you can find it at your library too!