It Is Time

The Best and Most Precious Things

 

“We get robbed of the glory of life because we aren't capable of remembering how we got here. When you are born, you wake slowly to everything... What I'm saying is I think life is staggering and we're just used to it. We are like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we're given--it's just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral."
~Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

"Nearly all the best and most precious things in the universe you can get for a halfpenny. I make an exception, of course, of the sun, the moon, the earth, people, stars, thunderstorms, and such trifles. You can get them for nothing." ~G. K. Chesterton, "The Shop of Ghosts"

"If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." ~Frederick Buechner

Food for Thought ~ “gravy soaks in and grace shines through”

Photo by my mom, Cheri Dunbar

 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period…”

“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.”

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.” ~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

 

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"To know and to serve God, of course, is why we’re here, a clear truth, that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. What else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word.

"What is the last word, then? Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids — all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.” ~Garrison Keillor, We Are Still Married: Stories & Letters 

 

:: From an ordinary life comes extraordinary lessons by Bob Welch @ The Register-Guard [so lovely]

And here’s the lesson that was reinforced for me: In a world where influence now explodes with the power of a sound bite or the speed of a tweet, never doubt the steady impact of a well-lived, other-oriented life. Consistency over time.

“With Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is found in the ordinary,” Shriver said. “Bread and wine from the kitchen counter, fair wages for the worker, caring for your neighbor.”

 

 

 

"Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.” ~Alan Cohen

 

 

 

:: Mom Thanks The Team Of Doctors And Emergency Responders Who Saved Her Son’s Life @ Little Things [I may have been sobbing at the end of this one.]

 

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:: Are you killing yourself for nothing? by Donald Miller @ Storyline Blog [Why do we do this to ourselves? In health and exercise, in life, in homeschoolig—so many ways to apply this concept.]

The same technique can be used with all sorts of areas in our lives where we are defeating ourselves. The question is, what constitutes a satisfactory job? What do we really need to do to be a good father, a good employee, a good wife, a good teacher?

:: Hack the Facebook Algorithm for Spiritual Growth. @ Marc Alan Schleske [Not just about spiritual growth—some important ideas to consider here.]

When you were a kid, your mom probably told you that who you hang out with matters. Well, that’s still true. If you’re going to be on Facebook, you’re going to be hanging out with a lot of people and ideas. Those people and ideas are shaping who you are becoming.

:: I don’t get it. by Tresta @ Sharp Paynes

“I’m learning to expect questions I cannot answer - that’s easy; I just say that I can’t answer them. What is far more difficult is questions I would rather not answer.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle, A Circle of Quiet

So I am forever a novice and I can’t afford to be an expert in everything; but I also can’t afford to not be curious and sometimes, curious leads me down a path that just simply dead-ends.

I have to be alright with some mystery - that’s what makes God, God, and me, not God. What if we really could understand and explain and discern every curiosity, every difficult thing? With nothing left to learn, how would we spend this life?

 

::

 

:: This Is Your Brain on Exercise: Why Physical Exercise (Not Mental Games) Might Be the Best Way to Keep Your Mind Sharp @ Open Culture

Which is why we are trying to do this each day:

Because I have at least one of these children…

 

 

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:: This Comedian Perfectly Captures the Way Moms Completely FREAK OUT When Company is Coming @ For Every Mom [Because laughter is the best medicine, and my kids have watched this comedy routine too many times to count—only it wasn’t quite as funny at the time.]

Food for Thought ~ Fill Your Sons and Daughters

 

Beautiful Things

:: 100 Black Men Wearing Suits Greeted Kids On The First Day Of School For An Incredibly Vital Reason @ A Plus [Love. See more pictures here.]

:: Thousands of Icelanders Have Volunteered to Take Syrian Refugees Into Their Homes @ Time

Art, Culture, and Life

:: In Praise of the Amateur by Alissa Wilkinson @ Image Journal [In a theology of art and culture-making, what is the place of those who aren't makers?]

"Amateurs are vital for the work of culture care. Amateurs turn art into art by completing it with their own experiences. They reflect wonder and joy to the experience. They let culture flourish with their resources, attention, prayers, and enthusiasm."

:: Artist Jane Long Digitally Manipulates Black and White WWI-Era Photos Into Colorful Works of Fantasy @ Colossal [So imaginative!]

:: The Boy Who Lived Large @ Image Journal

"The greatness of [humanity] is to accept [our] insignificance, [our] human condition, and [our] earth, and to thank God for putting in a finite body the seeds of eternity which are visible in small and daily gestures of love and forgiveness. The beauty of [humanity] is in this fidelity to the wonder of each day."

:: A Peculiar Little Test @ First Things

In many ways, the highlight of the course is a peculiar little test that I administer about mid-semester, when students’ heads are abuzz with the conflicting claims of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Darwin, and Gould: Is the natural order a theophany or the battleground of rabid genes? What is man, that he is mindful of nature? As we all agree afterwards, the quiz tells us something—but we’re not sure just what—about how we apprehend the world, ourselves, and (for those students so inclined) the Creator.

The quiz is simple enough. I offer a list of fifteen items (it varies from year to year): mouse, boy, sun, angel, ant, crab, Norwegian pine, corn, amoeba, hamburger, potato, Moby Dick, Taj Mahal, Rolls Royce, the idea of the good—and I ask students to rank them, using whatever scale they deem most important…

:: How to Live Wisely @ The New York Times

What does it mean to live a good life? What about a productive life? How about a happy life? How might I think about these ideas if the answers conflict with one another? And how do I use my time here at college to build on the answers to these tough questions?

Education

:: Time is Leaven to Lovely Things by Joshua Gibbs @ CiRCE

"So fill your sons and daughters and students with music and food, images and ethics, cult and virtue which has received time and tamed it, lassoed its awful power and flown to the moon on its steam."

:: 3 Dangerous Metaphors for Education You Should Avoid @ CiRCE

"Speaking of which: almost any organic metaphor for learning will be better than a technological one. I know very little of the actual process of grafting trees and plants together, but the picture itself is a striking image of what real learning is actually like. When you really learn a poem by heart, for example, and take it into your soul, it becomes a part of you. It isn't something you have to consciously go and look for to summon forth only when you want it. The poem becomes a blossom that hangs gracefully from you. When you really learn something, it becomes a part of you; when you really memorize something (the kind of memory discussed in the aforementioned podcast) you don't have to worry that it will be lost in a flush of information or data that might very well be lost, deleted, or corrupted."

:: The Work of a Child by Andrew Pudewa @ IEW [Wonderful encouragement if you have a child who is struggling academically.]

He spent considerable time outdoors, often alone, observing and absorbing his world in a healthy, visceral way. Maria Montessori asserted, “Play is the work of the child,” and indeed my son worked at play. (G. K. Chesterton noted that the reason adults don’t play more is because it requires too much effort.) So it was the combination of imaginative recreation, huge quantities of great literature, and a small but steady rigor of simple academics that got us over the hump and into the homestretch. And where are we today?…

:: The Joy of Endless Things @ CiRCE

"That word “endless”—does it describe our desire or fear? Occasionally we express the longing for something to be endless: youth, a moment of beauty, summertime, joy. But the word also voices our complaint against grading papers, planning lessons, doing laundry, disciplining children, fighting cancer, resisting temptation, confessing sin, and other toils that have no end."

:: Classical Conversations September Blog Carnival @ Running with Team Hogan

:: You’re 100 Percent Wrong About Critical Thinking @ Newsweek

"We have ignored what matters most. We have neglected to teach them that one cannot think critically without quite a lot of knowledge to think about. Thinking critically involves comparing and contrasting and synthesizing what one has learned. And a great deal of knowledge is necessary before one can begin to reflect on its meaning and look for alternative explanations.”

:: Could Storytelling Be the Secret Sauce to STEM Education? @ Mind/Shift [This reminds me of Life of Fred.]

"In this one combination of literature and math, Fruchter has hit on many learning standards. Students are reading and interpreting literature, writing creatively, interpreting a math problem in multiple ways, showing solutions in various ways, using functions and factoring."

Words and Writing

:: Word Pairs That Repeat Themselves @ Write At Home [great list of word pairs!]

There are good reasons to repeat the same idea in different words. It adds emphasis. And, more importantly, it sounds nice. Some words just belong together. They are sometimes alliterative (e.g., dribs and drabs, house and home, prim and proper, vim and vigor) and always nicely rhythmic. I believe it’s this pleasing aural quality that makes these idioms so sticky.

:: 10 popular grammar myths debunked by a Harvard linguist @ Business Insider [I like this list.]

The Union of Change and Permanence

I think the reason we (a general we) love Septembers and Januaries so well is that we crave fresh starts. That's why the changing of the seasons, the first day of a new month, and even morning can be so inviting.

I am celebrating today—September 1st: the symbolic beginning of a new year, a new season, a new month, a new day—because I am always grateful for a grace-filled fresh start.

And yet, I crave the familiar. The traditional bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils.

My 9th year of homeschooling, our 6th year with Classical Conversations, my 42nd autumn, a mountain of months, and seemingly countless days. They are all a gift.

As C.S. Lewis brilliantly illuminates in The Screwtape Letters:

“[H]umans live in time, and experience reality successively. To experience much of it, therefore, they must experience many different things; in other words, they must experience change. And since they need change, [God] has made change pleasurable to them, just as He has made eating pleasurable. But since He does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end in itself, He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme. He gives them in His Church a spiritual year; they change from a fast to a feast, but it is the same feast as before.”

 

My wish for you for on this first day of September, wherever you find yourself in life, is that you are able to find your rhythm and to celebrate the glorious union of change and permanence.

The Best of Mt. Hope Chronicles ~ Living Lovely

This was originally a guest post on another blog (no longer published) back in August 2009. It was the beginning of my Living. Lovely. series. 



Living Lovely

Recently, after an emotionally rough few months this past year, I became inspired and empowered to change my outlook on life. It all began with this video by Amy Krouse Rosenthal: The Beckoning of Lovely. It spoke to me loud and clear.

Lovely became my theme word for the year, and doubtless it will stay with me, even when this year is long gone.

When I looked up the meaning of lovely in the dictionary, these two definitions jumped off the page:

2. delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace
4. eliciting love by moral or ideal worth

The first definition spoke to me in two ways:

1) I need to look around me and notice the beautiful things in my life. They are very rarely big things, such as a vacation to the Bahamas. But every day, all day long (even on the rough days) there are little beautiful things in my life, if I will only take the time to see and acknowledge them.

 Sometimes lovely is so small, we have to stop what we are doing to notice it. Sometimes lovely is disguised in the quotidian, and we must step outside of our normal point of view to recognize it.

A sticky kiss from the 2 year old covered in maple syrup. A cherry tree, just beginning to bloom. A husband wrestling on the living room floor with his three sons. A phone call from a friend.

 2) I can create lovely in my life. Amy’s list is a tremendous place to start.

Make a grand entrance. Make do with what you have. Make a splash! Make it up as you go. Make out. Make a friend. Kiss and make up. Make someone's day. Make something pretty. Make music. Make peace.

The second definition was an overwhelming reminder that God has created each and every person in this world with moral and ideal worth. Do I treat my children, my husband, the grocery clerk, or the person who cut me off in traffic as if they possessed moral or ideal worth? Do I make them feel lovely? How can I project God’s love and grace to those I come in contact with throughout my day, or even in my thoughts as I go through life?

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." ~Mathew 22:37-40

With God’s help, we all have the power to live lovely in our own lives. It doesn't matter how old you are, your gender, your financial bracket, or your political party. You don't need to be artistic or have a green thumb. You don't need 10 extra hours in your day. It doesn't matter if you are a stay-at-home mom, have a thriving career, or feel down-and-out. It isn't about perfection. It doesn't matter if your home is 8,000 square feet or 800.

Every one of us can make something.

We can make the most of our time here.
 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.

~Philippians 4:8

Hi, Friends!

Has your summer begun? We’re heading into more than a week of 85-90+ degree weather! That’s hot for early June in our neck of the woods!

The boys finished the last of their testing for the charter school this week and then had their end-of-the-year park celebration.

I’ve been so lazy lately. Against all odds, I found some motivation today and did a huge gardening/outside project! If you know me, you know that’s news-worthy. [grin] I’ll take some pictures after Russ does a few extra things to the area this weekend.

Luke and I also made our first batch of lavender soap. All things considered, melt-and-pour soap is a fun, easy, clean, quick, and satisfying project to do with kids! [That combination is hard to come by!] We purchased a block of Shea Butter Glycerin Melt and Pour Soap Base, cut it into chunks, melted it in the microwave, added some lavender buds and lavender essential oil, and poured into a mini bar mold. It set up quickly. Luke’s ready to experiment with different colors and oils.

The little bars make great gifts.

 

In other news, some of you have been asking if I am on Instagram. You can now find me there as mthopeheidi. Come say hello!

And remember, you can always find me on Facebook, as well.

Quiet in the Midst of Chaos

In the midst of a week (and more) of almost daily events while down one adult (I’m greatly outnumbered this week), I am savoring a few quiet moments today before heading out to yet another (the fourth since Saturday) end-of-year celebration and potluck. [Lola is way past her sitting still and quiet limit.]

I finished reading Beauty Will Save the World: Recovering the Human in an Ideological Age and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption today. [I think it’s almost time for a junk-food-book binge!]

Mid-day, Luke asked me if he could search something on my computer. Naturally, I asked him what he’d like to search.

“Uses for lavender.”

This kid never fails to surprise me. He printed off a list of 50 uses for lavender, 3-hole-punched them, and added them to his binder of interesting things. He’s set on the idea of making soap, but I’m trying to convince him to make lavender shortbread cookies. Both projects may happen this week.

He began talking about herbs in general, so I gave him a lovely little DK Pocket Book of Herbs, which he read, and we began contemplating an herb garden project. After a while, he swiped my new clippers and went out to harvest some chives, taste-testing the stems and inspecting the blooms.

Leif seemed under the weather this morning, and I discovered him fast asleep in bed this afternoon. [Completely out of character, so I know he must have caught the bug that Lola woke up with Sunday morning—of course.]

While Luke and I talked herbs and Leif napped, Levi and Lola were out collecting a bucket of tadpoles. I later found evidence of their adventures left on the front porch.

 

And now, four end-of-the-year events down. Two book clubs, a birthday party, and a baby to go! I miss my husband.

Food for Thought ~ Beauty, Poetry, and Culture

 :: Anton Chekhov on the 8 Qualities of Cultured People@ Brain Pickings [I love this letter to his brother.]

:: Educational Oblivion and How to Avoid It @ Vital Remnants [Go read the whole post. It’s short and excellent.]

There are other classic books he has found too. And in reading them, he is transformed from a memoryless copy of himself, unquestioningly following the orders of what he now knows to be the very creatures who have destroyed his civilization, to a fully human being. A human being who has, by having recovered his cultural memory, been humanized.

:: The Role of Beauty in the Formation of Men as Men @ Crisis Magazine

[M]odern education has shifted from an emphasis on the liberal arts (a traditional venue for introducing people to the beautiful) to an often exclusive focus on career-oriented education. We are rapidly becoming a society of animals, where serving our needs and our wants is the over-arching narrative of our existence.

It is the role of beauty to shake men out of this mundane existence (or, to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis when he was referring to joy, to “administer the shock”) by making them confront a reality above and far more wonderful than a life of simply existing.

:: On “Beauty”: Marilynne Robinson on Writing, What Storytelling Can Learn from Science, and the Splendors of Uncertainty @ Brain Pickings [Several good Robinson quotes here, but that is not surprising. I’m of the opinion that beauty and wisdom seep from her pen.]

It has seemed to me for some time that beauty, as a conscious element of experience, as a thing to be valued and explored, has gone into abeyance among us. I do not by any means wish to suggest that we suffer from any shortage of beauty, which seems to me intrinsic to experience, everywhere to be found. The pitch of a voice, the gesture of a hand, can be very beautiful. I need hardly speak of daylight, warmth, silence.

:: The Power of Beauty @ The Imaginative Conservative

Art has the twin functions of reflecting a culture and shaping it. The problem that contemporary artists face is a difficult one: how to express meaning to a world which has become culturally over-stimulated by the spectacular, hyper-sexualized, dumbed-down by inanity, and increasingly antagonistic to manifestations of Christianity. Some of the artists who are here this week struggle to believe that the vocation as an artist-especially a Christian artist-has any meaning or value at all. They are at the edge of redefining and creating anew with moral imagination a vision of the True, the Good and the Beautiful that has been all but exterminated in Western culture.

:: Orality, Literacy, and the Memorized Poem: Hearing art’s heartbeat. by Mike Chasar at Poetry Foundation

Why Disneyland?

My childhood was simple. Idyllic, really. And simple.

We lived in the country. Our social activities were school and church.

We rode bikes on our empty country road. We walked through the fields. We had sleepovers (sisters and friends) in the log cabin play house my dad made for us. We spent time gardening and preserving food (picking, snapping, husking, peeling, canning and freezing) during the summers. We read books. We didn’t watch much television, and only a rare movie (almost never in a theater).

We sat down as a family every evening to a home-cooked meal.

We camped. A lot. Tents, pump water, and outhouses. (In the rain more than once. After all, this is Oregon.) Backpacks and no pump water or outhouses a couple times.

We were a houseful of homebodies (other than the youngest—she was definitely outnumbered).

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But my grandparents (my mom’s parents) lived in Southern California.

They drove to visit us often, and we loved their visits. They were fun, activity-driven, child-centered grandparents. My sisters and I always felt that they were our biggest fan club. They were unfailingly interested when we’d talk to them about what we were doing, what we were interested in and passionate about. They always wanted to make things happen for us, or at the very least be the loudest cheerleaders on the sidelines.

A handful of times during my childhood, we made the trip down to see them.

Grandma’s house. With Fruitloops. Grandpa’s house. With a big telescope for looking at the stars.

Grandma’s house. With a gazillion house plants that she had rescued from imminent death. Grandpa’s house. With a globe and science experiments.

Palm trees.

And Disneyland.

We would pack a picnic lunch. Grandma would pack snacks in her voluminous purse. And we’d all drive to Disneyland for the day.

It was magic.

All of us rode every ride. My grandparents seemed to have more fun than anyone. Grandma was always 20 feet ahead when we were walking to the next attraction, eager to see it all, as fast as possible.

Sunshine. Crowds. Excitement.

My sisters and I agree, Disneyland is one of our most favorite childhood memories.

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My boys have a childhood different from mine. Not completely—they live in the country just two miles from my childhood home where my parents still live—but  the 5 other people in this household are extroverts, so I’m getting used to going and doing more than I did when I was little.

Still, when we manage to “vacation,” it’s a couple days in Bend, Oregon (camping, at a swim meet, or possibly playing in the snow), a day at the beach, a day (or a few) in the mountains (camping or not), an educational field trip or local sightseeing. When the boys were little, we took a couple road trips. Eventually, I’d love to take the kids on a cross-country sight-seeing trip, but at these ages more than enough loveliness exists right here in our back yard (or within a couple hours) to keep us busy.

Sometimes, just sometimes, mamma craves a purely pleasure-filled trip to Disneyland.

Six years ago, we took the boys, then 6, 4, and 2 years old. [photo above] We went just as I was coming out of a period of depression and anxiety, and the experience was, well, magical. We had a delightful time. Delightful. Let me repeat that. Delightful. And delightful was more than I could have asked for at that point in my life, and with the ages of our kids.

.

We haven’t taken a full family vacation, for purely pleasure, since then. For six years.

I’d say it was time.

It’ll still be quick. But we’re going to wring every hour of fun out of these few days.

See you on the other side.

[Grandpa, I’ll be thinking of you while we’re there, and wishing you could be there. I’ll take lots of pictures!]

Every Soft Thing

An Upcoming Journey ~ Creating a Life You Love

 

My friend Mandi at Life Your Way is launching an incredible 12-month e-course for 2015!

Each month, participants will explore a different life theme such as Rest, Create, Serve, and Explore. Inspiration, encouragement, opportunity for discussion, and practical resources will be given for each theme by a panel of experts passionate about their topic. Mandi has organized a stellar line-up of contributors (I know you will recognize at least a few!), and this course will be a rich experience to make the most of a new year!

I am honored to be leading September’s theme, Learn.

I cannot express how much I am looking forward to exploring the idea of filling our adult lives with learning—not for the sake of a product or a job or even our children but for the soul-enlarging pleasure of attention, wonder, and expression!

Consider taking the course with a friend!

LIVE. creating a life you love will be launching January 1st, but an early bird offer is available until December 15th. Click here to read details about the course and check out the themes and contributors!

Will you join me?

The Walk

I managed no photos of Thanksgiving dinner. I’m particularly disappointed that I didn’t snap a picture of my grandpa who is visiting from California. [I’ll be sure to get a picture this weekend before he heads home.] Having him here this week is a huge blessing. The whole family was present (my grandpa, my parents, the three of us girls with families, and Olive). Casey made the turkey on his Traeger grill. Holly made rhubarb pie. Shannon made bread dressing and rolls. Olive brought delicious mashed potatoes. We brought marionberry and pumpkin pies and our traditional jello salad. Mom made gravy and yams and pecan and apple pies. We also had ham, a veggie plate, and our traditional Martinelli’s sparkling cider.

It was rainy and dark for most of the day, but we took advantage of a short break in the precipitation for our traditional after-dinner walk. I snapped some pictures of Holly’s kids for Christmas cards.

There was a lot of game playing after dinner was cleaned up.

Oh, how thankful I am for my family.

Give Thanks

Be Blessed

Poetry ~ A Thrill Like Music

 

Please. If you read no other articles I link, read this one today, from beginning to end. I’ve been talking about memorization—learning by heart—as a way to form our children’s souls and our own souls.

::  The Joy of the Memorized Poem @ The Atlantic

I’ll share a couple quotes, but that doesn’t excuse you from reading the full article. [grin]

"But the very final pleasure is what I called “the pleasure of companionship”—and this was a way of talking about memorization. When you internalize a poem, it becomes something inside of you. You’re able to walk around with it. It becomes a companion. And so you become much less objective in your judgment of it. If anyone criticizes the poem, they’re criticizing something you take with you, all the time."

“I think that’s one reason I’ve always made my literature students choose a poem to memorize, even if it’s just something short—a little poem by, say, Emily Dickinson. They’re very resistant to it at first. There’s a collective groan when I tell them what they’re going to have to do.  I think it’s because memorization is hard. You can't fake it the way you might in responding to an essay question. Either you have it by heart, or you don’t. And yet once they do get a poem memorized, they can’t wait to come into my office to say it. I love watching that movement from thinking of memorization as a kind of drudgery, to seeing it as internalizing, claiming, owning a poem. It’s no longer just something in a textbook—it’s something that you’ve placed within yourself.”

"I think I read recently that we’re not suffering from an overflow of information—we’re suffering from an overflow of insignificance."

As soon as I read (and listened to!) the poem, I was transported to my own favorite place in the world—water sounds and all. And, today, my boys and I are shoving aside lesser things and spending time with this poem. Memorizing it. Placing it in our deep heart’s core. So that we, too, may hear the call of a safe and peaceful place when we need a minute or two (or hour or night) of escape.

 

If you don’t know where to start for poetry memorization, may I make a couple recommendations?

We have many books of poetry (I particularly like the Poetry for Young People series), but my favorites are poetry recordings that we can listen to in the car or during quiet time. I’ve found that this is the best way to get the words and sounds of the poetry embedded in our minds.

My boys love A Child's Garden of Songs and Back to the Garden, Robert Louis Stevenson poetry set to music, as well as The Days Gone By: Songs of the American Poets. (You can hear excerpts of the songs if you click on the MP3 option.)

Poetry Speaks to Children is a book of child-friendly poetry that includes a CD of poetry readings—most by the poem authors themselves!

A Child's Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry is just that. Part 1 introduces different types of poetry, and Part 2 contains a chronological introduction to many famous poets. (The illustrations are quite entertaining.) The accompanying CD is a treasure. Many of the poetry selections are wonderfully spoken by two different narrators (a man and a woman, so the recording doesn’t feel monotonous).

Morning Shadows

On Friendship, Community, and Happiness

 

Russ took the three boys to a swim meet out of town this past weekend. They’ve been missing their boys’ camping trip the past two summers due to scheduling issues, so this was part swim meet, part camping, part adventure, part hanging out with the “swim team family.”

Lola and I had some girl time. We played. We read. We ran errands.

Saturday morning, Lola played with cousin Rilla at Bambi’s house while I spent a delightful few hours at a coffee shop with lovely friends, drinking hot chocolate and talking about education and life. [Officially, we are reading through The Question by Leigh Bortins and discussing one chapter at a time.]

That afternoon, I met up with one of those friends for a few hours of canoeing on the lake. Her husband was willing to let Lola stay and play with their two girls at their house, so we were given the gift of time for thoughtful, edifying adult conversation as well. And Lola loved the girl play time!

It was after this full day that I, once again, felt extraordinarily grateful and just plain steeped in happiness because I am blessed by such a rich community of friends and family.

We may not be taking exotic vacations this summer, but our days are full of the bounty of summer and good friends. Boundaries blur and overlap as we see people in various activities.

We spend Friday evenings in my sister’s garden, eating with friends, playing volleyball or tether ball, talking, roasting marshmallows, marveling over the sunset, and watching the kids play.

 

Monday evenings are spent at the free concerts in the park, where we sit with family and bump up against friends.

Fourth of July weekend was spent, as is tradition, at our friend Bob’s house on Lake Oswego, visiting with many friends we see only once a year. Bob is part owner of the company Russ worked for in the Portland area about 8-14 years ago and we’ve maintained our friendship. It was fun to see the kids (twins) of the other owner, as well. We’ve watched them grow up since they were four years old—and they graduated this year!

 

VBS is always a highlight of the summer. The boys usually participate at three different churches. This week is our home church VBS (or Kids Kamp) in the evenings. I took Holly’s place as a camp counselor on the first night while she was still on vacation, but I have the rest of the week off. Levi volunteers with the puppet crew.

I spoke at two Classical Conversations Parent Practicums, and they are simply wonderful three-day parties full of information, encouragement, inspiration, and conversation. This week I had a chance to visit our local practicum for one day and listen to a guest speaker (whom I’ve had the chance to get to know a little recently). It was a blast getting to relax and soak it up instead of being in speaker-mode. And I made a few new acquaintances as well as visited with friends.

After a long break, we had another Book Detectives meeting in the studio last week. The kids and parents seemed excited to get back in the swing of things.

A new Hamlet study group is meeting in my studio this week for the first time. We are watching the movie version as an introduction, and then we will be going through the play in depth, a little at a time, over the course of the coming year.

We have a big family wedding/reunion to attend this weekend and a birthday party the following weekend.

Our Challenge A group (I love these people!!) is meeting for a BBQ/swim party/orientation the following week, and I’m hoping to get up to our favorite place in the world and spend time with family and close friends later that week, as well. Oh, and another book club meeting (my ChocLit Guild full of close friends and family that have been meeting for over a decade now!!).

I think that takes us through July. August will be a blur.

My reading stack is towering. More about that in the next post, but I was particularly struck by an essay by G. K. Chesterton titled “On Running After One’s Hat.” In this essay, Chesterton makes a strong point for choosing an “adventure point of view.” He states:

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."

Very soon after reading that essay, I began a book by C.S. Lewis in which he states:

"I begin to suspect that the world is divided not only into the happy and the unhappy, but into those who like happiness and those who, odd as it seems, really don't."

Point taken. And I am embracing a spirit of happiness and adventure this summer—come what may. [grin]

I have a couple links to share that go with our theme today.

::  “Do you long to cultivate wisdom, truth, and beauty in your home? Do you desire to teach from a state of rest, to delight in your role as an intentional mother, and to raise passionate, interested learners?” Do you desire to be a part of a beautiful online community? Try Schole Sisters!

::  what if you chose to believe the best about yourself? by Danielle (part of my own community of dear friends) @ Further Up and Further In

"No matter how many compliments we receive, we all know what we're really like when no one is around. But what if we could take these compliments and simply say, this too is a part of who I am? What if, instead of comparing your days and letting your worst invalidate your best, you held up your best days as shining examples of the self you are trying to become?"

And because I seem unable to post without sharing a link from CiRCE…

::  Echoes of Celestial Harmony by Andrew Kern @ CiRCE

“I’m suffering from an embarrassing problem. It boils down to this: I believe that Christ makes sense of the cosmos and of life, and that without Him life doesn't end up making sense.”

What adventures and happiness are you embracing this summer?

Glorious ~ Take 3

Glorious ~ Take 2

It was also Rilla Grey’s first time playing on the beach. She was thrilled. And fearless.

Luckily, there was a lot of beach to explore.