Meet My Family, Part 2--Mom

Updated 1/10

This is my mom.

My mom is a career homemaker who raised and homeschooled five children. Mom is the middle child of three siblings. She was raised in a wonderful Christian home in Indianapolis. She is a highly intelligent person, and musically inclined--she has played the piano and violin since early childhood. After graduating from high school, she worked and took a few semesters of college (early childhood education) before meeting my dad and getting married.

Mom is more quiet and reserved compared to some of the more outgoing members of my family, but she is happy to talk once you get to know her.

Mom is good with languages. At one point, she was studying six!!! languages--Romanian, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, French, and Dutch. I asked her if studying all the different languages at once was confusing, and she said no, she really enjoyed seeing how the different languages compare. Hindi was especially interesting as it uses a different alphabet with 44 characters, with four different types of "T's" and four different types of "D's." It sounded pretty complicated to me! Now, of course, living in Israel, Mom is studying Hebrew.

Mom also plays the violin and the tin whistle--the last few times I heard her play, she was playing a lot of Irish folk music. (Did you know that she has perfect pitch?) She also designs and pieces quilt tops, and gardens.

Mom's mind works in unique and interesting ways (at least, I find them very interesting). She likes numbers and patterns. Once she designed a quilt top based on prime numbers. And just for fun, she recently worked out all of the repeating decimals up to 16 places. Even phonics instruction became an exercise in geometry, as she laid out grids of words that followed certain phonics patterns (all of her children became avid readers, for what it's worth).

Mom was happy to have me and my sons join her in her Texas home last summer. My brother Jesh finished school and moved in on the same weekend, so for a short time, Mom had three of her children at home, and the other two (married) within a short distance. But then Dad was invited to move to Israel, so she and Dad packed up and left. While Mom misses her family, she finds the challenge of settling into a new country to be quite interesting. She now spends quite a bit of time studying Hebrew, but still finds time now and then to post to her blog.

Coming soon: Meet My Family, Part 3!

My Family, part 1

Updated 1/10

Hello friends,

I have a wonderful family. I am happy to talk about my family to anyone who will listen. Sadly, opportunities to talk about my family do not arise as often as I would like. So I have decided that I will share a little more about my family on my blog.

Many of you already know my family and will not be learning anything new here, so these posts are for those who don't know anything about my family, and are curious. :)

This is my dad.

Dad is a Bible scholar. He works for TBS (the Trinitarian Bible Society), doing translation work, in conjunction with Rev. Goldby of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Just last November, he and Mom moved to Israel to work more closely with the translation team there. They now live in a small flat in Jerusalem just minutes from the Old City.

He is a highly intelligent individual who loves to study theology and Scripture (and politics). He is also quite outgoing and happy to engage in long discussions of said topics. He acquires books in large quantities. When he moved to Israel, he took "only the essentials" from his book collection, which meant six or seven boxes' worth. He has excellent recall of almost everything he reads (I wish I knew how he does it!) For exercise, Dad runs regularly, up to six miles at a time--not bad for an old man!

Dad grew up in Indiana. He's the oldest of five siblings. He initially got a bachelors degree in music (he played the trumpet) but then became a school teacher, and taught elementary and special ed for years. When I was in high school, he went back to school himself and entered the field of computer programming.

Dad and my family are happy to belong to the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. After years of being a member from a distance, Dad was finally able to get a computer programming job in Houston, so he and the family moved there. Shortly afterwards, Dad was happy to land his "dream job" with TBS. And he hadn't been working for them for long before he was transferred to Israel.

Coming up next: part 2--my mom!

Noah's New Favorite Book

Noah's new favorite book: My World, by Margaret Wise Brown.

I think Margaret Wise Brown must have paid a lot of attention to small children, because she really seems to know how their minds work. Noah, who has a favorite spoon that he requests at every meal, is fascinated by pages like "My spoon. Daddy's spoon. The moon belongs to the man in the moon." Sometimes he tries to pick the picture of the spoon off the page, and says, "Want it spoon. Can't get it spoon."

Which reminds me. The other day I found him with a board book about tractors. He was making distressed noises, and trying to stick his feet into the picture. "What's the matter, Noah?" I asked him. "Can't get in it," he whimpered.

Reminds me of a story Mom tells about when I was small. She found me ripping the page of a book, and asked me what I was doing. "Sure I can put my feet in the snow!" I told her. LOL

Elijah can read My World quite fluently. I think he has it half memorized, as he does most of the books in the house. Nowadays, when I go to the library, I pick out a few books just for Elijah, and refuse to read them out loud to him. "These are for you to read," I tell him, and he does. He does pretty well with "Step 2" readers.

More Noah cuteness (in my opinion, of course): his two new favorite phrases are "Maybe," and "I think." Often I will give him two options, for instance, "Noah, would you like to go a little more quickly, or would you like to ride in the stroller?" (He moves at a snail's pace.) He ponders this, then tells me "Maybe just walk." Or I say "Would you like Raisin Bran or Cheerios?" to which he responds, "I think Bam Ban." Raisin Bran is his favorite cereal. Strange child.

Go Buy Stamps

Hi friends,

Stamps go up in price by 2 cents on Monday. So tomorrow while you're out, pick up some "Forever" stamps.

You're welcome,
Sharon

p.s. What's that you say? Stamps are for Luddites? Ha, funny.

I like bad puns :)

So, lately, I have been immersed in the topic of baptism. :)

LOL okay, that was horrible, I know.

I have been attending a membership class at my church for a few months now, and recently spoke to a pastor about interviewing for membership. As I had expected, he told me that upon becoming a member, I would be expected to get the boys baptized (they haven't been). The problem is, I don't understand infant baptism, and never have, really.

So I have embarked upon a quest to "get" infant baptism. I have been talking to my pastor and my parents, and reading extensively from books, articles, and online discussions. The more I read, the farther I think I am from a conclusion (at least, the farther I am from the "right" conclusion, that is paedobaptism). I have encountered some good arguments and some bad arguments on both sides. As soon as I come across an argument that I think has settled the issue for me, I come across an equally convincing rebuttal of said argument. *sigh*

I found these two interesting sites, and thought I would share them:
www.puritanboard.com (discussion forums)
www.monergism.com (collections of articles, sermons, etc)

I'm also struggling with the issue of authority as a single mother. If I were married, then obviously I would have a husband/head to lead in these decisions, but as a single mom, am I entirely "headless"? What role do the church and my father play? Tough questions! (at least for me!)

Well, just thought I would share what's on my mind lately. I hope this isn't too personal! In case you're curious, here's the latest article I read:
A String of Pearls Unstrung
Feel free to let me know what you think of it!

EDIT: I did, after weeks of study, thought, and prayer, finally "get" infant baptism. More here.  By that time, though, I was in the middle of a move to Texas, so it wasn't till the following summer that my boys were baptized at the FP church in Santa Fe.

Elijah's hearing, update

Well, Elijah passed his hearing test with flying colors. The doctor says that based on his hearing test results alone, he ought to be able to hear the spoken word without any trouble. However, his ears aren't quite in normal condition--they do have fluid and bubbles in them, which led the doctor to do a tympanogram (measures vibration of the eardrum). The tympanogram was also abnormal, so the doc prescribed a nasal spray to be used for six weeks, at which point we'll get him re-tested.

I'm not sure how everything fits together--he passes a hearing test easily, yet his eardrums aren't vibrating like they should? And how does a nasal spray have anything to do with the ears? I have a little more research to do.

To clarify, once I get Elijah's attention and he looks at my face, he can understand me without difficulty--it's just getting his attention in the first place that's hard to do. Perhaps he just gets so absorbed in what he's doing that he tunes out the world around him; he can be pretty intense about things like Legos and books. :)

Speaking of books--the boys went to the library with their dad yesterday, and Elijah helped pick out a half-dozen books, mostly about volcanoes and astronomy. The one that looks most interesting delves into topics like quasars, relativity, and dark matter--of course it also extensively discusses how those interesting topics relate to the theory of the Big Bang. I'll probably end up skipping every other paragraph, as I don't want to get into the Big Bang theory just yet. :)

And to conclude, a couple of pictures of the child in question. First, with a book about human anatomy. I told him to pick out his favorite page to include in the photograph, and he picked this one:

And secondly, here he is with a Lego "mountain." I know these aren't technically Legos; maybe they're Megablocks or Duplo or something. Anyway, we call them Legos. This photo is from a few weeks ago--note the old carpet, now gone. :)

Elijah's hearing

Elijah has a doctor's appointment next Tuesday to get his hearing checked. His hearing seems to have gone downhill the last few months. Please keep us in your prayers!

Tuesday April 14th

Today is cold and chilly. I went for a long (3+ miles) walk down a route I used to take when I was young and crazy, which would be, oh, seven or eight years ago? Not much has changed since I last went in that direction, except that part of the sidewalk has been replaced with a nifty boardwalk. The "goat farm" is still the same, and the roundabout, and the creek. I ought to go in that direction more often.

I passed a couple of runners, which got me thinking. Two years ago I ran a 5K in June and set a blistering pace--finished up at 37:50. I'd kind of like to run the same race again this year, and see if I can break my record. Which you might not think would be hard to do, seeing as 37:50 equates to well over 12 minutes a mile...but I haven't actually started really running yet , and the race date is June 6th. Do I have enough time to train properly? Meaning, can I get myself to the point where I can run the whole thing without collapsing? Hmmm...

I think perhaps I'll go ahead and register, to ensure that I'm motivated to get going with this running thing. Do I have any Bloomington readers who would like to join me in my quest? To qualify as my training partner, you must be very. very. slow. :) Perhaps I'll use this Couch to 5K running plan again. I just barely have time to complete the 9-week program before the race.

Rose of Sharon

I was named from Song of Solomon 2:1. "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys."

Here is a modern-day Rose of Sharon (not thought to be the rose of Sharon mentioned in Scripture):


A humble sort of flower, really. But did you know that hummingbirds like it?

The Rose of Sharon is a shrub or small tree. It comes in various shades of white, lavender, or purple, but I like the white ones best.


When my parents lived in Freedom, Indiana, they had a couple of Rose of Sharon bushes out by the barn, next to the gravel road. One was white, and one lavender. They probably could have used some pruning. It's funny, I don't remember the hummingbirds out by those bushes, but I do remember that the bees liked them.

Success! ...sort of

Well today I went clothes shopping again, yes, in spite of my lousy experience last time. My unfailingly optimistic self was just sure that I would find something this time around. And yes, I did have some success--sort of. After five hours (not kidding, sadly) of searching and trying things on, I found a shirt that is cute, feminine, and modest, mostly. Of course, the neckline is too low and loose, but I think it should be pretty easy to fix--it's gathered with elastic in a casing, so all I have to do is open up the casing and take in the elastic a little bit. I was so happy to find something that would work, I bought two! I also found a tank top to go under things. So all in all, I had a fairly successful day (if you call finding three things in five hours a success).

Still searching for: a pair of sandals that I could walk a couple of miles in. Sadly, I am having trouble finding a good affordable and practical sandal that fits well.

Now clothes shopping was not actually part of the plan for today. I actually meant to finish up some of the trim work in the living room, and I was also hoping to go for a run (*ahem* meaning, a walk with brief jogging intervals). But now I only have an hour until the boys come back from their dad's, which is not enough time to do both, and besides I have to start getting ready for tomorrow (making sure church clothes are cleaned and ironed, planning meals, tidying the house, etc.)

OH I almost forgot! Yesterday I went to a performance of "St. Matthew's Passion" by Bach. What a treat! Actually it was a dress rehearsal, not the actual performance, but a delight none the less. I've never heard this piece before, but a few parts were quite familiar; for instance, I was delighted to hear the melody to one of my favorite hymns, "Oh Sacred Head, Now Wounded." I enjoyed myself quite thoroughly, even though the pews in that church were very hard and uncomfortable, and the rehearsal wasn't over till 11:30 p.m.!

All right, I'm heading to the park to go for a run (err, walk).