Two Years in Texas

A little over two years ago, I sold my house, sold my things, loaded my children and remaining belongings into my car, and moved to Texas. 

Some things about Texas have been just as I expected.  For instance, it's hot.

Other things have been quite unexpected. For instance, I never would have dreamed that Mom and Dad would move to Israel just a few short months after my arrival.

Here are the things I don't like about Texas (don't worry, it's a short list): the bugs, the driving.

Here are the things I like about Texas: the city, the parks, the ocean, the sky, the weather (yes, really), the visitors from around the world, my family, the other families, my nieces and nephew, all the children and babies, the young people, the psalm singing, the church.

A quote that fits:

The true visible church, where God's ordinances are set up as he hath
appointed, where his word is purely preached, is the most beautiful
thing under heaven, and there is God's glory set forth and manifested
more clearly than in all the Lord's handiwork beside in heaven or earth.

...David Dickson

Goodbye, and A Psalm Sing

Early this morning, Mom and Dad packed up their things and headed off to the airport.  They're going back to Israel for another year of work and study.  It was nice to have them here for a good long visit, but we will be missing them in days ahead.

While Mom and Dad were here, we did a lot of visiting with friends.  Mom and Dad got to meet the two granddaughters that had been born while they were away.  Mom took lots of photos and videos of her children and grandchildren.  Perhaps we'll see a few of them on her blog in coming weeks?

Last Saturday, we headed over to James and Hayley's new house for a psalm sing/housewarming party.  It was nice to attend a psalm sing that I didn't have to host!  Not that I mind hosting, I enjoy it actually, but it's also nice to have a break now and then.

We sang two selections.  The second tune, Palestrina, is one of my favorites. 

Psalm 30:1-5 to St. Minver


Psalm 86:14-17 to Palestrina. 

Psalm 133

We sang and recorded Psalm 133 at our last psalm sing, a few weeks ago.  But this one needed a little extra editing; hence the delay in posting..

Psalm 133 is one of my favorite psalms.  "Behold, how good a thing it is...in unity to dwell!"  I love the exclamation point at the end of that verse, in the Scottish Metrical Psalter.  Truly, how good a thing it is!

Psalm 133 to Crimond

 

1 Behold, how good a thing it is,

and how becoming well,

Together such as brethren are

In unity to dwell!

2 Like precious ointment on the head,

that down the beard did flow,

Ev'n Aaron's beard, and to the skirts

did of his garments go.

3 As Hermon's dew, the dew that doth

on Sion' hills descend:

For there the blessing God commands,

life that shall never end.

Writing

Every once in a while, I find it necessary to answer the question "So, what do you do?" and I am never quite sure what to say.  I usually say a few things about being a [single] mom, and homeschooling, and keeping house; oh, and I sell old books and things online.

But what I really want to say is, "I write."  I am always writing, or thinking about writing.  Writing has been a part of my identity from an early age; and I've had encouragement from others to write, starting with my fifth grade teacher, who told me to be sure to let him know when my first book was published, because he would be buying a copy (I haven't forgotten, Mr. Vergunst!)  There were other teachers and professors, too, who seemed to assume that writing would be a part of my future.

But if I say that I write, I will be expected to explain what it is that I write, exactly; so I refrain from calling myself a writer.  Yes, I am always writing, or thinking about writing.  But most of what I write never makes it to paper, or is deleted rather than posted.

I do want to write more, but what do I write, exactly?  I once thought I would be a journalist, and I did write a couple of articles for a small-town newspaper, the sort you pick up for free at your local grocery store; but I soon realized that I wasn't fond of deadlines, and dropped that idea.  I could write a book, but about what?  Should I focus on doing a better job of keeping a journal, or writing to friends?

I would like to post more often to this blog.  But it's hard to know what to write about.  I feel uneasy at the thought of writing publicly about some of the topics that I think about most often.  Some topics are too personal to post to a blog when you don't know who your readers are, or what they are looking for (...are you just here for the psalm recordings?)  Other topics might be of broad interest but might also be controversial (homeschooling) and would therefore require such a degree of patience and wisdom that I'm not sure I'm up to the task.  And other topics...well I might enjoy discussing some things (theology and church matters) with friends and family, but I'm not so sure that I'm qualified to write about them on my blog. :)

Still, I feel that I ought to be spending less time writing Facebook comments (and yes, Facebook comments do take a lot of time, since I feel compelled to proofread, edit, and re-write even on Facebook) and more time on proper writing.  So, consider yourself warned: I am going to try to be more diligent about writing for my blog--and actually publishing the posts. :)  Don't worry, I'll still post psalm recordings as often as I can, and pictures of cute babies and children.

:)

The night after Mom and Dad got here from Israel, we had a family dinner; Mark and Mercy came over, and Caleb and Leah, so all five siblings were together for the evening.  We had a nice dinner and a nice evening visiting with one another.

The two littlest babies, Brooklyn and Charlotte, played happily on the floor.  Brooklyn is crawling now, and growing fast.  I commented on how big she was getting, and Leah said wistfully, "Yes, she's not my little newborn any more."  Something in the way she said it made me think, Hmm...

So...I was delighted, but not completely astonished, when I got the news, a week or so later, that Brooklyn is going to be a big sister. :)  Leah is expecting Baby #3 some time next February.  I'm thrilled at the prospect of a new niece or nephew.  And I'm happy for Caleb and Leah, who had to wait four long years for their first baby, but are now blessed with two smart and beautiful children, and are soon to be blessed with another, all being well.

Of course, as you may well know, Caleb and Leah will be leaving us soon, as Caleb is starting his studies for the ministry.  While I am confident that Caleb is well-suited for the task, and happy that the Lord can use him in this way, I am also saddened to think that after two precious years of having all five grown siblings in one place and in the same church, one of them is leaving us, and taking his lovely wife and children with him.

Of course, if he is to be studying in Scotland over the next few years, then I might as well go visit him, right?  I'm saving my pennies in hopes that I will somehow be able to visit him in Scotland before he completes his studies.  :)

Boys

Seems like I haven't written about my children for a while, so...

Elijah is still a bookworm and still learning by leaps and bounds.  His latest interests center around science, particularly electricity and physics.  The other day at snack time, he set his bowl of popcorn spinning in a circle, pieces flying in every direction.  "Look Mama, centragifagul force!" he said.  Okay, so his pronunciation needs some work. :)  I'm hoping to begin properly homeschooling him this fall, with a schedule and curriculum and all that, if I can ever make up my mind which curriculum to use.  I think the first part of the school year will probably be spent teaching him him to focus and get things done in a timely manner.  He is quite easily distracted!

And...Noah is learning to read!  I haven't done much with him other than the Bob Books (which I highly recommend), and pointing things out here and there as I think of them.  If he hasn't learned to really read by this fall using my informal "a little of this, a little of that" methods, I plan to go through the book Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons with him (which I also highly recommend, and which proved useful with Elijah, though he only needed the first 30 lessons or so).  Other than learning to read, Noah has been drawing lots of pictures and writing strings of letters, with real words sprinkled here and there (he laughs and laughs at my attempts to sound out the nonsense he's written).

My favorite part about being a mom to these boys, other than watching them learn, is watching them interact with one another.  There are squabbles, to be sure, but more often I see companionship, and inside jokes, and shared traditions.  I'm glad they're not being sent off to school to be separated from one another for most of the day, as I think spending all of their time together has made them quite close.

July Psalm Sing

Our "monthly" psalm sings have turned into bi-monthly psalm sings, I'm afraid, or worse. :)  But we're always thankful for the opportunity to sing with our friends, even if we can't do so as often as we like.

I thought the singing at our last psalm sing, on Saturday, was especially nice.  We sang two familiar tunes, Crimond and Evan; and also worked on two less familiar tunes, Farningham and Southwark.  The two newer tunes went over well; everyone seemed to enjoy them.  And I'm happy that I can finally listen to recordings of Psalms 42 and 110.

Here are three of the four recordings.  The fourth--Psalm 133 to Crimond--will be posted later, once Jesh and I have agreed on some edits that need to be made.

Psalm 42 v. 1-5 to Farningham


Psalm 80 v. 1-4 to Evan


Psalm 110 to Southwark


As always, you can download these recordings to your own computer from this site:
www.archive.org/bookmarks/snikwad

Independence Day

Mom and Dad are home on a visit from Israel.  I can't really say that they are "on vacation" because they are both still working hard, Dad on his translation work, and Mom on writing music for the Hebrew psalms.  But it is nice to have them here, and to hear more about Israel and the work they are doing there.

This week has been an unusual one in some ways.  It is comforting to have my parents here at this time.  Besides prayer, there's not much I can do, but to "keep calm and carry on" as the British say.

Carrying on, then: last Monday was Independence Day.

If I were an ambitious blogger, I might tackle a nice controversial topic appropriate to the holiday--for example: is America really a Christian nation?  Or, were the colonists justified in rebelling against the British government?

But I'm not feeling particularly ambitious today, so instead I will post pictures of adorable little children enjoying The Quintessential American Independence Day.

(Adorable, right?) 

What is The Quintessential American Independence Day, you ask?  Why, a beautiful sunny day on which you go to a barbecue, of course, and eat hot dogs and hamburgers and watermelon and corn on the cob and brownies on paper plates, and drink sweet tea and coffee, all while sitting in lawn chairs beneath shade trees with friends and relatives of at least three generations,

from grandmother

to youngest grandchild,

and the children ride trikes and wagons around in the driveway,

and swing on the tire swing,

and run laughing through the sprinkler in the sunshine.

And in the evening (if the kids aren't too tired) you head downtown to hear the free outdoor concert and see the fireworks.  The concert has to include Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Yes, we are fully aware that the 1812 Overture doesn't have anything to do with American independence, but it's an Independence Day tradition anyway, especially when accompanied by live cannons and followed by a fireworks show.

Here's a video of the 1812 Overture.  I had a hard time selecting a video from Youtube, but in the end I went with this one because it had the best cannons.  Elijah reads my blog, and I like to cater to my audience. :) Enjoy!

Brunch at my Sister's

The other day my sister hosted a birthday brunch for her oldest daughter, Olivia, who has recently turned two.  My sister is quite a good cook, so I was curious to see what she would serve for brunch.  As it turns out, she served a delicious breakfast casserole, along with fruit salad, muffins, coffee cake, and these delicious scones (plus, of course, juice and coffee).  The scones were so pretty, I had to take a picture. 

Above the table were these lovely poofy things (sorry, I don't know what you would call them) made of tissue paper.  This is the sort of thing that I would never think to do, but my sister has more of an eye for pretty things than I do, I think.

My boys are old enough now to be mostly independent at social gatherings, leaving me free to socialize--and hold babies. :)  Here is Caleb and Leah's youngest.  She is such a cheerful and good-natured baby.  This picture doesn't really capture her cuteness, but it's the best I could do.

And this is Calvin (Joseph and Carolyn's youngest) looking serious.  Look, his eyes match his shirt.

A few of the children (and one adult) eating lunch.  From left to right, Shona, Sarah, Jenna, Cameron, Elijah, and Noah.

Here is Julia (Calvin's big sister) reading a card to the birthday girl, Olivia.  I have a hard time getting good pictures of Olivia.  I have concluded that a lot of her cuteness is in the way she acts, and the way she talks, and you can't really capture that in a photo.  But you can still tell that she's cute. :) 

More pictures coming soon!

Psalm 145

We have a lot of old recordings of psalm singing, most of them congregational singing from when our church met at its old location on Highway 6.  A few years ago, Jesh went through a few of them to produce a set of 4 CDs of psalm singing; but until recently, the rest were scattered in various folders throughout the church's hard drive, mostly unidentified.

When I moved down and expressed an interest in psalm recordings, Jesh decided to put me to work.  He went through the church hard drive, located all the psalm recordings, and dumped them into one folder with the ambitious title "full psalter."  He then assigned me the task of identifying them all and replacing file names like "DS02983" with names like "032 v 1-5 St David."  Once they were all identified, I had to delete duplicates, and where there were multiple recordings of one section of the psalms, I had to pick out the best and remove the others to an "alternates" folder.

It took me a while, but when I was done, we had a nicely organized folder of (once the psalm sing recordings were added to the list) about two hundred recordings.  A lot of the recordings overlap a bit, and many of them are not of good quality, since the recorder was positioned to record the sermon, not the singing.  But the idea is that over time, we can produce more recordings to replace the poor ones, and to fill in the many gaps where we have no recordings at all.

Fast forward a few months: Jesh has decided that it is high time we make a new set of psalm CDs to replace the old set.  Since he is quite busy, of course the task has fallen to me.  First I went through all of the recordings and selected the ones of better quality, to be included in the CDs; and now I am having to edit most of the recordings I selected, to fix volume and other issues. 

This task has involved lots of poking around in the depths of the church hard drive.  In the process, I stumbled across a folder of sermons from an Edinburgh communion season that Jesh attended in 2007.  At the end of one was this recording of the Edinburgh congregation singing from Psalm 145.  I thought it was nice and decided to share it with you.  Enjoy!

Psalm 145:17-21 to Sheffield