On the Fellowship of the Saints

While I was at Leah's place watching her little ones as she was in the hospital after Preston's birth, I picked up a book that she had been reading (and I meant to keep your place, Leah, but lost it, sorry!)  She had been reading the "Memoir of the Rev. William C. Burns, Missionary to China," by his brother, Islay Burns.

As you may know, Rev. Burns was the minister who took Rev. Robert Murray Mc'Cheyne's pulpit in Dundee in 1839, while Rev. Mc'Cheyne traveled to Israel.  Under Rev. Burns' ministry, a great revival began, and much of the first half of the book is an account of that revival.

The book is very interesting and encouraging, and I would highly recommend it (though I haven't actually finished it--I have yet to read the part about Rev. Burns' missionary work in China).  You can read it for free on Google Books here.

An especially nice quote, from a letter Rev. Burns wrote to his sister:

The great fundamental error then, as far as I can see, in the economy of the Christian life...is that of having too few and too short periods of solemn retirement with our gracious Father and his adorable Son Jesus Christ... 

The communion of the saints in Christian converse is indeed important, nay, indispensable to the growth of the new man when it can be obtained, but when is it sweet and soul-reviving but when each brings out into the common store something of the heavenly food which he has been gathering in the closet? 

Sabbaths

You may have heard me complain, on my blog or off, about the amount of driving I do.  I grumble especially about being so far from church.  We are about twenty-five miles from church, which means a half-hour's drive each way, or two hours per Sabbath spent on the road.

So, I was humbled the other day when I read about a woman in Scotland, many years ago, who walked thirty miles, one way, to church.  Here is her story:

To one, at least, the Sabbath journey was nearly thirty miles...Leaving home about midnight on Saturday, she walked across the hills regularly in summer and often in winter...After the service on Sabbath she returned to her home, and was ready to join in the labour of the farm next morning.  On that condition alone would her father allow her to come to Killearnan [where services were held], being more anxious about the state of his croft than about the salvation of himself and of his family.

Now I've often thought that it would be nice to be able to walk to church, as a nice walk does wonders for clearing my mind and helping me to focus.  But my idea of a "nice walk" would be two or three miles, not thirty.

Another quote from the same book:

On Sabbath, they all meet in the house of God.  The Lord himself is in the midst of them; the word is rightly divided; hungry souls are fed with "the finest of the wheat;" some of "the whole" are wounded; and some of the wounded ones are healed.  The public service over, the people return to their homes; and by the way, they form into companies around some of the Lord's people, who are speaking of the sermon, and bringing again, before themselves and others, the precious lessons which it furnished. In the evening, district meetings are held...After prayer and praise, and the reading of a portion of Scripture, a certain number of the questions of the Shorter Catechism are asked and answered, and notes of the sermons heard during the day are repeated.  Time is allowed for family duties, and in many a household the incense of prayer and praise ascends from the family altar to God.  Such was an ordinary Ross-shire Sabbath in the good days of the Fathers.

The book, of course, is The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire by Rev. John Kennedy.  You can read it online here.  I saw the second quote above on Mr. Myers' blog  and was inspired to hunt through our bookcases until I had found our own tattered volume of the book (printed in 1885).  It was excellent.

I had just finished reading a similar book which was also excellent (perhaps even better), Ministers and Men of the Far North by Rev. Alex Auld.  It is out of print, I'm afraid, though you might be able to get a copy through Mr. Reynolds' used book store, and you can read it online here.

I'm currently reading John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides, which I think I can safely recommend even though I'm only about halfway through it. :)  It's also available online, here.  Google Books is awesome.  Though I prefer to read from a real, live book rather than a screen, I do appreciate the fact that I can use Google Books to search within a book (it's how I re-located the two quotes above).

I like old biographies like the ones I've listed here.  Another one I'd like to read is The Life of John Kennedy, written by Rev. Alex Auld.  Do you have any others to recommend?

Another Favorite Book: Home Comforts: the Art and Science of Keeping House

Years ago, Mom and I were house guests in a home that I've always admired: clean and beautiful, warm and welcoming, delicious meals served on time at a beautifully set table, etc. etc.  While we were there, I spotted a fat volume sitting on a side table, and the title immediately caught my eye: Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House.  I surreptitiously paged through the book a couple of times and was fascinated. 

Fast forward a couple of years, when I was setting up a home of my own; imagine my delight to find that the lady of the afore-mentioned house had given me this book as a gift. :)  

My sister borrowed the book from me so many times, that I finally got her another copy as a thank-you gift for helping me out when Noah was born.  I think she'll also attest to the book's usefulness.

Home Comforts has become my go-to reference book for everything related to housekeeping.  The initial chapter or two draw me in, every time, with a warm-and-fuzzy narrative about how the author (a busy lawyer) became interested in housekeeping, and why it is important; the the remainder of the seventy-two chapters (I told you it was a fat volume) get down to the nitty-gritty details of keeping house, everything from meals and laundry to safety issues and legal concerns.  Some of my favorite chapters are the ones about preparing and serving meals; the one entitled "Fabrics that Work," which is all about different types of fibers and their advantages and disadvantages for various applications; and the chapter about bedding.  And I'm morbidly fascinated by the chapter about dust mites (when I need motivation to vacuum and dust and change the beds, I read this one).

I use this book both for quick reference as needed, and also for inspiration; if I'm feeling particularly domestic, or on the other hand am NOT feeling domestic and need to be reminded about the importance of what I do, I'll sit down and read straight through a couple of chapters for the umpteenth time.

Looks like the price of Home Comforts has come down a bit in the few years since I've bought a copy.  It's worth the money, in my opinion. :)  If you've read it, or if you read it in the future, comment to let me know what you think. :)

Of Books and Amazon

Hey friends,

As you may have noticed, every now and then I review one of my favorite books for y'all, and usually I provide links to Amazon so that you can read the reviews and learn more about the book yourself.  Well it finally occurred to me that I may as well sign up to be an Amazon associate, so that if you end up purchasing the book via the link I provide, I get a small commission.  I'm just letting you know for the sake of transparency.  If this makes you uncomfortable and you'd rather I not get any commission for purchases that you make, don't click on the links I provide, but rather go straight to Amazon.com and look the book up there.

Adios for now. :)

We went to the ocean the other day...

Me: Look boys, the seagulls are cleaning their feathers with their beaks.
Elijah: Oh yes, they're preening. They squeeze oil from a gland just above their tails.
Me: Oh, right, I knew that.

Credit goes to this book...
...the Usborne Complete Book of Nature. I found it at Half Price Books for less than $5, and it has been worth every penny. It is full of interesting information and excellent illustrations. Elijah and Noah both enjoy it quite a bit. It seems to be out of stock at Amazon, but if you have young children and happen across a copy somewhere, I would recommend purchasing it. :)

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.

How fast can you read?

I was sitting in the "Preschool Exploration Center" i.e. playroom at the library the other day, reading through a children's book to decide whether or not to check it out for the boys. I've learned the hard way not to check out a book that you haven't read all the way through first, no matter what, even if you remember it from your childhood and thought it was a great book. This book, as it turns out, was excellent, as were a couple of others by the same author, Marjorie Flack.

Anyway, my point was, I realized that I was reading as fast as I could turn the pages. This made me wonder how fast I can read, so I did a google search and found this test:

How Fast Can You Read?

As I suspected, I am a pretty fast reader, between 500 and 600 words per minute. However, I have trouble staying focused, so my mind wanders and I find myself having to re-read the same paragraph twice. I also have trouble remembering some details like place names and names of characters. I wonder if there's a way to maintain my reading speed while improving my focus and memory? Perhaps I just need more practice--practice, that is, without a million distractions in the background. :)

Speaking of reading, I just read this book:

Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
...and I loved it. Fantastic book--food politics has always been an interest of mine. The author discusses the sad state of our farming and food industries, and describes her family's attempt to eat nothing but locally and sustainably produced food for an entire year. It's a great story, marred only by the author's dismissive attitude towards those who believe in creation. Her attitude actually didn't bother me much, because her story made clear the bounty of God's creation and the blessing of His abundant provision for us, whether she intended it that way or not; and she was modeling good stewardship of that bounty. Very inspiring.

Anyway, reading the book motivated me to visit our winter farmer's market this weekend--while I attend our fabulous outdoor market weekly through the summer months, I've never been to the indoors winter market. Maybe I can even scrounge up the money for some more of that delicious raw clover honey raised right here in Bloomington...mmmm...

The children are napping, so I should take this chance to do some work.

A few updates

Updates:

Noah has been taking a few steps lately. He thinks walking is soooo entertaining. He gets a great big silly grin on his face every time. He can now wave bye-bye and blow kisses. He can say a few words: his favorite word is "geggle-bop" but he also likes Dada, Mama, Buh (brother), Voom (vacuum cleaner or toy car), and sometimes Puh (up). Unfortunately, he frequently chooses to communicate by screaming. He screams when he's upset (brother took his toy) or when he's excited (brother made him laugh) or when he wants more food. When I tell him "No screaming," he looks at me and gives a few test screams in progressively quieter tones, with a question mark on the end, until I stop saying "No screaming," and give him a smile.

He is a big fan of the 6 month old baby that I care for. When she arrives in the morning, he gets that big silly grin again. He crawls up to her carseat, pulls himself up, and leans over to put his face against hers.

This morning I awoke at one in the morning to find him sitting next to me and clapping. He was very delighted with himself for discovering how to clap. I was delighted too until I saw what time it was.

Elijah is sick today. One side of his face is swollen up like a chipmunk, and he is feeling very out of sorts. I wondered at first if he might have mumps, but the doctor says it's probably some sort of subcutaneous skin infection. I think that's doctor-speak for "I don't really know what it is, but maybe antibiotics will fix it." So he's got some antibiotics. I have mixed feelings about giving him antibiotics when I don't really know for certain what he's got.

I got Elijah a book called Richard Scarry's Great Big Schoolhouse. It goes through things like colors, numbers, alphabet letters, days of the week, and so on. The book is right up Elijah's alley because each page has lots of things going on, so he can sit and study each page for a while before he's seen it all. My only complaint about the book, and a complaint I've had with a few other books too, is that it says things like "All children go to school to learn how to read and write." Well obviously this is not quite true. When I read it to him, I rephrase it as "Many children go to school to learn how to read and write," and then I add, "but some children learn how to read and write at home." Yes, I plan to homeschool him if at all possible.

Well, I have some cleaning to do, so I will leave you with a picture (or three). These are of Noah expressing his usual level of interest in the camera. I can't figure out how to post them three in a row side by side, so this is a rather convoluted layout.