Convictions

I am reading a discipleship study for women called Wise Women Build Houses by Barbars Mouser. It is a small and seemingly simple book, but do not let the cover or size of the book deceive you. This book has such rich material that it is really convicting me and causing me to re-evaluate my spiritual condition.





In the first chapter she challenges the reader to build a Wisdom House by first laying the foundation (Christ), then hewing the pillars (Godward virtues) and finally adding the roof (our covering).


I have been stuck for one month on hewing the pillars in chapter 1. This section is only 5 pages, but so rich. Barbara Mouser lists 7 virtues ( pillars of the faith if you will) that must be hewn for the house to stand. 

1. Fear of God: The beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10)
2. Love for God:The First and greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-38)
3. Faith in God: without which it is impossible to please God. ( (Heb. 11:6)
4. Knowledge of God: What God desires more than sacrifice ( Hos 6:6)
5. Hope in God:Chief purpose of the scripture (Rom 15:4)
6. Joy of the Lord: The source of our strength ( Neh 8:10)
7. Comfort of God: Cheif means of our walk ( Acts 9:3)

Following this she challenges the reader to list the opposites of these 7 "Godward pillars".  I had to cheat and look at the answers in the back.

Opposites are as follows:

1. Fear of God > Rebellion against authority
2. Love for God> Hositily toward God
3. Faith in God> Unbelief toward God
4. Knowledge of God> Hardened sensibilities; eyes that don't see, ears that don't hear,hearts that don't understand.
5. Hope in God> Unbelief which causes grumbling and despair
6. Joy of the Lord> Grief which refuses to be comforted
7. Comfort of God> Rejecting the soothing ,peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit when in pain of filled with worries

She says that "You MUST have Godward virtues in your wisdom house or you will be an idolater and some variety of humanist. Manward virtues alone do not make a wisdom house" (pp18).

Next she challenges the reader with questions and here is where it HIT ....

OUCH!! PRICK....POKE!! 

Question #2: "Hewing is hard work. Prayer, meditation on Scripture and obedience are primary means of hewing pillars. Explain how disciplining oneself in these activities, especially in times of temptation, will result in building pillars of character". 

So here is where I stopped and have camped for a month.

Bottom line is this! I am not disciplined in the habit of prayer and meditating on God's WORD daily. Oh, I do it here and there. But, really.....daily! NOT!! I am an epic fail!!! I have been a Christian and a disciple of Christ since I was 7 and really following him as my LORD for dare I say it.....21 years.

So, the question I am pondering is "Why?". What are my "temptations" that she is referring to that would result in my poor consistency of hewing these pillars ? 

I am praying about this and trying to figure it out. I am thinking that it is just the daily humbug of life and the distractions of life and facebook. Seriously. What is the first think I do in the morning!!? I update my Facebook status....why? Because I am a narcissist. Isn't that what facebook is all about? Hearing myself spew out whatever comes to mind?!!

I am really praying and asking God for a woman to rise up and take me under her wings and hold me accountable and meet with me once a week to thoroughly study this Book (Wise Women Build Houses). It is the first book I have read in a LONG time that is really convicting me to draw deeper into the well of God's living water.

Broken, Adrienne

P.S. I started the next part on the roof....WOW. I figured that I needed to move on even though I am still stuck on hewing pillars. The roof part is really good and I will post on that next.

My NEW bookshelf

I found this "entertainment center" on Craigslist for $60. I sanded and stained it dark and had a friend cut 4 more shelves for it and VOILA! ...A new bookcase!

I desperately need it with my library growth. My bookshelves were overflowing and books were all over the place. It seemed that everywhere I stepped, there was a book. This shelf even has empty spots with room for more books!!! SSHHH.....Don't tell Brian that!

Hannah and I just finished reading the original Bambi ( not Disney) and it was great. She loved it. The personification of the animals was portrayed beautifully in this piece of literature.

We are now reading Howard Pyle's Wonderclock ( A collection of short stories)

I found this rare and beautiful set with all his wonderful illustrations such as:

           

Some of his other books include:

• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
• Men of Iron
• Otto of the Silver Hand
• The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (my personal favorite)

Whimsical Fairytale

As the infamous author of the smashing Harry Potter series says:

"The Little White Horse was my favorite childhood book. I absolutely adored it. It had a cracking plot. It was scary and romantic in parts and had a feisty heroine."  —J. K. Rowling

I wholeheartedly agree! But, there is so much more. The darling protagonist, Miss Maria Merryweather; the culinary genius, Marmaduke Scarlet; The exotic pets, the secret lost pearls, and the princess of Moonacre and the people of Silverydew....this story is genius! It is the perfect fairy tale with a happily ever-after ending.   

I just finished reading The Little White Horse to Hannah this morning. Each morning I found myself anxiously awaiting our time on the sofa so I could enter into the world of Silverdew and go on another adventure in search of answers to secrets and peace on earth. 

Elizabeth Goudge is one of my favorite authors. Often I will proclaim: "She is the most exquisite writer. She has the ability to write a sentence that is so exquisite, that I can read it 10 times and still delight in just that one sentence". Her stories are marvelous. The Little White Horse is particularly for children. My favorite book by her her is Green dolphin Street.

If you are looking for a whimsical fairytale, look no more. Even boys will like this one. Sure, there are pink roses and dainty pastries, but there are wild animals and mean poachers too. 

The newer copies of The Little White Horse have been revised (They dont say it, but they are). See if your library has an old copy. The one I own was published in 1980 by Gregg press and is filled with the wonderful illustrations by C. Walter Hodges that were in the original 1949 version. If you are unable to find these versions, go ahead and get the new paperback version. Eventhough the original writing of Miss goudge has been compromised, it is still a great book.

The UK made it into a movie last year called The Secret of Moonacre. Unfortunately, it is unavailable in the US at this time. I am keeping my fingers crossed because I like the cast.

Watch the movie trailer here and then go get the book and read it!

Fantastic website

http://www.portitude.org/

This website is amazing. If you want to get started on reading short stories or poetry or even fiction novels go here. Everything is FREE.

The website is laid out beautifully and is pleasing to the eye. I do not care to read much from the internet, I much prefer the hard copy in my hands. But, this website is nice.

They also have a wonderful resource of Art. Browse the art gallery and glance at the famous works of art by the brilliant of artists in history.

Go for it! Have fun. Read a short story. Revel in a poem. Gaze upon a masterpiece of art.

Field and Haystacks by Renoir ( from Portitude.org)

Honey for A Woman's Heart

I must admit the only reason I purchased this book was for the immense booklist contained within its pages. I am always on the lookout for another great read. I never expected to find such great delight in reading a book that recommends books!

Honey for a Woman's Heart by Gladys Hunt  is a breath of fresh air. Golden nuggets of wisdom and quotes fill the pages of each chapter. Thus sayeth these nuggets of truth:

"Words rightly used have the potential of making us shiver with pleasure. Words are a God idea...It is no small thing that God has made us word-partners with himself."

"With the power of words, God spoke and created the world. In a lesser sense, we also speak and create a world -- a world for someone else to live in."

"Mark Twain said that the person who doesn't read has no advantage over the person who can't read."

"Far from being an escape from reality, good literature is a window into reality."

"But the cheap use of words has invaded our world like a virus and infected nearly everyone. Why not call people to honor and protect language the same way we call people to protect the earth?"

"Books are wonderful ways to learn the possibilites of being human."

"Why should I read fiction if it is just made up? I read because it helps me pay attention to life. Reading good fiction is not simply a frivolous activity for those who aren't serious about life. I read because I am serious, and find that fiction says true things I might never hear any other way."

"Those who condemn fiction in general are usually not interested in reading anything that challenges their own comfort; they want to read books that tell them what they already know."

If this has encouraged you to pick up a good book...DO IT!! Run to your bookshelves, make a cup of tea or coffee, slip into your jammies and TURN OFF THE MEDIA! Go read your book for goodness sake! If you don't know where to start, order a copy of Honey for a Woman's Heart. It will inspire you and arm you with list to last a lifetime!

fish we found today

Today after much effort Hannah was able to capture 4 little pond fish to bring home for observation. Only 3 would show up for this photography session. I guess the other one was camera shy. The pond we took them from had tons of these in all sizes. The babies were easier to get at because they were really close to the shore. This particular pond is teeming with trout, so I am fairly certain they are baby trout. We used an aquarium fish net from Walmart and a 1 gallon tupperware container with a lid from Walmart.

First Nature outing for 2009 school year!

Today we had our first "official" nature study outing. It was fabulous. We went to Bethany Lakes Park in Allen by our the neighborhood we used to live in.

First we spotted many turtles and ducks. They were incessantly begging for food, so we crossed the street to Kroger and bought day old bread. This did the trick to get them close enough for pictures. We were quickly surrounded by about a dozen turtles and a few ducks.

While feeding the eager pond creatures, we spotted a beautiful white Egret that was hunting for food. We also found a marshy area with schools of little fish. They too devoured the bread, but were very hard to catch. We used a small aquarium net and 1 gallon clear plastic container with a lid. We filled our container with the pond water and desperately wanted to catch a few fish to take home for further study. Hannah was the successor in capturing some tiny fish. We now have 4 tiny fish ( minnows?) that we will take home and add to our pond snails. Pictures will post later.

Starting to blog again

It has been 9 months since I posted. I wish I could say this is because for the past nine months have been pregnant and too sick to blog. However, my excuses are really good. We had an estate sale and sold 80% of our belongings, we moved and we started over and had to buy all new stuff. I HATE shopping. It is such a chore and shopping for a new "look" ( we went from victorian to contemporary) was quite an undertaking.

We are settled in our 1400 SF apartment and thanks to IKEA and apartment sized furnishings, we fit quite nicely. We love it here.

In November, Brian started a new job selling and consulting for a CPA firm that sells, supports and installs accounting software for non-profits. His new job is only 7 miles from the apartment.

My newest "pleasure" reading book is a trilogy called The Hawk and The Dove by Penelope Wilcox. I LOVE it. I heartily recommend it. It is very interesting and follows the lives of several monks in the 1400s. The first 3 chapters were hard to get through. I am glad I did. I have a hard time putting it down now now. I am nearly finished with the 2nd book.

Here is what Amazon's product descrition had to say about this book: "Rich with imagery and emotion, this collection of captivating tales of a 13th century community reflect the timeless human drama of people learning to love and to accept God's grace. Though they belonged to another century, their struggles are our own--finding our niche; coping with failure; overcoming pride and anger, pain and insecurity; determining who we are before God. In their daily rhythm of work and worship, they discover that the whole of life is a love story about a tender and passionate God. "

Currently, Hannah and I are reading the Golden Goblet. I LOVE this book. I read it to Calvin and Lydia 4 years ago. It is great historical fiction for Egypt. It makes the history come alive. This is one of my favotire read-a-loud adventure historical fictions. GREAT for boys!!!!!

Hannah and I are just finishing TODAY a WONDERFUL MUST READ to children book. Last year we saw the family film and loved the movie so much, I knew we had to read the book. The movie was spot on too. We are getting the movie in the mail from Netflix today and will be watching it again tonight. PLEASE READ this book to your kids. It is so excellent. the Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John is about mistakes, revenge, and forgiveness. I cannot begin to express how good this story is. I tear up everyday when I am reading to Hannah.

I hope to post more regularly. I love books, and my purpose for this blog is to share my thoughts about books that I am currently reading. I carefully choose my books, so I hope that I can heartily recommend all the books that I post on this blog.

Livin in JOY,

Adrienne

finished Lilith

I finished Lilith. WOW. This is the most amazing fantasy book. Brian is reading it now. He agrees that it is a crazy tale. George MacDonald has an amazing imagination.

The twists and turns are strange and interesting, but it all comes together at the end.

To read Lilith on-line in its entirety you can go to this cool website. It also lists tons of other writings, non-fiction, poems, sermons, fiction, etc written by MacDonald

http://www.george-macdonald.com/etexts.htm

Elizabeth is reading one of his children's books called The Princess and The Goblin. This can be read on the etext website too.

update on reading Lilith

I must say that since I am on about page 100 Lilith is not for kids. It is very deep spiritually and very abstract. Children under age 12 would probably get very confused.

It is EXELLENT. I keep telling my husband...this is such a good book. You have to read it.

I recommend it to all who liked Lord of The Rings. It has a strangeness to it that Tolkien had. It is stranger though. It is so deep spiritually. I get to all kinds of golden nuggets and stop and ponder. He writes in such a beautiful style. I am trying to figure out where the story is going...which is why I cant put it down.

Here is an example where theology is being spoken in the story:

" 'How then am I to make use of your hospitality?' I asked. 'By accepting it to the full'. He answered. ' I do not understand.' ' In this house no wakes of himself'. 'Why?' 'Because no one anywhere ever wakes of himself. You can wake yourself no more than you can make yourself'."

My comment on this quote:
This is acually quite true. The only one who can wake us out of our spiritual deadness is the Lord. He beckons us to accept his hospitatlity and come rest in him. But, so often we are afraid and reject his invitation to come out of our wretched state of death dwelling! In the story, this appears to be exactly what the main character is wrestling with. It is so well written. I hope you will buy the book and read it.

Adrienne

For the Love of George MacDonald

I love his books. His imagination and ability to write amazes me.

I just bought Lilith by George MacDonald from Amazon. I started it today and can't put it down. It is kind of scary and I think it would be a great Steven Speilberg movie. Anyhow..have any of you read it?

It has a forward by CS Lewis that is an exerpt from his book called: George Macdonald: An Anthology : 365 Readings.

Lewis says of George MacDonald's writing " It arouses the sensations we have never had before, never anticipated having, as though we had broken out of our normal mode of consciuosness and possessed joys not promised to our birth. It gets under our skin, hits us at a level deeper than our thougths or even our passions, troubles oldest certainties till all questions are opened and in general shocks us more fully awake than we are for most of our lives".

I am at chapter 5 and currently, I am seeing where CS Lewis may have gotten his idea for the wardrobe in The Narnia series. If you look at the cover of Lilith there is a mirror on the front page that transports the protagonist into another world.

Fabulous (must read) Read-A-Louds:

ALL books by Kate DiCamillo... GREAT for reading a-loud. We LOVED The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and TheTale of Desperaux. http://www.katedicamillo.com/

Dr. Doolittle series

Series of Unfortunate Events GREAT read-alouds. Very well written and not scary. Kids did not want me to stop reading. We read the first book in one night!

The Cricket on Times Square

Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom by Henry Winterfield ( I don't remember which books is first) They are fun and teach Roman life through a GREAT mystery for kids.


The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos (This is the BEST Child's Bible in existence...you need to own this)

The Lost Princess: A Double Story by George MacDonald ...especially good to read to girls

At The Back of The North Wind by George MacDonald

Wind in the Willows

All books by Beatrix Potter

The House At Pooh Corner

Charlotte's Web

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden (my favorite picture book)

Stranger in the Woods by Carl J. Samms III and Jean Stoick ( fabulous photographs set to a darling story)

James Herriot's Treasury For Children ( short stories about his adventure with animals as a veterinarian)

The Runaway by Patricia St. John ( Moody) Out of print... buy it if you can find it. You will want to read this to the kids at some point....especially around Easter. FABULOUSLY makes the story of Jesus healing the demon possesed girl come to life.

Vinegar Boy ( another Easter story)

Roald Dahl books are so fun to read aloud. His style lends itself to being read out loud. He has lots of short stories and many of his longer ones are made into terrible movies that I hated. His style of writing is so fun to read to the kids. I loved The Twits.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

From The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett

The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

I have a BLOG!

Calvin created a Blog for me. This is fun. FYI: HSF MOM is my blog name. Can you guess what it means?
Home
School
Frea(k)s
Mom

We call our selves this as a fun joke in our family. My kids came up with this for my blog name.

I look forward to using this to post my favorite books and movies, since those are my favorite hobbies.

Currently, I am reading The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall-Smith. My mom, my sister and I are all reading it together. This will be a good place for us to comment to each other about the book.

I am reading BOY by Roald Dahl aloud to the kids for fun. I also am reading various James Herriot Stories a-loud to the kids. Hannah and I are doing shared reading out loud the Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe.

The kids and I are getting a kick out of watching The Alfred Hitchcock Presents OLD episodes on our Netflix "Watch it now" on the computer. They have to finish all their school to get to watch them.

We are also watching All Creatures Great and Small (to go with the James Herriot books) series from the library. It is quite amazing how well the books match the lines that they act in the show. They did a great job on this film series.