bekahcubed

Categories Reflections

Risen and Reigning

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Last Sunday, a small group of us gathered around our dining room table to repeat the ancient words and complete the ancient rituals.

We lifted the matzoh after supper and remembered the One who had declared this His body, slain for us. We contemplated the stripes, the piercings. We reflected on the lamb no longer killed each spring because the Lamb has been slain once for all.

We look upon the cross, the crux of history. We look upon the One slain, hanging there, giving His body. We break the bread and eat it.

We lifted the cup after supper and remembered the One who had declared this His blood, spilled for us for the remission of sins.

We look upon the cross, the crux of history. We look upon the One slain, hanging there, spilling His blood. We rejoice to drink the cup of redemption.

The Haggadah quickly took us to Psalms of praise. We recited the Dayenu (check out my comment on Lisa’s post for a brief description of Dayenu). We sang of the cross.

Then our cross-eyes moved forward as we poured the fourth cup – the cup of rejoicing. We recalled that Jesus did not drink this cup. He was to complete the cup of redemption that next day – the cup of rejoicing was still to come. Jesus announced that He would not drink the cup of rejoicing, but that cup stayed before His eyes.

The author of Hebrews tells us the Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb 12:2 ESV). He looked past the shame of the cross with which He worked redemption to the joy of the cup that was to come.

This Sunday, we celebrated Easter. We sang that “Christ the Lord is risen today – Hallelujah.” The choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus with orchestral accompaniment. This swelled my chest and made me burst with joy, but it wasn’t this that brought tears to my eyes.

Instead, it was a song that I’m not particularly fond of, but one that included the refrain “Worthy is the Lamb.”

My eyes moved past the cross to the throne room of God, where four living creatures and twenty-four elders fall on their faces before a Lamb who was slain but now stands. I hear them sing together

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

~Revelation 5:12 (ESV)

Jesus Christ died, was risen, now sits enthroned in heaven.

My mind is transported to where He is and I set the fourth cup before me.

I hear the One testifying “Surely I am coming soon” and, with John, my soul cries out “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.”

For the Lamb who was slain is risen and reigning in heaven. May He come to reign on earth as He is in heaven.

Categories B3RD

Planning for a healthy pregnancy (Part 2)

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So you’ve been working through my prepregnancy list. You’ve got all those bad habits squashed and you’ve reached a healthy weight.

Or maybe, like me, you don’t have any bad habits to quit and your BMI is already between 20 and 30.

You’re (We’re) not off the hook yet. There’s more.

3. Get any pre-existing medical conditions under control

Are you currently on any medications? If so, it’s worthwhile to talk to your doctor and make sure they’re safe for use during pregnancy. If possible, it’s nice to switch to pregnancy-safe medications prior to trying to become pregnant–it can save you the grief of struggling to figure out how to get things under control while your hormones are swinging in early pregnancy (and reduce the chances of your baby being exposed to something potentially harmful while in utero.)

What if you’re not on any medications at present? That’s great, as long as that means that you’re healthy. But if you have asthma, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, lupus, phenylketonurea, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or thyroid conditions that aren’t being treated (or not being treated optimally), you could be putting your pregnancy at risk. If you have any of these conditions (or suspect that you have any of these conditions), it’s best to schedule a preconception appointment with your doctor to make sure everything’s under control.

Additionally, if you or your partner have ever had sex with anyone other than each other, you should have a gynecological exam and get tested for sexually transmitted infections. Getting evaluated and treated prior to pregnancy can make a big difference in the health of your pregnancy.

For my part, I have a thyroid condition, so I knew I wanted to make sure I was taking an optimum dose of replacement hormones. I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to get a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and free T4 test done to check on the adequacy of my thyroid hormones. It looks like I’m doing well now, but I also know that I need to go in for another test as soon as I find out I’m pregnant as dose-changes during pregnancy are very common and can make a big difference to baby’s health.

I’m also on an antidepressant, so I knew I needed to take a look at that too. Depression during pregnancy can be dangerous to mom and baby’s health since depression often leads to a host of unhealthy behaviors, so it’s important that depression be under control. At the same time, antidepressant medications may pose some risk to the baby. For that reason, it’s important to balance the cost and benefits of medicating for depression during pregnancy. If counseling or behavioral techniques are sufficient to manage your depression, that’s fantastic. Otherwise, you want to be on the lowest dose of the safest type of medication that will manage your depression. In general, the safest types of antidepressants are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), medications like Prozac and Zoloft. Since my medication is an SSRI, I can stay with my current medication, but I want to find the lowest effective dose. The thing with psychoactive medications, though, is that they can’t just be cut off cold turkey. You need to talk with your doctor about the best way to taper your dose. The plan my doctor and I came up with was that I’d take a full pill every other day with a half pill on the opposite day for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, if my depression was still under control, I could move to a half pill every day, and so on and so forth. Depending on which medication you’re taking and the severity of your symptoms, your doctor may recommend another regimen.

My final medical condition that needed to be checked out was allergies. Grrr. Allergies.

About a third of women experience an increase in allergy symptoms during pregnancy. Another third see no difference in allergy symptoms. The final fortunate third experience a decrease in allergy symptoms. Since my allergies are currently awful, I have a 67% chance that I’ll still have awful allergies during pregnancy. Which means that it would do me well to get them under control (in a pregnancy-safe way) now.

The first step was evaluating what I was already taking and determining whether those medications were pregnancy-safe.

  • Guaifenesin (Mucinex)-an expectorant, safety in pregnancy unknown. This is nice but not absolutely required to control my allergy symptoms. I can just drink lots of water or hot tea to keep my fluids running. I chose to discontinue this and use those non-drug options.
  • Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed)-a decongestant, generally considered safe during pregnancy but not recommended for breastfeeding. Decongestants dry up body fluids, including cervical mucous (which is helpful when you’re trying to get pregnant) and breastmilk. Which means I could benefit from going off the psuedoephedrine now. To manage nasal congestion, I’m now taking an inhaled corticosteroid, which doesn’t have systemic effects (and therefore isn’t as risky for either pregnancy or breastfeeding.)
  • Fexofenadine (Allegra)-an antihistamine, safety in pregnancy unknown. I tried going without and just using the inhaled corticosteroid–but my eyes itch and my sinuses plug, so I have to stay on some sort of antihistamine. The doctor recommended cetirizine (Zyrtec) or loratadine (Claritan), two better studied antihistamines. For now, I’m experimenting with cetirizine, trying to see if I can manage the drowsy side effect by adjusting what time I take it. If that doesn’t work, I may have to go with Claritan (less safe and, at least when I used it back in high school, not very effective for me).

Your process, depending on what sort of medications you’re on or what conditions you’re treating, may be a little different. But the general steps you and your doctor will want to take will be:

  1. Evaluate the risks associated with a poorly controlled condition
    For example, uncontrolled hypothyroidism or diabetes can be horrible for the baby. Uncontrolled respiratory allergies? Not so much unless they’re accompanied by uncontrolled asthma. In my case, I’m going without a lot of my allergy meds because the only risk is decreased quality of life for me. If I start having more asthma episodes once I’m pregnant? I’ll probably be ramping back on to some more serious allergy meds
  2. Evaluate the risks associated with your current medication regimen
    Depending on the risks of your current medication regimen and the process you went through to get to your current regimen (for example, if you tried multiple medications before you found one that adequately controlled your condition), your doctor may decide that no changes to your medications are needed. On the other hand, your doctor may want to try some lower-risk alternatives to your current regimen.
  3. Adjust medications to maximize benefits and minimize risks
    Especially if you’re taking a high risk medication and haven’t tried a lower risk one, your doctor will probably try either switching to a lower risk one or adjusting your dose down to find the lowest possible risk (from medication) while still maintaining adequate control (to avoid risk from an uncontrolled medical condition.)

This step can be a long one, depending on what kind of medical conditions you have and what kind of medicines you’re on. That’s why it’s worthwhile to set up a preconception appointment as soon as you start thinking about trying to become pregnant.

And yes, I’m still not done. I’m guessing there’ll be one or two more installments in the planning section–and then, who knows, maybe I’ll be able to talk a bit about post-planning pregnancy health :-)

Categories Reflections

Trade Offs

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Every yes we say carries with it a dozen nos.

By saying yes to one activity, I say no to a dozen others.

By saying yes to one purchase, I say no to a dozen more.

By saying yes to one career path, I say no to a dozen others.

Every choice I make to includes the choice to not.

All of us make trade-offs. It’s a part of our finite lives.

We do not have infinite time or money or energy. And every choice we make reminds us of our limits.

I was telling Daniel about a case I had once, of a man with dysgeusia (bad taste in the mouth). I’d run through every possible cause for his dysgeusia and ruled out or fixed everything. He was barely eating and was losing weight quickly, so I knew I had to do something. I spent some time researching and finally decided to go out on a limb. We supplemented him with zinc (a therapy with only tenuous research behind it) on the off-chance that it might help (between his current iron supplements and his copious milk intake, I knew the odds were high that his absorption of zinc were altered, so it wasn’t entirely a stab in the dark.)

The man still complained of dysgeusia after initiating the zinc, but his intake improved and his weight started to stabilize. I considered it a success.

Hearing this story, Daniel asked me quite seriously: “It sounds like you did a lot of problem solving in your old job. Do you miss that?”

I confessed that yes, I did. I loved researching problems, figuring out root causes, applying treatments to fix problems. But that doesn’t mean I want to go back to my old job.

The problem-solving was fun, but that wasn’t the bulk of what I did. The bulk of what I did was paperwork, myriads and myriads of government paperwork. I worked 60+ hour weeks. I drove an hour to get to my job a couple times a week. I was barely at home.

At my current job, I spend little time problem-solving. Or, to clarify, I spend little time digging into things that are a mystery for me. I spend a lot of time helping mothers problem-solve, but the majority of the time, the problem (and its solutions) are fairly clear to me after conducting a detailed nutrition assessment. My role is to help mom understand the cause of her child’s problem, and to suggest (or help her develop) strategies to deal with this cause. So I don’t get the same intellectual stimulation of researching problems and coming up with underlying causes and researching potential solutions.

But I spend the bulk of my time actually helping people, instead of doing paperwork. I work just 40 hours a week. I drive home on my lunch break. I’ll take this less-intellectually-stimulating job any day.

That’s a trade-off I’m willing to make.

We finished up our Sunday School on marriage and had a Q&A session with the facilitators (a trio of married couples). I asked a question about how having their first children impacted their marriages and what they did (or would have done) to strengthen their marriages during the young-children phase.

The facilitators gave some direct responses to my question, as did some of our classmates. Others reminded us to enjoy the season we’re in right now, before kids. Many mentioned, in these reminders, the things they haven’t been able to do because they had children early in their marriages: trips they can’t go on, things they can’t buy. I understood what they were trying to say–to take the time to relish new married life without always looking ahead to the next season. But I also considered how there aren’t trips I wish to go on, things I wish to buy.

In fact, when I consider buying things or going on trips after our student loans are paid off and before we have children, my stomach turns as I consider having to continue working a job longer than the current plan demands.

For now, I’m working to pay off student loans so that we can have the financial freedom to do many of the things we want to do (have children, adopt or foster, have me stay at home). For this, I give the best part of my day, most of my energy to my job. The trade-off is that I get home and have little of my day, little energy left for my home – the place I really want to be, the role I really relish.

Once loans are paid off, the benefit of extra money in the bank or extra stuff in our lives pales in comparison with the loss of my best energy, my 40 hours a week.

I turned to Daniel and said, “That’s it, once we pay off loans, whether I’m pregnant or not, I quit my job.”

That isn’t really it. We’ll discuss it when and if that situation arises. It may be that the trade-offs will look different at that point. Maybe adoption will look like our immediate plan and applying my salary to save for adoption expenses will be worthwhile. Maybe it’ll be something completely unanticipated.

Regardless, every yes is also a no, every choice a reminder that we are finite beings, making trade-offs trying to maximize the time we have.

But oh, how I long for eternity, when there will be time enough that my yeses are not also nos.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

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It’s not that I don’t like poetry – I just like clarity more.

And Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts is long on one and short on the other.

Having read a few of Voskamp’s blog posts, I was familiar with her style – sentence fragments, simultaneous run-ons, metaphors that carry through paragraphs and suddenly morph. I knew already that I could only handle her in rather small doses, but that when I did read a dose, I was often encouraged.

If I’d have been expecting a Christian living book, a how-to of some sort or a theology, I’d have been sorely disappointed. Because One Thousand Gifts is neither of these. It is a memoir, written in free verse, of a woman whose life was transformed as she began to practice “eucharisto” (thankfulness).

As such, it is lovely. It is a meandering book, best read slowly over the course of many weeks. I took the full three months the library allowed to read through it. I savored pretty turns of phrase and reflected not on the thoughts conveyed but on the gratitude displayed.

So long as I did that, I loved it.

The problem came in whenever I tried to think about it.

Having read One Thousand Gifts, I have no idea what Voskamp’s theology really is. I know that she quotes some people I respect greatly, theological giants – but she also quotes mystics whose connection to Biblical Christianity is questionable at best. Voskamp hints at some understanding of the cross, of God’s sovereignty – but she spends much more of her time discussing the mystical idea that eucharisto somehow makes things happen.

Yet I’m not sure if it is a mystical idea to her, or if I merely perceive it that way because of the poetical writing style. Does she really believe that eucharisto is some sort of lucky charm, that entices miracles into being (as she seems to suggest when she repeatedly references Jesus giving thanks and then feeding 5000)? I do not know.

And that’s the difficulty with reviewing this book.

It’s not that I don’t like poetry – I just like clarity more.

And Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts is long on one and short on the other.

That said, I think it is worthwhile to note that reading this book has inspired me to take more notice of the gifts God has given me throughout the day to day. For that, I am thankful.

Rating: 3 stars
Category: Spiritual Memoir
Synopsis: Ann Voskamp is transformed as she begins living a life of eucharisto, listing the gifts God has given her.
Recommendation: If you like Voskamp’s style, it’s worthwhile to read and be reminded to be thankful. If you don’t like her style or know that you’ll be frustrated by theological ambiguity, go ahead and skip it.

Categories Following Christ

Stagnant

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I was reading some of my old posts, some of those posts from the summer I met Daniel, when I was steeping in 1 John and dealing with idols and having my love transformed.

It made me ache. A hollow sort of ache. A how-have-I-lost, what-have-I-lost, where-have-I-gone sort of ache.

I miss seeing God on the pages of Scripture, miss hearing His voice as I read. I miss the intense focused dependence, the desperate knowledge that I needed God above anything else.

What was a flowing fountain has become a stagnant pool, but how did it get here and how can I restore this sullied spring?

I need Elisha’s salt to heal the waters of my heart, so that they would no longer cause death or miscarriage (2 Kings 2:19-22). But where is such salt to be found? Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah, who brings life to dead bones?

I need the water that in me becomes a a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).

So I come to the one who promises drink, the one who promises to cause my heart to flow out with rivers of living water.

I declare that I believe, help my unbelief.

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”‘ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

~John 7:37-39 (ESV)

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

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Elizabeth Goudge’s The Little White Horse is a children’s fantasy book curiously set up in twelve chapters with 3-5 parts each.

In the first chapter, we set the stage and introduce a few of the main characters: newly orphaned thirteen-year-old Maria Merryweather, Maria’s governess (who suffers from indigestion and eats very delicately), Maria’s dog Wiggins (who lives to eat), the enormous Sir Benjamin with whom Maria is now going to live, Sir Benjamin’s enormous not-quite-dog Wrolf, and two individuals whom Maria’s governess is sure are entirely imaginary. Goudge’s descriptions here in chapter one are delightful.

“It was indigestion that had ruined her nose, not overindulgence. She never complained of her indigestion, she just endured it, and it was because she never complained that she was so misunderstood by everyone except Maria. Not that she had ever mentioned her indigestion even to Maria, for she had been brought up by her mother to believe that it is the mark of a True Gentlewoman never to say anything to anybody about herself ever. But Miss Heliotrope’s passion for peppermints was in the course of time traced by the discerning Maria to its proper source.

So distressing was Miss Heliotrope’s nose, set in the surrounding pallor of her thin pale face…

But chapter one also introduces us to Mysteries–Mysteries that compound over the course of the book, one partially resolving to unveil yet another yawning one. What is it about the little white horse that Maria sees when she first arrives, which Sir Benjamin seems to recognize, but which is never seen again? Why has their not been a woman in Sir Benjamin’s house for 20 years, and who keeps the house so clean and prepares Maria’s clothes each morning? Why do the Black Men of the forests of Moonacre wreak such havoc on the inhabitants of the area?

Of course, Maria manages to eventually figure out the mysteries and solve every problem Moonacre has, all the while picking up an entourage of adoring people and animals. And everyone gets married in the end.

This was my first reading of The Little White Horse, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The story was engaging, a light little escape into a fantasy world where I knew everything would turn out all right in the end.

That said, I spent plenty of time suspending disbelief. When every person takes to Maria immediately and starts disclosing deep secrets. When Maria’s stories, invented on the spur of the moment to get her out of difficulty, turn out to be true. When Maria gets married at age 13.

Yes, that’s right. Among the three marriages that occur at the end of the book are 13-year-old Maria’s marriage to her beloved once-presumed-to-be-imaginary-friend who used to visit her in London (for real but while he was dreaming in Moonacre?)

Yeah, plenty of suspension of disbelief. I nodded all the way through Carrie’s review. That said, I still liked it. I just did.

I wouldn’t mind owning a copy. I wouldn’t mind reading it out loud to my children at some point. I would point out that getting married at 13 is not at all the thing.

Rating: 3 stars
Category: Children’s fantasy
Synopsis: A fun, frivolous fantasy in which an orphaned girl sets things aright in Moonacre, her cousin’s ancestral property.
Recommendation: Read, but be prepared to suspend disbelief

I read this as a part of Carrie’s Reading to Know Classics Book Club Check out what other bloggers are saying about this book there.

Categories B3RD

Planning for a healthy pregnancy (Part 1)

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By the time I see a pregnant woman, there’s only a very limited amount we can do.

We can manage nausea and try to have appropriate weight gain. We can make sure she doesn’t get listeriosis. We can treat her anemia. We can try to get her blood sugars back under control. But generally, we’re too far behind to make a significant difference.

If we really wanted as healthy a pregnancy as possible, we’d have needed to start before she got pregnant–not at 20 weeks along.

So, say you’re thinking about having a baby…what are the first steps you should take to plan for a healthy pregnancy?

1. Quit bad habits

If you smoke, you’re currently starving your body’s organs of oxygen. If you get pregnant while you’re smoking, you’ll be starving baby of oxygen. Womb-asphyxiated babies don’t grow as well–they are more likely to be born prematurely and more likely to be born small, both of which increase the risk for a whole slew of problems in infancy and beyond. Stop smoking before you start trying.

If you use illegal drugs, cut it out. Cocaine, meth, and narcotics all increase the risk of low birthweight and preterm birth. Think that’s not so bad? Low birthweight and preterm birth are the single leading cause of infant death. Furthermore, your baby can get addicted to those drugs in utero–and when they start going through withdrawal in the delivery room? You’re going to get your baby taken away.

Think marijuana’s okay? It’s legal in two states, so it’s fine, right? Think again. Marijuana use increases risk of at least two different types of congenital heart disease–and there’s plenty we don’t know about how marijuana affects pregnancy. It’s not worth the risk.

What about alcohol? If you’re drinking under the recommended amount for women (no more than once a day with no more than one drink on any given occasion), you don’t need to worry too much about this one in the preconception period. But if you’re dependent on alcohol or are used to consuming more than one drink at a time, now’s the time to rein this in to within the recommended amount for women. Since you’re going to be quitting drinking entirely once you start trying, it wouldn’t hurt if you were to cut back beyond the recommendations at this point.

I know that a lot of you are breathing a sigh of relief at this point. You’re good to start trying, you might be thinking.

But there’s more.

2. Attain a healthy weight

There are plenty of people who have their personal tiffs with BMI (myself included), but it does have some value. When we look at BMI as a predictor of pregnancy outcome, we do see an increased risk with both high and low BMIs. The risk of miscarriage is more than doubled in women with BMIs over 30, while women who have BMIs between 25 and 30 are at only slightly increased risk of having a miscarriage. Obesity (defined as a BMI above 30) also increases risk of having an infant born with a neural tube defect. Furthermore, obesity is frequently associated with a host of metabolic and cardiovascular abberations that can cause complications during pregnancy (predisposition to diabetes and hypertension among them). On the other hand, having too low a BMI has problems of its own. Women whose prepregnancy BMIs were below 20 have an increased risk of delivering a baby prematurely (which I’ve already mentioned leads to a whole host of other complications).

The good news is that you can do something about these risks. By attaining a healthy weight prior to pregnancy, you can improve your chances of having a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.

So, check out your BMI. If you’re under 20, start working on gaining weight. If you’re over 30, start working on losing weight.

I know, that last bit isn’t as easy as it sounds. If readers are interested, I’m willing to go into a bit more depth on the best approaches for losing or gaining weight prepregnancy–but this information isn’t dramatically different than normal healthy weight gain/weight loss strategies, so I was thinking to focus more specifically on the items that are more specific to pregnancy in this particular series.

And I’m now up to over 600 words with a bazilliondy things left to mention, so we’ve got ourselves a series :-)

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (March 2014)

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Thanks to getting my final two wisdom teeth out last Thursday, I’ve had opportunity to get caught up on some reading this past weekend. I have not had much time to blog about said reading. So this is all I’ve got for the month!

This month, I read:

  • Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography by William Anderson
    A very nice biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, written at a reading level similar to that of the Little House books. See my full review here.
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder Country by William Anderson
    A nice little book with photographs of the actual places where Laura lived and some of the actual items described in the Little House books.
  • June by Lori Copeland
    Completing a series I began long ago–this one struck me as not very well written at all. Still, I like Christian romances sometimes-especially when I’m recovering from oral surgery :-)
  • Discover your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen
    A nice look at the economics of everyday life. This is less sensational and more informative than the well-known Freakanomics, which belongs to the same genre. If you’re interested in economics and human behavior, this is an excellent book on the topic.
  • The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
    I read this for the first time with this month’s Reading to Know Classics Book Club–and enjoyed it a good deal. It required serious suspension of disbelief and was certainly an off-the-cuff fantasy as opposed to a well-reasoned one, but it was fun and I liked it. I’ll review it in more depth later.
  • The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
    I expected this one to be a Regency, but it turned out to be set a century or so before. Nevertheless, it was a highly enjoyable romp that involved an affair of honor, a highwayman, a kidnapping, a love triangle, and a long-lost heir. It took me a while to get interested in the characters, since I met at least a half dozen before I could figure out which direction the tale was taking–but I’m glad I stuck it out.
  • Program Your Baby’s Health by Barbara Luke and Tamara Eberlein
    Not a terrible prenatal program, but not a great one either. It was written to 2004 and the research on healthy pregnancy has advanced quite a bit since that time. The biggest flaw with this particular program was the advice to restrict physical activity during pregnancy–advice that showed up in nearly every chapter. This one was the most readable of the several books I’ve looked at on prenatal programming, but I can’t really recommend it due to its out-of-date recommendations.
  • Empires of Mesopotamia by Don Nardo
    A very nice little book detailing the various empires of Mesopotamia from Sumer to the Second Babylonian Empire. I was impressed by how well-written and laid out this was, but a little surprised that it had been filed in the adult non-fiction section of the library. I’d say it’s perfect for a late-elementary or early-Middle School introduction to Mesopotamia.
  • Ancient Persia by Don Nardo
    A look at the empire immediately following the Second Babylonian Empire, by the same author as Empires of Mesopotamia. Certain parts echoed the previous book heavily–although this was written at an even lower reading level (early-elementary, I’d say) and filed in the children’s section at my local library
  • The 1920s edited by John F. Wukovits
    I grabbed this title to give me a bit more context on Calvin Coolidge (my husband’s favorite president) and found this to be a perfect introduction to the ’20s. The book is a series of chapter-long excerpts from other biographies and histories of the era–which meant it was easy to read in segments, and gave tastes of a number of authors’ styles (making me kinda want to read some of the books from which the excerpts were drawn.)
  • Williamsburg: a picture book to remember her by
    A book of photographs of Colonial Williamsburg. I wanted to get a taste of what to expect when we travel to Williamsburg this fall with Daniel’s family–and I’m getting really excited to see all those historic buildings and the craftsmen and craftswomen within!

Still in Progress:

  • One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
  • To-Do List by Sasha Cagen

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!

What's on Your Nightstand?

Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Little Things

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Thankful Thursday banner

There are plenty of big things that I could thank God for, but sometimes it’s the little things that stick out the most.

This week I’m thankful…

…for compliments
I wore a springy green tiered skirt and a teal shirt today, topped off with a blue and green beaded belt and some blue dangly earrings. I worried a bit that my outfit would be a bit too informal for work–but lost my worries when several of my coworkers complimented my outfit. How nice!

…for humbling moments
At lunch, I shed my white ballet flats and curled up on the couch to write my grocery list. When I was done, I slipped my shoes back on and got in the car for work. As I was walking in the door, I looked down and realized that I hadn’t slipped the white ballet flats on–I’d slipped just ONE white ballet flat on. The other was a hot pink ballet flat from yesterday. Of course, there was too little time to return home–and since Thursday is grocery shopping day, I got plenty of weird looks as I went to my three different grocery stores to fill my list.

Two Different Shoes

…for bloody butchers
I started some tomato and pepper seeds several weeks ago and have been faithfully watering and lighting them since–but hadn’t seen anything until a few days ago, when three little hybrid tomato seedlings sprouted. A little was better than nothing, but I’d hoped for more (I planted 6 seeds each of four different types). Then today, I looked at lunch to find two little seedlings popping out. The heirloom “Bloody Butcher” tomatoes had sprouted. This evening, I looked again and saw another two sprouts. Yay!

Seeds Sprouting

…for Facebook conversations
I posted my excitement regarding my bloody butchers on Facebook, and got responses from my sister-in-law, a cousin, my mother, and an aunt. The ensuing conversation was a delight. I’m so thankful I have opportunity to connect with family this way.

…for an expected package arriving unexpectedly
The UPS man arrived during my lunch, dropping off two packages for Daniel Garcia. I didn’t know Daniel had bought anything recently, so I texted him to ask him about the two packages that appeared to be books. (I didn’t open the packages like I normally would because it IS my birthday tomorrow, and I wouldn’t want to ruin a planned surprise). Daniel figured he knew what one of them would be, but not the other. When we got home this evening, we opened them both to find that one was…the copy of Megan McCardle’s The Up Side of Down that I’d won from Carrie’s giveaway. The publisher apparently doesn’t go for the formal and dropped the “Mrs.” before the “Daniel Garcia” in my address :-P

The Up Side of Down

…for repurposed curry
Once upon a time, I had a chicken curry recipe that had much more “sauce” than we could use with the meat. I got the brilliant idea of turning the sauce into a soup and my newest recipe-creation-craze began. This Tuesday, I made coconut crusted chicken (a kinda Indian curry) for Happy Food – and, for ease of preparation, used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of the whole chicken parts I’d used the last time I made it. The boneless skinless breasts had apparently been injected with significantly more saline than the whole chicken had, because I ended up with flavorful crusty meat on top–and six or seven cups worth of sauce (it’s supposed to be a dry fried-chicken type recipe!) I decided I’d repurpose this one–and did so by simply adding fresh basil and zucchini and pouring it over rice. Voila – from Indian curry to Thai fusion in twenty minutes.

…for this man
Daniel
It’s hard to believe that we’ve now been married a year. A year out and we’re still newlyweds. I asked him if he’d be up for a walk tonight – he said he was. We walked to the liquor store down the street (can’t buy alcohol in grocery stores in Wichita) to get a wine for the stew recipe I’ve been wanting to try. Then we walked to the Braums a little further ’round the block to get milk and buttermilk. We held hands and talked and enjoyed the lovely weather. I am a most blessed woman.

Looking at what I’ve written so far, I realize I’ve only mentioned today’s thankfulnesses-actually only a segment of today’s thankfulness. I haven’t mentioned a conversation about midwifery, reading a devotional before bed, getting a good deal on vitamins. I haven’t mentioned the good evaluation at work or the prospect of Pizza Hut pizza and my favorite wine for my birthday tomorrow. I haven’t mentioned time to read and fascinating conversations sparked by books. I haven’t rejoiced in the research I’ve been able to complete or the breakthroughs some clients have had.

Yet I have so much to be thankful for. Maybe I should start writing a thousand gifts list, like Ann Voskamp (still working on reading it, will give opinions when done.) Maybe I should start recording ten thousand.

“The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul, worship His holy name
Sing like never before, O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name

You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul, worship His holy name
Sing like never before, O my soul
I’ll worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore”

~Matt Redman “Ten Thousand Reasons”

Categories Book Notes

The Prairie, Revisited

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Someday, I’m going to be a pioneer. I’ll travel in a covered wagon, settle on an empty prairie, build a log cabin with timber cut from the creek bed. I’ll cut notches in the logs and carefully set notch upon notch, climbing the corners of the cabin to build it higher and higher.

It’s been a dream of mine since my earliest days, those days when I first read Little House on the Prairie.

But while I’ve been able to accomplish some of the childhood dreams elicited by books, I have not accomplished this particular one-and likely never will.

The closest I’ll get will be building Lincoln log houses with children.

And that’s okay.

I was struck, rereading Little House on the Prairie for the first time in several years, with how much of the book is focused on the mechanics of building a home from scratch–but also much I missed of the rest of the book.

I never caught, on my early readings, just how tenuous the Ingalls’ resettlement was. Pa heard a rumor that Indian territory would be opening for settlement, so he uprooted his family and moved in. Despite there being plenty of non-Indian land around, Pa settled within an Indian reservation–knowing that it was an Indian reservation. He considered it to be just a matter of time before the Indians would be resettled. That’s what happens when white men move forward, he assumed; the Indians move on to make place for them. And of course the US government would back up the white settlers who were squatting on Indian land. Of course.

It’s astonishing to think. How can someone (who isn’t desperate) know that the land they’re living on belongs to someone else but yet still choose to build upon it in hopes that they’ll come out on top in the end?

In some ways, Pa seems so advanced in his views of Indians. He didn’t hate them or fear them, he tended towards the “noble savage” viewpoint (which I definitely had as a child, at least in part obtained from the Little House books). Yet his attitude in settlement was almost like many would treat wild animals. Yes, suburban sprawl will impact the native animal population, but people are more important than animals and the animals will move to other places and adapt.

It’s challenging, revisiting the prairie through these new eyes.

My view of Little House on the Prairie has also changed now that I am married and have moved from being near my family to be with my husband. In the months leading up to our marriage, Daniel and I talked of various directions our life could take-of different educational and professional routes Daniel could take, of different places we might end up living. I blithely told Daniel that I would follow him anywhere.

And it’s true. I will follow him anywhere.

But, having moved once to follow him, my determination to follow him anywhere has much more fear attached.

The move to Wichita has not been easy for me. I battled a depression over this past year that was more severe than any I have battled before. I am now finally, one year out, starting to find my balance. The thought of uprooting again terrifies me.

I can’t help but think of Caroline Ingalls as I read Little House on the Prairie. I imagine how hard it must have been for her, leaving her family and “civilization”, spending months without anyone to talk to but her husband and their children, just starting to establish a home when news comes that you must move again.

I wonder if she felt more sorrow or more relief when it became clear that they must not stay, that they would need to backtrack, that they would return to Wisconsin. Was she sorrowful because of the year lost, the work done and left for others to enjoy? Or was she elated to be returning back to her family, to the little house they once loved? And what was she thinking when Pa’s wanderlust struck again later (when they left for the banks of Plum Creek)?

It’s interesting, revisiting old places and seeing them through older, more mature eyes.

I wondered at the beginning of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge if I wouldn’t try to make something from Little House on the Prairie, like I did with Little House in the Big Woods a couple years ago. I didn’t. The closest I got was creating some log cabin quilt blocks for a quilt for a soon expected nephew and building log cabins with Lincoln logs with the kids of some friends from church.

I don’t regret that I didn’t do more–this year’s challenge was thought provoking enough that I didn’t need the extra activities.

I read this title as a part of Barbara H’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge and the Reading to Know Classics Book Club. You can check out what other people have been reading at Barbara’s challenge wrap up post and the RTK wrap-up post.