Mega Memory Month Comes to an End

Well, I had high hopes for the culminating activity for Mega Memory Month. The children and I recorded ourselves reciting the passage using the web-cam, and I was going to upload it to the blog. But, we don't have high speed, so the upload was taking FOREVER, and I needed to do other things, so we scrapped that idea. Instead I've typed my passage below. The video recording was unintentionally funny, as Brown Eyed Boy and Little Man were sitting on my lap and discovered that they could see themselves in real time on the computer monitor! So the silliness began, and as it went on, My Girl and I tried to keep on going with the recitation. I figure that it shows that you know a passage really well if you can make it to the end with little boys giggling, squirming, sticking out little fat tongues, pointing, making circles with heads, etc.! I call that a victory! Too bad you can't see the recording, too!

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?"
"Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first."

The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came, and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more,. bBut each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 20:1-16

This has been an interesting process for us. We've run the gamut of responses, from 'this is easy' to 'this is boring'; from 'I didn't want to do this parable' to finding application of it in our daily lives. We'll continue with our regular memorization, but won't be posting weekly anymore. And I still do want to try to finish Philippians. I'll keep you posted from time to time.

Visit Ann's blog where Mega Memory Month got started, and see what the other participants have been up to and how they celebrated the end to the challenge.

My Girl's Final Mega Memory Month Recitation

My Girl typed her passage into the computer, checked for spelling mistakes and such, and then showed me. What follows is her written recitation of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (with spelling and punctuation mistakes removed). Small blue letters are errors, regular sized orange letters are the correct version. She did a super job, and I'm so proud of her!

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in the vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“He went out again About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place. He said to them ‘You also go and work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out again and found still others standing around. doing nothing. He said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them there their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

So (when) The workers who where hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last only worked one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and heat of the day.’
But he answered one of them ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.


Matthew 20:1-16

Juncos are Back

We haven't seen these little birds for months. All summer we've had finches and sparrows, chickadees and crows, cardinals and blue jays, but the juncos were not to be seen. Now here they are, stocking up at the feeders for the cool weather.

At lunch, yesterday alone, we saw:

juncos (4)

blue jays (2)

(no photos today)

finches (5)

mourning doves (2)

crows (3)

(no photos today)

cardinal (female, 1)

(here she is flying off the fence - she was too quick for me!)

I hope there will be some who stick around for the winter. They give us something special to watch at mealtimes.

Oh yes, of course there were squirrels, too.

Sedum purpureum - 100 Species Challenge

5. Sedum purpureum. Sedum is found in many gardens in our community, but I've also seen it in the natural parkland (the photo at the bottom, with the bee, is from one of our nature walks, the other three are from our garden). It is a perennial that re-surfaces early in the spring and lasts well into the fall.

It has smooth, waxy leaves with almost invisible veins. The edges are serrated with large scallops, and the tip is slightly rounded. The stem is also smooth and waxy, very thick and sturdy.

The sedum flowers are clusters of tiny buds, giving the plant a pink broccoli-look. Buds are less than 1/4" and light green in colour when they first appear, gradually developing pink tips. The pink spreads as the flower grows, with full flowering coming in late summer and fall. Come late October, the flowers begin to dry on the stems.

Mega Memory Month Update

This is the last Monday for Mega Memory Month, but I have until Friday to work on this passage. I'm pleased with the progress I've made, and I'm even more pleased with the way the children are writing the Word on their hearts. Our only strategy for memorizing this passage has been to read it (almost) every morning a few times, and to try saying it once we thought we knew it - or parts of it. There was no drill of difficult sections, there was no constant repeating of phrases. There was simply abiding with the passage in its entirety for the whole time we were working on it. And it worked!

Now, I'm not sure that it would be as effective a strategy with a long passage (like the book of Philippians, for example), but maybe to break that long passage into several smaller, yet still significant parts would work. It was certainly more enjoyable for me to do it this way than to do one or two verses at a time and tack on new ones as we mastered them.

So, you can expect to see one more Mega Memory Month post on Friday(ish) when I'll give the final rundown on the project and what we do for a culminating activity.

But before I go, here's the Parable of the Vineyard as I was able to do it this morning:

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing around in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here in the marketplace all day long doing nothing?"

"Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

When evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first."

The workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 20:1-16

A Question to Follow-Up the Meeting from Cathy B. (who led the application portion of the meeting)

We were unable to get to Chapter 13 on Tuesday night....my how time does fly. (I can appreciate why a clock is often placed by the facilitator!)

After looking at my notes, there is one point that I thought I would still like to put forward to the group to ponder and maybe even respond via the WHHE site.

On page 108, I have taken the following quote:

"I've always been careful not to 'over-work' literature by picking it apart or by scheduling in very many suggested activities listed in those expensive study guides. One or two related activities, at most, have worked fine for us."

My question would have been, "What kind of activities have you found to work well or not so well when working with literature?"

On Praise

"Praise is cheap today. Everything is praised. Soap, beer, toothpaste, clothing, mouthwash, movie stars, all the latest gadgets which are supposed to make life more comfortable - everything is constantly being "praised". Praise is now so overdone that everybody is sick of it, and since everything is "praised" with the official hollow enthusiasm of the radio announcer, it turns out in the end that nothing is praised. Praise has become empty. Nobody really wants to use it.

"Are there any superlatives left for God? they have all been wasted on foods and quack medicines. There is no word left to express our adoration of Him who alone is Holy, who alone is Lord.

"So we go to Him to ask help and to get out of being punished, and to mumble that we need a better job, more money, more of the things that are praised by the advertisements. And we wonder why our prayer is so often dead - gaining its only life, borrowing its only urgency from the fact that we need these things so badly.

"But we do not really think we need God. Lease of all do we think we need to praise Him.

"It is quite possible that our lack of interest in the Psalms conceals a secret lack of interest in God. For if we have no real interest in praising Him, it shows that we have never realized who He is. For when one becomes conscious of who God really is, and when one realizes that He who is Almighty, and infinitely Holy, has "done great things to us," the only possible reaction is the cry of half-articulated exultation that bursts from the depths of our being in amazement at the tremendous, inexplicable goodness of God to men.... "

Thomas Merton, Praying the Psalms

Have all the good words been used on unworthy subjects? Is there anything left for the Father?

This week my Spiritual Formation Group is focusing on Praise, so naturally that's where my thoughts are today.

I've been paying more attention to my own words the past couple of days: What do I praise? Who do I praise? How do I do it? And I've begun to realize that I think of praising God as something I do to Him, not something I express to others. Praising Him to others in my everyday conversations is unusual, although it is getting more common to do it in my SFG. But to spread it beyond? I praise my children - to themselves and to others; my husband, my family...But my God? To others? Can I praise Him today? Out loud? To others? Today?

Miscellaneous Thoughts While I Have a Few Moments

My vision has been filled with nature for the past number of weeks as our family has explored the world of monarchs, dipped into the 100 species challenge, and simply tried to make nature study a greater focus in our home school. But that has left me with very little time to think and write about many of the other things that press on my heart. Here's a bit of what I've been pondering, and, while I hope to revisit these ideas in future posts, I know that it's just as likely that this is the only mention they will receive...for a time at least.

What is trust? And how is trust demonstrated? With a person I trust I make myself vulnerable, I accept his advice, I draw close. Do I do that with my Papa God?

Insecurity and feelings of inadequacy are rampant around me (and in me, too). Comparisons thrive. Measuring sticks for competence abound: schedules, meal plans, frugal living, home education methods, number of children, body size and shape... But what really matters in the life we are giving our children, our families, ourselves? These are the measuring sticks that I'd really like to see used in my life: Do I listen when those around me speak? Am I growing (not perfect) in my love for my Father? Do people take priority over plans? Is my home inviting (not immaculate) and my spirit welcoming? But even as I write these I know how far I am from them.

Reality home schooling. Choose the things that are really important to me for the school year and make them the priority. For this year those things are loving the Word, history, and nature study. If those are the only things on our schedule that get done on a given day, I will be satisfied (won't I?). They are the things that will get our focus, our best times, and, when a day goes haywire, our only time.

There's more, but my "few moments" are gone.

Books and Links - Now Updated

Below are new titles in our WHHE library and links to some of the websites that were mentioned in the meeting. Please let me know if you have other links, especially for the service opportunities. The side-bar link to the library listings will be updated in a few days.


Books
Le Francais Facile (See the sidebar for links to the website for samples, etc.)
Did Fleming Rescue Churchill?: A Research Puzzle - James Cross Giblin (Thanks for the info I forgot, Sandy)
This Country of Ours - H.E. Marshall
The Travels of Marco Polo
The Story of Mankind - H. Van Loon
Van Gogh and the Sunflowers - Laurence Anholt
Kon-Tiki - Thor Heyerdahl
Kon-Tiki for Young People - Thor Heyerdahl

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Websites mentioned at the meeting:

Charlotte Mason
ChildLight USA blog post by Carroll Smith about his visit to a CM school.


Service Projects
Knitting Blankets
Blankets4Canada
If you google "donate knitted blankets" you'll probably find others for international donation.

Crocheting sleeping mats from milk bags
An article from 2007 about one aspect of the project
If you google "crochet sleeping mats milk bags" you'll come up with links to lots of articles like this one. Within the articles contact people are often named, so you can follow-up that way. In my very quick search I didn't find a link to a specific organization or specific instructions.
UPDATE - Stratford Parents Online, an email group in my town, just had a posting about this project. If you want a contact number for a pattern and such, let me know.

Read-A-Thon
Follower's Book Corner

A Congregational Lament

Why, Lord, must any child of yours be hurt?

Does all our pain and sorrow somehow please you?

You are a God so jealous for our praises -

hear this lament as prayer that fills the earth.

We plead: Repair the brokenness we share.

Chastise no more lest it destroy your creatures.

Hear this lament as intercessory prayer,

and speak your powerful word to make us hopeful.

Calvin Seerveld, 1986

"It's Easier for Me"

Me: I'm impressed with how well you are doing, memorizing our parable when you can't read it. You can only go by what you hear us say as we read it to you and recite it ourselves.

Little Man: I think it's easier for me because I don't have to think about what the words look like.

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I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Good-Bye

Beauty and mystery interwoven in creation.

Life has overflowed with praises to the Maker for what I've witnessed this fall. Taken completely by surprise by the riches and fullness in my heart, words of joy and thanksgiving, awe and amazement, have poured out from these long silent lips.

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I didn't expect to be so profoundly moved by the process of metamorphosis that these little creatures go through. Dear Man can testify to my lying in bed, words tripping over themselves trying to get out of my mouth, as I described the mystery and beauty of the little pods that housed a being in transition, my hands gesticulating to better demonstrate what could so poorly be expressed with words. This has been an experience I wouldn't trade for the world's riches!

So now, goodbye to our little friends, the ones who have shared the warmth of our home and are now finding their own place far, far away:

Good bye Autumn, our first emerger, so named because you were released on the first day of Autumn.

Good bye Falline, whose emergence from the chrysalis we were blessed to witness, but whose beautiful fall colours weren't to last. You, who died an untimely death in our backyard and have been put to rest in our butterfly garden. (Oh the lamenting that was heard from our yard that day!)

Good bye Aidan, our first male, you, who took off with a flourish, full of energy on a lovely warm day.

Good bye Buttercup, the monarch who we watched moment by moment as she changed from caterpillar to chrysalis, and who emerged on the Day of Thanks.

Good bye Wesley, the last to leave. You emerged while we were eating breakfast, your cage on the dining table, and still we didn't see the moment you broke through the chrysalis. You winged your way to the leaves of our backyard maple and waited there for hours before setting out for the south.

Papa God, thank You.

Mega Memory Month update

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into the his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "you also go and work in my vineyard," he told them, "and I will pay you whatever is right."
So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and saw found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?"
"Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

When evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first."

The men who had been hired last workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when the men those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "Those These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew
20:1-16

I'm making progress, but there are still some parts that I'm unsure of, even when I get them right. I need to read it over and over and over the correct way - silently, aloud - so that the words are pressed onto my heart and mind. It's still amazing to me how well the children are doing with memorizing the parable, especially when Little Man can't see the words for himself but is only going by what he hears when we read it. We'll keep on keeping on!

See the Mega Memory Month posts for inspiration, challenge, and tips.

Poetry Post and Read-Alouds

There's an interesting new post on the ChildLight USA blog about composing poetry and having children write narrations (exams, actually) in poetic form. The author, Bonnie Buckingham, includes two examples of the poems produced by students in grades 11 and 12.

I've been reading a lot from Jim Trelease's book "The Read-Aloud Handbook", and I'm so encouraged to keep on keeping on with lots of reading, lots of reading aloud, lots of literature time, lots of poetry. These can be dark days of discouragement as we enter into the full impact of the new school year, the changing season, the burden of all our responsibilities coming to bloom. Reading something that is affirming what we do in a CM education, that validates so much of what we believe and know to be true about how children learn has been vital to me as I flounder around with "What am I doing" and "Why am I doing it" kind of questions. (Also vital has been interacting with other home educators and being honest about how overwhelmed and inadequate we are feeling right now - if that describes you, know that you are not alone!)

"The Read-Aloud Handbook" is in our WHHE library and is worth the time it takes to read. Part One builds the case for reading aloud to children, even very big children, providing the theory and research in a really readable form - very engaging, very thought-provoking, very well-written. Part Two is a "Treasury of Read-Alouds" covering Wordless Books (yes, for reading aloud!), Picture Books, Predictable Books, Reference Books, Short and Full-Length Novels, Poetry, Anthologies, and Fairy and Folk Tales. He includes several themed short lists as well, such as "Jim's Favorite Kindergarten Novels," "Out-of-Print Novels Too Good to Miss," and "Jim's Favorite Dog Stories." This book is a treasure.

It's a Boy!

Our third monarch emerged this week. This one is a male. You can see in this first photo that there's a distinct spot along one of the marking lines on his open wings; that is the scent gland that is specific to males.

In the second photo, where his wings are folded and you see the underside, the spot isn't visible. Because of that, we thought we had another female for the first couple of hours after he emerged, as none of us saw him with his wings spread. It wasn't until I tagged him that I saw the scent spot. And it's a good thing I did take a closer look, otherwise he would have been labelled female on our tracking form, and who knows what that might have done to him!

This robust little fellow took to flight within minutes of being taken out of the rearing cage and tagged. I was about to transfer him to Brown Eyed Boy's fingers when he took to wing and soared into a nearby maple, at which point we lost sight of him. He must know that time is getting short to make the journey south to Mexico.

Careful fingers held crisp morsels, dipped them in richness. These treats, now gently placed to harden, have been prepared for the Day of Thanks.

Life-Cycle

Since the dry-brush session at the WHHE meeting, The Ones I Love have been keen to add entries in the Nature Journals. Here's a quick sample:

Monarch life-cycle by My Girl (12). She identified
each stage with a number and then wrote about the stages on the lined page
beside the mounted dry-brush work.

Monarch life-cycle by Little Man (6). He took My
Girl's advice and used numbers as well, then dictated his narration about the
life-cycle while I acted as scribe.

Monarch chrysalis hanging from a Tropical Milkweed leaf, by My Girl, a few hours
before the butterfly emerged. It had changed from jade green to transparent with
the black and orange markings completely visible. In this painting My Girl is
trying to use some of the shading tips that S gave at the WHHE meeting.

Little Man's chrysalis.

Observant Eyes

Last week we went for a long overdue walk by the river. The usual nature observations were made: mallards, male and female; mute swans and cygnets; black swans; seagulls and Canada Geese. But as we had our eyes ahead and downward, My Girl's eyes were turned upward, and her gaze was directed to two groupings of cormorants, one with two birds, the other with three, perched in the nearly leafless branches. As we watched them, trying to determine whether they were cormorants or not, a couple walked by and looked as well (how does one resist looking into the sky when there's a family standing there with their eyes upturned, after all?), and then a woman walking alone paused and confirmed that they were indeed the cormorants we thought they were.

About three years ago I saw a bird on the water and was confused - it looked like a cormorant, I even drew it in my nature journal and checked it out in the field guide - but it didn't seem to belong here. I had seen cormorants on the lakes, perched out on the breakwaters, but I had never seen them inland along a river before. Well, now I know. My eyes were not playing tricks on me, but the cormorants really do come to our river!


It is interesting to me how many things My Girl sees that I miss. Sure it happens the other way sometimes, too, but it warms me to know that her eyes are open, that she is looking, watching, and that she recognizes the unusual around us. A blessing indeed.

God Gives Nothing But Gifts

176. Spirit-filled meetings which reveal You to people.

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177. Boundaries, set for a child, accepted.

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178. Conversation shared across distance.

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179. "Primitive paintings" by eager students.

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180. Times of holiness. Holy times.

Click here to view my One Thousand Gifts list.

Parable Memory

Since we have been working on this passage for a little while, I decided to write it out and see how much I already know. I typed it as best I could remember it, and then I went through and made corrections. The things I did wrong I have (bracketed in tiny red), and the correct version is beside it in red. I hope that's clear enough to you as you look it over, but even if it's not, I know what I was doing, and it's clear to me!

For the (The) kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the
morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius
for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and (found) saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He (said to) told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. (At) About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here in the marketplace all day doing
nothing?" (he asked them.)

(They said to him,) "Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard." (he told them.)

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the
workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going
on to the first."

(When those who had been) The workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came (, they) and each received a denarius. So when (the men came who had been) those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But (they) each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "(but) and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

(The owner) But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the (one) man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what(ever) I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last (shall) will be first, and the first (shall) will be last.

Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV)

So I can see that I have the flow of the story pretty well down, but there are little style and language differences that I need to pay more attention to. Now I know what to focus on over the next week. I'll see how I do next Monday.

Overflowing with Gifts

169. The phone I dread has been a tool of grace and mercy and community twice this week.

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170. Creation's variety. The Creator's creativity.

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171. Childhood's flesh whose wounds heal quickly.

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172. Sleepy eyes squinting in the lamplight.

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173. Small successes.

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174. Narrations that endear.

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175. Prayers of a child.

Click here to view my One Thousand Gifts list.

Challenging the Memory

We're joining a little late, but we aren't behind: we've been working on memorizing Matthew 20:1-16 as part of our Bible times and we're well on our way. So here's the scoop on Mega Memory Month from Ann Kroeker:

Here’s how to participate:

1. Pick something you’d like to memorize. Something long. Something formidable. Something Mega. (Mega to you may not be mega to me–simply challenge yourself relative to what you’ve tackled in the past.)

2. Announce it on your blog whenever you like.

3. Return with a link to your blog post talking about how you’re going to take the challenge and participate in October’s Mega Memory Month carnival. I’ll update this post so that participants are front-and-center.

4. On Mondays, because it offers the best alliteration, I’ll write a Mega Memory Month post. Chime in with your own progress report that day (or any time during the week) in the comments or at your own blog (it won’t be instant, but I’ll update to your linkage if you supply it). That way we can visit and encourage each other.

5. Try typing out what you’ve mastered little by little.

6. Post any memory techniques you’re using, so we can borrow ideas that work.

7. By the end of the month, present a creative culmination of your work (a video of you–and your family, if they’re participating–reciting it by heart; or write it out by hand and take a photo; or just type it up on the blog).

Our minds build up an ability to memorize: the more we do it, the easier it becomes. I'm amazed at how much the Little Man already knows of this parable just from hearing it. He's not reading yet, so he has none of the visual cues that My Girl and I are able to get, and maybe that's an advantage for him as he isn't leaning on that visual crutch. We'll post again next Monday to let you know how we're doing.

Oh, and once this is done, I really want to get back to memorizing the book of Philippians. I began years ago and stalled part way through chapter 3. This book has so many of my favourite passages in it, and I can still recite most of chapters 1 and 2, although I get stuck with the transitions. So now it's out there. I'm really going to do it!

The Gifts Go On

158. Sleep for weary children.

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159. Beauty in the garden.

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160. Truths played out on stage.

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161. Three small bodies filling the void in my bed.

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162. Spirit-led connection between two friends.

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163. Anxieties calmed. Prayers answered. Lost found.

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164. Eyes to see. Ears to hear.

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165. Weary traveller returned home.

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166. Gentle peace.

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167. Wisdom available to me.

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168. Dreams that don't die.

Click here to view my One Thousand Gifts list.

To Live is To Pray

Thoughts following Girl's Night Out:

...and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

- 2 Corinthians 10:5b

To live every moment of every day as though it were a prayer. If we
were to do this, it would leave little room for...

- Sheila Wray Gregoire

Whether I am aware of it or not, everything I say and do is done within the Presence of the Lord. What would it look like if I lived my life in the knowledge that every moment of every day was a prayer, a conversation with My Lord? One of the reasons for my practice of the spiritual disciplines is to make me aware of this Holy Place in which I abide, to put me into a place where I am alert to the Presence; but so many other things intrude on the conversation. I want to embrace the intrusions because in reality they aren't that: the children who need my attention are not getting in the way of my communication with my Lord, but are offering me another way in which I can commune with Him - service, or maybe love, or listening to them and through them hearing Him. How many times have I dismissed His Voice because it has been 'disguised' as the voice of one of The Ones I Love? That question gives me pause.

All I do is part of the prayer, not taking me away from it. My heart is the prayer. My attitude is the prayer. My choice of response is the prayer. Christ in me is the prayer.

Oh, Father, how often I give away the opportunity to live prayer in Your Presence! You are with me, in me, behind and before me. There is nowhere I can go without You, so there is really no life without prayer, is there?

To live is to be in the Presence of God.

To live is to pray.

More Gifts

151. "The best playground in the world", named so by Little Man during a lunch break on a long day of driving.

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My Girl looking for (and finding!) fossils at the Devonian Fossil Site in Iowa.

Astounded at the plenty and beauty of the fossils.

152. Stones revealing treasures, even to untrained eyes.

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From the Stations of the Cross at the Grotto of the Redemption.

153. Stones heaped as a monument, arranged to depict Your Redemption.

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154. Winks of pleasure.

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155. Serving hands bringing warmth to an aching body.

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156. Soul refreshment.

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157. Psalms recited together bringing peace.

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Transformation Before Our Eyes

The day had been a slow one for school-work. We had the timer set for every ten minutes so we'd remember to send someone to the front porch to look at the "J-Man" and see if any changes had begun. He'd been hanging there for more than 36 hours, so we knew that the time was close. By mid-afternoon I had assigned the children to 5-minute watches: we were determined to witness this miracle of change!

The monarch larva, the milkweed caterpillar, spins a little silk platform underneath a leaf and then attaches itself to it by the rear end. There it hangs, taking the shape of a letter J (sometimes curling tighter into a U) for more than 24 hours before pupating.

By 4pm we could see definite changes in the caterpillar's shape, texture and colour. He was no longer the brilliant white, yellow, and black, but had taken on a greyer tinge, his yellow getting duller with a hint more green in it, and the white also duller than before. His little body seemed to be swelling, straining at the sections of its exoskeleton as he began to wriggle more. It appeared that he was uncomfortable. Not only that, but he had taken on a much straighter, stiffer posture.

For over an hour we watched as the caterpillar hung there, gradual changes continuing, but no real progress. We sat on the floor, on stools, on laps, wherever we could get a good view of the interior of the butterfly cage. We sat and watched. We waited. We exclaimed.

As my Dear Man drove in the driveway from picking up some groceries for supper, the action started, and we knew that God had saved this sight for him to share with us!

Before our eyes there appeared a tiny slit of green at the bend in the J, like a minuscule incision through the caterpillar's skin. As the skin gradually separated in a perfect straight line, more of the hidden body underneath pushed its way through. The soft, moist, lumpy green mass squeezed its way through the little opening, forcing it wider and longer.


Then the caterpillar began to wriggle and writhe. He was trying to press the exoskeleton upwards to release the new from that was underneath. We could see darkening at the base where he hung from the leaf as the skin accordioned, while more and more of the pale green was exposed at the head.





The wriggling and straining continued for almost an hour. Near the end of that time, the exoskeleton was completely compressed at the top of the soft, moist chrysalis and he began to swing and twist to push it off and away. It fell into a tidy pile on the floor of the cage, useless now, but once an essential part of his existence.



Freed from the constraints of the old skin, the little fellow continued to swing and bend. We imagined it was from the discomfort as the new exoskeleton, the chrysalis, began to shrink and harden around him. It was so flexible still, and yet we knew that in less than an hour it would be the same solid jade-green jewel we had admired in our other specimens.

Catching Up on Gifts

The posts haven't come lately for this, but the thanks have been recorded in my journal. I'll do some catching up over the next few days.

143. Participation with my family.

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144. My Girl's desire to be in Your Word more.

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145. Accessibility of Scripture.

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146. Pleasure.

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147. Accountability.

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148. Freedom.

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149. Sound sleep for fatigued bodies.

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150. Time "alone" with You.

Click here to view my One Thousand Gifts list.