7 Quick Takes!

Here we go....

--- 1 ---

It feels like I spent almost every waking moment this week either reading books, gathering more books to read, or writing about reading books.  In other words, it's been a perfectly heavenly week.

--- 2 ---

Brian's on his first golf outing since we moved to Austin.  I'm hoping he's having a marvelous time to make up for the fact that baseball season is over for us.  [read here for Brian's ode to NY from last October]

--- 3 ---

Natalie's officially completed her first week of homeschooling, aka The Great Homeschooling Experiment.  You know what?  We had a great week.  I feel really lucky to be able to have extra time together this year.  I'm going to keep posting the daybook posts until I run out of time -- or willpower -- to continue.  Feel free to read or ignore (unless you happen to be one of Natalie's relatives, than I expect you to keep track of every detail of her progress!)  I think the post helps me stay accountable.  Plus, I may be trying to make up for how poorly I did keeping up with Natalie's baby details.  It kills her -- and me--  that I can't remember her first word and that I didn't WRITE IT DOWN!  

--- 4 ---

 I'm keenly aware that this season of having all four kids still under one roof is running out of days quickly.  I'm trying to pay attention to all these moments together, even the annoying ones when my 20-year-old son eats up my favorite breakfast granola and my Alex plays guitar too loudly in the morning. (don't tell Kendra, but I couldn't think of one single thing that she does annoying enough to add to this list!)  I want to be present to all of it. 

--- 5 ---

It's Columbus Day weekend and I'm kind of mourning the Northeast.  I will say that Texas weather has been practically perfect in every way for the past week or so (if only it would rain to make the grass green again!).  But, there's nothing quite like upstate New York in October.  I had to google "Central Texas" + "pumpkin patch" to try to find somewhere nearby for our annual tradition of trekking through the fat and happy gourds of autumn.  To make it a little more tricky, I was trying to find a pumpkin farm en route to meet up with my cousin and his family who live in Temple.  We found ONE location, but it's in Temple!  She told me to not "expect the Northeast" but I figure even if the pumpkins are disappointing, Jared & Natalie's kids are so adorable we won't even notice.  Should be fun.   I imagine I'll be posting some pics here next week.

--- 6 ---

I'm trying to figure out where and when and how to keep pursuing publication.  I'm kind of hooked now that I got to see my name in "print" last week.  Any suggestions??

--- 7 ---

I've been waiting for the right time to post this video and just haven't gotten to it yet.  Figure now's as good a time as ever.  Granted, it's about a half hour long, so it's not for the merely curious.  But for those who consider themselves (a)  fans of my children OR (b) fans of my sons' band Where's Ulysses, OR just plain old (c) addicted to humouring me, spend some time strolling through this video.  Tyler must have spent hours combing footage of the bands last year of shows together, piecing together a kind of farewell/highlight reel.  In my opinion, he did a fantastic job with both audio and video editing -- way to go, Ty! (even if we do have to see your droopy drawers on the screen capture thumbnail)


By the way, in case you haven't heard, you can download their free farewell EP, Surplus, at their bandcamp site.


Happy weekend, y'all!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

homeschool daybook (everything from Argentinian classical guitar to slapstick comedy in Pawnee, Indiana)

October 6, 2011

Nat was out of commission yesterday with a sinus cold so we're packing in a lot today and tomorrow to finish out our first week in the Great Homeschool Experiment.

She started the day back in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5 & 6.  Then she read some of the introduction to Evidence That Demands a Verdict.  I think we're just going to skip right into chapter 1 tomorrow.  I know Mortimer Adler would disapprove, but let's just not tell him, OK?

More history outlining from Kingfisher Encyclopedia of History.  She's learning how to write a three-level outline.  Brian revised hers from the first day so she could see it modelled.  She's already getting the hang of this skill really well!

We skipped out in the middle of the day to drive downtown for a free classical guitar concert performed by Michael Anthony Nigro at Central Presbyterian Church.  Nigro played two suites of rich Argentinian melodies:  the first, Suite del Plata No. 1, composed by Maximo Diego Pujol (b. 1957) and the second, Suite del Recuerdo, by Jorge Cardoso (b. 1949) and Jose' Luis Merlin (b. 1952).

Some tunes were soulful and others playful, but all of it beautiful.  Watching him play the entire length and width of the guitar's neck and body was the added bonus of attending a live performance.  You can listen to the music here, watch a video of a performance here,  or buy your own CD here.

Once were back home, Natalie read two more chapters in Uncle Tom's Cabin.  She's learning how to navigate the dialect Harriet Beecher Stowe writes for her characters.  This is not easy, but great learning.

To end the day, Natalie wrote her first composition this week. She chose a writing prompt (I collect them from here):  Talk About One of Your Favorite Television Comedies.  Natalie loved this assignment and did a great job.  I've copied her review at the end of this post.  Without any direction to do so, it was fun to hear a semi-critique/review come out of her work.  Andrew helped her correct some of her grammar and punctuation and I gave her a few tips on style, but this is her work.  I'd say if you've never watched Parks & Recreation, Natalie's given you a pretty good synopsis of the show!

The funniest show on TV these days

 By Natalie Murphy

          There are many shows on TV this year that I believe are truly hilarious. Shows such as Modern Family, 30 Rock and The Office are definitely in the running for the title of the most outstanding comedy of 2011. However, in my opinion there is one show that out does them all, Parks and Recreation. Parks and Recreation is a show that runs second on the Thursday night NBC comedy line up and is airing its fourth season this Fall. ‘Parks and Rec’ is being rated as a series that will go down in history as a comedic classic.

Ex- Saturday Night Live cast member, Amy Poehler, stars in the show about a local government parks and recreation department in the small town of Pawnee, Indiana. Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, is an over-achieving, workaholic who’s never ending loyalty to her job and collogues makes her down right loveable. Leslie works with people just as crazy and funny as herself, people like Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) the small, egotistic, Jay-Z-wanna-be that just can’t seem to win anything in life. Another of Knope’s Co-Workers is Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) the carnivorous libertarian who always seems to show up at the right moment. Then of course there is feisty Donna (Retta), unrecognized Jerry (Jim O’heir), contemptuous April (Aubrey Plaza) and her boyfriend; Sweet, naïve Andy (Chris Pratt).

While the show mostly features Leslie’s office life, her job also requires her to spend time out and about in the town of Pawnee. During her adventures in the fictional community, which is ranked the fourth most obese town in America, she comes across several other characters that are charming and hysterical. There is Leslie’s best friend Ann (Rashida Jones) the cute, level-headed nurse that helps Leslie with the struggles of local government and brings a touch of sanity to the outrageous town. There is also  Jean-Ralphio, the slightly sexist entrepreneur the mentors Tom through crazy schemes of money making and picking up chicks.

Throughout all of Pawnee’s events and shenanigans the rustic town becomes bankrupt, causing the Indiana government to call in two financial professionals, Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott). Chris Traeger is an eco-friendly, health nut that obsesses over optimism and fiber. Chris ends up dating Ann and eventually dumps her, so kindly in fact that she didn’t even notice the end of their relationship. While Ann’s relationship with Chris began going in confusing directions, Leslie’s love life took a turn for the better. Ben Wyatt-- the charming and nerdy executive-- catches Leslie’s eye by being nearly as loyal and genuine as Leslie is.

Parks and Recreation is a crazy, loveable, laugh-until-you-pee-a-little comedy that deserves credit as one of the funniest shows on television this Fall. The shows head writers, Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, created a series that I believe will stick with TV fanatics for years to come. You won’t be able to stop following the story of Leslie Knope and her all-too-real town of Pawnee, Indiana.

[through the magic of the world-wide web, I took the liberty to make Natalie's review "multi-media"...enjoy!]

inner beauty for our heads

Since the post I set out to write yesterday on the discipline of Study didn't quite materialize into anything more than me blurting out confessions of library felonies and misdemeanors, I'm going to repost an excerpt from the first time I wrote reflections on spiritual disciplines in this blog format. As I re-read what I wrote two years ago, I'm struck by a somewhat "harsh" tone in my words (e.g. the statement "Shame on us".)  I think I've grown a lot in grace these past two years, but at that time I truly was feeling conviction.  I think it's possible to have a healthy sense of shame or embarrassment when we are convicted by something we've done or left undone.  In this case, I was just coming awake to all that I'd left undone in my spiritual practice of study, memorization, reading and prayer and so I'm resisting the urge to edit my two-years-ago self. Please accept my words from that place of conviction, rather than as a condemnation against myself or any of you, dearly loved readers.

Some examples of inner beauty for our heads (from a post originally written on September 19, 2009): consider, won't you, the following excerpts and passages.

1.  Bible reading

Deuteronomy 17:18-20: “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.

Apparently reading keeps us from trifling and snobbery. Since I'm aware of a lot of readers who are quite haughty, clearly reading on its own accord is not the goal here.

2.  Memorization

How about this guy for a role model?

Without hesitation, without inner debate, I entered into the inheritance of every modern Russian writer intent on the truth: I must write simply to ensure that it was not all forgotten, that posterity might someday come to know of it. Publication in my own lifetime I must shut out of my mind, out of my dreams.

I put away my idle dream. And in its place there was only the surety that my work would not be in vain, that it would someday smite the heads I had in my sights and that those who received its invisible emanations would understand. I no more rebelled against lifelong silence than against the lifelong impossibility of freeing my feet from the pull of gravity. As I finished one piece after another, at first in the camps, then in exile, then after rehabilitation, first verses, then plays, and later prose works too. I had only one desire: to keep all these things out of sight and myself with them.

In the camp this meant committing my verse -- many thousands of lines -- to memory. To help me with this I improvised decimal counting beads and, in transit prisons, broke up matchsticks and used the fragments as tallies. As I approached the end of my sentence I grew more confident of my powers of memory, and began writing down and memorizing prose -- dialogue at first, but then, bit by bit, whole densely written passages. My memory found room for them! It worked. but more and more of my time -- in the end as much as one week every month -- went into the regular repetition of all I had memorized.

--From The Oak and the the Calf by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Shame on us. Shame on me. Tell me now, the more impoverished days?



My friend Tracy and I meet sometimes at a pub to talk about life as women who follow Jesus and try to love our husbands and children and try not to be triflers all our days. Last time we were together we were wondering out loud to each other how to fight off the dark and frustrating thoughts that seem to kick up so much inner dust they cloud out truth and love thoughts. We thought, perhaps, we should be memorizing stuff. Probably Scripture stuff. Next time we are together she is supposed to bring me a passage for us to be memorizing. Solzhenitsyn had his Gulag and broken matchsticks, we'll have our corner booth under the flatscreen and chilled glass mugs.

I read in Madeleine L'Engle's autobiography one of her meditation exercises. She memorized a prayer, passage or poem that began with each letter of the alphabet. She recited them, like an invisible rosary, I'd guess. Sometimes she did this while she was swimming laps in the morning. Well then.

Ultimately, the prayer would be that we (Tracy, me, you) pursue the non-trifling days of the Russian's exile. Or of the psalmist: I relish everything You've told me of life. I won't forget a word of it. For when it comes to words bringing counsel or aid whose would I rather recall? Surely, not my own. As the humble priest Nouwen admits, so do I: I fear that in crisis situations I will have to depend on my own unredeemed ramblings and not the word of God to guide me. (from The Living Reminder)

3.  Spiritual Reading

This application of the study discipline seems to be not only the what of our reading but the how.

Psalm 119:9-16: How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word. I'm single-minded in pursuit of you; don't let me miss the road signs you've posted. I've banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won't sin myself bankrupt. Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living. I'll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth; I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches.I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you've done it. I relish everything you've told me of life, I won't forget a word of it.

In The House of the Soul and Concerning the Inner Life, author Evelyn Underhill boldly states:

Spiritual reading is, or at least can be, second only to prayer as a developer and support of the inner life. She defines spiritual reading in this way: the brooding consideration, the savouring -- as it were the chewing of the cud -- in which we digest that which we have absorbed, and apply it to our own needs.

She goes on to instruct: spiritual reading allows us to access all the hoarded supernatural treasure of the race: all that is found out about God. It should not be confined to Scripture, but should also include at least the lives and the writings of the canonized and uncanonized saints.

She warms us with the truth that this kind of reading is not an isolated act but one that is truly social: It gives us not only information, but communion: real intercourse with the great souls of the past, who are the pride and glory of the Christian family. Ancient fields crowded with grass-chomping souls sharing the nourishment together. This, friends, is spiritual reading.

Read, savor, stew, question and pray. Yes, friends, chomp away: St. Augustine, John of the Cross and Gregory of Nyssa. Also C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Jonathan Edwards. Forgive me you saints of the female-image-of-God: Teresa of Avila and Mother Teresa. Catherine of Genoa, Catherine of Siena and Kathleen Norris. Corrie Ten Boom, Dallas Willard and Brother Lawrence. Rich, fertile, prayer-and study-soaked lives gorge these ancient fields. Still we trifle away our days with discount-warehouse best-seller lists. Impoverished indeed.

At the beginning and the end of the day may study be the discipline that makes the prayer in Psalm 119:1-7 -- on which I meditated for weeks -- be true in my inner and outer life: 

Our LORD, you bless everyone
who lives right
and obeys your Law.
You bless all of those
who follow your commands
from deep in their hearts
and who never do wrong
or turn from you.
You have ordered us always
to obey your teachings;
I don't ever want to stray
from your laws.
Thinking about your commands
will keep me from doing
some foolish thing.
I will do right and praise you
by learning to respect

your perfect laws.

bookish rebellion

Pretty much every  morning of my entire nineteen-years living with my parents, I shuffled down the stairs toward the kitchen and walked past my mother sitting in the middle of our living room couch, surrounded by books.  Bibles, dictionaries, journals, prayerbooks mounded from floor to cushion, end to end, cocooning my mom in their sagacious comfort.  With one hand she held a colored highlighter and the other her ever-rewarmed mug of tea, and with her words she welcomed me to the beauty of a new day. There are many things I learned from my mom, many things I've tried to duplicate, but none more than her love for the written word, generally; for the inspired Word, specifically.

My mother instilled the love of all things bookish into me; now I have the sheer delight of passing that along to my own children.  Just last week, Andrew and I visited the main branch of the Austin Public library.  I kid you not when I tell you that I made Drew pull the car up to the curb because we had so many items it took me two trips back and forth from the front desk to get all of our books and music and movies out of the library and into our grubby little hands.  I swear I heard the hippie couple sitting on the outside bench snicker at me when I trudged by, lugging my treasure to the car.  Or maybe they were just disgusted with us for all the carbon gas we emitted into the air idling our car so long at the curb.  Either way, I slammed the door quick and ordered Drew to "Just drive!" so we could get out of there fast.  I think the tires squealed a bit entering Guadalupe.  Drew and I should not be allowed to go to the library together without supervision.

Faulk Central branch of the Austin Public Library

It may be telling to say that the last instance of "corporal punishment" on which I was the receiving end was directly linked to visiting the library.  I had been told that I did not need another library card at the new library we were visiting.  Somehow, I'd managed to pull the unsuspecting librarian aside and go through the whole procedure without my dad noticing.  The justice delivered to my little backside was not because of the card, just the sneaking around and lying to my parents part of it.  I knew I deserved punishment, but I didn't really regret getting the card.

To this day, Brian has to lecture me when I head out the door.  Some women do shopping therapy; I do libraries. I think there's still a library in our hometown up north that has a picture of me behind the counter in case I try to take out more books without cleaning up my late fees.  

I was supposed to be writing about Studying the Word and this turned into a confessional.  I don't have time to write more because a new stack of homeschooling books just showed up at my door....

*Linking with Em & the Imperfect Prose community today.*

"... else you will be a trifler all your days"

It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people. A people who talk much will know little. Press this upon them with your might, and you will soon see the fruit of your labours.

...You can never be deep...without it any more than a thorough Christian. O begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days...

--From The Message of the Wesleys. Compiled by Philip S. Watson

homeschool daybook

We started the day with individual devotional reading in Matthew, chapters 3 and 4.  Afterwards we talked about some of the key people and places in the chapters, used a concordance to look up Old Testament verses involving Bethlehem, read from the Bible dictionary about Bethlehem and looked online at a map of  Bethlehem.  We imagined for a moment the trek the Holy Family took to Egypt.  We also looked online at some modern-day photos of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

We read the preface to Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell's story of searching to disprove Christianity that led him, instead, discovering Jesus to be the Son of God.  

We looked for the first time at our primary history textbook: The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.  Natalie read through the double-page spread describing the era of slavery and the people and conflicts that led to abolition.  She wrote an outline in her history notebook (her first time to write an outline!) and created a page for William Wilberforce in the "Great Men and Women" section.

For literature, Natalie read chapters 1 and 2 from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  As she read,  I asked her to consider why this book is considered both a great work of literature but very controversial at the same time.  She also wrote down in her Grammar notebook any words she needed to learn the definition.

After lunch (she got hungry a whole hour earlier than I anticipated!) she spent some time on her own reading The Hobbit (her choice).   We then did some Grammar work (4 types of sentences) and Math work (algabraic expression). 

To end the day, we read together from nineteenth-century writer and naturalist Susan Fenimore Cooper's journal, The Rural Hours, for October 3 and 4.  We discussed the value of noticing the natural world:  as an act of worship, as a way to keep natural, healthy rhythms rather than following the retail and commercial rhythms forced upon us.  We opened a small moleskine journal she'll keep for her own observations in nature.  We both agree this might feel kind of awkward at first; hopefully, this will become more natural soon.  Right now it feels like she'll only be able to write the following:  "dead grass in the backyard"  and "scorpions in the bathroom".  

Natalie then read the double-page spread in her (really, really fun!) Eyewitness science book, Time and Space.  As a demonstration of the ways time and space work together, she made cupcakes.  I'm trying to remember how those two things go together, but I think it had something to do with the fact that even though she could move herself physically from the room while the cupcakes were baking, there was nothing she could do to rearrange the cupcake mix once it got into the oven.  As if it were planned, she forgot to put the cupcakes into the paper muffin cups and didn't realize it until the cupcakes were happily rising, naked,  in the oven.

Ah, yes -- the limits of time and space. 

homeschool daybook

I don't know if I'll keep this kind of daybook post alive here or put it on another site (or just plain poop out altogether), but I know some friends and family might be interested to see how our Great Homeschool Experiment is going down here in Austin.

Read Matthew, chapters 1 & 2; journalled

Breakfast at Kerby Lane: pumpkin pancakes! 

Talked about school year ahead:

•  Vision: doing what it takes to THRIVE rather than just survive in Austin.

• Values:  zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, optimism & curiosity [read here to see why we chose this list]

•  Philosophy:  blended Charlotte Mason and Classical Education models, using     curricula from Ambleside Online and The Well-Trained Mind

Together we created a short list of "rules of engagement" for working together.  We agreed we will add and tweak as necessary.  

Went to the library to pick up supplementary texts for the month of October. Natalie chose a book for free reading from the loooong list I gave her and then spent as much time as possible looking for baby name books.  I love that she still enjoys reading through lists of baby names for fun! 

Brian thinks I may be homeschooling our daughter just for an excuse to get  new books!

We returned home, ate lunch, and then spent an hour or so putting together subject notebooks for history, science and grammar.  

That was our first day.  I made her give me a hug and kiss before we could officially end the day.  She seemed to be in good spirits and as she was walking out the room left me with this little gem:  "You know what you've done, don't you?  You've unLEASHed me!"

I'd say "Thanks be to God and YAHOOO!!"

Monday Mixtape: beautiful minds

Back to our [somewhat] normal format here for Mondays, in which I pretend I'm Ira Glass.  You know, I choose a theme and share with you several variations on the theme from the worlds of art, faith and culture.  To keep up the fun little facade of making a weekly mix tape, I label each of these finds as "track 1". "track 2" and so on (and just like the stack of mixtapes you've got hidden in a box in your attic, you never know when you might see some love song from Journey or Lionel Richie show up here).  


This week I'm going back to the series of spiritual disciplines I'm following this year from A Year With God: Living Out the Spiritual Disciplines by Richard Foster. I'm entering twenty days of meditating the discipline of Study.  The primary focus is on the value of digesting large doses of Scripture with an intent to dig deeply into the meaning and context of the passage(s).  This can also include, however, communing together with the work of the Church's saints in their own study of scripture.  


Study as a spiritual discipline is the craft of readying the mind and heart for meditation.  It is the work of letting this mind be in us; the regular and repeated exercising of our attention on that which we want to form and change us.  


Today's mix tape includes work from artists who've paid much attention to the Scriptures as an expression of Spirit and truth.  Enjoy!

track 1: visual art 

Agada Book
Sandra Bowden

From the website:  This small book contains an imaginary page with fragments of ancient script barely visible within the gilded surface of the work. Agada is an Aramaic word meaning “teaching or recitation of scripture” and often is associated with a collection of stories or moral lessons from the Talmud. The outside of the book is clothed with squares of fabric forming a kind of mosaic covering.

Click on the links to see the artist's entire gallery of work meditating on the beauty of text and book.

track 2: music

Brian Moss, prayerbook project

Here are all of the songs from Prayerbook #1 for download.

Joy Will Come To You from Psalm 1
Kiss The Son from Psalm 2
Arise, O Lord from Psalm 3
I Will Lie Down from Psalm 4
In The Morning from Psalm 5
Heal Me from Psalm 6
I Hide Myself In You from Psalm 7
Glory On Display from Psalm 8
I Worship You from Psalm 9
You Are The Only Hope from Psalm 10
To See Your Face from Psalm 11
I Will Rise Up from Psalm 12
How Long? from Psalm 13
Not Even One from Psalm 14
Only Believe from Psalm 15

All songs released via Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States

track 3:  film

The Secret of Kells

The gorgeously-rendered mythology behind the very real, magnificent Book of Kells, created by Irish monks to turn the medieval darkness into light.  Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful....

See Steven D. Greydanus' review at Christianity Today, here

.

track 4:  poem

Illuminated Page

BY JENNIFER O'GRADY

A gold box of Latin words

rests in a dazzling, fanciful field

someone raised to life, lavishing

flowers with untraceable roots, histories

too distant to discern,

upon skin-pale, palm-sized vellum.

Imagine the one who did this, lost

in dwindling light, a trembling flame

and painstakingly lovely colors:

blood red, violet, heavy yellow

and fierce, unnatural green.

Framed like a window

to the artist's heart, the mother

and child, uncomprehending men

offering what they can: the infant

touches a tiny, gold-leaf casket.

All around him the dark, heraldic blue

of angel winds, night sky, her veil.

And below him, you can see

the word God printed

over infinitely

careful erasures.

pizza as art

If you asked my husband, he'd tell you that we haven't been able to find our go-to source for Friday night pizza night so he's just "making do" with homemade each week.

If you asked me, I'd say we're doing just fine.  

Last night, Brian pulled out all the stops with this made-from-scratch Greek, thin-crust.

 Oh. My. Word.  I think I'm going to refer to it from hereafter as the Greek Goddess of Yum.  It might also have something to do with the fact that we've saved those olives from the annual Greek Fest in Vestal, NY this past June. 

A little taste of home...

*Linking to Saturday's Artist *