Daybook - Monday, October 19th

Daybook for Monday October 19th, 2009

outside my window . . .

it is frosty! The early morning frost has melted off, but the thermometer still says it is c-c-c-old!

in the kitchen . . .

oh, my kitchen is an absolute MESS. No cooking will be attempted or even thought about until I manage to get the dishes done.

around the house . . .

the house is a bit the same as the kitchen. I think we are going to have a "clean up" day around here. (Very Busy Weekend - always leads to a Very Messy House)

on my iPod . . .

more CiRCE conference CDs. Also, two episodes of CharlotteTalks - one with Richard Dawkins and the other with Bishop John Spong. If you are around me and I'm muttering angrily to myself, I'm probably listening to one of these two guys.

from our studies . . .

hopefully, an India Lapbook. Also, we are thoroughly enjoying getting to know Tien Pao from "The House of Sixty Fathers".

~~~

listening to. . .
hubby's conference call . . . daughter "flying" her paper mermaid around the house, I suppose she is "swimming" her about rather than flying . . . creaking of the floor upstairs means another child may be rousing.

thankful for. . .

a beautiful drive through the mountains yesterday to see family. The mountains were topped with a delicate frosting of snow that melted into gorgeous fall colors further below.

pondering the words . . . From Cindy at Ordo Amoris (Dominion Family):

II Corinthians 3:6 "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life."

In fact, as much as we need systems, ultimately they will kill us. The life is in the blood. This can almost be applied across the board.

Grammar is a good thing. We cannot write without it. We cannot communicate without it but it isn't the only thing. If we approach writing as a purely grammatical exercise we will kill ideas.

Systematic theology is a good thing. We cannot understand the Bible without it. But if our theology is merely systematic it is dead.

The law (Pentateuch) was a good thing but it was powerless to save.

Systems are tools. They help us find the real things. Unfortunately, many people are happy when they have found a system. They never look up from their scavenging in the rubble to see the reality of the thing they are searching for.

Very often it is the conservative, Christian wing of the world that enjoys substituting the tool for the thing. The problem is that you can have a measure of success with a system but in the end you are left bankrupt and confused (Col 2).

Read the rest.

~~~

reading . . .

a new First Things magazine came in the mail this weekend! Still reading Divine Comedy, Four Loves (re-read), Flannery O'Connor's collected stories, and Lost to The West. And probably another book or two I've forgotten about.

creating . . .

finishing up a crochet hat for DD1 and starting one for DD7

praying . . .

for our women's retreat team and a dear family coming up on a difficult anniversary.

~~~

to foster rhythm and beauty . . .

after an unusually busy weekend, we are going to take the day to get our home and routine back in order.

to live the liturgy . . .

adding night prayer to my daily prayer.

to educate faithfully . . .

feeling a lack of the poetic (and I don't just mean poetry) in our homeschool, so I'm reviewing what we are doing a bit to see where we might foster that a bit more.

~~~

one of my favorite things . . .

my delightfully cozy flannel sheets!

milestones in the past week . . . Baby L has learned her first sign: "More"! She's found this particularly helpful when asking for second sharings of ice cream from big sister. (We've decided to teach some "baby signs" to help her with her language which can be delayed in international adoptees. We haven't necessarily seen any signs of that, but hope it might help to get out in front of it, as they say.)

a few plans for the upcoming week . . .

getting ready for our church's annual Women's Retreat this weekend!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to subscribe via email or RSS to receive my blog updates.