7 Quick Takes: April 17th

Read more Quick Takes at Jen's Converstion Diary.

One

I love to check out my google search hits. Recently, I got one for "if I'm stuck in Africa". That just makes me laugh. Oddly enough it was for a 7 quick takes post! Have you ever checked your google search hits - what odd ones have you gotten?

Two

We are working on improving our landscaping. It is pretty bland right now (and has been for the past 6 years), just your basic new house foundation plants. We've pulled out those (which I hate) and moved them to our backyard where they will provide nice screening. Now we are expanding our beds to take up much of our front yard (less grass is our goal) and slowly we'll add plants, bushes and some small trees (those will wait until the fall).

Three

April is the time of year I always want to assess our homeschool and start planning for next year. The conference season is coming up (our state conference is in late May) and that means book sales! But I still have school to catch up on, so I'm trying to stay focused. I'm not doing a very good job. When do you start your annual assessment and planning?

Four

I've finally gotten back into my routine of early morning prayer and bible reading. I use the Daily Office of the Anglican church to guide my bible reading. I also enjoy reading a spiritual classic for devotional reading in the morning. Right now it is "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis. I'm almost finished - can anyone recommend another?

Five

While I was gone to Africa, I racked up over 800 emails in my inbox (and that doesn't include the 100s I actually read while I was there!). Last week I sat down and spent an hour or so (not all at one time - I do have children and a baby!) weeding through all those. Some needed replies (although most of the ones needing replies got replies while I was in Africa) and some needed to be labeled and archived, and some (most) just needed to be deleted. I'm back down to under 50 - much better!

Six

Watched Slumdog Millionaire this past weekend and loved it. Have you seen it? What did you think? It is rated "R", but I'm surprised it got that rating. It had very little of the things that usually deserve an R rating (language, violence, s*#)...I thought PG-13.

Seven

I'm trying to collect ideas for celebrating the entire Easter season. I'd love to hear some of your ideas! Leave me a comment!

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How to Teach History Classically

Who says Classical Education is complicated? Certainly not Andrew Kern!

"In the grammar years, students should learn the stories of 'Famous Men of History.'

In the Logic years, they should relate those heroes to each other by studying the ages in which they lived.

In the rhetoric years, they should engage the argument directly. “Why is the world like it is today, because of heroes and their actions, because of sociological forces, or for some other reason?”

From Circe Institute's blog, Quiddity




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Is Aid Killing Africa?

Is foreign aid killing Africa?

This may seem way off topic for this blog, but now that I have a daughter from Africa, it is definitely on topic for me personally. And since Americans are the producers of so much of that aid, it is a topic for our country to consider.

Guernica Magazine (which I just discovered through Arts & Literature) published an interview with Dambisa Moyo, an African economist about her thoughts on the aid situation on the African continent. She is pretty adamant that foreign aid is making the situation worse for Africans (and has for the last sixty years). She offes some pretty sobering statistics and some well-researched evidence to support her conclusion that direct aid (caveat: she is discussing systemic aid, not emergency aid) to Africa needs to stop in the next five years or the situation will only continue to worsen.

Here's the introductory paragraph:

Dambisa Moyo’s prescription for economic sustainability in Africa—which includes cutting off all aid within five years—might seem insane if the statistics weren’t so grim: despite one trillion dollars in western aid over the past sixty years, the economic lot of the average African has only gotten worse. Most Africans now live on one dollar per day, and sub-Saharan Africa remains the poorest region in the world. Despite a deluge of aid between the years of 1970 and 1998, poverty on the continent skyrocketed from 11 percent of the population to 66 percent, which means over six hundred million Africans are now impoverished. The average African can only expect to live to be about fifty, and half the continent’s citizens are under the age of fifteen. In addition to poverty, AIDS, corruption (half the continent is still under un-democratic rule), civil war, and genocide ravage the continent. Indeed, Africa seems constantly embroiled in a steady stream of horrors, the likes of which are not seen anywhere else on the planet. Why? Are Africans innately different from the rest of us? Nonsense, says Moyo. She blames aid.

I highly recommend you take the time to read the full interview.

Then come back here and share your thoughts on her conclusions. Do you believe foreign aid has made things worse? Do you think stopping foreign aid will improve the situation? If so, how do we stop aid without causing many people to suffer. If we don't stop the aid, how do we address the concerns she raises? While solving international issues might be a bit beyond us, we can take her ideas and apply them to our church programs. Within our churches how can we incorporate her ideas into our mission outreach programs?

This is a huge issue that I'm sure homeschool moms feel is way outside their control, but I think it is important enough to at least have a well-formed opinion about. Let's let iron-sharpen iron a bit, what do you say?

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Art Links for Homeschoolers: April 2009

After a long hiatus, Art Links for Homeschoolers is back! I preview resources from around the world and present you the ones I think you'll find the most useful for Art History, Art Appreciation or Picture Study in your homeschool. Each month check in to see what great resources I've found for you! Looking for something in particular? Do a blog search (that little Blogger search box in the top navigation bar - above my banner)! Want to see what resources I've reviewed so far? Click on the label "Enjoying the Arts".

Here are the resources I've collected for April:


--Baroque Period--

The Baroque period (17th and 18th centuries) encompassed architecture, painting, sculpture, and music. It was also a style that crossed cultural barriers from the British Isles to the Philippine Islands. This spring the Victoria and Albert Museum is presenting an exhibition of 200 items "to examine the flourishing of the Baroque style during the era that saw the establishment of great European and colonial empires ruled by absolute monarchs and the continuing power of the Roman Catholic Church." In conjunction with this exhibit, the museum is featuring and online Interactive Global Baroque "exhibit" (it even has a Baroque music player in the lower right column). Below the image-linked map you'll find the full selection of Baroque images from around the world. And finally, you can add your own images of Baroque-style using flickr!



--Depression Era Photography, Walker Evans--

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is exhibiting a collection of postcards with images by Walker Evans (famous Depression-Era photographer). From the exhibition homepage: a collection of 9,000 picture postcards amassed and classified by the American photographer Walker Evans (1903–1975), now part of the Metropolitan’s Walker Evans Archive. The picture postcard represented a powerful strain of indigenous American realism that directly influenced Evans’s artistic development. The Met has this entire exhibit in an online exhibition collection!



--American Abstract Art (Pollock, de Kooning)

The Albright-Knox Museum offers an exhibit assembled by The Jewish Museum in modern American Art: Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art: 1940-1976. The Jewish Museum has put together an excellent series of teaching resources all internet-based including: an Image Gallery, a cultural timeline, and more.



This post was submitted to the Carnival of Education. And the Carnival of Homeschooling at The Common Room.

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Lamb with Shallots & Mushrooms - Leftover Lamb Recipe

My Lamb Roasted with Rosemary (in the dutch oven) was wonderful last night! Now, for ways to use up the leftover lamb!

Here is the dish I'm making today...

Lamb with Shallots & Mushrooms (this recipe only fixes enough for 3, so I've increased it and changed just a bit).

cold lamb chopped into bite-sized pieces
12 oz. sliced mushrooms
4-5 chopped shallots
4 tbsp. butter
3 3/4 tbsp. flour
3 c. stock
3 tbsp. tomato paste
3 tsp. Herbes de Provence
1 c. white wine
Salt
Pepper

Saute shallots in butter until just transluscent. Add mushrooms and cook until just soft. Sprinkle with flour and cook a few more minutes. Add stock, wine, salt, pepper and tomato paste. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until the sause thickens up a bit. Lower heat and add meat to sauce and let warm. Serve over rice or noodles. Serves 8-10.

I'm serving this with a side-salad, bread, and leftover strawberry-rhubarb crumble a la mode.


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Week 3 after Baby L's Homecoming

If you got an odd one-liner post earlier, I apologize! My finger slipped and hit the "enter" key and it got posted.)

L is doing great - as I keep saying, but it is really true. The siblings are all truly having fun together. Just this evening, H came and took L out of my arms saying, "Hand me that baby so I can go entertain her a while."

• This week her eating has continued to improve. She's taking solids much more regularly and is having fun feeding herself Cheerios. Bottles are regularly 4-6, sometimes she'll even take a bit more.


• She actually slept through the night! Back in Ghana, she had gotten to the point of sleeping through the night (11pm/12am to 5am/6am and then back down until 7am or 8am) pretty regularly. Then when we came home, we reverted to waking back up many times during the night. BUT - earlier this week, we got a full night! We haven't had a repeat, but I expect we'll start to get more and more of those long night sleeps!


• In Ghana and then back home, she seemed to have a moment every few days where something relatively normal really startled and scared her. We haven't seen her startle like that is quite some time!


• Church on Sunday was probably a bit too much and we entirely missed her morning nap (other than a short nap in the sling while I chatted with friends). But she did pretty well. She got quite upset (but settled quickly) when we went up for prayer (at the request of a friend). I think the closeness of the crowd was a bit much for her.


• Her babbling seems to have returned. In Ghana, we got lots of "da-da" and "ga-ga", but since we got home she's been very quiet, until the last couple of days.


• And finally, she is starting to crawl and pull-up!

Here are some photos:















See how talented she is?

The Cheerios are so good here!

What do you mean I missed my mouth?

Sitting Shiva for Jesus - repost

This post is from last year's Good Friday. I pray you have a blessed Good Friday.

Today, I sat shiva for Jesus.

We opened our home to friends and strangers for a Stations of the Cross for children. At each station was lovely art, a short devotional, and an object lesson. (I'll share details and photos after Easter.)

Truthfully, I wasn't sure how it would be received. But, after my children and I went through the Stations just prior to our first guests, I realized the impression it all made. Truly, it was the Lord's doing.

The house was hushed with just the whispering of parents and children, and in the background thoughtful, gentle, choral music played. What a blessing to see families gathered so closely around the stations- many of them kneeling or sitting in conversation and thought. The kids were engrossed, as were the parents.

I didn't know that it would feel so much like a funeral vigil, but it did. Among Jews, it is a custom to "sit shiva" when a close family member dies. The mourners quietly recieve visitors, who come to just sit - not necessarily to socialize. After the first session ended and our family returned to our normal noise level, I realized how purposeful the earlier silence felt. It was then that it occurred to me that we were sitting shiva for Jesus.

And it felt right.

How are you observing Good Friday?

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Easter Sunday Meals

Over on my seasonal food blog, To Every Meal There Is A Season, I've posted our Easter Sunday menu (breakfast, lunch and dinner) with links to recipes. Looking for some menu ideas? Click on over and see what I've got cooking!

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Easter Sunday Menus

Easter Sunday is fast approaching and I'm late making my plans. Perhaps you are, too? Are you looking for some last minute ideas for your Easter Sunday meals? Here's what I have planned (with linked recipes!).


Breakfast
Breakfast Casserole with Sausage (the "old stand-by", but it is good and I have the sausage already cooked and ready to go in my freezer)

Armenian Easter Bread - "Choereg" (if I can get to the middle eastern grocery for the mahleb spice needed)

Fresh Fruit and yogurt


Lunch/Snack
Deviled eggs and veggie platter (we'll get home late after church where we will have had snacks)


Dinner
Leg of Lamb with Rosemary (cooked in the Dutch Oven - I like the ease of letting the pot and the oven do the work!)

Ginger Ale Salad (a fruit salad in jello - southerners can't have a special meal without some congealed salad!)

Gratin Dauphinois

Asparagus with Bernaise (I know the usual is Hollandaise, but I just love the flavor of Bernaise with asparagus) (here is a "quick" version)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble a la Mode


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Gratin Dauphinois

Gratin Dauphinois - Oh, so yummy and delicious! This goes great as a side dish to so many main dishes (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, lamb) and even could be part of a "vegetable" platter-type dinner. This recipe is the Julia Child version from my favorite: Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One. If you want, you can even make it ahead a little and reheat/finish cooking just before serving (see directions for this at the end with "**")


2 lbs boiling potatoes
1/2 clove unpeeled garlic
4 T butter
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 oz (1 cup) grated Swiss cheese
1 c boiling milk


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8 inch thick. Place in a large bowl (or sink) of cold water. Drain when ready to use.


Rub the baking dish with the cut garlic. Smear the inside of the dish with 1 T of the butter. Drain the potatoes and dry them on a towel. Spread half of them in the bottom of the dish. Divide over them half the salt, pepper, cheese and butter. Arrange the remaining potatoes of ther first layer, and season them. Spread on the rest of the cheese and dicide the butter over it. Pour on the boiling milk. Set baking dish over heat and when simmering, set in upper third of preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender, milk has been absorbed, and the top is nicely browned. (As the oven is hot, and the dish shallow, the potatoes cook quickly.)


**You may hold the dish for half an hour, loosely covered, over simmering water. For a longer wait, stop intial cooking just before all milk has evaporated. Set aside uncovered. Shortly before serving, dot with 2 T of butter, reheat on the top of stove, and set in a 425-degree oven for 5-10 minutes to finish cooking.


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Palm Sunday resources

Real quick link... Barbara at Praying for Grace has collected some resources for Palm Sunday (for kids). If you stop by, leave her a comment and say thanks for her work!

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Peter Piper's Picks: April 4th

Welcome back to Peter Piper's Picks! Here's what I've been reading recently:


Cindy at Dominion Family took a blogging break last year, but a few months ago she began blogging again...and I'm so glad! She always has great insights. Last week, she shared her thoughts about online friendships - how real are they?


Now that it is spring, do you know what season it is for homeschoolers? CONVENTION season! Our statewide support group (NCHE) convention in NC is in late May. When is yours? Need some advice on getting ready to tackle it? Check out Deanne at Lifestyle of Discipleship's timely article.


A quick "shout out" to a somewhat new (at least to me) Anglican family-type blogger. I've visited her blog before, but have now added her to my GoogleReader...and my blog list. Amy at Splendor in the Ordinary...go say "HELLO!"


I'm really not trying to grind an axe here or make this my new soapbox, but this did catch my attention. First Things takes on the "Contraception Compromise".


Have you ever thought about setting up a "prayer closet", but found it difficult (or impossible) to sacrifice a closet? I have! Jen at Conversion Diary has asked for advice for this situation and has some great responses in her comments section.


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Baby L's 2nd week home

Today is two weeks since we made it home with Baby L. I actually seems like a lot longer. Here are some progress notes and highlights:

• Got a clean bill of health from our pediatrician.
• Since we had records of her vaccinations with lot numbers, our pediatrician accepted all her vaccinations from Ghana. No repeat shots!
• She has moved from a bassinett beside our bed into her crib in the girls' room! In fact, last night Ella and she slept in there (in the room, not the crib) together and they both did great!
• Speaking of sleeping, she has begun to let us put her down for naps before she has fallen asleep (but still when she is really tired and has been all snuggled up).
• Her bottle-feeding has really improved! She is now regularly taking 4-5 oz, sometimes 6oz and at least once she took 7oz at one time! We've moved up a nipple flow speed which has helped and she's taken to it without being stressed about feeling choked. This is really big news!
• She's begun trying lots of new baby foods. When she is interested in eating solids she does great, but when she isn't forget it!
• The dogs' barks don't make her cry anymore and she tolerates them coming to say "hello" more and more. She is also quite interested in the kitties.
• She still insists on being in Mama's arms at certain times and there is no putting her down or passing her off. We are glad that she is showing a tight bond, but it does make it hard to get things done.
• Nighttimes are improving, but still we wake up with her (or she wakes before we go to bed) around midnight to 1am and then around 4am. Better than waking every hour or so!

So, that is a quick run-down of her adjustment status. We hope to have her at church this Sunday for Palm Sunday. It will be a lot for her and we'll have to watch for signs that she is getting overwhelmed, but I think she'll do pretty well.

7 Quick Takes: April 3rd - What is Normal?

Today marks two weeks since I returned home from Ghana. It took about 10 of those 14 days to start to really feel "back to normal". Not sure whether that is more due to time change, culture reacclimation, or just being away from my own "normal" for a month and a half. How different "normal" can be from one culture to another! How different normal can be from one person to another!

So, what makes my life seem normal? My time away certainly has clarified what makes me feel comfortable and at home...

One
Pajamas. I adore pajamas...in fact my husband might say I have a slight obsession with pjs. After a long, busy day nothing feels better than peeling off the day's clothes and snuggling into a comfortable pair. Of course, you might guess I have quite a collection and it is a sad day when an old, favorite pair has to be retired.


Two
NPR. My daily routine includes quite a lot of NPR. Liberal bias or not, the stories on NPR are good and more often constitute REAL news (or at least REAL human interest) than what I see on local or national news shows, which I stopped watching a couple of years ago. I really watch very little news on TV.


Three
Morning Routine. Quiet house, dim morning light, warm cup of tea or coffee, reading bible and/or devotional, checking email, reading some blogs, looking over my day's schedule and waiting for the first child to descend the stairs, the sign day has truly begun.


Four
My spot on the couch. We have acquired by "hand-me down" a couch and a loveseat to replace our couch with chaise that had its springs sprung by rambunctious children. It didn't take long for me to find "my spot" on the loveseat. Settling in to this spot at the end of a day ready to enjoy a favorite TV show, a little conversation, and a glass of wine - very normal.


Five
My bed with down pillows and down comforter. I love, love, love my bed. Two christmases ago, my mom gave us a gift certificate to Bed, Bath and Beyond which we used to purchase really nice down pillows. Combined with our down comforter (which we've had forever) they make a most cozy, fluffy, snuggly bed!


Six
The menagerie of pets. Ok, we don't really have a menagerie right now, but we do have two dogs and two cats. We used to have two lizards and their feeder crickets (which we also had to feed, so aren't they pets, too?). Normal is watching my cats and dogs do their funny, well-choreographed dance around each other. The cats sneak upstairs to avoid being excessively "loved" by the dogs. The cats sneak downstairs to make their mad dash for the kitty door. The dogs wait for the slightest cat noise or scent and then bolt after the cats. Sometimes one particular cat actually tries to seek out one or the other of the dog, but carefully to avoid attracting the attention of both. (When there is only one they are fairly gentle, but together they get all "pack"-like and a bit rough.)


Seven
Our books. We have a lot of books. Certainly not as many as some but more than most, I suppose. Often I find myself reading a different books in each room of the house - a book on homeschooling in the family room, a food book in the kitchen, a spiritual book in the library room, and a novel in our bedroom.

So, what is "normal" for you? Leave a comment here and then visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more "Quick Takes".

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Quiverfull Questions

Quiverfull on NPR? Yup! (HT: StandFirm)

But I must say there is a quote that really disturbed me: "'We'll be able to take over both halls of Congress, we'll be able to reclaim sinful cities like San Francisco for the faithful, and we'll be able to wage very effective massive boycotts against companies that are going against God's will.'"

I don't know - since when did this become the ultimate goal for Christian families? What about sharing the gospel? What about caring for widows and orphans? What about the poor, the sick, the oppressed?

Wait, let's back up. Is "quiverfull" a term you are familiar with? It is sort of "jargon" in many Christian circles...but not even all Christians would know what it refers to, I guess. The term "Quiverfull" refers to a verse in Psalm 127 that describes children like the arrows in a mighty warrior's quiver. The idea being that a mighty warrior would have LOTS not just one or two. (Of course, a really good archer might only need one or two to get the job done...but that is a different debate.) So, the Quiverfull Movement is one that encourages Christian families to see children as a blessing and to accept as many "as the Lord sends" - using no birth control of any sort.

Apparently, it has lately been the zinger topic in some liberal circles...you know, easy to "zing" with negative labels and attitudes, and generally writing it off as "nutty", without taking the time to really get to know some of the families who make up the Quiverfull Movement. (Do a google search and see how many negative articles come up on the first two pages.)

I did a lot of reading about the quiverfull movement (also called QF for short) around the time my husband and I decided we were not "done" (even though one of us had surgery to be "done"...which we then had "undone"). I read lots of the books, websites and such and was mostly convinced that this movement was on to something. Of course, this wasn't a huge leap for me. Since I was little, I've thought it odd that people who believe in a good, omnicient, omnipotent God would not trust him more with the size of their families. But there were some aspects to the basic ideas that I couldn't settle in my mind and some influences within the movement that I thought were going so far as to have missed the gospel in the search for "godliness".

Really, I found it hard to come to terms with the movement's emphasis that EVERYONE should be quiverfull (at least every Christian) and if they weren't they were sinning against God. All I'm going to say about that right now is that it strikes me as quite a legalistic approach to Scripture. (And having read the blogs and forums of some of these groups, it wasn't only a legalistic seeming...there was some pretty extreme legalism going on inside the group on all manner of issues.) There almost seemed to be an unspoken contest going on to determine who trusts God more, me or thee. However, legalism can be found in any group (Christian or not, religious or not...shoot, have you ever noticed the legalism in the Green movement...there it is "who is greener, me or thee".)

The quote from the NPR piece displays the attitude prevalent in the QF movement that I think is the most troublesome. There is quite an emphasis on gaining power through political positions in order to "Christianize" the country. (The QF is not the only Christian group today that holds to the belief that Chrisitans should be out to Christianize by conquest...it is also not the first Christian group to desire political influence and power...seems like I remember a Roman church that held political power for quite a few years - but that is a much larger topic!) And this is where I think it veers beyond, or rather, doesn't reach, the Gospel.

Christ eschewed political power as a means of evangelism, instead he chose and instructed us to evangelize by one-on-one interaction. Not only that, He also told us that "true religion" is the care of widows and orphans. This should be what we are filling our quivers with- children who love God and love their fellow human beings. Children who see the frailty and grief around them and want to present Christ to a dying world. And also, children who delight in God's gift of creation!

And while I have criticism for the QF movement, I also think that Christians in America can learn a LOT from the ideas of the quiverfull movement about getting our perspectives toward children and famlies in line with God's perspective. Why do we stop at one or two...because it is culturally acceptable? Because of finances? Our lack of patience? Or because we've invested time in prayer and thought and believe that is the Lord's will for our family? Which definitely sounds more like a people who believe in a God who loves them and their children.


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