bekahcubed

Categories Memes

For Gracie Poo

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Gracie complains that bekahcubed is too boring and gives that as the reason why she doesn’t read. I’m inclined to think boring is in the eye of the beholder–but because I’d love to have her read, I’m including some stuff she might find interesting.

At least I’m assuming she’d find this meme interesting, since I stole it from her!

Have you ever….
(I wasn’t supposed to elaborate on any of these unless asked. So, there you go.)

Q: Kissed someone on your (Facebook) friends list?
No
Q: Been arrested?
No
Q: Do you like someone?
Yes
Q: Held a snake?
Yes
Q: Been suspended from school?
No
Q: Sang karaoke?
Yes
Q: Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t do?
Yes
Q: Laughed until you started crying?
Yes
Q: Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
Yes
Q: Kissed in the rain?
No
Q: Sang in the shower?
Yes
Q: Sat on a roof top?
Yes
Q: Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on?
No
Q: Broken a bone?
Yes
Q: Shaved your head?
No
Q: Played a prank on someone?
Yes
Q: Shot a gun?
No
Q: Donated Blood?
Yes

Who was the last person…

1. You hung out with?
Anna, Casandra, Joanna, Erin, Amber, Kim, Jeremy, Steve, Tim, and John
2. You texted?
Mary
3. You were in a car with?
Anna
5. You missed?
Can’t say
6. You called?
Mom
7. Made you laugh?
John B
8. You hugged?
Dana

This or that?

1. Sun or moon? Moon
Sun
2. Winter or Summer?
Summer
3. Left or Right?
Right
4. Sunny or rainy?
Sunny (with a thunderstorm midafternoon)
5. Where do you live?
Lincoln, NE
6. Club or pub?
Club sandwich over pub burger
7. Are there 1 or 2 people who you can always trust and rely on?
Yes
8. Do you want to get married?
Yes
9. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?
Both
10. What time is it?
0824
11. Are you afraid of commitment?
Doubt it
12. What is your greatest hope/wish?
That God would be glorified through me
13. Do you cook?
Yes
14. Current mood?
Struggling to come up with a mood…

In the last 48 hours, have you…

1. Kissed someone?
Nope
2. Sang?
Worship songs for a half hour or so in the car
3. Listened to music?
Lots of traveling yesterday, so lots of music too (borrowed CDs from the library)
4. Danced Crazy?
No, unless you count the little dance I did trying to get the gang to guess “boogie board” last night.
5. Cried?
Yes, but I can’t remember why. All I know is I had some tears seeping out of my eyes. I was talking with Casandra–but I can’t even remember if they were happy, sad, or indifferent tears.
6. Liked someone you can’t have?
Yes

25 Firsts….

1. Who was your first prom date?
Never been
2. Who was your first roommate?
Anna
3. What was your first alcoholic beverage?
James Arthur Vineyard’s “San Realto”–Amazing.
4. What was your first job?
Washing dishes for my across the street neighbor
5. What was your first car?
Benny–short for Benedick (as in from Much Ado about Nothing). Oh, he was a Chevy… What model was he? That’s right, a Cavalier
6. When was your first funeral and viewing?
When my little cousin was born stillborn
8. Who was your first grade teacher?
See Cast of Characters on sidebar: Mom
9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?
Seward, Nebraska–a JAARS plane. Next ride? Sweden.
11. Who was your first Best Friend?
Anna
12. Who is your best friend?
I’m not sure if I have a “best friend”. I have a number of close friends who are like family to me (or are family to me). See my “cast of characters” sidebar for more info.
13. Where was your first sleepover?
Ariann’s
14. Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?
My mom
15. Who’s wedding were you in the first time you were a Bridesmaid or groomsman?
Tiffany’s (Grace complains that she won’t be in mine–I appreciate very small wedding parties.)
16. What’s the first thing you did when you got up this morning?
Made my bed–it’s a habit
17. What was the first concert you went to?
SonicFlood. They were loud.
18. What was the last concert you went to?
East High’s year-end revue
19. First tattoo or piercing?
Ears, eight years old. Got infection. Never again.
20. First celebrity crush?
Not really into celebs
22. First crush?
Kyle Pitman (stolen from my sister when I was six or seven)
23. Current Crush?
It’s been a while since I had a crush–I’m getting a bit old for that.

…And now it’s off to babysit a couple of my favorite kids. Yippee!!!

Categories Book Notes, Relationships

A Dose of Cold, Hard Reality

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“There is no such thing as a perfect man,” Evan basically tells her, “and if there was, he wouldn’t marry you.”

Lori Gottlieb was on her way to a new way of looking at dating and marriage–thanks to a dose of cold, hard reality.

She shares her journey in Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough. (See my review here.)

Along the way, she provides a dose of reality for her readers–and I couldn’t stop noting down fantastic quotes.

“Clampitt matches people like this: ‘Number one,’ she said, ‘I look at whether the two people have common relationship goals. Number two, I look at values. Things like independence, family, religion, loyalty. Number three, what are the key qualities this person needs? You get no more than five. Things like, he has to be very intelligent. Number four, I look at shared interests. Interests are great because it’s bonding and stimulating and fun to share those, but the other things are more important for the long-term. I put shared interests last for that reason.”

My dad said something similar when I was reeling from a breakup with a guy with whom I shared a lot of interests. Dad, of course, was saying it as an “other fish in the sea” type comment. But the fact remains, shared interests are only one aspect of a happy marital relationship–and a small aspect at that.

“Ferman says she took immediate physical chemistry off her list when she realized that, given a certain level of attraction, she could find someone very attractive over time.”

I tried to explain this concept to a friend. It took a while, but I think she eventually got it. At least for women, physical attraction is about a lot more than the physical. Physical attraction is just as much a function of shared values, experiences, thoughts, emotions.

You say you won’t date someone you’re not attracted to, I ask how you know you’re not attracted to him. Do you know him well enough to know that, really?

No, I’m not saying you should marry someone you’re not physically attracted to. But I am saying that there is a very real sense in which someone you are not attracted to initially becomes very attractive as you get to know them. And I’m not talking about “He has a beautiful mind–so what if I can’t stand his body?” I’m talking about real, honest to goodness physical attraction–but physical attraction that doesn’t exist until other connections have been made.

“So when these matchmakers ask their clients to consider the guy who is too-this or not-that-enough, they’re actually saying something quite simple: You can have rigid expectations and try to find someone who meets them, or you can let go of preconceived notions and find someone you’ll fall in love with.”

I’ve seen the lists a mile high, with dozens of non-negotiables. It’s the Goldilocks phenomenon, except that there’s no “just right” to be found. The problem is, these lists might be lists of what we want, but they’re only occasionally lists of what we need. In the quest for the fantasy man, women are not even giving a first glance to the many real men who might be around–and just might be “Mr. Right”–but who fail to live up to the standards of the non-existent fantasy man.

“Dr. Broder says he sees a heightened sense of entitlement that previous generations didn’t have. Our mothers might have wished, but certainly didn’t expect, that their husbands would constantly want to please them, be attracted to them, entertain them, enjoy sharing all their interests, and be the most charming person in the room. Instead, they knew that marriage involved failing health, aging, boredom, periods of stress and disconnection, annoying habits, issues with children, and hardships and misunderstandings of all sorts. But many women today seem to be looking for an idealized spiritual union instead of a realistic marital partnership.”

Have I ever mentioned that I’m a big fan of Gary Thomas’s book Sacred Marriage? Well, I am. The major question that book asks is “What if God intended marriage not to make us happy, but to make us holy?”

If you’re looking for a marriage in which you can continue living as you please without having to make adjustments, without having to be sanctified, without having to love sacrificially, you’re sadly mistaken about the reality of married life. Marriage requires you to learn selfless love, to lay down your life for and submit to your spouse. The quest for the “perfect” man belies this truth–and sets up marriages for failure. Because even if you manage to find the “perfect man”–and he decides to marry you, marriage is still going to be a challenge, it’s still going to be a process of sanctification.

“If this sounds unromantic, when I look at my friends’ marriages, with their routine day-to-dayness, they actually seem far more romantic than any dating relationship might be. Dating seems romantic, but for the most part it’s an extended audition. Marriage seems boring, but for the most part it’s a state of comfort and acceptance. Dating is about grand romantic gestures that mean little over the long term. Marriage is about small acts of kindness that bond you over a lifetime. It’s quietly romantic.“

Compared to the “dream world” of chick flicks and romance novels, reality can seem pretty cold, pretty hard. But compared to the reality that living in the dream world creates, facing reality is a lot more pleasant.

Categories Flashback Friday

Flashback: Extracurriculars

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Flashback Friday buttonPrompt: What type of extra-curricular school activities did you participate in during your school days? Clubs? Spelling bees or other contests? Cheerleader or drill team? Sports? Journalism? Choir or theater? …

I was one of the “big kids” in a big homeschooling family, and when I was in the “extracurricular” phase, Mom had babies–and then preschoolers–and then elementary-schoolers.

My extracurriculars in elementary school involved…well, I’m not sure I had extracurriculars in elementary school. We belonged to a small church and with Mom being busy with babies, there wasn’t a lot of extra.

When I was a fifth or sixth grader, our church closed its doors and most of the parishioners went to another, larger church. Me and my older sister began attending the weekly “Missionettes” girls group there.

After I completed the Missionettes program as a seventh grader, I chose to volunteer as a “helper” in a Missionettes classroom. I helped in the kindergarten-aged “Daisies” classroom for five or six weeks before the teacher had some difficulties arise and had to quit.

I became the teacher of six to eight kindergarten girls. And I loved it.

I continued as a Missionettes sponsor through my senior year of highschool–and I absolutely adored it. I worked with every age-group of girls over the course of my sponsoring “career”, and was delighted to lead them through a variety of badges–and life experiences.

My other extracurriculars were along a similar vein. I volunteered in the church nursery. I taught Sunday school for a stint. I ran the PowerPoint projection system at church. I played the tambourine when called upon to do so.

In my last couple of years of high school, I developed a passion for discipleship and began meeting with a younger girl to study the Bible together. We met weekly for almost four years–and now I’m pleased to have her as a sister-in-law!

So I don’t have much by way of “extracurriculars”. I was in our church’s youth group and served on our “youth council.” And I volunteered. Apart from that, I read, I rode my bicycle, I walked all over town, I made paper, I wrote.

I didn’t have the traditional high school experience, I know. But I don’t feel deprived. I chose what I wanted to do and took great pleasure in what I did. I wouldn’t trade it for all the clubs and activities in the world.

Visit Linda for more Flashback Friday posts.

Categories Books

Executive Summary

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My dad claims to have only finished one book in his lifetime–a Hardy Boys mystery he finished in high school.

It’s not that my dad isn’t smart. He’s just not a reader. He says he never opened his textbooks–he just attended lectures and explained things to his roommates. He’s not sure reading would have done him any good.

He loves information, loves learning, but he reads slowly, laboriously. It requires a huge amount of work from him.

So he finds other ways of getting information. He listens to lectures, podcasts, and sermons. He reads short chunks online. He listens to talk radio discussions of books. He watches the history channel or documentaries.

And occasionally, he has his children read for him.

I have always been a voracious reader. I started reading in kindergarten, and by first grade, I was sneaking out of bed to read late into the night with the light that streamed from the cracked open bedroom door.

In sixth grade, I read Plato’s Republic and had my dad borrow copies of Jonathon Edwards’ sermons from the University Library.

Shortly thereafter, I became my dad’s designated reader.

He’d buy a book, bring it home, present it to me, and inform me that he wanted an executive summary. (This, of course, was after he’d spent dinner times of my entire elementary years attempting to teach me the concept of “summary”–particularly that a summary was shorter than the original work.)

And so I’d read a book and then give Dad the summary. We’d talk about what I’d read, the ideas found within. I’d read a few quotes aloud and he’d ask questions when my summary wasn’t clear.

It was a fantastic teaching strategy–and a way for Dad to read without reading.

The only problem was that since Dad didn’t actually see the book he was “reading”, he sometimes forgot that he’d “read” it. One day, in my later teen years, he brought me home a book, Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. I congratulated him on his purchase and told him that he now had a copy for himself. I had my own copy–it was one of the first books I’d summarized for him.

After I went away to college, I had other things to do and the habit of reading and discussing my reading with my dad fell by the wayside.

Until one day, I got a yen for the executive summary. I’m not sure how much my summaries enriched my dad’s mind–but I know that it had an indelible impact on me. I learn so much more when I engage the material, when I talk or write about it, when I discuss it with someone else.

So I started writing executive summaries. This time they’re on my blog. And instead of my dad, you are now my unwitting partners in learning.

Maybe Dad learned from my summaries, maybe he didn’t.

Maybe you enjoy my summaries, maybe you don’t.

But I’m gonna keep writing them, because they keep my mind alive.

(Some examples of books I’ve written executive summaries of in the past year include The Cross of Christ, Forgotten God, Unveiling Islam, and Why We Love the Church)

Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Book Club

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Today I’m thankful…

…for whichever friend it was who “liked” MIQRA’s Facebook Page, making it show up on my newsfeed

…for God’s providence that had me “like” MIQRA despite my general abhorrence for “liking” things (on Facebook)

…that I saw the book club announcement and “just happened” to save it

…that Evan directed me to the videos that convinced me to go

…that the Barnes and Noble in Omaha had a copy of the book–which I drove up to buy, which then locked me in to attending even when I was tired and starting to second guess my decision the first evening.

…for Jake’s familiar face that first night

…for Chad’s affirmation of my contributions (and of my writing)

…for Brian and Emily’s concern that I get to my car safely, walking me there or giving me a ride

…for walking and talking with Julie about homeschooling

…for Randy asking me about the week I missed book club

…for Nate’s passionate articulateness–so different and so similar to my own

…for Tom’s thoughtful observations and carefully reasoned comments

…for Jason’s baby :-) and a wee bit of fellowship with a real-life blogger (I’m the only really regular blogger of my “real-life” acquaintances until Jason)

…for the comfort of knowing that I wasn’t the only one who had a hard time wrestling with Christian involvement in the military–thanks so much, Jason H, for sharing

…for the others whose names aren’t coming to mind now, but who welcomed me, engaged my mind, and didn’t roll their eyes when I opened my mouth yet one more time.

…for the book itself, The Myth of a Christian Nation, which challenged and stretched me–and expanded my vision of the kingdom of God

…for the curly headed barista who prepared my Italian Soda, no cream, every Monday night

…for the discussions that brought me from bad mood to good

…for the genuine acceptance, questions, and offers of help that so many extended when I shared about “off-topic” parts of my life

…for the amazing God who has allowed me, at least for this season, to know Him with such marvelous comrades.

Thankful Thursday banner

Categories Reflections

If you love…

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“How did one find joy? In books it seemed to be found in love–a great love….So, if he wanted the heights of joy, he must have, if he could find it, a great love. But in the books again, great joy through love seemed always to go hand in hand with frightful pain. Still, he thought, looking out across the meadow, still, the joy would be worth the pain–if, indeed, they went together. If there were a choice–and he suspected there was–a choice between, on the one hand, the heights and the depths and, on the other hand, some sort of safe, cautious middle way, he for one, here and now chose the heights and the depths.”
~Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy

Love is intrinsically dangerous. It is a giving away of one’s heart that opens one up to the ecstasies of love’s return and the torments of love’s rejection. Some might carefully wall off their hearts, seal them against love, in order to preserve the cautious middle way with neither heights nor depths.

I choose to love.

“The best way to confront the traditional view of the impassibility of God, however, is to ask ‘what meaning there can be in a love which is not costly to the lover.’ If love is self-giving, then it is inevitably vulnerable to pain, since it exposes itself to the possibility of rejection and insult.”
~John Stott, The Cross of Christ

But love is not merely the initial giving away of one’s self, the captivation with another, the heady emotion of shared joy. Love is the continued giving, even when joy seems unlikely, even impossible.

Love looks like the cross.

Love is giving of oneself when it provides no rapture, only pain. Love is choosing the pain; if by the pain, the beloved’s joy can somehow be increased.

I have been offered a choice.

If you love… you rejoice when the beloved rejoices, even if his rejoicing is your sorrow.

If you love… you pray for the beloved’s peace, even if his peace means your turmoil.

If you love… you must be willing to die.

This is not romantic, butterflies-in-the-stomach, shivers-up-and-down-my-spine love. This is cross-love, God’s love. And I pray one day, I should truly learn to love this way.

Categories Homemaking, Tutorials

Tutorial: Produce Bags

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I like to pretend I’m eco-friendly and I do what I can to reduce waste (I hate to throw things away–I’d much rather just not bring them into my house in the first place.)

Several years ago, I made myself some fantastic canvas grocery bags, and I use them faithfully whenever I go shopping–but I still found myself bringing home way too many plastic bags.

Why? Because I still had to use those little produce bags for my produce and my purchases from the bulk bins. Never mind that the first thing I do when I get them home is transfer everything from the bags to bowls or storage containers–I still end up with all those little bags in my house. What’s more, these bags are doubly annoying because they can’t really be reused (except in a really tiny trashcan.)

I’ve seen half a dozen hundred little tutorials for produce bags online–and have quite a few of them bookmarked. But then, rather than using one of those, I just whipped up a modified version of my own in an afternoon. (I was able to make a dozen bags in under 2 hours using this technique.)

Several produce bags full of stuff

Here’s how I did it:

Step 1: Select fabric

I used a sheer fabric that I already had on hand–and an old sheer curtain. You could also use netting or tulle (tulle can be purchased very inexpensively.)

Step 2: Cut to appropriate size

There are a few options for cutting.

  1. You can cut two rectangles approximately the size of your finished bag (so for a 12″ wide by 15″ long bag, you would need two pieces of fabric approximately 12″ by 15″)
  2. You can cut one rectangle so that the “fold” will be along a side of the bag (so for a 12″ wide by 15″ long bag, you would need one rectangle 15″ long and 24″ wide)
  3. You can cut one rectangle so that the “fold” will be along the bottom of the bag (so for a 12″ wide by 15″ long bag, you would need one rectangle 30″ long and 12″ wide)

I used all three of these methods at different times in order to best use the fabric lengths I had. You can, of course, adjust the dimensions to make bags of different sizes.

Cutting sheer fabric for produce bag

Step 3: Overlock stitch a two inch length in the top corner of your fabric.

Stitching produce bags

I have prepared a little diagram that shows where to stitch (in red) based on the cutting method you chose in step 2.

Stitching diagram

Step 4: Sew side and bottom seams.

Now you will want to align your already stitched edges so that they overlap, with the right side of the fabric together.

Stitched edges aligned

The following diagram shows where folds should take place with each cutting method (folds are indicated by dotted lines and arrows).

Folding diagram

Now you will want to sew together the sides and/or bottom using overlock stitch. The sides you will stitch are indicated using blue in the diagram above. (Note that you will not restitch over the area stitched in the previous step.)

Step 5: Fold down top casing and press.

You should fold down approximately one inch (or one half of the approximately two inch length you stitched in Step 3) of fabric and press it into place

Pressed casing

Step 6: Sew casing down along bottom edge using overlock stitch.

Casing sewn down

You can see how this leaves a nice casing with a finished edge at a corner.

Step 7: Turn bag inside out and thread ribbon through casing.

Completed produce bag

I used leftover ribbon from my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding. You can use ribbon, twine, yarn, whatever you’ve got. Tie or sew ribbon together at the end to make a loop and you’re done!

The finished result:

Produce bag on grocery scale

It’s difficult to see, but I weighed this bag at my grocery store to see if it would be adding too much weight to my produce or bulk purchases. This bag weighed .02 lbs. I don’t think I’m too concerned! (Of course, if you used string or lighter weight ribbon, you could probably reduce that weight.)

Categories Book Notes, Theology

I could never myself believe in God

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Notes on John Stott’s
The Cross of Christ
Chapter 13: Suffering and Glory

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross.”

This quote is found on the back of my library’s copy of The Cross of Christ. I’ve seen it every time I grab the book to read it–and, quite frankly, it has always mystified me.

Sure, if it were not for the cross, God would be a very different God than the God of the Bible, since the cross is the crux of all Scripture (pun partially intended!) But does that mean that I could not believe in Him? I don’t know. I mean, He would still be powerful and in control and creative and so on and so forth. Surely I could still believe in Him. Couldn’t I?

As I said, that quote puzzled me.

But then finally, in the very last chapter of the book, I found the quote’s origins. And then I understood.

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross’. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples…and stood respectful before the statue of the Buddha…a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering.”
~John Stott, The Cross of Christ

Stott is not speaking of whether or not he could believe that God exists without the cross but of whether or not he could believe in Him–that is, whether he could place his trust in this God.

A God who is incapable of pain, who is merely a detached observer, cannot be trusted. A God who cannot be touched by suffering is a God who can heedlessly cause all sort of suffering. And we would be right to rail at Him: “What are we,” we might say “but pawns in a game, moved about to suit your purposes without any regard for our suffering.”

But the God of the cross is ultimately worthy of trust. For He has experienced our pain, has borne our pain, has drunk the full dregs of God’s wrath. He has suffered at man’s hand and at His own father’s hand. And it is He, who has for our sakes experienced pain beyond our comprehension, who now calls us through the pains of this world to take heart for He is using these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, to work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (II Cor 4:17).

I could never myself trust in God, if it were not for the cross.

Yet because of the cross, I can make no better choice than to entrust my all to Him who bore my suffering.

(See more of my notes on The Cross of Christ.)

Categories Tiny Talk Tuesday

TTT: Excuse me, What’s Your Name?

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“Can anyone watch 3 kids tomorrow without having to take off work?”

It didn’t take a mind reader to sense the desperation in J the Mom’s brief Facebook status. And so, despite not having seen or talked to anyone in the J family for probably a year, I replied: “I can if you still need somebody. I don’t have any other plans for the day.” If she didn’t mind how long it had been since we’d chatted, I wouldn’t either.

So I enjoyed a day of play with J the First (age 7), J the Second (age 5), and J the Boy (age 3).

Portrait of Me by J the FirstPortrait of Me by J the Second
Left: Portrait of me by J the First; Right: Portrait of me by J the Second
Do I really look as tall as J the First made me? ‘Cause if so, that’s crazy!

The kids, having not seen me for quite a while, had probably forgotten entirely about me. If any memories remained of me, my name was not one of them.

This didn’t bother J the Second or J the Boy, both of whom had no problem calling me “Hey You” or getting my attention some other way. J the First, on the other hand, wanted to call me by my name.

So we had the following conversation about once every fifteen minutes over the course of the almost ten hours I spent at their house:

J the First: Excuse me. What’s your name?

Me: Rebekah

J the First: Oh yeah. Rebekah?

And then she’d say whatever she wanted to tell me:

“Oh yeah. Rebekah? I like having you as our babysitter.”

“Oh yeah. Rebekah? the Boy just hit the Second.”

“Oh yeah. Rebekah? do you want to see the glass slipper that was on my birthday cake?”

And so on and so forth–until J the Mom got back home and was writing a check.

J the First: Excuse me. What’s your name?

Me: Rebekah

Tiny Talk Tuesday J the First: Oh yeah, Rebekah?

J the Mom enjoyed that little exchange–all the more so when I explained that I’d already been enjoying it all day.

Check out more Tiny Talk Tuesday posts at Not Before 7.

Categories Reading My Library

Bird Books

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As I continue my path through Eiseley library’s children’s picture book section, I become pickier and pickier about children’s books. So much is monotonous pages of empty words accompanied by bright splashes of illustrations that are equally empty. The rhythms start to grow old, the archetypes tedious. I get worn out.

So when I discover a book that is sweet without being saccharine, educational without being pedantic, and illustrated artistically without trying to be avant-garde, I get excited.

Dianna Hutts Aston wrote two such books that I thoroughly enjoyed coming across this month.

Mama outside, Mama insideMama Outside, Mama Inside tells the story of two mamas preparing for their coming children. The mama outside is a bird, preparing a nest, sitting on the eggs, bringing her hatchlings food, and teaching them to fly. Mama inside is a woman, preparing a nursery for her baby, knitting a blanket, feeding her baby, and taking her new baby to the window to see the baby birds learn how to fly.

The illustrations by Susan Graber are soft and realistic. I was excited to see that Gaber chose to portray Mama inside breastfeeding her child (discretely) while Papa brings a pillow. The image of an infant being fed a bottle has become iconographic–but I’d much rather have the normative image portray breastfeeding! Artists like Gaber deserve kudos for subtly working towards re-establishing breastfeeding as a normative practice.

An Egg is Quiet

The Second Dianna Aston book I was impressed with was An Egg is Quiet, illustrated by Sylvia Long. The book starts with the simple words “An egg is quiet. It sits there, under its mother’s feathers…on top of its father’s feet…buried beneath the sand. Warm. Cozy.” And on it goes, telling about the features of different eggs–their colors and shapes and sizes and patterns and textures. The main text is in large script, with only a short sentence or phrase per page. The bulk of the page is composed of naturalistic illustrations of different eggs, labeled for easy identification, and more detailed descriptions of whatever principle the main script is discussing in smaller (but still not small) print.

This is a delightful book that is sure to have children pouring for hours over its illustrations and dreaming about seeing all the different birds (and a few reptiles) and eggs. Parents could easily read just the large script to their youngest children, while exploring the smaller print in more detail with their slightly older children. I can see this title holding the attention of preschoolers all the way through middle-elementary school children. (It held my attention pretty well too–and I had to go back to check out Sylvia Long’s illustrations in better detail.) This is the nature book I wish I had in my home growing up.

Reading My LibraryFor more comments on children’s books, see the rest of my Reading My Library posts or check out Carrie’s blog Reading My Library, which chronicles her and her children’s trip through the children’s section of their local library.