bekahcubed

Categories Family & Friends

Heat Index

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A native Nebraskan, I’ve always derided the idea of “heat index” or “wind chill.” You ask the temperature or hear it on the radio. “It’s 88 degrees outside,” the announcer says. “But humidity’s high so it feels like it’s 100 degrees.” Come winter they’ll be announcing that the wind chill means it “feels like 10 below”.

Even as a child, I dismissed the idea. Heat index and wind chill are for weenies–people who want to whine about how hot or cold it is when it really isn’t that bad.

I grew up in Nebraska. We never have heat without humidity. 95 degrees with humidity still feels like 95 degrees to me. It’s all I’ve ever known (excepting my brief stay in Mexico and forays into the mountains where the dry air makes 95 feel positively comfortable.)

I grew up in Nebraska. We never have winter without wind. 5 degrees with wind is still 5 degrees.

Today, Joanna and I took a bike ride. We started out on the MoPac East, intending to ride to Elmwood and back, somewhere around 36 miles.

As we traveled to the trailhead, Joanna commented on the weather. They’re predicting scattered thunderstorms. It’s pretty humid. We’re under a heat advisory.

“Heat advisory!” I scoffed. “They put those things out entirely too often.” After all, there’s barely been a day that hasn’t had a heat advisory for the past two weeks. “We’ll do fine.”

We enjoyed a nice ride, commenting to each other how much easier the return trip would be–so long as the wind didn’t change.

Ride, ride. Take a break. Sip water from my camel-back.

Talk a bit. Ride some more. Note the trees and streams and velvety soybean fields.

We passed through Walton, arrived at Eagle. We’re pushing on to Elmwood. Tired, slowing, starting to think about lunch.

Joanna and our bikes

Two more miles, one more mile. We’re here at last. Halfway. Only the return journey to go.

Let’s find a park, a bench, somewhere to eat our lunches.

We sit at a bench beside the community center, watching old men come and go. I pick at my sandwich, eat a pear. My appetite’s been poor for months now–and today is not a good day for eating.

Turn around, fly down the hill from Elmwood back to the trail. We’re on the road again.

The wind is with us, but we’re fatiguing. The sun has risen to the top of the sky and we’re starting to feel hot. We’re counting off the miles again–except that this time we have 18 more miles to go.

Seventeeen…

Sixteen…

My camel-back is almost dry, my clothes completely soaked. We’re gonna have to stop in Eagle, I say. I need to get something to drink.

We discuss heat exhaustion, heat stroke. Best to know the signs and how to respond just in case.

My odometer slowly counts up the miles. Twenty two…Twenty three…Twenty Four.

I remark to Joanna that I can’t believe people who run marathons. Two more miles, I say, and we’ll have ridden the distance of a marathon. How do people do that?

I’m really looking forward to stopping at Eagle, getting something to drink. I’m soaked through. My clothes are starting to chafe horribly, and I’m feeling a bit…off.

My odometer announces that we’ve traveled 26 miles. A marathon.

And Eagle lies over the next little rise.

We park our bikes at a gas station and begin to fantasize about the air conditioning that will greet us when we open the door.

Oh, it felt nice.

Joanna points out the mud on my face–a mixture of road dust and sweat. I head to the bathroom to clean it off. I don’t need to use the restroom. Never mind that I’ve consumed two liters of water in the past couple of hours. My bladder is empty. I’ve sweated it all out.

I walk back out of the bathroom and Joanna takes a good look at me. “I think maybe we should call and see if someone could pick us up.”

I don’t like to admit it, but I can’t deny. “Yeah, I think maybe we should.”

We buy some Gatorade and sit at a booth while I call back to Lincoln to ask for a ride.

I was clearly dehydrated–and probably running out of both glucose and electrolytes. It was clear that for my sake we needed to call it a day.

Twenty-six miles.

Thirty-six would have sounded so much better.

How my brothers will tease.

But twenty six isn’t shabby, I told myself. And we rode most of it against the wind, in a heat advisory.

We passed a marquee as we entered Lincoln: 88 degrees. Disappointing.

“Bah,” I said, “what with the heat index and all, it felt an awful lot hotter.”

Categories Recap

Recap (July 25-31)

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On bekahcubed

Book Reviews:

  • Inside “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by Bell, Pyykkonen, and Washington
    Rating: *****
    Category: Literature Study-Guide/Read-along
    Synopsis: An easy-to-understand yet in-depth look at the literary and historical allusions found in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
    Recommendation: This book is a definite keeper. Find it, buy it, peruse it, lend it to your older children, and find a way to share the information found within with your younger children. This is a fantastic resource.
    Read the full review
  • Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? edited by Wayne Grudem
    Rating: *****
    Category: Theology
    Synopsis: Four authors hash out a theology of the miraculous gifts using a written debate-style format.
    Recommendation: Possibly one of the most useful tools to those who are interested in thinking through a theology of the charismata.
    Read the full review
  • Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
    Rating: **
    Category: Current Affairs (or so the back of the book claims!)
    Synopsis: An atheist rants against Christianity.
    Recommendation: Every American evangelical should read this (despite the fact that the quality of the book really is only worth a two star rating.) It’s an object lesson in the impact of politicizing faith on the Christian witness.
    Read the full review
  • Pretty Little. Potholders (Craft Book)
    Rating: *****
    Category: Craft/Sewing
    Synopsis: Directions for over two dozen potholder designs
    Recommendation: Simple instructions, beautiful photos, and low-cost, quick-make, still-cute designs. This book is a winner.
    Read the full review

On the web

Books for the TBR list:

  • Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King
    Maybe I’m a nerd, but this history of the building of Brunelleschi’s dome in the Middle Ages intrigues me. I enjoy history and cultural stuff and oddities and Italy–and Susan says this book, despite its “boring potential” is actually quite interesting.

Thought-provoking posts:

  • From Richard Baxter, advice on evaluating books, including four questions to ask yourself about a book:

    1. Could I spend this time no better?
    2. Are there better books that would edify me more?
    3. Are the lovers of such a book as this the greatest lovers of the Book of God and of a holy life?
    4. Does this book increase my love to the Word of God, kill my sin, and prepare me for the life to come?

  • Tony Woodlief writes of self forgetting love:

    It strikes me that there’s an important difference between “self-forgetting love” and “dying to self” that may help people who, like me, struggle with the latter. The difference, of course, is the elimination of self from the equation.

    When I—selfish, self-absorbed man that I am—take on the task of “dying to self,” I often do it like a self-celebrating martyr. In other words, I don’t really die to self; instead I walk around with the proud notion that I am being a Saintly Husband (for a few fleeting moments), or the self-pitying sense that I am on the losing side of this transaction (“What has she done for me lately, while I’m engaging in all this selflessness???”).

    But to be dead to self is to, well, forget oneself. The dead aren’t self-aware, after all.

  • A great article on homeschooling, a specifically the idea of the perfect homeschool program:

    Hopefully we don’t have to make those either/or choices. But given limited time, energy, and financial resources, sometimes we do. We have to choose what to keep, choose what to focus on, choose what to let go. Sometimes that means letting go of the homeschool fairy tale in order to keep hold of the resident homeschoolers’ hearts.

    I think this can be applied to homeschooling in general. I think its worthwhile, every so often, for every homeschooling parent to evaluate: “Am I doing this because this is the right choice for our family or am I doing this because I’m in love with the idea of homeschooling?” While homeschooling is wonderful (I personally am a fan), it is not an end-all-be-all. Let’s keep first things first. Let’s try to do what’s best for our children, rather than merely relying on our pet philosophies or dreams of “how it should be done.”

Categories Books

Narnia Wrap-Up

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Chronicles of Narnia

Tomorrow is the last day of July, which means Carrie’s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge is coming to a close.

Last year, I read and made notes on The Magician’s Nephew. This year, I decided to continue on with the next in the series (chronologically), The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I intended to explore the Biblical/moral principles found within The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as I had with The Magician’s Nephew. Alas, I was swamped with dozens of other books, one of which I was writing notes on.

I didn’t end up having time to think or write an in-depth analysis, but I still did end up getting a chance to take a look at some of the allusions found in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe thanks to a nifty little read-along called Inside “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”.

What’s more, the book I was writing notes on (John Stott’s The Cross of Christ just happened to remind me of a couple of scenes in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, so I included those scenes as part of my notes (1, 2).

And finally, I did take the time to sit down and write a post about one of the things that stuck out to me (for the first time) this time around: the question of how to evaluate the trustworthiness of a person or piece of information.

In summary, these are the posts I’ve written about Narnia over the last month:

Please take a look and leave some comments (even on the older posts)–I absolutely love it when people engage my ideas. I might even respond in the comments and go back and forth with you if you’d like (even though I haven’t yet responded to Carrie’s comment on that last post–consider that a primer for future discussion :-P).

Thanks for dropping by and don’t forget to take a look at Carrie’s conclusion page for links to other people’s comments on the Chronicles of Narnia!

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “Inside the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by James Stuart Bell and others

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View my disclosure statement for more information on how I choose books to review.

Chronicles of Narnia

When Carrie’s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge rolls around in the month of July, I relish the opportunity to go back to Narnia. I don’t often give myself the luxury of re-reading books, since I’ve got a bazillion books to read in my quest to read every book in my local library. But I make an exception for C.S. Lewis and re-read one title for the challenge. I’d already read all seven of the Narnia books (since September 5 of 2006 when I began the quest), so I assumed that there was no way I could continue to make progress towards my goal while I completed the Narnia reading challenge.

But then Carrie posted a collection of books about Narnia (and a second list). I had an “Ah-hah!” moment and quickly opened my library webpage to see if they had any books about Narnia that I could read. They did.

Since I was just finishing up The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I figured that Inside “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” would be a good title to start with. Inside is a paperback novel sized book intended as a children’s read-along or study guide for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The writing style reminds me somewhat of the popular “For Dummies” series, in that unfamiliar vocabulary is defined and the authors speak directly to the reader. But even though it might be easy-to-understand, this book is definitely NOT for dummies.

Inside “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” is stuffed with information about the allusions found within the iconic Narnia title. The authors take the reader through the book chapter by chapter, explaining the London air raids, Turkish delight, Father Christmas, the background on the many strange creatures found within Narnia and more. While I’m relatively well-read, I learned plenty from this book. For instance, I already knew that the wolf Maugrim’s British name was “Fenris Ulf”, but I didn’t know that he may have been modeled after the mythical Norse wolf “Fenrir”. This book describes literary allusions that I didn’t know existed–but which make perfect sense upon reading them. They’ve got me wanting to read some of the fairy tales and mythology that seem to have inspired Lewis!

Of course, some of the most evident literary and historical allusions found in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe are allusions to the Bible. Bell, Pyykkonen, and Washington address these in the same way as they address the others. They explain the reference to “sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.” They describe the correlations between Aslan and Jesus and between Edmund and Judas. They discuss Cair Paravel as a sort of “Promised Land” or “heaven”. The authors aren’t over the top with their Biblical references (that is, they don’t make it the emphasis at the expense of explaining other references), but they are thorough in their coverage of the Biblical allusions found in Narnia.

Some other fun features of this book (in addition to the information that it’s JAM-PACKED with) are the quizzes and call-outs that can be found at odd intervals throughout. You can take a quiz about the differences between beavers in Narnia and beavers in our world. You can read a quick “profile” of Peter (and numerous other characters) that lists his name, age, nicknames, likes and dislikes, and the gift he received from Father Christmas. There’s a logic puzzle to play and a closing “Oscars” in which you can vote for the best leading “actor” in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Kids interested in discussing Lewis’s book with their friends (or homeschooling mothers interested in assigning writing exercises to go along with their child’s reading) might enjoy the discussion questions found in the back of Inside.

All these features combine to make this a great resources for anyone (late elementary school on up) who is a lover of Narnia. Homeschooling parents (or parents looking for a project to do with their kids for next year’s “Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge”) may want to use this book as a springboard for a unit study for younger students (While the title doesn’t specifically give activity suggestions, it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some of your own–they’re practically jumping off the page in anticipation for you to do them.) All in all, this is a book every lover of Narnia (and lover of children’s literature in general) should pick up.

Rating: 5 Stars
Category: Literature Study-Guide/Read-along
Synopsis: An easy-to-understand yet in-depth look at the literary and historical allusions found in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Recommendation: This book is a definite keeper. Find it, buy it, peruse it, lend it to your older children, and find a way to share the information found within with your younger children. This is a fantastic resource.

Categories Reading My Library

Moonbear by Frank Asch

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Moonbear is an imaginative little bear who loves the moon more than anything else in this world.

In Moondance by Frank Asch, Moonbear dances with the clouds (fog), with the rain, and with the moon (via its reflection in a puddle). In Mooncake, Moonbear wants to take a bite out of the moon and tries a variety of means to capture the moon so he cake take a bite. In Happy Birthday, Moon, Moonbear climbs a mountain to get close enough to the moon to have a conversation. In the conversation (held via echoes), he discovers that the moon has exactly the same birthday as him! On their birthday, Moonbear and the moon exchange gifts via an odd fate.

Moonbear books

In other Moonbear books, Moonbear puts out a sky-fire (a rainbow), raises a pet fish (who turns out to actually be a tadpole), and “dreams” that a kangaroo jumped through his yard.

While my descriptions might make it sound like the moon is animate in this little series, it is not. Rather, a variety of coincidences lead Moonbear to think that he actually is talking to, eating, dancing with, or exchanging gifts with the moon. Moonbear’s misinterpretation of natural phenomena such as reflections, echoes, rainbows, and tadpoles turning into frogs can make these books a great way to start a conversation with your preschooler about some of these scientific facts.

Reading My Library

Besides their potential as a teaching tool, these little books are worth reading because they’re just plain fun!

Other books by Frank Asch that you and your child might find enjoyable include Baby Bird’s First Nest, Baby Duck’s New Friend, and Good Night, Baby Bear. I do not recommend The Earth and I, which is rife with earth-worshiping animism. Thankfully, none of Asch’s other works (that I’ve read) exhibit this characteristic.

For 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.


Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Untitled

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I haven’t forgotten that today’s a Thursday, no matter how much I manage to make it appear so. I’ve been busy. “Busy with what?” you might ask. Good question. I’ve been busy with the same old, same old, I guess.

See-sawing. Trying to keep busy. Learning to trust. Learning to rest. Learning not to worry. Trying somehow to spend time with people. And remembering that I have much to be thankful for.

Today I’m thankful…

…for the opportunity to be a blessing.

Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to care for Abigail and Joseph this week. Thank You for the opportunity to lend my car to my brother and his wife for the day today. Thank You that Jamie would want me to be a role model for her daughter. Thank You that even in my weakness, You can still use me to bless others.

…for friendships far and near.

Thank You, Lord, for the friends I spent time with today–one in person and one via phone. Thank You for the precious friends from my past who I am blessed to re-establish relationships with. Thank You for the new friends I’ve made in book club, the friends who so encourage my heart, my mind, my soul. Thank You for my blogging friends, who comfort and encourage with kind words. Thank You for Joanna, for Anna, for Tiffany, for Ruth, for Annette, for Janet, for Sandra, for Kristi, for Chad, for the Jasons, for Brian and Emily… Thank You for the people You have brought into my life, by whom I am so blessed.

…for peace that goes beyond my circumstances.

O Lord, I recognize that worry and anxiety accomplish nothing–yet so often, I choose to worry rather than entrusting my life to You. Forgive me for my unbelief–my sin of not trusting in Your sovereignty, not believing in Your goodness. As I look back over my life thus far, there has never been a time that You have been unfaithful–yet I still so often question Your faithfulness for tomorrow. Forgive me, Lord, for not trusting, not believing, not surrendering my worries to You. I choose to surrender them today, this moment and every moment of my life if I have to. I want to know the sweetness of trusting in Jesus. I believe–help my unbelief.

Thankful Thursday banner

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know ‘thus saith the Lord’

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more

Categories Following Christ

Don’t worry…

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Therefore I say to you…

…do not worry about your weight or whether you will have appetite enough to sustain it.

…do not worry about your rent, whether you will have money enough to pay it.

…do not worry about a job, whether you will find gainful employment.

Life is more than food and shelter and work.

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

Can you by worrying add a single pound to your (dropping) weight? Can you by worrying refill your (emptying) bank account? Can you by worrying attain a job?

If worrying gains you nothing, why do you do it?

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

Don’t seek what you should do, what you should do, what you should do–nor have an anxious mind.

For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

Don’t fear, Rebekah–God is pleased to give you the kingdom. So give away your time, your money, your talent, your possessions. Sew for yourself moneybags that will never tear or lose their treasure. Work for a heavenly treasure.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Adapted from Luke 12:22-34

Categories Books

Evaluating Trustworthiness (In Narnia)

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Chronicles of NarniaWhile re-reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for Carrie’s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge, I was struck by the theme of trustworthiness, and the question of how to determine who and what to trust.

It seems as though Peter, Susan, and Lucy instinctively know who to trust when they enter Narnia–and know which side is the right side. Edmund, on the other hand, is a skeptic–and when he does trust, he trusts the wrong side.

When all four children make their way into Narnia and discover that the faun’s home has been destroyed, they encounter a bird that appears to want to lead them. The children follow the bird, fearing nothing until Edmund whispers a word of caution to Peter.

“…Have you realized what we’re doing?”

“What?” said Peter, lowering his voice to a whisper.

“We’re following a guide we know nothing about. How do we know which side that bird is on? Why shouldn’t it be leading us into a trap?”

The robin, of course, leads the children to the beaver, who all the children initially distrust, but eventually warm up to. All but Edmund are quickly convinced that the beaver is a good guy. And they end up being right. Mr. Beaver is a good guy. The witch was a bad guy. Lucy and Susan and Peter were right. Edmund was wrong.

But this assessment, this black and white view in which Edmund is wrong and the others are right, breaks down when we consider the faun.

Lucy trusted Tumnus implicitly, visiting him in his house after just meeting him in the woods. She trusted that he was a good guy. And he was a good guy, right?

Not actually. He was a bad guy. He was in the employ of the witch. He was a kidnapper. He was the gentleman with candy inviting Lucy into his car, just as much as the witch was the lady with candy inviting Edmund into her sleigh. He couldn’t be trusted, shouldn’t have been trusted.

Lucy was only saved because the faun’s conscience, smote by his grandfather’s picture, got a hold of him and forced him to confess his crime and repent. His repentance turned out to be total–a fact that is confirmed by his letting Lucy go a second time despite the threat of imprisonment.

Yet the point remains–Tumnus was not all good, and should not have been trusted, at least at first.

And what of the witch? How could Edmund have known that she was wicked? In truth, how was Edmund’s response to her different than Lucy’s response to Tumnus? It wasn’t. Lucy entered Narnia, met someone she knew nothing about, at his food, and enjoyed the comfort he offered. She believed every word he said. Edmund did the same.

One situation turned out badly, one turned out well enough. What was the difference between the two?

Really, I’m inclined to think that the difference was sheer luck. Lucy trusted someone who intended evil towards her but repented before he carried out his evil scheme. Edmund trusted someone who intended evil towards him and who never repented of her evil plan. The rest of the children trusted the beaver–who just happened to be good.

None of these situations can be taken as a positive example of discovering whether someone or something is trustworthy.

That’s not to say, of course, that Lewis does not offer suggestions on how to determine who or what to trust. In fact, Lewis includes a little scholarly lesson on just that under disguise as the professor.

Peter and Susan go to the Professor, concerned about their sister’s preposterous tale of having entered another world.

“How do you know,” he asked, “that your sister’s story is not true?”

“Oh, but–…but Edmund said they had only been pretending.”

“That is a point,” said the Professor, “which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance…does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?”

…

“Madness, you mean?” said the Professor quite coolly. “Oh, you can make your minds easy about that. One has only to look at her and talk to her to see that she is not mad.”

…

“Logic!” said the Professor half to himself. “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.”

Lewis offers three interconnected means of determining trustworthiness of a character or statement: Character, Evidence, and Logic. First, he asks what one knows of the character of the speaker–is Edmund or Lucy generally more likely to be truthful? Second, one must evaluate the evidence for or against each option–is Lucy likely to be mad? Finally, one must evaluate the evidence logically–There are only three possible explanations and having ruled out two, they must assume that the third is correct. Of course, the Professor includes another caveat “unless any further evidence turns up.” It is wise, the Professor says, to delay making conclusions and to continue to evaluate the evidence even after drawing conclusions.

This last bit of wisdom, of course, is perhaps the most useful for the Penvesies in evaluating the beings they meet in Narnia. Having no knowledge of the creatures’ characters and little information regarding how that world worked, they could have done with a bit more caution. They could have reserved judgment, not made a decision to trust until they had more evidence. That much is true of them all. Edmund, especially, could also have been more open to evaluating new evidence as it “turned up” (take, for example, how the “Queen” destroyed Tumnus’s house.)

Really, though, all four children made their decisions of what people and what information to trust based on their guts. True–Lucy, Peter, and Susan escaped virtually unscathed–but all of them could have done with a bit more logic, practically applied.

Categories Reflections

See-Saw

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It’s been years since I last saw a see-saw on a playground. Somewhere five or ten years back, someone must have decided that playgrounds were too dangerous, because they tore out all the old playground equipment and put in new.

The big wooden structures that allowed kids to climb to parent-terrifying heights are gone. The metal slides that burned kids’ thighs as they flew down in their shorts are gone. And the seesaws, with their child-powered action, are also gone.

I understand the reasons for removing them. Anyone who keeps these items opens themselves up for lawsuits in our highly litigious culture. Yet I mourn the loss of these symbols of my childhood. In a safety-obsessed world, children don’t get a chance to experience the same “safe” risks I took as a child–or their amazing rewards.

The thrill of standing at the top of the world, looking down on the climbers below. The delight of zipping down a slide so fast that you couldn’t stop and therefore were flung off a drop into the gravel below.

And the see-saws.

Going up and down, up and down. Having someone bigger than you sit on the opposite end, flinging you into the air. Begging them to let you down. Eventually climbing down, hoping that they wouldn’t get off while you were still climbing, which would inevitable make you crash to the ground. Adjusting where you sat so that your weight and the person’s opposite you would be perfectly balanced. Going up and down, up and down.

I enjoyed the up and down of the see-saw.

I don’t enjoy it now.

Then it was merely my body, up in the air and back to ground again.

Now I’m on a cosmic see-saw and instead of my body, it’s my heart flying up and down, up and down.

One moment I’m soaring, gloriously aware of the goodness of God. The next moment I land with a thunk, heartsick and hopeless.

One moment I feel I can tackle anything. The next moment I’m grounded and even the smallest activity seems overwhelming.

One moment I’m trusting, safe, high above the fray. The next moment I’m anxious, vulnerable, feeling battered and bruised.

Up and down. Up and down.

My life consists of up and down.

The see-saw was fun, once upon a time–but now I just want to get off.

Please, Lord? Please? I want to get off.

Categories Family & Friends, Memes

TTT: My Old Prince

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Tiny Talk TuesdayI don’t often have opportunity to share tidbits from conversations with little folks–but yesterday, I had four-year-old Abigail and three-year-old Joseph spend the day with me. Their mother is recovering from the c-section that brought a third baby into the family, and their dad had to get back to work.

I thought this little exchange was definitely worth documenting:

Abigail: Do you have a baby?

Me: No

Abigail: Why not?

Me: Because I’m not married.

Abigail: Why aren’t you married?

Me: Because no man has ever asked me to marry him.

Abigail: Maybe because you’re old.

Me: (Laughing) Maybe

All is quiet for a while

Abigail:Maybe God’s still making your prince ready.

More silence

Abigail: Maybe God’s making him OLD!

Maybe so, Abigail, maybe so.

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