Categories Everyday Life

Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing

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That’s what I have to say today.

Okay, not quite.

I actually have plenty to say. I just haven’t the time or the energy to say it.

So I’ll be leaving you with “Nothing, Nothing, Absolutely Nothing” instead.

Don’t tell me you don’t know “Ah Lord God” from the 70s?

Well, you might just have to be enlightened.

Ah Lord God,
Thou hast made the heavens and the earth
by Thy great power
Ah Lord God
Thou hast made the heavens and the earth
by Thine outstretched arm

Nothing is too difficult for Thee
Nothing is too difficult for Thee
Oh great and mighty God
Great in counsel and mighty in deed
Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing
Is too difficult for Thee

It’s a good reminder when many things are too difficult for ME.

Categories What's on Your Nightstand?

Nightstand (March 2011)

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The oddest part of my new library routine is the experience of finding myself “booked out” by the end of my library visit.

The children’s picture books are easy–just grab the next 50. The rest, not so easy. I select my five fiction, my five nonfiction, my three juvenile nonfiction, my three juvenile fiction. I’ve followed all my rules in selecting–2 Christian fiction, 2 secular fiction, 1 literary fiction, 1 biography, 1 craft book, 1 theology/Christian living, etc…

And then I get to my nine “my picks”. And find myself getting “booked out.”

By the last couple, I’m forcing myself to keep looking, even though I’m feeling like book overload.

The nice thing, however, is that I haven’t yet gotten “booked out” in the six weeks between trips to the library. My new system seems to be giving me just the right mix of fiction and nonfiction, stretching and fluff, structure and freedom to keep me engaged for the full six weeks.

Viva la system!

Books on my nightstand

This month, I made it through:

Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway
It took me twelve weeks of slogging to figure out that I was never going to figure out the pull of Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Now, having demolished Across the River and Into the Trees I’m stuck trying to figure out why I absolutely love some Hemingway–and absolutely hate others. This particular piece, about an old colonel and his young Italian lover, kept my nose sandwiched in a book even when the weather outside was lovely (and should have been pulling out there.) Maybe because this one mentioned World War II? But I don’t think that was it. Or maybe it’s the “old man” aspect–I certainly liked Old Man and the Sea. Or perhaps it was the love story–like the reason I enjoyed For Whom the Bell Tolls. I’m not sure. But this one was a good one in my book (although it does have a fair bit of Hemingway’s own unique brand of er.otica, caveat emptor.)

The Amusement Park Mystery created by Gertrude Chandler Warner
My opinion of the “created by” books remains unchanged.

The Confessions by St. Augustine
Good book. Difficult to get through. Definitely God-honoring. Definitely though-provoking. A few of my thoughts can be found here (The Blessed Life), here (A Poor Counterfeit), and here (The Bridge across the Chasm)

Earth to Betsy by Beth Pattillo
The sequel to Heavens to Betsy (which I most decidedly did NOT like), this book is more of the same. If you want to read a story about a female pastor who seems to never think of God except to make puns using liturgical terms, this is the book for you. I only read it because I’m reading every book in my library (and eager to close this author out before she writes another book about Betsy Blessing.)

The Factastic Book of 1001 Lists by Russell Ash
Another Dorling-Kindersley book that I enjoy WAY too much. Facts on everything from art to science to food to geography to… you name it. This one wasn’t as evolution-focused as Ask Me Anything–so I’m inclined to recommend this one as a great general trivia book.

The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
It’s been on my TBR list forever, because it seemed like a while back the whole blog-o-sphere was raving about it. Unfortunately, I never took down the links to the many reviews that convinced me to read this book. I say this with true regret because I am truly thankful for having read this book. A novel written entirely in letters, this is a sweet story of how a youngish female writer from London meets a group of people who had survived the Nazi occupation of Guernsey (island). She first meets them via a letter from a man who had purchased a book secondhand–a book that used to belong to her. By the end of the novel, her whole life is taken up in that of the Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Peel Pie Society. This was a marvelous book.

The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister and Phyllis Tickle
I realized after writing my review that I’d promised Thomas Nelson I’d read the entire book. I forced myself to do so. My opinion is the same. I didn’t really like this book. At all. Click the link to find out why.

Norah’s Ark by Judy Baer
Christian chick-lit, borrowed from my little sister, who borrowed it from the library. Amusing, but I begin to tire of the woman-being-chased-by-three-men plot–and the “waiting for bells” line too. (I fear I am becoming a bitter single, Lord help me!)

Paris Encore and Dunkirk Crescendo by Bodie Thoene
Yes, I know, you’ve already heard me rave about these books a bazillion times. But I wrote a little piece about this series–or about what this series has done for me. I called the piece In Praise of Historical Fiction

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Like every book blogger out there, I loved this book. But since every book blogger out there (or at least Lisa of Lisa Notes, Janet of Across the Page, and Tim Challies of Challies.com-who made it one of his top books of 2010) has already reviewed it, I won’t be reviewing it here. I did, however, write a few reflections on what I read: “Outsourcing Humanity”.

The Nazis by William W. Lace
The Rise of the Nazis by Charles Freeman
Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
I’m on a World War II kick, surprise, surprise–see above under Paris Encore–and I wrote up a joint review of all three of these juvenile history books.

Winston Churchill by John Keegan
At 192 pages, this was a nice, quick, easy-to-read intro to Churchill’s life. It’s whetted my appetite for more–I imagine I could spend the rest of my life reading about this man and still not exhaust what there is to know about him. He seems a very…LARGE man.

Children’s Picture Books author name BASE-BAUER

  • Books by Graeme Base: Picture books with riddles hidden in every layout. In one book, readers are encouraged to find a dozen animals hidden in each layout. In another, there’s a who-dun-it crime that readers can solve by decoding a variety of simple ciphers found in the borders of each layout. It takes a while to read these because you spend so much time on each page–but they’re pretty neat. These are for slightly older readers. Probably third or fourth grade?
  • Books by Teresa Bateman: Whimsical Irish folktales starring leprechauns, lyrists, and liars or hilarious little farm tales hosting silly children and equally silly animals. I enjoyed reading these books quite a deal.
  • The Princess and The White Bear King by Tanya Robyn Batt: A retelling of the ancient Norse fairy tales “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, “The Black Bull of Norway”, and “The White Bear King.” I was delighted with this story and its illustrations–and when I got to the end of the book, I found that it was published by none other than Barefoot Books (a publisher Carrie raves about, but who I hadn’t encountered until this book.) Perhaps Carrie’s right–I’m definitely impressed with my first taste of Barefoot Books.
  • Papa’s Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert: I enjoyed this story about an African American man who learned to write his name so that he could write his own name when he voted (just after the Civil War.)

‘Twas a good reading month–and now my library crates stand empty, ready to be refilled with books to be returned once I’m done reading them. This six-week’s haul is pretty exciting–I can’t wait to dig into them!

My crates waiting for books

Don’t forget to drop by 5 Minutes 4 Books to see what others are reading this month!

What's on Your Nightstand?

Categories Book Notes, The Week in Words

WiW: Breathing Room/Living Space

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The Week in Words

While reading John Keegan’s Penguin Lives biography of Winston Churchill (unsurprisingly titled Winston Churchill), I found the following quote by Churchill, describing his vision for the world:

“The cause of the poor and the weak all over the world will [be] sustained; and everywhere small peoples will get more room to breathe; and everywhere great empires will be encouraged by our example to step forward into the sunshine of a more gentle and more generous age.”

Churchill said this in 1910 or so, four years before the world would be drawn into a Great War.

At the same time, German thinkers and political theorists were developing their theory of Lebensraum or “Living Space” which Hitler would take as a main Nazi party doctrine.

Hitler writes of the principle of Lebensraum in Mein Kampf:

“Without consideration of traditions and prejudices, Germany must find the courage to gather our people and their strength for an advance along the road that will lead this people from its present restricted living space to new land and soil, and hence also free it from the danger of vanishing from the earth or of serving others as a slave nation.

The National Socialist Movement must strive to eliminate the disproportion between our population and our area—viewing this latter as a source of food as well as a basis for power politics—between our historical past and the hopelessness of our present impotence.”
~Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf found in the Wikipedia article on Lebensraum

Living space, Hitler declares. Give us living space.

Breathing room, Churchill proclaims. Give them breathing room.

I couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities between the two phrases.

“Living space”

“Breathing room”

The same sort of vision.

One led to the destruction of over six thousand Jews and many thousand more minorities (whether political, ethnic, religious, or social).

The other led to the liberation of Western Europe from encroaching totalitarian regimes.

Similar dreams, completely at odds with one another.

The two men would be pitted against one another in the largest war the world has seen yet.

Hitler would fight for his Lebensraum, bowling over nation after nation in Europe.

Churchill would stand, for the most part alone, to regain “breathing room” for the many marginalized peoples of Europe.

What is the difference between the two?

While Hitler argues for the benefit of himself and his people, those he has considered to be the “master race”, Churchill argues on behalf of the poor, the weak, the “small peoples”.

The same goal, but two separate targets.

Fight for my rights, for my people, for my way of life?

Or fight for others?

Not to say that Churchill was not interested in Britain’s rights or people or way of life. In fact, he was, rather oddly, a British imperialist–and certainly interested in Britain’s interests.

But he was nevertheless conscious of the rights and desires of the downtrodden, the oppressed, the “small peoples”–and it was this that made his “breathing room” so different than Hitler’s Lebensraum.

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

Categories Homemaking, Memes

Homemaking Meme

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Barbara H. of Stray Thoughts has put together a little homemaking meme which provides a great opportunity to get to know one another’s homemaking styles.

1. Do you make a plan for the week? The day? Or just go with the flow?

Once upon a time, not too long ago, I had a weekly plan. I assigned a task to each day: laundry, upstairs cleaning, downstairs cleaning, grocery shopping/kitchen tasks (like baking bread, making yogurt, etc.), trash/recycling, and outdoor work. I followed it pretty faithfully and it worked pretty well.

Lately, though, I’ve spent so much time at work and been so exhausted when I get home that I haven’t done anything except laundry, which I still do faithfully every Thursday night.

2. When is your best planning time?

Humph. I don’t plan for my home life anymore. I never know what my work life might look like so I never know when I’ll be home or what sort of condition I’ll be in when I finally do get home, so I’m currently just flying by the seat of my pants on the home front. (If you think of me, pray that I could place some appropriate boundaries around work life–and learn to have a home life again.)

3. Do you clean room by room or task by task (e.g., do you dust the whole house at one time, or do you clean the living room completely before going on to another room?)

It varies from day to day–and whether I’m caught up on things or not. If I’m doing decluttering, I tend to do it in a circle around a room, taking care of one surface at a time. I get that surface entirely clean, dusted, and everything that needs to be done in or around it done and then move on to the next. On the other hand, I prefer to do all my vacuuming (in the whole house) all at once.

4. Do you do certain tasks every day every week, like a shopping day, a laundry day, etc.?

I guess I sorta answered that one on question 1. This is a habit I’d like to get back into.

5. What’s your least favorite housecleaning task?

Catching up. I hate when I get so behind that I really have to scrub and WORK at cleaning. I prefer to do it little by little so the task never gets that big (not that I’m doing that currently, bah!)

6. Do you have a favorite housecleaning task?

Making my bed with fresh linens. I love making hospital corners and having a made up bed.

7. What do other family members do in the way of cleaning the house?

Not make messes.

Which my other family member (in the house) does a much better job of than I.

She also does dishes and cleans the kitchen pretty frequently.

Otherwise, she doesn’t make messes, so why should she clean them up?

8. What, if anything, do you do to make housecleaning more enjoyable, (e.g., play music, set a timer, etc.).

I used to listen to audio books quite a bit while I cleaned. Now, I tend to set timers and give myself 15 minutes of cleaning or decluttering and then 15 minutes of internet time (rinse and repeat as many times as I can bear.)

9. What things make a room seem messy or unclean to you?

Stuff on the floor (which is totally one of my personal failings).

10. What are particular areas that are standouts to you that other people miss?

I think I’m a very unpicky cleaner. While I prefer to cover everything with a fine-toothed comb (when I’m deep cleaning or in “stove job” mode), I don’t generally look too deeply when others are cleaning.

It does drive me nuts when people wipe a surface and don’t get rid of all the “sticky” though.

11. How do you motivate yourself to clean when you don’t feel like it?

That is the question of the day.

I’ll let you know when I get motivation.

Frankly, I usually invite someone over, which does a good job of motivating me towards basic presentability (at least, getting stuff off the floor.)

Categories Theology

Christianity Distilled

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In The Factastic Book of 1001 Lists, the first page of the section of world beliefs includes four lists: “The Five Pillar of Islam”, “Jewish Rules and Rituals”, “The Five K’s of Sikhism”, and “Noble Truths of Buddhism.”

My eyes quickly jumped over these headings, searching for the one that would seek to distill Christianity into a list four or five points long.

I never found that list.

The Factastic Book of 1001 Lists didn’t have it–and as I considered why, I realized that the reason was simple.

Christianity cannot be distilled into a list.

Not a list of principles or a list of rituals or a list of rules.

No, the author of this book would be quite wrong to distill Christianity into a list. After all, I learned in grammar that lists should contain more than one item.

And Christianity is distilled, not into a list of items, but into One Word:

Jesus

The Word through Whom the world was made.

The Word for Whom the world was made.

The Word Who gives light to every man.

The Word Whose death offers life to every man.

The Word at Whose name every knee bows and every tongue confesses.

Jesus

In one Word, the meaning of all of life.

We have no five pillars, but we have one foundation: Jesus

We have no rules or rituals, but we have one ruler and priest: Jesus

We have no five K’s, but we have one King: Jesus

We have no four noble truths. We have only One: Jesus

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
~John 14:6

Categories Reflections

Hearing History

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I live within minutes of my “home” office, but I drive around five hours a week to consult with my other two facilities.

This gives me plenty of time to listen–

and since I decided to be ambitious and include audio works that are an independent work of art in my “read every book” goal, it gives me a chance to breeze through Eiseley’s compact disc collection.

I’m almost done with the Christian music section–and I’ve made decent headway in classical and jazz. With trepidation, I’ve checked out a few rock and roll CDs.

But when I was trolling the library during my last visit, I happened upon a set of discs that fascinated me greatly.

The Words and Music of World War II.

“Cool.” I thought, and threw it in my basket.

If only I’d known.

As it was, I didn’t open the case or bother to look at it further until several weeks later when I’d just finished my current CD and was ready for another for my commute.

I happened upon this title and popped it in to hear something spectacular.

An air raid siren sounds.

A crackling radio voice informs me that Pearl Harbor has been attacked.

Music fills my car, forties swing reminding me to remember Pearl Harbor.

President Roosevelt begins his iconic address “a date which will live in infamy…suddenly and deliberately attacked…”

Forties swing takes me away again.

Back and forth it goes, a narrator describing the events of the war–then a song from that era. A radio reporter tells of flying over Germany with a group of bombers–then music. Announcers tell British parents exactly what items their children should carry in the hand luggage they take to school the day they will be evacuated to the country to escape the air raids. Another song fills the airwaves.

Two full discs, a drive to and fro. Music and memories, sad and sweet, crazy and comical.

It was a much different look at the war than the picture I’d been reading from inside Germany. This was the home front. America. Great Britain.

This started much later, only after Germany had invaded Poland and Great Britain declared war, making it an official “World” War.

But it was a necessary look. A reminder of how others’ lives, so far away, were affected or not affected by what was occurring in Europe and the Pacific.

And it was fun–swinging, rollicking tunes. Sad, sentimental songs. Hilarious bits like “Atom and Evil”.

Hearing History, almost like living history–a tiny piece of what life was like then.

Categories Books

Nazi History: Some Cliff’s Notes

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Some people figure that the internet makes books obsolete.

Why buy a book, why spend money and space on a paper copy of something when you can find it all online anyway?

Encyclopedias, once the hallmark of a well-educated home, have all but disappeared as wikipedia and online subscription “encyclopedias” rush to take their place.

For my part, I won’t be throwing away my books any time soon.

‘Cause while the internet is great for looking stuff up quickly or following rabbit trails endlessly, books are still best for immersing yourself in a topic.

Like when Bodie Thoene’s Zion Covenant series turned me into a fan of history.

I suddenly wanted to learn everything I could about World War II and the events leading up to it.

That’s a rather vague topic for the internet to handle.

Instead, I turned to my (not-so-local-anymore) library.

As per my M.O., I headed to the children’s section first for my Cliff’s Notes.

What I found was three excellent resources for immersing myself in World War II (particularly in the events leading up to World War II): The Rise of the Nazis by Charles Freeman, The Nazis by William W. Lace, and Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.

Nazi History books

The Rise of the Nazis begins its coverage with the opening of a new session of the Reichstag, this time with Adolf Hitler as the chancellor of Germany. Having described the crux of German history as it relates to the Nazi party, Freeman moves back in time to the events that led up to that fateful moment: the Versailles treaty and it’s crippling demands on Germany, Hitler’s educational and military background, the early life of the German Socialist Worker’s Party that would become the Nazis, Hitler’s entrance to the party and rapid domination of its politics, the failed coup staged by the Nazis, and the imprisonment during which Hitler wrote his Mein Kampf.

By the last chapter, Freeman is ready to move past the opening scene. He quickly describes how Hitler, once appointed as chancellor, took over the presidency and ultimately, the country.

This story ends, as promised, just as the Nazi party reaches its political pinnacle: at the declaration of Adolf Hitler as Germany’s Fuhrer (supreme leader).

William W. Lace’s The Nazis covers this same material, but with a different emphasis. While The Rise of the Nazis focuses on how the party and Hitler came into power, The Nazis (a book in the Holocaust Library) focuses on the Nazis’ attitude towards the Jews and how the Nazi takeover of Germany affected the Jews.

The events leading up to Hitler’s takeover of the German government take up about two-thirds of the book, while the final third rushes quickly through the high (or perhaps low?) points of the War in Europe, how the war ended, and what the results of the Nuremberg trials were.

Unlike The Rise of the Nazis, which is simply an informative book, The Nazis introduces a question for the reader: What were the moral or spiritual causes that allowed Nazism’s blatant evil to run rampant in Germany–and how can such an evil never be allowed to rise again?

In this sense, The Nazis is an ideological story. Every event is told in such a way as to inspire horror and repugnance in the eyes of the reader. (Not that one should not be horrified by the acts of the Nazi party…) The goal of this book is to impress upon its readers the necessity of never again allowing evil to reign as it did in Nazi Germany. (Which isn’t a bad goal, but it’s a goal beyond just information nevertheless.)

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow takes a completely different approach to the Nazis than the previous two books.

While The Rise of the Nazis informs the reader and The Nazis convinces the reader, Hitler Youth enjoins the reader to empathize–this time not with the Jews against whom the Nazis rage was focused, but with the children who joined the Nazi party, the children who couldn’t join because they were racially “unfit”, the children who spoke out against the Nazi party.

Hitler Youth describes the incredible pull of the scout-like community the Hitler Youth movement created, the heady sense of power its organization imparted to youth, the voluntary-and-then-compulsory character of participation.

Telling the true stories of specific, individual children–Germans, Jews, girls, boys, loyal Nazis, and subversive anti-propagandists–Hitler Youth describes the double tragedy of Hitler’s methods.

In raising up a children’s army, he destroyed both the children that he lured through adventure and false loyalty and the rest of the world through those children.

This was an intensely moving book.

All in all, I am glad to have had a look at the Nazi party through the very different viewpoints of each of these books.

Certainly, there is still much that I do not know (especially since these barely glanced on the war itself–or the Holocaust “proper”)–but I feel that these three books gave me a good introduction to some of the historical and moral dilemmas that surround World War II.

I’m heading back to my library on Saturday, and I’m ready for the big guns now. It’s time to start looking for adult histories.

Sorry internet, you’re just not cutting it for this newly-minted history lover.

Categories Book Notes

In Praise of Historical Fiction

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It may shock some of my readers, who are inclined to think highly of me (whether I deserve it or not), but I am not a fan of history.

I never have been.

While I looked with fascination at the fashions of bygone eras, was interested in olden modes of speech or transportation, and often envied historical skills in handiwork, I cared nothing for all the names and dates and circumstances and conflicts that make up the study of history.

I occasionally feigned interest in history so as to take interest in my brother (an avid history buff). But frankly? I didn’t understand the hoopla.

Oh, I played lip service to the value of history. You know, the whole “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” and “if I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants” and all that.

But really, I’ve never been a fan of history.

At least, not until a few months ago when I picked up a copy of Bodie Thoene’s Vienna Prelude.

There I read of Adolf Hitler’s “peaceful” annexation of Austria, of Herman Goring and Winston Churchill, of the SA, the SS, and the Gestapo.

I continued reading and learned of Kristallnacht, of Nazi concentration camps, of the traitorous appeasement prize Britain awarded Nazi Germany by handing over Czechoslovakia. I learned of the narrow passage connecting Poland to the sea–and separating Germany from Germany. I learned of the pogroms and of the falsehood fabricated to justify the invasion of Poland.

I started to wonder what was true and what was fiction, so involved was I in the story unfolding in novel after novel.

I no longer cared only about the protagonists. I started to care about the whole story–the story behind and below and around the one created in the imagination of the author.

I became a fan of history.

Now I begin my journey into history, fueled by the fiction of an author who cares about fact.

My life, my outlook has been indelibly changed.

Such is the power of good historical fiction.

Categories The Week in Words

WiW: The Blessed Life

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The Week in Words

Augustine, in the tenth book of his Confessions, goes into great detail of the pull that temporal things hold for him–beautiful sights, lovely sounds, pleasant odors, the pursuit of knowledge, the enjoyment of food.

He speaks of his quest for asceticism in order to better love God–and of the corresponding pull of his flesh for the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, the pride of life.

I don’t know that I agree that Augustine’s asceticism is necessary for the full pursuit of God–I’m not sure that it’s necessary to eschew all earthly pleasures in order to chase after the pleasures found in God.

Yet, in this one point, I am fully in agreement with Augustine: Christ Himself is the Treasure, the Pleasure for Whom it is worth forsaking all else.

“…to those who freely worship You, You are Yourself their joy. And even this is the blessed life: to rejoice before You, in You, because of You; even this and none other. As for those who think there is another life, they are chasing after another joy, and not a true one.”
~St. Augustine Confessions

I pray that every beauty that comes before my eyes would cause my eyes to long for the sight of the One whom I, not seeing, believe, and rejoice in hope. (John 20:29, Romans 5:1-2)

I pray that every lovely strain that meets my ear would cause my ears to burn for the One whose words are life. (John 6:63,68; Luke 24:31)

I pray that every tantalizing scent that wafts beneath my nostrils would cause my nostrils to yearn for the fragrance of the life that is found in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15)

I pray that every sweet taste my tongue savors would lead me to better taste and savor the God who is good. (Psalm 34:8)

I pray that every comfortable touch that my body feels would make my body long for the comfort of my eternal Lover’s embrace. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

I pray that every delightful bit of knowledge that enters my mind would cause my mind to long for knowledge of the One who is Wisdom and in whom is found all wisdom. (I Corinthians 1:24, 30)

For He, He is a treasure above all else. He is the Pleasure beyond all the pleasures the world can offer. He is the Joy beyond every fleeting joy this world delivers.

May I find Him–and in finding Him, find all.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
~Matthew 13:42

Don’t forget to take a look at Barbara H’s meme “The Week in Words”, where bloggers collect quotes they’ve read throughout the week.

Categories Flashback Friday

Flashback: Physical Education

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We were homeschooled, remember, and we were relatively active kids–but “PE” did not rank high on the list of educational priorities. In fact, there was really only one year that I remember us having a formal “P.E.” program.

Flashback Friday buttonToday Linda asks… Was physical fitness a focus in school when you were growing up? Did you have P.E. in elementary school or just recess? Was recess organized games or just free playtime?…

It was the year 1990.

Anna was six, a first grader.

Anna doing school

I was five, a kindergartener.

Rebekah doing school

Joshua was three, a preschooler.

Josh doing school

Daniel was 18 months-ish, a toddler.

Dan looking cute

Mom was 8 months pregnant with John.

Mom teaching us to play hopscotch

She taught us how to play hopscotch.

Read other memories about P.E. at Mocha with Linda’s Flashback Friday Meme