A day in the life...

Friday night, Anna went with her TNT Awana group to an end-of-year overnight at a hotel. She had a wonderful time - you should have seen her shining eyes when she got home. But, OH! was she tired!

Here's Anna waiting for her sister to be done in the shower Saturday night. She was convinced to go with us on errands Saturday night by a dinner out at Noodles & Co. Poor girl - such a trooper!



One of the items on our list Saturday night was an early birthday gift for Lydia. Her 16" bike was WAY too small for her, and Daddy decided that it was time for a new one. Since her birthday is in September, it made sense to get her one now so she could use it this summer. She's been riding every day since then. She loves her brand-new bike!

before

after

Ever since we bought our house, I've dreamed of taking out those ugly evergreen bushes in front of our house. My husband harbored similar thoughts, but didn't want to take out ALL the bushes until we are able to get new siding. (We need it, don't ya think?!) However, since we had to get a couple trees taken out of our backyard, he agreed that we should take out the front row. Quite a change, isn't it? Just wait until we get our new door put in at the end of the month. I'm so excited!

Alternative Medicine: The Christian Handbook

I absolutely adore Inter-Library Loans! I've been wanting to read Dr. Walt's book Alternative Medicine: The Christian Handbook since it first came out. This past month, I finally got the chance.

FYI: The picture is of the recently revised version of the book. I read the original version, from 2001.

While I'm a firm believer in chiropractic care, massage, vitamins & supplements, I do have concerns about other forms of alternative medicines, and looked forward to getting Dr. Walt's perspective (and that of his co-author Dr. Donal O'Mathuna) on the topic.

The authors did a great job of laying foundation in the first three parts of the book. They discuss the history of alternative and conventional medicine in the first part; a Christian perspective on health, healing and suffering in the second part; and lay out criteria for evaluating alternative medicine and their practitioners in the third part. The fourth part of the book is a reference section, where you can look up different therapies and practices and read their perspective on how safe or dangerous they are.

I particularly appreciate the spiritual approach they take to most of their evaluations. They give the history behind the method, and many times the philosophy so we can make wise choices about what we're allowing into our minds & spirits. They also refer back to studies evaluating the effectiveness of the therapies. They put any "Christian" therapies through the same evaluation process - so things like the "Hallelujah Diet" do not get a free ride from them.

Chapter 10, in Part Three is called How Science Tests Therapies and Remedies. In it, the authors walk through, in an understandable way, the importance of double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in evaluation of what works and what doesn't work. If you're not familiar with what that means, it's a great place to start gaining an understanding.

I didn't read the whole book - it's more of a reference book than a reading book - but did glean information about different alternative therapies my friends have recommended to me. If you're looking into an alternative therapy, I'd recommend picking up this book from your library to check out what Dr. Walt & his co-author say about it.

(To which, they would say what the scientific evidence says about the particular therapy - but every study needs interpretation, and this book includes their interpretation of the currently available studies.)

Coming Clean...

I want to thank my friend Beth G. for this great picture & story.

I have a confession... it's the relationship I had with my stove. I've disliked her from the beginning. She's the OTHER women in my life. Let me explain... she's canary yellow, 40+ years old and often ran too hot or not hot enough, her burners would work, when they so desired. My husband however enjoyed her looks and often took her side whenever I had a complaint.

I began to plot.... if I don't clean her she'll go away. I was going to win this battle, or so I thought. The time came when we needed to purchase a new freezer/refrigerator, so my husband decided to purchase a suite of appliances. HOORAY, I'm going to get my new stove.

The method to my madness was paying off, or so I thought. I had been dreaming of the day when I could do my victory dance out on the curb, in front of my house on garbage day. When one day, my dream was shattered... my husband was going to install her in our basement.

She's not going away. I thought if we're going to keep her, I better clean her.

I used Shaklee's Basic H2 and Scour Off to clean her. All natural, all powerful with NO toxic fumes.
She now looks beautiful.

If Shaklee's Scour Off can do this with her, imagine what it can do to your pots and pans, bathtub, grill or the OTHER women in you're life.

I was going to have the last laugh... or so I thought.

Bryson City Tales

My library recently put the inter library loan feature online, which has prompted me to remember all the books I've wanted to read, but could never remember when I was corralling four children at the library. Oh happy day!

The first book on my list was Bryson City Tales by Dr. Walt Larimore. Glen and I had the privilege of getting to know Walt & Barb when we lived in Florida. We attended the same church, and Barb was the one who first invited me to Bible Study Fellowship (for which I am eternally grateful!). When I heard about Walt's Bryson City books, I knew I wanted to read them.

Bryson City Tales does not disappoint. In this book, Walt takes us on his own journey from the end of his medical residency to finding a community in which to settle (Bryson City) and the process of settling in. He honestly relates his mistakes, his passions (for football? I didn't know!), and his attempts to make connections in a very small, rather closed, community.

And there's plenty of drama too. From a very difficult home delivery in the next county to almost losing his medical privileges at the hospital, with a few veterinary calls thrown in, I found it difficult to put the book down. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books Bryson City Seasons and Bryson City Secrets.

The only thing I wonder about - and perhaps because I know them - is how did Barb find herself connecting to the community? This is Dr. Walt's story, so while his wife is mentioned many times, he focuses on his own experiences. But, I do wonder...

Remembering Walt Martin

This is how I best remember Walt Martin: dressed in a brown tux, standing in front of a huge group of teenagers/young adults, grinning from ear-to-ear.

I've known Walt for as long as I could remember. We attended the same church since I was a child. When I was in junior high or so, he started a choir, open to anyone in the community as long as they were in high school, or older. Tell the World was its name, and they sang in the area malls (at Christmas) and in churches on Sunday evenings in the spring, always ending their 'tour' with a final concert at my home church.

Oh, I was so excited when I was finally old enough to be in Tell the World! I so enjoyed the Sunday night rehearsals in the Martin's basement - 30 or so of us, crowded into a room, singing our hearts out. I learned to really sing alto in Tell the World. I made some great friends there, and had a lot of fun.

Walt died last week. A man with his energy and personality leaves a huge hole in his family - a huge hole in this world. I, unfortunately, was out of town over the weekend, and so couldn't attend his funeral. I hear there was a Tell the World reunion - oh I wish I could have been there!

Mom says that the singers circled his casket and sang the song with which Tell the World ended every concert - Walt inviting anyone who had ever sang in the choir to come join the rest of the singers for the finale. Anyone who knew him knows, he's in heaven now, organizing a barbershop quartet, gathering together people for a big sing-a-long, and probably teaching them the song none of us will ever forget:

Now we can love, now we can love
Freely, wholly and fully
With strength from above

Go for Real Green, Not Just a Green Coat

photograph courtesy of Karen Hanrahan

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the ‘green’ speak around me – do you? Earth Day was yesterday, and it seems everywhere I turned I saw an ad promoting a company’s commitment to being green and caring for our environment.

Forgive my skepticism, but honestly, selling microfiber clothes and soy candles does not make a company green. What about those harmful chemicals in the cleaning aisle? What other efforts are they taking to reduce their impact on our environment? An ad encouraging people to switch to compact florescent bulbs (CFLs) is nice, but seems more like putting a green coat on to hide a hideous dress.

Shaklee is different. As my friend Harriet Gushue says, “Lots of companies are jumping on the green bandwagon, but Shaklee was BORN GREEN.”

I could go into all sorts of details – but Shaklee details their environmental heritage and commitment nicely for me right here, so I’ll let you read it. The bottom line: Shaklee walks their talk. They say they’re committed to the environment – and their actions show that commitment.

OK, I have to mention that Shaklee planted their millionth tree in their Million Trees, Million Dreams campaign yesterday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger & Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Wangari Maathai were there. Now THAT’S cool. You can see the video here.

What about you and me? Here are five very simple things you can do today to be a bit greener today than you were yesterday – and save you money.

1. When a light bulb burns out, replace it with a CFL. They cost more to purchase, but last longer & use lots less electricity.
2. Turn off the lights when you leave a room; turn down the heat a few degrees, open the windows, and turn up the air conditioning a few degrees (depending upon the weather). Again, uses less electricity & saves you money.
3. Carry reusable bags with you to the store. Yes, I forget them too, but they hold lots more groceries than paper or plastic bags, plus you don’t have to worry about recycling the grocery sacks. Shaklee has wonderful ones you can add to your next order.
4. Buy a reusable water bottle and fill it from home with Best Water. Bottled water is expensive and all those empty bottles cost money to recycle or end up in landfills.
5. Use microfiber cloths to clean instead of disposable clothes or paper towels. Microfiber cloths hold a lot of dirt or spills, plus they’re washable & reusable.

Bonus! A sixth simple thing you can do to help our earth:

6. Switch brands to Shaklee. When you do, you use high-quality products that work, which saves you time & money, and you’re supporting a company highly committed to caring for our world.

I’m all for taking good care of our environment. I just want to make sure I’m supporting companies that are actually green, not just wearing a green coat.

Posion-laced supplements?

Would you like some arsenic with your kelp supplements?

If a waiter in a restaurant asked you a question like that, you would think that he was crazy. Yet a report in Environmental Health Perspectives last April indicated that most kelp supplements on the market are contaminated with arsenic.

The story starts with a 54-year-old California woman using kelp supplements who reported a two year history of hair loss, fatigue and memory loss.

Her primary care doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her and told her that her symptoms were probably related to menopause.

Since conventional medicine had not given her a diagnosis or treatment, she increased her intake of kelp supplements hoping that would help.

Over the next several months the woman's short- and long-term memory became so impaired that she could no longer remember her home address. She also reported having a rash, nausea and vomiting, which made it very difficult to work and forced her to leave a full-time job.

At that point her doctors became suspicious of arsenic poisoning. Tests revealed high levels of arsenic in her blood and urine. The doctors told her to discontinue the kelp supplements and in a few weeks her symptoms disappeared.

The doctors then purchased 9 different kelp supplements from local health food stores and sent them to a lab to be analyzed.

8 of the 9 were contaminated with arsenic and 7 had arsenic levels that exceeded the tolerance levels for arsenic in food products set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

So why am I telling you this? Most of you probably aren't using kelp supplements. In fact, I can't think of any good reason to take kelp supplements.

I'm telling you this to remind you that "nobody's minding the store". The FDA does not current test food supplements for safety and efficacy and there is no requirement that the manufacturers test their products either.

That's why you should trust your health to a company that runs over 300 quality control tests on a single product and over 80,000 quality control tests a year.

That's why you should put your trust in a company that will not market a product unless they have proven it to be both safe and effective.

That company is Shaklee!

Thanks to Dr. Steve Chaney for this post.

Exodus 1947

I picked up this book at my local library because it looked interesting, and I remember reading about a ship of WWII refugees in an historical fiction book by one of my favorite authors. I thought perhaps this was the real story.

It's not the ship that was told about in the book I read earlier (I forget the title, but the authors are Bodie & Brock Thoene). But it is the real story of real World War II displaced persons (DPs) from Europe, as told by an eye witness.

Ruth Gruber, the author, was not a DP. She was a correspondent for the New York Post, sent to cover the "Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine" created in 1945 to deal with the DP & Palestine problem. She has an impressive resume - including being the world's youngest Ph.D., at twenty.

Exodus 1947 is not a new book, but a republished book. It was first published in 1948 under the title Exodus 1947, Destination Palestine. But, no matter when it was published, it is a powerful and moving story. In the Acknowledgments, Gruber thanks several people who helped her with the book, "[Naomi] and Helene often had to put the photos down because they were crying;... [Adriana]... often had to stop reading because her eyes were clouded with tears..." (pg 193-194).

I know the feeling. I felt the same thing.

Honestly, after seeing the pictures and reading the stories, I was so grateful for my shower, my clean clothes. I wondered if I would have the same determination of the DPs on Exodus 1947 (the name of the ship on which they sailed) to endure the heat, crowded conditions, and boredom in order to get to a land I had never been before.

These people, these children, had survived Hitler's Europe. They felt they could not remain there - they had lost everything, their homes, their professions, their possessions, their families. They were desperate - determined - to get to Palestine, British or no British. They walked across Europe to the ports where the blockade-running ships would carry them to Palestine illegally, putting their lives on the line.

Ruth Gruber had a front-row seat. In Exodus 1947 she takes inside the overcrowded DP camps in Europe, where you can see the sorrow, the emotion, the hollowness, in the eyes of the adults and the children. She is on the dock in Haifa, when "the broken ship Exodus 1947 limp[s] into harbor", carrying 4,500 DPs on a ship originally designed for 400.

She spends time on Cyprus, where the world expects the British to send the DPs from Exodus 1947. She takes us inside the DP camps on Cyprus and shows us how the people maintain their hope, their lives, through art and Hebrew school, as the thousands there wait for their turn for one of 750 legal visas allowed per month to enter Palestine.

But the DPs from Exodus 1947 never arrive. Soon, the British ships that now house them show up in France, in the port of Port-de-Bouc. The French doctor and feed the DPs, now basically held prisoner on the British ships. France extends a welcome to them - "Come down off the ship! We welcome you in France!" But to a person, the answer is "No! We will go to Palestine and Palestine alone! We cannot return to Europe."

After a month in France, the ships pull out and head back to Germany. The French are horrified. The world is aghast. The British force the people off at Hamburg, force them into a DP camp there.

Words cannot express the horror I felt as I looked at the pictures Gruber took in her journeys as she followed the fate of these Jews. Horror at the way these poor people were treated - especially after surviving the death camps. Horror at the conditions they put up with to pursue their dream of living in Palestine. Horror at my own attitude of irritation when my comfort is disturbed. Horror at the thought that some people today say it never happened.

I picked up the book because I wanted to look at the pictures in this book. The pictures are moving. Gruber's writing grabbed me. The combination of the two took me to a time and a place I will not forget.

Kara's Story

I got a phone call from a friend and customer that warmed my heart. I have known Kara for several years – and have always enjoyed her cheerful company and her love for her family. As we’ve gotten to know each other, I discovered that underneath her beautiful smile and happy demeanor, Kara was dealing with some troubling health issues.

She’s in constant pain, and if she eats fruits or vegetables, she swells up and her pain increases significantly. She’s also on medication for seizures. When I met her, she had a cupboard full of supplements from a myriad of companies, none of which provided any relief and some which made things worse.

I don’t remember what I said or how I said it, but somehow I asked her to give Shaklee a try. She did, and she’s been taking Vitalizer for the past couple of years. This morning, she called to tell me ‘thank you.’

“Thank you so much,” Kara told me, “for getting me to try your vitamins. I decided I’d ask my doctor again for help in dealing with this mysterious pain, and he took a bunch of tests. I told him I eat so much meat that I will probably die of a heart attack before I’m 40! But, would you believe it? All my tests came back and I’m healthy. Extremely healthy. Where the numbers should have been high, they were high. Where the numbers should have been low, they were low. I am so glad I am taking those vitamins!”

Good news! Yet, bad news too. Good news she’s so healthy, but it puts back at square one as to answering the question as to why she’s feeling so much pain. I recommended she try Pain Relief Complex, with a reminder that if she doesn’t notice a difference in the next two weeks or so, then she will get her money back.

Maybe you’ve tried all sorts of different brands from all sorts of different companies. I would encourage you to give Shaklee a try – with their money-back guarantee you really have nothing to lose. You can use the entire box of Vitalizer, and if you don’t notice a difference, Shaklee will give you your money back. And they’re nice about it too!

Maybe you’ve had an experience similar to Kara’s – Shaklee’s products have made all the difference. If so, I’d love to hear about it.

Resurrection Day, aka Easter

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!


Lydia, Nathaniel, Anna, Isaac - at church Easter morning


The Leichtys - Easter afternoon


"Who's happy this is the last picture?" Lydia is!

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of our family gathering at Mom & Dad's. We had Natalie, Tim & Lindsay, Ryan, Aunt Carrie, my family and Mom & Dad. Natalie made homemade rolls, Lindsay made homemade cheesecake. Carrie brought Terrapins from Margie's Candies in the city. Yum! We even got to take some rolls home.

At lunch today, Lydia insisted that we ask Kelsey for the recipe for the rolls. I corrected her, "Natalie."

"Wait, Mom. Isn't Natalie gone?"

"No, that's Kesley. She's in Australia right now."

"Oh. Then who made these rolls?"

"Natalie."

"Well, we need to ask Natalie for the recipe. These are good!"

My Spring Allergies are Gone!

It’s chilly here today, but the Silver Maple in my front yard is already sprouting buds – a sure sign of spring. I’m so ready for warmer weather, aren’t you?

But with the warmer weather comes the dreaded ~allergy season~ (insert scary music here). If allergies don’t affect you or your loved one, you can stop reading here. If they do, there is hope! And it doesn’t involve pricey trips to the allergist or prescriptions with awful side effects.

I’ve dealt with allergies most of my life. I carried a tissue box (literally!) with me to classes in high school. I just dealt with it, and when I felt really bad, I’d take an over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medication.

Then my husband and I moved to Florida. Ah! Warm weather year round, sunshine nearly every day and orange trees everywhere. Turns out – I’m allergic to orange blossoms. All of a sudden, Florida wasn’t so fun.

I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was pregnant with my third baby and it was orange blossom time. I remember talking with my neighbor one day:

“You look absolutely miserable!” she said, with sympathy.
“Oh, I feel awful! I can hardly stand it. I don’t remember being so miserable ever before in my life!”
“Michelle,” she told me, “you say that EVERY year.”

I did?! Yikes! I guess I’d better really do something about that. I remembered getting relief at a friend’s house in Iowa during fall allergy season – they had had an air purifier. But the price! We were missionaries with two small children and a 3rd on the way. Money was definitely an issue.

So, I started with something cheaper. I tried OTC nasal sprays (I avoided oral medications because I was pregnant and nursing). They worked, but my throat was raw and I could never be consistent. Orange blossoms died, I felt a HUGE relief, and vowed to do something before the next year.

Then Shaklee introduced the AirSource 3000. I had known Shaklee since childhood, so I knew it was a company I could trust. I knew that there was a warranty, and a guarantee. I knew that nasal sprays or medications weren’t for me, and I was willing to try anything to keep from repeating the year before. My husband was too (bless his heart). So, we pooled our gift money from Christmas and scrimped on groceries for a couple of months and bought an AirSource 3000.

At first, I noticed no difference. I privately agonized that I had made a mistake and we had spent all this money for nothing. Then the orange trees bloomed.

I was at church by myself that Sunday morning – I think because we had sick kids at home. As I sat through the service, my eyes itched more and more, my nose ran and ran until by the end of the service, I could barely see to find my car. I somehow made it home and dashed inside. I stripped off my clothes (get rid of any pollen), brushed out my hair and washed my face.

Normally, I would have spent the afternoon in bed with a cool washcloth on my face to ease my eyes, counting down the days until those blossoms would fall off the trees. This afternoon was different.

Within an hour, my eyes quit itching and my nose quit running. No headache, no washcloth needed. I was astounded. My husband was astounded. I didn’t quite believe that our AirSource 3000 could make such a difference.

The next day, I took the kids for a walk and back came the itchy eyes, runny nose and scratchy throat. After we were back inside, my symptoms were gone within an hour. You can believe I tried not to venture outside until those orange blossoms were gone!

I like to say that the AirSource 3000 allowed me to live allergy-free in my own home. Shaklee nutrition, including NutriFeron, has allowed me to live allergy-free both inside and outside.

Oh, and my neighbor was so impressed that her family purchased two AirSource 3000's a few years later – one for home and one for her clinic.

Why Choose Green?

This past February, I had a booth at my local business expo. You can see that I featured Shaklee’s Get Clean line.

I have to give credit to my ten-year-old, Nathaniel, who was a huge help to me at the expo. Who knew that he knows so much about Shaklee and their cleaning products? He had a great time, talking to people who stopped by and inviting them to sign up for the drawing. He even took time on Sunday to take my business cards around to people working the other booths (his idea, not mine!). My husband shook his head and said, “Is he destined for a job in sales?” Time will tell.

The importance of choosing non-toxic cleaners really hit home last month when I received an e-mail with this story:

“At the local Sam’s Club, my wife purchased a 4-pack, shrink-wrapped, of ‘The Works’ toilet bowl cleaner. On the way home, in the back of our van, it tipped over, and some leaked out (about half a bottle) on the seat and the carpet because of a hole in the top of one of the bottles. The seat, the carpet and the underlying steel were all damaged. The final resolution: our insurance company totaled the van, because of the spill!

According to the insurance company and poison control, the fumes from the toilet bowl cleaner made the interior environment of the van permanently unsafe for anyone, especially young children, so we wouldn’t be able to drive the van any more. The fumes also corroded any exposed metal in the van and poison control warned over time would ruin most, if not all, electrical connections. After the van was cleaned and repaired to the fullest extent possible, it was still determined that eventually, the residual fumes would continue to have a chemical reaction and deteriorate anything left in the van, leaving the van completely useless and unsafe, hence the insurance company’s decision to total the vehicle was made.” ~Matthew L. Rzepka, CPA, CFP, Michigan

Wow. That’s why household cleaners are considered hazardous waste.

A safer alternative is Shaklee’s Get Clean line. Basic-H2, about a tablespoon in the toilet, is quite effective at cleaning the toilet – without the nasty fumes. If you feel you need something stronger, Basic-G is another option – again about a tablespoon in the toilet bowl. Let either one sit for about 10 minutes, then scrub & flush. Voila! So safe, my kids clean the bathrooms (which was one of Nathaniel’s selling points at the expo: “I use these cleaners to clean the bathroom.”).

The best part? Shaklee has a money-back guarantee. Try them out - if you don't like them, let me know and Shaklee will refund your money.

Don't Waste Your Money!

This is my cabinet. Yes – lots of bottles of lots of vitamins. And if I am to believe a bunch of recent studies, I am wasting my money because these don’t help fight diseases or cancers. Honestly, I don’t have the patience to read all these different studies, but my friend, Dr. Walt, summarizes them quite nicely in his blog entry here (look for “Are multivitamins helpful or harmful…?).

I may not be a scientist and I may not be a mathematician, but I have taken a couple of probability and statistics classes. What I remember from those classes is that studies can be easily skewed – intentionally or unintentionally. It depends upon what questions you ask, how long the study lasts, if it is double-blind, placebo-controlled, how the participants were chosen… the list goes on. Plus, there’s also the question of who funded the study, who controlled the publication of the results, and who was in charge of writing up the study.

Have I lost you yet? These are all questions that most reporters don’t ask – mainly because they either don’t know to ask them, don’t have time to ask them, or don’t have the opportunity to ask them. As a former news producer, I know I was looking for information to fill my 30 minutes that grabbed people’s attention. That left little time for asking questions.

Headlines like “Multivitamins Don’t Help and Could Hurt” grab that attention. When I see that headline, my first question is, “What vitamins were the participants taking?” Most vitamins don’t help and could hurt (since companies don’t test them for purity or potency before they’re sold. It’s not required by FDA).

The great thing about Shaklee is that their products are backed by scientific studies – published in peer-reviewed journals, checked by independent laboratories. (Shaklee wants to protect against unintentional bias of its own researchers.) The biggest study conducted on Shaklee products and their users is called the Landmark Study. You can read about it here. Shaklee paid for the study, because Roger Barnett (the owner) wanted to study long-time Shaklee users. However, Dr. Gladys Block from UC Berkley’s School of Public Health retained control of the results. If the results showed Shaklee in a bad light, Dr. Block would still publish them. Instead, the results knocked Dr. Block’s socks off.

Basically, long-time Shaklee users had significantly lower incidences of diabetes, heart disease, heart attacks, etc and lower cholesterol levels, c-reactive protein levels, etc. (All the details are spelled out in the Landmark Study flyer, available for download at www.landmarkstudy.com).

Bottom line: The most expensive vitamin you’ll ever take is the one that doesn’t work. Shaklee vitamins work – and have the science to back it up.

Close To Home

I may be the only Protestant who writes about Molly Sabourin's book Close to Home: An Orthodox Mother's Quest for Patience, Peace, and Perseverance. You may be wondering why I would read it, since I'm not Orthodox. Molly is my beloved sister-in-law - married to my brother.

I am also so glad Molly wrote this book. She bared her soul in this book, detailing her journey as a wife and new mother. In the prologue she provides charming introductions to her family, which my older children loved and laughed and marveled over. (Did Benji really fall out of a two-story window? And caught his clothes on fire? And bump his head on the radiator? Yes, he did.) Molly ends the introductions with this comment, "And while the stories are distinctly mine, I pray the underlying fears, frustration, bliss and hope are universal."

Those underlying issues are universal. I found myself nodding in agreement many times throughout Molly's book, thinking, "Oh, I remember that... Oh I felt that same way! You are absolutely right!" Yet, also found myself nearly equally puzzled, wondering at these Orthodox traditions she holds so dear.

I have to say again, I am glad, glad, glad that Molly wrote this book - because I feel like I understand her, and perhaps in some way, my brother and sister a bit better through Molly's honest struggles in her faith. I have some inkling as to why the liturgy of the Orthodox church would appeal to them, why Molly would somewhat regret not getting married in the Orthodox church (although I am relieved that they didn't), and maybe, in a very, very small way, why they venerate the virgin Mary.

I especially identified with this quote from page 61, "There are many days you will feel totally and utterly incapable, and you will look around the room for backup, for someone else to step in and let you take the break you so desperately need. When you realize there is no such person and your kids are still hungry, or sick, or tired, you will dig deep and pull up a tiny reserve of strength you didn't know you had. This, my dear friends, is growth. No other job in the world is more effective at chiseling you into a stronger and more competent person." (emphasis mine)

That expresses my experience of motherhood, for the first six years especially - when I had four babies in five years, all a thousand miles from my family. Yet, I could never express it in just the way Molly did.

As I've thought about it, I realized that as a new wife and mother, being stretched beyond my limits, I searched for something outside myself and my circumstances to provide meaning and purpose to my life. It wasn't work, because I kept doing the same things everyday - wiping noses & changing diapers and if I was lucky getting laundry done and my family fed. I had my faith, went to church every Sunday, but longed for something... something more.

Molly found that meaning and discipline within the Orthodox church. I found it at Bible Study Fellowship - a nine-month, in-depth study of the Bible. I was accountable to read and study the Bible every week. I talked (uninterrupted!) with other mothers who knew me as a woman, not a mom or a wife, about deep spiritual issues. And I learned that the Bible is relevant today, to my life. I learned that just as Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, he can calm me in the midst of the storms of four children all crying for lunch NOW, four children down with the stomach flu at the same time, or whatever similarly mundane circumstance that feels out of control at that moment in time. The awesome thing is that God cares about the little things, Jesus knows how I feel, and the Holy Spirit reminds me of all that when I feel like I might just go crazy if I hear one more fight over Legos.

Molly, thanks for putting into words emotions I hardly knew I felt, and reminding me of the things I've learned over the past eleven (gasp!) years of parenting my God-given blessings. I love you!

Let us pray for the wisdom to cease trying by our own strength, and start crawling out of our same old tired ruts by surrendering our weak and fragile wills into the hands of God. Amen, and amen!
(pg 129)

Happy Birthday Haircuts

before

the girls

the boys

the craziness begins

and continues

the 7yo

the 5yo

birthday boy

the tools


Nathaniel didn't want to call our friend Daisy to cut hair until after his birthday. Alas, today, his birthday, was the only day that our schedules coincided, and so the hairs were cut. And cut, And cut. The vacuum was FULL of hair when it was finally over.

Nathaniel requested a "Leichty cut" - I didn't force it! (Nathaniel's good friend, Robbie, had requested a "Leichty cut" from Daisy when he went to see her last year). I'm not complaining. And YIKES! does he look so much older? I realized today I can no longer put my chin on his head. Pretty soon, he'll be taller than me - our chiropractor thinks within two years. Am I really ready for this??

I also had to share Nathaniel's excitement over his gift from Glen and me. Yes, its locking pliers and he was absolutely thrilled. It's nice to hand over the gift shopping to Dad.

Happy Birthday Nathaniel - Daddy and I love you so much!

Sugar Snow

When I looked out the window early this morning, I thought of Little House in the Big Woods. Remember when they were surprised by a late spring snowstorm and he told Laura it was a 'sugar snow?' She tasted the snow and it didn't taste like sugar, so she didn't know what he meant. Later she learned it was good for tapping the maple trees for sap to make syrup.

I almost wish I had a maple tree to tap for syrup - if it weren't for all the work it takes to make syrup out of the sap.

It's so pretty, isn't it? Much prettier when you can sit with a cup of hot tea and look out the picture window in the living room. A little more annoying when you don't have to get to worship team rehearsal with four children by 6:45 a.m. (I'll admit - I was about 20 minutes late.)

We lost power for a few minutes, one of which when I was pulling out of the garage into an unshoveled driveway of at least 6" of snow. I didn't realize that was the reason why the remote wasn't working - so I jumped out of the van to see if I could close it from inside the garage.

Did I mention that Glen asked me to clean up the boots last week? He told me it was safe to put them away for the season. Famous last words!

Let's just say I attempted to get out of the driveway at least four times before we finally made it to the street, and my foray into the drive netted me wet feet.

It was still beautiful after church - driving through the streets of snow-covered trees. Later this afternoon, the sun came out and the snow started falling and melting like crazy. I imagine it'll be gone tomorrow. I'm glad I took a few short moments this morning to enjoy the beauty before it was gone.

Now I am ready for spring!

March Madness

I never really paid attention to college basketball until I married Glen. I knew my dad filled out one of those bracket-thingy's in the paper at some point in March and that those games were on all the time. Honestly, I was thankful when it was over!

After Glen and I married, I realized - a little - what it meant to be married to a true-blood Hoosier. Glen doesn't just fill out a bracket. He tapes the selection show and watches it live (except this year), with his own bracket pages printed from the computer so he can fill out the match-ups as they're being announced.

The passion! The commitment!

Just for fun, I thought that year I'd fill out a bracket and see how I did in making my picks compared to the college basketball guru.

Let's just say, I rocked and a tradition was born in our home that March of 1995.

It wasn't until 2003 that Glen actually beat me. He likes to point out that he has picked the National Champion three of the last six years (I think it is - I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong), so my reign as the bracket winner is over. We'll see.

Now, our children are in on the fun. I print out a bracket form for each of them, and they each make their picks. Nathaniel always shows his partiality for Floria by picking a Florida team to make it all the way - which actually worked out well for him when Florida won the National Championship (Glen could tell you the year.)

This year, Isaac & Lydia chose American to go far, "After all, we ARE Americans," they both told me, separately. And both chose Temple to do well too, "because, well, it's a temple Mom."

It's fun to see them make their picks, and see how well they do. The one who picks the most games correctly gets bragging rights for the year. Anna's doing well right now, because this year I explained what those little numbers next to the school names mean. Since two of the four regions have the top four seeds playing each other in the Sweet Sixteen, Anna picked those regions perfectly.

I will point out that as of right now, I have picked the most games correctly in our family. Anna and Glen are tied for second place, and poor Nathaniel lost his National Champion in the first round when Florida State lost to Wisconsin. Hum, perhaps you stick a little closer to our current home, son.

The Longevity Factor

I caught the beginning of Oprah last night - Dr. Oz was on talking about living longer, even to 120. It was after 11pm, so I didn't watch much of it - but I did see the first segment on living longer by restricting calorie intake.

I wasn't surprised to hear about that, because I had read about it in a book I recently picked up at the library, The Longevity Factor: How Resveratrol and Red Wine Activate Genes for a Longer and Healthier Life by Joseph Maroon, M.D.

Dr. Maroon had tried that strategy himself, but decided it was entirely too restrictive to actually enjoy the life he would be living longer. (Umm, yeah!)

Before I go any further writing about this book, I have to make a full disclosure. First, I picked up this book because Shaklee recently introduced a resveratrol product called Vivix, and I thought reviewing this book might give me an excuse to talk about it (which it will). Second, I really just skimmed this book.

When I picked it up, I was afraid it would be a rather dry book, focused on scientific studies and full of medical jargon. For the most part, that was true. It is full of interesting ideas, and I did learn a lot, but I could not read every word. If you're a scientist or a science buff, I'm sure this book would hold your interest more than it did mine.

However, I am glad that I picked it up. I learned quite a bit from it, and was encouraged by some of Dr. Maroon's statements. A bit of background for you: Dr. Maroon is a world-renowned neurosugeon and has been the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers for the past 25 years - just a few tidbits from his bio on the back flap of the book. He's also a triathlete.

First, a warning if you are one who holds to creation science: the first part of the book is quite heavy on evolutionary biology and the history of genetic research. Ironically, Chapter 1 opens with excerpts from Genesis chapter 1 of the Bible. Honestly, I mostly skipped this part of the book.

Maroon introduces an interesting idea which I hadn't really thought about until the past few years. On pages 21-22, he talks about the difference between chronological and physiological age. "chronological age - the number of years you've lived - doesn't necessarily correlate with physiological age." I've noticed it on a personal level. We had neighbors in Florida who I thought were at least 10 to 15 years older than Glen and I. Imagine my shock to discover they were actually 5 years younger than us! Their physiological age was much older than their chronological age. Then again, my grandmother at 88 acted much younger than her age - her church friends were always shocked at how old she was. (She's slowed down a lot since then, but at age 91, still lives at home.)

Maroon's example is quite impressive - on pg 22 he has a picture of one of his patients, professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino. If all you do is pick up this book and look at the picture, it's worth it. It's a picture of Sammartino at age 27 next to a picture of him at 70. Except for less hair, they look remarkably the same. It's amazing to see what is possible of we care for ourselves.

My other favorite part of the book is Part II: The Australian Extract. It tells the story of Peter Voigt - a biochemist turned businessman who bought a vineyard. His practical story of a struggling vineyard, working to find a use for what he felt was the excess waste of grape skins & seeds after making wine, and his success against many odds was riveting. I think it was the only part of the book I read in its entirety.

This is becoming too long already, so let me just lift out some of my favorite quotes from Dr. Maroon for you to ponder:

pg 76 "With time and experience, however, I have come to realize the importance of preventive medicine. How much better it would be to prevent disease and improve health in later life rather than to prolong, at time, misery, and even dying. How much better it would be to help people stay in relatively good health until death came."

pg 278 "Unfortunately, all too physicians and health-care practitioners devote much time to preventive medicine. They are rewarded financially for fixing people's health after it breaks down, not for maintenance. Similarly, the profits of pharmaceutical companies are dependent on age-related diseases rather than on their prevention..."

Exactly Dr. Maroon! Two of my main reasons why I like Shaklee so much - focus on preventing disease and improving health and doing both in harmony with nature.

One thing that I didn't expect to find in Dr. Maroon's book was recipes. However, there are a bunch of them - several of which look good enough that I'm going to copy them down before I return the book. I could explain why he includes recipes, but that would include words like 'xeno factor' and 'polyphenol' - so I'll let you read it for yourself.

And, so that you know, on page 193, Dr. Maroon talks briefly about Shaklee's resveratrol product, Vivix. Which isn't really a resveratrol product as much as it is a "Mixed Polyphenol Product" - as Dr. Maroon calls it. He doesn't give his opinion whether he likes it or not, just gives the facts. It's the only 'Mixed Polyphenol Product' in the book, so I'd say it's pretty unique.

Bottom line: if you're wondering what all the hype about resveratrol is about, this book explains it very well. It's worth a read if you're a scientist or science buff, and certainly worth a quick read-through if you're not.

(And a quick apology - I didn't expect this post on The Longevity Factor to be quite so long. OK, couldn't resist the pun!)

Swimming Lessons & Shaklee

Generous grandparents gave my children swim lessons for Christmas. Some (Lydia) were more excited than others (Nathaniel), but nevertheless, on Thursday afternoons you’ll find us at the pool.

The great thing about swim lessons is the locker room. (OK - after the great thing of learning the important life skill of swimming.) The club we go to has a family locker room with private showering rooms with shampoo, conditioner & body wash available in the showers. This is great because I get to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Swim lessons, followed by showers. Cross that off my list!

The first time we went, I asked Nathaniel if he’d washed his hair. “Of course Mom!”

“But did you use shampoo?” I felt was the necessary follow-up question to my 10-year-old.

“Oh. No, I didn’t.”

“And why not?”

“Because they didn’t have Shaklee shampoo and I wasn’t sure if it was safe.”

Can you believe that he’s listening to me? (Me: “What we wash our hair with gets into our bodies, so let’s make sure it’s something safe. Let’s use Shaklee’s brand.”)

Wanting to avoid extremes, I told him, “Once a week, for the limited time we are taking swim lessons, it’s OK to wash your hair using their shampoo.”

We’re in week three of lessons, and you know what? We brought our Shaklee Pro Santé shampoo & conditioner to the club. I realized that, free or not, safe or not safe, the club’s shampoo was not cleaning their hair as well as the Pro Santé shampoo.

Shaklee’s Pro Santé hair system cleans safely, without stripping your hair of its natural oil balance. And, as Shaklee scientists are always thinking about the health of your body, the products contain Shaklee’s patented Scalp Health Complex – a unique combination of 10 vitamins, minerals & herbs that nourish your scalp (which in turn makes your hair healthier).

I love the Nourishing Scalp Treatment. It’s a liquid full of nutrients that I put on my scalp after I get out of the shower. Then I quickly massage it in. I’ve noticed that I’m shedding much less hair, and several years ago, when I first started using it, my hairdresser noticed that I had new hair growth around my temples. (How cool is that?)

And you know Shaklee – they have all this data and clinical trials that say, “Hey this stuff really works. Look at how much it reduces hair loss & damage, increases the diameter of the hair, & improves its strength and elasticity.” (If you’d like to see that kind of info, you can find it here.)

I say, it keeps my hair clean and feeling great and my kids’ hair clean too. My skeptical husband said he’d “try that stuff out,” and switched to Pro Santé Purifying Shampoo. That was three years ago. (I think he likes it!)

Sweet Little Lucy

Most Tuesday mornings, my kids and I are privileged to watch sweet little Lucy, the daughter of a good friend. Lucy comes to our house while my friend attends Bible Study Fellowship with her son. We've all become quite attached to little Lucy - she's talking now and has quit taking her morning naps, so we get to enjoy her more now than when she first started coming.

Anna is in charge of collecting Lucy from her mom when she comes in the morning because I'm usually reading to Lydia and Isaac. After we're done with school, Lydia is in charge of playing with Lucy while I read to Nathaniel and Anna. Lydia loves being in charge. She finds dolls and purses for Lucy to carry and when it's warm enough, Lydia takes Lucy outside to play in the yard and go down the slide. They're cute together.

This morning, she ran to the piano when Anna started practicing. Anna didn't mind at all. (Her attitude would have been completely different had it been anyone else joining her on the piano!)

We all enjoy Lucy - we'll miss her this summer, and next year she'll be old enough to go to BSF. I know she'll win hearts there too.

Made to Stick

Last year I read an article in US News and World Report about Chip and Dan Heath, brothers who wrote a book together called Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. I enjoyed the article so much, I tore it out of the magazine to remind myself to read the book.

Of course, I didn't remember it until I spotted the book on the shelf behind the registers at the bookstore mentioned in the previous post. I was thrilled to find it available at my local library.

Now that I've finished it, I wished I had bought a copy at the bookstore so I could highlight it. Actually, I think it will go on my 'books-to-own' list because they have a really cool 'cheat sheet' (or Clif Notes) at the end of the book.

So what is this book about, and why is it so interesting to me? Well, it's a book about communicating ideas. Some might think that it's a book for marketers, which it kind of is, but it's more than that. It's really for anyone who wants to communicate ideas - from teachers to preachers, from parents to marketers, and anyone in between.

I think I knew quite a few of the principles the Heath brothers share in this book. However, the book gives me a big picture and a great outline for making ideas stick and communicating effectively. And, as an added bonus, this book is easy to read - even though Chip Heath is a professor at Stanford University. They've done a good job of creating a book that 'sticks.'

So, what exactly makes ideas stick?
Ideas must be simple
Ideas must be unexpected
Ideas must be concrete
Ideas must be credible
Ideas must be emotional
Ideas must be communicated in stories

Actually, ideas don't NEED to be all of the above, but the more categories checked off, the better chance of people remembering it. And, what's the point of communicating ideas if people don't remember them?

Sprinkled throughout the book are "Clinics," where the Heaths share real-life circumstances and how the principles they discuss makes a difference.

For example, did you know that the slogan "Don't Mess with Texas" started as an anti-littering campaign? That's one sticky idea that grew to have a life of its own.

Of course, you can't have a book about sticky ideas without plenty of stories of Nordstrom's customer service (like the ones from my sister's blog), which this one does. But the Heaths include plenty of other stories, including ones from a high school journalism class, from the World Bank, from a non-profit seminar in Florida (among plenty of others).

One of the most important ideas the authors discuss in the book is the "Curse of Knowledge." It's hard for us to imagine not knowing what it is we know, so it's hard for us to communicate in ways that people without our knowledge base can understand. "You know things that others don't know, and you can't remember what it was like not to know those things. So when you get around to sharing the Answer, you'll tend to communicate as if your audience were you." (pg 245)

"This book is filled with normal people facing normal problems who did amazing things simply by applying these principles (even if they weren't aware that they were doing it). ... Their names aren't sticky, but their stories are." (pg 251)

Made to Stick is a practical tool for normal people who need to communicate ideas and want people to remember those ideas. Put it on your list!

The 10 Big Lies about America

A couple of months ago I was in a bookstore with my girlfriend. She was looking for a workbook for her son, and I was enjoying browsing without the kids. As she was checking out, I glanced over the shelves behind the registers and exclaimed, "I see at least three books here I want to read!" I quickly memorized the titles, wrote them down when I got home and looked for them at my local library.

I've recently just finished the first one - The 10 Big Lies about America: Combating Destructive Distortions about our Nation by Michael Medved. How could you not be interested in a book with that title? In fact, my husband picked it up and started reading it and occasionally fought over who's turn it was to read it!

Turns out - it's good. Quite intellectual, well-documented - not really a book that you would pick up for a quick read before bed. I will, if I remember (!), add this book to my children's high school American history course.

In case you're curious - here's a list of the lies Michael Medved refutes in this book:

1. "America was founded on genocide against Native Americans"
2. "The United States is uniquely guilty for the crime of slavery, and based its wealth on stolen African labor."
3. "The founders intended a secular, not Christian, nation."
4. "America has always been a multicultural society, strengthened by diversity."
5. "The power of big business hurts the country and oppresses the people."
6. "Government programs offer the only remedy for economic downturns and poverty."
7. "America is an imperialist nation and a constant threat to world peace."
8. "The two-party system is broken, and we urgently need a viable third party."
9. "A war on the middle class means less comfort and opportunity for the average American."
10. "America is in the midst of an irreversible moral decline."

The topic that most interested me was number 9 - the 'war on the middle class.' What really sparked my interest in that topic was the book I read last year titled (Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents (which I wrote about in December's post "An Emotional Month of Reading"). In that book, Nan Mooney interviews people like her, struggling to keep up with her parents standard of living from her childhood. Some would say it supports the fact that the middle class is disappearing from our society.

Medved's response to the 'war on the middle class' is only 22 pages long, but pretty convincing. On pg 211 he quotes a May 7, 2007 USA Today headline, " 'Gas or Gamble? Economy Forces Some to Choose.' " The article profiles Carlos Bueno, a 32-year-old father of three who works for a utility company. In the article, he says he's going to have to cancel his family's trip to gamble and their annual trip to the Dominican Republic.

Medved's response: "It's easy to feel sympathetic toward presumably hardworking family men such as Mr. Bueno, but if a 32-year-old utility company employee could previously afford three annual casino trips (costing, he said, $1,500) plus yearly vacations with his wife and three kids to the Caribbean, then how "harsh" could the economy really be?"

Granted - the economy is a lot worse now than when he was writing this book - but still. My husband and I could not have afforded such vacations even when the economy was at it's best. Not that we would chose to spend our money that way.

Medved's main point is that people have lost perspective on how much we (as a country and economy) have gained over the past century or so. We have luxuries that even the very wealthy couldn't even dream of then - indoor plumbing, electricity, telephones, various appliances, etc. During times of economic hardship we have to tighten our belts, cancel vacations and gain some historical perspective(my words, not his). Medved says, "[M]ost members of the real middle class are too smart, and too busy counting blessings and seizing opportunities, to believe the lie that they are losers." (pg 231)

Medved ends his book with some observations about our "Abnormal Nation." "Lies about America proliferate precisely because no one shrugs off the United States as a nation like any other, with the usual mix of strengths, flaws, and eccentricities. Americans have always claimed more for ourselves ("the land of the free and home of the brave"), and those claims have produced inevitable polarization." (pg 258)

"If a Spaniard or a Swede won't acknowledge how much he has benefited from the Unites states and its world leadership for ideals of liberty, free markets, and self-government, he's shallow and stupid. But if a citizen of this favored land can't appreciate his own prodigious good fortune, his limitless opportunities as an American, then it's a case of willful ignorance and ingratitude." (pg 259)

Quite honestly, I am proud to be an American. Thanks Mr. Medved for reminding me of that fact.

House Lust

When looking at a picture of my house with its '70's siding, you may not be surprised to hear that I recently picked up a book entitled House Lust, America's Obsession with Our Homes by Daniel McGinn. I've had some serious cases of house lust in the past, particularly when my family of six was squeezed into a 1,000-square-foot townhouse.

When we were in that townhouse, we had cable TV, and I loved to watch HGTV. All those do-it-yourself shows with beautiful results, House Hunters - following home buyers who had a budget I could only dream of - oh, the envy I felt! Which is why I realized I needed to just STOP WATCHING. Oh, it was hard, but helped me to be content where I was instead of envying those poor folks who couldn't find a house with both a media room AND a pool.

In 2005, we found the house we currently live in, saw it's potential and moved. It's about 1800 square feet - the biggest house in which we've ever lived - but I'm already feeling squeezed. The bedrooms are small, we don't have a family room, and not even half the basement is a full basement. Oh, I am starting to feel some house envy again!

I noticed the trend of envying other people's houses in my own life, but I was a little surprised that McGinn had enough material with which to write an entire book. He does, however, and an interesting one at that.

In House Lust, McGinn chronicles his own compulsion with his house, and introduces us to families from different parts of the United States and their manifestations of house envy. From 9,000-square-foot homes in Maryland to buying vacation homes in Florida, McGinn explores different housing trends in different parts of the country. I did notice that the Midwest was rather left out of the craze, perhaps because we're not given to such extremes as the coasts? (Wishful thinking, I'm sure!)

Unfortunately, McGinn was writing his book just before the housing bubble burst, so it feels a bit like 'old news.' It's still very interesting though - and he addresses the housing bust briefly in his epilogue. I think he's right - Americans will keep obsessing about their homes - perhaps differently now than three or five years ago.

Personally, I've put aside the dream of adding a second floor to my house (although it would work well - and add so much more space). Instead, my husband and I are focusing on one small project at a time - a new front door is first on the list, then adding a shower to our bathroom. And I'm learning - a continuous process - to be content where I am today instead of dreaming how much better life would be in a bigger house.

To Cut or Not to Cut?

I am reminded again that I have an almost eleven-year-old. Who is not just an extension of me or his father, but his own person with his own opinions. Like what to do with his hair.

His dad and I have harped on his hair often enough that his little sister is starting to harp too. She's constantly telling him he needs a haircut.

Nathaniel, instead, wants just his bangs cut. I say, if we cut your hair, we're going to CUT your hair. Anna threatens to braid it, Daddy threatens to put it in a ponytail. I occasionally take out the clippers and wave them in the air threateningly. (Honestly, though, I don't want to clean up the mass of hair that would end up on my floor if I actually used them. Don't tell Nathaniel.)

He says he'll get his hair cut after his birthday. Which is soon enough that I think I can stand waiting. The main issue is basketball. He's constantly running down the court with his chin in the air, trying to see around his hair. He claims he doesn't. Ya, right. Unfortunately, basketball is over before his birthday.

Well, it is HIS hair. Guess I have to give it up.

Letters of a Woman Homesetter

If you think your life is hard, pick up this book. Or listen to the Play-Away.

I love, love, love! the perspective on life I get from reading (or listening) to different books. This past weekend I drove lots and lots of hours, some of them with my ten-year-old son, so I wanted to choose something that would interest both of us. I picked up a Lilian Jackson Braun The Cat Who book on CD, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. But the highlight of the trip was Letters of a Woman Homesteader.

I found Letters of a Woman Homesteader in the Play-Away section of my library's audio book section. Play-Aways are self-contained digital books that you can listen to on headphones, or plug into an auxiliary jack in your stereo. My husband had the foresight to purchase a car stereo unit with an auxiliary jack, so Nathaniel and I listened to the Play-Away in the van.

Aside from my few frustrations in operating the Play-Away while I was driving (thankfully no accidents resulted), I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In fact, I think I'll check out the book so I can actually read it and soak in the nuances I missed while listening.

The book is actual letters from Elinore Pruitt Stewart to her former employer in Denver. Elinore is a self-proclaimed talker, but has few visitors on the frontier. So, instead of talking, she writes long letters to Mrs. Coney, which Mrs. Coney was smart enough to keep, and arrange to be published.

It sounds a little dry - reading letters from the early 1900s. But Elinore, despite her limited schooling, has a natural way with words and describing life on the frontier. I especially loved her descriptions of her "jaunts" to explore the wilderness, with her daughter (and eventually, sons) in tow. And today we don't like to take children to the grocery store!

Elinore is so cheerful and happy, focusing on her blessings and exclaiming over all the wonderful people who come across her path and all the good things that happen to her. I couldn't help but smile while listening to her letters. After reading the short biography on the back of the Play-Away box, I know that her life was not easy and full of her share of sorrows - orphaned, widowed and lost an infant.

I wish I could have known Elinore personally - she seems like a gem of a woman with a great sense of humor. I love what she said to the man in the office when she went to register her homestead. Guess you'd better read the book to find out!

All I got for Christmas was..... Blue Tape?!

Last fall, when my family asked me what I was going to give my children for Christmas, I thought for a minute and said, "I'm giving them each their own roll of blue masking tape."

They burst into laughter and told me, "Never send your kids to public school! They'll find out what everyone else gets for Christmas! Can't believe you're giving your kids TAPE for Christmas!"

For the record, they did not only get tape for Christmas, but they each got their own roll.

And you know what? They were excited about that tape too! None more so than Isaac, my youngest.

I just had to share what prompted the gift - this extravagant creation he and his brother built together last year. Using my tape.









And here is Isaac today. Blissfully creating a town. In case you're wondering, there's a store, a firehouse and lots of houses in his town. Still to come: a church and a school... and more I'm sure. All the blue tape lines are sidewalks. He's planning this elaborate creation so he and his friend Matt (whom I watch in the mornings when his mom is scheduled to substitute)can play the next time he comes. Playmobil, Lightening McQueen, Legos - all those great toys can use the same space.







Isaac's town.

And you thought blue tape was a crazy Christmas gift.

The Centurion's Wife

Yesterday, I met with a friend at the library and while I was waiting had a chance to walk through the 'New Book' section. That's a very dangerous section for me! Especially the fiction. I admit, I love to read fiction. However, once I start a fiction book, I have a hard time putting it down and doing anything else.

I know that about myself, but still picked up a new book by two of my favorite authors, Davis Bunn and Jeanette Oke. I've been reading these authors since I was in high school and college and own many books by each of them. They've co-authored a whole series of books, which I started but never finished (hummm, I guess I have reading material for the beach this summer!). They're starting another series and the first book is The Centurion's Wife.

I started it last night. And finished it today. Admittedly, I'm a fast reader. I also stayed up WAY too late last night, then came home from church this morning, ate a quick lunch and finished it this afternoon, leaving Glen in charge of the kids. (I tell you - I cannot stop once I start!)

The basic story is about a servant in the house of Pontius Pilate (Leah) and a Roman centurion (Alban) during the time of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. They end up betrothed (to Leah's consternation), and investigating Jesus' resurrection on behalf of Pilate & his wife.

I enjoyed it - the characters and their stories intrigued me and the authors developed them well. The plot also held my attention. The thing that interested me the most, though, was the authors' interpretation of the historical time period.

My most favorite authors are Brock and Bodie Thoene. They've written dozens of novels, most recently about the same time period - when Jesus walked on earth. One of their main characters in those books is also a Roman centurion. They also include Mary Magdalene in their books.

In Thoene's books, Mary, Martha & Lazarus are a wealthy family in Bethany, a little village outside of Jerusalem. The Roman centurion is the one mentioned in the Gospels - Jesus heals his servant and commends the centurion's faith. The centurion comes face-to-face with Jesus and cares deeply for his servant. His struggle is how to reconcile his faith with his job (and his love for Mary Magdalene).

In Davis/Oke's book, Mary, Martha & Lazarus are very poor and Bethany is described as hardly a village at all - more a grouping of poorly-built hovels. Alban, the Roman centurion, cares deeply about his servant, but never met Jesus face-to-face when asking for his servant's healing. Throughout the book, he struggles with why Jesus commended his faith when he doesn't know what that faith is.

I don't think one interpretation is right and the other is wrong - just something interesting to think about.