Wordless Wednesday

I Wanna Fit In With My Friends (You Know Who You Are!)

I have some really close friends (and a husband!) who are "thinkers". When we get together we (well, mostly they) talk about ideas and books and movies all in a philosophical, theological, and analytical way. They all bring different views to the table because of education, life experience, and spiritual back ground. Everyone is constantly grabbing books off our shelves and thumbing through until they find the passage they are referring to so that we can hear it "straight from the horse's mouth". I am impressed with their knowledge and passion on most issues.

I came across a great quote the other day and it really made me think (I am capable of being a "thinker" myself sometimes).

"Nobody can decide for himself whether he is going to be a human being. The only question open to him is whether he will be an ignorant undeveloped one or one who has sought to reach the highest point he is capable of attaining." Robert Hutchins

I do not want to be and "ignorant undeveloped" human. I want to know things. I want to experience things. I want to feel things. Being the "book-made" family we are, I have decided to seek these things through books and authors I know my husband and friends admire. Here's a list of books I am going to read, and in some cases reread, to "reach the highest point" I am able to attain.

Louisa M. Alcott
Little Women

Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Emma
Northanger Abbey
Persuasion

Robert & Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Biographies about their life together

John Bunyan
Pilgrim's Progress

Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales

GK Chesterton
The Father Brown stories
Orthodoxy
The Club of Queer Trades

Stephen Crane
The Red Badge of Courage

Dumas
The 3 Muskateers

Trans. David Ferry
The Epic of Gilgamesh

William Goldman
The Princess Bride

Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlett Letter

Homer
The Odyssey
The Iliad

Aldos Huxley
Brave New World

Andrew Lang
The Fairy Books

CS Lewis
Pilgrim's Regress
Space Trilogy (reading the first one now!)
Chronicles of Narnia
Surprised by Joy
A Grief Observed
The Great Divorce
The Screwtape Letters
Mere Christianity

George MacDonald
The Princess & the Goblin
The Princess & Curdie
Phantastes
At The Back of the North Wind
Lilith
His short Fairy Stories

Milton
Paradise Lost

George Orwell
1984

Cornelius Ryan
The Longest Day

Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin

Tennyson
The Idylls of the King (read aloud by Collin)

Tolkein
The Hobbit
The LOTR
On Fairy Stories

Sheldon VanAucken
A Severe Mercy (my FAVORITE book)

Misc. (not sure on the translations yet)
The Lais of Marie de France
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Beowulf

I know this is a really long list, and I will probably make changes and additions to it. Hopefully after I have read a few of these, I will be able to participate in the "life-changing" discussions my friends have in my living room. It's kind of like Sheldon and Davy VanAucken when they were living in Oxford. If only I were in Oxford...

Holiday Break To Do List

During this Thanksgiving break Collin will experience something he has not experienced for months...six days off in a row! :0) His break between semesters is even longer...Dec. 14 (depends on when his last final is) to mid January! We just found out he won't be able to work most of that time as well, which we are trying to look at as a blessing since there is nothing we can do about it. It will just make things really tight. So, he has some time on his hands...finally. He has some things he has to do...

1. Graduate school research
2. Complete and send graduate school applications
3. Writing
4. Finally...help me with the following list. (I'll say "pretty please")

Here is the list of things I hope to get done by the middle of January (organized by room)

Living Room
1. Hang up storm door...DONE
2. Organize books
3. Print off pictures of trip, frame, and hang

Kitchen/Utility Room
1. Organize so it is more functional

Boy's Bedroom
1. Scour and purge (again!)
2. Figure out a "plan" for their clothes when they take them off. They are unable to hang them up by themselves, yet they are not dirty so they don't' belong in the basket.
3. Hang up hooks for their coats...DONE
4. Organize & purge videos...DONE
5. Organize closet-remove white dresser and add shelves...(dresser removed!)
6. Hang up curtain
7. Organize by size the clothes that are in storage so it's easier to switch seasonally.

Hall
1. Change the lightbulb
2. Organize closet

Master Bath
1. Decorate

Master Bedroom
1. Organize craft closet
2. Organize book shelf

Misc.
1. File and purge important documents
2. Buy a fire proof lock box
3. Get items ready for consignment sale
4. Set up dinner with Father Ray and Beth...(sometime in December)
5. Organize digital pictures on the computer

Cars
1. Put the red Cherokee up for sale
2. Look into exhaust leak in white Cherokee
3. Top of fluids...(Cherokee DONE, still need to do Wrangler)

Wow! Looks like I/we will be keeping busy. That doesn't include the holiday stuff we are going to do either! I/we am/are going to have to find a good balance and figure out what is priority or I'll/we'll get burned out.

'Tis the season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We are celebrating Thanksgiving today just the four of us. It's days like these that really make living so far away from family hard...and those times when you are struggling to find a babysitter! Nonetheless, we are having a great day. Collin and the boys had a battle,
we made a couple pies (chocolate!),


we've done a lot of reading,


I plan on doing a few crafts with the boys, and later we'll play games for awhile. We chose not to cook the traditional meal. Instead we are having one of our family's favorite...waffles, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and oj.

We have a lot to be thankful for. Here is a short list...

Thane-his playmobile guys, his big brother (that warms my heart!), his big brother sharing his toys, our home, his games, chocolate pie(!), and playing with friends.

Magnus-God (hallelujah!), his brother, his dad, his mom, food (which also includes chocolate pie!), the turkey wishbone (?), his castles, and candy (which he is still eating from Halloween).

Brittney-my Husband (his understanding, patience, love, gentleness, leadership, and character), Magnus (his inquisitiveness, gentleness, thoughtfulness, and laughter), Thane (his energy, softness, manner of speaking, and smile), my family and friends, good health for all of us this year (only one trip to the ER for Thane!), God's provisions (a great apartment, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, bills paid, ect.), I am able to stay home and educate my kids, autumn colors, chocolate pie (!), the printing press (love those books!), song birds, our backpacking trip in Europe (and my parents for watching the boys!), and cars that have not needed any major repairs.

Collin-family, health, he comes home safe everyday, and our church.

I hope you all were able to celebrate the way you wanted. Here is to another year full of blessings!

Wordless Wednesday

Question of the Day...

So, we're riding in the car yesterday and out of nowhere Thane (4yo) asks, "Mom, why do mommies have babies and not daddies?" Thankfully the reply of "Well, that's the way God made us." satisfied his curiosity...for now.