Wow
The Gnu complimented something I wrote.

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for:
1.  the break from the heat we had this week - we've had cooler weather and lots of rain, which is unusual for this time of year, and in fact, it was so cool on Monday that I didn't have to run the air conditioner all day!
2.  our Wednesday night Bible study - we have a small group that meets at the base chapel to study R.C. Sproul's Dust to Glory series, and yesterday we were unable to get the key to the fellowship hall, so we called around and asked everyone to come to our house for the Bible study, and they did, and it was a lot of fun
3.  my 13 year old son who is diligently studying his math right now because he wants to be an engineer when he grows up and design and fly airplanes

Recent Reading
The Dove in the Eagle's Nest, by Charlotte Yonge
A gentle woman changes a family's destiny by being faithful to God. This was an exciting story, but as with all the Victorian authors, before you actually get to the story, so have to wade through several pages of descriptions of the world and they that dwell therein.


The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy
Chivalry... Romance... Intrigue... Danger... What a sweet story! Everybody should read this book, espcially if you're married - it'll make you a better wife (or husband, as the case may be).

Homeschool stuff
Last school year Elai took the first year of a two-year world history class taught by Peter Roise, a graduate of New St. Andrews College. The online tutorial covered a lot of material as you can see by this syllabus, and the second year will be just as rigorous. I always tried to work it out so that the little kids were playing somewhere quietly so I could fold laundry and listen in on the classes because they were so interesting.

Mr. Roise will also be speaking at the Heritage Homeschool Conference in Weatherford, TX, August the 20th and 21st, which we are planning to attend. This conference is free, and children are invited to attend. Hey Samantha! It'd be great if you went to the conference - I'd love to meet you!

Isn't that cute? I found it at Selah's blog.

Today I'm most especially thankful for:

1. Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream

2. The wonderfully wise and godly men God has given to the Church over the generations - "We have this treasure in earthen vessels..." - I'm thinking particularly of the men who've been my pastors, John Wright, L.A. Joiner, Lee Barnes, Gary Sanders, and Pete Hurst.

3. Valerie, Alexandra, Byron, Carmon, Dawn, Janet, Julie, Kaffeine, Kelly M., Kore, Kristen, Kurt, Leslie, Liza Q, Phillip, Samantha, Sing Hey!, Summer, and Swirly Girly who've all been so sweet to tell me what they're thankful for.

Tag! You're it!

I think I've just been insulted
Just now I was singing "Abide with Me" to Lilian for her lullaby and she did something she's never done before - put her finger to her lips and said, "Shh."
=8^o

Shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings...
First of all, blogger has changed again, but this seems to be a reasonable change - it sort of looks like typing in Word, and you can change fonts and colors and stuff, but I don't feel like experimenting right now.  It also has a spell checker, and I really think they need to consider whether the dictonary they're using is quite up to date, or if maybe they should add some special blogger language to it, like, for instance, the word "blogger." :-p
 
Next, a bit about church this morning 
Part of the Epistle reading was Colossians 1:21-23, "You who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him-- provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel."  One wonders what the anti-Federal Vision people make of that.    
 
About halfway through the service, Lilian got fussy, so I took her out to the van to give her a little private practice in Sitting Patiently on Mama's Lap When Required.  Some advances were made, but I think it would be wise to practice at 10 o'clock every morning this week so she'll be in the habit by next Sunday. 
 
Random thoughts about what I've been reading and listening to lately 
Busman's Honeymoon was really good but it was only incidentally a murder mystery.  It was really about marriage, and in reading it I find that I really don't understand Lord Peter and Harriet a bit.  Why are they so concerned about maintaining independence and a kind of aloofness?  They seem almost afraid of their love for one another.  
 
Since I've just finished the end of the story of Lord Peter and Harriet, I decided to go back and reread Strong Poison, the book where they first met.  I think I remember who actually killed the guy that Harriet was accused of killing and how he did it, but it's still fun reading it to see if I can pick up on the clues, and hopefully to gain some insight into Lord Peter's and Harriet's way of interacting with each other in Busman's Honeymoon.  
 
Friday I listened to Peter Leithart's lecture from the 2001 CWSC entitled "The Why and How of Reading," in which he said that when rereading a book, it is good to remember the end of the story because you may pick up on things that you missed the first time through.  His lectures on Jane Austen are excellent ("Repeat after me: Real Men Read Austen."), and right now I'm in the middle of listening to John Hodges' lectures on Beauty.
 
I'm also reading Jeff Meyers' The Lord's Service which has been a wonderful experience.  I may blog more about it later if I can ever find words to express what I'm learning from the book.
 
At the conference, Mike bought Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvin for me and I read the introduction and the first part of the first chapter this afternoon.  The biographical info in the introduction focused almost exclusively on Dr. Kuyper's academic and political credentials and mentioned nothing at all about his family.  When I read a man's biography, what I really want to know is who were his wife and children, and what are his grandchildren and great-grandchildren doing today?  That, I think, is the real measure of the man, moreso than his published works.  But of course, it's possible he never married.  I wonder if Google will tell me anything?
 
And finally, What We Did This Evening
There were two or three dances at the Christian Worldview Student Conference, and Mike finally had the pleasure of dancing the Virginia Reel.  He had a good time dancing with Elai, and noticed the ridiculous number of young men standing around not dancing, and that far too many of the couples were girls dancing with girls for want of male partners, so he was inspired not only to try to encourage the young men to oblige the ladies and to set the standard himself, but also to teach us the Virginia Reel, and is considering dance lessons for all of us so that our own young men will be better equipped when they are old enough to attend the conference.  So we took the leaves out of the big table and shoved it into the school room so we'd have space to dance, and spent two hours this evening dancing!  Our family is fortunate enough to have four couples, and it was great fun, though by seven o'clock we were all hot and sweaty, so we sent the kids out to play in the sprinkler.  A frabjous day! Calooh! Callay!

Thursday's Thankful Three
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

1. I'm so thankful that after traveling half way across the continent and back, Mike and Elaienar and NaeNae got home safely today about an hour ago.
2. They brought me books!
3. Mike takes me out every Thursday night for coffee and dessert.
 
As always, I very much enjoy reading what y'all are thankful for!

Remember the thing I blogged about the last two Tuesdays?
Well, last night it didn't happen again! Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

What did happen last night was that my sister came, bringing with her Dibbuns Numbers Two and Three, who've been at my mom's for longer than I can remember, at least three weeks! On Thursday, Husband and Dibbuns Numbers One and Four will be home and we'll finally be all together again after being scattered across the face of the earth for nearly a month.

Me and my faulty memory
I was at Ladies Against Feminism last week and took a circuitous route through their links eventually winding up at this page, which seems vaguely familiar. Did one of you ladies blog about these books recently? If not, have any of you read any of them and would you recommend them?

I love Dorothy Sayers!

Whatever fantastic pictures she had from time to time conjured up of married life with Peter, none of them had ever included attendance at village concerts. But of course they would go. She understood now why it was that with all his masking attitudes, all his cosmopolitan self-adaptations, all his odd spiritual reticences and escapes, he yet carrried about with him that permanent atmosphere of security. He belonged to an ordered society, and this was it. More than any of the friends in her own world, he spoke the familiar language of her childhood. In London, anybody, at any moment, might do or become anything. But in a village - no matter what village - they were all immutably themsleves; parson, organist, sweep, duke's son and doctor's daughter, moving like chessmen upon their alloted squares. She was curiously excited. She thought, "I have married England." Her fingers tightened on his arm.
~from Busman's Honeymoon

If I were poetic I'd write an ode to the quiet joy of standing in my kitchen listening to the percolator and talking with Lilian as she eats her lunch, and looking out the window to see the napkins and t-shirts and baby dresses dancing on the clothesline.

Thursday's Thankful Three
1. Internet friends who pray for me when I need it
2. Mrs. Brown, the widow from church who stayed with my babies for more than four hours on Tuesday so I could rest, and spent the whole time reading to them
3. Feather pillows, a comfy bed, sweet dreams, and a good night's sleep - I dreamt that Doug Wilson blogged, but that, evidently, is too much to hope for!

Now it's your turn - what are y'all thankful for?

Well that was a little bit annoying!
Y'all remember what I blogged last Tuesday? Well, it happened again last night, in just the same way, except of course I hadn't had the doctor appointment in the afternoon, and my neighbor across the street took me to the hospital while his wife watched my babies.

I'm going to see my regular doctor about this and get allergy-tested later this week. And tomorrow my mommy is coming back to take care of me. :-) I spoke too soon. My mom can't come after all, but I do have two ladies from church who are looking in on me, and the neighbors across the street and next door. :-)

Did something today I've never done before - picked corn! I got two dozen ears out of the garden, and opened up two of them. They're plump and juicy and beautiful. Unfortunately, my gardening books only tell me how to grow stuff. They don't tell me what to do with it when it's done, so now what? Am I supposed to shuck it all now, or what?

Also, I saw something very strange inside of what's supposed to be an ear of corn, also unfortunately I couldn't tell if it was a disease or a colony of bugs or a monster from outer space. =8^0

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Collect for the day from the Episcopal Lectionary

Yesterday, when I was trying to find a hymn for today based upon today's Psalm, the 66th, part of which is quoted below my blog title, I found this one which I'd never seen before:

And truly it is a most glorious thing
Thus to hear men pray and God’s praises sing,
O how great comfort is it now to see—
The churches to enjoy full liberty.
And to have the Gospel preachèd here with power,
And such wolves repelled as all would else devour.

But God will still for His people provide
Such as be able them to help and guide,
If they cleave to Him and do not forsake—
His laws and truth and their own ways do take.
If thou hast viewed the camp of Israel,
How God in the wilderness with them did dwell.

His great and marvelous works they here saw,
And He them taught in His most holy law,
A small emblem hereof thou mayest see,
How God hath dealt with them in some degree,
For much of Himself they now there have seen,
And marvelous to them His works have been.

Words: William Bradford, 1623
Music: “Song 24 (Gibbons),” Orlando Gibbons, 1623

It is the only hymn written by William Bradford, and I thought it particularly fitting for this weekend on which we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Clothed With Christ in Worship
This is so good I'm quoting the whole thing. It is far too easy to become complacent about our sin and need for a Saviour, isn't it?

Never forget that God sees the heart. He knows every thought, every intention, every motive, every excuse, every rationalization, and every motion in your mind.

This is the God you gather before in worship. Nothing is obscure to Him simply because you are surrounded by others. Nothing is hidden from Him simply because others are older, or younger. Nothing can be pushed off on others.

You appear before the Lord naked, and this is why you must take care to clothe yourselves with Christ. Every other attempt at clothing yourself is futile, and insulting to Him who made the wedding garment, and graciously offered it for you to wear.

Look down at your covenantal hands. You hold a priceless robe given to you, without price, without cost to you. That robe was purchased by the blood of the Son of God, that robe is the Son of God Himself.

You have come to worship His Father, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has offered you this priestly garment. You had better put it on.

Thursday's Thankful Thoughts
I thought it would be fun and constructive to post three things every Thursday for which I'm thankful, as part of my learning to thank God for everything. I picked Thursday for several reasons: the alliteration is fun, I was born on a Thursday, Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday... Well, you might as well know that I was born on Thanksgiving - does God have a sense of humor, or what?

So, this week's list (and please note, I didn't make any effort to come up with "spiritual" things here):
1) My dear husband gets up early every single day and goes to work without complaining, even though his workplace is a real drag (Okay, this one's a gimme - every wife is told to be thankful for this, but really, I think Mike is great for sticking with the military for 21 years. I'd've been courtmartialed a long time ago. And besides, it's the first thing I thought of).
2) There's a mourning dove singing outside the window right now.
3) We have air conditioning, and Mike lets me run it as much I want, even though he's not nearly as hot-natured as I am.

I'd love to read what y'all are thankful for today.

:-)