Those were the days!

As our girls were growing up, we were constantly reading to them and encouraging them to read books on their own. This love of books developed their own writing skills. I still have some of the things they've written and get lots of warm fuzzies when I go through the files and read again what they wrote when they were 9 or 10 years old.

Here's a poem Christy wrote when she was 10:
Monopoly, monopoly, monopoly; oh, how I love you so.
You are so plain and simple, as everybody knows.
Oh, I love to play you a lot because you are so fun;
I like to play you with people like Sis, Dad and Mum.
I like to get Boardwalk and Park Place because I get a lot of money,
but when other people get them, it is not quite so funny, funny, funny.
I do not like to land on "income tax" or "luxury tax," too.
And when I do land on them, I start crying, "boo, hoo, hoo."
Jail, does anybody like to go to jail, jail, jail?
No, I do not think so, because when you go in, you start looking frail.
This is all I can write now of Monopoly,
I will have to leave you now to go play Monopoly!

I sent a copy of the poem to Parker Brothers and actually got a letter back from them thanking Christy for the very complimentary letter. The person who wrote said she enjoyed the poem, and they passed it around the office for everyone to read.

I found a diary that Amy wrote in. Here is one day's entry:

Dear Diary. Today is Thursday, the day I play with Kristen and Mom is babysitting. And of course, I'm doing my school work. Help. I wish that when I was born, I would know how to do school work, then I wouldn't have to go to school. That would be great. Love, Amy.

Dawn was the prolific writer. I have a stack of her "books." She was very imaginative, putting a price on the cover of her book, a picture on the front. On the back page, she did a summary of the story with a hook to pull you into reading. For The Missing Mouse story, she wrote: "Missing mouse is about a mouse that has suddenly disappeared. This is a case for Big Cheeze. This story is very funny and surprising at times. This book has a surprise ending. I liked this book so I think you will too." Read this book and find out for yourself how funny it is." She also included on the inside back page a bio of the author. [Dawn Wallin was born in 1979 on February 3 in Voorhees, NJ and is now 10 years old. This is her third book. She likes to read and write a lot, and we hope that she will continue to do this.] Here are some of the titles for her stories: Soccer Threat, Missing Mouse, The Climbing Tree, The Bully, The Missing Mouse Caper, etc.Sometimes the girls worked together at concocting a story or developing a play. And they also liked to involve neighbor kids and friends invited over from church on a Sunday afternoon. They also liked to use a typewriter I had at the time (in the days before computers). And how many plays did Andy and I get to watch through the years?! It warms a parent's heart to see her daughters working and playing together harmoniously and enjoying sisterly camaraderie.

I'm very thankful for each of our girls and that they love each other and love being together. What a blessing.

For the Love of Books

Book love. It will make your hours pleasant to you as long as you live. (Anthony Trollope)

I love to read. I read everything that crosses my path: cereal boxes, pasta packages, every page of every book I pick up, including the preface and introduction, acknowledgments, back fly leaf, author bio, etc. etc. etc.

Several years ago, I received a book, Honey for a Woman's Heart by Gladys Hunt, from Christy as a Christmas present.What a great resource that book has been for me. The book is divided up into chapters: Nonfiction, Classics, Genre Fiction, Biography, Poetry, Spiritual Growth Books. In each chapter, she lists books that fit those categories.

Our town library has a great resource. I can choose a book I want to read, then go to the library's website and see if they have it. If they do, I put in my request and in a day or two, they call me to tell me it's waiting for me to pick it up. If they don't have it, I can put in an inter-library loan request, and they'll get that one for me, too. What a deal!

So here is my first book report in a series I intend to do. This book was actually recommended to me by a fellow lover of books - Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter. The language she uses in the book is so descriptive and rich. I was hooked by the first paragraph:

Bright was the summer of 1296. The war which had desolated Scotland was then at an end. Ambition seemed satiated; and the vanquished, after having passed under the yoke of their enemy, concluded they might wear their chains in peace. Such were the hopes of those Scottish noblemen who, early in the preceding spring, had signed the bond of submission to a ruthless conqueror, purchasing life at the price of all that makes life estimable, - liberty and honor.

This is the story of William Wallace, the people's hero of Scotland. I did not like the Hollywood film version of the story at all. However, the book showed Wallace's character in a way that touched my heart. He was forgiving and gracious toward his enemies, as well as loyal to his country and integrous in his actions. A hero is sure to have enemies who are jealous of his popularity, even at the expense of the security of the nation. But Wallace had faith in God and didn't take vengeance on those who were out to destroy him.

Here is another example of the beautiful language of the story as told by Jane Porter.

After having traversed many a weary rood, the venerable minstrel of the house of Wallace, exhausted by fatigue, sat down on the declivity of a steep craig. The burning beams of the midday sun now beat upon the rocks, but a few berries from the brambles, which knit themselves over the path, with a draught of water from a friendly burn, offered themselves to revive his enfeebled limbs. Insufficient as they appeared, he took them, and strengthened by half an hour’s rest, again he grasped his staff to pursue his way.

Do you know what a "rood" is? Or, what is the meaning of "declivity?"

There are many things about reading that broadens the mind. For one thing, you use your imagination. For many of us, TV has robbed us of the ability to use our imaginations. All the images we see on the screen are doing the work for us. But they are actually someone else's ideas of what the story should look like, not mine.

For another, you are able to go places and see things you wouldn't otherwise be able to experience. Books can also take years, where a movie is only 2-3 hours. How can a plot or character be realistically developed in that short amount of time? Some movies do a good job, but it's still unrealistic. Real life is not lived in 2-3 hours, or 1/2 hour as in a sit-com.

I was not only inspired by the life of William Wallace, but also gained a new understanding of the conflict between Scotland and England at the beginning of the 1300's. It was a pleasant way to learn history.

Topic of Conversation

All anyone can talk about right now is SNOW. The news talks about it...did you know that currently all 50 states have snow on the ground? Yes, even Hawaii on the tops of mountains. And we're not talking about global warming anymore, now it's "climate change." Does that mean we're going to have to worry about moving toward another ice age?! Hmmm. Which could be worse, I wonder: burning up or freezing to death?

Well, here in our neck of the woods, we had neighbors who lost power in the Tuesday/Wednesday storm. But we stayed cozy and warm in our house. The winds were severe and many trees were uprooted and limbs were broken.

The snow is so deep that I couldn't walk around in our yard, so I ordered a pair of knee high boots. They arrived yesterday, so this morning I took a stroll around our property and down to the pond to see how things were. The top layer of snow was crusty in some spots and I could walk right on top of it. In other spots, it was powdery and soft and I broke through to the tops of my boots. It was quite an adventure! But I did get some pictures:

my new boots

huge tree at the pond - uprooted

ice skating, anyone?

or how about just relaxing by the pond?

a little snow cap on the sassafras tree

The sun shining the morning after the storm

We've received 71 inches of snow so far. And just think...the winter is not over yet. There are still 36 days till spring and sometimes our worst snowstorms are in March. Yikes! Where will we put it if we do get more?

Deja Vu

This seemed vaguely familiar today. Didn't we just experience a day of snow blowing and shoveling? And huge piles of snow on bushes, trees and picnic tables? Well, it sure is beautiful and I love the excuse to stay in the house all day, keeping the home fires burning! While Andy worked at clearing the driveway, I did housewifely things: laundry, vacuuming, baking and cooking.

Andy went outside as soon as he got up this morning and didn't come back inside until 10:30. By that time he was pretty hungry and asked for a 3 egg omelet. He also helped himself to several pieces of chocolate chip pumpkin bread - still warm.
I think we got about 21 inches of snow. It's been a stormy, snowy winter so far. And there's another storm coming in a couple of days.

We're back in the thick of things

Was it only a week and a half ago that we were on vacation! It seems like we came back and jumped right back into busy-ness again.

Sunday, Jan. 24th
The day after we got back from vacation...went to church in the morning, Dawn and Tommy came over after church and had brunch with us. Dawn & Kira stayed, Tommy went back to school to work. When Dawn had choir practice, she left Kira with me, who was asleep when Dawn left, but 15 minutes later woke up to play with Grammy!Monday, Jan. 25th
Worked all day to catch up from being away for a week.

Tuesday, Jan. 26th
Jet lag hit...lethargic and tired all day, still got my cleaning and laundry and grocery shopping done for the week, but in slo-mo.

Wednesday, Jan. 27th
Worked all day, then had a Ladies Night Out at church in the evening. It was really a good one - fun, with lots of good food (both physical & spiritual) and fellowship.Thursday & Friday, Jan. 28th & 29th
Worked all day

Saturday, Jan. 30th
Went to an interment in Rising Sun, MD (explanation below), came home and made rolls, baked ziti and a blueberry cream cheese pound cake for a dinner at church the next day, made dinner, then went to worship team practice to train a new person to do slides.

Sunday, Jan. 31st
attended the 8:00 service, went to the Welcome Class at 9:30 to talk to our new people about women's ministry, went home at 11:00 to get the food I had prepared for the dinner, put it in the oven in the church kitchen and helped get ready for dinner at 12:30. Dawn and Kira stayed and ate with me. (Tommy had to go back to school and Andy had a meeting with his Sunday school teachers.) I watched Kira again while Dawn had choir practice. She slept the whole time Dawn was gone, so we didn't get to play this time. When Dawn left, Andy and I went bowling with the church young people who were raising money to help out some of the people in our church who are in financial need. (point of clarification: Andy bowled, I cheered from the side!)

Andy got a strike!

Monday, Feb. 1
Another day of work...not as much to do this time, so was able to leave early, thankfully, because I wanted to make a batch of cookies for a meeting Andy had at our house in the evening.

Tuesday, Feb. 2nd
Fun day...went to Christy's. Amy and Dawn also came and joined us for a together time. When Andy and I walked in the door, we were pounced on by 7 children running at us. They almost knocked me over with their ferocious hugs! We played, chatted and had lunch together. I had made wraps, Grace made a carrot cake. I also brought the rest of the cookies left over from last night's meeting, but we didn't eat any of them. (I take that back...I think I saw Dawn sneaking one when the kids weren't looking...come to think of it, I think I saw Andy take a couple, too!) We had planned the get-together today to celebrate 4 birthdays: Asher's on Jan. 31, Dawn's tomorrow, Christy's on Feb. 11 and mine on Feb. 13.Mid afternoon, we left and made a trip up to Lancaster County to pick up an entertainment/tv console we had ordered, made by an Amish craftsman/furniture maker. Now this evening, we moved it into the house, cleaned out the old one and threw out all the cassette tapes we had from many years ago, then put the new piece in place.

The old one

The new one
Andy has a mess of wires to figure out with the tv, vcr, dvd and speakers.

Back to the interment we went to on Saturday...
Andy grew up years ago with Scott and Leslie, friends of the Wallin family - in church and youth group together. Andy and I attended their wedding around 30 years ago or so. Scott and Leslie have been missionaries in Taiwan and raised their 4 children there. We have kept in contact with them over the years, they even visited us at the shore in the fall when we were on vacation there. Their second oldest child, Aimee, at age 25 was teaching in North Carolina. And 2 weeks ago, she was in a car accident that took her life. The funeral was in NC last week, but they buried her in Maryland with the graveside service on Saturday at 11:00 am. It was freezing cold. The thermometer in the car said 19 degrees. I was dressed warm enough, but the ground was frozen rock hard and my feet soon got very cold. The graveside service lasted about 1/2 hour. There was a lunch provided for all of us at the funeral home. As we made our way from the cemetery, there were a few flurries falling. But when we left the funeral home after lunch, the streets were already covered with snow. It had come down fast and we were glad to start on our way home. The roads were slick and snow covered, but as we drove north, there was less snow. In fact, it hadn't even started at all yet when we got home. We did end up getting an inch or two though, later that night.

We also passed another anniversary of our own Jeremy's death. He would have been 34 on January 26th.