Sharing

a lovely post suggesting favorite children's books from a blog my brother Dan pointed me to. It is written by the mother of one of his students. So now we know one reason why she got to be one of his students. Nice. :) And I love the blog.

http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/2011/07/dear-auntie-leila-are-fairy-tales.html

Words, words, words

The little entry somewhere down to the right of here is hardly doing justice to the question of what reading material is currently taking up space on my night stand!  Here's what it looked like:

I doubt it's the most esoteric collection of books ever assembled, but I think it'll do me some good to go through them and remember why they're there.  This is a slightly more organized view of them:

And here's their "status", one at a time:

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville - The "classic treatise on the American way of life".  It's quoted in several other books in this list.  I haven't started it yet...

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon - A novel about a Protestant minister living in a cozy, southern town.  Judy recommended it.  I'm about 60 pages in...

The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek - A "passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production."  I'm learning a lot about the differences between socialism and capitalism, but it's not easy to read.  I'm in the third chapter of sixteen...

Victory over Vice by Archbishop Fulton Sheen - A commentary on each of the seven deadly sins with a look at how to embrace the corresponding virtues.  If you only read one page, make sure it is 108.  I finished this book, but it's worth reading over and over again...

Surrender by Carmen Marcoux - It's a Catholic novel Judy read.  I started it, but I guess it wasn't that engaging.  Maybe I'll get back to it when I finish At Home in Mitford...

The Lies About Money by Ric Edelman - A book on personal finance, it's a well presented argument against the mutual fund industry with suggestions for creating an investment portfolio without mutual funds.

The Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read - I remember starting this, but I don't remember finishing.  Not sure what that says about it.  Maybe I should try again...

Economics for Dummies by Sean Masaki Flynn, PhD -I got this more for the kids than myself, in case they wanted to learn a little about economics.  It's an easy-to-understand overview of of the basic concepts, as you'd expect from a Dummies book.  I did finish it...

Pensees by Blaise Pascal -A 400-year old defense of Christian beliefs.  I'm only a few pages into it...

The Fatal Conceit--The Errors of Socialism by F.A. Hayek - This it to read after The Road to Serfdom.  It's one of several books I purchased so that I can better enunciate why I disagree with the policies of the current administration...

The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton - An epic poem about "King Alfred's heroic battle against the Danes in 878."  I've read a chapter or so.  Probably stopped when the book was buried...

The Travels by Marco Polo - You know it's time to clean when you have two different versions of the same book on your nightstand (see below).  It appears I've only read the introduction and the prologue...

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury - A classic story about life in rural Illinois during the summer of 1928.  I'm about 2/3 of the way through it.  Not sure why I stopped...

Frequent Confession--It's Place in the Spiritual Life by Benedict Baur - "Instructions and considerations for the frequent reception of the sacrament of Penance."  I haven't started it yet.  It looks like good material to have on hand during Eucharistic Adoration...

Fatherless by Brian J. Gail - I just received it on Epiphany and I haven't started reading it.  It's a novel about the "Catholic experience in America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries."   It's pretty likely the next book I'll actually finish...

Every Man's Battle by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey - A "resource for overcoming the struggle and remaining strong in the face of temptation."  I've read more than half of it, but it's best taken in small doses...

The Gargoyle Code by Dwight Longenecker - This is a book on spiritual warfare written in the style of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.  It's an easy, but enlightening, read, designed to be digested slowly over the seven weeks of Lent.  Since Lent does come to an end, I finished this book...

The Discernment of Spirits--An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living by Timothy M. Gallagher, OMV -This must have been a gift from Judy.  I haven't yet begun to read it...

The Heart--An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity by Dietrich von Hildebrand - Another gift and still not started...

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo - I've barely begun it.  I suppose if I were to keep a travelogue, it would turn out something like this...

Listen, My Son--St Benedict for Fathers by Dwight Longenecker - It's the Rule of St Benedict divided into 120 pieces with the author's commentary on each.  It could be read daily over four months.  It took me longer, but I did finish it.  I had thought I would continue to re-read it, but I haven't so far.  Going through it once a year would be fruitful...

Love & Responsibility by Karol Wojtyla - A "remarkably eloquent and resourceful defense of Catholic tradition in the sphere of family life and sexual morality."  I hear it's dense reading.  I haven't yet worked up the energy to begin...






The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona & Peter Opie - I have no idea how this ended up on my nightstand, at the bottom of one pile, no less.  Judy Gibbons inscribed her name at the top of the first page and the price was only $9.95.  It must be hers from college...

A Lantern in Her Hand

Once in high school, I noticed a book that my friend Beth was reading on the bus. The title was A Lantern in her Hand. It looked interesting; I enjoyed pioneer stories, but I was busy with other books and assignments, and somehow never got around to reading it. The title stayed with me, though.

Recently, I noticed it again in the Emmanuel Books catalog. Katie has read just about everything on our shelves that isn't being saved for a book report, and I was in search of something for her. The book arrived, and I put it on my shelf awaiting preview. Last night I was feeling worn out--too tired to grade papers or think out school plans--reading a children's book seemed about as much as I could handle. So I picked up A Lantern in her Hand. And was drawn into a world in which I had not spent much time since my Little House on the Prairie-reading days. The world of the pioneer families who settled the upper mid-west.

Reading as an a dult woman, I picked up a thread in the story that might not have meant much to me if I had read the book in high school: the happiness of the life of a homemaker. This is something unique, something we don't read much about in modern literature: the joy of life in a large and busy household. Abbie Deal's life is difficult from dawn to dark, full of privation and back-breaking work. Yet Abbie does not dwell on the mind-numbing aspects of her life. She rises above this and maintains an active life of the mind. And she is satisfied with...no...fulfilled by her life.

What does this mean for female readers in a culture in which we have been trained to look for fulfillment in paid employment either outside or inside our homes? Whether consciously or not, those of us raised in the 70s and later were taught by the culture (not by my mother, if I had been listening better) that housework is mind-numbing and the effort of making a home worth very little. We have absorbed the lesson that it is earning capacity that matters. Abbie Deal's story teaches a different lesson. And it is one that resonates with me.

Since I came home from the workplace 10 years ago, I have spent not a little time thinking about this. I will continue with that sorting-out process a little now. Some days my tasks at home are mind-numbing. In the early days especially, I got tired of talking only to young children most of the time. But most days, it is a joyful experience to be with these little people with whom God has entrusted me. And He has never left me alone.

In the first seven years, God provided me with an active, spiritually supportive, homeschool co-op that met every week and gave me a chance to be with other mothers and to learn from them what this thing we call homeschool can be. And my work is easy compared to that of a pioneer mother. Goodness, I live not with deprivation, but with excess. We have so many clothes that I do two loads of laundry every day jsut to keep up. I have a graduate level education, which gave me the confidence to teach my own children at home. Many others do not have this, and no one really needs it, but it gave me confidence in the beginning. When I am cooking meals, I use ingredients that came from an abundantly-stocked grocery store (although I still have the gall to complain when they are out of frozen organic blueberries or my favorite brand of plain yogurt). I have an automobile dedicated solely to my own needs, in which I drive our children to multiple physically-challenging and mentally-broadening activities. And all the while I am getting rid of (trying to) the excess stuff we have accumulated over the past 21 or so years of family life. We have too much rather than not enough.

Compared with pioneer times, this is an easy life. It is a blessed life. But it is hard in different ways. The time and effort and energy needed to raise six children, homeschooling five of them simultaneously amid the anxiety and stress of modern life can be overwhelming. So what is it that I find so appealing about Abbie Deal and her life? Why am I intrigued by her? What does she know that I do not? Perhaps the words of author Beth Streeter Aldrich begin to make sense of it.

"A Lantern in Her Hand" was written to please no one but my own consciousness of the character of many of those pioneer mothers. It was written in the so-called "mad twenties" when most of the best-selling books were about sophistication, flaming youth, or far-flung countries. There was some youth in it, but not of the flaming type. There was no sophistication, for Abbie Deal was of the soil. There was not even diversity of scene, for Abbie was only a homemaker.

"Lantern" seemed destined to be lost in the wave of the popular type of the times. That it has made new friends each year since that day might be a bit of a lesson for young writers. Regardless of the popular literary trend of the times, write the thing which lies close to your heart.

Aldrich's heart portrayed Truth through Abbie's story: the story of a woman who was only a homemaker. Truth and beauty and love are all abundant in this mothering life I live. I pray for the grace to recognize them. And that at the end of 80 years, I will be able to say with Abbie, "We had the best times."

St. Patrick's Day

Are you wearing green today? We are!



We didn't make it to Mass this morning, but we did make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament chapel at lunchtime.



The corned beef is in the crock pot. (Hooray! The commissary had this in time for St. Patrick's Day for the first time in 4 years! Thank you to whoever did the ordering this year.)


We'll also make boiled potatoes, a green salad, and maybe some Irish brown bread. Then there is the mint chocolate chip ice cream pie for Patrick's name day dessert. He chooses it every year.

Meghan made a card for Daddy, who shares this name day with Patrick.


Katie baked shamrock shortbread.


It is delicious with my tea this afternoon.


And Meghan enjoyed it with her milk.


We are reading lots of Irish books this week. All those fairy stories are a part of our heritage, and we have a healthy selection of the Irish Saints (Patrick, Kevin, Brigid, Colum), as well.



At dinner, Patrick will receive a name day blessing from his father, and we will pray the Breastplate of St. Patrick together.

After dinner, the kids get to watch the CCC St. Patrick movie.

Christ with us, Christ before us,
Christ behind us, Christ in us,
Christ beneath us, Christ above us,
Christ on our right, Christ on our left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of us,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of us,
Christ in every eye that sees us,
Christ in every ear that hears us.

We arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Christ.
May thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

-adapted from The Breastplate of St. Patrick

Photos from the infirmary

Still under the weather

Books make me feel better, though.

Summer reading for pre-teen boys

This topic came up at Faith and Family connect, and I thought I would copy my suggestions here, too, so I won't forget in a couple of years when Joseph is 10-13 and looking for good summer reading.

The Redwall series was big with our older boys at that age, too. They also enjoyed Fr. Finn's books--Percy Winn, Tom Playfair, Harry Dee (at TAN books). Also Narnia and the Hobbit. we waited until about 13 for LoTR, but it depends on the child.

I just ordered some George MacDonald fairy tales to read aloud this summer to our family, and have only just started the first one myself (The Princess and the Goblin), but so far I am enjoying it. I second the idea of reading "girls' books' aloud--or via mp3--great idea!--to boys. Our guys really enjoyed Little House books, Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm, and some of the Lousia May Alcott books--little Men and Jo's Boys come to mind--read aloud when they might not have gotten into reading them on their own. we do the same for Saint stories. The kids enjoy listening, but don't necessarily read on their own unless I assign them.

Do they like animal stories? Beautiul Joe, Greyfriars Bobby, and the Irish Red series are excellent dog stories. Horse stories about boys and horses: Misty of Chincoteague (a little easy) and the rest of that series, The Black Stallion and Island Stallion series'.

Hilda van Stockum's stories are all good reading--The Winged Watchman is an exciting story set during WWII in Holland. Our family--boys and g irl alike--loves her Mitchell Family stories. How about North to Freedom (the book behind the I am David movie)? Also, try Swallows and Amazons--kids living on an island for the summer, sailing. One use of "stupid" that was unnecessary and annoyed me, but otherwise a wonderful read. Just encourage them to stick it out past the first chapter; the story gets much more exciting.

For your 13-year old, maybe In the Shadow of His Wings? Read it yourself first and see. You might wait a year or two.

Good out of bad

Catholic author Amy Welborn's husband, Michael Dubriel, passed away suddenly last week. He worked for Our Sunday Visitor publishing, and for the rest of the month, they will contribute double the amount of what would have been the proceeds of his books to the children's college funds.

Go buy a book!
https://catalog.osv.com/lp.aspx?code=F92BBH63#

Kiddie lit

Yesterday, Matthew approached me with a library book in hand.

"Mommy," he said, "Will you read In Which Curious George Takes a Job to me please?"

Yes, he added "In which" to the beginning of the title.

Winnie the Pooh is everywhere. :-)

What are the odds?

One of the books that fell off the bookshelf lately was Citadel of God: A Novel of Saint Benedict by Louis de Wohl. A couple of the main characters in the story are Boethius and Cassiodor, whom I had not heard of before. They both embodied what was very good about Roman society, while the rest of the Latin characters represented the, by then, 500 year old moral decay of the culture. I highly recommend the book to any a dult; it's not for children.

Wouldn't you know it...in his general audience on March 12th, the Holy Father spoke about the two men I remembered from the story. In the translation of what he said on page 6 of the March 23rd edition of the National Catholic Register, Pope Benedict devoted slightly more words to Boethius, but he made it clear both men wrote about and lived out an exemplary philosophy of service to others and hope for eternal life. Cassiodor, apparently, was instrumental in starting the work of the monks that saved the ideas of Greek and Roman thinkers through the time we refer to as the Dark Ages. The author of the story gave more credit for this to Saint Benedict, but, since the two likely knew each other, they both must have played a part in it.

I am left wondering how this coincidence is part of something larger.

Swallows and Amazons

Reminded of this book by Melanie, I pulled Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome, (1930) off one of our children's literature shelves a few weeks ago. It had been there since Patrick received it in 8th grade. He never got a chance to read it, and I didn't either until last week.

This is a satisfying story, full of summer fun, adventurous sailing, and childhood imagination. The thing I like best about it overall is that the parents and children have a trusting relationship. In far too many current works of juvenile fiction, the parents are portrayed as stupid or unnecessary. Parents are either absent, overbearing, or complete failures at understanding their children.

In Swallows and Amazons, however, the children are honest with their parents. They generally ask before doing things, and they are given permission if their request is reasonable. Also, their parents listen to them in order to hear whether or not the request is reasonable before making a decision. The main-character family has a relationship of mutual respect, and the parents have final authority.

The story begins as the children are awaiting permission to camp out on an island in the middle of the lake on which their summer home is located. Their father is away, and they have written to him (Dad isn't stupid either in this story; there's much respect for his advice and opinion from both mother and children). The children are willing to live by his answer. There's no plotting of what they'll do to get around it if he says no. And he says yes, via a wonderfully-worded telegram, and the adventure begins.

The children are self-reliant and handle sailing and camping with great imagination and fun. It's an adventure story, not a moral tale, but respect for a dults, and the good grace to feel insulted when that respect is undeservedly not returned, is clear.

One of my favorite scenes in the book comes when John, the eldest, returns to camp from a sail home to discuss a problem with their mother:

"Just when they were finishing washing up after a tea that had been very native [meaning, the way it would be on the mainland with grownups present], probably because Susan was still not feeling happy about having let them stay up until morning, Captain John came home.
His first words were, 'I told mother about our being out all last night and not coming home till to-day.'
'Was she very upset about it?' said Susan.
'I think she was rather, inside. But she hid it, and it's all right now. Only, I've promised not to do it again.'
After that, Susan cheered up and became much less like a native and more like a mate."

This is the first in a series, and I enjoyed it so much, I'm going to have to hunt up a few more. I hope Katie will be in the mood for a good sailing story soon.

Update: One thing I forgot to mention was the one thing that bothered me in this story. The children tell each other to shut up on several occasions. These are words that we don't use in our family, and even though the children in the story are generally very respectful of each other, these words did not show it. Further, they weren't necessary to the story. Something else could have been said to show annoyance. It was the one minor blip (that could be deleted when reading aloud) and something I would want to mention to Katie ahead of time and discuss later to see if she agreed that the story would stand without the hurtful words. The parts do not condemn the whole in this story, and I still heartily recommend it with this alert in place.