Bodybugg is a hit!

I love this thing! I am loving being able to know how many calories I am burning each day. It has helped me to be more efficient with my workouts.

For instance, I found that Group Power only burns 200 calories per hour as opposed to The FIRM which burns 285 per hour and Circuit Training which is the most efficient at about 350 per hour. So, I have been Circuit Weight Training. I can do it in half the time of Group Power and still burn about the same amount of calories or go and do the Elliptical which is a great calorie burner.

I am also learning that I can just move more each day and reach my calorie burn goal. Just been standing up more when I talk on the phone, walk around the block more, especially in the morning in order to heat up my "engine" and get my calories burning more when I do more sedentary things.

Anyway. I have lost 4. 2 lbs in two weeks, but the cool thing is that I have lost 7.45 lbs of FAT and gained 3.25 lbs of muscle! I went from 28.1% to 24.9%. Also, my food log was MORE than my actual measurement. I was wihin 43 calories of my actual measurement amount of food intake.

I love this bodybugg. It has taken all the guesswork out of my calorie balancing! SO FUN!

Yesterday's Food

From my new BodyBugg Software. So fun! I won't post here because I have to edit so much, but I have it online again, and I am SUPER motivated with my new BodyBugg that read the calories I burn every day on the back of my right tricep.

SO FUN!

Breakfast
0.5 Cup Blueberries
0.5 Cup GENERAL MILLS FIBER ONE Cereal
0.5 Cup Non Fat Plain Yogurt (13 grams protein per 8 ounces)
16.0 Fl Ozs Water
2.0 Tsps White Granulated Sugar

AM Snack
1.0 Item Banana

Lunch
8.0 Fl Ozs Nonfat, Skim or Fat Free Milk
2.0 Ounces Turkey or Chicken Breast, Prepackaged or Deli
2.0 Tbsps Whipped Cream Topping, Pressurized

PM Snack
1.0 Item Egg

Dinner
1.0 Serving Steak and Portobello Mushrooms with potatoes and brocolli Applebee's WW
8.0 Cups Water
Late Snack
1.0 Serving Dairy Queen Orange Vanilla Bar
15.0 Items WRIGLEY'S EXTRA Sugar Free Gum, All Flavors

Total for all meals
60.1 g
179.6 g
20.1 g
1014.7 Cal (Low, but I was really busy yesterday and didn't get around to it!)

Calories burned yesterday: 2766
Deficit: 1750

Foods

Keeping track of eating:

Breakfast - Yogurt, Fiber One, Blueberries (1/2 cup each), 16 oz water, iron, multivitamin, green tea

Wrapping Up the Year

I just had my last face-to-face Precept study of the year! The Romans study ended during Spring Break, and this one was to end on April 30th, but we moved the date of the last study up by two weeks.

I loved the women, but meeting every other week and alternating it between prayer and Bible study made for a long and drawn out study. I think once a month is too long to have a good Bible discussion!

Now, Bible Book Club is getting most of my attention. So, I will continue the Romans study, but I won't continue this Abraham study into Jacob for next year.

I had a fabulous time in Tucson with Nancy Casady and at Hannah's wedding. It was a spendy weekend, but it was worth the investment! I will post some pictures on my picture blog very soon!

Been Too Long

I can't believe that I have not posted here since March 19th! I think I started one, but I never finished it.

Quick Rundown of "Life"

The Well-Educated Mind

One thing I did finish was HERODOTUS! Huge accomplishment for me. I am going to take a breather from history and jump to some poetry: Odes of Horace and Gawain and the Green Knight. I can't face Thucydides just yet.

The boys and I just finished studying WWII. They will go to the Evergreen Aviation museum on Saturday with Dee while Geo and I are in Tucson for Hannah's wedding. We are on track for everything in school except Michael's biology. He is behind in that.

The Well-Watered Soul

I have loved Bible Book Club. I love being in the Word like this. I am posting. So, I am absorbing more. I felt out of balance though with personal prayer, but I think this is much better. I have been prioritizing prayer FIRST in my discipleship times with others too. This has helped.

We wrapped up Romans 6-8 in March, and I will wrap up the Abraham study on April 15. Then, I will just have Bible Book Club, and that is what Kim and I will do for our meeting time now.

Wellness in Body

I was going well. My back went out in February. I had to nurse it for a while. I was back to working out again. Then, I got sick. I am better now. I am weight-lifting, walking, riding the bike, doing elliptical, and ballroom dancing. I still have ten more pounds of all the weight I put on while helping my mom in November, but I feel like I am on the right track and eating well and in control. So, I am encouraged in this area and hope to see that ten go away soon!

Wellness in Spirit

I love everything about my life right now. I feel such a love balance of the input of support and encouragement and the output and investment God has called me toward. It is lovely to be in a safe and supportive environment now. All the years of waiting on the LORD for the right fit, church-wise, make me so appreciative of what I now have. SCC is a precious and wonderful place. I am so very grateful!

Yet those who wait (hope in) the LORD
Will gain new strength
They will mount up with wings like eagles
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary (Isaiah 40:31)

Thank you dear LORD for giving me strength and helping me soar.

Pieces of My Life on a Wednesday Afternoon

Resting

Yes, this sickness has not left me. It is a nasty flu. While the worst days for the men in the family were Sunday through Saturday last week, I think my worst days were Monday and Tuesday of this week. To think that I thought I had it beat by sleeping all day last Wednesday. I pushed myself too hard Thursday - Saturday. So, I had to suffer on Sunday - Tuesday. About an hour ago, the drag on my body seemed somewhat lighter. So, I think I am on the upswing. I will continue to rest, rehydrate, and read (The Three "R"s!) to make doubly sure. Lorraine tells me that some people she knows have had it up to a whole month. So glad we can all take care of each other in the family though because our worst days seemed to have been staggered with our order of sickness being Michael (Sun - Thurs), George (Mon - Fri), Paul (Thur - Sunday), and me (Sunday - Wed). As our pattern though, Michael and George always seem to get it longest and worst, and Paul next. Most of time I avoid the sicknesses altogether, but I didn't this time.

Reading

Sickness does have its advantages though. As a result of it, finished A Tale of Two Cities (a review is forthcoming), and I have made a big dent in Herodotus. I love the LANDMARK version that I stumbled across at the library. It has so many interesting maps and helpful footnotes. The pictures also make it so much more interesting. Two thumbs up from this classical history nerd.

Love it so much that I found a used LANDMARK Thucydides (History of the Pelopnnesian War) for $8.44 and ordered it from Amazon today since the library does not yet own a copy. My guess is that they haven't ordered due to the new hardback edition coming out.

Reveling

I love it when a sickness doesn't have me so flat on my back that I can't revel in God. It has been fun to just have a few days to bask in the Word and His presence. Perfect for our Bible Book Club study of the tabernacle. I think I would have liked being a priest - except all the blood. I think that constant focus on the LORD and being in His tabernacle would have been great. I am glad as a New Testament believer I can be a priest because I am part of the priesthood of believers, and guess what? NO BLOOD! YIPEEE! Already been taken care of by Jesus.

All that said, I feel like I am tracking and enjoying. Been pondering too, and just feeling blue for some people. I feel so blessed right now. I want to share that with others. Seeing my need to intercede more and more these days, and I think I will do just that right now!

P.S. I ordered an Easter Bunny from Harry and Davids, and it came today. SO CUTE! It has all sorts of fun treats like gummy bunnies, moose munch, chocolate eggs, truffle, three pears, easter cookies. Fun treat for the family!

Sunday Morning

I got up before my sick family and enjoyed time with God by candlelight on this dark morning.

The first family member to arrive in my sanctuary was Paul at 9:25 a.m. So, nice to have 2 1/2 uninterrupted hours.

I also composed a detailed post for the Passover Sedar we will have on Good Friday. I am so glad that I had an equipment and food list stored in my "Celebrate the Feasts" file from fifteen years ago. We had the same number of people then when we did it with with the "Feasts Group." That was a hodgepodge of singles and career people. Funny thing was, NO ONE HELPED in the kitchen before the meal, and I did try to ask for it. "A" freaked out about boiling noodles and walked away from the boiling pot asking me to please do it (Geo ended up taking over). "S" had a "crisis" and was praying and crying in a downstairs bedroom. Many people with many issues back then. It is funny to look back at it now.

I was feeding a toddler (the only one with a child but a very happy and content child, YEAH Michael!) and working in the kitchen while everyone visited and chatted away in the living room. It was so strange. I just could not understand it. The good part: I was in the "zone" with the LORD that day and just prayed for the people and enjoyed myself. Hoping those people have learned to be servants being that many have children of their own now.

Made me not want to be in charge of another Passover with a big group of people again though! It was so much work!

Fast forward ten years, and I did it with the Wafers, Iszlers, Kings, etc, and EVERYONE pitched in and helped. Mary Ann hosted and was phenomenal! It sure makes for a very enjoyable meal when everyone carries the load!

I have no doubts that this new group, despite having small children will also be very helpful.

I am also very excited that Phil will be leading it! They have done this so many times, I am sure they will tell me if I missed something along the way.

Feeling the Music of Out of Africa

I made Challah bread to go along with the White Chicken Chili I am making in the crock-pot. As I knead, I usually pray for my children like Jewish moms through the centuries have always done. I love this, and I had this lovely soundtrack playing in the background. It was an unexpected thing that I inherited from my mom. It has given me great pleasure to listen to it and know she is listening to even better music right now.

Now, the dough is rising, the candles are lit next to the fireplace, and I just finished listening to "Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A" by Mozart. Now, I am listening to "Safari." It was dark and rainy while I kneaded my dough, but the sun is bursting out over my back as light rain still falls.

I love today and its peacefulness.

10K Saturday

We did a 10K Saturday. Here are some links to some pics of us doing it:

Michael and I

Paul and George

Lovely time for us as a family. We were in a "walkers only" category this time. So, I didn't feel compelled to make anybody in the family run. It was a lovely walk along the Willamette River at Champoeg Park near St. Paul. The weather was overcast but not too cold and no wind. Perfect for running or fast walking.

This was one of the beautiful sights we saw during the 10K.


We also saw some bluebirds. It was a very special time for our family.

A Good Kind of Tired

Had my first really good workout since my back spasm three weeks ago. It felt so good to do interval training on the elliptical and lift heavier weights in Group Power. I am not up to my full weight yet, but I was able to increase it, and I have a bit of soreness, and I feel that good sort of physical exhaustion that comes from expanding your lungs beyond what they have been used to doing. Feeling good today.

We taught our first digital photograhy class at 4-H today. There are more kids who will be joining next month because the movie making class overlapped with this class. So, we just took the two girls in the class out to a park and took a ton of pictures. Their assignment was to just SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT and take a mass quantity of pictures versus trying to get a perfect shot. It was a nice day for it too. Very nice girls too. I love this homeschool crowd. I wish we would have joined them a long time ago, but I didn't know we were invited.

We came back to a light school day. I realized we have 61 lessons of World History and only 51 days of school left if we want to be done by Memorial Day weekend, but this is because they started the online class later than we started. I don't see it as a problem though. While the first half of this class had at least one quiz, one online response writing project, and one discussion board answer a week, the second half of the class only has one online response and two discussion boards for the remaining 12 weeks! I also only has the weekly quiz for the next seven weeks. There is also no final exam, but there is a final paper. We will double up our days on the days there is just online reading. So, I don't see any problem catching up those two weeks and even getting ahead by a week so that they have much of May to write their final paper. Michael will be done with his classical literature class and may even be done with his math class by then too. So, he will be able to devote more time to the final paper. With Paul, I will walk him through that final paper process since he is younger. I know Michael will have no problem doing it on his own.

Speaking of Michael, I am amazed at how he has grown in the area of getting things done on his own. I was shocked when he came up on Monday night during Bible Book Club and got his classical lit books so he could do Agamemnon. He was doing that because we had gone to the beach on Monday and skipped school. He knew he needed to do it to stay on track.

I am also amazed that he seems to actually enjoy this classical literature course. He is also writing everything without complaint and just asks me to come along and proofread it until he submits it. He is also writing out all his study questions for biology. This makes it so easy to review the sections of biology with him.

So, it has been a great year. I am pleased.

I am rambling. I am a good kind of tired, but I am going to go to the club RIGHT NOW and work out again. Just a light cardio day today. I will bring A Tale of Two Cities to read. It is nice because Becky is doing Proverbs 3 for tomorrow. So, I have had five out of the last seven days off from Bible Book Club. This has given me some extra time. I am so grateful to Katrina and Becky for taking Thursdays and Mondays for me too!

Off I go. Hard to get off the couch, but I need to do it!

On Death and Dying

I haven't posted here for a while. So, I thought I would. Learned some tough things this morning: A homeschool mom died last night, another homeschool mom's liver is failing, and their family is, in their own words, "circling the wagons," my friend's dad is dying of lung cancer, our friend Bruce is dying and has weeks to live, and another friend from my old church is suffering from cancer and dying. On top of all of this, the three month anniversary of my mom's death is on Friday.

I am not one to question God's sovereignty. I don't feel any need to do so. It isn't because I am pollyanna about it. It isn't because I am super spiritual either. It is part of my genetics to look at life with a "What is, is" attitude (For your Myers-Briggs people, I am a very STRONG "S"). Suffering happens. Poo-Poo Occurs. People die. The reality is that none of us get out of here alive. I am just in a position this morning of asking God what He is teaching me through all of this when it seems like it is all coming in a big wave of a morning. I don't say this "What is, is" with any bit of coldness or callousness either. I feel these people and their pain. I want to DO something to help them! But what?

Interesting that the message I heard from the LORD this morning was to let everything that I do be done in LOVE today. This is a message for every day, but this is what I was reminded of as my life's calling and direction: a life of love.

So, how can I love today those people who are in such pain? That is what I am pondering and will continue to ponder throughout the rest of the day.

Vision and Attainable Goals

Got this from Dale Carnegie Tips today:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a vision.”

- Anonymous


Creating goals that will lead you to realize your vision is an important step in professional development. Here are some tips on creating goals for yourself and your team:

* Determine your vision and document it
* Outline steps that will help you realize your vision
* Make each of those steps goals that are measurable and attainable
* Evaluate your vision as you reach each goal

I thought immediately of Bible Book Club! I have a vision for going through the Bible with a group, and we are doing it one day at a time. It has been great!

I also thought about the classical literature goal. Here is how it is going:


Ancients

DONE:

Greek Lyrics - Lattimore Trans
Agamemnon* - Aeschylus (I added Libation Bearers and Eumedides too)
Oedipus Rex - Sophocles
Medea - Euripedes
Birds - Aristophanes WILL FINISH TONIGHT!

STILL TO GO:

Histories - Herodutus NEXT!
Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Republic - Plato
Poetics - Aristotle
Odes - Horace
Lives - Plutarch

Peace Like A River

Nope, I am not reviewing a book today. I am just expressing the peace that I feel in my heart. The day has been so good. I have been only walking or riding a bike at the club lately while my back gets back to 100%, and I have to admit that I like the slower workout pace for me. I have more time in the day to do other things. So, I must find the balance there because my back will go out again if I am not really strong! Right now, I am not worrying about it and enjoying the extra time.

I am also just loving homeschooling the kids. They are just so darn disciplined! They don't complain and get right down to their work, and do it pretty independently these days. So, I am there with them available to answer questions, but I am able to read and write while they work. I'm doing my "school work" which includes my Well-Educated Mind reading (which overlaps with much of Michaels Classical Lit reading) and writing for Bible Book Club.

Michael is doing really well with Bob Jones Biology. Even though he got A's on both modules in the COOLSchool class, I feel like he is learning so much more with this BJU Biology in a much more relaxed and non-pressure-filled way! Classical Lit has turned out to be a delight. He is listening ot Iphigenia Among the Tauris right now on my iPod, and he loves it. It is fun for me to understand what he is reading too. THANK YOU THELMA (www.thelmaslibrary.com).

Paul is WAY ahead in his science. He just finished the big book, and he just has a smaller health book to do. I will try to do more "lab" stuff with the health as he can chart his nutrition intake and health vitals. That will be good. He also realized he is cruising in his grammar book and only has eleven more days of lessons! He will probably be finished by the first part of March!

For both the boys, I am tickled at their writing. THANK YOU JULIE (http://www.bravewriter.com/) for telling me to be relaxed in the writing. I will be eternal grateful as I see they are doing great with grammar and punctuation and writing without me having to ask them to do it. For example, I told Paul that he needed to do some 4 Square Writing, and he said, "Well, I did just finish a free-write for the last 30 minutes on the French Revolution. Do you want to see it?" He had written two pages on everything he was learning in history, and it was GREAT! Yes, there were spelling and punctuation errors, but the fact that he just "freewrote" on his own made me beam! Michael is doing the same. He had an assignment in World History to write a 200 word essay on Bismarck, and he wrote 450 because he wanted to. YIPPEEE! What is great for him is that he is doing almost all typing now, and he can use the spell check. He only had a few punctuation errors in the essay. For him, the physical mechanics were always the thing that made it difficult for him to write more than the actual writing. Typing takes care of that.

Well, I am off to pick up George. We are buying a flash for our D80 today. The top of the little flash fell off, and we don't really like that wimpy flash anyway. So, we want an external one.

I have more I could say, but I don't have time!!!!! Wish the spellchecker worked on blogger. It quite working on me with this new computer, and I dn't know why! So, no proofreading just sending in a hurry!

Reviews of Iliad/Odyssey/Crazy for God

I haven't been doing reviews. I may have done a brief one for Iliad, but I was swept away to Southern California right after I finished reading it. So, here are some brief ones:

The Iliad (Lattimore Translation)

I tried to read both the Fagles and the Lattimore translations, but it was just too much work to do both. I found the Fagles easier to understand in the beginning, but I found the Lattimore flowed more like poetry. Fagles helps one to know who is being talked about and the wheres of things, but once I knew who all the characters were, I didn't need his simplified explanations anymore. Lattimore really is the "definitive" source by all the experts, and I can see why that is so. With the help of Michael's teacher reading it on MP3 with explanations as she read, I let the Lattimore translation carry me away.

I was carried away into gnarly battles with graphic descriptions of spears going through body parts and lots of gore. It is a book about battle and rage and definitely more a book for the testosterone set. It was good to learn about the importance of glory and honor in Homeric times. It was good to hear "Homeric simile" and know what that meant. It also made me glad I don't have a bunch of fickle, moody, competitive gods who interfere with my life at their whim and fancy, but ONE God who is all goodness, kindness, love, and justice!

I wish I had written this before I went to California. I am sure I had so many more profound thoughts, but so much has happened since I last read this.

Before I forget, I also watched Elizabeth Vandiver's (Whitman College) DVD lectures from The Teaching Company. They helped this epic poem come alive. See it here (Note: Don't ever buy these full price. They go on sale on a regular basis. Also, I have seen some of these course in EBay for very cheap. I also wouldn't get the DVD's. You miss out on a few pictures, but it is mostly Dr. VanDivers in some really BAD outfits. Get the audio.)

The Odyssey (Richard Lattimore Translation)


This is a much more appealing book to the feminine set because it involves a man's struggle to make it home to see his woman. It is also all about xenia which is hospitality in Greek. This is much less gruesome and is, at its heart, a love story. I loved this.

Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer

My friend, Carrie, gives a MUCH better review than I could ever give of this book. Here is her review: Crazy for God. In fact, it was Carrie's review that made me want to run out and get this book, and I wasn't disappointed. I couldn't put it down (If also helped that I was flat on my back for four days with a back injury). It was a fascinating read about growing up as the son of Francis and Edith Schaeffer, founders of L'abri in Switzerland. They created L'Abri back in the late 50's as a place for people with legitimate questions to come and read, listen, and learn about faith. It was learning about faith in the context of community at the foot of the Alps.

It sounded like a very beautiful place, but there were many things that were not so pretty for this pretty wild and rebellious man. His dad had a temper and would throw things at his mom. He indicated that she would sometimes have bruises on her body, but he never came out and said that he witnessed abuse, nor did he bother to ask his mom. So, it wasn't really clear how "far" his father's temper went. Temper is never a good thing, no matter how far, but how severe was it, and why didn't anyone do anything about it?

He does assess that his father was isolated and had no friends or peers and only people who would sit at his feet and listen. This is not healthy for any man! His parents sounded like they would have benefitted from having more accountability and support from others, yet their generation is not like mine. Sounds like too many people had Francis up on a pedastal to keep him accountable in how he treated his wife.

He does balance his dad out by talking about their lovely, all day hikes through the Swiss Mountains where they would never talk about God. He felt like his parents were happiest when they were away from L'Abri and when, for two weeks out of the year, they were in Portofino, Italy on vacation enjoying the art and culture. This was when he felt like his parents were really who they were meant to be: carefree and happy.

I felt like he was more severe upon his mother. It broke my heart somewhat how he spoke of her. He concludes the book with a picture of his mother dancing at the home in which she now resides in her mid-nineties. She has dementia, and he wished his mother would have been free to "dance" in life rather than playing the martyr she played as the matron of L'Abri.

The most heartbreaking part for me was this letter that Debbie wrote in the book about her mother after giving a glowing report about her father and their trips to art galleries and such:

"My mother's legacy was in stark contrast (to her dad's), as she single-mindedly pursued her ideals, often blinded by the realities of life or of our lives. As a dreamer and a highly artistic individual, my mother created her own life with passion and hard work. I compare her to early discoverers of the North Pole. She pursued her objectives with determination, though bits of bodies all around her were lost to frostbite. The havoc she caused to all around her, as they were dragged in to help her meet self-imposed deadlines and goals, was phenomenal and scarring to me as a child. The force of her personality was such that I, at least, never even thought of refusing. Also, I would say, that though my father taught me the love of the Real, my mother's idealism has taken years to peel away."

Much love,
Debby (p.42-43)

Can you say "OUCH"? Debby suffered from depression, and this gives you a window into Edith's life with her children. I also was saddened by how her husband, John, was treated when he didn't match up with the theology of L'Abri but Frank was not kicked out for having sex up in his bedroom. Something is a bit weird there, don't you think?

All that said, everyone in a family has different perceptions! I am amazed at how my brother and I see our growing up very differently, and how my experiences as a daughter did not match his experiences as a son! I do wonder what Susan's (Oldest daughter of the Schaeffers)experience was like because after I read her book called For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School, I got the impression that it was pretty wonderful to grow up in the Schaeffer's world at L'Abri! Sadlly, she declined to comment in the book.

He alludes to the fact that he was largely ignored by his busy parents growing up, yet in the next breath, he will talk of his mother reading to him and tucking him in at night, his father going for those long, all day walks, and two weeks in Italy and one week skiing every year. Hello Frank, you probably got in one year more than most people get in a lifetime with their parents! Appreciate what you had and realize that you probably caught so much more than you ever realized by having the parents that you did. Think about it, all four of you are still married to the same spouse. Don't your parents have some influence in that stability? BE GRATEFUL and EXTEND GRACE! They were not perfect and neither are you. I felt like he was much more severe on his imperfect parents than he was on himself.

In fact, he openly admits to abusing his daughter physically and being an overall jerk to his children and wife in their younger years, yet he says, "I am human and all is forgiven" between us without extending the same kind of grace to his own parents who never physically abused him but had neglected and/or emotionally abused or manipulated him. I have compassion for that pain you felt growing up, but why not open up the dialogue with them about their abuse while they were alive (dad) or coherent (mom) instead of damning them in the public arena when they can't fight back or make ammends with you? That was disturbing to me.

I also felt like he was particularly scathing and severe on those Christian leaders in whom he only had a surface relationship. He is the hardest on James Dobson. I have no need to defend James Dobson for I have never been a follower of Focus on the Family, but Frank was very unkind and severe.

I was particularly bothered by his severe comments about Billy Graham in connection with the marriage of Graham's oldest daughter when she was seventeen, alluding to the fact that it was like an "arranged marriage" because the groom was the son of a wealthy donor. He was critical and judgmental as an outside observer, making a huge LEAP in assumptions without knowing any of the particular of the situation. The marriage lasted forty-two years and produced seven children! Maybe they wanted to get married. What do you know?

I am also bothered by how he "played a game" for fame and didn't truly believe in what he was doing. This is much more telling of his character than it is of his father or mother's who gave all they had to making L'Abri a success. So what if they had a little bit of competition between the two of them in the number of books they wrote! It speaks volumes to me that they gave 50% of all their royalities to their ministry, and 10% on top of that from the income they received for the books. That is an amazing indication of fine character!

I say this all knowing very little about his parents and having never put them up on a pedastal in the first place. So, I don't think I want to defend them. I have long contended that we put too many people in Christiandom into "superstar" strata when NO ONE needs to be there. We are ALL just little fish in a big pond, and God is the only superstar in my book. All that said, GIVE THEM A BREAK FRANK! They are only human with feet of clay, just like you.

I love the book though. He is a lovable guy, warts and all. I loved his honesty and candor. I loved the stories about his life (sans the sex details). I wished he would have just moved away and lived a life congruent with what he believed instead of living the lie, but that was his choice, and it probably was the thing that saved his marriage early on because he had to stay at L'Abri for financial reasons. He still gives credit to L'Abri and the community there for saving his marriage from divorce. (Wasn't there some throwing in there too, Frank, just like your dad?). Also, his wife sounds like a saint, and I am glad he does give her great honor in the book.

The book was really more damaging to himself than to his parents, but I can forgive him for his character flaws! I will probably read his fictional novel Portofino too. In fact, I have already submitted a purchase request to the library for it!

WOW! That was way too long. :)

Found My Classic List for this Year

Here are the books from The Well-Educated Mind list that I would like to read this year:

Ancients

Greek Lyrics - Lattimore Translation
Histories - Herodutus
Medea - Euripedes
Birds & Clouds - Aristophanes
Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Republic - Plato
Poetics - Aristotle
Odes - Horace
Lives - Plutarch

Want to Reread Because Now I Understand the Context After Reading Homer:

Agamemnon* - Aeschylus
Oedipus Rex* - Sophocles

I also want to read the Shakespeare plays I will be seeing with Laura and friends when we go down to Ashland to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for her 40th Birthday weekend July 18-20!

Feeling very nerdly for having this goals. :)

Finished The Odyssey

YES! I feel so proud. I really liked it. It helped to have it on my iPod and listen while I lifted weights and ran on the treadmill. I think it is in its final form a romance. I am watching The Teaching Company tapes by Elizabeth Vandiver, and it has really added to my understanding.

I wonder what is next on my list? I have to find my list. LOL!

Not Alot of Angst

I am having some very good days. I had so much more angst in my past than I do now. I think it is because of my change of church, mom is at peace in heaven (I think this was a back burner stress in my life!), and I am at peace with all men (that I know of).

So, life is good. Just wanted to document that.

It was also good to spend the weekend with open college students. It was very refreshing! I am also glad that the preparation is not hanging over my head either! :)

The State of the Well Address

Are we having the State of the Union tonight? Isn't it usually around the 20th of January. Maybe I am wrong, but I thought it was.

Well, I want to just say how everything is going.

Well-Watered Soul

I am in a great position. I feel like the 3yearbiblebookclub is really helping me to stay in the word and dig and apply and pray through everything. There is something about meditating, mulling over it all day, then writing about it that really has been so refreshing for me. I feel more like there is a moment by moment depending on the LORD in prayer too. So, I think I like it. I want to GROW no matter where I am in this journey.

Well-Educated Mind

Well, I am almost done with all the Book Babes reads. I decided to read The Glass Castle after all, and I this really is the last. My intention is to do the rest of the Ancient Literature. My rhetoric partner sort of disappeared. I am not so sure it was a suitable match since he is a man. I think I prefer a woman. Nice guy though. I think a woman would be wiser and better though.

I am also going to read a Tale of Two Cities soon, but that is definitely in my Well-Educated Mind goals. I love the classics, but I will say that the Book Babes reads were MUCH better this year than last year. I am pleased.

Well-Tuned Body

I am doing GREAT! I am working out consistently and eating healthy. I am pleased. I feel good other than a bit of a back ache with the Jillian Michaels DVD's. I think they are too high impact for my back issues. So, I will bag them and go to low-impact. I am resting this week because of that though. I think that is good after quite a few weeks of hard workouts.

Well- Educated Children

Hallelujah! Dropping Biology was a great idea. They are humming along in everything. They are also writing on their own, especially Michael. He had to write an imaginary diary of Charles II, and it only had to be 200 words. He ended up writing 400 very imaginative words! YEAH! Paul is always so diligent to get everything done too. I love those boys.

Daily Care

Been good about cooking those dinners using new menus! I love the recipes I am cooking up using the Slim-fast.com website. Nutritious and Delicious and Low-Cal! I love it! I am eating so many veggies now! YUMMY YUMMY! I am so really glad that George convinced me that Valentina would be a great choice. She comes twice a month and cleans, and I love the relationship that is forming and the house that is much cleaner!

Well, that is the quickest run down that I have had in years!

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, originally uploaded by MNkiteman.

George and i went to see this movie today. I had read the book two years ago and really loved it. They did a very faithful adaptation of the book and navigated the difficult scene with grace. George had never read the book but said at the end, "That was a really great story." It really is a beautiful story. I highly recommend it, but be sure to bring your tissues! I cried through much of this movie.

What is it with Afghanistan lately? First I read Three Cups of Tea. Then, I read A Thousand Splendid Sons. Now we have watched Charlie Wilson's War and The Kite Runner!

Elias Chacour

Der Erzbischof von Galiläa, originally uploaded by Habakuks Ansichten.

Great portrait of the author of Blood Brothers!