Learning Joy

I cannot read modern writers.
Last week I borrowed some books from Evva. One was a James Patterson mystery titled, Mary Mary. One was by Ann Rule, who writes about true crime, centering in the Northwest. The last was a Mary Higgins Clark book titled No Place Like Home. Okay, the Mary Higgins Clark book was good. I like her stories, they don’t freak me out. 🙂
However, the other two … had weird dreams all week!! Even woke up screaming one night! So no more of those for me! 🙂
Right now I am reading a collection of Agatha Christie stories. I’m in the Parker Pyne ones right now. I have to say, I love English writers. I love their vocabulary. I love that when something is important they capitalize the first letter of the word (e.g. in Winnie the Pooh, “Now it happened that Kanga had felt rather motherly that morning, and Wanting to Count Things – like Roo’s vests, and how many pieces of soap …”). 🙂 I don’t think I have read very many American writers. I was thinking about that the other day – I’ve never read Tennyson or Thoreau or Emerson … I love Elizabeth Barette Browning, though. And Dickens and Christie, and of course Austen. Although those Bronte sisters depress me, their writing is still good. 🙂
So it is decided. I’m sticking to the classics.

What do you think of my blog now?
Picked another template. Which means, of course, that I have to re-sign up for the ads and input the link info again … but that is ok. Everything is a learning experience! It’s fun to boot, so what the hay?

Jonathan and I made banana bread. Anyone want to come over for some? It’ll be done around 7 – 7:15 p.m. 🙂

Hopefully the plants and flowers in Washington have returned to a “normal” schedule! The poor things were so confused a couple weeks ago! It was sunny, so everything started blooming then it SNOWED!!! Crazy!

Life is good here in the NW. We here in the Minch house have been reveling in God’s goodness to us. He has poured out so many blessings! Most recently, God has blessed us by giving Jef two monthly contracts & a one-time job. I think I told about the job before, it will be a good amount of money and he should begin working on it soon – as soon as the computers come from the manufacturer. The two monthly contracts will be a good income for us. They are not enough to cover all our monthly expenses, but with savings from the job, we’ll be ok. God has totally been teaching me about trusting Him on a daily basis. Still need to read 2 Kings 25, you know, about Jehoiachin. 🙂 But I am certainly learning about God’s daily allowance for us. He always provides. There was a time when I thought I should wait to pay some bills, but I remembered about the daily allowance. So, I paid the bills, which depleted our bank account by a good bit, enough to worry me a little. That day I went to the post office and picked up a check! It was a small lesson, but a very good one to learn!

Everything is going well here. We cleaned the house a TON and were able to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Now the house is easier to keep clean and I am learning how to keep it tidy. I’ve never been a very good homemaker, but I am learning. 🙂 God is faithful. Jef is studying and working. For a while he had a job every day! 🙂 Today and tomorrow he has work to do. Then there will be lots of work when the computers for the job come in. The boys are doing well. They are learning lots and having fun. We are working on getting out of the house more. Since Jef’s job doesn’t take him away from us each day, we can go and do stuff. So we are trying to enjoy the outdoors when the weather permits.

Other than that – not much else is going on. We are getting ready for Jonathan’s birthday party at the end of the month. He’s going to be EIGHT. I cannot believe that he is already 8. Man, I feel old this year!

Here you can see the puppet’s mouth! 🙂
March 19, 2006

A little bit blurry – but here is Nicholas with his sock puppet. Steve on “Blue’s Clues” had one, so he asked me to make him one! 🙂 He was very specific about it, too! 

Nicholas’ sock puppet
March 19, 2006

So it wasn’t too awfully long ago that a very useful medicine (an arthritis pain reliever) was removed from the shelves due to a *slight* possiblity of heart attack. I don’t think there was even any incidents where anyone DIED. It was just the possibility that some heart attacks *could* have been caused by the arthritis drug.
Well, hidden away in the news Jef discovered this article.
BREITBART.COM – Two Women Die After Using Abortion Pill
Apparently, four women have died recently from using an abortion pill. We have heard hide nor hair of this in any news!! This drug is still readily available! Why is this?
Oh, yeah, and don’t get me started on the woman blogger who gives women the info they need to perform a D & C abortion ON THEMSELVES!!!!!! She’s done this because South Dakota has revoked the “right” of women to abort their babies.
I’m not very good at expressing myself, but I am disturbed by these things. Here we have actual proof that an abortion pill killed women, and it is left on the shelf. Yet the poor people suffering from arthritis — which in my humble opinion is much harder to live with than being pregnant for nine months and having a baby! — get their drug taken away!! Living with arthritis is a daily struggle that lasts YEARS and makes one’s life difficult.
Honestly – why do you have to abort your baby? I mean, if you can’t be a parent, give the baby up! There are TONS of people who have been waiting for ages just to adopt! But carrying a baby for nine months is not that hard! Even if you are sick for the whole nine months, it is only that long, and then it is over.
I honestly don’t understand wanting abortions. I kind of understand the desire for one if someone is raped. However, God gives the life – apparently that baby was meant to be. I heard a guy on a radio show the other day saying that carrying the baby to term would be a type of closure for a rape victim. I am not sure if I agree, but it is a valid point. Anyways, I don’t get it. I stand by my belief that women DO have a choice — they can choose before they get into bed with someone! I suppose that is why I am not sure how to feel about a rape pregnancy, because that is involuntary. However, God gives life, and I’m pretty sure 😉 He knows what He is doing.
And people talk about “the health of the mother” — can someone explain to me when it might come into play? I cannot figure that one out. If it means a choice between the mother or baby at birth, then that I can understand. That is a more difficult thing to decide.
Then there are partial birth abortions … I love that FOX News doesn’t mince words when they explain what that is! I hate hearing it, but I am so glad they tell people the brutal truth! — those are terrible. I have a hard time believing they happen. How could a doctor do such a thing?!
Anyways — just had to post about this!
Hope you all have a great Sunday!!

Ok, I should preface this entry with a note –
Lately I have been reading Grace Livingston Hill books, and most recently, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.

Have the songs we sing in church and hear on Christian radio ever bothered you? Have you noticed a change of perspective? I have. Back in 1998, we learned a song called “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”. This song bothered me, because it has this line –
“Jesus, I will never let You go … Though my world may fall I’ll never let you go.”
How is it that we’ve come to the place where *WE* think we have the ability to never let Christ go. As if *WE* have any capability to even hold on to our own selves, much less Him.
Anyways, today I was driving to Blockbuster and I heard the song “Lifesong” by Casting Crowns. (you can read the lyrics here – http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/castingcrowns/lifesong.html) I guess because I’d just been reading Corrie ten Boom the song hit me as so wrong. It goes back to that whole thought process of *US* having some kind of power or ability in our Christian walk & ministry.

When Corrie ten Boom was in Ravensbruck (a concentration camp), she began to feel this way. Here’s the excerpt from The Hiding Place, chapter 14 –

“And as the cold increased, so did the special temptation of concentration-camp life: the temptation to think only of oneself. It took a thousand cunning forms …
And there it was.
The truth blazed like sunlight in the shadows of Barracks 28. The real sin I had been committing was not that of inching toward the center of a platoon because I was cold. The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ’s that made the difference.”

It seems to me that more and more we aren’t looking to Christ to be the Author and Finisher of our faith, but to ourselves. We keep singing songs about “me” and “I” rather than about HIM. I know “Lifesong” is about having your life be glorifying to God, but the song itself doesn’t seem to do that. It seems to me more arrogant and self-centered than focused on Christ. Maybe if we focused on Christ instead of ourselves, our ‘lifesongs’ *would* be a praise to Him. Corrie’s was.

That’s my two cents. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Daniel’s Rollie, Scoop & Bob
We were very impressed with Daniel’s coloring!! He’s been working really hard on staying in the lines (not something we’ve stressed, just something he’s doing himself). In this picture Daniel colored everything the right color, even the checks on Bob’s shirt!!
February 2006

Jonathan’s Muck
The boys have been coloring lately. They have been especially trying to stay within the lines. The white spot you see on the front of Muck is where Bob the Builder’s hand would have been. Jonathan cut that part out! 🙂