This week was full of AHG and Trail Life.  So much good.  So much busy.

A Life Skills lesson on Manners for the fellows on Tuesday.

Thursday was full of much AHGing.  We baked over 100 rolls.  Really.  For a Daddy Daughter Dance.  Then off to a troop meeting.  The older two studied meteorology—fronts and home made instruments for a thermometer, anemometer, barometer, and rain gauge (to see how they did in the week since they made them).  The younger girls cleaned toys, door handles, and other surfaces to cut down on the mid-winter germs at our charter.  There was also much moving of chairs.  We were able to do some dance prep by moving 484 chairs...really.  MOPS was meeting ahead of the dance, so we prepped for them, but they let us stack the rest of the chairs out of the way to cut down significantly on our day of preparation.

Then on to a dance.  Super fun to be had by all!

Food

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian Food

Prizes

Tinkerbell, Little Red, Elsa, and the wolf

Photo bombs

Dancing

Photo gifts

And then a wild cave tour and over nighting in the cave for Trail Life.

Which led to this laundry! 🤣

Thoughts

One of the blessings of using Tapestry of Grace as our core curriculum is the number of options involved.  It covers history and literature at its core, but one of the other options is Christian world view studies.  Lately, as we're in the 1950s, we've studied the five martyred missionaries of Ecuador in that time period.

The men were sent by a few different groups, but all wished to reach the Waorani Tribe, then called the Aucas.  Since the middle children were reading a book on Nate Saint, I checked out Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s widow, for me. It was beautiful and hard, exactly what you would expect from a young wife and mother, knowing she was sending her husband off to meet a group of people hitherto known for killing outsiders.  It was written quite soon after the men died, so it did not contain the events following the deaths, aside from the immediate actions of those who were involved in the attempt to rescue, which became the men who buried the missionaries, and their families' first steps to regroup.

We followed up by watching the movie End of the Spear.  This was written largely from the perspective of Nate Saint's son.  Here, while greatly condensed for time, we could see more if the time after the missionaries died.  We see a wife and sister make their way to join the tribe.

While personally the idea of sending a husband into so much potential danger seemed difficult, the fact that Elisabeth Elliot could take her young child amongst the people who had killed her husband is beyond my understanding.  While I know the safest place is in the place God has marked for you, that is a place I clearly was not called to.

There was fruit there, beyond all one could hope for.  The man who reports that he killed both Nate Saint and Jim Elliot became a Christian.

There is much to chew on there.  Beautiful thoughts, such as, that the men refused to use any weapons in violence (only to scare the on comers away) because they were ready for heaven, but knew those in this tribe did not yet have knowledge of Jesus.  There is bravery, joy, understanding.

As I looked a bit further though, I found some people felt there were mistakes made.  Of course, second guessing is always easier on the other side of history, but I found the article After Jim Elliot—the Good, Bad and the Ugly to be a pretty balanced view, as far as I can tell.  It discusses how the lives of the tribe members were disrupted, but allows that disruption may have occurred in a much less peaceable way, as the companies were seeking oil in their lands; as well as interpersonal issues of missionaries, who are people, after all.  It also led me to wonder if the men might have, given more time and guidance from older leaders, (Their Operation Auca was kept entirely secret, even from their superiors) found a safer way to reach out.

I suppose it is always good to look at all mankind, remembering that even the most pious are fatally flawed.  There may have been a better way to reach the Waorani, or maybe not.  Perhaps the jarring-ness of those deaths was imperative to the future of the tribe.  Our world is messy and full of gray.  Thankfully, God works all for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

My sources:
Through the Gates of Splendor
End of the Spear
After Jim Elliot—the Good, Bad and the Ugly

Lately

 Ellie took a trip with me to a local health food grocery...so she got a little treat.  She turned down the two juices at the juice bar though!

A trio from Hogwarts served up Cincinnati style chili Polyjuice Potion

 We took a hike on a rather warm February day...along with many a neighbor.

 Nate’s new perspective on his school work.

Ellie has been working on learning the story from Genesis, of creation.  We don’t get in to the debate with the kiddos about literal 7 day versus the eras of time until late elementary school or so.  Then we drive them a little crazy because we tell them we don’t know which is right...and (depending on the kiddo) perhaps worse, that we don’t care.  It makes no difference to us in the grand scheme of things. 

Happiness

I’ve spent a chunk of time contemplating happiness this week.  I see so many people striving for happiness. For themselves. For their kids.  The next big trip. The easy path. The experience. The new. The exciting. The never ending search for something to cram in that God shaped hole in their heart.

The thing is those are all fleeting things.  Dust.

I was challenged on my view.  Surely, as a parent, I want happiness for my children.  I don’t. I want holiness.

See God promises joy, not happiness.  Joy isn’t fleeting. Joy is a gift from God.  Happiness is a feeling. Dopamine. Happiness is insubstantial, where joy is enduring.

Life can be so hard.  Sometimes our lack of happiness is due to the consequences of our choices.  Sometimes, for seemingly unknown reasons, other than the fact we live in a fallen world, these circumstances seem to befall us.  The thing is, it isn’t accidental. God knew we needed this trial to be who we need to be to reach heaven.

I’m not here to make my children happy (I’m also not here to make them miserable...most of the time!).

I can’t step in and remove each discomfort that would be used to shape their character and expect them to grow.  I don’t know how God will shape and prune them to fit them into the kingdom, just the way He needs them.

And after I was challenged about my assertion that I really didn’t want my children to be happy (if that’s not what they need).  I talked to the kids about it. Guess what. They weren’t surprised. They know I’m not out to get them, that we make choices to do things they want, but, thankfully, they know happiness is not our goal.

Heaven is.  Loving Jesus.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

    I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my labor,

    and this was the reward for all my toil.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

    and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

    nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

The law of the Lord is perfect,

    refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

    making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

    giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

    giving light to the eyes.

Psalm 19:7-8

Friday Funny

Me (restating what I thought I understood from Ellie's story):So, the girl had shaving cream on her face, so they took her to the doctor, and gave her a breath mint?

Ellie: No.  She had bubbles.

Nate: She must have had rabies.

Me: ....they can't treat rabies with a breath mint.

Blue Skies and Libraries

With my vision being restored right at the new year, I thought it providential.  So this year I’m trying to really see things.  Somethings might just be the beauty of the vision or it might be deeper than that, so, without further ado, blue skies and libraries...

Our January has not been very January-y.  It might not be crisp white snows, but it is remarkably beautiful.  We've taken walks under clear blue skies.  I'm grateful for the sun that shines and the beautiful days.

Then libraries...

When I was a girl my mom would take my little sister and me to our public library.  I remember the open steps, wide to the half way point, that split to two separate sets of narrower steps after that point.  I can still see the stacks of books, low for smaller children in the middle, tall on either end for older kids chapter books on one side and the young adult books by the stairs.  I can remember where the Nancy Drew books were in the dimly lit section.  The L.M. Montgomery paperbacks on the wire rack in the YA section.  The microfiche on the first floor, the actual cards in the book, with your due date slip to be stamped.  Carrying stacks of books that we precariously balances to the parking lot in the shady lot out back.

My school library is where I found the Mr. Men & Little Miss and Amelia Bedelia  books before I graduated up to Nancy Drew and Little House books.

In college, I worked in the stacks, reshelving books.  I did shelf reading, the somewhat tedious task of checking the call numbers of each book to be sure they are all in the right spots.  I edged books (lining them up at the edge of the shelf to make it easier to find the right book).  I helped with shifting books as the collection changed, and worked on the barcoding of the books the summer we started that project.  I also found Jane Austen in those days.  I'd check out a copy to take home and read a shelved copy on my breaks.

I've held library cards in Kentucky, Alabama, Kansas, and Tennessee.  In Alabama, I checked out the first six Harry Potter books (seven hadn’t been released yet).  In Kansas I would push our double stroller the mile and a half each direction to get there, when the weather was nice enough.  Our first library here had an excellent home school section, and Katie got her first library card there.  Then we moved to a much larger library system, which I hoped we could walk to, as the children grew, where they will ship in the books I request from other branches.  They moved our branch a bit further away, allowing for expansion, and incorporating every request our family made...a separate juvenile non-fiction section, child friendly restroom, an animal theme, we’ll, and I assume n the new books procured that Nate's young desire for, 'more digger books' was probably met too, though I didn’t double check the catalog on that one.

I can't imagine life without the library...  Books have been my friends, my source of income, and my educators.  This past year the library has given me books for personal reading and soooo many books for school.  Books on WWI, WWII, the Wright Brothers, literature books like Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby, books for historical reference like The Century by Peter Jennings and The Hiding Place, and books for philosophy like The Screwtape Letters.

Then there are the services libraries now provide the community for those who might not be able to have them at home...internet and printing services, educational opportunities, and story times for children.

So today I'm thankful for the beauty of blue skies and libraries.

A Decade

2010  - It was such a big year.  Justin was diagnosed as a type one diabetic in January.  In the spring he got the professorship here.  We sold our Kansas house (at a loss).  We packed up and moved without a place to go (thank you PODS).  We rented a house, and settled in.  We enrolled Katie in kindergarten, went to meet the teacher night, unenrolled Katie in kindergarten, and began home schooling.

2011 - We found our church home.  Paid down our line of credit.  Then we drew a circle around church and work and found a house in the middle.

2012 - Gabby joined our little home school.

2013 - Our sweet Ellie joined our family.

2014 - We redid the kids bathroom and bought a new fridge.  The older girls joined AHG.

2015 - We had a leak into the kitchen light from the upstairs shower.  We took our first real family vacation.  Nate joined our home school, and Ellie lost her buddy.

2016 - We packed up our crib.  Nate joined Trail Life, and Justin got pulled in as a leader.  Two kiddos had pneumonia at Christmas.

2017 - We built a Sk-Ellie-ton.  We saw a solar eclipse.  We got new floors.  Gabby got braces.

2018 - Katie and I got braces.  I went to the National AHG leader convention.  Ellie started kindergarten.

2019 - We made a second family trip the beach.  The older gals and I went to AHG camp.  Gabby’s braces came off!