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Review: Another Way Home by Deborah Raney

Nov 16th, 2015
by Annie Kate.
3 comments

another-way-home

Danae had only one wish these days. She wanted a baby, and that desperate desire colored her whole life, straining her marriage and her relationship with her sisters, her family, and God. The infertility treatments weren’t working, not even after three long years. On top of that, her husband Dallas refused to consider adoption, because he himself had been adopted.

Finally Danae realized that she had to do something, anything, to get her mind off her obsession, so she began to volunteer at a women’s shelter. It was scary at first, with two safe rooms and all sorts of security protocols in case the women’s partners would find them. Although Dallas was still concerned, Danae got over her nervousness after a while, and befriended Misty and her sweet little boy Austin.   And then, one horrible day Misty’s abusive husband showed up….

With the close-knit Whitman clan of Home to Chicory Lane and Two Roads Home (links to my reviews) supporting them, Danae and Dallas faced a future they could never have imagined, one that God had been planning all along.

Like these other two Chicory Inn books, Another Way Home is about family in all its aspects: marriage, parent-child relationships of all ages, sibling relationships. Deborah Raney’s sympathetic characters are true to life, depending on God and each other, struggling with the difficulties of life, slowly learning to see their own sinful blind spots. As we follow Danae’s struggles the author wisely and subtly contrasts the ways of self-pity and of gratitude.

This Deborah Raney novel, just like the other ones, has something for everyone, not the least because we all struggle with self-centered sin and we all need to be reminded that God’s ways are good. Another Way helped me through a difficult time and I found it hard to put down.

This is yet another book in the in the 2015 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge and is also linked to Saturday Reviews, Booknificent Thursdays, Literacy Musings Monday, and The Book Nook.  

Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided by LitFuse.

Posted in: 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Reviews, Reviews: Fiction.
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Learning, Books, and More (Weeks 8-10)

Nov 14th, 2015
by Annie Kate.
No comments yet
Our family, by Miss 13

Our family, by Miss 13

Usually our days are fairly humdrum, to the kids at least.  We eat, do schoolwork, care for our animals, eat, take a break, learn some more, go outside, take a break and do chores, eat, hang out, and go to bed.  Yes, there are appointments, outings, and projects, but nothing huge.

Occasionally, though, things are different.   On Remembrance Day we and hundreds of others attended an outdoor service.  After lunch I read aloud a few more chapters of The Mouse on the Moon, a spoof on politics during the cold war and the race to the moon.  After that we watched the Unlocking the Great Pyramid and were reinvigorated by the fairy tale of a solitary architect solving some of the big problems of Egyptology/pyramid structure.  Then we took the dogs to the river, scrambling along an old fallen tree to sit above the water.  Oh, yes, we did a tiny bit of ordinary work: organ, Future Learn Dutch, reading, and catechism, but that was all.

Ordinarily, however, we are a lot more focused on formal academics.  We continued with our Apologia Physical Science and Biology, worked on math, read an enormous amount, took a few tests, and wrote hardly anything at all.  Both girls are taking a short online Dutch course and find it a pleasant break from what we were doing and a good review as well.  We’ve been faithfully spending a small bit of time on our once-every-few days learning: a drawing course, music history, and King Alfred’s English, and it’s amazing how much can get done in short snatches of time.

I have been experimenting with FutureLearn, one of the Massive Open Online Course providers.   The three-week ‘Introduction to Dutch’ course is the girls’ first online university course, and it seems to be a good fit for them.

Life:

Fall has been very pleasant here.  My girls still wear flip flops and shorts occasionally, although they have discovered that frosty grass feels nippy on bare toes.

Our bunny has developed a real personality.  Loving, opinionated, funny, and determined, she enchants and exasperates us by turns.  Watching her wash her ears should be enough to make anyone realize that a Creator must exist.  Watching her throw a temper tantrum and fling her food bowl across her new cage made us all laugh in in amazement at our gentle Bunbun other side.

Inspired by I Know How She Does It I kept a time log for a week.  All my guilt about not spending enough time on homeschooling disappeared; we spend huge amounts of time on it.  I suppose that time flies when you are having fun.  I’ve also become more intentional about doing the things that matter.

Other than that,

  • therapeutic riding volunteer work is over for the year,
  • there were various events (filming of LifeTOUR, a coffee house showcasing amazing musical talent, Hamlet, an Evensong with the most beautiful music, a phone call from China(!!), a wonderful book sale, and so much more),
  • the garden is almost finished (kale, beets, carrots, parsley, and turnips are left,) and
  • we enjoyed many other happy moments.

Books:

I’ve finished The First Fossil Hunters, 31 Days to a Clutter Free Home, Linnaeus, and I Know How She Does It and have started Prayers that Changed History, Money Making Mom, Teach Like a Champion Field Guide, and The Debs of Bletchy Park.  I’m also still slowly wending my way through King Alfred’s English, How to Really Love Your Child, Joy at the End of the Tether, Trial and Triumph, Tales of Ancient Egypt, Beth Moore’s Stepping Up, The Traveler’s Gift, and 2 Chronicles.  And I’m writing reviews of many of them….

The girls have been reading Don Aslett’s zany time and productivity books (How to have a 48 Hour Day and How to do 1000 Things at Once) and the novels of Louis L’Amour .

Reading aloud:

The Mouse on the Moon, Isaiah, and Romans.  We finished The Secret of Willow Castle.

Watching: 

  • National Geographics:  Unlocking the Great Pyramid (the fairy tale of a solitary architect solving some of the biggest questions puzzling Egyptologists, great to accompany a study of ancient Egypt or architecture, one of Miss 15’s top learning resources).
  • Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch (awesome, go see it if it is still available),
  • Irreplaceable (very worthwhile and moving, review coming up)

Recommended Links:

A wise look at truth, shame, and art, and another one about shame, the media, the gospel, and how to be kind.

If you want to see more carefully curated links, follow me on Google Plus.

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This post is linked to Kris’s Weekly Wrap Up and Finishing Strong.

 

Posted in: Weekly Wrap Up.

The Torch Thrown by Failing Hands

Nov 11th, 2015
by Annie Kate.
1 comment

poppies

Here is one way to catch the torch, thrown to us by dying soldiers through the years, and hold it high.

We can defend the ill, elderly, and disabled in our country.

Currently one simple way of doing this is by signing this petition.  Many other opportunities exist and as you read the declaration, you may find something else you can fit into your life.

Will it be uncomfortable to get involved? Undoubtedly.

Will it take time?  Certainly.

But then think of those who gave their youth, their health, their lives to uphold life and freedom for us.  Read this 100 year old poem, written in the trenches of World War 1.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Isn’t it almost sacrilegious to relate the issue of protecting our ill, elderly, and disabled to Remembrance Day?  Many think not.  For example, at our local ceremony today, this was read aloud:

The Red Poppy of Flanders

The blood red poppy of Flanders is immortalized as an emblem of sacrifice and remembrance for the honoring of the thousand who laid down their lives for the ideals which we as Canadians cherish.  The Poppy challenges us to serve in peace, as in war, to help those who need our help and to protect those who need our protection.

So please, dear fellow Canadian, catch that torch and step up to the fight.  At risk are your vulnerable loved ones, your fellow-citizens, and, yes, even yourself as you age.

For those of you living in other countries, there may well be a similar situation you are facing.  Face it head on, then, with wisdom and energy.

May God bless us all and give us courage, strength, and wisdom.

Posted in: Canadian, Devotional, Planning.
Tagged: · · · · ·

Review: The Secret of Willow Castle by Lyn Cook

Nov 9th, 2015
by Annie Kate.
1 comment

The Secret of Willow Castle

Eleven-year-old Henrietta Macpherson cannot seem to do anything right.  Her loving but stern father  is so disappointed in her wilful response to the beautiful gift from cousin John Alex  that he puts it aside until Henrietta is older and also forbids her to attend the skating party in John Alex’s honor.

He calmly points out that both John Alex and he ‘have frequent dealings with people who think too much of themselves, and we don’t want you to be one of them….’  John Alex agrees, Henrietta has a temper tantrum, and that is the end of that.

Even though her maid Becky does the best she can with her unruly charge, Henrietta does manage to slip out of her room during the party, and she sees a waif-like child watching the skating party from behind a bush.

From that moment the orphaned servant girl, Sarah, fills Henrietta’s thoughts and life through adventures with a secret desk compartment, fairs, a circus, and more.  Eventually the two girls find a secret meeting place near her father’s grist mill.

As the year rolls on, Henrietta’s secret friendship with Sarah deepens and the two girls share adventures and hopes.  But it isn’t until disaster threatens first Sarah and then Henrietta that Sarah’s future is secured….

I read The Secret of Willow Castle aloud to my 13 and 15 year old daughters this fall, and at one point they asked for so many chapters in a row that I lost my voice.  I, too enjoyed it, both the first and the second time I read it.

This story of Upper Canada’s prosperous class is an appealing counterpoint to the more common pioneer stories.  Henrietta’s father  was Justice of the Peace and Crown Land agent in Napanee, a small town in Upper Canada in the early 1900’s; her home has been restored as a museum; and her beloved cousin John Alex was no other than Canada’s future first prime minister.  Thus The Secret of Willow Castle brings the politics, beliefs, activities, and behaviors of early upper class 19th century to life.

I think this delightful novel full of gentle surprises will appeal especially to girls. Henrietta’s change from a self-centered manipulative sneak to a kinder and wiser girl could also generate discussions.  This book is recommended for middle school and early high school as an accompaniment to Canadian history studies, and also to anyone interested in the history of Upper Canada.

The Secret of Willow Castle is out of print but worth looking for in libraries.  Canadian author Lyn Cook was internationally known several decades ago and has written many worthwhile children’s books.

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This book forms part of our multi-year, literature-based Canadian History course . This review is linked to Finishing Strong , Trivium Tuesdays,  Saturday Reviews, Booknificent Thursdays, Literacy Musings Monday, and The Book Nook.

Disclosure: We bought this book at a second hand book sale, and I am not compensated for this review.

Posted in: 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Canadian, Reviews, Reviews: Children's Fiction.
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Send Me, O Lord

Nov 5th, 2015
by Annie Kate.
4 comments
Harvest and home, long ago

Harvest and home, long ago

When we look around at the world and the church, there’s so much work to be done.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming, yet we so eagerly want to contribute.

When Christina Rossetti felt this way she wrote “Send Me”.

Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field,

Which stretcheth far and wide like a wide sea;

The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield

Will suffer loss.  Oh, find a place for me!

A place where best the strength I have will tell:

It may be one the older toilers shun;

Be it a wide or narrow place, ‘tis well

So that the work it holds be only done.

Yes, when we look around us, we can be overwhelmed at all that needs to be done.  With Rossetti, we want to say, “The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield will suffer loss.  Oh, find a place for me!”

And there are untold places that need workers.  Surely, we can make a difference, somehow.

Yet, most of us already have a place designed for us, a calling that takes up the bulk of our time.  And it is very important, so important that if we neglect it we are in danger of actively destroying the harvest we want to help gather.  Listen:

We must learn to

  • love our husbands and children,
  • be self-controlled and pure,
  • be busy at home,
  • be kind, and
  • be subject to our husbands,

so that no one will malign the word of God because of us. (Titus 2:3-5)

The terrible possibility in that last line haunts me sometimes.  But there is also great hope in it, because it gives deep meaning to our everyday lives.  By being faithful in the ordinary, everyday things, we prevent the word of God from being maligned because of us.

For most of my dear readers, and for me, this means that our roles as wife, mother, and homeschooler are our calling and our place.  Yes, we can fit other things into cracks of spare time; sometimes other service is even involved in our daily tasks.

But over and over we need to examine ourselves and our priorities.  Are we loving our husbands and our children?  Are we self-controlled and pure?  Are we busy at home? Are we kind?  Do we subject ourselves to our husbands?  Because, right now, this is our calling, and this is the place where God sends us.

Now, it is not always easy to know what these questions mean in our daily practicalities.  Each of them has been endlessly discussed over cups of coffee, from pulpits, and in books.  It is not always easy to find out what pleases the Lord and yet, because we are children of the light, this is what we aim for (Ephesians 5:10).  Of course we will make mistakes, sometimes serious ones, and we always sin, but we can pray that our failures will not have eternal consequences for anyone.

I find great comfort in Proverbs 3:5,6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not rely on your own insight.

In all your ways acknowledge him

and he will make straight your paths.

On the other hand, if we do not trust in the Lord and do rely on our own insight—or on that of the world, our friends, Pinterest, common sense, or whatever else—we can expect negative consequences.

There is such a harvest waiting!

So we pray with Christina Rossetti, “Send me, O Lord!”

And most of us will be sent to that simple, ordinary, but oh-so-important place, home.

—

For more encouragement to be faithful to your calling, visit Raising Homemakers, Titus 2 Tuesday, R&R Wednesdays, Wednesdays with Words, Trivium Tuesdays, and Finishing Strong.

Posted in: Devotional, Life, Planning, Quotations, Sunday Thoughts.
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