Stuffed With Books...

This is an excerpt from some of my recent reading, and I found it quite delightful-sounding. That great garret in the little house must resemble our garage, which has quite a number of boxes of books in it. And the chocolate? The only thing better than chocolate and a book is a cup of good English tea with chocolate and a book--but it must be the right kind of tea, you know. I only wonder that the protagonist could spend only an hour there. :)



"There is a great garret in my little house which is stuffed with books. It was into this that I plunged and rummaged for an hour. At the end of that time I emerged with a little chocolate and silver volume."

A Day of Thanksgiving to God

Besides the troubling trend in our country of turning Thanksgiving into "Turkey Day" or Black Friday Eve, the complete ignorance of not only what we should be thankful for but of Whom we should be thankful to has been erased from the consciences of most Americans. The proclamations of the founders clearly acknowledge that they knew not only that they had their nation and their very lives to be thankful for, but that they were conscientiously Christian in giving thanks to Almighty God. May we be as open in our declaration that it is to God that we owe our prayers of gratitude and pleas for mercy. Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. (signed) G. Washington

Free Music--No Strings Attached

Ben sent me this link the other day. It will direct you to a page where you can put $3 on your Amazon account which is redeemable for mp3 files. You can find such things as Vaughn Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus all on a single track, you could download (almost) any concerto in it's entirety, or you can get single tracks from almost any album. Guess you know some of what I went looking for. :)

Happy shopping... (my kind of shopping--from the comfort of the sofa, in my slippers :).

A DAY FOR REJOICING!

DAD AND MOM ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!!! =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =)

It is WONDERFUL to have them back and for everyone to be together again. Today is their 25th wedding anniversary and we are all going to go out to dinner! What a treat! We are SO thankful for their faithfulness to the Lord and each other. I have to say, we are the most blessed children in the whole world!

Oh, they had a very special time in Hawaii and I'll post pictures soon but for now I want to be with everyone! :) Until later...

Treasured Memories

On October 31st, if you go into Chipotle with any kind of foil on they will give you a free burrito. And with a large family we can't pass up the deal. This year however, was the best year yet because not only did our family go, but the Chapa family joined us to "beg for burritos"! :) Honestly, I was just thankful we were able to spend time with such dear friends!

Our parents with whom God has blessed us richly ... and of course Beth :)

Anna, Peyton, and Emma

Ben, Jack, and Faith :)

Lijah and Peter

David, Micah, and Becca

Reed and Noah

Josiah, Sarah, and Beth

A Spot of Poetry

Want to guess who's posting? I do believe this is my most prolific blogging stint since the inception of this blog, but I'm not going back in the archives to figure that out for sure. Fortunately, or otherwise, it's none of it (hardly) original material. 'Specially in this case as my poetry to date deserves one terse adjective. Trite. But I'm working on that. Theoretically, that is. I want to work on it, I have an instructional book, I have a blank notebook. NOW, I must scrounge up some time to sit and chew on the end of a pencil and feel artistically distraught with three uncooperative words on my page. (But I shan't pull out my hair because there isn't enough for me to spare.) Until I brave up and decide to post anything of that sort, I'm going to give you a few lines from a poet I've come to greatly enjoy. Never would I recommend his poetry wholesale. A few members of my family wouldn't even call it poetry (it doesn't rhyme--horrors). So, hopefully that's warning enough if you aren't in the mood for un-rhyming poetry.

I have, over the past few days, read several of T.S. Eliot's poems in their entirety. One of which was Choruses from "The Rock." Difficult to follow in some places, and there are others where I disagree with his theology, but these sections were ones that had more resonance with me this time through, particularly from subjects brought up in sermons I've heard recently.

But here upon earth you have the reward of the good and ill that
was done by those who have gone before you.
And all that is ill you may repair if you walk together in humble
repentance, expiating the sins of your fathers;
And all that was good you must fight to keep with hearts as
devoted as those of your fathers who fought to gain it.
The Church must be forever building, for it is forever decaying
within and attacked from without;
For this is the law of life; and you must remember that while
there is time of prosperity
The people will neglect the Temple, and in time of adversity they will decry it.

This section more directly relate to the importance and difficulty of building a Christian community. Astute observations and even more proven in our current culture.

What life have you if you have not life together?
There is no life that is not in community,
And no community not lived in praise of GOD...
And now you live dispersed on ribbon roads,
And no man knows or cares who is his neighbour
Unless his neighbour makes too much disturbance,
But all dash to and fro in motor cars,
Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere.

And a last few lines, bespeaking the more than willing nature of people to dish out all their opinions and advice but certainly not willing to listen to anyone else.

And they write innumberable books; being too vain and distracted for silence:
seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness.
If humility and purity be not in the heart, they are not in the home: and if they
are not in the home, they are not in the City.