August 2014 Book Reports

The Nesting Place by Myquillyn Smith (library)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a current hit amongst teens and others, especially with the movie recently being released. I found it a well-written account of the love that develops between two teenagers with fatal cancer diagnoses. While it's not particularly religious (some may even say anti-religious), I found the response to the question of the meaning of life to be wonderfully consistent with faith and even intriguing. It's definitely a book for mature teenagers, but I think it would be quite interesting to read and talk about with young adults. (library copy, reviewed on another website)

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart is another teen book I reviewed for another website. It was also fun to read, though the ending is quite dramatic and terrible. Again, this would be a book for older teens, though not one that had quite as much interesting questions to discuss. (library copy)

A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup is a fun book I picked up thinking First Son might like it. It's the first in a series and full of jokes and quips as well as exciting twists and turns. I think it'll be on the recommended list for next summer (between fifth and sixth grade) but I might read the others in the series first. (library copy)

The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell is the story of a boy who finds the most tremendous pearl when diving in a cave that supposedly belongs to an unnaturally large and malevolent manta ray. What follows offers an interesting number of questions about fear and faith and presumption. I'm not sure what the right age for this book is, but it might be acceptable for First Son to read next summer (before sixth grade). I think he'd be ready to think about some of it. (library copy)

101 Famous Poems ed. by Roy Cook is a book of poems I picked from the library nearly at random. I recently decided I'd like to read a poem or two every day and just wanted something with a variety of poems. It was acceptable, but not nearly as enjoyable as other anthologies. I do like reading some poetry every day, though, and think I'll continue. (library copy)

The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen (Kansas Dad's copy)


Books in Progress (and date started)

• Open Mind, Faithful Heart by Pope Francis (January 2014) 
• The Education Of Catholic Girls by Janet Erskine Stuart (February 2014)
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (February 2014)
• A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller (April 2014)
• Genesis: The Book of Origins by Albert Mary Joseph Shamon (July 2014) 
• Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus (August 2014)
• Revolutionary by Krista McGee (August 2014)
• Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol 2 (sixth edition) (August 2014)
• The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri Nouwen (August 2014)

Book Review: The Return of the Prodigal Son

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J.M. Nouwen

Over the summer, I attended a conference for catechists through the generosity of our parish. While there, a bishop recommended this book. I was thrilled to find it at Blogging for Books shortly after I posted my last review.

A seemingly insignificant encounter with a poster presenting a detail of Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son set in motion a long spiritual adventure that brought me to a new understanding of my vocation and offered me a new strength to live it.

Nouwen spent years contemplating the parable of the prodigal son and Rembrandt's interpretation of it. In the book's three parts, he presents his thoughts on the younger son, the elder son, and the Father, and his own experiences as each of the three. The painting becomes very important to him and he begins to see how it encapsulates the entire story of salvation.

The more I spoke of the Prodigal Son, the more I came to see it as, somehow, my personal painting, the painting that contained not only the heart of the story that God wants to tell me, but also the heart of the story that I want to tell to God and God's people. All of the Gospel is there...The painting has become a mysterious window through which I can step into the Kingdom of God.

I marked passage after passage in this book. In many places, I agree that Nouwen's thoughts have delved right into the mystery of the Kingdom of God. One of my most favorite thoughts is in the chapters on the elder son. (I am the elder son through and through and the whole second part spoke right to my soul's most desperate sins and longings.) Nouwen reminds us that the parable of the prodigal son is unfinished. We never learn from Jesus whether the elder son sheds his resentment and joins his father and brother at the celebration. We are left instead with an image of the father with his arms outstretched, inviting his son (and therefore us all) to the feast.

The third part of the book, which focuses on the Father, is the most challenging. I had often thought through the roles of the younger and elder sons. In the third part, though, Nouwen asserts that he is to become like the Father, showing all people (including those who have hurt him the most) the compassion of God, the very compassion he sees in Rembrandt's painting.

The very best part of this book is the flap that folds behind the front cover. When you open the flap while reading the book, it places a print of the painting right before the reader. I left it open nearly the entire time I read, so I could focus on Rembrandt's painting and Nouwen's words at the same time.

Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest, but the book itself is appropriate for any Christian. It's the kind of book that can help me live a better life, to be more like Christ. I highly recommend it.


I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review. The opinions above are my own.

A Birthday Post: Second Son is Four!

A few months ago (sigh), Second Son turned four! Here he is showing off some of his ninja skills.

We told him he could only take swimming lessons this summer if he was done with diapers and I think it may have been a small motivation for him. He succeeded and took lessons with the other kids. I was absolutely amazed at what he was doing by the end of the week. He would actually move his arms and legs like he was swimming! His favorite part of each lesson was the time at the end when he could jump off the diving board. (His instructor is off camera, ready to pilot him to the ladder.)

He talks and he talks and he talks. This boy could rival First Daughter for his chatting, especially when she's not around. Mostly he talks about Legos. More than anything, he likes to take Legos apart. He has to lose some of his screen time when he takes apart other people's Lego creations, though, because it usually makes them rather upset. (We talk a lot here about how four and six year olds are still working on building up a little self control. They have an idea that might not be so good, but lack those neurons that make them stop and think, "I wonder if I should do this...")

He is so adorable without his two front teeth! Second Daughter lost her second top tooth this past weekend so we'll have another Tooth Twins picture. (We have one of First Daughter and Second Son both with missing top teeth.)

This boy runs around the house constantly doing ninja moves and attacking bad guys like Darth Vader. He can make some impressive sound effects, too. If you want a light saber battle, he can accommodate you. Beware, though, he doesn't hold back!

He had a bad habit of jumping on the sofa all day long. All day long. We would remind him and chastise him and punish him and nurse his bumps and bruises, but he just couldn't stop himself. So for his birthday, we asked his Grammy and PawPaw for a little indoor trampoline. He's only jumped on the sofa a couple of times since then and spends a lot of time on the trampoline. Apparently, the boy has a deep inner need to be bouncing up and down.

I love the times I can find him lounging with a book. His favorites are Bear Wants More, Stuck, and anything Star Wars, or Lego, or Star Wars Lego.

His favorite place is the local frozen yogurt restaurant, though he also loves the local candy store. I suppose that's not too surprising. His favorite types of candy are (currently) Rainbow Nerds and Fun Dip. At home, he loves to eat yogurt and cottage cheese. His favorite vegetable is sweet red pepper. He'll steal pieces of it as you chop for salad or cooking. He often skimps on breakfast. For some reason, he'll only eat eggs if we have bacon, and then only an egg white. He doesn't really like donuts or cake. He'll just eat the frosting. He likes cinnamon rolls, though.

He was in my Catechesis class last year and is again this year. It's one of his more challenging times. Sometimes he'll work happily and sometimes he'll demand I take him home immediately. His favorite work is preparing the cruets and the chalice, which are both a little nerve-wracking for me as I don't feel like he's quite careful enough with his pouring. He did improve during the year, though.

He's great at spotting praying mantises and walking sticks (along with Second Daughter). He loves to be outside. He and Second Daughter play elaborate games indoors and out.

For his birthday, Second Son's godmother made him an amazing fireball cake, complete with flames designed and crafted by his godfather. I have a picture of it...on my laptop (which you may recall is temporarily out of commission) so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Second Son, we look forward to another year of blessing with you!

Wondering Where I Am?

I'm obviously not on the blog.

My laptop suffered a shower of a cold glass of water and has been in various stages of repair and disrepair for over two weeks now. Kansas Dad is confident the hard drive is fine and all my lesson plans and homeschooling files are waiting patiently for the logic board to be repaired. All of that can be recreated pretty easily from my last back-up (lazily done over a month before), but the family pictures for the summer were also on the laptop and those weren't yet backed up. Is there a patron saint of electronic files? If so, I should consider a novena.

So while I have other options for getting online and posting, I find my motivation even less robust when faced with the lack of my trusty laptop.

Hopefully I'll be back with good news in the near future!

A Birthday Post: Second Daughter Is Six

In July, Second Daughter turned six year olds. Six!

Second Daughter is a free spirit. She doesn't follow a schedule at home, just wander about the house whenever and wherever she likes. Sometimes I love how free she is and sometimes I am more frustrated than by anyone else I've ever met!
 

She loves the water. I think Second Daughter would spend the entire summer swimming if she had ready access to a watering hole. She took swimming lessons this summer and did really well moving her arms and legs. I think the private lessons were a great investment.

We visited my parents in August and spent some time at their pond. She just floated in the pond most of the time, but she also loved fishing and sleeping in a tent. (They tried sleeping overnight in a tent at our house, but it was the Fourth of July and the fireworks kept her awake so she slept on the floor of our bedroom with me.)

Speaking of sleeping, Second Daughter is the most likely of any of our children to come in to our room at night. She often comes in during thunderstorms. I usually let her stay, because I'm sleepy and in theory like the idea of snuggling with her. In reality, she steals my pillow, kicks me constantly, and her hair tickles my face. So it's usually not so much fun for me. Luckily it's not very often.

Here's a silly face at Second Son's birthday celebration. She and Second Son play together remarkably well most of the time. They have invented their own version of the board games and card games they like best. I love to watch them playing happily, especially while I'm doing lessons with the older kids. It's amazing when they can do so without creating complete havoc in the living room or around us.

Her favorite foods are candy, popsicles, ice cream, and more candy. (That's a girl after my own heart, though we have to intervene immediately if we catch her sneaking candy from her candy bag.) Her favorite candy is Fun Dip. She also loves yogurt, enchiladas, Kansas Dad's barbecue ribs or chicken, PawPaw's macaroni and cheese, Doritos and Cheetos (sigh), muffins, apples, peaches, canned mandarin oranges, and baked blueberry oatmeal. Her favorite vegetable is canned green beans.

She still loves the craft box more than just about anything else. Give her some glue and free access and she'll be happy for hours (and leave lots of little pieces of paper under the table). She will create truly amazing and interesting pictures. (Kansas Dad has an impressive Jesus on the crucifix surrounded by cotton balls hanging in his office.) She's incredibly generous with these, wanting to mail them to whoever catches her fancy.

She has memorized a prayer asking St. George to pray for us because it includes a specific place to mention intercessions. She has been praying each night that my back would get better for over a year now and also prays almost daily for the former librarian of our local library with whom she shares a name.

She is currently enamored of birds. She loves to pore over books about birds from the library, especially birds of prey. She also recently scoured an animal encyclopedia from my own childhood (and a beloved book it was!) to discover a bird we saw at the zoo and could not identify.

She is always the first to find the praying mantis or walking stick outside our windows or in the yard. She doesn't have any interest in drawing them, being too frustrated by what to her is an obvious inability to express in pencil when she sees with her eyes. She has a camera, though, and often takes (too-close, out-of-focus) pictures of wildlife she finds.

Second Daughter is the "strawberry monster" and is the most consistent of the children in searching the strawberry patches for the few fruits they have this time of the year. Sometimes she just eats them, but she's just as likely to present them to a loved one as a special treat.

Oh, she loves to play games! Some of her favorites are Sleeping Queens, There's A Moose In The House, Hoot Owl Hoot, and Skippity. She'd love to play just about any game with you, though.

Her favorite toys are Playmobil, anything Playmobil, but especially girls and boys and toys and playgrounds and moms and dads and baby animals. She received quite a few Playmobil sets for her birthday. She and First Daughter play for hours with them. I appreciate how they encourage open-ended play and tell myself all those small pieces are excellent for fine motor control, until I step on one.

Usually, Kansas Dad makes a pancake as big as your head when it's your birthday, but Second Daughter didn't want that. Instead, she dropped lots and lots of chocolate chips on her pancake and we let her eat it with chocolate syrup.

For some inexplicable reason, Second Daughter insisted she wanted a dog bone cake for her birthday. The benefit of this desire is that I could make it myself. (I've been farming out cake-making to various friends the past few years; cake decorating is not something in which I am skilled or even interested in learning).

I did have to invest in a dog bone shaped pan, so if you live nearby and have a need, you know where you can find one.

She had asked last year for a pinata at her birthday party just a few days before the party, long after I was planning to buy anything else, so I told her she could have one when she turned six. She did not forget! She wanted one shaped like a puppy, but I couldn't find one and didn't want to order one online, so I took her to the store and let her pick whatever she wanted: a party hat.

We've recently started school and Second Daughter started kindergarten. She could have started last year, but wasn't very interested and she was so young. So we waited and I am very pleased. She's happily learning to read, is delighted to take out the salt box for her writing, and loves her saint book (My First Book of Saints) and Aesop's Fables for Children. She'll be singing with our parish children's choir for the first time this year and attending children's adoration while I teach a Catechesis class. Hopefully all of that time with Jesus will bless her (and us).

I'm looking forward to a fabulous year with Second Daughter. Many blessings to her!

First Day of School Pictures

These are a few weeks old now, but it seems like the blog would be incomplete without them.

Second Son is four years old and will mostly be getting into trouble. I have Making Music Praying Twice (not an affiliate link) for him, though I don't intend to start until Advent. He'll be in my Level 1 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class and listening to family read-alouds like The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Second Daughter is six and will be in kindergarten this year. She has a late July birthday so we waited a year to start formal school. She's very excited to learn to read!

First Daughter is seven years old (soon to be eight!) in second grade this year and is most excited about preparing for her First Reconciliation in December and her First Communion in March.

First Son is ten years old and starting fifth grade. He'll be learning about the human body this year and starting a writing course of study. He'll also be in the first cohort of Level 3 students in our parish's Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. So exciting!

The first day of school was a little rough, but it's been better since then. Let's hope it's all uphill the rest of the year!

Book Review: The Drama of Scripture

The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen

This year, the children and I are cycling back around to Volume 1 of Connecting with History, Old Testament and Ancient History. I asked Kansas Dad for recommendations in placing the Old Testament in the context of history and this is the book he recommended. He uses it in his theology courses.

This book is not written by Catholics, but the text is still valuable. I noticed one reference to Jesus's siblings (which of course Catholics would say were cousins). Also, the books of Maccabees are placed in the intertestamental period rather than the Old Testament. Interestingly, though, the authors never explicitly say the books of Maccabees are non-Biblical, and they present the content of those books with as much authority as those they cover in the Old Testament section. Also, the appendix in the back that lists all the references used in the course of the book includes 1 and 2 Maccabees without even an asterisk. So in some ways, it is perhaps more Catholic than I expected.

Basically, the book presents the historical thread of Scripture as a single story, combining the events of all the books of the Bible. The goal is to see the overall picture of God's work on earth and his plan for all of creation, including ourselves.

One of the aspects of the book I found most helpful was the authors' ability to explain the understanding of the Jewish people of the Scriptures as they were handed down and how that understanding (or misunderstanding) was addresses by Jesus in his teachings and in the moments of his ministry selected and emphasized by the writers of the Gospels. Lots of sources tell a bit of what life was like in Jesus's time, but this book incorporated all of Old Testament history to generate a picture of the Hebrew people as a whole, including those areas in which there was debate and disagreement.

The church of the first century is almost two thousand years removed in time and (for most of us) half a world away in distance...The biblical accounts of how all these different people struggled to live faithfully in their distant times and places may seem to have little to do with you and me.

Yet it is not so. The world of the Bible is our world, and its story of redemption is also our story. This story is waiting for an ending--in part because we ourselves have a role to play before all is concluded...We must resist the temptation to read the Scriptures as if they were a religious flea market, with a basket of history and old doctrines here, a shelf full of pious stories there, promises and commands scattered from one end to the other.

The authors are interested in convincing their readers to integrate the story of Scripture into their lives, not just on Sundays or during a prayer time, but throughout their days. We are participating in God's kingdom already come but not yet complete.

Salvation is not an escape from creational life into "spiritual" existence: it is the restoration of God's rule over all of creation and all human life.

Because our own culture is very different from that in which Jesus and the apostles ministered, we must be creative in how to understand and carry out that continuing mission today.

Witness will mean embodying God's renewing power in politics and citizenship, economics and business, education and scholarship, family and neighborhood, media and art, leisure and play...It means that the way we live as citizens, consumers, students, husbands, mothers, and friends witnesses to the restoring power of God.

As I said, Kansas Dad uses this book in his university level courses, so it's written in an academic style. That doesn't mean it's impossible to understand for a layperson, just that there are a lot of quotes from academic theologians (those that publish in academic journals) versus popular theologians (those that write most of the books and do most of the touring around the country to speak at conferences for laypeople). There are lots and lots of endnotes, which makes me happy. It is a little dense for someone wanting to just sit down and read a bit now and then. I generally found I understood it better if I read it while the children were focused on something or in bed. Interruptions were problematic.


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