Winter is Spelled B-O-O-K!

the skirts. Btw, I've used my camera
more than EVER before since
beginning to blog.=)

Well, projecting is happening here at the Hippie household. Out in the garage, Brian has a fleet of wooden boats assembled and ready for paint. Yesterday I cut out and sewed two skirts for Elsie for Christmas. One is a navy corduroy, and the other is a maroon kind of groovy print. How do I manage this while she is around? If she asks, I try to say, "don't you think Ruth will like it?" without perjuring myself by saying its not for her. I also started on two stockings-one for Elsie and one for Meredith. Meredith doesn't have one, and the one that Elsie has is not homemade, so she was feeling a bit left out. So I am monograming them with sequins, and adding sequins in other strategic places. Lots of bling.
Our family had two nights home in a row!!! (minus Brian on Wednesday) This is a major deal! Calm amidst the holiday chaos. I actually got to read, in bed, two nights in a row! I don't think this has happened since our family vacation in August or before. It was lovely! I am reading A Team of Rivals, a look at President Lincoln's cabinet. It is fascinating. Brian also read Lord of the Rings to all of us while I was sewing on sequins. I love hearing a story while I am doing handwork. As a matter of fact, if I am doing handwork, and not listening to a story, it feels like something is missing. My dad always read to us in the evenings and I would cross stitch or knit or do something. We finally finished the Fellowship of the Ring, and started Two Towers. I love these stories, and I am so glad the kids like them too.

off to a good start on Elsie's stocking

Meredith has been on a food rebellion. Here she is approaching 6 months, and she just wants to nurse. She is refusing to eat her cereal before bed. I don't know why. But I don't have much sympathy for her when she wakes up at 3:00 a.m. hungry. No sympathy, but I am still getting up and nursing her. What is it about old age, and leniency? I would have let the boys cry it out when they were at this age. Oh well...
Remember our science experiment last Friday? The ginger ale making...well, it worked. We cooked it, added yeast, let it ferment several hours, refrigerated it a couple days, and tried it out on Monday. It definitely carbonated itself like it was supposed to. What we aren't exactly sure about is it's alcohol content. A brewer friend of ours says it would take a few weeks to get alcoholic, but Brian read something about 2-3 days. And it does have quite the kick. Who knows, maybe I could start my own ginger beer distillery as a side business.=)

the infamous timeline

Speaking of school-today is our last day for 3 weeks!!! I am so excited! We are going to finish up Israel today. That would include distributing the boys' funds to their chosen missionary, and also making up the pages in our geography notebook. Since we've been parked on Lincoln for a while, I am going to have both boys write me a report about what they learned about him. We have been writing facts on our timeline, but this will be good too. The timeline facts have tended more to the zany side of things. Spelling tests, piano, and maybe a science experiment will conclude our fall semester. Its has been great. I don't think I've ever enjoyed school so much!
Since the boys finished up their picture biography of Lincoln, I've let them digress into Paddington Bear for their daily reading. Life according to Paddington is hilarious! If you have never read these stories, and if you enjoy a good laugh, I'd encourage you to check him out. Read them to your kids, or to yourself. Paddington gets into all kinds of scrapes from the goodness of his heart and it is just plain funny. I love hearing the boys laughing at his antics as they are reading. I don't worry about reading comprehension when they are laughing at what they are reading. You know they are "getting"it.

While in London, Brian
and I visited Paddington Bear
at Paddington Station.

Speaking of reading...yesterday marked the end of the 14th time that I've read through the Bible in a year. When I was 19, I read Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot. That was a life changing book for me in many ways. Reading about her time in college and how she read through the Bible every year, and had been for a while, I decided that if she could do it, so could I. And I have, ever since. I have had the same Bible every year, and it is now a familiar friend. Notes, underlined verses and I know where passages are on certain pages because I have seen them there many times. It is truly a blessing to be able to read, and to be able to read the Bible. To get daily direction. To learn about God-who He is, and what He has done. His eternal plan. And to learn about men (human)-our sin nature, redemption, how to serve and glorify God. What a book! Though I can identify with our speaker at church last Sunday. He was talking about reading through the Bible, and hitting the difficult passages. He listed all my NOT favorites...the second half of Exodus, Leviticus, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and even First Chronicles. But, as you read through the Bible regularly, these passages at least become a bit more familiar, if not enjoyable or particularly understandable. Its awesome. I get to finish up the year reading through my absolute favorite book, Psalms!
Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type printing in the 1440s. This invention allowed books to be published quickly (compared to fixed type, or even hand written). It opened up a world of discovery for the common man. I don't think it is a coincidence that the Gutenberg press predates the Reformation. One of the first things Mr. Gutenberg published was the Bible. When the Word of God is available and read, the Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts, and people are born again, to serve the Living God. Lives are changed. How blessed we are to live in this century when we have so many books, and the Bible! In many formats! And what a shame to not avail ourselves of its wisdom everyday!

Oh yes, this is the book of Books, the B-I-B-L-E!