Trying New Things

Today I am jumping in feet first to a couple of meme's I have been seeing around recently. Merely click on the buttons to see the fine blogs at Half Past Kissing Time and Ordinary and Awesome.


In the spirit of trying these blogs let me tell you about some things me and mine have tried this summer either for the first time or the first time in a long time. I will also throw in a lucyism for good measure.

I am 44 years old, I'll be 45 in September and for the first time in my life I am doing flips off the diving board. I have always been a diving board guy but was always afraid to put the flip in my repertoire. So I'd do a dive, or cannon ball that sort of thing. Now The diving board is basically a 14 and below area at our pool. But for whatever reason kids treat me like a peer at the pool. Three year olds I have never met, star conversations with me without the slightest encouragement by me. K-2nd graders recruit me to assist on their sand crations and tweeners give me dive suggestions. So earlier this year, after I did an especially wicked can opener this kid said "hey, you should do a flip." I was like no way. But the kid would not relent. So I tried one. A flip is ridiculously easy to do, just bend your head down when exiting the board. My flips are not pretty, but I have only back flopped once. I enjoy doing them, and wonder why I didn't take the plunge long ago.

Speaking of which, our pool has an awesome tube slide. All manner of parents take their toddlers and up on double and triple tubes. Amy and I love tubing but one of us has to be with the kids so we don't ever get to go together. cannot get any of my kids to go with me so I usually just have to ride the single tubes. That is until Yesterday. I decided to just go on the body slide with Emma a few times, since that is something she enjoys. We couldn't go down together but we walked up the stairs together and took turns as to who would go down first. After we went up and down a few times Emma decided she wanted to go down the tubes. We went separately a couple times and then we went together. Emma loved it. She went on about 25 more times before we left. The Mom of a 3 year old even asked her to take her daughter with her. On the way home, she was like "I love going on the tubes" and I was like "I thought you would that's why I've been trying to get you on them the past 6 years." She then said something telling, she said she'd spent most of that time trying to get the courage to go on. It was a happy time at the father daughter bonding society, that's for sure.

Charlie and I discovered at a father child camp out that we both love archery. He tried it a few years ago and didn't fair too well. But was a quick study to it, this time around. It had been 23 years since I had done any archery, and I could have shot arrows all day long.

Lucyism: While Emma, Charlie and I were camping on Saturday, Lucy kept on repeating to Amy that when she was done being home schooled she wanted to be gone schooled.

So that's it for my first foray into Fragmented Free writing on Fridays. To see how it's really done click on the buttons above. You may want to try something new and participate.

Next Time: A weekend of longing.

African Tulips

Today's review is Glory Road: The Journey of 10 African Americans into Reformed Christianity. At this time, I do not attend either an African American church nor a church that is based solely on the doctrines of Grace. I would have to say having attended both kinds of churches in the past, I would be very comfortable in either of those institutions.

The basic structure of the book is that each of the ten men pictured on the cover is given one chapter to tell their story. Interwoven through their life story and conversion experience is how reformed theology has impacted their life and ministry.

Sometimes a book with 10 different authors can feel segmented and difficult to follow. Anthony J. Carter the editor and one of the 10 essayists does an excellent job imbuing the book with a cohesive energy.

Many of the authors discuss the acrostic TULIP which explains the 5 points of Calvinism (Calvinism, Reformed Theology and Doctrines of Grace are all used interchangeably through the book,) T stands for Total Depravity , U Unconditional Election, L limited atonement, I Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. The authors do a good job of putting meat on that flower. So I will gladly let them unpack it for you.

I told my wife that the theology in this book was readable. She took that as a slam on the writing, when I meant the exact opposite. Some theology books read like stereo instructions. When Louis Love Jr., for example, uses theological terms like soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) or says regeneration is monergistic (the work of God alone) he defines those terms immediately. Instead of referring to the 5 solas and the TULIP acrostic, Anthony Bradley defines them in easy to follow terms.

The ten authors came from varied backgrounds and came to embrace the doctrines of grace in different ways. Four distinct elements permeate these journeys:

1) Modern day authors and preachers like J.I. Packer, James Montgomery Boice, R.C. Sproul, John Piper and others had an influence on these men's theology through books, magazine articles, radio programs and conferences.

2) The historical impact of men such as John Calvin, John Bunyan, John Owen and others (some not even named John) had a steadying influence in their journey.

3) Reformed Theology had a practical and personal application to their lives and was not just some academic discipline.

4) As Anthony Carter implies in the title of the afterward these men are black, reformed but foremost Christian.

When I first heard of Glory Road I was intrigued. Now that I have completed my journey of digging into this excellent tome, my initial curiosity has blossomed into a deep respect for this assemblage of pastors. I really appreciated the fine appendix that will give those interested in pursuing these matters further, books and authors (like those mentioned above) a suitable starting point.

I hope you found this review helpful. This is just one of many fine reviews being featured at the 23rd Book Review Blog Carnival at Bart's Bookshelf. To see all my Library Thing Early Reviewer reviews click here.

Next Time: Trying New Things

Reading Programs

As you can probably tell by our posts about libraries and the many book reviews on these pages, our family loves to read.

Reading in many ways is its own reward. It is also something that our children don't need a lot of motivation to do. Those who read do so with an insatiable voracity, and those not yet reading are constantly wanting to be read to. There are several programs we participate in that reward us for reading and as they say in these parts, that works for us. Here are a few we've used in the past year:

Six Flags

We found out about this through other home schoolers. If your children from K-6th grade read or were read to for 6 hours non school assignment books, they earned a free ticket to Six Flags. I blogged about this particular program earlier. The catch of this program is that pre-school children and 7th grade and above do not qualify. Nor do the adults taking the children. It still is a good reward for what our kids were going to do anyway.

Book It.

Pizza Hut sponsors a reading program for grades K-6. The teacher sets the monthly goals based on the student's reading ability. Once they meet the goal for the month the teacher gives them a certificate for a free personal pan pizza. The program runs from October through March. Public, Private, Parochial and Home Schooled children can all participate. My kids love this reading program. Our local Pizza Hut has the best waitress in the world who is always great at remembering us and the program.

Local Library Programs.

Summer Book Clubs are a library staple. Our local library always does a great job. They have summer reading programs for all ages. Amy and I are doing the adult program, and our kids are doing, well, the kids program. Each year they get several coupons for free or reduced priced retailers like free ice cream from McDonald's and a free buffet from Old Country Buffet. They also get a free book and several library programs including a special program for all club finishers.

Book Store Programs.

Every few years we participate in the Barnes and Noble program. Borders and Half Priced Books also have Summer reading programs, although we have not participated in them.

Emma liked the B&N program where you read 8 books and get 1 free (No Purchase needed) so much she wrote a song (To the tune of Alouette):

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Barnes & Barnes

Our local Minor League baseball team also has a summer reading program called Ozzie's Reading Club (Ozzie the Cougar is their mascot.) The teacher's determine the amount of books each student needs to read to advance to each base. Students hitting a "home run" earn a free ticket to a home game. We have not participated in the program ourselves, but have heard great things about it. Check to see if your local sports teams have such a program.

Summer Reading Programs definitely work for us. To see what other things are working out there, head over to We Are That Family for this weeks edition of Works For Me Wednesday.

This article is one of many excellent articles included at the Carnival of Homeschooling: We've Got Style edition hosted this week at Home School Bytes.

Next Time: African Tulips

Guest Post by Amy Roller - Book Review

Dave's been promising a garden update. Our home garden is doing fine, tons of tomatoes on the horizon. But the following book review is more pressing at the moment. :)

This all came at me from left field, but now I want to run with it. Last week, we went to Hinsdale, IL for a field trip with some other homeschool families. My dad grew up in Hinsdale, so I was familiar with the area, and knew the location was right near the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. I had no idea what we were going to be doing, but I thought it was a farm tour. It ended up being a tour of a lovely woman's garden at her home. It was a two hour tour, that flew by, during which we encountered the most beautiful layout of God's creation that I've ever seen. And the lovely woman, Trudi Temple, was a treasure to behold. I just wanted to stand next to her to absorb her life force. Prior to this field trip, I had never heard of her, and knew nothing about her other than her passion for gardening (i.e., she spends three weeks in the fall/winter uprooting tropical plants to bring them inside for the winter, then another three weeks in the late spring, replanting them into their homes.) When we got home, I re-read the email we received about the field trip, and it mentioned something about the book this woman had written. I didn't even know her last name! My daughter Emma said, "I think it's Temple, because there was a sign on the house with that name." So I went to Amazon and looked her up. Lo, and behold, she has written a book that appeared to be about gardening. From the cover, it looks like it's going to be chock full of gardening tips, secrets, and how-to's. I was in for a surprise. Actually two surprises. If you know me at all, you know I don't buy books, I get them from the library. I ordered this book from the library, and when I got the call that it was in, I was very excited. Dave said he'd stop by the library on the way home from running other errands. When he got home, he presented me with a signed copy of her book, my own copy. I was happy, because I knew it would contain pictures to remind me of her beautiful gardens. However, her book, Trudi's Garden, is hardly about gardening at all. It's a tale of a young girl growing up in war-torn Germany, and the sheer determination it took to survive, thrive, and live an amazing life. And she is the founder of Market Day! I grew up on Market Day that my mom ordered. I couldn't believe it, I had listened to this woman talk about life and her garden (they can't be separated) for two hours, and she never mentioned Market Day. You know, that fundraiser at schools, churches, and park districts? She started it to raise money for missions, to help people, and even though she doesn't do much of the operating of Market Day anymore, she still raises money for solar ovens for Africa by giving tours of her gardens. This woman is amazing, and the book is a precious gift. It even includes some delectable-looking recipes from her childhood, which I will hasten to try! It is co-written by Laurie Bohlke, and I highly recommend that you all order it immediately from your library!! Or even do what Dave did, drive down to Anderson's Bookshops, in Naperville, and get a copy. If you're not in Illinois, go to their website and order a copy! This is a must-read!

Next Time: Reading Programs