+ The New York Times ran an article about the Cameron Crazies losing their enthusiasm. How embarrassing! Their team isn’t even that bad this year. UNC students loyally went to games when we were 8-20 while I was a student. I vividly remember watching us lose to Davidson from decent seats. It was awful. But they are my team, win or lose. Get it together, dookies.
+ Veritas Press is giving out $5 gift certificates, and when you sign up they give you a referral link so any friend who signs up, you get another $5 added to your certificate. Sweet deal!
+ If you or someone you love plays Settlers of Catan, you should read
this article from comment about the evils that lurk within (and then this response from Christ & Pop Culture.)
+ So excited for Birmingham today between breaking ground on the new ballpark and Alabama Gives… we miss you, magic city.
Odds & Ends X
Filed under general
January Books
I have attempted this several times but never made it through a year. Let’s see if 2012 can be the year I write at least a sentence about every book I read!
Creation Regained
Bonhoeffer
The Fault in our Stars
I re-read Compassion, Justice & the Christian Life
Hippie Boy
I really wanted to like The Shaping of a Life
The Underdog
I wrote a full review of Give Them Grace
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
A Plea & a Freebie
If you have thought about ordering something from my etsy shop, now is the time to buy! Half the proceeds go to my friend Elizabeth’s adoption fund if you order before the month is through. Please spread the word if you know someone hankering for a cute gift or family rules, etc.
I made this printable for Valentine’s Day a few weeks back. I meant to make a few more, but to be honest, I am not sure if anyone uses them and there are lots of good ones other places on the web, so they tend to be low on my priority list.
Filed under design, free printables
Recipe Roundup 6
I have not been all that adventurous lately, but here are some recipes we’ve tried. You can find them all on my keepers board.
15-Minute Avgolemeno from Dinner, A Love Story started out a complete success. Until someone asked what was in it and the lemon flavor was then identified and determined to be inappropriate for soup. It is so quick and easy, we’ll try it again and see if taste buds can be worn down.
Beecher’s Mac & Cheese courtesy of Martha was, as it was billed, the world’s best (or at least the best one I have made.) I don’t make it very often but it feels good to have a go-to recipe when the need arises. It doubled well in a 13×9 for a potluck.
One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes from Martha are not the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever made, but they are pretty good, and they only dirty one bowl. So I’ve made them twice already.
Peanut Butter Icing from the Barefoot Contessa is just delicious on the cupcakes.
S’mores Bars from Bakers Royale were very good. Last year I threw some s’mores bars together rice krispie treat-style with golden grahams that I liked quite a bit, but these were tasty in a different way and very easy. I did use a lot more butter than called for, and the crust was still a little crumbly, so be sure to do that by feel rather than amount. I would make them again.
Filed under recipes
Did This Blog Peak in 2006? (and Other Insecure Questions)
I’ve been writing. Not everyday, but most days I spend an hour or more watching the cursor blink and choosing words.
The trouble is, I am not quite sure what to write. I finished a project that had me busy for weeks. With no deadlines on the horizon, I write for myself alone.
I keep thinking through different ideas in my head, hoping I am so compelled by one I can’t stop myself from writing it. Believing this drive will come, I wait.
As I do, I consider writing longer, better blog posts. In an effort to inspire myself, I decided to find some of my most popular blog posts to feature in my sidebar, perhaps shedding some light on my audience here (which has always surprised me.)
I knew that the advent of facebook and twitter had decreased my comment count significantly, but pulling up my posts ordered by comment count was overwhelmingly depressing. Pages and pages of posts with 20 or more comments five and six years ago, scrolling and clicking back in vain to find something current enough to feature.
The questions descend, like a flood. Why do I keep this blog anymore? Why do I write at all? Why can’t I come up with a marketable idea of what to be when I grow up? I’m a grown-up now, right?
Maybe this neurosis is the best sign that I need to keep on writing. Perhaps in writing I will find the answers that I long for, or more comfort in my questions.
Even in my insecurity, I know that people read this blog, even if they don’t comment, but I’ve never kept it for them, I keep it for me. It is a gift to have eleven years of life captured in blog posts. When I read them, I remember. Not just what I wrote about, but what I felt and what life was like, who I was. I am grateful for the time I have spent blogging and I carry on another day.
Filed under family life
Give Them Grace
Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Give Them Grace asks readers a very important question: how does believing the gospel change the way that you parent? Fitzpatrick asserts that if the way that we parent is the same as a devout Muslim or Jew, there must be something wrong. I think this is a paradigm shift that is very important for Christian parents, and one that I have been excited to see more and more of in books written in the last five to ten years.
The overall message of the book will be a balm to many readers. Resting in grace, parenting with humility, dependence on God, these are all messages that parents need to be reminded of. There are no guarantees and no quick fixes. Parenting is hard. I think many parents will find this an encouragement on many levels.
Because I have seen her books recommended in presbyterian circles so often, I was genuinely surprised by how un-covenantal this book was. (Fitzpatrick has a Sovereign Grace / Reformed Baptist background.) In the first several chapters alone, it talks many times about not presuming your children are regenerate, that they might pray a prayer just to please you and if they aren’t saved, they don’t have the Holy Spirit and therefore can’t obey God’s law from the heart. In examples of how to speak to a child, parents say things like “someday you’ll know how wonderful God is and how much he loves you.” Worse yet, speaking to an older child, “Because you don’t believe in Jesus’s love for you, your whole life will be spent trying to win and never being satisfied. And then you’ll have to stand before God, and all you’ll have is your record of failure. Striking out isn’t the worst thing that will ever happen to you. Living your life to win something other than Jesus is.” In example “scripts” there are different things to say to unbelieving versus believing children.
This is hard for me to read, even though I know that my children might turn away from God and need to be spoken to as an unbeliever, I think that it can be very confusing to children to speak to them as if they do not have faith. Let’s not encourage doubt or for them to question whether they “really” believe, let’s teach them to rest in God, as he is the author of their faith, anyway.
Though Fitzpatrick explains a fully orbed portrait of discipline that looks like discipleship, she uses the word “discipline” as a synonym for “spanking” which irks me. Parents say “I must discipline you” which is true generally, but what they mean is “I am choosing to spank you for this infraction.” It’s a pet peeve. Reading her model for talking to a child who defied his parent by not stopping playing when told it was time for dinner, shocked me. “If you believe that he has loved you and received punishment for you, then this kind of punishment will help remind you to live wisely, and the pain of it will soon be gone. But if you don’t believe in his great goodness, then the punishment you receive today will be just the beginning of a lifetime of pain. Today, you can ask for forgiveness, and I will forgive you, and if you ask him, so will the Lord. But if you wait, if you harden your heart and refuse to change, then a day will come when it will be too late to ask for forgiveness.” This sort of talk feels manipulative to me.
However, I appreciate the stand the authors have taken against forcing children to show repentance after being spanked. Many evangelical authors espouse this idea, and I know many adults who remember faking repentance and lying to avoid further punishment.
Many readers will appreciate the attempt at coupling of theology and a philosophy of parenting with more practical advice. I feel like I talk to my kids fairly theologically but the models were a stretch, and I couldn’t imagine talking to my children like that. However, it did incite me to think about how I would phrase a similar discussion, and that sort of premeditation is always helpful in parenting.
This is a good addition to the already crowded Christian Parenting shelves at bookstores, but I am still waiting for a book that I feel more comfortable recommending.
WFD Adoption Week
I’m doing an adoption fundraiser this week in the winged feet design etsy store. 50% off all sales — no codes necessary — will go to my friend Elizabeth‘s adoption fund.
I have known Elizabeth since before Lexi was born, we instantly bonded over being Carolina girls. She brought honestly and transparency to our Bible study as she shared about her struggles to get pregnant. And I loved her for it. Six and a half years later, she has two beautiful children and is in the process of adopting a third. A special needs boy they have named Charlie will be joining their family from China.
She is also making some great stuff to fund her adoption, check out her plum panda store for necklaces, wreaths, hair clippies, custom frames and more.
There are some new designs in my store (as you can see) and I’d love for you to order something this week!
Filed under design
The Gospel is Good News Indeed
The gospel is good news indeed,
To sinners deep in debt;
The man who has no works to plead,
Will thankful be for it.
To know that when he’s nought to pay,
His debts are all discharged,
Will make him blooming look as May,
And set his soul at large.
No news can be compared with this,
To men oppressed with sin;
Who know what legal bondage is,
And labor but in vain.
Freedom from sin and Satan’s chains,
And legal toil as well,
The gospel sweetly now proclaims;
Which tidings suit them well.
How gladly does the prisoner hear,
What gospel has to tell!
‘Tis perfect love that casts out fear,
And brings him from his cell.
The man that feels his guilt abound,
And knows himself unclean,
Will find the gospel’s joyful sound,
Is welcome news to him.
[WILLIAM GADSBY, 1773-1844]
Filed under theology
Red Tails
It may seem a little strange for George Lucas to self-finance an action movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. But it’s a true story with all the hallmarks of an epic tale: downtrodden heroes, lots of adversity, an enemy we love to hate. Red Tails makes for compelling film material.
For an epic tale, it is in many ways narrow in scope. There is little backstory. We begin in Italy, where black airmen are already flying missions. There is little to no information about their backgrounds and training, though it is obvious they are well-educated. There is some story on the ground, enough to keep the film moving and interesting. But it’s also cliched and a little cheesy in moments, in the ways you’d probably expect. And that’s okay.
Take one part Star Wars and one part Top Gun and you’ve got the feel for the battles in-flight. I am not a big action fan, but I enjoyed them.
Red Tails is not going to win many awards. But it’s the kind of movie that needs to keep being made. In a nation full of reality television vapidity, Red Tails is a movie that exposes people to true American heroes who embodied excellence and were willing to sacrifice everything for a country all too ready to count them out. The Tuskegee Airmen were men of courage and of faith. This film honors their memory and is the sort of story that inspires and will continue to do so for many years as children watch it for the first time and are inspired to learn more about their history.
Lucas has mentioned that as he contemplated the project for over two decades, he eventually envisioned the story as a trilogy (surprise, surprise!) However strange it sounds, I would love to see a prequel made that explains the background and training of the men before they reach Europe. A sequel that shows what happens when they return home would also make a worthwhile film. Though Red Tails does stand alone, it feels incomplete, there is just so much story left to be told.
I’d commend Red Tails to you and I think it is more family friendly than the rating (PG-13) implies. The language is pretty clean and the romance is not nearly as racy as 90% of PG-13 movies. (I am happy to describe it for you if you are curious / worried.) The rating is for the violence of war, which is less gruesome in the air than other combat movies. Red Tails opens tomorrow in theaters nationwide.
Filed under movies
