A Classic

"Why is she locked up inside the attic like that?"

Violet's words came from the couch as she sat watching the movie.

"She's insane, so he keeps her up there so she won't hurt anybody;

he has a care-giver up there for her so she won't hurt anybody or herself,"
I answered from the ironing board.

"What makes a person go insane like that?"

her questions seemed to come one right after another.

She had watched this movie already and was watching it again,

better understanding it this time, but wanting to understand those parts that had bothered her.

"There are different reasons for a person going insane,"

I paused as to which direction to go with this.
  I always try to find ways to condense information so that I don't lose my kids in big dialog.  It is a tricky conjuring up of rapid, precise information.

"Sometimes it is genetic, like in her case.  That means it was in her body from her mom or dad.

Her mother was insane, and they didn't tell him that when he married her.

Sometimes it can be caused by environment or things we eat or drink.

Eating too much junk or not getting the right nutrition for the body can make a person's body go off track."

I stopped for a minute to hand a crayon to Lillie who was asking for a pink one.

 I could see it had fallen and rolled by my feet.

Violet took this momentary lapse to ask another,
"Environment?

What do you mean by that?"

The hot iron was picked up again and swept the material as I answered,

"Environment means the situation or surroundings around you.

It's like the Romans that we are studying in history right now.

Some historians say many of them got lead poisoning because of the way they cooked in certain pots and pans or because of the piping that they used for their water.

When a metal in the body or even minerals become out of balance by having too much of it,

it can cause the brain to not function correctly."

"Another example is that there used to be a lot of lead used in paint."
I continued.

People who inhaled the dust from the paint that chipped off,

or little children who ate the paint chips that would flake off the windows were beginning to have problems and they linked it to the lead in the paint.

Aluminum pans is another one that can cause problems in the brain.

All of these large amounts of minerals and metals and different substances can cause problems in our bodies

because God made the body sensitive and we need to be careful what we put into it.

Sometimes, insanity can even be a spiritual thing, if a person fools with things of the devil.

There are different reasons for insanity,

but the thing was, he took care of her as best he could.

Others in that situation might have sent her away or even let her starve since she couldn't understand much of what was going on."

I could tell by the silence that she was thinking again.

"Why wouldn't Jane marry Mr. Rochester?  Why did she leave and not let him know where she was going?"

 This was a hard question, to try to sum up a person's hard choice to do what was right
even when it seemed so hard.

"She was not willing to go against her conscience." I summed up.
  "Once she found out he was married,

she knew she could not marry him.  She knew that deep in her heart,
she had to do what she knew was the right thing to do because she didn't want to live with the consequences of making a wrong choice.
Happiness doesn't come from things, or a big house, or jewelry,

or even marrying a man who loves you and you love him.

Happiness comes from doing what is right, even when it is really hard to do that.

That takes courage.  And she chose it."

 

"We all will have hard choices and you have to choose at that time what you will do.
We all make mistakes and God will always forgive us, and that is something important to never forget;
but there are consequences to the choices we make."

"It was hard." I agreed.  "It made her sad for a long time.

But God sees when we choose to do right and eventually she did end up happy again,

far happier than she would have been had she chosen to go against her conscience.

Sometimes, we may have to go through being sad,

but God sees the future and we have to trust that.

Back then, marriage was seen differently than today.

People who were married were married for life.  That is the way God intended it, even though that may be hard to have to live with sometimes, like it was for Mr. Rochester."

 I hadn't ironed for very long before she piped up again:

"That woman that liked Mr. Rochester, the rich one, she was so pretty,

and Jane is so plain.  I thought men liked beautiful women.  Why would he love Jane over her?"

 

I smiled at her thoughts, the heralded praise of beauty that is so often pushed on us,

all around us,

was being challenged by this story.

"The truth is, Violet, beauty is much more than what a person looks like.

What would be more pleasant to live with:

a plain person who smiles and sings and laughs and plays and is kind,

or a beautiful person who is mean and angry and hurtful?

Ugly manners and choices makes a beautiful person ugly.

Right character and choices can make a very plain person beautiful.

Men see that too, usually, sometimes not right away, but usually, eventually.

  It is tricky because men are created to be drawn to beauty

because that is the way God made them,

but they have to balance that with seeing the person on the inside,

or they may be stuck for the rest of their lives with a woman who makes their life unhappy."

 

Later, as the segments continued on, she came and said,

"Did you see how Jane acted when she found out she had inherited all that money

and she wasn't poor anymore.  She acted like it wasn't important.

But when she found out she was cousins of the people at Gateshead where she was staying,

she was so excited and happy.

Why would she be more excited about having three cousins than about being rich?"

"Well, let me ask you." I responded,
  "What would you feel like if you didn't have any relatives at all:

no parents,

no grandparents,

no sisters or brothers,

no aunts or uncles

(besides the really mean ones like she had lived with as a child),

no cousins,
not even any close friends,
nobody.

You were completely alone in this life.

What good would money be to you if you had nothing much to do with it,

nobody to do anything with or use it for,
except maybe to strangers who might need it more than you?

It would just be paper that could buy you stuff.

What if you found out suddenly that you had family,

that the people you were living with and had grown to love were actually cousins.

You would go from having absolutely nobody,

 to having family.

That is something that money cannot buy or fill.

Money may seem like everything to people,

but when you really sit down and think about it,

it is just paper,

just something to get you things,

but it can't buy you love, friends, or family.

Honestly, it cannot buy happiness;

it cannot buy peace with God."


Later after she'd gone to bed, I thought of these and other conversations this story had brought up:
.

a movie...from a classic.

Jane Eyre was a book I had to read in one of the teen years of my schooling.

I remember it very well because it stirred up in me many of these same questions,

issues that challenged so many different elements in life.

I thought of all the different things we had covered in just a few hours of a movie based on a classic

and I thought about our current educational dilemma.

So many of the classics are being pushed out,

seen as being 'out of touch' with the current generation

and it made me wonder:

can we ever really be out of touch with these things

or will we cause our future generations to fall below the richness of finding the simple truths to true happiness?

Are we fooling ourselves into accepting a faulty counterfeit to happiness.


"My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

² For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

³ Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

⁴ So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

⁷ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

⁸ It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Proverbs 3:1-8

Questions...

"How do you know?"

It is a question she asks a lot lately.
We had several of these discussions in the summer when school was out and our schedule seemed more freed up for casual talk.

She asked it sincerely.

Where did I acquire the knowledge and how do I know it is right?

I am, after all, one in billions.

Answers come, but they always seem shortened.

How do I wrap up 40 years of life experiences, lessons learned, knowledge gained, prayers answered, forgiveness felt, books read...

and give an answer in just a few sentences?

It is the plight of parenthood, I presume.

So I give her a few tidbits,

praying they will be enough until another time.

I worry that overfeeding can do more damage if she isn't inclined to come back to talk.

"Give me your wisdom, Lord.

Guide my mouth and give me the words that she needs to hear."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When I opened the box of school books we would be using that first week of school back in September and rummaged through them,

my eyes fall on the lesson plans for the first weeks.

I see the questions she asked, 

and that we will be learning all about them.

The information there is much more than what I gave,
and from a different perspective.

I give thanks that God sees and hears when hearts seek Him,

little and big.

 I am thankful that His ability to give answers is far greater than mine.

A Pile of Beans.

I wanted to post a blog last night,

but I was lost in a pile of vegetables.

Even this crew was lost in them.

 The auction and a local Amish market was too enticing yesterday with the fall weather and a sunny day.

While I was busy with the broccoli, cauliflour, and peppers,

lettuce, and turnips,

two cases of lima beans were being snapped.

 By the time they were done, we had 10 quarts of limas.

 Violet showed me what those two full boxes seemed like before snapping.

 Of course, when they were done, it turned into this:

Their father told them how he has memories of helping his granddad shell limas,

a sweet memory for him.

I hope the memory of all working together someday will bring the same.

Word Game...with Pictures.

There is nothing like a good game around the dinner table.

We were working on one tonight.

Violet thought up a few.

The other two tried, but, 

well, it might be a few years for them.

The farmer even got into it, and he SAYS he doesn't like games...

but we all know how those kind can sneak into the fun.

Here are a few:

Combine feline

and the appendage sticking out back from the torso of an animal.

 What is the answer?

Cattail.

Here's another:

If you combine studiously using the brain

with hat,

what do you get?

Yes, that is a thinking cap.

What about a boy cow

 and an amphibian from the pond.

Did you guess bull frog?

This one might be hard:

 mubbling and stumbling on words...

 

 and the key above "A."

Answer:

 Bumble bee.

 Here's another: 

Charlotte, friend of Wilbur.

Duck's feet.

 Spider web.

A couple more:

Eyes closed, body lying down resting.

The faces of flowers
(hint: she changed the beast with a kiss).

 

 Why, sleeping beauty, of course!
(Two of them, actually.  No beasts here.)

 What do you get when you combine:

the chips in cookies,

 and moo juice.

Chocolate milk.

Alright.  Last one.

This one is three parts:

Combine smiling,

the time of year when we harvest apples and pumpkins,

and addressing a group if you're from the south.

Can you think of any?

Linking to:
Minettesmaze.blogspot.com
Themodestmomblog.com
Bystephanielynn.com

When Two or Three Gather...Even on the Telephone.

Sometimes, when God reminds me how much He wants to hear from me,

He is so incredible:

it's almost hard to believe He would answer in such a way.

Often, it is easy for me to forget the power of prayer.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The first time I was asked on the phone if I had a prayer request I wanted to have prayed over,

it seemed awkward and strange.

It isn't that I don't pray.  I have prayed with my friends before, my family, my kids,

but when somebody you don't know asks on the phone if you want to pray about something,

it just kind of feels...

different.

I remember I had a friend in college who would sit on the phone with her head bowed

and when I asked her one time what she was doing,

she explained to me that whenever she called home, her dad always prayed with her.

I thought that was pretty neat.

When my husband was hired by his job,

there was no health insurance included for us,

so we had to find something.

Health insurance shopping can be daunting.

I had a friend who told me about a sharing program she was in:

Christians came together under an agreement to give a certain amount of money each month

toward the needs of each other.  There was different sharing programs depending on how much help you wanted toward the deductible, etc.  Those involved were of the same faith

and because of this, certain life behaviors were expected of each other,

cutting out a lot of the problems like smoking, drinking, and living promiscuously can bring with them.

I joined this health sharing program and have used it for several years now.

 

There is a place for prayer requests on their website;

they realize and prioritize the power of prayer.

I found that whenever I called about a question or something,

the worker on the other end of the line always ended the phone call asking if I had any specific prayer requests and if I would have time for a prayer.

I had a call to make today about a blood test I took for a healthy incentive program they offer.

At the end of the call, the question came.

 Last time, she prayed for my day home-schooling.

I can always use prayer for that.

Today was a day of going to the dentist.

We had put off one of the kid's six month check-up,

and now they had scheduled both the kids for the same time,

so as to save on gas and get two done with no extra waiting time.

I had called about what it was going to cost and warned my husband.

We go to a dentist who uses the safest methods of dentistry,

digital x-rays, white fillings, and he is very good with the kids,

does excellent, quick work.  I really feel confident in him.

Considering all this, his prices are good, but dentists aren't a gallon of milk and a dozen of eggs these days.  Having two go in at once was twice the pill to swallow.

"Can you pray for our dentist trip today?

My kids don't always have the best results from cleanings: it seems there is always something that needs to be fixed.  It can be hard to take sometimes."

The lady on the other end agreed and her prayer asked that God would be with our dental trip,

that he would give us a good day and cause our visit to be one that wouldn't be hard,

that the financial consequences would be minimal.

It was a specific prayer, and I again had that feeling,

almost a cringing inside,

"Should I really be bothering God about teeth?"

I always have this bad habit of thinking He must be so busy with things that are 

really important.

The kids disappeared into adjacent rooms

and I pulled out a sketchbook to work on a few things on my mind.

Lillie drew and then watched part of a movie.

When the kids emerged with their new toothbrushes and flossers,

I got up and went around to pay the bill.

"No cavities today.

Everything looks great.

No charge today, either." 

she said with a smile.

"Wait a minute.

What was that?"

I thought I had heard wrong.

"No charge.  Your sister-in-law came in with you for a reference,

and her family.  We have a $50 credit policy for each person you refer.

In fact, you have credit toward your next visit."

I had no idea.

I did not know my sister-in-law was going to start going to our dentist

or that she had.  My mother-in-law must have told her about our dentist and given us the referral.  How generous!  What a sweet surprise!

I thought of how we needed to thank my Farmer's sister,

his mom,

but more importantly,

I instantly thought of that prayer.

She smiled, like the news was as fun for her to give me as the look on my face must have been.

As we drove toward home that afternoon,

I told Violet about the answered prayer.

"Perhaps we should call her up next time we need something else to be prayed for,"

Violet smiled, and I knew she knew as I did that the answer to the prayer was a gift from God.

Then we both had the same thought,

"Let me call Daddy," she said.

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Matthew 18:20

To see the lesson on painting this watercolor, click  >HERE<.

Sharing at:
Themodestmomblog.com

Same Mess, Different View.

My kitchen for the last few weeks...

well,
it isn't pretty.

"You bit off more than you can chew."

It's a common enough phrase, but what if it feels more like sometimes is,

somebody threw the pie into my face,

no, threw four pies into my face,
one after another,

and then handed me a napkin to clean up the mess.

It all has limited life,

counter life to be more exact,

or floor life.

It is a race against the ever breeding fruit flies,

the power of the invisible spatters of the creeping corrosion of mold.

 

 None of it will wait long.

It all demands immediate recognition and care.

And yet, still life goes on.

The little humans demand constant feeding and care.

Somehow, three square meals are supposed to go into their little bellies,
although with as much as they eat, they don't seem so little.

The big human needs his meals as well.

The magnificence of a pristine kitchen is a dream that only those colorful magazines

and homes where the people live somewhere else all day long must possess.

Someday I will have a kitchen that doesn't look like a zookeeper's workshop.

The son calls from the other room.

His dinosaur domino kit is frustrating him and he wants some help.

The oldest is beckoned to fill in for the steamy, sticky-faced kitchen maid.

The assortment of single socks that Violet has weeded out of the clean laundry for me waits in a pile.  Without their missing mates, she leaves them on the couch unsure of further direction.

  The couch wears a temporary "slip cover" since the other has been forced to take that trip to the mountain in the basement where the washer forever trudges through it's daily spins.

 Other sorted and folded pieces await their final trip up the stairs.
Little bodies are limited in their hauling abilities, so this rests on my shoulders.

I groan at the thought.

 Craft projects litter the ironing board...

while others cover the table.

 The molding fruit is sorted and tossed; the good is cooked,

stirred, a hot and tiresome job with the many others still looming and silently shouting,
"Process ME!  Process ME!"

 

The fruit is then dumped into the bag to drip,

splattering sticky purple drops in precarious heights hinged on thin legs.

 

I sigh.

Messes, messes, everywhere.

How does one ever conquer.

Then I see this.

And I realize that maybe my view of things should be...

different.

Maybe my view is spoiling the fruit that is all around me.

A garden that produced well so that we will have food for the winter as well on our tables today, yesterday, and tomorrow.

 

Organic peaches an Amish woman was willing to sell for a reasonable cost:

an unexpected happiness.

I had given up on ever finding organic peaches.

 Food for supper:

most of it we have grown ourselves,

but just the fact that we have food for supper,

something not everyone in the world has,

is something to give thanks for.

 A kitchen:

I have a kitchen:

I have a stove that works,

I have electricity to make it work,

I have counters to work on,

a floor to stand on,

I have food to cook,

I have the ability to cook.

It may not look beautiful all the time,

but it is.

My kitchen is beautiful.

 I have kids who want me to help them

who like for me to play with them.

They create things

 and that is far better than sitting idly and having to be entertained by somebody else in a digital box.

 Their messes are temporary schools of learning that will someday turn into something useful

and if I squint really hard, they are actually colorful.

The tiny pieces all over the floor

are plastic raindrops of colorful happiness.

(Okay, that may be slightly overstated about the ones on the floor,

especially when I step on them and have then sticking to my bare feet;

but pretty colors: yes, I can say that.)

 

The kids do help and do their part;

they do their jobs, what they can.

 And we do have

 socks to keep our feet warm...

even the mixed pairs I occasionally find on my feet,

when necessity demands.

 We have clothes to wear and keep us warm,

a sizable assortment of them, actually.

 We have special treats, like berries that Levi loves to eat

and are so good for him,...

and the syrup they make will be a great treat in yogurt
and on pancakes.

 

They are bottled up treasures stored away for a time when I don't feel so overwhelmed in the steam of the kitchen.

A harvest of thanksgiving in September is certainly better

than having to 'beware of  grouch prosesing' in the kitchen.

Sometimes, I get lost in the steam of life's hot oven,

but there is a better way.

"Thou are good, and doest good;

teach me thy statutes."

Psalm 119: 68