Good morning!
What’s on your mind?
I have a question. 2 parts.
What book besides the Bible is the one you would most like to see all children read?
And why?
Quote of the Day
“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.”
Abraham Lincoln
Wandering Views 
I get to be first today!
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I am thinking about the QOD, but I don’t have an answer. As I think through the various children’s classics etc. I can’t think of one that I think children “can’t live without”. Maybe I’ve set the standard too high.
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Good morning Ajisuun!
Or whatever time it is there.
It doesn’t have to be a “must read”. Just whatever ones you think would be good for them, or ones you enjoyed as a child yourself.
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I’m going to buy The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for my great grandson for this Christmas. A good introduction to Christian concepts.
About senior in high school, The Pilgrim’s Progress. A classic about the Christian life.
Both are interesting and worthwhile.
Every adult American should read God’s War on Terror by Walad Shoebat.
That’s not the only one, but they should read it.
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Funny the question should be about books. I am reading a really good book and if I were the sort to highlight important passages most of the book would be highlighted right now. The problem is that I am trying so hard to process what I am reading that I am not retaining anything. The other problem is that I don’t like noise. New Hubs and Old Daughter are both oblivious to the TV being on and can read and concentrate…I can’t.
I think every child should grow up with the security of love found in Guess How Much I Love You–“to the moon and back”, said Big Nutbrown Hare.
I think everyone should understand from The Velveteen Rabbit that only love can make you real and sometimes you loose all your fur and your stuffing is coming out, but by that time it just doesn’t matter…a child has loved you and made you real.
I think every man should just once in his life read a steamy romance novel so that he can understand to a degree how women think. I recommend Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. The female character is in an abusive relationship. Luckily she is from a wealthy family and the last time her husband beats her, her brother sends the company plane to pick her up and bring her home. The male character loves her and treats her well enough to heal the emotional wounds and allow her to love again.
To be fair I think every woman should pick up a traditionally “male” book and see what makes men tick—nothing—they just like action. Think Robert Ludlum.
There are classics that should be read as well. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a great place to start, but what about Silas Marner, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, All the Kings Men….? The list goes on and on……
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The Little Engine That Could is a definite for the youngest. Others have mentioned some really good selections also. I would add Robinson Crusoe and second Chas’ opinion on Pilgrim’s Progress. These three to me are musts for the younger, middle and older ages.
The Little Engine That Could inspires the child to do more than they might think they are able, and encourages thinking of the needs of others and how a person can help. Robinson Crusoe is inspirational in showing the provision of God (Providence); it helps the child envision independent life without parents; it teaches resourcefulness and ingenuity with available materials; and, it teaches of the desire and need we all have for communication with other people. Pilgrim’s Progress is a wonderful allegory of the Christian life including the baggage people carry, the pitfalls, the people good and bad met along the way, and the ultimate destination.
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Good morning all,
QoD: I was thinking of older kids when I read the question. We have so many picture books that were faves with the kids and now the grandkids. But there were certain books that were required reading before our kids moved out of the house. The top three are: To Kill a Mockingbird, Cry, the Beloved Country, The Power of the Powerless.
TKAM-Deals with so many issues in a poignant way, but especially not being too quick to judge other.
CTBC-Deals with our worst sins come from our fears of what we don’t know and understand.
POTP-Deals with the sanctity of life and the value of every human soul.
All the books make human some groups that were ignorantly considered less than.
Adios
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For the youngest: I don’t really know. But an older child should read Pilgrim’s Progress. Other than that, perhaps Bunyon’s lesser known Holy War.
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Why the Chimes Rang and Other Stories by Raymond MacDonald Alden
I was thinking about one of the stories just recently, “The Knights of the Silver Shield,” because my younger son has been talking about how he doesn’t think he’ll ever do anything great in life like some of the people he reads about (Boy Scouts who save lives, for example). I tell him about the need to be faithful in little things before having the opportunity to do big things, and how the important things most people do are things few people ever hear about. In this story, there is a castle and a group of knights whose magical shields show when one of them has been especially brave. One day all the knights ride out to battle, except a young knight who is left behind to guard the castle, a duty he feels will give him no chance to show how brave he is. While the others are gone, he is approached by people (actually all one person I think, magically transformed in different ways) who try to tempt him, such as to let someone apparently harmless into the castle, or to leave his post and go help the other knights in battle (which supposedly is going badly). But he refuses, staying at the castle and letting no one enter, as he was commanded. When the rest of the knights return (victorious), they are surprised to find that it is the young knight’s shield that shines most brightly. The lord of the castle assures them that the magical shields never lie, and that this young knight has apparently fought and won the hardest battle that day.
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I know we’ve had discussions here (or at wmb) about getting rid of fleas, but I never paid too much attention because it wasn’t something I needed to be concerned about at the time. Now it is. I remember mumsee always talks about diatomaceous earth, but I’ve also read that it can be a problem for people with asthma, such as my husband. I can wash all the bedding (both from our bed and the dog’s crate) easily enough (well, easily once I get over this sinusitis and neausea that have me feeling so miserable), and vacuum the carpets and maybe try to steam clean them, but I don’t know what to do about our mattress and the sofa, which are her two favorite places other than her crate. (We talked about not letting her on the bed when we first got her, but my husband’s dogs have always slept with him, and after one night of her whining, new to our house and missing her mother and litter-mates, he let her join us and of course she never went back to her own bed.)
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Good Morning, Y’all!
Oh…where to begin? Narnia for sure. Pilgrim’s Progress..yep.
How about an all time favorite…Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.
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Pauline, it has been years since we have dealt with fleas. What we did worked, but it probably isn’t something you could do unless you have a place to stay for a few days. We tried to put things away we did not want fogged. We would set foggers around according to directions on the cans. We would set them off and leave the house for the alloted time period. Then one person had to return to air out the house. After that we would go on a vacation away from the house so it could all settle down. I think it may have required a second round at least once because the eggs started hatching later and thus there was the need for retreatment.
That was years ago so there may be more effective measures that others know about. That is what worked for us. Fleas are absolutely no fun!
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Interesting, but I know a couple of adults — one would probably classify himself as an atheist or at least a very rooted agnostic, not at all fond of the Christian faith, to put it mildly; the other a (very) nominal Roman Catholic at best, more rooted in very liberal politics — who both loved the Narnia series as kids (and still speak very highly of it).
I wonder if either of them particularly saw or perceived the deeper Christian message of the books. I suppose they can be read, like all good books, on various levels.
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The Fleabuster products were always effective for me when I lived in my former house that had carpet.
http://www.fleabuster.com/
My dogs now are on a monthly prevention pill (Comfortis) which has worked well enough to keep the fleas at bay, both on them and in the environment.
But with your cold weather & snow coming soon, I’d think that would solve much of your problem until next spring/summer. Don’t they typically all die out in colder climates through the winter months? Even out here, flea problems usually disappear around this time of year for the most part.
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Donna J,
I’m fairly sure I didn’t see any Christian message in the Narnia books when I read them as a child. We always went to church, but a very liberal church where being a Christian meant doing good things for other people and fighting societal evils such as racism and pollution. There was nothing in the Narnia books that related to the kind of Christianity I was familiar with, any more than any other books that had a moral message in them.
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Donna J,
Regarding the fleas, cold weather is too far away to help me right now. Yesterday we had temperatures in the 80’s. And our house holds the heat very effectively, so the fleas already indoors will be warm and toasty for quite a while, even if we didn’t get the new furnace hooked up. (It showed up in our basement yesterday, much to my surprise, but he has to come back today to hook it up.)
Last night I couldn’t sleep in the bed, between the heat (couldn’t even run the AC because the old unit went out with the old furnace) and the fleas. Maybe it was only one flea, but when you know it’s there in bed with you, you feel it everywhere. (My husband has been sleeping in the recliner for weeks now because it supports his back and shoulder better, so it’s normally just me and the dog in the bed.)
I gave up after a while and headed downstairs to the basement sofa, where hopefully the dog has not been since the flea problem started. But I don’t think I can manage sleeping there every night. I’d like to just replace our mattress, since my husband can’t use it anyway, but I’m not sure we can afford one that really would help him. (We slept on a bed he really liked at a hotel this summer, and he got the details on how to buy the same mattress, but it’s super expensive.)
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Pauline, I never read the Narnia books until I was an adult (and I read them because I was intrigued by their Christian message, I already was a believer).
I don’t think they were particularly popular when I was growing up, or at least they weren’t on our reading list at home. They would have been written around the time I was born, I guess, but didn’t seem to gain prominence as children’s classics until maybe the generation of kids 10-15 years behind me. ?
But I’m sure you’re right, when read strictly as stories by kids, the Christian symbolism — which is so obvious to adult believers as they read them — would not necessarily be clear.
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I was saddened when as a child my son was at a local public library and the main children’s librarian told me she had liked the Narnia books until she heard they were about Christianity. That turned her off to them. Does that say anything about our part of this town within the big city? Our library system is big on celebrating Kwanza during the Christmas season.
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Some good suggestions folks. Thank you.
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Kwanzaa: the politically correct holiday that is not supposed to offend the thin-skinned. Is it actually a celebration anywhere else? I heard it is a combination of several African traditions.
And I agree that though Narnia has a Christina influence and message, it is too hidden for the uninformed to see. I remember when Star Wars came out, some were trying to say it had a Christian message, only to find out that George Lucas had Eastern religious leanings and that the force was more Yin-Yang than Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
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Janice @11:42, I’m not surprised. At all. 🙄
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It is interesting to see how things progress. This year in my church, Southern Baptist, we have gotten more African American (or black) visitors who seem sincere and may later join. Makes me wonder if perhaps there is something missing in Kwanza (of course we know the answer to that one). I welcome that change in the population of our church. God loves all our hues. Also, it could be because the new president of the SBC is a black gentleman.
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Janice,
I wonder if it’s also because some churchs are still pushing Obama despite his unbiblical stand on several hot button issues. I think that might drive some to look for other, more biblically grounded churchs to worship at.
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I think that is a factor, too, AJ. Especially since we are in the area where some folks have been exposed to Herman Cain and his unvarnished truth about BO.
This question could fit on one of the other threads, but I will ask it here. A friend was going to use a GOP study on voter fraud that she picked up off the web to send to me to dispute my concern about voter fraud. She said it was in the Huffington Post, and she said she thought that was a conservative news source. Isn’t that a very liberal news outlet? Her other reliable source was something she got from NPR. We are like long time best of friends but we each think the other is getting news from a lousy source and are gullible enough to believe what we hear. It is very difficult for us to not feel insulted. We normally do not converse about things political. I can tell she thinks my concern about voter fraud is totally unfounded. Some things are just so hard to deal with. I feel sad about the blindness in our nation. I guess I just need to get my new vision prescription filled with some rosy colored glasses. Can you tell I am frustrated?
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For those of you curious as to why I started crying when I read Kim’s groom filled her car with gas, I wrote about it on my blog this week. The story is here:
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Janice,
You are correct, HuffPo certainly leans left. It’s difficult to find much on the subject that isn’t slanted one way or the other. I think in many cases this prevents a sensible conversation on the topic. In order to find out more you have to dig. These first 2 links might help. Although they lean right, they provide links to instances of fraud from many different news sources. Hope it helps.
http://www.truethevote.org/news/did-you-know-there-are-voter-fraud-convictions-and-prosecutions-in-46-states
Click to access 2011-Report-Voter-Fraud-Convictions.pdf
http://www.minnesotamajority.org/Home/tabid/112/EntryID/375/Default.aspx
“Minnesota Majority today released a report on voter fraud convictions stemming from Minnesota’s 2008 general election. The report finds that 113 individuals who voted illegally in the 2008 election have been convicted of the crime, “ineligible voter knowingly votes” under Minnesota Statute 201.014.
“As far as we can tell, this is the largest number of voter fraud convictions arising from a single election in the past 75 years,” said Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis, “Prosecutions are still underway and so there will likely be even more convictions.”
““It’s mind-boggling to me that as a tiny non-profit corporation, we netted more than double the number of convictions in one year than the US Department of Justice was able to find in five,” said Davis.”
You would think the DOJ would be the place to go on this topic, but due to partisan reasons, sadly they are not.
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I went out to the Farm & Fleet store at lunchtime to see what flea products they have. As I approached the store, I noticed a black speck on my arm. As I went to brush it off, it jumped away. Grrr!
I just hope that a) it was the only one that hitched a ride on me; and b) I left it there in the parking lot.
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I managed to eat half of a 6″ sub for lunch. I hope that means I’m getting better. Nausea is a very effective way to lose weight (about 6 lbs in 8 days), but not one I’d recommend.
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Michelle,
My wife can fill her tank, but doesn’t, because that’s one of my jobs. And she didn’t decide that it was my job, I did.
And I gotta tell you, I never considered your line of thinking on why dinosaurs lived and died before us. That’s certainly an interesting line of reasoning, and it makes sense. I don’t know why I never thought of that.
Thanks.
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🙂 AJ
You know, Pauline, if it’s really bad you may need to see your vet and get some heavy duty stuff. When I was in the depths of despair over the issue at my house, I got a spray from the vet that we used all over the house. Iit’s called Siphotrol Plus 2, Premise spray and it was very expensive.
We had to use it twice and we gave the dog comfortis and something for the cat–revolution? I simply cannot live with vermin and I was a weird-out freak about the whole thing. But seeing fleas on the adorable grandchildren turned my stomach.
Anyway, haven’t seen one since but it was a miserable period and I so, very much, sympathize.
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I have another question for you. I’ve just had an exchange with the editor of LifeNews. They posted a follow-up story to the politician (not in MO) who talked about a child conceived in rape still being valuable.
I certainly agree with him, but LifeNews ran a headline:
“Mourdock and Rape: Should FAMOUS PERSON’s Daughter Have Been Aborted?”
While the story itself was perfectly fine, I took objection to naming that famous person and wrote to tell him I thought it was an invasion of privacy. If the famous person had mentioned it, fine, but to bring in that person’s child felt wrong to me.
He wrote back to say the famous person is famous and the situation is a matter of public record, so he stood by the story.
What do you think?
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Thanks, AJ, for those links.
Michelle, I think it stinks.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist the rhyme. I don’t think it is a proper and considerate news article from what I understand of what you wrote.
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You know, I’ve heard that there is legitimate question about “fossil fuels” being the remains of dinosaurs, and I’ve never heard any theories as to how anyone believed dinosaurs to have died in such large numbers and in just the right means to create vast oil reserves . . . it’s just called “fossil fuels” and left at that. If indeed it IS made from dinosaurs, it would seem to make the most sense that those fields were formed during the Flood. What other time period in history put creatures into such quick and vast decomposition? The idea that oil is something else seems more plausible to me, though, and made a lot of sense when I heard it–that it’s simply part of what God created in inner parts of the earth, along with minerals and metals.
At any rate, there is a decent amount of evidence that dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans. (The evidence includes Genesis 1, it seems to me.) One of these lines of evidence is simply the many tales of dinosaur sightings (aka dragons) from around the world. But there’s also art depicting them and made in time periods before bones were being assembled scientifically and accurately. Some Bible passages seem likely to speak of them, too, for example at least one passage in Job.
Fascinating stuff, really. I can’t help but be glad the largest ones are extinct, but they were amazing creatures.
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Michelle, being the child of a celebrity is probably difficult in terms of lack of privacy. Some celebs probably try to give their kids more privacy than others. But considering that the mother sold the first public pictures of each child for huge amounts (donating the money to charity), I don’t think those kids are going to get a whole lot of privacy.
As far as what the article implies about the child’s birth parents, I guess it depends on what the adoptive mother already told the child. At some point I’m sure the child will wonder more about the circumstances of her birth, but this may be rather early for knowing those details.
If she does already knows those details, I would hope that she also knows that it in no way reflects on her, and I can’t see why it would make people think any less of her or her adoptive parents.
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I haven’t read everything, and perhaps its been mentioned, but the greatest anti-flea invention is the medicine you put on the back of the animal’s neck once a month. There is no washing, vacuuming, bathing, or any work at all. It simply kills them all and anything that hatches, and — before long — you do not have a flea problem.
I know it is poison, but it is simply the best alternative there is, IMO.
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I’m feeling very depressed about the state of our nation as well. I honestly cannot understand how ANYONE can vote for Obama. He is just about the worst President ever, in my mind. 😦
I think we (i.e. traditional, Biblical, conservative voices) began to lose when we lost our children. First, the upper levels of academia went Liberal. Then, the teacher education programs (I was in one … very, very Liberal), then we started teaching it in schools, and it has progressed up the ages right back to the colleges, which have doubled down on the Liberal/Progressive viewpoints.
Kids go to school and never learn WHY a capitalist system is good, or WHAT the Constitution means, or WHY it was written the way it is (with all the checks and balances.) They do not understand that our Constitution *requires* limited government, and an ethical people.
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I recommend this article: http://www.electorate.me/posts/68-voting-2012-a-personal-essay
This explains why I will “hold my nose” and vote for Romney.
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I strongly encourage families and individuals to watch these lectures on the Constitution. We are doing them as part of homeschooling, but we are watching one a night as a family.
Your kids will NOT learn this is school. Oh, they will learn the facts of it, but without the understanding or the worldview.
Warning: The lectures do speak highly of the Union and Lincoln in a few places, and I’ve heard that some Southerners don’t like that. 😉 However, the lectures are still excellent and I ask that you overlook their Union bias. It only crops up on occasion.
There are a set of introductory lectures (all by the same man … I don’t particularly like his voice, but he does say some good stuff!); Constitution 101, and Constitution 201.
These are actual classes from Hillsdale College. You can sign up for free and take for free. They are also available on YouTube.
http://constitution.hillsdale.edu/
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Well, actually, they may NOT even learn the facts of it. 😦
Watch these!
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Here is a link to the Introductory lectures on YouTube.
If you can’t watch all the lectures, I still highly recommend these. 🙂
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Thank you Tammy.
Sadly I have to agree about the state of things now. But some places are still educating as it should be done, That is encouraging. But we have an obvious lack of people who understand this country’s basic founding principles or any clue as to how they should be applied. And in many cases, these are the people in charge. It’s frustrating alright.
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Tammy, some of the liquid flea applications haven’t been as effective as they once were, perhaps due to fleas building up a resistance after so many years. That’s why my vet switched my dogs to Comfortis — I’d had them on Frontline for several years, but I began noticing fleas returning on the dogs in as little as 2-3 weeks after an application. My vet said he’d had a number of clients with the same complaint.
Battling fleas is a moving target (proving, of course, that there is such a thing as ‘micro’ evolution as creatures effectively adapt through the generations to ward off new and developing threats that appear on their little horizons). 🙂
I enjoyed a wonderful 3-hour lunch with some women from church today (there were 8 of us, we were recognizing 3 birthdays — but mostly it was just an excuse to go out for a long lunch).
A couple of us were off work so it worked out great.
Tonight it’s my home group, we’re in 1 Peter 1:1 (still) … 🙂
Meanwhile, I’ve moved all my major living room furniture around — and I realized that it’s now reminiscent of the layout I had when i first moved in here. I just keep rotating things around through the years.
But I like it, there’s somehow more floor space.
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NOOOOoooooo!
http://washingtonexaminer.com/jeep-an-obama-favorite-looks-to-shift-production-to-china/article/2511703#.UInQmhxpG4K
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And is this Obama ‘ad’ just, well, creepy or what?
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/10/posted-without-comment.php
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I find that keeping the dogs outside goes a long way toward keeping the fleas outside. Along with the ticks. And other hangers on. But that my just be me.
Books, well, every child is different. And, as pointed out, what age are we talking? I would like them to read Heaven by Randy Alcorn. Helps to put life into perspective.
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Pauline re fleas: A spray bomb might not be a good solution for you, but it is effective. A few weeks before our wedding, I moved into our new apartment. There had been no sign of fleas when we picked the place, but a day or two after I moved in I was covered with bites. Fortunately we hadn’t moved much of our stuff in yet, and being single with lots of hospitable buddies I had no trouble finding a place to stayfor a night. Back to the apartment in the morning to air it out and I was flea-free. I repeated the treatment a week later to get any larvae that had hatched in the meantime, and we had no fleas after that.
Our vet switched our dog from Frontline to Vectra a year or so back. We apply it faithfully and have never seen a flea on the dog or in the house. A lot of that is probably because he’s an indoor dog that’s only outside for short periods on a leash.
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Michelle, thanks for sharing the link to your blog. That is a great insight.
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We did use medicine on the dog (not Frontline, I forget the brand name we use). But she’s still scratching, and there are definitely fleas that are not on the dog and are alive and well, which is why I need to figure out what to do about the bed and couch and carpets.
Mumsee, if we lived out in the country it might be practical to have an outside dog. But not in town, with an unfenced yard. My husband is a dog person, which I knew when I married him. So we have a dog. And as long as we live in town, an inside dog.
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Regarding capitalism, it was interesting that capitalism happened to be the vocabulary word that my son’s social studies teacher used this evening (during parent-teacher conferences) as an example of how he could look up it’s definition just by clicking on the word in his online version of the textbook. I’ll have to find out, when they’ve finished that lesson, what he learned about it.
She pointed out that my son will probably be happy reading the printed book because he is a good reader, but she recommends the online version (every student is issued a notebook by the school) for students who are not such good readers. They can have the text read aloud, and it highlights each word and sentence as it goes. Plus it does other things, like highlighting the main idea of each sentence, and showing word definitions. Not a big deal from my perspective, but she pointed out that many of the students have never used a computer for anything except games and social networking, and she wants them to learn that they can use it for useful purposes.
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I am alive and kicking. I had a good day.
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Pauline, that notebook “textbook” sounds fantastic!
Tammy, we subscribe to that Hillsdale monthly newsletter, hard copy and by e-mail. We think they always put out excellent materials. We have thought of doing the constitution class but have not gotten to it yet. There are other colleges that have some free courses now. Seems like I found out about that while looking at the duke.edu site. You might want to see if they offer anything of interest. We also have a high respect of Lincoln.
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Late to the game here today.
Books: a lot of you mentioned Pilgrim’s Progress. There’s a good version of that for youth (upper elementary/middle school-age approximately), a picture book entitled Dangerous Journey. I don’t often like adaptations, but this one is good, and the kids enjoy it, too.
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