It's been a long time....3 books later...

Books I have read but haven't had time to blog about...The DeVinci Code by Dan Brown, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kinsolver, and White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
They were all interesting but I would only recommend the Poisonwood Bible. The other two are weird.

I started reading The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason.
Well, I'll tell you about them all later.

Nothing or everything?

We don't have much but we have each other...

Do you ever just sit and count your blessings? Do you ever wonder what would happen if you lost everything of earthly value? Would you be able to see the positives in your life? Where would you be without your precious junk?

hmmm, life makes us asks ourselves these questions and many more without our consent...today, tomorrow...just remember to count your blessings...

Mark Your Calendars

Sacromento temple, CA

http://lds.org/newsroom/showrelease/0,15503,4028-1-23072,00.html

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Whole Book.
Well, I have wanted to read this book for a while but didn't actually have it. The other day I found a new copy for .49 at a thriftstore. Tonight I didn't feel like doing anything so I ignored the world and in 5 hours I read it from cover to cover.
It is about a boy that gets in a plane wreck and has to survive in the Canadian wilderness with only the hatchet his mom gave him right before he got on the plane. The hatchet comes in handy for everything. I wish I had a hatchet.

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman

Whole book. This is a take off from the classic the Prince and the Pauper.
Prince Horance is a really bad spoiled prince. They call him Prince Brat. He is not allowed to get spankings when he does things that are wrong. So an orphan boy named Jemmy is taken from the streets to be whipped for him.
Prince Horance runs away and takes Jemmy with him. The boys have a wild adventure and get caught by two thieving cutthroats. Jemmy has to use his knowledge of the streets to get them out of all kinds of predicaments. Prince Brat is so spoiled that he doesn't even have common sense. He learns a lot about his kingdom and subjects. He learns what friendship and loyalty really mean. He has some very valuable life experiences on the streets and I hope he is at better king because of it someday!

The Princess And the Pauper by Mark Twain

WHOLE BOOK. I think it has a bit of HEALING in it too.
I liked this story. We listened to it on Tape so it had all the voices and parts. It was a story also filled with adventure! The princess and a boy from the London streets switch places on accident. Next thing you know they are on there own trying to survive in a foreign way of life. Both learn a lot about human nature and life. Both grow up quickly and take on responsibilities a boy of that age shouldn't have to have.
I was very moved by the compassion of one character that took the prince under his wing and tried to help. He didn't believe the boy was the prince. He thought he was just loosing his mind. Ironically the man also wasn't believed to be who he was when he tried to return to his home after being away for over 10 yrs.
Where is the seal? That is the reoccurring question that keeps popping up? I didn't know what it was and either did the pauper. I would read this one again and again. It was funny and imaginative and realistic.

I am on a Mark Twain spurt...I just can't get enough. I want to read the one about the jumping frog next...if I can find it. I am also looking for the book called Letter's from the Earth...our library doesn't carry it.

A Murder, A Mystery And A Marriage by Mark Twain

This was a very funny book. It started out as a project by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, pen name: Mark Twain. It didn't ever come to much. It is a short story and keeps you guessing throughout the whole thing.
A man appears out of no where in a field buried in the snow...a greedy father won't let his daughter marry...an uncle writes a will leaving a large sum of money to the daughter of his brother, the one that won't let her get married yet...a feud...a fast talking stranger...a murder... and eventually someone gets married!
Read it and find out for yourself what makes it so funny!

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This is a Whole and Healing Book. I really enjoyed reading this one. Mark Twain has an interesting way of telling about serious things in a funny way. This story is a classic in American Literature. It takes place before the civil war.
The main character is a boy named Huck. He is telling the story from his own perspective. He is the son of the town drunkard. He is a very realistic child, doesn't have a sense of humor and is very literal when faced with problems and life in general. He has common sense and this helps him tremendously as he gets into trouble or out of trouble. He doesn't want to conform to society and sets out on a lovely adventure to escape his dad (beats him all the time), the Widow Douglas (Huck's unofficial guardian that wants to civilize him), and being bored. He makes friends with a slave named Jim. He eventually comes to the point where he respects and admires Jim and would even go to "HELL" to help him. Even though he is a slave.
I liked this book because it was so well written I could imagine what it was like to actually be there myself. Floating down the Mississippi river on a raft and meeting people, or avoiding people, carefree...too bad Huck had to go back in the end. I bet he didn't stay for long.

The Prairie Dog Town by Janette Oke

This was a fun book. It is a WHOLE book. (Please refer to previous post to see categories for books, Whole, Broken, Healing and Bent.)
This whole book is from the eyes of a young prairie dog. His first trip out of the hole, eating grass, making friends, weather conditions...dangers from stampedes, hawks, coyotes...It was really cute. He has a curious little attitude and gets a little rebellious when he hits his "teen years". He learns to trust his parent’s advice and also to be humble and apologize to others when he is wrong. He has many adventures and I think it was very creatively written for a book about prairie dogs!

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Whole Book!
This is the 5th book in the Little House in the Prairie series. I loved this one just as much as the others. She finally gets her teachers credentials and Almonzo starts to court her. This book took a couple months because we were reading it out loud at night and it was hit and miss for a while.

Man Of The Family by Ralph Moody

Whole Book!
This is the second book in the Little Britches series. I loved it. There are some sad parts and some hard parts and a lot of love and sacrifices in a family after their dad dies. The boy needs to grow up fast and take on responsibilities like earning money and caring for his mom, siblings, the livestock...he tries to get out of going to school but his mom insists that he get an education instead of working all the time. She is inspired to start home businesses that pay the rent and make ends meet. The boy always works hard and has a great reputation for being good with horses. I loved this book almost as well as the first. I already read the 3rd book by accident last year and it was good too!

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Whole BOOK! The kids loved this one. It is about a dog and a boy. He really gets in a bind when he lies and then he needs to lie to cover up the lie and from there it just gets worse then the truth finally comes out he has to pay the consequences It was a Great read for all of us!

Which Sci Fi character are you like?

Possessing a rare combination of wisdom and humility, while serenely dominating your environment you selflessly use your powers to care for others.

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.

Galadriel is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. You can read more about her at the Galadriel Worshippers Army.

I'm so glad I wasn't someone from the Harry Potter series! I was hoping for a character from Star-Wars like my cool Kim sister. Lord of the Rings is okay too.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

This is a book that I hated at first, then surprisingly to me I started liking it near the end. It takes place in Russia in the 19th Century. It is over 800 pages long and I got stuck in the middle for a while.

At first I thought it was a very BROKEN BOOK. It started out as a romance novel with a few affairs. At first one of the main characters Anna, was made out to be a good person and despite having an affair she was in the right.

BUT KEEP READING...

She eventually is exposed and tormented in her soul for what she did. She has choices to make that are hard because of the choice she made to sin. There are repercussions or cause and effect to everything in life. Her choice affected so many other people’s lives. She doesn't really realize this because I think she was selfish but the author tells the stories of all the other people too that were related to her or that somehow were touched by the domino effect.

The book becomes WHOLE and HEALING somewhere past the middle. Anna kind of goes crazy in her head because she is unhappy living in sin. She suspects her guy doesn't love her anymore, she starts taking Opium. She doesn't care for her baby, can’t see her son. She is all alone in her tormented soul and has no faith in God left.

While all this is going on the other main character is Levin. He is a rich land owner and farmer. He is interested in the peasants and the philosophies of man. He finds God in the end. He thinks about suicide but finds a higher purpose in life to live for. I liked to compare him and Anna to the main character Jean Valjean in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. They both find out for themselves how to survive and how to understand religion in their own minds and hearts. It is hard and takes a life time for some. The over all theme is that human nature makes us imperfect and selfish but it also has passion and promise if we endure to the end.

The book was extremely interesting to me because I don't know that I have ever read anything by a Russian author or about Russia. It was full of different philosophies and Christian themes, bureaucracy, government, love, death... It had stuff about the social part of Russia that I never heard about. This was before it was a communist nation I believe. The poor were really poor and the rich were ridiculously rich. I don't think it has changed much even today. I don't know. I learned for myself how naive I am about other nations and cultures. I don't know anything about Russia except they have good gymnasts and ice skaters in the Olympics.

This book is a HEALING book because it inspires me to not have an affair. (HA HA) What a mess it would be. NO really... it also makes me think about God and the purpose of life. When we are unselfish and do things because we serve God we are filled with a joy and peace. If we just do things because we have too or with a bad attitude or just to get gain for ourselves we will feel empty. We all need to find religion and comprehend it in our hearts a different way, and different time. It is for all of us but it can't be forced. Anna gave up. Levin kept going, kept searching, till he found it himself.

I would recommend this book to anyone that has a lot of time on their hands to read a long book...after you get past the first 400 pages it starts coming together and the characters all intertwine. It was the best in the last 10 or so pages for me. So read it to the end!

The Weekly Trip To The Library

Each week we brave the outside world and take a trip to the Library. You might not think this is any big deal but you aren't Me and you don't have my three kids!

1.We have to cross a street. It is a busy street and my kids do not hold hands. They are all in their own worlds dancing around and looking in all different directions. I am the mother hen. I am freaking out and trying to keep them all next to me and under my wings so they don't step off the curb and get ran over. Or so they don't bother the other people crossing the street too. The people sitting at the bus stop are always watching us. The light changes to walk and everyone gets so excited. Some of my children can walk in a straight line and stay in the cross walk but some of them do not understand what that line is for and which side is in!!! I always give a sigh of relief when we get to the other side.

2. We then have two pathways to choose from. They both end at the same spot, the entrance for the Library. The right path goes under some trees that drop plops of the raunchiest smelling seed pods. They are all squished on this path and then your shoes stink. I like to try and not step on them and I like to enjoy the trees and greenery on this path. I usually see a squirrel on the way. The left path goes right along a planter box type thing made out of cement and it is wide enough to walk on. It is only about a foot and a half off the ground so the kids like to run along this instead of the path. Usually this is where homeless people hangout and they sit on the cement path thing. So as my kids are running along they either have to jump off or go around the homeless people. The homeless people sometimes ignore them and sometimes make a comment or two. Sometimes they are annoyed at a flock of children running right at them as they just try to sit there and rest. Occasionally there are some teenagers hanging out or a drunk or two. My littlest one usually always lags behind and is known to fall off the cement wall as she is running along. No one will hold my hand; they all have to do it themselves.

3.We enter the library and we need to be quiet. We return any books we have through the little slot and someone always takes off before we are through. To get to the children's room we go up the stairs. The elevator is OFF limits. This rule is finally followed after a few kids got in the elevator and the doors shut. Very scary. They all stay off the elevator now.

4. My oldest heads right to the mystery books (Fiction), Nancy Drew and Box Car Children, Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown. I don't worry, I know where he is.
My next child goes right to the videos. She always wants a Pokemon video. She comes and finds me and whines and bugs me and tries to get me to say yes to the video she picked out. I would rather check out videos that are educational or more family oriented. I usually say no to the first 5-6 choices she comes to me with.
The littlest one always runs to the puzzle corner. She can pull out more puzzles in one minute then a monkey using its hands and tail. She also thinks the rocking horse is hers. If another child is on it she will stare at them until they get off. She always finds the little hard cover books and carries them around. She also is a magnet for the computer. She will probably work in a button factory when she is older. Sometimes I find her talking to the librarian. They are always nice and they can't understand most of what she says. On the librarian's desk is a container of scrap paper and the cutest just the right size pencils. She takes a pencil and a paper and writes on it. When we leave she puts them back, the paper that is scribbled on too. I can keep one eye on her and whatever I'm doing and it is small enough that I can always hear her.

5. My kids love to talk to strangers. I say, "Don't talk to strangers", but they love to talk to everyone. They don't know the difference between a stranger and a STRANGER! My kids can strike up a conversation with most anyone. Especially if they are near the line, (notice I didn't say IN LINE. They don't stand in line they dance around and wiggle but I have yet to see them stand in line), everyone is fair game to them. I can't believe the plethora of information that comes out of their mouths. By the time we part with a stranger they have told them EVERYTHING about our family and even our fish and cat that adopted us.

6. Today we ventured down stairs to the main floor. This is a much quieter place then the children's section upstairs. I went right over to the back of the library and grabbed the book I needed. The kids were trailing behind me. It took less then 2 min. We walked back to the front of the library to check out. In that short time Amy somehow along the way picked up someone's soda and took a sip. I found this out from a lady that came running after us and loudly saying, something like EXCUSE ME, Your baby just drank my soda, I wanted you to know because I have a cold. She said this very loud and kept repeating it. I was so shocked and stammered something like Sorry after I figured out what and who she was talking about. I didn't know what to say to her and it was embarrassing. I hope she doesn't catch Amy's cold either but I didn't tell her this. I hope the lady didn't have anything deadly or have Herpes! So I told my daughter not to drink other peoples stuff and she will get germs. Of course she didn't really understand or care. It is funny now but in the library I was still in shock. YUCK.

7. My little monkey always climbs on the metal detectors at the entrance while I'm distracted trying to check out. The librarian has to say, "PLEASE GET OFF OF THERE!" and all the mother's looks to see if it is their child. Itisn't, it is my child again. It is hard to get all the books checked out and on our way before the kids are already out the door running down the path. This is me yelling, "WAIT FOR MOMMY!!!" Three bags of books and a crazy look on my face, but also a look of relief because we survived the library!

8. Now to get passed the bums and across the busy street again to the car!

Next week we will brave the Library again. Whew!

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables books are WHOLE books.
We just fiished books 1-3.

They are quite fun and take place in Canada. My children loved them and Anne was always having such exciting adventures. She has a great imagination and uses very big words to decribe life around her. The next two books in the series got a little sappy with the thing between her and Gilbert. Romance isn't my favorite but this was sweet.

Anne of the Island (book 2), Anne of Avonlea(book 3) were also fun to read.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

Rating: WHOLE BOOK
This book as really great and used a lot of imagination. I just wrote a really cool review and then I previewed it and when I pushed the back button it disapeared. UHHGGGG.
This book is about a mouse and she is very resourceful when it comes to saving her family before the plow comes. The Rats are intelligent and honest. It was fun to see life through the eyes of a mother field mouse. The end of the book left you hanging...but it was a good hang where you imagine your own future for the Rats and the mouse family. I recommend this book for families. My kids loved it.

The movie The Secret of NIMH wasn't very good. It didn't follow the story as completly as I would have liked. It was very dark in color and feeling. And what does the theme song have to do with the story at all? Well maybe that is why they changed the story so much so they could use that love song...

Personally Calssifying Books: Four Distinctions Per Thomas Jefferson Educaion Model

(p. 73 in A Thomas Jefferson Education, by Oliver DeMille)

1. BENT: Stories portray evil as good, and good as evil. Such stories are ment to enhance the evil tendencies of the reader. (Best to avoid)

2. BROKEN: Stories portray evil as evil and good as good, but evil wins. Something is broken, not right, in need of fixing. Such books are not uplifting, but can be very inspiring. Broken stories can be very good for the reader if they motivate a person to heal them, to fix them. Example: The Communist Maniesto is a broken classic; so are the Lord of the Flies and 1984. In each of these, evil wins; but they can be very motivating if you want to help reverse their message in the real world.

3. WHOLE: Stories are where good is good and good wins. Most of the calssics are in this category. This a good place to spend most of your time.

4. HEALING: Stories can be either WHOLE or BROKEN stories where the reader is profoundly moved, changed, significantly improved by his/her reading of the book.

This year I hope to put each book I read into a classification.
Right now I'm reading:

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder - WHOLE
The Secrect of NIHM - Whole and Healing
Atlas Shrugged by Ann Rahn - Healing, Broken

I think I will probably put books that leave out a christian perspective or God in the Broken category. There might be some truth in the book but not enough if you leave out my creater. So in my mind I will have to take what is good and apply it to my life and leave the rest behind.

This will be fun.

Holding On

I was thinking about a song today and that I really like and though it's simple I find it so profound. Here are the lyrics and the website. You can even listen to a sound bite of the music (MP3). Just to warn you it is very Country and you might need an aquired taste to endure the Twang.


Holding On

by Cherie Call from her Album, Beneath These Stars

If I had to move away, if I had to pack a box todayThere are some things I'd have to let go before I headed down theinterstate. My favorite dress that doesn't fit anymore, and all the papers in my old desk drawer Bad habits and old grudges, I'd take them all to the second hand store. But there's a list of things I'd have to take with meNo matter how long this winding road turns out to be
I'm holding on to the valentinesAnd letters I've read a thousand times that say"We believe in you," and "never give up your dreams."I'm holding on to my own backyardI hope that I can fit it all in my carWhen the whole world's letting goI'll keep holding on
You can't keep a harvest moon, it fades away all too soonAnd even the trees let go of their leaves much quicker than you'd ever choose So many people say goodbye, I see those teardrops in their eyes And I start to wonder how I'd live without loveAnd I'm glad I never have to tryCause hardly anything lasts forever anymoreBut there will always be a few things that I'm gonna keep fighting for
I'm holding on to my father's loveAnd my mother's faith in God aboveShe says "We believe in you," and "never give up your dreams."I'm holding on to my true love's handAnd I know that he will always understandWhen the whole world's letting goI'll keep holding on
Shooting stars and red balloonsIce cream cones and breezy JunesI love them all, I hold them dear, but they so quickly disappearThese are the things I'll keep with me, no matter where my life will lead me A loving word, a gentle kiss, I need nothing more than this
I'm holding on to the valentinesAnd letters I've read a thousand times that say"We believe in you," and "never give up your dreams."I'm holding on to my own backyardI hope that I can fit it all in my carWhen the whole world's letting goI'll keep holding onI'm holding on to my father's loveAnd my mother's faith in God aboveShe says "We believe in you," and "never give up your dreams."I'm holding on to my true love's handAnd I know that he will always understandWhen the whole world's letting goI'll keep holding on

Copyright 2002 Cherie Call, all rights reserved

http://www.cheriecall.com/albums/songs/stars/HoldingOn.html

Thomas Jefferson Education

This is something I'm trying with my children in our home.

Off the Conveyer Belt

1. Classics, not textbooks
2. Mentors, Not professors
3. Inspire, not require
4. Structure time, not content
5. Quality, not conformity
6. Simplicity, not complexity
7. You, not them