A Day of Rejoicing

Today, Daniel prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior! There is much rejoicing in our home today! Thank You, Jesus!

This day has been a long time coming...God is gracious!!!

"If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Romans 10:9-10

Sketching with Elizabeth

The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Chapter 4 - Painting, Sketching, Sculpturing

Reading the previous chapters and spotting a robin in our yard a couple of weeks ago has renewed our interest in nature study. We went out and bought a big bag of bird seed and filled our long depleted bird house. Word got around and our birdhouse is full of life again. We have been enjoying watching our many feathered visitors. 

One day we were delighted to spot a rare, brightly colored bird which we had never seen before. I took a photo, and we later identified it as a Western Tanager. It dawned on me that I could sketch it in a nature journal. Wait...did I say "sketch?" Me? Yes, me. I've never considered myself an artist, but I am taking Edith Schaeffer's admonition to heart that I can start where I'm at in pursuing hidden art. 

 The best thing about sketching in pencils is that I can make liberal use of ERASERS!!! :-)

Dana mentioned in the comments on a previous post that she had seen a red-breasted grosbeak. I replied that they were rare in California, but lo and behold, the very next day, we spotted a grosbeak in our yard! It was truly a special gift sent from God. 

Out of excitement, Elizabeth decided to sketch a grosbeak from an illustration since our visitor had flown away. The difference between her sketches and mine is the amount of time spent. It took me a good long while, sketching, muttering, erasing, sketching, muttering, erasing, to finally produce something that resembled a bird. She whipped hers out in the amount of time it takes me to sneeze. 

                                      One thing I didn't expect from going outside my comfort zone is the new, special connection I have with my daughter. She loves it when I ask her for art advice, and she takes care to encourage my feeble efforts. "You did a good job, Mom!" she grins, while patting my shoulder. We spent a lovely hour at the art store together, looking dreamily at the array of supplies. I asked her if she would give me art lessons over the summer, and that idea made her happy. 

Edith says, "Everyone who has any talent at all in sketching, painting, sculpturing, or carving, should have the opportunity to use that talent. The expression is important for the person, and can tremendously enrich the lives of other people."

Today, Elizabeth finished a watercolor of a moose. We admired her work of art, and Alan said he would scan it so she could send it to Grandma. She expressed her God-given talent, and we were tremendously enriched by it. 

The artist and the beholder, both blessed by God. 

[Read more thoughts on this chapter from The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club, hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris.]

"And I have filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship." Exodus 1:2-5

Music: The Warm Up Act

The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Chapter 3 - Music

I have an eclectic musical history. I grew up in Hawaii, so I learned to play the ukulele, sing Hawaiian songs, and dance the hula. Mom and I watched Japanese television shows together. I enjoyed the weekly Top 30 singing competition, and I became a big fan of certain singers. Daddy played the guitar and taught me his favorite songs. 

In junior high, my friend and I entered a singing competition, not realizing a local radio station would air the show live. We survived to tell the tale. I later joined the high school glee club and performed in school musicals. We sang a mix of classics, pop hits of that era, and Hawaiian songs. I still have Russian lyrics rolling around my head from a play we performed in. I won't even go into the hours I wasted watching MTV videos. 

Much of the music in my early years was not edifying, but by God's grace there were moments of beauty and goodness. Singing hymns at church. Listening to the symphony. Walking down the aisle in my wedding dress to Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. I am grateful that my God is a God of redemption. Over the years, He has been redeeming every area of my life, including music. 

In The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Edith reminds us that music is a great gift from God. She challenges us to appreciate it, create it, and share it with each other. She encourages us by saying that talent, no matter how small and hidden, can be developed. In her view, Christian homes should be places where there is the greatest variety of good music, so that natural talent may find the necessary spark to set it on fire.

When we began homeschooling, I learned about Charlotte Mason's principles and became excited. I didn't know what I was doing most of the time, but thankfully, one of the ideas that God planted in my head was the focus on hymns and classical music. Daddy had sent me one of his old hymnals from Hawaii, so we started learning hymns like How Great Thou Art, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and Amazing Grace. We didn't sing with any accompaniment, just with our voices. I loved hearing my kids sing to the Lord with gusto.

We never embarked on a formal composer study like others did, but I played classical music whenever I thought of it, usually during lunch, art time, or in the car. Sometimes I would borrow a book on a composer's life from the library. Elizabeth and Daniel enjoyed Vivaldi and Mozart. Jonathan became enamored with Bach, who remains his favorite composer till this day. We were fascinated to discover that Bach wrote SDG (Soli Deo Gloria) on his music sheets. 

The kids' love for music grew into a desire to learn to play the piano. We discussed the idea one night over dinner, and the very next day God unexpectedly provided a free piano for us along with discounted lessons. We were really encouraged by this evidence of His providence.

Edith says, "For Christians, the idea of making a 'joyful noise unto the Lord' is expressed in the Bible. There is a God who is there, and who is personal, and who accepts music as praise to Himself, as worship when given to Him in this sincere way - without being strained through the 'strainer' of human acceptance." 

Over the last ten years, we've gone to a nursing home every month to share the love of Christ with the residents. When we sing the familiar hymns, their eyes light up to tell us that they remember, they know, and they agree. One resident loves to sing along at full volume, off-key, and his humility conveys what it means to "make a joyful noise." We cannot help but smile every time he sings. Another resident suffered a head injury from a beating. He cannot talk, but sometimes when we sing How Great Thou Art, he cries. He doesn't care that we don't have professionally trained voices. It's God at work, not us.

Daddy with one of his many guitars.

"This is what is meant to be now, and what will continue in eternity. Creative creatures on a finite level, made in the image of the Creative God," says Edith.

Thinking of this reminds me of Daddy in his final weeks of cancer. We sat by his bed at hospice day after day. We passed the time talking about old memories and singing songs he had taught me as a young girl. He loved hymns, so our kids sang to Grandpa all the hymns they had learned over the years. He would nod, and his eyes would well up with tears. On one of his good days, he sang Amazing Grace with us. On another lucid day when he could talk, he said, "I'm going to dance with Jesus!" That's when I realized that we were just the warm up act. 

God was preparing Daddy for glory. 

I can only imagine the songs he's singing now. I can't wait to join him!

[Read more thoughts on this chapter from The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club, hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris.]

"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 1 Corinthians 4:16-18

What is Hidden Art?

On a lighter note - Calvin and Hobbes on creativity:

The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Chapter 2 - "What is Hidden Art?

Edith Schaeffer defines "hidden art" as the artistic expression of beauty in our ordinary, daily living. I like that. It sounds doable. 

But before I embrace an artistic mindset, I must realize my limits. God is infinite and limitless, and He can create worlds out of nothing with just His word. We human beings, on the other hand, are finite and limited. We can't create everything, but we can create something because we are made the image of the Creator. He has not only given us the capacity to create; He has given us diversity in our capacities. I am limited in my talents in certain areas, but those may be the very areas where you are gifted. Maybe you can paint, and she can write, and I can cook. We shine individually like facets of a diamond, but together we express brilliance. This is why community is important.

Another thing I must consider is that creative pursuits will take time, energy, and a conscious discipline. I must decided what to do and what to leave undone. There are things that can't be left undone, like taking care of the basic needs of my family. If I neglect the laundry and no one has clean underwear, my floral arrangement may become a source of irritation rather than a source of delight. I can, however, avoid wasting time on meaningless pursuits and instead use that time fruitfully. It's all about priorities, or as Augustine called it, "ordo amoris," the ordering of our affections.**

I don't have to look farther than my own kids to understand the diversity of talents. Elizabeth fits the conventional image of an artist. She loves to draw, sculpt, paint, and work with her hands. She also likes to write poetry. Daniel likes to write, so he expresses creativity through words. He also loves to build things out of wood, and he's creative in problem solving. On the surface, creativity seem more apparent in these two kids..

If you asked Jonathan, he would probably say that he is the least artistic person he knows. That might be true if we went by the conventional description. However, he is very creative in his own way. He likes to write computer programs, so his tools are not paint brushes and palettes but lines of code. When he first started programming, he created a rudimentary video game which depicted a giant bacteria chasing a stick man. That took creativity. He was so excited that he could develop something interesting by writing lines of code. He has since learned that he can use his programming skills for more than just creating games. One summer, he worked with a mentor on a bioinformatics project and developed a program for visualizing DNA sequences. Edith says that pursuing science in artistic ways is also a hidden art, and that encourages me. I will make sure to support Jonathan in the areas of creativity where he shines.

Speaking of computers, I get an uncomfortable feeling when my kids have had too much screen time. That's when I do a reality check: is their screen time spent consuming or creating? If it's spent consuming (playing video games or watching movies), then too much screen time can eat up one's soul. However, if they are on the computer creating (writing, composing, photography, programming), then they are investing their time and energy in constructive ways. I need to keep an eye on my own computer usage, too. It's been fun experimenting with Pinterest, but I am aware that a virtual world does not replace my real one.

Rather than daydream about developing our talents in the future, Edith implores us to use our talents in the here and now. By using our talents in practical ways today, we will enrich other people's lives, develop those talents, and express who God made us to be - a creative creature in His image. I have always wanted to take classes to learn how to become a better writer, but rather than focus on the "someday," I can write as well as I can right now, grow in skill while practicing writing, and write with the hope that someone will be enriched by my words. Perhaps most importantly, I can represent my God who created and communicated with words. 

My kids are pursuing creativity, but am I? Well, Edith describes the stiffness a person feels when he first has a cast removed. At first, there is an inflexibility of the joints and limbs, but that gradually decreases over time. The person eventually forgets he ever wore a cast and begins to enjoy a freedom of movement, resulting in confidence, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Something that was idle for so long is now alive again.

Her words struck a chord in me. The last seven years have been difficult ones with a string of family crises. I put my creative pursuits on hold because my family needed me in other practical ways, and I don't regret a single one of those sacrifices. One of the trials that spanned nearly two years involved major damage to our home, but last summer God blessed us with its restoration. I am thankful to have ceilings and walls again, because for a long time we lived with gaping holes everywhere. God timed it perfectly for me to read this book at this moment in my life. I am eager to practice the "hidden art" of bringing beauty into our lives again. I sense that God will use His truths about creativity as another step to restoring our home, and in the process, He will restore my soul as well. 

** I first heard Augustine's term from Cindy, who aptly named her blog, "Ordo Amoris." It is a phrase that has sunken deep roots in my heart.

[Read more thoughts on this chapter from The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club,  hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris.]

"He restores my soul." Psalm 23:3

Hidden Art: More Birds, Roses, and Piper

Elizabeth guessed that the bird we saw in our backyard was a robin. After doing a little research, we discovered that she was right. We spotted a subspecies of the American Robin similar to the (F) illustration, with a slightly paler breast. Nice job, Elizabeth!



After realizing that I've been neglecting my roses, I took my shears and headed outside. I cut a few Belinda's Dream (pale pink), and my favorite, Yves Piaget (fuchsia). I noticed the Calla Lilies were blooming, so I cut one of those. I wandered around the yard and noticed purple verbena peeking out of the bougainvillea bush. It had slyly woven itself into and through the bush (perhaps creating its own Hidden Art?). I snipped a few of those as well and put all the blooms in a pitcher for our house. It's just a little happy bouquet. Baby steps. :-)

More thoughts from John Piper in The Pleasures of God:

"I have a confession to make. Ranger Rick is one of my favorite magazines. When it arrives in our house with the address, "Piper Boys," I am one of the first Piper boys to take it to the couch. The reason is simple: in spite of its utterly unwarranted and unnecessary evolutionary bias, it inspires more praise in me than most other journals. It is a monthly record of man's discovery of incredible phenomena in nature that up till recently have only been enjoyed by God for thousands of years. 

"For example, I read about the European water spider that lives at the bottom of a lake, but breathes air.** It comes to the top of the water, does a somersault on the surface and catches a bubble of air. Then it holds the bubble over the breathing holes in the middle of its body while it swims to the bottom of the lake and spins a silk web among the seaweed. It goes up and brings down bubble after bubble until a little balloon of air is formed under its silk web where it can live and eat and mate. When I read that, there was a moment of worship on our living room couch. Doesn't that make you want to shout, 'O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures' (Psalm 104:24)?

"I sit there with my mouth open and I think God smiles and says, 'Yes, John, and I have been enjoying that little piece of art since before the days of Abraham. And if you only knew how many millions of other wonders there are beyond your sight that I behold with gladness every day!"

For the Hidden Art book club, Cindy created a Pinterest board for us to add our bits of inspiration. I have resisted Pinterest up until now, thinking it would be a temptation for me to waste time. Heaven knows I have enough distractions. Yet Mrs. Schaeffer said in the first chapter: "Man was created that he might create. It is not a waste to pursue artistic or scientific pursuits in creativity, because that's what man was made to be able to do." 

Well, alright then. I'm plunging in. I shall look at my Pinterest boards as a creative pursuit and not a waste of time.

**Ellen Holtzen, "Home is a Bubble," Ranger Rick, January 1987, 14-15

[The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club, hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris]

"For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!" Amos 4:13

Hidden Art: Beholding the First Artist

The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Chapter 1 - "The First Artist"

Books on homemaking usually begin by looking around one’s own home to take inventory or by focusing on a designer’s models. Edith Schaeffer, however, doesn’t start by looking inward or outward. She starts by looking upward, which is the right place to look as we think of creativity. She points us first to the preeminence of God as Creator.

I LOVED this chapter. I felt stimulated as I contemplated God as the First Artist and the many expressions of His creativity—His sculptures, mobiles, light shows, music, and gardens. The thought of all the elements of pleasure in His creation--God’s pleasure in creating, our pleasure in admiring His creation, and His pleasure in our pleasure—filled me with joy and wonder.

A few days ago, Elizabeth pointed out an unusual bird in our backyard. I stopped muddling about in the kitchen, Daniel put down his book, and Jonathan left his computer. We went over to the window and admired the new feathered visitor hopping around. We have seen finches, sparrows, phoebes, crows, owls, and hawks before, but this particular bird was a little taller than a house finch, with a very pale red breast and yellow beak, and with a comical gait. We wondered what kind it was and vowed to look it up in one of our bird guides. It took just a few minutes to turn aside, but that little moment brought us joy and thanksgiving.

Another day, Elizabeth found a pretty rock in the backyard. She began digging around the dirt for more and called Daniel to join her in the messy endeavor. She later showed me a whole handful of rocks they had unearthed. I then remembered a stash of rocks I had ordered when we were studying earth science. I took it out of storage, and with a rock guide in hand, Elizabeth enjoyed inspecting all of the variations of colors and shapes and fragility between the specimens. She exclaimed, “God must have had so much fun creating all these different rocks!” 

Beholding. I declared in January that “beholding” would be my word for the year. 2 Corinthians 3:8 stirred me: "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” I vowed that I would behold that which is true, good, and beautiful.

However, after reading chapter one, I realized that I have been too busy lately to behold. And that busyness has stolen much peace and joy from my soul. Something is wrong when expressing creativity seems more of a burden than a delight. Cliche aside, I haven't even taken the time to stop and smell the roses in my own garden.

Elizabeth is considered the artist in our family. I've always believed that her gift of creativity was a special gift from God. As I read through this chapter, God reminded me of the truth that we are His image bearers, and as such, we all have the creativity gene living within us. If we all have the ability to create beauty in some form or another, then why is her artistry in a different league than mine? 

Elizabeth notices things. Birds. Rocks. Worms. Stars. She takes time to observe. She delights in them. She beholds God's beauty. I think that’s what elevates her artistry. You can’t draw water from an empty well. 

In The Pleasures of God, John Piper writes of a lecture given by one of his favorite teachers at Wheaton College, Clyde Kilby.

“Kilby had eyes. Oh, what eyes he had! He read to us eleven resolutions he had made for staying alive to God’s glory. I will only mention one in closing. He said, ‘I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the ‘child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder.’

“One of the tragedies of growing up is that we get used to things. It has its good side of course, since irritations may cease to be irritations. But there is immense loss when we get used to the redness of the rising sun, and the roundness of the moon, and the whiteness of the snow, the wetness of rain, the blueness of the sky, the buzzing of bumble bees, the stitching of crickets, the invisibility of wind, the unconscious constancy of heart and diaphragm, the weirdness of noses and ears, the number of grains of sand on a thousand beaches, the never-ceasing crash crash crash of countless waves, and ten million kingly-clad flowers flourishing and withering in woods and mountain valleys where no one sees but God. I invite you, with Clyde Kilby, to seek a ‘freshness of vision,’ to look, as though it were the first time, not at the empty product of accumulated millennia of aimless evolutionary accidents (which no child ever dreamed of), but at the personal handiwork of an infinitely strong, creative, and exuberant Artist who made the earth and the sea and everything in them. I invite you to believe (like the children believe) ‘that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course you shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the Architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega.’”

Lord, give me new eyes to behold you and a freshness of vision.

[The Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club, hosted by Cindy at Ordo Amoris]

"One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." Psalm 27:4

Hidden Art of Homemaking Book Club

Cindy at Ordo Amoris is hosting a book club to read and discuss Edith Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking. I've owned this book for years and have glanced through it, but I've never taken the time to sit down and read it from cover to cover. I'm excited about the opportunity to finally read it along with my favorite blogger and other wonderful ladies.

It's not too late to join us if you're interested!

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27

Everyday Blessings

Note to self: never announce on your blog after a long hiatus that you're returning to blogging. The moment you do that, your family's schedule will conspire to spin you like a top, and you will end up eating your words. :-)

What's been keeping us busy?

Mom came to visit us twice, once in January and again in February. In January, we took her to visit nearby retirement homes. The second time she visited, she put a deposit down on one!

My cousin, his wife, and their darling 18 month daughter came to visit. We were very impressed by her love of sushi. :-)

Jonathan and Elizabeth competed in two speech tournaments. Jonathan wrote a speech and created a PowerPoint presentation on the power of fractals. Elizabeth wrote, memorized, and delivered a 10-minute speech on Temple Grandin as an example of how we should focus on our abilities, not on our disabilities. Daniel timed many speech and debate rounds.

We celebrated Daniel's 12th birthday. He asked for a gluten free doughnut for breakfast.



We celebrated Nutmeg's 6th birthday and gave her a bath, but not on the same day.

We also celebrated Pi Day on 3/14 at 1:59 by eating 2 kinds of pie.
(Yes, we have geeks in our family!)

We also served in ministry together, watched Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at a local college, went to the symphony and listened to Bach, went back to the symphony and listened to Beethoven, drank green smoothies, read Little Britches aloud, flew in a Comanche  400 (the pilot even let Jonathan fly), practiced Taekwondo moves, burnt a batch of cookies, started a Bible study on Colossians, taught Sunday School, wrote in our journals, crunched numbers at math circle, interviewed at a lab for a summer position, danced at an English Country Dance, memorized The Charge of the Light Brigade, and read many, many books. Oh, and I did laundry. Lots and lots of laundry!

Everyday blessings.

"Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:16

On searching for what we need...

"The Spirit of God is personal. Google is impersonal."
~Jonathan, age 15.

And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Psalm 39:7

High School Begins

Jonathan is an insatiable learner. That's good news and bad news. Some people assume that it's easy to homeschool a student with a voracious appetite for learning, and in many ways, I am blessed as his teacher. I don't have to motivate him to crack the books. He never runs out of subjects he wants to study. His reading list is challenging and always growing.

However, I will be the first to confess that there are challenges. We are constantly trying to figure out how much is too much. For example, he wanted to take three math classes this year. His idea, not mine. He took a class in Discrete Math (which he declares is his favorite branch of math so far) over the summer and began Algebra 3 in the fall. He also wants to take Precalculus, which begins next week. This means he will have an overlap between two math classes for a couple of months. I am not sure I want him to carry this heavy a load, because our spring schedule gets increasingly busier than the fall. We settled on a tentative plan: he will try both classes for a couple of weeks, and if it becomes overwhelming, he will reschedule Precalculus.

Another challenge is learning time management skills and the art of saying "no." He is reluctantly coming to grips with the reality that he, like other mere mortals, only has 24 hours in a day. He's learning that he cannot spend 6 hours on one beloved subject because it causes him stress over other objects and also results in a cross-eyed mama.

I think the hardest challenge for me has been running to keep a step or two ahead of him. I am constantly asking God to lead us to the right resources. I spend hours on researching curriculum and resources, which I enjoy because there are so many interesting options out there. The trickiest part is waiting on the Lord to discern which are the best choices. God has been faithful to lead us, step by step. 

Jonathan is studying Chemistry this year. I'm really glad he can study this subject somewhat independently. I just correct his homework and tests and make sure he doesn't blow up the house. I had a horrendous experience with chemistry in public high school. My crazy chem teacher got fired for telling war stories instead of teaching chemistry. I am not kidding. We returned from winter break to find that he was gone and a bewildered new teacher had taken his place. She couldn't believe that we had to start from the beginning of the textbook.

For English, Jonathan is writing essays and speeches, doing grammar exercises, and reading and analyzing literature. He is studying Japanese for his foreign language credit.

But his passion? Computer Science. (It's somewhat tiring to hear that word "passion" overused in academic circles. In this case, it really does describe his obsession deep interest in all things tech.) This year, he's learning C++, his third programming language after Python and Java. This past semester, he was thrilled to put his CS skills to practical use. His professor appointed him as the lead man for a team of programmers who are overhauling a non-profit organization's website. He enjoys working on it so much that sometimes I actually have to remind him to eat. 

(On a side note, Jonathan likes to discuss CS and math on his blog. Embrace geek, all ye who enter there.)

We are focusing on the ancient period for history this year. I front loaded his history reading to be heavier during the first semester so that he can take a slightly lighter load in the spring. This will give him flexibility to take on the additional math class, compete in speech tournaments, and work on some of his programming projects. I'm grateful for the flexibility of homeschooling.

1st Semester History:


Job & Isaiah, Old Testament
The Iliad, Homer
The Odyssey, Homer
Mythology, Edith Hamilton
The Book of Ancient Greeks, Dorothy Mills
The Last Days of Socrates, Plato
The Oedipus Trilogy, Sophocles
Selected plays by Aristophanes

1st Semester Literature:

Watership Down, Richard Adams
Farmer Giles of Ham, J.R.R. Tolkien
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Captains Courageous, Rudyard Kipling
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis
Twelfth Night, Shakespeare



His favorites from 1st semester: The Iliad, Watership Down, and Fahrenheit 451.

I am still amazed that I have a high schooler. It seems just like yesterday when we were reading Five in a Row books and going on field trips to the zoo. The thought of homeschooling through high school seemed somewhat daunting at that time, but over each season our lifestyle of learning continued to grow and blossom. I can finally see the promise of an upcoming harvest. 

It's been a tremendous privilege to watch that hyperactive little boy slowly morph into a thoughtful young man. I won't pretend that we don't have our teenage challenges, but I wouldn't trade this season for anything else in the world. These final years with him at home are pressing upon me, and I am pouring everything I have into making them count.

I love to encourage younger homeschool moms, because I owe a debt of gratitude to the moms who encouraged me. I let them in on a not-so-secret: it's all about dependence on God. I had to depend on Him when this boy was in kindergarten, and I'm still depending on Him as we begin high school. There is no other way to persevere and count it all joy.

"All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children." Isaiah 54:13

23 Years of Les Misérables

It was January 1990, and we were in London on our honeymoon. We were freezing cold under layers of winter coats, scarves, and gloves, but we were in love and didn't care. Our friend, who had loaned us her Swiss Cottage flat for our entire honeymoon, urged us to take in a show while we were in town. We asked her for suggestions, and she recommended Les Misérables. We had never heard of it before, but we took her advice and bought tickets.

We showed up at the theater and were immediately struck by how formally everyone was dressed. Ladies were alight in their finest, and many gentlemen wore tuxedos. We took it all in, looked at each other and realized this was an event.  We settled into our seats and pre-read the synopsis of each act. It was a good thing we did because once it began, we were swept away into the epic.

The music, the glorious music, carried us through each twist and turn of the story. And the story...I had never been so gripped by a story before, nor had been so taken in by the characters. The condemned man who, through mercy, becomes righteous. The self-righteous man who, through mercy, becomes self-condemned. The outcast suffering the consequences of sin, both her oppressor's and her own, receiving grace at the moment she least deserved it. The maiden in the bliss of first love, and the maiden in the agony of unrequited love. Unsung heroes fighting for a better day until the bitter end. A parent loving the way only a parent should love, holding nothing back, even when--or maybe especially when--it is time to let go.

When the last song was sung and the final curtain call came, we were left stunned. We rode the tube back to the flat and talked about the story the rest of our honeymoon and for months afterward. We promised each other that we would return to London on our 10th anniversary to experience it all again.

Fast forward ten years. We had a baby and a toddler by then and realized that returning to London wasn't going to happen anytime soon. A good friend, who owned a concierge business, mentioned that Les Misérables was playing in Los Angeles. We immediately knew where we wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

The Los Angeles theater scene was a little different than London's. We spotted a few glitzy dresses, but we also noticed designer jeans. There was not a tuxedo in sight. Instead of being served fancy hors d'oeuvres at a private table during intermission, we stood in line at the snack stand to place our own orders. 

But none of the trappings mattered. It was Les Misérables, and we fell in love with the story and the music all over again.

A few months ago, we heard that another movie release of Les Misérables was due around our 23rd anniversary. I was cautiously optimistic. I had tried watching the first 15 minutes of the Liam Neeson version, and as much as I truly admire Neeson's acting, I just couldn't get embrace it fully. All through the years, I had associated Les Misérables with the music. Without the melodies, the plot seemed uncomfortably naked. 

The new movie did not disappoint us. Truth be told, we were both taken aback by how intensely we would be moved again by the story. It wasn't only the stunning cinematography or the compelling performances, such as Anne Hathaway's knife-to-the-heart rendition of I Dreamed a Dream, or Jean Valjean's Bring Me Home, which reduced me to a torrent of tears, it was the fact that we now had years of life experiences tucked into our souls. Experiences that now framed the story for us in a deeper way.

In the years between our honeymoon and this, our 23rd year of marriage, we've watched our babies grow up and learned the bittersweet joy of parental love. We've witnessed reality trampling youthful dreams. We've suffered the pain of injustices. We've wept in prayer over our loved ones. We've grieved the deaths of our precious fathers. We've also received great mercy. And we've seen hardened people change by the love of God. 

We ourselves were the hardened. We ourselves are now the beloved.  

Les Misérables is not perfect. Only the gospel is. But this story will run in our veins until the day we die. 

We were so grateful to have seen this new movie and wanted to share it with others. This time, out-of-town family who were visiting came along as well as Jonathan, who is 15. I couldn't wait to introduce the story and the music to them, and I hoped that they would love it as much as we did.

At the end, when the final credits were rolling, I turned to my teen son, who is almost the age of Marius and the blush of first love and a soldier's call to fight. I asked, "What did you think?" 

Pause. Then he said, "Profound." 

"What was profound?"

"Everything."

Later, when Alan asked which movie he liked better, Les Misérables or The Hobbit, without a pause he said, "Les Misérables." 

A boy after our own hearts. 


"God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7