A Severe Mercy

This is a fantastic book!  I'm not sure how this book ended up on my bookshelf, but I am quite certain it will end up one of my all-time favorites.

 

Here's an excerpt I read last night that made me laugh at the truth of it.  Then I read it again and with a much deeper understanding, wholeheartedly agreed.  The author is speaking of himself as he tells of days gone by.

"He had been wont to despise emotions: girls were emotional, girls were weak, emotions- tears- were weakness.  But this morning he was thinking that being a great brain on a tower, nothing but a brain, wouldn't be much fun.  No excitement, no dog to love, no joy in the blue sky- no feelings at all.  But feelings- feelings are emotions!  He was suddenly overwhelmed by the revelation that what makes life worth living is, precisely, the emotions.  But then- this was awful!- maybe girls with their tears and laughter were getting more out of life.  Shattering!  He checked himself: showing one's emotions was not the thing: having them was.  Still, he was dizzy with the revelation.  What is beauty but something that is responded to with emotion?  Courage, at least partly, is emotional.  All the splendor of life.  But if the best of life is, in fact, emotional, then one wanted the highest, purest emotions: and that meant joy.  Joy was the highest... If there were a choice- and he suspected there was- a choice between, on the one hand, the heights and the depths and, on the other hand, some sort of safe, cautious middle way, he, for one, here and now chose the heights and the depths...

Since then the years had gone by, and he... had had the love.  And the joy- what joy it had been!  And the sorrow.  He had had- was having- all the sorrow there was.  And yet, the joy was worth the pain." 

Here's a short description from Amazon:

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, is a heart-rending love story described by its author as "the spiritual autobiography of a love rather than of the lovers." Vanauken chronicles the birth of a powerful pagan love borne out of the relationship he shares with his wife, Davy, and describes the growth of their relationship and the dreams that they share. 

While studying at Oxford, Sheldon and Davy develop a friendship with C.S. Lewis, under whose influence and with much intellectual scrutiny they accept the Christian doctrine. As their devotion to God intensifies, Sheldon realizes that he is no longer Davy's primary love--God is. Within this discovery begins a brewing jealousy.   --Jacque Holthusen

Hurting for You

I listened to this today. 

And wept through every single song.

The words are real, true, painful, hopeful,

raw. 

 

Every song is fantastic.

There are so many of you hurting sooooo badly right now,

worse that I can even imagine,

and I cried for each one of you.

I'm so sorry.

Details

If you're actually reading on my blog's site (instead of in an e-mail or RSS feed) you'll notice a new look!  I've been wanting to add a third column for a while now so I can add a few more things, but am always half asleep when I get a chance to mess with it.  But tonight the house was quiet and I was bored, so I went for it and it worked!  :)  So a few things are missing for the time being... my list of other blogs, namely (and my family pictures!).  I will put it back up, I just didn't get to it tonight.  I do miss my Thanksgiving look, but soon enough I'll switch it out to something red and green!

But while I'm taking care of details, anything you'd like to see here on the sidebars for quick access?  Or more posts on a certain topic?  I guess while I'm asking, what are your favorite kinds of posts?

Thanks!!

tired means exhausted

Me, to Mattie after her fifth time getting out of bed: "I know you're exhausted.  I can tell by looking at you."

Mattie:  "Mom, exhausted means tired and I already told you I'm not tired!"

(Academic) Thanksgiving Plans!

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving already!!  I am excited to have found something unique for our Thanksgiving week this year!  It's nice to do something we haven't done three times already.  I thought I'd share it early in case someone else thought it looked neat too!

This is an online, interactive "research" project for kids. 
It was created this year after the reenactment of the 1621 harvest feast done by the Plimoth Plantation museum, using pictures from the historically accurate reenactment.  It teaches the student what a historian is, then puts them in that position to find out what really happened in 1621 (and how that might be a bit different than all of our cute little Thanksgiving books tell us).  After they do their "research" there is an opportunity to do an online project too!  And it includes a teacher's guide if that's helpful. 
There's more at the home site too!

Here are some of the books we'll read along with our study (Some of these are repeats, and some are new to us.):

 

Jacob is loving Magic Tree House books right now, so he'll be excited about these!

This last one is one of the Trailblazer series by Dave and Neta Jackson.  We've been learning a lot about different missionaries this year, so this is a great opportunity to learn about William Bradford and his influence on the colonists.

 

We'll also do a few worksheets from enchantedlearning.com (brush up on our turkey knowledge and Massachusetts map skills), some creative writing and color some pictures according to what we've learned.  I'm trying to find a cool science experiment to do, but not having much luck.  I think I'll just do a fun lesson on spices, it just won't include an experiment.

I'm still working on the rest of it, though that will cover all of our academic stuff.  I'll do a separate post on our favorite just-for-fun things to do.