Plans to Harm Some of You?

If you take a look at my countdown, you will see that it is down to one week. Seven days. Seven days. Does saying that over and over make it any less true? I am a mixture of excitement, exhaustion, and frustration. Well, right, that's a good description of me any day. But we have people coming from all over, and I get to make a lot of food and entertain, and George is graduating! On the other hand, we have all these people coming from all over the place, I have to make all this food for them, and George is graduating. And that is a lesson on perspective. Because I said the same thing both times.

I really am excited. I would be a lot more excited if we had something to tell everyone about when they all get here. Because the big question is, of course, "what next?" And the big answer is, "we don't know." Generally speaking, we aren't too terribly worried. Frustrated? Yes. Determined that God will just cease to be a provider for his people? No. We have heard countless stories of people getting jobs at the very last minute. Our own lives provide a good four or five examples of the very same nick of time type provisions. And yet, the question after we give our "we don't know," is one that, though well meaning, is really just discouraging and all around negative. I am sorry to say so if you are perhaps one of the people to have said it to us, but we honestly don't remember who you are because everyone is saying it to us. However, please refrain from saying it if you can, because well, it's just not helpful. What is she talking about? What is this horrible thing that people keep saying to them? It's not really horrible at all. It's just six little words that keep showing up and shaking me to the core. "Do you have a plan B?" Why would someone ask this? I know. I know it's because they are worried for us, because things aren't looking so good right now, because they are curious. But do they really think we will just let our lease run out with nowhere to go? 'Cause we won't.

I have this gross need to explain myself to everyone. I mean, it's a good thing in that I am also able to just tell it like it is and be vulnerable. But it is a bad thing in that in many ways, I am just looking for affirmation or kindredness in others. Can you say kindredness? Well, I am going to either way. And I have kept a lot of my feelings and struggles with this whole not having a job a week before graduation thing to myself because I have recognized that in myself. I say things on my blog, I hope to be helpful, but also to be understood. I am trying to worry less about being understood and affirmed by everyone else and just believe that I am understood and affirmed by my Creator. Imagine trying to work on that during a time where it would seem that your prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling, and that the Creator may or may not have forgotten your family's existence! Of course, he does hear our prayers and knows and loves our family. And I think our prayers have been answered in many ways, in the form of a measure of patience and peace that is truly remarkable. A remarkable measure for me, at least. I am still, on a good day, never going to be half as calm as some of you are on a bad day! So when you take me, remarkably calm and patient for being me in the midst of uncertainty, but still oh-so-dramatic me who looks to everyone else so often to be affirmed and understood, and you throw in someone else's skeptical comment, the entire structure of my faith and confidence starts to sway. Not that it's their fault, just that I have that abysmal need to be built up by people who can't and shouldn't have to. So I am, in some ways, closing myself off to the comments that people make by just not talking about it in the first place. Okay, so I am talking about it a lot to some of you. But I haven't posted about it. And I am not sure why I am today. Except that I want to tell people to quit asking about "plan B." I am very close to having the back of my van loaded up with cream pies so that anyone who mentions plan B gets a pie in the face. But the obvious problem there is the timing. I'm really going to just run out to my car and get a pie when they ask? They would have started talking to someone else by then, probably about how rude I was to just leave in the middle of our conversation, and so then I would look like a really big jerk when I came back with the pie. The other option is that I could just carry a pie with me at all times. That probably really would be effective. Because who's going to ask about your plans when you're standing there with a pie? If anything, they would ask "what's with the pie?" If I could pare down what I have in my purse to just keys, wallet, and cell phone, I might have room for a covered pie, a pie plate with a snap on lid or something. Then, I could have a concealed pie, and the only timing concern would be how quickly I could get the lid off. The only other thing I can think of is to find the pie truck from the silent movie that the Brady Bunch made and work out a signal with the driver so that the truck would pull up at just the right time... But I don't really see how that would work if I was indoors.

So I guess for now, plan B really just involves pies. And as for our future, I assure you all, we will not keep you in the dark. When George gets a job, we will be celebrating and shouting about it from the rooftops. And if it takes a little longer than we hope, and our lease does start running out, well then, we'll be sure to tell you what the plan is. But that plan will be plan C now, you know, because of the pies.

Another Go at Interesting

Y'all know how I love to talk about children's literature from time to time. And did you also know that I like for my entire inbox to be viewable on one page? So I am up to two pages right now and am having to go through old emails and delete. The things that pile up most are receipts from online purchases and newsletters. I get several good cooking newsletters and don't always have time to try the recipes before the next ones come. And I also get, as I have mentioned before, the Veritas Press newsletter. I almost always enjoy the Veritas Press newsletter. Every now and then, they seem to try to moralize matters of opinion, but for the most part, good stuff. (A huge pet peeve of mine is when people try to make a huge deal out of one type of education over another, as if all children are the same, and learn the same way, and there is one "right" or "best" way. Please! Just to be clear, there are plenty of people in all veins of education saying their way is the only way. I am not picking on the classical education dudes- more power to them!) Anyway, this month's newsletter is about the history of children's literature. I think it is very interesting. Then again, I thought the difference between porcupines and hedgehogs was interesting. I swanee, you people are like crickets chirping sometimes! Anyway, read this, if you like.

Orbis Sensualium Pictus (The Visual World in Pictures), published in 1658, was written by Jan Amos Comenius. He was a reformer in education, and this was the first book that recognized that there was a difference between what children and adults would enjoy reading.

(In 1671) James Janeway's, A Token for Children, Being an Exact Account of the Conversation, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several Young Children would change the face of children's literature permanently. This book told the story of Christian boys and girls who died in a way that was honoring to Christ. It was written with the hope of influencing other children to walk in righteousness. Until this time children were never the protagonist in literature.

Wouldn't you love to get your hands on a copy of that?! Can you imagine?! "Hey little child, this is a story about a little boy or girl just like you.... who died!"

Locke and Rousseau ultimately pointed the way for a new genre of children's literature in which amusement and enjoyment, not instruction, were the goal of the literature. By the 1770's several of these books were placed in print in London by John Newberry. Innovations in typography and printing enabled the production of illustrated books at a new rate. One of Newberry's books, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, came with a ball for boys or a pincushion for girls. It is considered a landmark in the pleasure reading market for children. Newberry used the marketing phrase "instruction with delight," acting on Locke's idea of a half-century earlier that learning could be fun. Of course, Locke was not the first one to have thought of it. The Romans had been teaching their children this way for centuries, but that had been lost by modern times.

Jumping forward to the Victorian era (1830-1900) we find that developments in printing technology made producing books even less expensive. Juvenile sections became well established at libraries. The middle class was expanding, and these parents were willing to spend money on books for their children. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, many children's classics appeared.... Major publishing houses, already well-established, adopted children's divisions. Names like Harper, Putnam, Scribner, and Houghton participated. By 1865 every one of these publishers not only published books, but had at least one magazine. The magazines would prove to be a testing ground for young authors, and many books we know today came from a compilation of articles that first appeared in a magazine.

And I suppose we can kind of fill in the rest. There is also a little bit about the fables and tales that were passed down orally, but these were not considered children's stories in particular at the time. The newsletter also came with links to several great book lists for children, one for grades K-2, another for grades 3-6, and another for 7-12. Let me know if you are interested in them and I will forward the email to you.

My First Poll

I need y'all's help here. I know the first part for a fact. For Mother's Day, when the mother in question has a mother who is alive, you get her a red corsage. When the mother in question no longer has a mother who is alive, you get her a white corsage. I am encountering two opposing, but very strong positions on the next part. The flower in question: rose or orchid? I am interested specifically in the white flower. At this point I have one rose and one orchid ordered. I gave my mom an orchid last year and she seemed to think it was weird. At $10 less, I am happy to give her the less weird rose. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, loves orchids. I am paying for that one when I pick it up and I may be a little taken aback when I get my grand total. But, I tend to think orchids are right on this one. I am not sure why. One florist assumed orchids immediately, and the other assumed roses immediately. Both florists are swanky and do beautiful work. So which is it? What do y'all think? And incidentally, please don't say anything to Stephanie or the Carnster about their corsages if you talk to them.