‘Ink Re-Cap 151: Sketches and Scribbles of Our Week
‘Ink Re-Cap 151.
Random Sketches and Scribbles
about Fall on the little-farm-by-the-river,
Anabaptist re-enactments, and Christmas in the Air.
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We had one crazy windy day this week,
but apparently it was nothing compared to the wind our little-farm-by-the-river family had yesterday.
They said it blew all the pretty colored leaves off the trees,
so now, unfortunately, we will go to pre-winter landscape when we go see them in 2 weeks.
That’s okay, I guess.
The best part is bonding with those grand-boys we don’t get to see often enough.
Yay for travel! We’re actually going to do it!
‘Ink Re-Cap 151: Our Week on the Blog
You know how old uncle Screwtape wants to mess up the world in C. S. Lewis’ book? Well, in this Letter for the Bride-To-Be we imitate the style, giving Wormwood ironic directions for messing with a bride’s Christian life.
Sigh. In this post I shared a difficult moment (or ten) from when our oldest son was little. His grandma wondered how he would turn out. But he soon made her proud, and they were super close until the day she died. In How to Encourage Empathy in Your Young Children we share some tips we found to work, and others we wish we had tried.
This was the week for the Church Ladies to do the volunteer day, so I made Old-Fashioned Chunky Apple Cake With (Perfect) Butter Sauce for dessert. Only, the sauce didn’t turn out perfect, so I had to find out, and share, why.
Time for some goodies for those littles! Autumn-Themed Do-A-Dot Downloads for Pre-School Children
And our Friday Inspo, Sing Through The Storms and Hard Times of Life. Did you know there’s a bird that seems to prefer singing in the rain?
The World Out My Window
Ahhh! Life is so good right now.
This week we can have the patio door open, (no more AC!) and I sit here listening to the birds chirping and the wind chimes softly ting-ing their wooden bumper.
Soon we’ll see the birds flying south, hopefully stopping over to take a drink in our yard. My northern niece saw 5 different birds in her backyard yesterday, stuffing their bellies before their big trips south. Tufted woodpecker, nuthatch, blue jay, black capped chickadee, and dark-eyed junco. That’s amazing variety for one afternoon. So maybe in a week or so we’ll see some of these in our backyard.
‘Ink Re-Cap 151 Search Engine Winner:
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Christmas Sale!!!
It is 71 days until Christmas Day 2021! And, I think I can feel it, just a little, Christmas is in the air!
We warned you last week that it was getting dangerously close.
Are you making lists and planning menus and… getting out your Christmas Card addresses?
And so we’ve created our First Annual/Pre-Black Friday/Holiday Hullabaloo CHRISTMAS SALE!!!
Yes, we’re screaming. We’re sort of proud of ourselves for pulling this together. After all, this is going to be the biggest thing we’ve done all year.
You will be getting all the details in your email on Monday.
Inspiring Inklings of Real Life
Anabaptist re-enactment on the little-farm-by-the-river.
I wish we could be there for it, but this event is supposed to happen next Friday.
Do you know Church history? Well, our Church has Anabaptist roots, and if you’ve studied the early days of this group, you know that they were persecuted to the extreme.
As a way to enlighten young people on the atrocities they went through, the Youth Leaders at the Nebraska Church our children attend are organizing a re-enactment. I don’t know what all they’ll do, but the main part is having a secret service in the woods. Because the Christians could not gather publicly in the days of the Anabaptists. And often, someone would betray them, or persecutors would search with dogs, and their meetings would be disrupted in rude and terrifying ways. So as the young people are having a “secret service” in the woods, someone will charge in and disrupt them. They’ll know it’s coming, but they won’t know when or how. Sound a little scary?
It will be a good teaching opportunity. Christians have it so good today in this wonderful country of ours.
Book of the week: “Fire By Night”*
by
I’m not sure if I should recommend this book, because I haven’t read it.
I’ve read reviews, some excerpts, and descriptions of the book.
The reason I want to read it is because of something we frequently talk about: how difficult it is to read the Old Testament. My friend told her granddaughter that the heroes of the Old Testament were people just like us. They loved God, but they still were humans and made mistakes and sinned, even against their better knowledge or desires. Her granddaughter felt this would help make it more palatable, as she couldn’t stand knowing that the heroes she’d learned to revere in Sunday School weren’t exactly heroic throughout their lives.
“Fire By Night” attempts to make the Old Testament relative to us today. The author says our lives are still attended by “cloud by day and fire by night” like the Israelites on the great Exodus.
If you’ve read more of this book than I have to date, let me know what you think. Privately by email, or by commenting on this post. (We like comments!)
A children’s book teaching Anabaptist history, along with modern stories and activities:
“Let the Children Come to Me“* by Lisa Weaver. 2019
Amazon’s description:
“Let the Children Come to Me, a resource for families nurturing faith development of elementary-aged children, is structured around 12 Anabaptist faith practices: Scripture reading, prayer, community, bearing witness, service to one another, worship, nonviolence, steadfast faith, the centrality of Christ, communion, believers baptism, and stewardship.
Each faith practice is developed as a short unit (the equivalent of two page-spreads) and explored through stories from Anabaptist-Mennonite history—one from the sixteenth century and one contemporary, global story. These stories are accompanied by scripture passages, conversation-starters, prayers, and multiple options for family activities.”
Miscellaneous
Smirk:
“When does a pun become a Dad joke?”
“When the punch line is a parent.”
Random Factoid:
Anabaptists “are the originators of the “free church.”
Separation of church and state was an unthinkable and radical notion when it was introduced by the Anabaptists.
Likewise their defense of religious liberty was regarded as an invitation to anarchy.” christianhistory.org “The Anabaptists: Did You Know?”
Inspiring Quote
Now for the week’s fridge quote.
How To Get It:
Go to this page and fill in the form. This adds you to our email list, or, if you’re already on it, verifies you’re still one of our besties.
Then comment, “Quote 151” and we’ll zip it over to you.
