This is one of my all-time favorite songs. Francesca Batistelli has a fantastic voice and her songs are just so much fun! This song aptly describes how we all feel when we lose something or get a ticket (I haven't experienced that frustrating thing yet. =). But it also is a great reminder to just give it up and sacrifice our wants, needs, or frustrations to God.
Look it up on the web, listen to the radio because it's on there all the time, get the MP3 download or buy it from iTunes, etc, etc.
So! Here it is.
I lost my keys,
In the great unknown,
And call me please,
'Cuz I can't find my phone.
This is the stuff that drives me crazy.
This is the stuff that's gettin' to me lately.
In the middle of my littleness,
I forget how big I'm blessed.
This is the stuff that gets under my skin.
But I've got to trust
You know exactly what you're doing!
Might not be the stuff I'd choose,
But this is the stuff you use.
Forty-five in a thirty-five.
Sirens and fines,
While I'm runnin' behind!
This is the stuff that drives me crazy.
This is the stuff, wiould someone save me?!
In the middle of my littleness,
I forget how big I'm blessed.
This is the stuff that gets under my skin.
But I've got to trust
You know exactly what you're doing!
Might not be the stuff I'd choose,
But this is the stuff you use.
So break me of impatience,
Conquer my frustrations,
I've got a new appreciation:
It's not the end of the world!
This is the stuff you use.
Isn't it great?
I will do a more extensive post on what last week was like for me soon.
Cady
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Modesty in Dress: A Maiden's Perspective
Modesty. It shouldn't be a hot topic but it certainly is in our modern society right now. In this post, I'll be overviewing our famiy's views on modest clothing. I'll detail the journey that we went through to get to where we are now. Then I'll tell you what decisions our family has made about modest clothing and the reasoning behind those decisions. And finally, I'll go into how we make it all work!
When I was a little girl, I knew what clothing items were appropriate and which clothes were not. Although I do not remember hearing the word 'modest' up until I was 9, almost 10, years old, appropriate/inappropriate were commonly used words in the Crosby house.
I remember clear as day the first time I really encountered an 'inappropriate' clothing item and thus had a valuable object lesson on the definitions of those two words. I was probably about seven years old at the time, and my mom and I were shopping at the mall. We were in JCPenney when I saw a really cute shirt that I wanted to try on. It was one of those shirts that has a striped tank and then over the tank there's a little jacket that sort of resembles a bolero. Except it's not as teeny as a bolero-it's like a little jacket that ties...right at the bust line.
Now remember, at the time that this story takes place, I was seven. So in one sense, a clothing item that drew attention to that part of my body was really not a big deal at that age. But in the other sense, it was still a big deal because regardless of age, no clothing should be purposefully drawing attention to that part of the body. This shirt was obviously doing so, and so my mom told me, "Cady, that shirt isn't appropriate, so we're not going to be buying it." She gently explained to me why it wasn't appropriate, but I remember that I wanted that shirt so badly. I reasoned and pleaded, but to no avail. My mom was adamant in her position. She said, "We can look for other pretty shirts, but that one's just not going to work." I realized that this point was not to be debated so I stopped arguing (which was basically what I was doing).
Fast forward three years.
A friend of ours who wore only skirts and dresses told my mom, "I have this really great book on modesty I want you to read! Can I give it to you to borrow? It was the book that convinced me to wear only skirts."
My mother made various excuses to get out of borrowing the book because she didn't particularly want to be convinced to wear only skirts. But eventually, she gave in and read the book.
We were on our way to church one morning when my mom broached the subject with me, 10 years old at the time. She told me that she had been reading a book called Dressing with Dignity, and she really wanted me to read the book. Of course, I said okay. But then my mom said, "I really think we should stop wearing pants." I was not expecting that at all, and frankly, I didn't like it. I liked my jeans and I didn't see a reason to only wear skirts. So I asked, "Why do you say that?" She told me, "In the book, there's a study that was conducted about women wearing pants, and what the study says, along with all of the other facts that are in the book, makes me really feel like we should stop wearing pants."
I said I would read the book, so I did. Written by Colleen Hammond, this book is eye-opening and shocking. It made me think about things I had never thought about before. By the way, this woman has had an inside look at the culture. Mrs. Hammond had been a cable network anchor, image consultant, actress, model, and beauty queen. But this research and her convictions made Mrs. Hammond turn away from her careers and become a wife, mother, writer, and speaker on modesty.
I had thought before that I was dressing modestly and that my clothes, pants included, were just fine. But this paragraph alone turned that whole idea upside down.
"Using newly developed technology, they [advertising agencies] tracked the path that a man's eyes take when looking at a woman in pants. They found that when a man looked at a woman in pants from the back, he looked directly at her bottom. When he looked at a woman wearing pants from the front, advertisers found that his eyes dropped directly to a woman's most private and intimate area. Not her face! Not her chest!" (Colleen Hammond, Dressing with Dignity, page 49)
That information is from a real, conducted study. Sorry, but this is not a conspiracy theory. Men's eyes do this, not neccessarily on purpose, when a woman is wearing pants. And I do not mean just skinnny jeans or skin-tight pants. Any pants attracts this reaction.
Just wearing skirts doesn't necessarily fix the problem. Short skirts, skirts with slits up the front and tight skirts can do the same thing. If you want to get away from being a near occasion of sin to men, then wearing long skirts is what will do it. Short skirts (meaning skirts above the knees) do the exact same thing that pants do. Actually, I think that in many cases, it does worse damage. I've seen dresses and skirts that offend my sense of decorum, not just my sense of modesty. I can only imagine what this must do to guys.
Needless to say, that really made me look at things differently. Since guys are our brothers in Christ, we young ladies have a responsibility to dress in a way that will not be a near occasion of sin for them. I think that the above is definitely a near occasion of sin for them.
After lots of discussions, heart-to-hearts, and some thinking about how we would make this work practically, the ladies of our family did decide to wear only skirts/dresses. There are 3 basic myths when it comes to a woman wearing only skirts, and I will now cover those.
1) You can't clean a bathroom in a skirt. Yes, you can. I speak from experience. I actually don't even find it more difficult than cleaning a bathroom in pants. Sure, maybe you can't get into those frustrating areas quite as easily-but for the most part, a bathroom can be cleaned just fine in a skirt. Don't get me wrong now; I do NOT propose cleaning a bathroom or anything else for that matter in a flowery skirt and blouse. Actually, I wear a very casual T-shirt and sweat skirt. (Yes, I do have a sweat skirt! Sweat pants material but in a skirt! Value Village treasure...:)
2) Modest and frumpy are synonyms. I try to dress as modestly as I can so that I am not a near occasion of sin to my brothers in Christ. However, I don't need to dress in a sack to be modest! Honestly, I really think that this is one of the biggest fears that we young ladies have if we're preparing to make a change to only skirts. "What will people think of me?" Yes, I struggle with that too, especially if I'm in an area where EVERYONE is in pants or shorts, which is basically everywhere. But you can curtail that by dressing prettily while still wearing a skirt. Find denim skirts and basically any shirt will work with those.You'll look pretty, feel pretty, and be beautifully feminine. One of the neat, unexpected benefits has been that I have NEVER felt underdressed for any event I have attended because of wearing skirts.
3) No one can find long skirts anymore, except maybe in costume stores. How about Value Village and Goodwill? I have had so much luck finding nice long skirts at Value Village especially. Yes, you have to separate the good from the bad (read: the long from the short), but the skirts are nice and they're cheap! Most of my skirts are from consignment stores. I can only think of three that are not.
So, how do I dress on a day-to-day basis? I have two denim skirts and two corduoroy skirts right now, along with about four or five summer skirts. Each day, I'll pick out one of these skirts and then just pick a nice blouse to go with it. For blouses, I wear a lot of polos, long sleeve or short sleeve. Sometimes I'll wear a shirt that's not collared but is long-sleeved, and those are nice too. I have quite a few cardigans and nice sweaters that I wear often too.
Ankle-high socks don't tend to look great with what I wear, so I've purchased multiple knee-high, white cotton socks to last me through the winter (and spring, and maybe summer! It just depends on how the weather is that year! ). These have worked really well and I'm so glad I found them. On Sundays, I wear something nicer, like a charcoal-colored skirt or black skirt, along with a dressy top. I have a couple tops in particular that I think of as just "Sunday clothes."
By this time, you might be wondering if I am for some reason against wearing dresses, since I have not mentioned any being in my wardrobe. I am by no means against wearing long dresses! I would love to be able to wear them...however, it's very difficult for me to find long, pretty dresses that I would wear. All of my younger sisters do have dresses, but as of right now, I have zero dresses in my closet. My mom has very few as well. I know that some others have been able to find lovely dresses that work well for them, but the dresses I've looked at have either been too expensive or I just don't like them. That's my take on that.
So, what about nighttime wear? We don't wear pants to bed either. Instead, we've looked for long, pretty, feminine (but not revealing) nightgowns to wear. We've had some luck for the younger girls in our family, but Mommy and I haven't had found many nightgowns for various reasons. For instance, most of them are either too low-cut or too short. I've tried a couple of nightgowns and none of them have really worked. After having found that sweat-skirt I mentioned above, and another skirt that's almost the same, I just use these skirts and a casual T-shirt for night. That is just what works for us-do whatever works best for you and your family, your convictions.
Now, I also have speech and debate tournaments.The classic tournament attire for most are slacks and blazers, maybe an occasional skirt that is supposed to extend below the knee. Obviously, I do not wear slacks, so I needed to find a 'tournament skirt'-so basically a suit with a long skirt. That's quite hard to find nowadays. But my mom had unwavering faith in Value Village, so we went to take a look. I found just the skirt I needed for $7.00! And two blazers for $5.00 each! Actually, I just went to Value Village today too, and I found yet ANOTHER blazer that's perfectly gorgeous for $4.99. I am so delighted...=)
If you're wondering where to purchase long skirts, here are a few suggestions. I don't think I need to say it again, but I will. Thrift stores! They are absolutely wonderful, because you can often find long skirts for very cheap. But also, Fred Meyer's has had a lot of great options for summer skirts. Last summer, I got two skirts for my birthday and they were both from Freddy's. So it's worth going and taking a look.
I would absolutely recommend Colleen Hammond's book, Dressing with Dignity. This book is chock-full of information about the history of fashion and the how's/why's of modesty today. It's a fabulous book that is convicting and eye-opening.
After reading this post, you might be thinking that I do not have any temptations against modesty, I don't have any sins of vanity, that I am perfect, etc. Let me assure you...I do. We all have the same sinful nature, and to be honest, that is the most persuasive part of the arguement for wearing only skirts. All of us have a sinful nature, and we are all being called to bring each other to a higher level of holiness. And if wearing skirts helps us achieve that goal, then I believe we ladies should at least be willing to consider making such a huge switch, even if it means sacrificing comfort and fashionablility.
Thank you so much for reading this post! Please feel free to comment and do know that I absolutely love it when anyone comments.
Pax,
Cady
When I was a little girl, I knew what clothing items were appropriate and which clothes were not. Although I do not remember hearing the word 'modest' up until I was 9, almost 10, years old, appropriate/inappropriate were commonly used words in the Crosby house.
I remember clear as day the first time I really encountered an 'inappropriate' clothing item and thus had a valuable object lesson on the definitions of those two words. I was probably about seven years old at the time, and my mom and I were shopping at the mall. We were in JCPenney when I saw a really cute shirt that I wanted to try on. It was one of those shirts that has a striped tank and then over the tank there's a little jacket that sort of resembles a bolero. Except it's not as teeny as a bolero-it's like a little jacket that ties...right at the bust line.
Now remember, at the time that this story takes place, I was seven. So in one sense, a clothing item that drew attention to that part of my body was really not a big deal at that age. But in the other sense, it was still a big deal because regardless of age, no clothing should be purposefully drawing attention to that part of the body. This shirt was obviously doing so, and so my mom told me, "Cady, that shirt isn't appropriate, so we're not going to be buying it." She gently explained to me why it wasn't appropriate, but I remember that I wanted that shirt so badly. I reasoned and pleaded, but to no avail. My mom was adamant in her position. She said, "We can look for other pretty shirts, but that one's just not going to work." I realized that this point was not to be debated so I stopped arguing (which was basically what I was doing).
Fast forward three years.
A friend of ours who wore only skirts and dresses told my mom, "I have this really great book on modesty I want you to read! Can I give it to you to borrow? It was the book that convinced me to wear only skirts."
My mother made various excuses to get out of borrowing the book because she didn't particularly want to be convinced to wear only skirts. But eventually, she gave in and read the book.
We were on our way to church one morning when my mom broached the subject with me, 10 years old at the time. She told me that she had been reading a book called Dressing with Dignity, and she really wanted me to read the book. Of course, I said okay. But then my mom said, "I really think we should stop wearing pants." I was not expecting that at all, and frankly, I didn't like it. I liked my jeans and I didn't see a reason to only wear skirts. So I asked, "Why do you say that?" She told me, "In the book, there's a study that was conducted about women wearing pants, and what the study says, along with all of the other facts that are in the book, makes me really feel like we should stop wearing pants."
I said I would read the book, so I did. Written by Colleen Hammond, this book is eye-opening and shocking. It made me think about things I had never thought about before. By the way, this woman has had an inside look at the culture. Mrs. Hammond had been a cable network anchor, image consultant, actress, model, and beauty queen. But this research and her convictions made Mrs. Hammond turn away from her careers and become a wife, mother, writer, and speaker on modesty.
I had thought before that I was dressing modestly and that my clothes, pants included, were just fine. But this paragraph alone turned that whole idea upside down.
"Using newly developed technology, they [advertising agencies] tracked the path that a man's eyes take when looking at a woman in pants. They found that when a man looked at a woman in pants from the back, he looked directly at her bottom. When he looked at a woman wearing pants from the front, advertisers found that his eyes dropped directly to a woman's most private and intimate area. Not her face! Not her chest!" (Colleen Hammond, Dressing with Dignity, page 49)
That information is from a real, conducted study. Sorry, but this is not a conspiracy theory. Men's eyes do this, not neccessarily on purpose, when a woman is wearing pants. And I do not mean just skinnny jeans or skin-tight pants. Any pants attracts this reaction.
Just wearing skirts doesn't necessarily fix the problem. Short skirts, skirts with slits up the front and tight skirts can do the same thing. If you want to get away from being a near occasion of sin to men, then wearing long skirts is what will do it. Short skirts (meaning skirts above the knees) do the exact same thing that pants do. Actually, I think that in many cases, it does worse damage. I've seen dresses and skirts that offend my sense of decorum, not just my sense of modesty. I can only imagine what this must do to guys.
Needless to say, that really made me look at things differently. Since guys are our brothers in Christ, we young ladies have a responsibility to dress in a way that will not be a near occasion of sin for them. I think that the above is definitely a near occasion of sin for them.
After lots of discussions, heart-to-hearts, and some thinking about how we would make this work practically, the ladies of our family did decide to wear only skirts/dresses. There are 3 basic myths when it comes to a woman wearing only skirts, and I will now cover those.
1) You can't clean a bathroom in a skirt. Yes, you can. I speak from experience. I actually don't even find it more difficult than cleaning a bathroom in pants. Sure, maybe you can't get into those frustrating areas quite as easily-but for the most part, a bathroom can be cleaned just fine in a skirt. Don't get me wrong now; I do NOT propose cleaning a bathroom or anything else for that matter in a flowery skirt and blouse. Actually, I wear a very casual T-shirt and sweat skirt. (Yes, I do have a sweat skirt! Sweat pants material but in a skirt! Value Village treasure...:)
2) Modest and frumpy are synonyms. I try to dress as modestly as I can so that I am not a near occasion of sin to my brothers in Christ. However, I don't need to dress in a sack to be modest! Honestly, I really think that this is one of the biggest fears that we young ladies have if we're preparing to make a change to only skirts. "What will people think of me?" Yes, I struggle with that too, especially if I'm in an area where EVERYONE is in pants or shorts, which is basically everywhere. But you can curtail that by dressing prettily while still wearing a skirt. Find denim skirts and basically any shirt will work with those.You'll look pretty, feel pretty, and be beautifully feminine. One of the neat, unexpected benefits has been that I have NEVER felt underdressed for any event I have attended because of wearing skirts.
3) No one can find long skirts anymore, except maybe in costume stores. How about Value Village and Goodwill? I have had so much luck finding nice long skirts at Value Village especially. Yes, you have to separate the good from the bad (read: the long from the short), but the skirts are nice and they're cheap! Most of my skirts are from consignment stores. I can only think of three that are not.
So, how do I dress on a day-to-day basis? I have two denim skirts and two corduoroy skirts right now, along with about four or five summer skirts. Each day, I'll pick out one of these skirts and then just pick a nice blouse to go with it. For blouses, I wear a lot of polos, long sleeve or short sleeve. Sometimes I'll wear a shirt that's not collared but is long-sleeved, and those are nice too. I have quite a few cardigans and nice sweaters that I wear often too.
Ankle-high socks don't tend to look great with what I wear, so I've purchased multiple knee-high, white cotton socks to last me through the winter (and spring, and maybe summer! It just depends on how the weather is that year! ). These have worked really well and I'm so glad I found them. On Sundays, I wear something nicer, like a charcoal-colored skirt or black skirt, along with a dressy top. I have a couple tops in particular that I think of as just "Sunday clothes."
 |
| This is a great example of what we wear on a day-to-day basis. |
By this time, you might be wondering if I am for some reason against wearing dresses, since I have not mentioned any being in my wardrobe. I am by no means against wearing long dresses! I would love to be able to wear them...however, it's very difficult for me to find long, pretty dresses that I would wear. All of my younger sisters do have dresses, but as of right now, I have zero dresses in my closet. My mom has very few as well. I know that some others have been able to find lovely dresses that work well for them, but the dresses I've looked at have either been too expensive or I just don't like them. That's my take on that.
So, what about nighttime wear? We don't wear pants to bed either. Instead, we've looked for long, pretty, feminine (but not revealing) nightgowns to wear. We've had some luck for the younger girls in our family, but Mommy and I haven't had found many nightgowns for various reasons. For instance, most of them are either too low-cut or too short. I've tried a couple of nightgowns and none of them have really worked. After having found that sweat-skirt I mentioned above, and another skirt that's almost the same, I just use these skirts and a casual T-shirt for night. That is just what works for us-do whatever works best for you and your family, your convictions.
Now, I also have speech and debate tournaments.The classic tournament attire for most are slacks and blazers, maybe an occasional skirt that is supposed to extend below the knee. Obviously, I do not wear slacks, so I needed to find a 'tournament skirt'-so basically a suit with a long skirt. That's quite hard to find nowadays. But my mom had unwavering faith in Value Village, so we went to take a look. I found just the skirt I needed for $7.00! And two blazers for $5.00 each! Actually, I just went to Value Village today too, and I found yet ANOTHER blazer that's perfectly gorgeous for $4.99. I am so delighted...=)
If you're wondering where to purchase long skirts, here are a few suggestions. I don't think I need to say it again, but I will. Thrift stores! They are absolutely wonderful, because you can often find long skirts for very cheap. But also, Fred Meyer's has had a lot of great options for summer skirts. Last summer, I got two skirts for my birthday and they were both from Freddy's. So it's worth going and taking a look.
I would absolutely recommend Colleen Hammond's book, Dressing with Dignity. This book is chock-full of information about the history of fashion and the how's/why's of modesty today. It's a fabulous book that is convicting and eye-opening.
After reading this post, you might be thinking that I do not have any temptations against modesty, I don't have any sins of vanity, that I am perfect, etc. Let me assure you...I do. We all have the same sinful nature, and to be honest, that is the most persuasive part of the arguement for wearing only skirts. All of us have a sinful nature, and we are all being called to bring each other to a higher level of holiness. And if wearing skirts helps us achieve that goal, then I believe we ladies should at least be willing to consider making such a huge switch, even if it means sacrificing comfort and fashionablility.
Thank you so much for reading this post! Please feel free to comment and do know that I absolutely love it when anyone comments.
Pax,
Cady
Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Titanic and Romans 8:35-37
Our family has been doing some research on the tragedy of the R.M.S. Titanic, the giant liner that sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 1912. The battle cry when this great ship was sinking in the night of April 14 and eventually sank in the early morning of April 15 was "Women and children first!". The bravery of the men on the Titanic was unbelievable, and nothing like Hollywood's 1997 version, directed by James Cameron. As we were reading, we stumbled across information about a Catholic priest on the Titanic by the name of Father Thomas Byles. It turns out that Fr. Byles, a convert from Anglicanism who lived in England, was asked by his brother William Byles (also a convert) to come officiate at his wedding. Fr. Byles left for New York by way of the Titanic. He was traveling in second class, and said his final Mass for those in second class and third class. The subject of his homily? The need for spiritual lifebelts (lifejackets) in case of spiritual shipwreck. No one knew then how ironic this homily would prove to be.
When Father learned that the ship was sinking, he immediately when down into steerage to wake people and to hear confessions. After this, he led them in a Rosary. Coming back onto deck, he helped many women and children into lifeboats, telling them that it would be all right, and that God had a plan through all of this. He was offered a seat on the lifeboat twice. He declined both times. When the end was near, Father Byles offered general absolution. He led those on deck in prayer, to which Protestants, Jews, and Catholics responded alike. He went down with the ship, and his remains have never been found.
The story of this brave priest and the Titantic itself really has reminded me of my favorite verse in the Bible.
Romans 8:35,37-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persectuion, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
This verse relates so poignantly for those on the R.M.S. Titanic. In those last hours, when those men and a few women knew that they were going to die, many clung to the hope that they would "Enter into the joys of the Lord." Nothing could separate them from the love of Christ. Not death, nor life, nor things to come, nor anything in creation! And nothing should separate us from His love either.
I will post soon about our toothbrushing routine, and how we keep order in the house while getting everything done! As always, please keep us in your prayers.
In XC,
Cady
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Book Review: A Daughter of the Land
Gene Stratton-Porter was a remarkable author. Her books are classic pieces of literature, and all of them have a very clear moral. I so enjoy reading books like this, where the main character actually has some sense of integrity and character and sticks with it. The main character is also human, however, and does make mistakes. All in all, Stratton-Porter's books are wonderful, and I have enjoyed each and every one I have read. The one I am going to review today, A Daughter of the Land, is no exception. While not my favorite Sratton-Porter (A Girl of the Limberlost gets that honor...will be reviewed in the future), it comes in a close second.
When Kate Bates is disowned by her father, she leaves home to go become a teacher and live the life she wants. She boards at the Holt's boarding house and meets George Holt and his mother. While it seems that Kate (the daughter) would be very happy living on her own, she is capable and does make quite a few bad choices, including the man she marries. After a course of events, Kate agrees to marry George, a lazy good-for-nothing who wants Kate only for her money, and quickly realizes her mistake. When George finds that Kate is actually disowned and thus has inherited no money whatsoever, his interest in her is quickly extinguished.
George repeatedly neglects Kate, sometimes abusing her, and is a terrible role model for the twins, Adam and Polly. Kate has no way out of the situation and keeps on keeping on, even when everything is going terribly wrong. George tries to become a doctor, but when a man comes into his office and needs help, George does not take the proper steps to aid him. Instead, he gives him the wrong medication and ends up killing him. He is told to take down his sign of "Doctor" and proceeds to work in a mill instead.
One late night, George becomes intoxicated and goes into the mill he owns, to try and do some work. Unfortunately, he heats the fire much too hot, kills himself and burns the entire mill. Kate, Adam, and Polly move back to Kate's parents' home, where her father has died. Kate's mother takes her in again, and things go smoothly for Kate...for a while. The story has an interesting ending, one that you could see coming, but you still didn't expect it.
The author's main theme in this book is to show that even after one makes a huge mistake, you can either go back and fix it, or live out your mistake with confidence and endurance. Kate does the latter, and it ends up fixing itself in the end. The book is written well, and keeps you always involved in the story. The story by itself is great, but the way Stratton-Porter wrote it, using details and fluent words, really makes the book come alive.
Growing in Virtue: The big thing to be learned from this book, obviously, is the importance of choosing well the one you marry.
The pain that Kate goes through when she makes the decision to marry the wrong man is crystal clear in the book. Stratton-Porter outlines very clearly how important it is to choose a good mate for yourself, and also to take a lot of time finding what his (or her) true character is.
Although this book is a work of fiction, I believe that the consequences of Kate's behavior is true for many people. Thus, I would say that the book is true in part. The part that is true is not the story, but the moral of the story instead. I really enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed all of Stratton-Porter's works. I think that the lesson from this book for me and for lots of young ladies, is to carefully choose the man we marry. It's a choice that cannot be backed out of, and thus merits lots of thought and preparation. Parents play a big part in this too. They should help young ladies and men of marriageable age discern:
1) What their calling really is. It might not even be married life! It could be single life or a religious vocation.
2) If their calling is marriage, then what qualities/criteria must a suitor have to even begin a courtship relationship? That was one of the things that led Kate into all of the trouble she got herself into. She took the first high-falutin' man that came her way instead of looking deeper into his life. The really interesting part was that she did NOT like George at first, and he didn't like her. But when he learned that she came from a wealthy family, he instantly changed his behavior and 'got the girl'.
Sadly, that same sort of thing, just not that exact scenario, is occurring today as well. Ladies and men are taking the first person that comes their way instead of discerning together if they could have a successful marriage with each other.
The Catechism has some great things to say about marriage. Here is just one of the many, many things it has to offer, "The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord rasied marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament." [emphasis mine] Christ instituted marriage so that both persons could lead each other to a deeper, more unique relationship with their Creator! That can't happen if you aren't married to the right one, and some serious discerment must be in place for that to happen.
Well, there is my take on A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter. It's a fabulous book that teaches a great lesson. And by the way, it was written in the early 1900's...there is nothing scandalous contained. Definitely a great read!
This Saturday is PACKED so I'm not seeing a blog post...but you never know. Maybe, maybe not, that's all I'm going to say.
Pax,
Cady
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Another Blog???
Okay, I realize that all of you are thinking, "But she NEVER posts on this one! How can she expect to stay up on two blogs?" That's a very good question, and it deserves an answer. So here it is: there are two reasons. Number one, I'm creating a system for my blogs. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on my other blog, Saturdays and maybe Thursdays on this one. Number two, Benjamin's going to be working on my new blog with me. Yay! I will now have a partner in crime....just kidding.
Here's the new blog address: http://www.virtuousfamilydiscipleship.blogspot.com/
The website that goes with this blog will be coming out soon, Lord willing!
I'll post on Saturday with another book review. I'm sure you're sick of all the books...but please bear with me. I shall have some new, much more interestings posts (both on here and on my new blog) very soon!
Do visit my new blog, become a follower or follow by email, and please, please, PLEASE comment, either on this blog or the new one. Also, please forward the web address to your friends, especially those with small children.
Pax,
Cady
Here's the new blog address: http://www.virtuousfamilydiscipleship.blogspot.com/
The website that goes with this blog will be coming out soon, Lord willing!
I'll post on Saturday with another book review. I'm sure you're sick of all the books...but please bear with me. I shall have some new, much more interestings posts (both on here and on my new blog) very soon!
Do visit my new blog, become a follower or follow by email, and please, please, PLEASE comment, either on this blog or the new one. Also, please forward the web address to your friends, especially those with small children.
Pax,
Cady
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Book Reviews: Ivanhoe
I hope you liked the book review of Great Expectations I posted a while back. Today, I'm posting about another of my classic favorites: Ivanhoe.
When I was about seven years old, I read our abridged version of Ivanhoe for the first time. I disliked it, mostly because of the gore and blood that was involved. Thus, when I saw it on my eighth grade reading list…let’s just say that I could have been more excited. When I picked up the book, and began to read it, I didn’t expect too much. But as I read, I became more and more intrigued with the story! In fact, I loved the story so much that I read the book for about forty-five minutes straight, and then had to put it down to do some other work. By the end of three days, I had read the entire book cover-to-cover, and absolutely loved it!
So, why did I like Ivanhoe so much? First of all, it had a fabulous storyline. It is during the ‘reign’ of John Lackland that Sir Walter Scott begins his novel. Cedric, a Saxon lord, has disinherited his son, Wilfred of Ivanhoe and has taken guardianship of the beautiful and clever Rowena, a fair Saxon damsel. Unbeknownst to Cedric, Rowena loves Ivanhoe, but tells no one this fact. When a merchant Jew named Isaac comes to John’s court, along with his dark-haired, attractive daughter Rebecca, Cedric learns that Ivanhoe has escaped from the battle in which the rightful king of England, Richard the Lion-hearted, was captured. Cedric dislikes this fact, but the lovely Rowena is joyful that her lover is safe, wherever he may be.Cedric’s mind is taken off of Ivanhoe when, a few days later, a tournament is held at the fairgrounds. There, the usurping John sees for the first time the lovely Rebecca, daughter of the Jewish Isaac. He is charmed by her beauty and wit, and vows to make her Queen-of-love-and-beauty during the tournament. However, his advisors quickly inform him that only the knight who wins the tournament may name the Queen-of-love-and-beauty. John resigns himself to this fact, and waits for three days, until the last day of the tournament. When a knight in black armor, calling himself the Disinherited Knight, is proclaimed the winner, he promptly crowns Rowena-not Rebecca-the queen of the tournament. As Rowena is placing the winning crown upon the knight’s head, the crowd shouts that he must take his helmet off. The Disinherited Knight begins to refuse, and finally must give in to the crowd's pleas. When the helmet is taken off, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe looks into Rowena's eyes, and promptly faints from a dangerous, open, bleeding wound in his side.
One thing leads to another and soon, Rowena, Rebecca, Ivanhoe, Isaac, and Cedric are locked in Maurice de Bracy’s tower, a leading knight in King John’s army. De Bracy wants to marry the gorgeous Rowena, while Brian de Bois-Guilbert falls in love with the stunning Rebecca. Neither Rebecca nor Rowena want a marriage proposal from either of these men, and tell them so promptly. Nevertheless, Rebecca falls into the hands of Bois-Guilbert, and is in the process of refusing his proposal when news comes to the castle that Rebecca must be tried for witchcraft, as she is a Jew who learned medicine from a supposed Jewish witch. In the end, Rebecca must claim a knight to save her or else she dies by fire. Bois-Guilbert’s courage (or lack thereof) fails him, but Ivanhoe comes to save the young Jewish maiden, and succeeds in saving Rebecca, marrying Rowena, and gathering back his inheritance from Cedric.
One thing leads to another and soon, Rowena, Rebecca, Ivanhoe, Isaac, and Cedric are locked in Maurice de Bracy’s tower, a leading knight in King John’s army. De Bracy wants to marry the gorgeous Rowena, while Brian de Bois-Guilbert falls in love with the stunning Rebecca. Neither Rebecca nor Rowena want a marriage proposal from either of these men, and tell them so promptly. Nevertheless, Rebecca falls into the hands of Bois-Guilbert, and is in the process of refusing his proposal when news comes to the castle that Rebecca must be tried for witchcraft, as she is a Jew who learned medicine from a supposed Jewish witch. In the end, Rebecca must claim a knight to save her or else she dies by fire. Bois-Guilbert’s courage (or lack thereof) fails him, but Ivanhoe comes to save the young Jewish maiden, and succeeds in saving Rebecca, marrying Rowena, and gathering back his inheritance from Cedric.
There are some really negative character traits in this book. There's a lot of anti-Semitism in here, but that's because of the time in which it was written. However, one of the big virtues that the reader is constantly brought back to is the virtue of fortitude. You see this the most in Isaac and Rebecca, the two Jewish characters in the book. Isaac, even in the face of fiery persecution, keeps standing up for his faith. He refuses to submit to the angry de Bracy and Bois-de-Guilbert, who, in his mind, are asking him to sin. Rebecca too shows great fortitude in refusing Bois-de-Guilbert's marriage proposal, and his constant pleas for her to convert.The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one; on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leadsto sin. We are engaged in the battle "between flesh and spirit"; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength." This quote pertains perfectly to Ivanhoe! Isaac and Rebecca were fighting between flesh and spirit...and in the end, spirit won.
I hope you enjoy Ivanhoe as much as I did, and let me know what you think in the comments!
In XC,
Cady
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
How Will They Learn About Teamwork???
One of the questions my mom is often asked goes something like this.
"If your kids aren't involved in organized sports, how are they ever going to learn about teamwork?"
"If your kids aren't involved in organized sports, how are they ever going to learn about teamwork?"
Our family is actually not anti-organized sports. My mom loved sports as a child, baseball, soccer, you name it, she did it. When Benjamin and I were little, we both were in kiddie baseball and soccer. Then when Benjamin got a little older, he was in tae-kwon-do for about two years and really enjoyed it. However, as God gave more and more kids to our family, life became more complex. Suddenly, it was harder to cart everyone into a practice, and stay there for 60 minutes or so, and try to organize around naps, feeding, and things like that. Eventually, we decided to pull out of the sports, and do other things with our lives. But when people ask my mom, "What sports are your kids part of?" they're expecting her to say basketball, soccer, baseball, or a combination of all three. Instead, she says, "Oh, they actually aren't part of any sports." *Insert audible gasp and jaw-drop.*
"They're not part of ANY sports? Not any AT ALL? How on earth are they going to learn about teamwork?" Well, there's an interesting answer to that question. When you have 7 or more people in a family, you have a ready-made team right there! Our family has 8 people, which means that we have the perfect team in our own house 24/7. We learn about teamwork on an hourly basis! It makes our family draw closer together as a unit (aka team) when we work well together, and when we don't work together...we fail as a team, too.
Case in point. My job after dinner is to do the dishes. Doing the dishes, in the Crosby household, means rinse all the plates, load 'em all, start the dishwasher, and clean the counters with soapy water. Plus, we have these teflon frying pans and kettles that can't go in the dishwasher, so if we've used those for dinner preparation, those need to be cleaned in the soapy water too. All in all, the job takes about a half an hour, give or take a few minutes. The next morning, Sarah unloads the dishwasher which is her morning job. We need an empty dishwasher so that after breakfast, the whole team can put their breakfast plate in and we can do a quick wipe up and get on to school. After lunch dishes, we load and run the dishwasher again and then it must be unloaded before dinner dishes. When everyone does their part, things go smoothly.
The other evening, I did my dishes job, but got a bit sidetracked and failed to actually start the dishwasher. Oh, I loaded the soap and everything, but I just forgot to actually turn the dial to ON. No big deal really right? Well, just a little missed play you might say, it only impacts me..not really, not when you are a team. One person's action impacts others on a team.
The next morning Sarah came out to unload the dishwasher and said, "Cady, you didn't start the dishwasher last night." Case closed, right? Uh, no. When breakfast time came around, we had fried eggs, resulting in 7 plates that needed to be loaded into the dishwasher. Alas, the dishwasher that was so badly needed was temporarily out of commission, as it was running at the time.
Here's what would usually happen after breakfast. The night before, dishes are loaded and the dishwasher is run. The next morning, Sarah comes out and unloads the dishwasher, resulting in it being empty for breakfast. After breakfast is completed, everyone clears their plates, I rinse and load them, and wipe the counters off. Benjamin and Sarah do the floor and table, and we all are on school work quickly. Nobody is in trouble or stressed out, and at lunchtime, nobody is irritated with one another, because nobody is getting in another person's way.
Here's what happened after breakfast, the other day, when I fell down on my job. Because the dishwasher was running at an odd time and the schedule was off, the little ones were mixed up. They just finished eating and left the table. That is definitely NOT what they are supposed to do, because even when the littlest people don't work together with the rest of the team, things pile up on others. Since they didn't clear, they got in trouble and I needed to clear and rinse their plates. The big kids did their jobs, but the whole breakfast cleanup took a lot longer because instead of just being able to load the plates in the dishwasher, I had to try to nicely stack the plates up in the sink.
Because of that, all the dishes needed to be loaded in a somewhat orderly fashion in the sink. Unfortunately, our sink is made in a truly stupid fashion, having one side be relatively large, and the other side quite tiny. So it really just doesn't work to try to 'stack plates in an orderly fashion.' That just isn't going to work. Of course, it didn't, which resulted in the sink being full to the brim with dirty dishes. Ick.
Before everyone cleared for breakfast. As you can see, there was already a full sink.
After everyone has cleared. It's all on the counter, and needed rinsed at that point.
That was after it was all 'organized.' Obviously, the sink is in need of a major cleanup still.
So after everything was in the sink, we proceeded on with our school day. However, I got back to school much later than I usually do because I had extra dishes duty. All this happened because I fell down on my responsibilty a team member. Yes, it may have been a small mistake in the course of life, but when you add everything up, it's pretty irritating.When we got back from church, it was time to make lunch. But at that point, we needed to unload a dishwasher! So I began unloading, which was irritating for Mama because then I was getting into her way as she tried to make lunch.
When the whole team works together everything goes smoothly. Unfortunately, that's not what happened the other day, because just one person fell down on her duty as a team member. However, if everyone does work together (as happens relatively often...) no one is stressed out or mad at each other.
In the end, after we all worked together to get the dishes unloaded and then the other dishes loaded...everything worked out nicely! We had a nice, clean kitchen and a load off everyone's shoulders.
Ah, much better!
All that just goes to show that everybody needs to work as a team when you're in a big family. Otherwise, even if one person makes a silly, seemingly little mistake, it turns into a big problem for the rest of the day.
Jesus said
A lesson on teamwork and we didn't have to take anyone to the ball field to get it!
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he hath not another to help him up. And if one shall prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not easily broken." Ecclesiates 4:9-10,12 This verse from Ecclesiates pertains to teamwork. Two are better than one! It's much easier to work together, with someone else, then to work apart.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Tomorrow, a book review of Ivanhoe for you!
Jesus said
A lesson on teamwork and we didn't have to take anyone to the ball field to get it!
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he hath not another to help him up. And if one shall prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not easily broken." Ecclesiates 4:9-10,12 This verse from Ecclesiates pertains to teamwork. Two are better than one! It's much easier to work together, with someone else, then to work apart.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Tomorrow, a book review of Ivanhoe for you!
In XC,
Cady
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