Friday Favorites #6 ~ and ~ A Curiosity Journal

Dear friends,

Welcome to Friday Favorites #6, along with a new feature called "The Curiosity Journal."  This is a popular feature on many blogs; I heard about it from Ann Kroeker at www.annkroeker.com.

Friday Favorites #6

Our God is out of the box… by Sally Clarkson - a snippet: “But, our God is out of the box–we can’t even contain Him–he made chile peppers to spice up Mexican food, puppies for cuddling and laughing at, chocolate to melt in your mouth, stars to camp under and shiver in the cold mountain air together, Celtic music to dance to, you know; feasting and talking around our table–sharing great stories by firelight—all the things that make us happy and give scope to our lives. Those things that give us hope in the hard times.”

Free Kitchen Planning forms from Sheri Graham at www.school4jesus.com -- very pretty with a spring theme!

Free Kindle Book: Don’t Make Me Come Up There! by Kristen Welch

Thanks Sheri Graham at www.school4jesus.com

Pictures of my wacky kids for Mother's Day

http://virginiaknowles.blogspot.com/2011/05/mothers-day-pictures-2011.html

Rachel's blog post about when she and Joanna visited Rome in March -- lots of great photos!

http://abbondanzadivita.blogspot.com/2011/05/roma-marzo-26-28.html

Curiosity Journal

A typical Curiosity Journal includes sections for what you are reading, playing, learning, reacting, and writing.  I've combined the reading & writing sections and the playing & learning sections this time since they are so closely related!

Reading & Writing:  I've been working slowly through a variety of books lately, but the one I actually polished off this week in less than a day is When Sparrows Fall by Meg Moseley (www.megmoseley.com).  It's a novel about a young widow, home schooling her six children, trying to break free from a spiritually abusive church.  I really enjoyed the book (a gift from my sister) and plan to write a review for it soon in my Hope Chest e-magazine, since I had already been planning an issue on liberty & legalism in the home school movement, especially relating to gender and authority.  Other than that, I've been writing a few blog posts here and there, generally short ones!

Reacting:  It seems like widows have been on my mind lately, not only because of When Sparrows Fall, but because we keep hearing about and meeting widows.  A sweet older lady a few blocks away from me is having a yard sale today and tomorrow.  She is about to have back surgery, so I helped her bring some of the heavy items out and arrange many of the others. I knew she was going to need assistance, so I already had it planned in to my day to stop there on my way back from my morning walk.  She was nearly in tears expressing her gratitude.  I had talked with her once a couple of years ago, but now I think I have a friend for life!  We're going to try to help her get proficient on her computer, too.  My husband, who is the president of the Home Owners' Association, told me last night after the HOA meeting that there are actually 10-15 widows in our neighborhood who can't handle their yard work, and may need reduced price or free yard service from some able-bodied young people.  It just makes me remember the vital, but often forgotten ministry of James 1:27: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Playing & Learning:   While I love to play Solitaire on my iPod touch, it can be quite addicting, so I try to keep it for a rare treat and uninstall it after I've played a while.  Last night I played a lot of Pente with two of my kids, which, of course, has more socially redeeming value since it is quality time with the fam!  We never bought a real copy of the game.  We just make do with checker pieces and an old Scrabble Jr. board.  The players take turns putting down pieces, trying to get five in a row.  See my winning blue diagonal row above? You can capture an opponent's pieces if you trap two of them between two of yours.  If you capture five pairs, that's another way to win.  I started out playing against 10 year old Naomi, and easily won the first two games.  Pride goeth before a fall.  She trounced me soundly in the next four!  Then I played against 11 year old Micah, and he did well, too.  Good times!  Click here to find out how to play the game! http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Pente  

I'm learning from my kids all the time, and much of it seems like play to me!  Andrew showed me this Kaleidocycle this morning.  It's also called a Flexahedron.  It's really fun to fiddle with since you can turn it inside out over and over again.  Best of all you can print one out and put it together yourself.  Click here: http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/mathematics/paper_ring.html.  Another thing Andrew showed me is how to suck up water into a drinking glass using heat.  He poured some water into a bowl, then set up a small torch made from a potato slice base, a stick of wood, and a paper napkin.  He lit the napkin on fire, and placed a drinking glass over it.  All of the water in the bowl was sucked up into the glass like a vacuum.  Fascinating!  See the video clip below! (If you are not reading this on the actual blog, visit the blog and scroll to the bottom of the post to see it!)

Until next time, 
Virginia Knowles
www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com