Beauty

Jared got a library of classic books for Christmas and he and I are really enjoying reading them. One of the books is Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This pre-Civil War novel chronicles some of the terrible things about slavery. The author makes some great insights into human character and I have found that I just can't read the book without a pencil in my hand to mark favorite passages. In one place, the author is describing a good woman. She says:


"She might be fifty-five or sixty, but hers was one of those faces that time seems to touch only to brighten and adorn. . . . Her face was round and rosy, with a healthy downy softness, suggestive of a ripe peach. Her hair, partially silvered by age, was parted smoothly back from a high placed forehead, on which time had written no inscription, except peace on earth, good will to men, and beneath shone a large pair of clear, honest, loving brown eyes; you only needed to look straight into them, to feel that you saw to the bottom of a heart as good and true as ever throbbed in woman's bosom. So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?"


This paragraph resonated with me because I have often thought this same thing. When I was a little girl, I thought my grandmother with her silver hair and twinkling smile was the most lovely person in the entire world. What is beauty? Isn't it manifest though a person's soul? Isn't it how she treats others and how she looks at them? The world would do well to dwell less on physical youth when searching for a beautiful woman and instead look to those who increase the beauty of their surroundings simply by being wonderful to others!

This is a photo of my great-grangmother, Johanna Banz Everts. Isn't she beautiful?

A New Perspective

Jared's Grandma Oldroyd was a woman of many talents. One of these talents was oil painting. We are lucky to have a few of her works of art hanging in our home. Grandma's paintings are generally of colorful flower arrangements and landscapes which add beauty and life to their surroundings. There is one painting of hers that we have had hanging over our fireplace for the last two years. When we first put it there I thought it looked pretty good since it's colors are neutral and it was the perfect size. Since then, however, I noticed I was enjoying it less and less. I even started calling it the "Lone and Dreary World" picture. It seemed bleak and lifeless, gray, and somewhat depressing.

At the same time, our lighting situation in the living room was becoming desperate. Elizabeth had broken lamp after lamp after lamp and it was too dark to read or study or play the piano in there. One day I was driving Will home from school and we noticed that someone was giving away a bunch of track lighting. I stopped and had Will load it in the car. Over the next few weeks, Jared installed the lights and WOW! All of a sudden we could see. He aimed a spotlight on the painting of Grandma's and for the first time I noticed it's warm tones and soft shades. It went from looking like the middle of winter without snow to looking like the sun was just coming out and the world was ready to awaken for spring. I'm not sure what Grandma was thinking when she painted it, but I am sure thankful for the new perpective it gave me. What a difference a little light makes!

I'm not sure if you can tell a difference on here, but on the wall it was dramatic!

Be My Valentine

Valentine's Day is great holiday. When else can you eat chocolate unashamedly and celebrate love at home all day long? One of our favorite valentine traditions has been decorating boxes and setting them out about a week before the 14th. Then, every day we give valentines, treats, and small gifts to each other, culminating with a big valentine on Valentine's Day. Last year our valentine boxes were too big to fit on our fireplace hearth and ended up all over the living room--fair game for our toddler, Elizabeth. So, this year I decided we would make valentine bags and hang them by the fireplace where we usually put our Christmas stockings. They have been great! We had a really fun time making and decorating them and they are easier to fill than boxes with tiny little slot openings.


We have also had a fun time making valentines for our upcoming Valentine's Day party at Classic Skating with 100+ other homeschooled kids in the area.

I Voted Today!

Usually when I go to vote, I am greeted by a handful of people from my neighborhood, some of whom I know personally. I check in, sign the register, vote, and go on my way sporting my "I Voted Today" sticker. Today was a little different. For one thing, my polling place had changed. I received no notice of this in the mail and I don't take the newspaper, so luckily I decided to check online last night. Several precincts were combined into one polling location.

When I arrived, it was difficult to find a parking place, but I attributed that to voting on a busy university campus. As I went into the building which was marked with a small pink "VOTING" sign, I noticed an elderly man with a book of names. I started to approach him and then a woman who was standing nearby said, "The line is back there." I looked behind her and sure enough, a line at least as long as a football field came into view. My first thought was, "Boy did I pick the wrong time to come!" I kept wondering if this was really the line for the Primary election, or if something else was going on in the building. I walked past people from all walks of life--young college students who were likely voting for the first time, young mothers with babies and toddlers swarming around them, women talking on cell phones, men discussing the growing problem of insurance fraud, elderly couples with canes--everyone calmly waiting for his or her turn to cast a vote.

As I settled into my place in line I thought about everything else I had to do. I had even left my "waiting book" in the car, thinking I would be back out in just a few minutes. Was voting really worth all this trouble? Should I throw in the towel and leave it up to the rest of crowd to speak for me? A friend with her 3 children in tow who had arrived just before I did announced that she was not staying and would try to come back later. I was really tempted to do the same, but would it be easier to come back? I was alone and had no pressing engagements for the remainder of the afternoon, so I decided to stay. I looked at the walls. I eavesdropped on people who were talking on their phones. I thought about dinner and how hungry I was. I wished for something to read or do or eat. My feet hurt.

After awhile my thoughts turned to the reason I was there. I'm not sure why it took so long. I am inherently impatient. Here I was, a young woman who had a chance to voice my opinion about the person I wanted to have on the ballot for elections in November. My voice would be heard and my vote would make a difference. How many others like me in the world were consistently denied this opportunity? How much had been sacrificed to afford me this voice? How much blood had been shed in the world over this very act? How could I give up over such a simple thing as waiting in line?

I began to think about the person for whom I intended to vote. Was this the best choice for me and my family? For my country? I felt it was. By the time I made it to the front of the line I felt grateful for the opportunity to be there and I felt assured in my choice of a candidate. I confidently gave my name, signed on the dotted line, and cast my electronic vote. As I left, the harried election judge quickly took my card and handed me a sticker. I placed it on and with a smile on my face left for home. A home that is safe from tyranny, where I may do as I please. A home that is free to be a heaven on earth. I voted today!

Birthdays

Sarah and I celebrated our birthdays this weekend--mine on Saturday and hers on Sunday. It's really fun to share this special time together. We usually make a cake and open a few presents and everyone sings "Happy Birthday" a lot. This year Sarah wanted to make a pink strawberry kitty cake. She is happy to be 5.

Pinewood Derby

I love cub scouts. I get to be Robert's Den Leader, and this month our Pack Meeting was a Pinewood Derby. I gave each of the boys in our den a car kit for Christmas and they spent a few weeks building and personalizing their cars. Then came the big race! Parents, siblings, scout leaders, and interested neighbors lined the track. On your mark! Get set! Go! In a flash of red, blue, green, and silver the cars sped downhill and raced to the finish line. Over and over they raced, feeling the thrill of accomplishment. In the end, each one was declared a winner for fulfilling the Cub Scout Motto: DO YOUR BEST. And as Jared always says, "Whoever has the most fun wins!"

Movie Night

What could be more fun than having 10 people sick all at the same time? Just about everything! This week was pretty miserable, but one fun thing we did together was watch some old movies. We started a "movie night" tradition a couple of years ago. It is very simple--on Saturday nights after everyone is ready for bed, we gather in the family room and watch a fun movie together. Sometimes we eat pizza or popcorn, sometimes we iron or fold laundry, but usually we just all snuggle together on the couch and enjoy each others' company. We aren't a TV-watching family and it's usually too expensive to go to a theater, so this is a real treat.

This week the movies we watched were "A Night at the Circus" and "A Night in Casablanca," both featuring the Marx Brothers. I've been surprised that many of the younger generation (under 30) have never heard of the Marx Brothers! They were a fantastic comedic family famous in the 1930s-40s. My boys especially love their jokes, gimmicks, and musical abilities. One year our second son dressed up as Harpo for Halloween. Many of the elderly people in our neighborhood recognized his character, but the younger people just thought he was a clown. If you like to laugh, enjoy glorious black and white footage, and don't mind predictable plots or bad puns, check out some of these movies!