I am Persuaded...

 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 

 
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-Romans 8:35-39                

Weekend Adventures

The kids had fun climbing around in a "Huey" last Thursday night.

These things are amazing.  I didn't count the seats but I'm guessing they carry about 15+ soldiers.  Elaborate strapping in systems.  Luke didn't get his all the way hooked up.  It was complicated. 

Joe left his sunglasses on because (of course) it raises his coolness level.  Just kidding.  Well, maybe. 

Here's a picture of one.  It's not the one we saw.  The Huey we saw was for display purposes only.  We did not fly in it.  It COULD fly, but it's one of the helicopters they use just for flying to places to be on display.  It was SQUEAKY clean and snazzy looking.  The soldiers on duty there answered any questions we had and encouraged us to climb around in it.  They promised we wouldn't break it.  :)

Seriously.  The Rotator blades on this thing were HUGE!  It was really interesting to see. 

At the Wall

The Vietnam Moving Wall Memorial is near us this weekend.

We are honored and privileged to be able to view it.

The amazing thing about this Moving Wall is that it is entirely the idea of one man.  According to the website "When John Devitt attended the 1982 dedication in Washington, he felt the positive power of "The Wall." He vowed to share that experience with those who did not have the opportunity to go to Washington."

I'm really glad he had the idea.


Last night we attended a ceremony dedicated to the wall.  We watched veterans crying as they found names of their brothers-in-arms.  We saw flowers and memorials left at the wall in memory of loved ones.  It was truly inspiring. 

As we walked the length of the wall and saw the names, name after name stretching out in front of us I couldn't help but think of all the people who must have grieved over every single name.  58,195 men and women.  Twice as many parents.  Siblings, Friends, Husbands and Wives.  Children.


I fought back tears. 

And I sort of wish all the War Memorials had moving replicas of themselves.  Even though I've been to Washington D.C. and seen a lot of them, it's a whole new feeling to have it right in your backyard.  The whole town is draped in flags and bunting.  And the local veterans are pouring out of the wood work.  They congregate and tell war stories.  Seeing their pain and their pride makes me feel it too. 

Have I Mentioned....

That I LOVE Charles Dickens? 

I recently re-read Nicholas Nickleby.  Which you already know if you read my June book list. 

I'm re-re-reading it this morning.  Parts of it. 

And I do love Charles Dickens.  Everyone should read Dickens.

His novels are long (Nickleby is 700+ pages)  But totally worth it. 

I'm interested to know who out there reading my blog has read Dickens.  If so, which novels and which are your favorite?

Book Haul

On Sunday I went mall shopping with some of my sisters. It was a long anticipated trip. Originally we had planned to go Tuesday but I got sick so then we thought about going Saturday... guess what... I was still sick... So, when I was sort of miraculously feeling better on Sunday afternoon we decided to run across the highway to the mall.
The main shop to be visited was Borders. Of course. :)

Here's what I got:

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers 

I haven't read this one yet, but I love Harriet Vane, so I'm looking forward to getting into it!

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers

Another Lord Peter.  I'm building my collection. :)  I want them all.  :)

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch by Donald J. Sobol

Ok, this one isn't for me :)  Luke is doing the summer reading program at the library this year.  He has to read/have read to him 1,000 pages!  That's a LOT of pages!  Anyway, he just finished his first chapter book a month or so ago, so I thought I'd get him another one.  And it's on his favorite subject.  Baseball. :)

The Mysterious Benedict Society Trenton Lee Stewart

This one come EXTREMELY highly recommended by my librarian sister.  So, I picked it up.  It better be good, Lyds.  It was like, $7.  :)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
 Reviewed it HERE
Awesome.  You should definitely check it out.  It's pricey but well worth it.  Otherwise I'm sure your library will have it.  I didn't even get it home with me yet.  I've lent it to one of my sisters.  Who will pass it on to my brother.  Who will pass it on to another sister...

June Book List

64.  The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers- (***)  I'll admit this book took me a LONG time to get through. 2 weeks?  Not my favorite Lord Peter book so far.  There was a lot of things going on in the plot and I think I would've followed it much better if I could've gotten through it in a shorter amount of time.  Say, my usual 3 or 4 days instead of 2 weeks...  Anyway, it was still good.  And I still love Lord Peter.

65.  The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis- (****)  When I first read the Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair was not one of my favorites.  But, this time around I like it a lot more.  Who couldn't love Puddleglum? 

66.  The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye- (*****)  I absolutely love this story.  It's becoming a comfort read for me.  When I'm feeling a little blue and need a pick-me-up, I can polish off The Ordinary Princess in 2 hours and feel much better about life in general. 

67.  The End by Lemony Snicket- (*****)  Oh, so sad that the series is over! 

68.  The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis- (*****)  I absolutely love this book.  It's spiritually inspiring to me.  Further up and further in!

69.  All About Spiritual Gifts by Gordon Lindsay- (*****)  Very insightful and informative.  Clearly written and explained. 

70.  At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie- (****)  Kind of weak plot and the mystery isn't particularly in-genius.  Actually, it's very unbelievable and highly improbable. :-) Somehow, though, that doesn't matter.  I still polished it off in two days.  Couldn't put it down.  The same plot written by anyone else probably would've failed as a book altogether.  But, as usual Agatha Christie can make anything work. 

71.  Murder in Retrospect by Agatha Christie- (*****)  This was a really good Christie!  Normally I'm less interested in mysteries that are old.  Like, the murder actually took place 15-20 years earlier and Poirot comes in to solve it long after the fact and long after the convicted murderer died.  But, did she really do it?  That's the question.  So, like I was saying, ordinarily these kinds of mysteries are not as exciting as the edge of your seat can-the-detective-out-think-the-murderer-before-he-strikes-again type.  But, this one was really well handled.  I enjoyed it. 

72.  Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens- (*****)  I love Nicholas.  What can I say?  This is one of my all time favorite Dickens novels.  I have very fond memories of a certain trip to Florida in Dad's Explorer with the engine threatening to overheat.  We had the heat on full blast trying to get the heat off the engine, all of the vents directed up towards the sunroof.  We were sweating bullets and I was reading Nicholas Nickleby outloud.  For 22 hours.  And I still love this book.  Now that's sayin' somethin'!!!!  Favorite Characters: Smike (*sob*), Fanny Squeers ("I do SO palpitate!"), Mrs. Nickleby, Kate, Mr. Vincent Crummles, The Infant Phenomenon (who has been ten for the past 8 years), Pyke and Pluck ("Change the subject Pluck"), Newman Noggs, The Brothers Cheeryble, and of course NICHOLAS!  Duh!  Seriously, though.  One of my favorite ever Dickens novels.  I love this one.  Of course I also love Great Expectations... and A Tale of Two Cities... um...  ok, I love them all.

New Every Morning

  It is of the 

LORD'S mercies 

that we are not consumed, 

because his  

compassions fail not.  

They are 

New every morning: 

great is thy  

faithfulness. 

- Lamentations 3:22-23

I was sitting in church Sunday morning.  The minister was talking about how NOTHING is impossible with God.  I know how true that is.  

I don't know if you ever feel this way.  Sometimes I think the best thing for me to do would be to give up hope. Sometimes I think I HAVE given up hope.  Sometimes I think I'm in a place so dark and deep that God doesn't even know about it.  

But these valleys have their purpose.  For one thing, I have learned, in each and every valley that God is always there.  I have learned that every time I "give up" deep down in my heart, deeper than I knew I had thoughts... God is there.  And He won't let me give up.  The hope He has given me is stronger.  It is deeper than the valley.  

As Corrie Ten Boom said: "There is no pit so deep that the LOVE of GOD is not deeper still."

And then the thought came to me, so clear that I cried for the joy of it.  

It was then that I carried you.

           -From the poem Footprints in the Sand  

If you haven't read this poem yet I encourage you to do so.  Maybe you're going through a valley right now. If you are, be encouraged!  There's only one set of footprints in the sand. 

  For I know the thoughts

that I think toward you, 

saith the LORD, 

thoughts of peace, 

and not of evil, 

to give you an 

expected end. 

-Jeremiah 29:11