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Hugs from God

by Taryn on 04. Sep, 2010 in bible and christianity, book reviews, community of believers, family

It’s often in the midst of terrible suffering, hurt and pain, that God reaches out and meets our smallest need or our most humble prayer.  This has been Lerma’s experience.  And the experience of many throughout history….

I’ve just recently finished reading a moving true story of a woman missionary trapped in the Indonesian jungle during the Second World War.  Suffering the most horrific of diseases and from starvation, she and her fellow POWs lived in the shadow of death on a daily basis.  Evidence Not Seen chronicles Darlene Diebler Rose’s time of imprisonment. 

scripture It’s a deeply challenging book.  The easy pace in which it is written does not detract from the depth of emotion and story.  Reading how she remained firmly rooted in Him during this time; how she clung to Scriptures she had memorised, while feverish on the dirty floor of a Japanese prison; how she reached out to others and told her Japanese captor the gospel, so that tears streamed down his face … reading these stories can only inspire one "to live for Christ", knowing that "to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).  

And, amongst the evidence of her faithfulness to God, is the overarching evidence of His faithfulness to her.  Even while suffering in a Japanese prison camp, she does not feel abandoned by God.  There is story after story of miraculous moments where God saves her mortal body time and again.  And then there are the stories of those small needs met; those humble prayers answered. 

Darlene relates stories of a torch (flashlight) that remained hidden and working the entire 4 year duration of capture – never ever needing a battery change, despite being used often.  She speaks of prayers prayed – a desire to know how her husband, imprisoned in another war camp, died.  When the friend she expects to hear the news from dies before he can relate the story, she is bitterly sad.  Yet, in the same day, God brings, through extreme circumstances, 3 individuals who could all relate to her their encounter with her husband in his dying days – answering her desire for knowledge and closure in ways greater than she could have fathomed.

It’s inspiring. 

And it’s heart warming.

For, while we know that God is all-power and ever-loving, somehow we’re still delighted with the little gifts he gives us on top of everything else.  Much like a small child when his Daddy unexpectantly scoops him up for a cuddle and a hug.

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Today, I got to experience a little of that firsthand.  I had made a pan of cinnamon buns last night.  This morning I thought that it would be something small that I could bless Lerma and her family with. I could always make another pan for our family later. Between errands this morning, I swung by her home quickly to drop it off.  It felt a rather foolish and small gesture, especially since I’ve not been able to see her yet, due to being sick with flu and then a cold.  But, clearly God had other ideas.  You see, I had no idea that she had particularly craved something sweet just that very morning.  I had no idea that her appetite had come back just recently.  And I had no idea that today and tomorrow are the only days that she has left before she starts her next round of chemo – when cinnamon buns will definitely not be a blessing!  In this little window period of good appetite, her humble desire was for something sweet.  And the same morning, God mobilised my lazy self in order to bring something sweet straight to her door. 

bamboo towelsSpeaking to my mother later, I found out that God has been doing quite a bit of this for Lerma!  Also, just recently, the family were discussing what to do about keeping the towels separate so that she isn’t exposed to more germs than she needs to be.  While they were discussing this, the doorbell rang and Di arrived at the door with food and two monogrammed handtowels.  "Do you do bath towels too?" they asked.  "Sure!"  And Di left that same day with an armful of towels to monogram on her embroidery machine. 

Small things.  Simple things. 

Yet, they are exhilarating moments filled with a sense of assurance, love and joy for our Father, our Saviour and our King.

They are… hugs from God.

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Repost: Patricia St John

by Taryn on 01. Sep, 2010 in bible and christianity, book reviews

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From time to time, I will repost some of my favourite posts from the past.  This post is an old post from July 20, 2008.  It comes to mind because I’ve just recently bought another of Patricia’s books, Star of Light, that I found at a great charity book store in Kirstenhof for R15.  Patricia St John writes beautiful children’s stories that poignant, honest and refreshing. 

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Having just recently read her book, Treasures of the Snow, and her autobiography, I am now a big fan.  Patricia died in 1992 – leaving behind her a legacy of a life lived for Christ.  She is most famed for the wonderful novels and biographies she wrote – most especially the children’s books.  Treasures of the Snow and The Tanglewood Secret are just two of these much-loved stories.  She wrote these stories to teach and warm the hearts of the children under her care when she was a house mother for missionary kids in boarding school.  At the time, Christian stories for children were about dying orphans – not the bedtime reading she was hoping to enrich the lives of her students with.  So, she wrote her own.  And now the world over benefits from her skilfully woven stories, coloured with brilliant illustrations of God’s love and mercy for us; the reality of human struggles and the freedom there is in Christ. On reading Treasures of the Snow, I was taken with this beautiful and apt illustration of God’s redemption of us.  Too often we believe that we’re not good enough to even contemplate being in His presence or being His child.  We feel like we need to clean up our act and then come to Him for forgiveness.  One such person is found in the pages of her novel … a young girl called Annette, struggling with hatred towards a boy who hurt her brother.  The wise words of her grandmother explain so vividly just how it is God who does the work of changing us…

"If you hated someone you could not ask Jesus to come in, could you?" (asks Annette of her grandmother)

"If you hate someone," said grandmother, "it just shows how badly you need to ask Him to come in.  The darker the room, the more it needs the light."

"But I couldn’t stop hating Lucien," said Annette softly, fingering her long plaits thoughtfully.

"No," said Grandmother. "You’re quite right.  None of us can stop ourselves thinking wrong thoughts, and it isn’t much good trying.  But Annette – when you come down in the morning and find this room dark with the shutters closed, do you say to yourself, ‘I must chase away the darkness and the shadows first, and then I will open the shutters and let in the sun?’  Do you waste time trying to get rid of the dark?"

"Of course not!"

"Then how do you get rid of the dark?"

"Well, I pull back the shutters, of course, and then the light comes in!"

"But what happens to the dark?"

"I don’t know; it just goes when the light comes!"

"That is just what happens when you ask the Lord Jesus to come in," said Grandmother. "He is love and when love comes in, hatred and selfishness and unkindness will give way to it, just as the darkness gives way when you let in the sunshine.  But to try to chase it out alone would be like trying to chase the shadows out of a dark room.  It would be a waste of time."

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Piano Tuning

by Taryn on 11. Aug, 2010 in @Homeschool, reviews

IMG_8557A couple of weeks ago, our badly-out-of-tune piano got some TLC from Keith McFarlane. And we got a wonderful experience of learning as Keith graciously accommodated our many questions.   I highly recommend Keith’s services for piano tuning.  At R400 for regular customers, Keith is very reasonably priced.  When you factor in his credentials, expertise and good nature with children, Keith is simply brilliant.

I’ve been wanting to start the girls on some basic piano lessons for quite some time now.  Years, in fact.  But, time and money have prevented that so far.  Instead, the only attention the poor piano got was the occasional thumping from the kids.  Hardly loving attention.  And definitely not good for keeping things in tune.

Once we’d decided to go ahead with the tuning and lessons (from me, to begin, until they outstrip my knowledge!), it was time to find a piano tuner.  Having no idea who is good at what price, I went the “random yellow pages” route.  My first call was to Keith McFarlane.  And I booked him then and there.  His receptionist (and wife) was so warm, kind and helpful on the phone, I wanted to give them the business straight away.  Good thing that Keith, himself, comes with credentials as long as his arm, otherwise, I may have just paid for a warm voice at the end of the phone line, instead of a great piano tuner!  As an after thought, I phoned a couple of other places to see what they cost.  From the haughty reception I received, and the elevated prices, I felt confident that Keith was the way to go.

Keith arrived in the midst of chaos on a day I had completely forgotten about him.  No worries – he took a quick look, advised me on the prospective cost and rescheduled for another time, at no charge. When he returned the following week, we were slightly more prepared for him.  And we were in for loads of learning!

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He stripped our piano virtually naked and there began our lessons.  The kids asked hundreds of questions and Keith seemed to delight in answering them.  He was so patient with their repeated queries and took his time to explain things to them carefully and in understandable detail.  We learnt about tuning forks; a gang mute; and much more.

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He even took the time to give us an impromptu lesson about the tuning fork.  Having had me find a glass of water for him, he had the kids enthralled with the effect the seemingly motionless tuning fork had on the water in the glass.  He simply whacked the tuning fork against his leg and then gently popped it into the glass of water.  The vibrations from the fork boiled up that water like an instant volcano!  A mini Science experiment from our piano tuner!

Of course, his bag of tools was of great fascination for the boys.  For me, however, the best tool that emerged from his bag was a new key to fit our piano’s lock!  Now I can protect its 100-year old keys from the enthusiastic (and sticky) pounding thumps of little boys!  IMG_8550

Keith spent a good two hours at our house, for the poor piano was badly out of tune.  Yet, he didn’t mind lingering to chat about his history and the history of our piano.  I learnt that our piano is around 100 years old, and had been remodelled in the 60s to create a more streamlined effect on the legs, and to remove the candlestick holders that were necessary in the days of no electricity!  I also learnt, after asking him dozens of quizzy questions, that Keith was the sole contractor for the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic orchestra – and had the responsibility of looking after their 13 Bosendorfer pianos.  He has credentials worth far more than our humble piano, yet he spoke with us and looked after our piano with the respect and care I imagine he shows the Steinways and Bosendorfers of his profession.

If you’re looking for a great piano tuner in the Cape Town region, I highly recommend Keith.  Especially if your kids may be interested in learning more about how it all works.  He has his own website where you can learn more about his experience, costs, other services and contact details.

Keith McFarlane:  keith@pianotuner.co.za and www.pianotuner.co.za

Have you experienced Keith’s services yet?  Please do drop a note here to share your experience or recommendations!

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Typing Tutor

by Taryn on 29. Jul, 2010 in homeschooling, reviews

While uploading my photos today, I came across this photo…

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Taken on the sly by one of my kids, along with a bunch of other arbitrary photos of things like the wall map, the blank door and the floor.  While my irate mother side was bubbling, my "hey, here’s an idea" side was thinking it would make a good blog post!  No, not about my children’s inability to obey about NOT touching the camera unless I give them permission.  Nor about my slackness in training them in this area.  Although, those are probably worthy posts too.  I was thinking, "hey, Typing Tutor!"

You see, this photo is of a great little online typing tutoring programme I discovered about 18 months ago.  Recently I got the girls going on it and now the girls have a 1/2 hour twice a week allotted to BBC Dance Mat Typing Tutor.  They love it!

For ages and ages I’ve had in the back of mind that one day I’d like to include typing as a skill for them to learn.  Having seen typing programmes around, I figured I may find something fun that the kids may see as a game.  But, I didn’t want to buy a programme at this stage.  Especially if I could find something for free.  A brief search online uncovered BBC’s Typing Tutor – a free online flash driven typing programme. 

It is aimed at 8 – 12 year olds, I would imagine, although any child with fingers big enough to reach the keys and basic letter recognition should enjoy it, too.  Older kids will learn just as well and quickly, and may even enjoy the cartoons and the more cryptic jokes, despite the younger intended audience. 

It is very interactive, with each level hosted by a different accented cartoon animal.  It begins with an Irish goat with such a thick accent, it’s almost hard to follow.  Almost.  But that has not deterred the kids.  And now I even hear them chanting "place your fingers on the home row" in a thick Irish accent at arbitrary times of the day.  Very funny!  There are all sorts of interesting characters, including an Aussie Flamingo! The lessons are brilliantly done – with clear instructions and helps along the way.  It really doesn’t feel like you’re learning a new skill.  In fact, the girls often beg me, "Mom, may I play typing tutor, pleeeeeeeeez!"  For them it really is just a fun game.

And my reward is that I get to see them excited about typing and learning to type properly.  They do their spelling tests each week on the computer, to help them get a feel for the keyboard and basic Word skills.  And now they get some typing practise too.  Very cool!  Here is Katie typing up her spelling words for their Thursday test:

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Love the frown of concentration! (Funny story as an aside – today her words were "oo" words, but the short sound variety.  She had to write "book".  She typed "b".  And then she was stumped.  When I pressed her on it, she got all impatient with me and said "I can’t do this!  I can’t do it!  I can’t find the "oo"!"  Silence followed and then an embarrassed "oh" as she remembered that "oo" was made up of two "o"s.  Hmm – funnier in person methinks!)

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By the way, recently I’ve been made aware again how things I say (or write) that I am excited about can be perceived as boastful or make people feel inferior.  While I am trying to be careful about how I present things, it’s just not possible to account for every reaction.  While I was writing this post, with the awareness of others fresh in my mind, I realised that this post could cause others to feel inferior.  It’s a long shot in my mind, but potentially very real for the reader.  Please know that this post is not a "look at what I’m doing with my children; aren’t I so clever" post.  It comes from a "isn’t this a fun, exciting tool? It’s been a great experience for us" place.  Also, I know that sometimes I panic that I’m not doing enough with my kids at home (crafts for example; I suck at crafts generally) or I think they’re hard done by because the boys have no extra murals and the girls only have 1.  Reading a blog or hearing about a friend who is succeeding in these areas of my failure can cause me to feel panicky and inferior.  It’s helpful for me to remember that not only has God given us all different talents, desires and abilities, but he also allows us to develop these in our kids differently.  So, while I may have my kids typing at home, others have their kids doing art and pottery or bake with them religiously or sew their clothes for them or have them at a fabulous school with opportunities my kids just won’t have being homeschooled.  I guess at the end of the day what matters is our heart.  And God knows our heart inside out.  

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