I Forgot To Type the Title of the Post

Nearly everything I've written lately has not been posted here. It's partly because my blog here is stalled. I wanted a better set up, a smoother appearance, a better this, a nicer that, and in my ignorance, I let my domain expire rather than transfer it. A word of advice about custom domains: Never, ever let them expire. All the momentum I never realized I had gained here went away when that happened. I should have listened to that little voice in my head that said, "Wait!"

So. My momentum is no more. My "mo" is no mo'. Not exactly a shining achievement, but like my friends who lost nearly everything in the Waldo Canyon Fire, I have a chance to start fresh here. I have a few ideas that I'm starting to firm up. This blog will continue to publish as I go, making changes on the fly. Wherever I go, I'm going to do all I can to take you, my friends, along. I will be careful not to lose you again!

Why haven't I been publishing? Partly because my walk with God had hit a coasting spot. If you've walked with Him for any amount of time, you'll know what I mean by coasting. He's not really talking much, and I'm not in any hot water with any one. Nothing seems to be in crisis (aside from fire, flood, and famine, which we've seen before, to one extent or another). I just came to think that there wasn't really anything going on in my walk. Boy, was I wrong! Never ever (is there an echo in here?) believe the lie that God isn't working 24/7/365 on you!

Sure, there will be moments when there's peace around you and he's not visibly altering your heart by pressing it in a vice and heating it with fire, but that's where I got tripped up. I thought that since he wasn't coaching me and I kept talking to Him, that everything was fine and there were "no worries." It's the tagline from a Jaws sequel that haunts me: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

It's always that problem that hangs just beneath the surface. Worse yet, it was contributing to my lack of writing. It seems to me that nothing is worse than a constipated writer. Sorry for comparing this to such a base idea, but when a writer is not writing, it's not that he's stopped writing. It's that he's stopped listening with his heart and writing from what he hears. All the other stuff he's written is not from that spot and the works range from little bits from his heart to what could be considered busy work.

I had been up all night, struggling over the issue, when I had finally resolved to "fix" the problem with what appeared to be the only solution. That's when my wife, wonderful Karen, asked in a middle-of-the-night croaky voice, "Did ya pray about it?"

"What?!" I responded in anger. Whoa. Wait a minute. Did I just yell at my wife? Yep, I shamefully confess that I did, and I was clearly in the wrong. Sorry. The worst part of it is that I hadn't consulted the God Who knows better than me in every circumstance. Sorry, again, Poppa. So I did, and He showed that He's got a better solution than I have. He is faithful, providentially faithful, even when we are faithless. He has never failed me to give me what I need, even if it's not always what I want.

Your brother in the Lion of Judah,
Steve

PS: If you want to read a bit of good news that has come as a result of last Thursday night in Aurora, there is a story of God's grace that, with a little help from me, has gone viral. Petra (PAY-tra) is a graduated homeschooler who already has a gift that shines even as her mom struggles to extend her days here with her. Brave young lady! I'm praying for her and all the others affected by this tragedy.

Todd: Jobs; Around the House, the Heart Is Where Dads Do the Real Work

I have long followed Todd Wilson, a homeschooling father like me, who goes across the country speaking to other homeschooling dads and moms, unlike me. If I had boundless energy and established donors and speaking contacts, I still wouldn't have the God-given anointing to do what he does to bring homeschooling families the encouragement he does.

Todd's transparency, his willingness to admit his failures to live up to his own ideals, places him in a unique class of legitimacy and sincerity. His tag line, "You da dad!" means simply that each father occupies an irreplaceable role in the lives of his children and that each of us are called to step up and fill the role. It doesn't shift with the changing nature of relationships and the sense of impermanence that pervades today's society. We are the ones who shape the next generation into what they will be, by our presence or, regrettably, by our absence. Our children need things--irreplaceable things--from us as dads that they will never get from their moms or from anyone else in their lives; our approval and our blessing, to name two.

Did I get all this by listening to Todd? Maybe. Or it could be that he simply confirmed what I've known in my heart all along. Regardless, I've grown under his leadership and direction as he teaches by his own life and experiences, which enables his sometimes brutal honesty to cut through all the malarchy and flotsam of being a parent and a person in ministry, two roles I can appreciate more than most.

His latest dispatch from the trenches was about the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the most visionary leaders of technology the world has seen in the past 200 years, perhaps since creation. No, I'm not putting you on, and yes, I'm a PC person. I haven't supported Apple since the Apple IIc in 1985. Yet, even the most hardened PC proponent must recognize Jobs' role in making the technological world what it is today. Nonetheless, Jobs' accomplishments didn't really matter in the big scheme of things. Nor did Newton's or Edison's or anyone else's. They were all human, they died, and what really mattered was who they loved and who loved them. That's true greatness. Todd gives hints of this in his latest update.

Hey Dad,

I hope you’re doing great, but I’m feeling a little somber. It started last night as we were gathered in the familyroom to watch one of the original Anne of Green Gables movies. My oldest son Ben (18) walked into the room and announced, “Steve Jobs just died.”

I imagine it was a little like that evening in the 60’s when they announced that Walt Disney died, especially for a technology kid. Ben is also a techno-kid, so for the last 2-3 years he’s kept us abreast on all the latest Apple inventions and upgrades, Apple stock, and the news that just a few weeks ago Apple passed Exxon as the most valuable company in the world.

Today, the tech-world is eulogizing him…recounting his story, his unique personality, and the gizmos he invented that have helped shape the modern world.

To tell you the truth, I can’t stop thinking that all he worked for, sacrificed for, and cared about…didn’t really matter. Don’t get me wrong. I think all the iGadgets are cool, but I would just about bet that he wasn’t thinking about iGadgets during his last few moments.

In fact, his name will soon fade (my little kids didn’t know Walt Disney was a real person), and someone else will control the iUniverse.

The truth is that some things matter and some things don’t…iThings don’t matter but iDads and iHusbands DO.

So, Dad, go love your wife and children…and change the world!

You ‘da iDad!

There's little to say after all that, except that, the further I go in living with my disabilities, I'm realizing that my role as a husband and a father has so much less to do with my abilities than it does with my heart and my will. I could never lift a finger again and yet be a successful father. Though I can't walk out my love for them by providing for them and working with them on things, I can love them with my heart, my eyes, my words, and my care of their hearts. I will not always have them in my home as I do now, but being a father, as my own father is showing me, never goes away. I will live forever, and I will love forever as well.

Much peace,

Adoption Is A Love Most Wonderful

Something very close to my heart is adoption. No, I have not adopted a child, but I'm very open to it, if finances allow. Stories that feature adoption continue to move my heart. I believe it's because I've grown in my faith to view myself as a child of God, which very closely parallels adoption. Paul repeatedly used adoption to help his readers understand the faith, telling the Romans, Galatians and Ephesians that as Christians, we are adopted as sons (and daughters) into God's family.

Like everyone else born on this planet, I was born into the wrong "family." I did not know God in my heart. I was lost, and, if God Himself had not intervened, I would have died never knowing Him, nor ever finding my true home. He did intervene, thousands of times before I was born and likely many more after. He chose me, not because I was better or worse, happy or sad, or even because I was born to good (or bad) parents. He chose me because He loved me. He made me His son when I had no concept of what that meant.

Adoption is a most wonderful love. It says, "You belong to me. I give you my family and those I dearly love. I give you my name that identifies me, so that you and I are linked together for all time." Perhaps this story that my daughter found on a friend's Facebook page best reflects this. I guarantee you will appreciate reading it.

Recommended Blog: Encouraging Words

I really appreciate this blog by "deni." She and I are in the same boat when it comes to abilities and dependence on God. She and her husband homeschool their children, as we do. Every post, I read what she has to say because more often than not, it encourages me and reminds me of what's important. This most recent one is especially good.

This Post Will Make You Hungry

One of the wonderful things about the blogosphere is that, once in a while, you happen upon a blogger who you really resonate with. For me, the blog “Lisanotes” has been hitting all the right chords with me. Recently, she had a book review that I found unexpectedly useful.

The problem has been months—no, years!—in the making. My 10 year old son has had more than his share of difficulty in understanding his sisters. Disagreements and frustrations over daily occurrences, like my 13 year-old daughter’s use of the computer, have boiled into huge conflicts. Lisa’s review of a book titled, Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti, which I had skimmed over, came to my mind. After reading the review, I sat down with my son and explained the concept to him. I will let my son take it from here.

If I were a food I’d be a Waffle. I’d be a Waffle because it describes how a male’s brain works and processes things. A Waffle has squares in it (as always), so does a males brain (supposedly). Each box represents a thing that a male is doing or thinking about at one time. Males think differently than females. They focus on one thing at one time. Females don’t think or do one thing at one time, they think or do it all at once. Therefore, females are like spaghetti because their minds keep on thinking about everything at once. They keep on following the spaghetti line through all the sauce and other noodles. Then they run out of noodle, and then their minds jump to another noodle that leads them to another, and another, and another, and another and another and so on and so forth. That is how I think that the male and female minds work, and that is why, if I were a food, I would want to be a Waffle.

(p.s. My Dad explained this to me, which really helped understand my mom and my sisters.)

Like a lot of boys, my son understands word pictures. Until this moment, it was really hard for him to understand the differences God has built into women. Now, instead of him wishing that girls were more like boys, which is something every 10 year old boy seems to struggle with, he allows his sisters the freedom to be who they are. The difference inside our house is night and day! I can hardly believe what a difference it has made. Instead of berating his little sister for leaving a mess somewhere, he reminds her that she should help clean up. His humor, his bright smile, his very soul seems sweeter and more mature. I have the feeling that I just did my future daughter-in-law—whoever she may be—a huge favor.

I told you this post will make you hungry. Let's go to IHOP and talk it over.

Seeking Contentment

I have been extremely blessed by Lisa Notes the last two days. Lisa has listed 5 Reasons To Seek Contentment and 5 More Reasons To Seek Contentment. Contentment is the amazingly simple answer to so many issues that seem to push Christians out of God's will. Please take the time to read them!

Speaking Boy

Marsha speaks Boy, and I speak Girl. Parenthood is amazing stuff!

Homeschooling in Canon City

Nifty article on a family homeschooling in Canon City, Colorado. The beauty of it all is captured in this quote toward the end,

“It can affect your family. For us, our life before homeschooling was harried,” she said. “We were always rushing here and rushing there. Now, we’re still busy, of course, but we have a lot more quality of life. We’re busy, but we’re not trying to squeeze” in sports, homework and other activities.

Life is not about fitting everything in. It's about doing what's important, and not necessarily what's urgent.

Freedom Of Speech Isn't The Issue In T.V. Feud

Family Guy and Two and a Half Men are two of the funniest shows on television. I've seen them and they are hilarious, but I can also state that they're also two of the raunchiest. So when the Parents Television Council notices and takes action, why are they surprised, let alone offended?

Yet offended they are, and they've fired their own shots in return. The problem is that they don't stick. Funny or no, I don't let Family Guy or 2.5 Men in the house. There's a difference between being funny and being good funny. Good funny is being funny without resorting to titilating and embarrasing their viewers. There are plenty of funny shows, but there aren't nearly enough good funny shows.

For movie reviews that help you make a choice, my pick has to be PluggedInOnline.com.

When A Curriculum Doesn't Work

Marsha over at the Heart of the Matter Online is blogging about how it's okay to be a quitter. Homeschooling parents take heed.

He Knows Your Heart

Last night, I was up late again. I didn't know why I couldn't get to the sleepy point where I knew I was ready for bed. I'd had a medical appointment yesterday and the news wasn't entirely positive. Add to it the news that our house payment will be going up next month. I watched the hours tick away. Two o'clock ticked by, three o'clock, then four... Finally, at five, I asked out of frustration, "What is it?!"

"Steve," I felt the Holy Spirit say, "you're not trusting me!"

"Oh."

"Go and lie down. Leave the rest to me."

I did, and I fell asleep as God brought scriptures and promises to my mind.

Aaron gets it. We may fool others. We may fool ourselves, but we don't fool God. God knows our hearts much better than we do.

Every Moment Is Beautiful

I have just read the best post I've seen in months, maybe years.

If that didn't get your attention, you're too busy so nevermind. The rest of you need to get a cup of coffee, tea or whatever it is that makes you pause while you drink or eat it. Sit down and read Melissa Wiley's Every Face I Look At Seems Beautiful To Me. It's so good, I italicized it. Finding this gem is the reason I read blogs in the first place. This one challenges me to stop looking forward to things and simply savoring all I can out of the moment I find myself in. Helping our kids nurture their love for learning is more important than deskwork, and Wiley's post reminded me at just the right time.

One more thought to add. My disability helps me see the wisdom of what she said. Often my condition puts whatever goal I had for the day or even the week out of reach for me. It's dumb, really dumb, to get frustrated about it. It doesn't change anything. Instead, I need to focus on enjoying what I can do, even if it's just lying still and breathing in and out for the next hour or two. I'm really grateful for this post.

- s. r. w.

Recommended Resources

I've been doing a little maintenance to my blog. I've learned that template tinkering is just something you do with your blog and that you never really finish making changes. Among other things, I've added a recommended resources section. Instead of accepting an advertiser who gets to pick what they want to put up in their spot on my blog, I decided to create a section of resources I felt were truly helpful to my family and me. These aren't just homeschooling resources, but we find a fit well into our homeschooling lifestyle.

Add to this the fact that if you buy through this blog by clicking on the link, I receive a small commission on the sale. I'm not even close to making serious money on this, nor do I expect this to turn into a business. It would simply be nice (and a little encouraging) to have some income from something I'm already doing anyway. Incidentally, if you don't buy what I recommend but still pick up something from Amazon, I still get the referral commission.

Most of my readers subscribe to my feed, so you won't see this unless you visit waldenswits.com. Drop on by and see what I've recommended!

A Top 50 List of Homeschool Blogs

Congratulations to the Cates, my friend Gena Suarez, Principled Discovery, and Sprittibee for making this list!

LWW: Chapter II - What Lucy Found There

Tea and Fauns Who Drink It
I have C. S. Lewis to thank for my early introduction to the English ritual of tea. Proper tea is not just the actual tea. It is scones, small sandwiches, crackers and spread and smoked goodies and whatever else happens to be available. It is a fourth meal in a world that only has room for three. Coffee has been condensed into a drive-thru at Starbucks or an hour-old pot sitting on a counter, whereas tea makes you sit and wait while it steeps before you can enjoy it. High tea really is a fourth meal and if you leave feeling less than full, you've done it wrong.

Tea also has a certain mysticism about it. It was cultivated in the far east and brought back for consumption by those who could afford blends with exotic sounding names like Assam, Dimbuta, Nilgiri and Darjeeling. It also is the source for my favorite quote from Toy Story, by Buzz Lightyear (who just found out he was only a toy): "One minute you're defending the whole galaxy, and, suddenly, you find yourself sucking down Darjeeling with Marie Antoinette... and her little sister."

Today, I enjoy green tea as it helps alleviate my Fibromyalgia symptoms. While I drink it for the curative powers, humans and--as luck would have it--polite fauns drink it as a way to be social and hospitable.

Tumnus introduces himself to Lucy and he's unsure at first what to do when he learns that she's a human girl. We find out later that he has general instructions from the White Witch to kidnap any humans he finds and bring them to her. Tumnus slips into the role of "traitor" with only a moment's hesitation. He almost says, "That is to say, delighted ...if we weren't under the curse and control of the White Witch, who, by the way, wants to kill you." That's an awkward way to start off a conversation. He doesn't want Lucy's friendship at all at first. He immediately begins luring her back to his cave to feed her and put her to sleep to kidnap her. Because she's from an age where anyone with manners would be assumed to have wholesome intentions, Lucy believes the faun. She's innocent, trusting and more filled with wonder than fright in this new land.

Jack's description of the cave is the antithesis of what we would call a cave. Where all the caves I've been in are cold, dank and dark, this one is immediately cozy and warm with rugs, a fire, furniture and bookcases filled with strange titles like,"Is Man a Myth?" It gives explanation for the fright Tumnus has. He meets Lucy with the same composure as we would if we were to meet Sasquatch or the Loch Ness monster.

Tumnus tells her tales of Narnia that is really our only indication in this book of what Narnia once was before the spell of the White Witch. He is quite nostalgic over the memories he has. The author draws from Greco-Roman mythology as well as the mythology used by his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tumnus then plays a flute for Lucy and uses an enchantment to put her to sleep. Lewis never lets us know how successful he is in doing so because he plays it from Lucy's point of view, and she is never aware that she is enchanted, merely that she was there for what must have been hours and then she shook herself. It could be that Tumnus allowed Lucy to awaken or it may have been Aslan's intervention, as the recent LWW movie implies. At any rate, Tumnus is overcome with regret and contrition as he comes to realize that humans are harmless and how his betrayal of such a harmless being is reprehensible and vile.

We see from Lucy's point of view when Tumnus reveals his treachery to her. She is horrified at the prospect of such a sinister action and Tumnus is redeemed by his risking his life to return Lucy to her world. Realizing that the White Witch's power extends throughout Narnia turns a bright and snowy land to a cruel, cold world. Lucy's escape is a breathless one.

Of Fauns And Men
Again, Lewis brings so much in such a short time. The world of Narnia is implied to have an economy (the parcels Tumnus carries), publishers and authors (because of the books in his cave), teachers and sciences (school and geography), family history and other structures similar to our world, and yet none of it is ever seen in LWW and very little elsewhere in the Chronicles of Narnia. It's not essential to the story, so I think Jack included it to make Tumnus much more "human" so we would later feel Lucy's urgency in trying to rescue Tumnus from the clutches of the witch.

Additionally, most folks, even children can relate to a trust betrayed or even a betrayal. It's the first of two betrayals, both in the favor of the White Witch. Jack wants us to revile her from the start. She is evil and rules by evil means. Jack would never do this to a human, so he makes her unhuman to compliment her inhumanity. But that's for later chapters.

Please comment with what you think.

LWW Chapter I - Lucy Looks into a Wardrobe

Wasting Little Time With Exposition
Jack has a great grasp of the children of his time. Lucy's scared of the odd-looking professor and Edmund wants to laugh at him. Peter and Susan know better and act it. Additionally, Jack wastes no time telling us what kind of children they are and uses their reactions to the story's set-up (the old house, the rain keeping them indoors, etc.) to tell us what kind of children they are. Jack also helps those outside of English culture by describing the house well enough that most people get the feel of the old English manors that were expanded room upon room without central hallways and without much of a overall plan, i.e., "...three steps down and five steps up."

How Lucy finds the wardrobe in the first place also tells her personality. Young children can be painfully curious and interest in fur coats is (or was) very natural for children. The progression is natural for the supernatural discovery of an entire world within a wardrobe and she controls her curiosity enough to remember to keep an eye on her way back out to the world she came from.

Jack's description of Tumnus is incredibly helpful for those who don't have much experience with mythology. Most children don't, anyway and it makes the rest of the story approachable, even when full descriptions aren't always given. The biggest obstacle in a series is usually the end of the first chapter of the first book. His closing of the first chapter offers such an interesting encounter that it soars easily over that obstacle and passes it like it's not even there.

Bigger On the Inside
One of the recurring elements in the Chronicles is with us from the first chapter. The assumption of a physical impossibility, of something being larger on the inside than it is on the outside, is one of the mysteries that leads to the first conflict (Lucy vs. the other children). No rational person would believe such an impossibility, yet it is the primary way Lewis establishes Narnia. The later difference in the passage of time contributes to the impossibility and yet it helps establish Lucy's credibility in Chapter V. Taking some things in life by faith, no matter how impossible they may be, is something Lewis isn't shy about introducing, even this early on in the book.

Reflections on Chapter I
I get a sort of giddy anticipation with this first chapter that I don't often see with other books. You want to finish the scene with Lucy and Tumnus and then you realize you've only read eight pages! Why not go a few more--please! It's also easy to find myself almost wishing that new worlds were just around the corner or in the closet behind the stairs. And I already feel like smacking Edmund across the face.

Feel free to chime in or at least read along with me.

Introducing... Into Narnia

It's been on my mind a long time now to do a series of posts based on The Chronicles of Narnia. C. S. Lewis has always been my favorite writer, ever since my father began reading the Chronicles to my sisters and I after dinner. Jack--as his friends called him--had a superb grasp of the ways God has revealed Himself to us. With my learning disability, his was one of the few books I could read without losing heart. I think that's because Jack and I both hated the schools we were subjected to and I found the characters so relatable. While The Chronicles of Narnia were his most well-known works, I have also read some of his other non-fiction works. Mere Christianity seems to be my favorite; it's one of the few theological books that really set the record straight on man's relationship with God.

Anyway, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (LWW) is my first and favorite of the Chronicles and its there that I will begin in a few hours.

The Two Income Trap, Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learned to Love E-Z Credit

This is a bit dry and academic, but trust me. When it comes to your pocketbook, this is probably the most valuable hour you will ever spend. I believe we're coming to a financial crunch point and it's going to hurt.



Did you catch the part about people valuing better public school districts and how that drove up home values too high. Yes, there is such a thing as too high just like there is such a thing as too low. Spending too much on the basics is doing damage to our economy that we may now realize all too late. We need a housing market correction or our economy will bear an even bigger shock very, very soon. The best way to do that is deregulate public schools and giving parents vouchers. Unlike the guest author, I don't think that re-regulating the banks is going to help. That's tinkering too much. Undo the bankruptcy laws of 2000 and deregulate schools. That will save our bacon by bringing things down slowly. It's either that or everyone should start homeschooling.

Why I Won't Post Poetry

I've had a long-standing rule on my blog. I will not post poetry. In a world with so much bad poetry and an abuser-friendly forum such as the blogosphere, there's no reason for me to subject myself to criticism (or praise) because there is certainly more than enough verse out there already to hurt your eyes with.

On the other hand, there's an exception to this rule, and good poetry shines so much more because of it. Kristina Campbell, who blogs under the name of Onfire, posted one such beauty recently. Now, beauty is somewhat subjective and depending on the reader, this poem either grabs you or it leaves you wondering. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than two old lovebirds sharing the flame of love they have kept alight since their youth together. That's what I want to be when I grow old.

Nifty Video To Wow The Kids

Catch this nifty video from freehomeschoolvideos.com of an octopus camouflaged and how quickly it switches from hiding to flight. Isn't God's work cool?