Advent: Bare Jesse Tree

As I mentioned earlier, we were involved in a Jesse Tree Ornament swap with our friends at 4real. Well, we had made a set of Jesse Tree Ornaments a few years ago, but I'm really loving the beautiful ones that we got in our swap.

But how best to display them? Here's the "tree" we used with our old ornaments -- this is a 17 x 28 piece of cloth with a tree sewn on and strings for hanging the ornaments.

I'm thinking that I'll just "whip up" another one like this for our new ornaments -- this one will go to dh's high school for their Advent celebrations (along with our "old" ornaments).

OR, I'll do a wooden plaque with a tree wood-burned on and "invisible brads" for hanging the ornaments.....

Decisions, decisions, decisions ....

Books: The Good and the Beautiful

In my never-ending quest to find wonderful picture books to show/read to my littles, I finally bowed to all the wonderful reviews and requested the Sibylle vonOlfers books:

• The Story of the Root Children
• The Story of the Wind Children
• The Story of the Snow Children

These are GOOD, BEAUTIFUL books! They tell the story of Mother Nature and her children ... how seasons affect the root children and their growth, how the wind children can be wonderful playmates and how the beautiful, dancing snow children make a snowy day wonderful!

There books, of course, are fairy tales -- altho the "fairies" in this case are children, Mother Nature's children. But the beauty of the illustration, love of nature and the gentle way of explaining nature, seasons and God's creation to little ones shines through all three books.

I thought I'd do a bit of investigating on just who was this Sibylle vonOlfers (and translated here). It turns out that she was born in Germany in 1881. Her father was a nature writer and researched and her parents encouraged her artistic talent at a young age.

At the age of 24, she joined the Sisters of St. Elisabeth (of Hungary), following in the footsteps of one of her sisters who had joined the Convent earlier. Sr. Maria Aloysia (her professed name) worked almost 10 years writing and illustrating lovely books for children as well as teaching in the Catholic school run by this Germanic order of Sisters.

At 35, this artistic Catholic sister died of lung disease (a disease she'd fought off and on for years).

Feast of Christ the King

Today is the beginning of the last week of the Liturgical Year for Catholics. Today is the Feast of Christ the King -- when the Church acknowledges and celebrates that Jesus Christ is the King of ALL ... that He has beat death ... that He has beat the Devil ... that His Kingdom WILL come!

This is a big deal for Catholics. This feast is an important one to celebrate and remember. As Father mentioned at Mass today, it is EXTREMELY important for all of us to decide -- in whose Kingdom do we want to live .... who is our King .... in whose Will will we follow?

Next Sunday, we will start the four weeks of anticipating Jesus' birth ... the 4 weeks of Advent. My prayer for all this week is that we end this year with the renewed desire to follow Jesus to His Kingdom!

Birthdays: Bam-Bam turns 5!

Today, our youngest turned 5 ... This is the little one who was born when we lived in Austria ...

the one who was christened in an ancient Monastery's church ... the one who got his very own Lippizaner Stallion at 1 when we returned to the States ...the one who is the littlest of the three cowboys (here, he's 2) ... the one who was such a charmer at 3 ...

and still a charmer at 4 ...

the one who can just about read his own cards now ....

and chat with his college-student big brother ...

Happiest of birthdays, to our special gift from God! Five years ago you came into our lives and we've been blessed ever since!

Traditions: Thanksgiving Eve

OK, I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but we've been doing a tradition for the last few years that I think bears mentioning. On the day before Thanksgiving, we pull out the BEST Thanksgiving book and read it.

Now, this doesn't sound like a big deal, but I don't know what we'd ever do if we lost this book and Dad couldn't read it to the littles on Thanksgiving Eve. My lovely dh always gets off early (if not a whole day) on Thanksgiving Eve and makes a point of curling up with the littles and reading this book. They all enjoy it and look forward to the annual reading. This year, I had to turn the house upside down to find the copy that I knew I'd placed in a safe place -- it was a safe place, it was just the LAST place as well as a SAFE place!

Even more wonderful is using the recipe in the back, "Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread", and making it into a "cooking math" lesson. It warms the house while it's baking, the smell fills the air and reminds of tomorrow's feast, and it warms our bellies with it's taste!

Today it will be really wonderful to cuddle up to this book as we've had a good snowfall early this morning and it's only 25 degrees ... so a slice of warm Cranberry Bread, a cup of tea and dh reading ... ah, the bliss path!

What more could you ask of a well-loved classic?

Unit Study: Mesopotamia

We've been doing ancient civilizations for our history segment. We finished up Ancient Egypt (and thoroughly enjoyed that one!) and have since moved on to Mesopotamia -- a Greek word which means "land between rivers". Mesopotamia is a fascinating land which included the Babylonians, Assyrians and other cultures (with lots of Biblical threads running back and forth).

Here are the resources we've used so far:

• Gilgamesh the King
• The Revenge of Ishtar
• The Last Quest of Gilgamesh

These three books are the Gilgamesh epic retold and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman. They are fabulous retellings of this oldest epic ever told. Gilgamesh is half-god, half-man but learns to love humans through his friends, Enkidu and Shamat. Ishtar, a goddess who loves (but is thwarted by) Gilgamesh is the villain in these stories. The illustrations in this series are wonderful – funny, detailed and historically accurate. Great reading!

Eyewitness Books: Mesopotamia by Philip Steele this wonderful DK book includes a CD-rom of various images (including unlabeled maps) from the book. This is a great overview book and the CD was lots of fun to investigate! A wall-chart gives a quickie overview of the highlights of Mesopotamian history.

Ancient Mesopotamia (vhs) – led by “Arizona Smith”, the viewer is taken on a tour of Mesopotamia. This is a great video not only about the ancient culture, history and tales of Mesopotamian societies, but is also a great introduction to archaeology.

Hercule Poirot: Murder in Mesopotamia (dvd) – we are big Agatha Christie fans around here and I couldn’t resist adding this to our unit. Christie herself was a hobbyist-archaeologist (accompanying her husband on digs) and so the information contained in this story is very well done.

Books: Song-filled Books

Here's a "brain-wave" I had the other day for my reluctant readers: silly song books.

Here are few we have been using over the past few days:
From Sandra Boynton --

• Philadelphia Chickens
• Blue Moo
• Dog Train
• Rhinoceros Tap

From Christopher Canyon (who adapts and illustrates John Denver's songs) --

• Grandma's Feather Bed
• Sunshine on My Shoulder
• Take Me Home, Country Roads
• Ancient Rhymes - A Dolphin Lullaby

All these books are great because the songs are fun, the illustrations silly and the words easy to read and sing with the included CD's. A great way for my String Bean to practice her reading!

Iconography -- Seminar on Spirituality and Symbolism

St. Luke's Theotokos

My husband and I really like icons and own many different Saint icons. The theology behind iconography is an amazing subject. I was fortunate to be able to attend a seminar at Church last night given by three women -- one is an expert on prayer and works for the Archdiocese, one is an artist who writes icons for her hobby, and one who is an iconographer. These ladies gave a wonderful talk that I thought I would summarize here:

Iconography Seminar (1) – Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Prayer:
When JP2 wrote the apostolic letter to accompany the Catechism he specifically mentioned the “patriarchs” in the salutation. A sign that he was very serious about the Church breathing out of both lungs.

The Eastern tradition is that the focus of all spirituality is on the heart. Paragraph 2563 of the Catechism mentions that “heart is the dwelling place”.

Eastern orthodox and Byzantines constantly pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”

Before starting, an iconographer examines her heart, must reconcile with whomever over whatever. Then, a prayer is said before work starts. All iconographers use the same prayer:

Prayer Before Writing an Icon
Glory to Thee O God, Glory to Thee.
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

All-Holy Trinity, have mercy on us.

Lord, cleanse us of our sins.

Master, pardon our iniquities.

Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy Name's sake.

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen.

O Divine Lord of all that exists, You have illuminated the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with Your Most Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent the Most Holy Mother, the one who held You in her arms and said: The Grace of Him Who has been born of me is spread throughout the world.

Enlighten and direct our souls, our hearts, and our spirits. Guide the hands of your unworthy servant so that we may worthily and perfectly portray Your Icon, that of Your Holy Mother, and of all the saints, for the glory, joy, and adornment of Your Holy Church.

Forigve our sins and the sins of those who will venerate these icons, and who, standing devoutly before them, give homage to those they represent. Protect them from all evil and instruct them with good counsel.

This we ask through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Apostle Luke, and all the saints, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Icons – are written, not painted. As bible is the written word of God, so too the icons are written by the Holy Spirit thru the hand of the iconographer.

Icons are meant to transform us, bring us closer into communion with God. Icons are usually displayed in an icon corner (so there are no distractions, all focus is on the corner), positioned slightly above eye level, lit by a candle/oil glow. The icon is not hung on the wall passively; the icon is standing on a shelf in an active position for us to respond to, make us ready to go forth.

Icons are not written for the eye; they are written for the soul. They are not meant to be physical images of the saint but are to be symbolic representations of the inner life of the saints. If you really study an icon -- really look into the eyes of the Theotokos or Jesus -- you lose the external and begin to see things internally, God's truth and beauty shine through.

Russian spirituality, tied up with icons, is best illustrated in the book, The Way of the Pilgrim. Another book is the Philokalia.

For Mary alone there are more than 400 titles/icons. Tradition says that St. Luke was the first iconographer, writing an icon of Mary.

Icons are reproductions, not original works of art. There is a “canon of iconography” as the belief is that each of these images was revealed by the Holy Spirit to the original iconographer. It is pure truth, so don’t change. These images have brought centuries of people to prayer, produced good works. Therefore, all iconographers replicate the original images. Changing even one single line is like changing a sentence of scripture – it’s not done lightly!

Another book to read: Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons by Henri Nouwen.

Symbolism:

• Icons are always created on something strong, stable, long-lived: fresco on an interior wall, thick planks of birch or ash to remind us of the permanency of God.
• Grain of wood is always on the vertical – reminds us to lift our eyes upward, Heavenward
• One single board is used, with an inset area carved into the wood – the inset area is the inner life, draws us into contemplation; the outer frame/rim is the secular life. Often a saint’s halo will go beyond the inset area to the outer rim – to show that we can/should live holy lives in the secular world; grace comes from the internal to the external.
• A veil covers the front of the wood completely – linen or 100% unbleached cotton to represent Christ’s burial shroud and the torn curtain at the crucifixion. This veil is glued to the board with rabbit-skin glue to remind us that the Cross is ALWAYS present.
• Gesso covers the veil – 10-12 coats to make the veil-covered board as white and smooth as our souls in Heaven. As iconographer paints the gesso on, he/she is purifying his soul.
• Garlic juice and a charred stick are used to mark the thick/thin lines to copy the icon. The lines are etched all the way thru the veil to the wood – reminded us of the Cross and that we’re all carved on God’s hand. The black lines remind us of sin – when we brush them off later, that’s our redemption. The thick and thin lines remind us of our walk thru life – thick lines = growing in faith; thin lines = times we’re not growing in faith. Straight lines symbolize God piercing our souls to get to our heart.
• Red clay mixed with hide-glue is put on the edge to remind us of the Old Testament and that God was watching over us even before Jesus came to save us.
• Halos are made by breathing gently on the board; breath condenses and the gold leaf sticks; our breath reminds us that we are all called to holiness
• Pigments used are ground earth or ground minerals only
• Red is the first color put on as a sign of self-martyring; dying to self so that God’s glory may shine. [Iconographers never sign the front of their work; IF they sign it at all, it’s on the back “through the hand of Cecilia, a sinner” – ego is gone to allow God to take over]
• Dark green symbolizes earth and man
• When done, icon is oiled – a reminder of our baptism, chrism of the icon
• Light in an icon is key – essence of our experience of God.

Second half of the seminar will be Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 7 p.m.

Books: Great Picture Books for Boys

It is SO hard to find really well-written and illustrated picture books for boys (or even not-really-girly-girl girls). Here are a few we read today that my boys (and String Bean, too!) really enjoyed:

McPhail, David:
Santa’s Book of Names – a slow-to-read boy helps Santa read his Book of Names and gains the confidence needed for reading.
Edward and the Pirates – the same now-reading little boy gets a little too into his books.
Edward in the Jungle – Edward loves adventure books, especially Tarzan … even when they come to life!

Scotton, Rob:
Russell the Sheep – a sheep can’t sleep; the drawings are wonderful in this one (and one sheep is even knitting in a picture!).
Russell and the Lost Treasure – a sheep discovers the true treasure of Frogsbottom.

Jacques, Brian:
The Great Redwall Feast – a long poem about the Redwall heroes trying to surprise the Abbot on his feastday. The pictures are great and the poem itself is fun to read-aloud.
A Redwall Winter’s Tale – a prose story about the coming of snow to Redwall after a large winter feast. Again, the pictures are fabulous and the story a great way to introduce the wonderful Redwall series to the younger crowd.

Swaps: 18 down, 10 more to go

So one of the swaps we signed-up for this season is a Jesse Tree swap from the 4real forum. The Jesse Tree is an ancient symbol -- it records the Jesus' family tree through symbols. Here are the symbols normally incorporated in a Jesse Tree:

• Earth Apple & Snake
• Mary
• Ark & Rainbow
• Camel & Tent
• Lamb
• Colorful Coat
• Doorway With blood
• Tablet With 10 Numbers
• Cluster of Grapes
• Stick With bronze serpent
• Whale
• Sheaf of Wheat
• Slingshot
• Scroll
• Stump With Leaf
• Lion & Lamb together
• Dove & Crown
• Shepherd’s Staff
• Cross
• Heart With Writing
• Bethlehem
• Fiery Furnace
• Brick Wall
• Star
• Candle or Light
• Angel
• Baby in Manger

We are making the colorful coats -- the coat Jacob made for Joseph. We made 18 of the colorful coats yesterday:

We'll finish these up today and send them off to a very nice lady in Washington, D.C. who will then sort through all the symbols and create a package for each of the participants with each of the 28 symbols so we'll be able to have a complete Jesse Tree from many of our friends at 4Real!

Words: fun and charity

Thanks to Irene at 4real, I just donated 400 grains of rice ....

It's very cool and a great way to feel good on a Saturday a.m.!

Swaps: Christmas Stocking

Check this out .... and then sign-up by Sunday, November 18! It should be a boot (ok, bad pun, I know!).

Books: a few more really fun picture books

Here are a few more of our finds from the picture book stacks:

Madlenka written by and illustrated by Peter Sis – is a wonderful story about a little girl, a loose tooth, and her multi-national/cultural neighborhood. This illustrations are fantastic and very detailed!

Madlenka’s Dog written by and illustrated by Peter Sis – continues Madlenka’s adventures, this time with an invisible dog that everyone “sees” differently!

King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood – a very cute book about a king who refuses to get out of the bath, no matter what people suggest to do instead! There is a CD with this one that has silly songs that follow the story (but not the text exactly).

Grandma’s Feather Bed adapted and illustrated by Christopher Canyon – this is John Denver’s “classic” song with silly illustrations. There is a CD with this book that we played MANY times so the kids could giggle and learn the words!

Books: Another Random Reading Day selections

We had such fun during yesterday morning's Random Reading day that the kids and I decided to do another, shorter one today. Here are the books we got through this morning:

The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark – is a great story about the relationship between a person and his pet. In this case, the pet is a dragon pup that only knows the minstrel and the minstrel’s kindness. A villain (the illustration is even VERY sneaky, skunky looking) steals the pup and sets in motion many events.

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe by Vera B. Williams – is a wonderful overview of a family’s trip in a newly purchased, used red canoe. The narrator writes in her journal from the moment she sees the canoe for sale, through the preparations for getting the boat and themselves sea-worthy, on the river for three days and then back home again. The cover even looks like a child’s composition book. This is definitely a read for getting the kiddoes rather for summertime fun!

Stringbean’s Trip to the Shining Sea by Vera B. Williams and Jennifer Williams – is about a trip from Kansas to the Pacific ocean. The neat thing is that the story is told through a series of “postcards” from Stringbean and his brother Fred back to their Ma, Pa and Grandpa. It’s a great overview of the geography and history between Kansas and the Ocean, with lots of nice side-notes on brotherly love and brotherly spats.

The Train of States written and illustrated by Peter Sis – is a lovely tribute to the 50 states as well as the Nation’s Capitol! Peter Sis is an immigrant from the Czech Republic and has really embraced his new homeland. This book is a lovely tribute to each of the 50 states – each state is its own train car with details of state nicknames, state flower, state tree, fun fact and other information packed into each train car illustration. The cars are in order of statehood. This is one of those “gaze at the picture for an hour and find more and more interesting things” kind of books. The pictures are fun – almost cartoony – but never lose sight of the respect Sis has for each state and America. The last page shows all the train cars gathered together and it’s fun to pick out the different states by their “symbols”. This is a great way to introduce American geography and state-history to children!

Books: Random Reading Day

Occasionally, I gather a bunch of different books and we sit and read for the day. These may be easy readers, older picture books or just a random selection of things to read; the books may be all one author's, all one subject/theme or just a mish-mash of fun reads.

We call this "random reading day" and we have so much fun -- often launching off into rabbit trails or individual kids' interests are piqued.

Here's our list of great, mixed picture books we read today in case you'd like to try this too:

Tiger of the Snows: Tenzing Norgay - The boy whose dream was Everest by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Ed Young – a beautifully illustrated picture biography of the Sherpa mountaineer who climbed with Sir Edmund Hillary to the top of the world, Mt. Everest!

Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson Against the Odds by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Mike Wimmer – a very exciting picture book of Jackie Robinson’s ability to steal home. The pictures are wonderful and the text exciting. A fabulous baseball book.

The Red Wolf by Margaret Shannon – ok, this one is near and dear to my heart! A little princess is kept in a tower by her loving (if slightly obsessive) father who worries the world will corrupt her. She is given the gift of a golden chest full of WOOL with a note that says “knit what you want”. She knits a red wolf suit and escapes. The rest of this rather unique story has the kids guessing until the end.

A Small Tall Tale from the Far Far North by Peter Sis – this is the story of a real man: Jan Welzl, who left his home in Moravia in the late 1800s and headed for the Far North. Based on facts as well as the tall-tales the man himself told, Peter Sis creates a beautifully detailed picture book of life in the Far North. A fabulous lead-in to a study of Alaska, exploring, and Eskimos.

Black Beauty’s Early Days in the Meadow by Anna Sewell and illustrated by Jane Monroe Donovan – the pictures of this book are worth hunting for this one! Anna Sewell’s story of Black Beauty is enhanced with this picture book that tells of the pony’s life in the fields and the very important lessons he learns from his mother.

Read Anything Good Lately? By Susan Allen and Jane Lindaman, illustrated by Vicky Enright – if you love reading, you’ll love this unique alphabet book where the writers describe different things you can read using the letters of the alphabet. At the end are some other ideas of things to read and we had fun thinking of where you would read an essay (on an elephant?) or a picture book (on a pony?). A wonderful introduction for those learning to read.

Thanksgiving Wish by Michael J. Rosen and paintings by John Thompson – this book always makes me cry, but in a good way! The story of a grandma’s traditional thanksgiving feast is enhanced by the first thanksgiving after she dies. A wonderful book that we’ll read every year at Thanksgiving!

One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes and illustrated by Bonnie Mackan – how many ways can 100 be re-grouped to make it to the picnic in time? This is a great, repetitive book that had my kids responding right along with the ants. Great way to introduce multiplication/division with 100.

One Hundred is a Family by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Benrei Huang – starting with one family, this is a great counting book that shows that even 100 people living in an apartment house are a family. Lots of fun in this counting book.

On Beyond a Million: An Amazing Math Journey by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by Paul Meisel – is a great introduction to the power of ten and how easy it is to count to a googol if you count exponentially. But, as the book clearly points out, you can never count to infinity nor are bajillion or gazillion real numbers. Lots of fun in this math book.

Roman Numbers I to MM by Arthur Geisert – is a great way to introduce, practice and review roman numerals. Starting with the basic seven letters I, V, X, L, C, D and M – you can make ANY number imaginable (Romans didn’t have a symbol for beyond “thousand”). And Geisert proves it with his MMMMDCCLXIV (4764) pigs and other drawings throughout the book. One thing that’s very cool (other than page numbers in Roman numerals) is the last 11 pages are practice pages for what XI means or how many tire swings. Lots of great rabbit trails from this one!

As you can see, it's really a mixed bag today -- some I chose for their illustrations, some for their content, some becuase I'd heard good things about the authors. All were well-received and have the kids really thinking (and understanding that reading really can be fun and interesting). Here's a blog post of more books from Random Reading day.

City Living: Trash Day

So here we are in what many say is a "second tier city" -- not one of the biggest cities but definitely not a town. Trash day is once a week, with recycling every other week. The recycling bins are great -- nice, big, hearty plastic bins on wheels that the truck just comes along and picks up and dumps and moves on. It's amazing to watch how quickly they can recycle two weeks worth of our recyclables (and the bin is ALWAYS full to the brim!).


Now, what about the trash cans? We have a metal can that we line each week with a plastic bag -- this keeps things nice and clean. When we put our can out on the curb, we tie off the bag so the trash man can simply lift the bag out of the can and toss the bag (and all our week's trash) into the big truck. Sounds simple, easy, neat -- doesn't it?


But does our trash man do this?

Apparently, our trash man feels the need to fling our can onto the street after it's empty .... with a plastic can, this is not too bad an idea as the cans are a bit flexible and they bounce rather than crunch.

But this is what happened yesterday when our trash man decided to fling our metal can:


You'd think a car or truck had hit our can -- but I can state for a fact that this was not done by a car or truck but by our trash man as I was home when the trash man cometh and this is how he left it!

Why can't our City Trash just give us cans like the recycle bins? We certainly pay enough in city and county taxes for the weekly chance to have our bins bouncing all over the street. This would save the trash truck lots of time too as they have the mechancial arm to pick-up, dump, drop all in one fell swoop!


BTW, we HAVE to have a metal can because in our "second tier city" we can't kill the squirrels which are so hungry they gnaw through the plastic cans and into the garbage bags ... not a pretty sight.




But our squirrel problem will be the subject of a long post at a later date -- I have a strategy up my sleeve to rid my household of the dreaded squirrels!