Hearth and Home Part II

Well, we've just had a real test of our stove fan the past couple of days with temps in the high 30s and two nights where it dipped into the mid to upper 20s.  (Those of you living to the east of the Cascades, remember we have a damp cold and 31 here feels a lot colder than it does over there!)

I didn't close the stove down much those two nights and last night I got up a couple of times to stoke it back up.  This morning the back bedrooms were cool but still comfortable and warmer than they would have been with the floor fan moving the heat.

Definitely a keeper!

Hearth and Home

I have been campaigning for several years now to purchase a fan for our wood stove.  My mother has one for her insert and it does a lovely job of circulating the heat from the stove throughout the house.  The fan sits on top of the stove and the heat transfers from the stove to the pedestal.  The difference in the temperature between the base and the top of the fan generates the electricity to turn the fan.

Mom's house is a lot more open than ours and Mike was dubious it would work at all in our house.  We have only wood heat and the placement of the stove makes it difficult to get heat down the hall to the bedrooms.  We've found that a strategically placed fan helps pull the cold air into the family room and gets a circulation going.  Unfortunately, the strategic place is directly in the walkway between family room, dining room, and hallway.  I was getting weary of it being kicked, of trying to avoid it sixteen dozen times a day, of the constant drone exacerbating my tinnitus, and the added cost to our electric bill.  So yesterday, feeling as if I was tip-toeing out on a rather flimsy limb, I purchased a fan against Mike's judgement at our local farm supply store.

The store had only a larger fan (at a greater price!) and I dithered alarmingly before I made the purchase.  When I got home, I very carefully unpacked the fan so I could return it if we decided it wasn't going to work for us.  I decided that if it worked as well as the current set-up, I'd keep it but if the strategically placed nuisance worked better at moving the heat to the bedrooms, I'd return it.  That fan is too spendy to sit unused on a shelf or to spin uselessly on the stove.

I can tell you today that not only has that flimsy limb become very firm, but I'm not even on it anymore.  The stove fan seems to be better at circulating the heat and, as promised in the advertising, is doing so with a smaller fire.  The real test will come when the outside temperatures drop into the 20s but for now we're cozy and have an unobstructed walkway.

Musical Interlude

Bradlee has loved the piano since I first played it with him on my lap.  He was too small even to keep himself in the upright position so it made playing very interesting.  His love has not abated one whit and he now plays the piano with both hands and sings along.  Granted, his songs are made up on the spot as his hands wander the keyboard and his voice may or may not match the notes played either in key or tempo but he's learned to be gentle with the keys and it's all somewhat pleasant to hear.

He climbed onto the piano bench Christmas Eve when everyone was here and played a bit.  Then he recalled that I look at a book on the music rack while I play and occasionally turn pages so he picked up a Rodehever's Hymnal that was lying to the side.  Nick didn't want him damaging my hymnal so traded him for the first book at hand....a crossword fill-it-in.

As Brad began playing and singing, Mike announced that we were listening to "Crosswords" in B-flat major.

Gluten

I've known I've needed to avoid gluten for a few years now.  I've felt the negative effects of breads but managed to believe my own argument that it wasn't the breads themselves, just the volume of my consumption.  Never mind that I felt some effects every time I had one sandwich or a dinner roll. Bread is so delicious that a person will believe anything if it means being able to continue enjoying it.

A little over a month ago,  I was presented with unarguable evidence that Richelle needed to go gluten-free.  She doesn't have celiacs disease, just very low tolerance to gluten.  It was keeping her from going to sleep, she was waking up multiple times in the night and then finding it difficult to get back to sleep again.  That meant an overslept alarm clock, being tardy for school, a sullen teenager, and one highly irritated mother.  Multiply that by five times each week and something was going to give.

I didn't require my family to join me in eliminating chocolate from my diet twenty years ago but I decided to join Richelle in eliminating gluten from her diet.  Cooking is so much easier that way!  Plus, I will do for others that which I will not do for myself.  I don't avoid chocolate because it makes me feel terrible; I avoid it because my family doesn't deserve to live with the terrible person I become when I have it.  I didn't begin to avoid gluten because it is not good for me; I started avoiding gluten to support Richelle.

Fast-forward five weeks.

Richelle goes to sleep on time, sleeps all night, and is up on time in the morning.  When you realize our school starts at 6:30 am, you understand the scope of the benefit.  Another benefit is that her head is clearer and studying isn't the onerous chore it had been.  She's even able to do some simpler Algebra II problems in her head correctly.

I am also seeing some positive results from avoiding gluten.  Curiously, the first one I noticed was a marked reduction in my "jumpy" legs.  All this time I had linked it to lack of exercise and the intake of caffeine.  On a scale of 1-10 with 10 having me up and wandering because I can't lie still to sleep, I'm now between 2 and 3.  It's wonderful to lie in bed and peacefully drift off instead of pushing myself to fall asleep quickly before the twitches get too bad.

The second result for me is that my own head is clearer.  It feels as if my thought process is no longer mired in molasses and I can leap lightly from thought to thought again.

And, you know, gluten-free foods are quite tasty!

Sorry, Mom, that it took so long to join you in going gluten free...

Life as viewed by a Two-year-old

I took all the pictures off my camera the other day and loaded them onto the computer.  As I scrolled through them, I was puzzled at first with some of the subjects.  Then I remembered that Bradlee had had possession of the camera a few times.

This is Grandma.

 

The face comes into the picture when playing Hide and Seek. 

This is Papa.  You can tell by the jeans, belt, and shoes...

...or maybe just jeans and belt. 

Uncle playing a non-energetic form of Hide and Seek...

 ...so the face is no longer in the picture.

Is Uncle going to get me or is he faking?

I don't know what Auntie Richelle is doing but it looks like fun.

Grandma took the camera away so Papa is playing "Cut the Rope" with me on his phone.

I found it interesting how there were no faces in the picture unless the person was interacting with him. I'm not so sure it was just inexperience with cameras.  He was looking at the screen when he took the pictures.  

I remember identifying my mother in a group by the skirt she was wearing.  I clearly remember at convention one year when I was quite young taking hold of my mother's skirt when when she was standing with a circle of ladies in the shade of a tree.  There was merry laughter from the ladies and when I looked around to see who else was there, I was confused to see my mother's skirt across the circle.  I took another look at the material I had clenched in my hand and saw it wasn't right so I walked across the small gathering to the skirt made of the right pattern of material.  My mother put her hand on my head and I leaned into the comfort of her presence. 

Of course, I now know the merry laughter was at my expense of mistaking someone else's skirt for my mother's but it literally and figuratively went over my head at the time and left nary a blemish on my psyche.  So I find it intriguing to look at the pictures Bradlee takes.

Be Careful What You Type

A comment made during a conversation reminded me of why I am careful how I type in an address for a web page.

It happened years and years ago....perhaps twenty.....when the World Wide Web was popping up in homes and everyone had dial-up.  We were at Mike's parent's house and, for some reason, I wanted to find information about the presidency.  So I innocently and unsuspectingly typed in whitehouse.com.  Mike and his mom were in the office room with me discussing whatever it was they were discussing that prompted me to call up that website.

I hit 'enter' and turned around to continue the conversation while the page (slowly) loaded.  After a few minutes, I turned back to the monitor to see if the page was up.

To my horror, I saw a number of ladies decoratively draped around furniture wearing a smile at one end and toenail polish at the other and with nothing in between.  My hands instinctively shot out and tried to cover the screen.  That did me no good because (a) the screen was far bigger than what my hands could cover and (b) it left me with no hands to close out the page.  I think I was gibbering somewhat incoherently because Mike and his mom both turned and looked over my shoulder.

    "What did you type in?" Mike asked incredulously.
    "What are you contaminating my computer with?" Lela asked ungrammatically.
    "Augh, ish begothen come dipple!" I whimpered, trying to strategically arrange my fingers to hide the worst of the pictures.
    "Close it out," Mike advised.
    "I can't!  I don't have enough hands!!" I yelled.
    "Here," Lela said and to my intense relief she closed out the screen.

Caution: Political and Religious Content

I debated quite a while whether or not to make this post.  Obviously, I decided to do so.  I don't usually post either religious or political commentary but this topic made me think and I hope it does you, too.

The following is part of a re-post of a friend on Facebook.  The title was “Why I cannot vote for Romney” and went on to ‘prove’ why a Christian must vote to save the environment.  I copied all of the verses quoted and pasted them below along with her comments followed by mine.

I was tempted to post this on Facebook as a reply but (a) it is too long and (b) it isn't the kind of thing I post on Facebook.  (It isn't the kind of thing I normally post on my blog, either!)

(Hers) Leviticus 26 - Most of this chapter is devoted to God promising to bring natural prosperity (using the land) to His people IF they follow His rules on cleanliness.

(Mine) This chapter has nothing to do with rules of cleanliness.  It doesn't even mention cleanliness.  It is the finishing chapter of the laws God has laid down for His people where He describes the prosperity they will enjoy by walking in His statutes and keeping His commandments and the desolation they will endure if they do not.

The previous chapter deals with the year of Sabbath for the land and the year of Jubilee for the land and the people.

This verse does not support the idea that as Christians we must ‘save the Earth’.

(Hers)  Deuteronomy 20:19,20 - God allowed the children of Israel to consume natural resources, but not to waste them.

(Mine) This verse deals with what trees may and may not be used to build bulwarks for an extended siege against a city.  Meat-bearing trees (fruit, nut, etc.) may not be used but trees known not to be used for meat (fir, elm, cedar, etc.) may be cut down.

Not sure where this person got the idea that these verses tell the children of Israel that they may consume natural resources but not waste them.  I know plenty of people who would think using trees to lay siege to a city would be a terrible waste of natural resources.

This verse does not support the idea that as Christians we must ‘save the Earth’.

(Hers)  Jeremiah 2:7 - "I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable." (NIV)

(Mine) This verse is a little more involved.  By cross-referencing the word ‘defiled’ to Leviticus 18:24-28, the meaning is very clear.

Lev 18:24  Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:

Lev 18:25  And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

Lev 18:26  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

Lev 18:27  (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

Lev 18:28  That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

So the children of Israel defiled the land, not by ‘destroying’ it but by not keeping the commandments of God; specifically turning to the other gods of the land.  That made the inheritance detestable because it had been corrupted and changed into something that God had not given.

This verse does not support the idea that as Christians we must ‘save the Earth’.

All of the above verses come from the Old Testament.  That fact is crucial when you understand the difference between the Old and New Testaments and their impact on our lives today. 

The Old Testament was and still is only for the Israelites - the Jews - and it contains the rules by which they would have their own natural country, live well in that land and prosper.  The laws in the Old Testament were the guarantee of a natural homeland for the Israelites and their descendants.

The New Testament was and still is for everyone (although an ethnic Jew must make a choice which law to follow – Old or New) and it contains the rules by which we will have our own eternal homeland.  Therefore, the Old Testament laws are for the Christian’s guidance but are not the Christian's laws to follow.

(Hers)  Revelation 11:18 - "The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great — and for destroying those who destroy the earth." (On this, it seems that many Christians believe it's impossible to destroy the earth. But doesn't causing portions of the earth to be destroyed fall into this category?)

(Revelation 11:18)  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (KJV)

(Mine) This verse is really interesting.  First, because it is in Revelation which is full of metaphor, second, because of the multitude definitions of ‘destroy’, third, because it is the only verse she quoted from the New Testament and, fourth, because it comes the closest of these passages to support the idea that Christians have a mandate to ‘save the Earth’.

There is a lot of metaphor in Revelation but the twenty-four elders seem to be pretty straightforward in what is going to happen; nations being angry, His wrath to come, the dead to be judged, reward to His servants, and ‘destroy them which destroy the earth’.

At this point, I deleted about a page and a half of dissertation.  Well, I didn't really delete it because I felt it was some pretty top-notch investigative writing but I did remove it from this post.  The reason is because we don’t have to define words, look up meanings in the original Greek or Hebrew, or see what others say about this passage. 

The meaning is quite simple:  God will destroy them which corrupt, pervert, misuse, and misinterpret His Word and lead others (the world as a people) astray to their spiritual destruction.  This verse has nothing to do with people who physically misuse the physical Earth.

How can I say that?  Because that verse cannot mean that God will destroy (send to Hell) those who destroy (misuse) the Earth.  God has promise eternal life to those who love Him and believe in Him.  There are no other qualifiers.  God never added, “Oh, and by the way, you must also protect all animals, attend church at least once a week, dress a certain way, volunteer at least four hours each month, forward all emails and re-post every truth about Me on Facebook.” 

No.

(John 1:12)  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

(Acts 16:30)  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

(Acts 16:31)  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

God promised eternal life to those who believe on Jesus.  He cannot and will not break that promise by adding on to it.  Yes, there is a lot we need to do to show our active faith and our active belief and to show Him reverence and give Him thanks.  Not misusing what He has provided for us is one of them but we will not lose our salvation for abusing the earth…although if we abuse the earth, we likely don’t have a reverence for Him and our salvation may be in jeopardy because of lack of faith and belief.