Gotta Love The Ghetto

So we have a great new neighbor whom we love!  If you know any of our past neighbors (we’ve had about 4 different neighbors in a span of 2 1/2 years) this one is a gem.  Tonight we heard Doris’s hearty laugh outside our bathroom window and this is what we found (look closely at this picture as it was difficult to capture through our window!)

Yes, that’s right, our neighbor’s friend pushing her through her tiny bathroom window because she locked herself out of her apartment.  Priceless.  We were able to laugh with Doris and think she’s a pretty flexible grandma (yes, she has 9 grandchildren!) We told her we got a kick out of watching her through our bathroom window.  Always something exciting going on around here…

 

Monday’s Menu Musings

I have wonderful memories of walking up the street from my childhood home in New York to my Italian grandparents house for an afternoon with all my loud, fun-loving Italian relatives.  Everyone would bring sweets and we would spend the afternoon “visiting” and eating – what good Italians do best.  I can remember a specific cookie that I loved made my my great Aunt Franny – a pleasantly plump, brown haired sweet lady who would always pinch my cheeks and plan a great big kiss on them.  These cookies, also known as “Floats” were a delicious cake-like cookie (as are all authentic Italian cookies) with frosting and sprinkles on top that we would dunk in hot coffee filled with lots of cream and sugar (yes my nanny let us drink coffee, we thought she was the best!). They are called floats because you are supposed to put one in your coffee to float and soak it up.  I’ve had the recipe for these cookies upon marrying Kevin when my mom gave me a family cookbook.  However, to my dis-appointment the recipe was wrong because all my relatives didn’t use recipes.  Everything was from memory and expertise and when Aunt Franny tried to put it on paper,  something was wrong and they never turned out right.  To my delight,  I discovered a recipe in one of my cooking magazines sent in by a 100% Italian lady with a different title. As I compared her recipe to my Aunt’s, they lined up to a tee having the same ingredients.  I was able to correct this old Italian family recipe and these cookies turned out exactly as I remember them.  They are delicious with coffee in the morning (sshhh…don’t tell anyone we eat cookies for breakfast). Enjoy this old DiRenzo family tradition, I think you will like it…

 

Floats

1/2 lb butter, softened

1/2 C sugar

6 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp anise extract

4 C. all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

 

ICING:

3 cups powdered sugar

5-6 T milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

colored sprinkles

 

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and extract. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased sheets (my Aunt Fanny used to roll out the dough and tie the cookies into knots creating a pretty cookie) for 9-11 until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool completely on wire racks.

Mix icing ingredients and dip cookies, allowing excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper and add sprinkles. Let stand until set. Icing will harden.  Serve with coffee!

 

A God Who Hears

This is the second Sunday in a row that I’ve had to miss out on Church and be at home with Ellie.  There has been something precious about these times though, in the quiet of the morning with a napping baby, when I’ve been able to read God’s Word without interruption and listen to sermons and write in my prayer journal.  Of course,  no morning would be complete without a little Charles Spurgeon either.  This is what I gleaned from my Sabbath rest so far this morning from the passage in Psalm 66:20 that says, “Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer.”

“What a God is He thus to hear the prayers of those who come to Him when they have pressing wants, but neglect Him when they have received a mercy;  who approach Him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address Him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few.  Let His gracious kindness in hearing such prayers touch our hearts,  so that we may henceforth be found to ‘pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kids of prayers and requests.’”

Charles Spurgeon

 

Fun With Fabric

I finally completed my matching appliqué outfits for the girls and they turned out so cute thanks to the Quilt Shop On The Corner and their adorable line of fabric! The girl’s love their “new”(made from clothes they already had) lollipop outfits, if only they tasted as good as they looked.

 

7 Months

Ellie has finally entered the world of tasting new foods.  So far she has had oatmeal, rice, prunes, banana’s and avacado’s and she seems to love them all.  She’s currently been enduring her 2nd cold in her small, little lifetime but still sleeps like a champ – napping in the morning and afternoon for 2-3 hours each and sleeping a solid 12 hours at night.  She rolls like crazy and has figured out how to roll over to her sisters when they are playing in order to grab their toys.  Boy is it going to be fun when she starts crawling,  look out world (and sisters for that matter!)  Oh, and we just adore her chub and rolls.  Kevin had to direct the girls away from the title Ellie was earning because of her chub – we didn’t think “fat baby” would sit well with her as a nickname when she gets older…

 

Putting Good Books Before Your Kids Pt. 2

I came across these two lists in Gladys Hunt’s great book Honey for a Child’s Heart about how to raise a non-reader and how to raise a reader.  Kevin

Ten Ways to Raise a Nonreader

1. Have the television on at all times.  Make sure you put a television set and a computer in every room.

2. Keep the place neat – no books or literary magazines in sight.

3. Never let your children see you read a book.

4. Never take your kids to the library

5. Never read stories aloud past age two.

6.  Never talk about ideas while eating meals.

7. Keep the lights down low.  Buy only forty-watt light bulbs.

8. Schedule your children for every activity you can think of so they won’t be bored.

9. Never play table games together.

10. Absolutely no reading in bed or good lamps to make it easy to do.

Ten Ways to Raise a Reader

1. Restrict television watching drastically.

2. Keep the computer under control and where it can be monitored.

3. Have books and other good reading material within easy reach, an enticement to read.

4. Let your children see you reading.

5. Read books aloud together regardless of age.

6. Talk about books together; play games together.

7. Have well-lit rooms with comfortable chairs that invite reading.

8. Balance activity schedules with reading time.  Let your kids know the library is as important as the gymnasium.

9. Encourage reading in bed with good lights to do so.

10. Visist the library often, and listen to books-on-tape when traveling.

 

Putting Good Books Before your Kids

If you know me at all (Kevin) you know that I enjoy reading.  Now I don’t just enjoy reading any books rather I enjoy reading good books.  This joy of mine has been something I want to pass down to our kids by putting good books before them.   I have already read to my 5 and 3 year old The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, one of the Boxcar Children books, and now we are working our way through The Lost Princess by George Macdonald (Thanks Dr. Boone for letting us borrow this one and introducing us to George), on top of all the other “little books” that are asked to be read almost on a daily basis.  We read a lot in our home. 

I came across this list ,by one of my favorite teachers/writers Professor Jerram Barrs of Covenant Seminary, that has been very helpful and I wanted to pass it along.  It is a rather long list so print it out and use it when you buy books for your kids or checking them out at the library or when you need a gift idea.  Tole Lege (Take up and read). 

 Uncle Joe Joe reading to the girls

Booklist for Children

Jerram Barrs, Covenant Theological Seminary

From Jerram: These are books most of which I read to our sons, and/or books I or they read as kids or as teens – with a few exceptions of more recently published books that I am discovering for myself, our sons and our grandchildren. I love to read good children’s books as some of the most creative writing and illustrating is done for children. The test of a well-written book is whether it is a pleasure to read it aloud. All children are different, and this is good – one may be ready to hear Narnia at 3, another not until 6 or 7, so don’t be bothered by this. All children like good illustrations, and all children like the rhymes, rhythms and sounds of verse. Make reading to them a habit at an early age and they will learn to love to read themselves. Many good books have filmed versions – occasionally I have noted these as a movie or TV series may be a helpful way to introduce children to a new level of literature. Books are listed as I thought of them, not in any systematic order. I have omitted many delightful books like those by Dr. Seuss with which most people are familiar. Happy reading!

C. S. Lewis:
The Chronicles of Narnia – depending on the child can be read from 3-6 and up

J. R. R. Tolkien:
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings – excellent films
The Silmarillion

Famer Giles of Ham
Roverandom – a story Tolkien made up for his own children

Meindert DeJong:
The House of Sixty Fathers
The Easter Cat
The Wheel on the School
Dirks’ Dog Bello & many other excellent books for 5 or 6 and up

Beatrix Potter:
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny
Peter Rabbit
Jemima Puddleduck & many others; don’t be surprised by death in her tales

Shel Silverstein:
Lafcadio, the Lion who Shot Back
The Giving Tree
Where the Sidewalk Ends – Poems and Drawings – & many others

Mary Norton:
The Borrowers – & series

Concordia Publishing:
The Arch Books – our favorite set of illustrated Bible Stories, many in verse

Catherine Vos:
Children’s Story Bible

Dick King Smith:
The Fox Busters – one of my favorite books
The Sheep Pig – also a movie ‘Babe’
The Mouse Butcher & several other wonderful books for 5 upwards

Lewis Carroll:
Through the Looking Glass
Alice in Wonderland
Jaberwocky & other poems – children love nonsense poetry

Julia Donaldson:
The Gruffalo – one of my grandchildren’s favorite books
The Gruffalo’s Child & other books for children 2 & up

Arnold Lobel:
Frog and Toad are Friends
Mouse Tales & many other good books for small children

Michael Bond:
A Bear Called Paddington & many others in series

Anne Holm:
I am David – this is one of the finest children’s books – also a good movie
The Hostage

Margaret Wise Brown:
The Velveteen Rabbit
Goodnight Moon
The Runaway Bunny – a great book, read by Dr. Calhoun for faculty devotion

Jan Brett:
Annie and the Wild Animals – a wonderful illustrator as well as story-teller
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Umbrella
Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury – & many others for 2 and up

Johann Wyss:
The Swiss Family Robinson – a classic & also a good movie

Captain Maryatt:
Children of the New Forest – a classic

J. M. Barrie:
Peter Pan – also a fine film

The Brothers Grimm:
Fairy Tales

Hans Christian Anderson:
Treasury of Fairy Stories

Michelle Magorian:
Goodnight Mr. Tom - one of the best books, an award winner, 8 and up

George MacDonald:
The Princess and the Curdie
The Princess and the Goblin
The Gifts of the Child Christ (2 volume set of short stories – Eerdmans)

R. D. Blackmore:
Lorna Doone

Nick Butterworth:
Percy’s Bumpy Ride – a friend from English L’Abri years ago
The Treasure Hunt – & many more, great for 2 and up

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings:
The Yearling

Thomas Hughes:
Tom Brown’s School Days

Mary Rayner:
Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady – & many more, for 2 and up

Richmal Crompton:
William – almost two dozen in boys’ series, very English and lots of fun

Barbara Euphan Todd:
Worzel Gummidge – the main character is a scarecrow

John White:
The Tower of Gerburah & other stories in his series – a believer

Roald Dahl:
Danny the Champion of the World – this is a wonderful book
George’s Marvelous Medicine
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – & many more

Rudyard Kipling:
The Jungle Book
The Second Jungle Book
Just So Stories

Ursula Leguin:
The Wizard of Earthsea
The Farthest Shore – & many others

Brian Jacques:
Mossflower
The Bellmaker
Lord Brocktree – & many more in series, wonderful books

Collections:
Tales from the Arabian Nights
The Adventures of Robin Hood – many versions incl. one by John Steinbeck
Aesop’s Fables

Tove Jansson:
Moominsummer Madness
Moominland Midwinter & others in series

Fred Gipson:
Old Yeller

Kenneth Grahame:
The Wind in the Willows

T. H. White:
The Sword in the Stone – & series, excellent
Mistress Masham’s Repose

Jonathan Swift:
Gulliver’s Travels – find an edition with good illustrations

John Bunyan:
The Pilgrim’s Progress

B. B.:
The Wizard of Boland – & several others

Charles and Mary Lamb:
Tales from Shakespeare

Anna Sewell:
Black Beauty

Enid Bagnold:
National Velvet - also a famous movie with young Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Speare:
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Bronze Bow & many more

Frances Hodgson Burnett:
The Secret Garden – also a movie – a truly wonderful book
The Lost Prince
A Little Princess

E. Nesbitt:
The Treasure Seekers
The Railway Children – good movie version
Five Children and It

R. M. Rallantyne:
The Coral Island

Ed. Sara & Stephen Corin:
Stories for under 5’s, for 5’s, for 6’s etc. up to 10’s and over

Noel Streatfield:
White Boots
Thursday’s Child
Theater Shoes - & several others

H. F. Brinsmead:
Pastures of the Blue Crane

William Horwood:
Duncton Wood – a wonderful book

Henry Treece:
The Road to Miklagard
Viking’s Dawn & many others

Rosemary Sutcliffe:
The Eagle of the Ninth
The Rider on the White Horse – & many more excellent books

Baroness Orczy:
The Scarlet Pimpernel

Lloyd Alexander:
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron – & many more in series

Owen Barfield:
The Silver Trumpet

Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island – this gave me nightmares for years as a child when read
Kidnapped
The Black Arrow

Ted Hughes:
How the Whale Became and Other Stories

Richard Adams:
Watership Down - this is an outstanding book
Shardik

Gerald Durrell:
My Family and Other Animals – an outstanding funny book & BBC TV series
The Bafut Beagles
Beasts in my Bed – & many more about his work collecting for zoos

Jean Lee Latham:
Carry on Mr. Bowditch – a true story & fine book

J. Meade Faulkner:
Moonfleet

Alan Garner:
Elidor

Katherine Patterson:
The Bridge to Terabithia

A. Rutgers van der Loeff:
Children of the Oregon Trail

Quentin Blake:
Clown
Nursery Rhyme Book – many others, wonderful illustrator

Patricia St. John:
Treasures of the Snow – also a movie
The Tanglewoods’ Secret
The Mystery of Pheasant Cottage
Star of Light
Twice Freed
Runaway – the author was a missionary & also a fine writer

A. A. Milne:
The House at Pooh Corner
When We Were Very Young
And Now We are Six – & others – fine Milne’s own version

Ian Seraillier:
The Silver Sword – an excellent book
There’s No Escape

Robert Siegal:
Alpha Centauri

Andrew Lang:
The Blue Fairy Book
The Violet Fairy Book – & Red, Green & many others in this series

Arthur Ransome:
Old Peter’s Russian Tales
Swallows and Amazons – & many others in this series

John Masefield:
The Box of Delights – made into an excellent BBC TV series
The Midnight Folk

Roger Lancelyn Green:
The Tale of Troy
Myths of the Norsemen
Tales of Ancient Egypt – & many other similar collections and adaptations

E. B. White:
The Trumpet of the Swan – this is my favorite of his books
Stuart Little
Charlotte’s Web

Henry Williamson:
Tarka the Otter

Barbara Sleigh:
Carbonel – & others

Scott O’Dell:
Island of the Blue Dolphins

Wilson Rawls:
Where the Red Fern Grows

Norman Hunter:
Count Backwerdz on the Carpet – & others

Laura Ingalls Wilder:
Little House on the Prairie – & the whole series

Madeleine L’Engle:
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

J. K. Rowling:
The Harry Potter Books – children of all ages love them

Edward Lear:
The Owl and the P—-cat – wonderul illustrated editions – & other works

Mother Goose:
Nursery Rhymes - find good illustrated editions, many available

Teenagers – many of these can be read earlier than the teens if your child loves to read

Stephen Lawhead:
Taliesin
Merlin
Arthur – & several other good books

Madeleine L’Engle:
The Young Unicorns – & several other good books

Homer:
The Odyssey – find a good illustrated edition, in poetry – for 10 and up
The Illiad

Seamus Heaney:
Beowulf – an excellent poetic translation of the Anglo-Saxon classic

Charles Kingley:
Westward Ho – & many others

Gene Stratton Porter:
The Girl of the Limberlost – one of my favorite books as a young teen
The Harvester
Freckles
Michael O’Halloran – & several other fine books, now being republished

Anne McCaffrey:
Dragonflight – & series

Jack London:
The Call of the Wild - & movie
White Fang – & others

C. S. Forrester:
Captain Hornblower – & excellent series

Paul Gallico:
The Snow Goose
The Silent Miaow
Snowflake – & many other wonderful books

Sir Walter Scott:
Ivanhoe – & many others

James Fennimore Cooper:
The Prairie
Last of the Mohicans – & several others

Charlotte Bronte:
Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte:
Wuthering Heights

Anne Bronte:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Jane Austen:
Pride and Prejudice – TV series perhaps the best film adaptation of any book
Sense and Sensibility – excellent film and TV productions
Mansfield Park – filmed versions inadequate
Emma – two good films; Kate Beckinsdale the better; also Clueless!
Northanger Abbey – TV series and film
Persuasion – excellent filmed version

Charles Dickens:
Bleak House
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
A Christmas Carol
A Tale of Two Cities -& many others

Thomas Hardy:
Under the Greenwood Tree – the only light-hearted of his novels
Tess of the D’Urbevilles – sad; others more miserable, but excellent

L. M. Montgomery:
Anne of Green Gables

Louisa May Alcott:
Little Women – & others

Mark Twain:
Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer

James Herriot:
The Lord God Made Them All – & many others in series

H. Rider Haggard:
King Solomon’s Mines
Alan Quartermain
She - & others

William Shakespeare:
Henry V – start Shakespeare with this play & the outstanding movie
Much Ado about Nothing – another great movie
Romeo and Juliet – several movies including Leonardo de Caprio
Julius Caesar
Twelfth Night – fine movie with Ben Kingsley
Hamlet – great movie with Kenneth Branagh

George Orwell:
Animal Farm
1984

A. B. Patterson:
The Man from Snowy River – Australian verse story & excellent movie

Ellis Peters:
The Brother Cadfael Mysteries – about 2 dozen excellent books, also filmed with Derek Jacobi as Cadfael, a medieval Benedictine monk and sleuth – the author declared that she was converted through her character

John Donne:
Collected Poems - dean of St. Paul’s, excellent preacher and great poet

George Herbert:
Poems – a wonderful pastor and great poet

Herman Melville:
Moby Dick

Nathaniel Hawthorne:
The Scarlet Letter

Steven Crane:
The Red Badge of Courage

Edgar Allen Poe:
Tales of Mystery and Imagination

L. B. Graham:
Beyond the Summerland
Bringer of Storms – a fine series recently begun by one of our graduates!

Edgar Rice Burroughs:
The Tarzan books - well worth reading

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
Sherlock Holmes – many in the series

C. S. Lewis:
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra – excellent presentations of human glory and Satan’s temptation
That Hideous Strength – excellent science fiction series

 

Death Is Not Dying

In a previous post, I spoke of having an eternal perspective in all of life.  God has really been challenging me in this area lately.  I fight my selfishness on a daily basis, and I know you do to.  We are all desperately sinful at the very core of our beings.  Many of you probably brushed over that blog post because you are young and nothing can touch you right ?  Or maybe you are just too comfortable in the Christian bubble you find yourself in. Or, sadly so, maybe you could give a rip about Jesus because “religion” is not for you.  Pardon my sarcasm and bluntness but I urge you to watch this video of a woman, who while I write and while you read, is dying at the young age of 37 and will leave her husband and children behind.  I challenge you to re-think how you are living your life.  Friends, we must be living our lives with the full knowledge that we are dying.  None of us is guaranteed tomorrow and if you really believe that truth,  you cannot help but to be changed because of it.  Our conversations would be less jibber-jabber, our relationships less superficial,   our days filled with more simplicity and purpose, and yes, even our blogs filled with more meaningful words of the mighty God we serve and the journey we are walking with Him.  We need to take our eyes off of ourselves and onto a gracious, loving God who is ever so patient.  I really believe this is an urgent matter as I uncomfortably sit here in my pride and sinfulness.  I am so thankful for my Lord – the hound of heaven who chases after me and pursues me like no other.  My heart is humbled once again as I’ve been re-gaining perspective on life after watching Rachel speak from the sobering reality that she finds herself in.  Watch it.  You will never be the same.

 

Monday’s Menu Musings

This week’s featured recipe (also what I’m making for dinner tonight to share with some neighbors who are coming over for dinner) is homemade pizza.  My dad is a pro at making pizza because he’s got Italian in his bones and this is nowhere near dad’s recipe but I opted for quick and healthy. Dad’s always seems to take all day because the dough is hand-kneaded etc. This one is done in my bread maker. Try it, I think you will be pleasantly surprised…

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough  (makes 1 pizza)

2/3 cup water

1 tsp salt

1 T olive oil (I use coconut oil for added nutrition)

3/4 C bread flour

1 3/8 C whole wheat flour (1/8 C= 6 Tablespoons)

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning

Put on bread setting, when finished deflate dough and roll out and top with toppings

We usually sprinkle ours with diced italian tomatoes, fresh spinach, mushrooms, peppers, onions, slices of salami and lots of mozzarella, parmesan and feta or goat cheese. Bake at 400 until golden and bubbly.

 

Mother’s Day 2009