Living in a Pandemic

It is no secret that we are in a pandemic. None of us know whether we will be unwell/have to self isolate and whether, soon, we will be able to leave our homes. Obviously, in our family, this has been a matter of a fair amount of discussion as well as making sure that the children know the official guidance and that practically, hand washing takes place often, carefully and for at least the time that it takes to sing Happy birthday twice.

One of the most important things that we want to remember is that God knows and cares about us, even at this time. We have been singing Sovereign Ruler of the Skies in our Morning Time. 

Sovereign Ruler of the skies,

Ever gracious, ever wise!

All my times are in Thy hand, 

All events at Thy command.

He that formed me in the womb,

He shall guide me to the tomb;

All my times shall ever be

Ordered by His wise decree.

Times of sickness, times of health;

Times of poverty and wealth;

Times of trial and of grief;

Times of triumph and relief:

Times the Tempter's power to prove;

Times to taste a Saviour's love:

All must come, and last, and end

As shall please my heavenly Friend.

Plagues and deaths around me fly,

Till He bids I cannot die:

Not a single shaft can hit

Till the God of love thinks fit.

O Thou gracious, wise and just,

In Thy hands my life I trust:

Thee, at all times, will I bless:

Having Thee, I all possess.

John Ryland

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Not without tears: the Life of Favell Lee Mortimer

Last Saturday, I was at a curriculum fair where I was delighted to meet Christina Eastwood. Chris is a seasoned home educator with three, now grown up, children. She produced The Mother's Companion-a set of home education resources which we have used over the years. Chris has just written a new book: Not without tears: the life of Favell Lee Mortimer. 

Favell Lee Mortimer is almost unknown but was a best selling author in her day. Her books for children explaining the Gospel in simple terms may well have sold more than Alice in Wonderland.

Favell's life was completely unknown to me before reading this book but is fascinating. Descended from a slave and with uncles in the Prince Regent's circle, she was brought up in a wealthy household where her mother was converted through the witness of a governess.

Favell, herself, came to know the Lord after a family crisis but also after her mother had decided to send her daughters into high society, despite her previous convictions that this would not be right. After her conversion, Favell made the most of opportunities to teach children and became an expert teacher. She later used these skills in her books of which Line upon Line and Peep of Day are probably most famous.

Favell had some interesting friends. She was in love with the future Cardinal Manning, although was herself a convinced evangelical, and was entertained in the home of William Carus Wilson who was the infamous clergyman in Jane Eyre.

This book benefits from the discussion of characters and motivations. Sadly, Christina Eastwood didn't have access to the original letters which, apparently, still exist so she was reliant on secondary sources. Hopefully, the letters will be released at some point as they may well make fascinating reading.

This book is a quick read. It is worth learning about this gracious lady: Whose faith follow.
Highly recommended.

Chris Eastwood is due to speak about Favell Lee Mortimer at the Learn Free Conference, in Coventry, on Saturday, 19th May.

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Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own use. The opinions are mine. I chose to write a review because I enjoyed reading this book and wanted others to know about it.

Happy Christmas

Christmas is a bitter sweet time for us. Two years ago, my Mother went to Glory on Christmas Day and this year, we are celebrating at a time when another older family member is seriously unwell in hospital. 

Thankfully, Christmas is a time when we can also celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus to give blessings which last for time and eternity.

When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Galations 4 verses 4 and 5

This lesser known  hymn explains the true significance of Christmas: the coming of the Saviour of the World and the better Sun.

The race that long in darkness pined

Have seen a glorious light:

The people dwell in day, who dwelt 

In death's surrounding night.

To hail Thy rise, Thou better Sun,

The gathering nations come,

Joyous as when the reapers bear

The harvest treasures home.

To us a Child of hope is born,

To us a Son is given;

Him shall the tribes of earth obey,

And all the hosts of Heaven.

His name shall be the Prince of Peace,

For evermore adored:

The Wonderful, the Counsellor,

The great and mighty Lord.

His power increasing still shall spread;

His reign no end shall know:

Justice shall guard His throne above,

And peace abound below.

John Morison

This Christmas sermon, from last year, tells about Heaven's great announcement about the special birth. 

Wishing you all a happy Christmas and a blessed Lord's Day.

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No change Jehovah knows

Last night, at our church Bible study, we sang this hymn by Horatius Bonar who was a nineteenth century Scottish minister and hymn writer. The last two verses of this hymn really struck me.

I hear the words of love.

I gaze upon the blood,

I see the mighty sacrifice,

And I have peace with God.

'Tis everlasting peace!

Sure as Jehovah'sname,

And stable as His steadfast throne,

For evermore the same.

The clouds may go and come, 

And storms may sweep my sky-

This blood-sealed friendship changes not:

The Cross is ever nigh.

My love is oft-times low,

My joy still ebbs and flows;

But peace with Him remains the same-

No change Jehovah knows.

I change, He changes not,

The Christ can never die;

His love, not mine, the resting place,

His trust, not mine, the tie.

We change and our feelings alter but the Lord never changes. His promises are secure.

 This reminds me of the verse 

 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

1 Peter 1 v24-25

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October Inspiration

I love October: colours of autumn  with the edge of trying to grab sunshine before grayness of November. 

 Just recently, I was surprised and delighted to find Delivering Grace on a list of top 100 homeschooling blogs on the Healthy Moms Magazine.

The amount of art going on here sunk down during the summer. I have been working on increasing this with the lovely Art Lab for Kids. Now to add to this, Tinkerlab has a seven day art challenge with daily emails with arty ideas. 

Younger Daughter requested to learn Latin this year. We are using the gentle Minimus Latin, initially and found this supporting website. This has ideas which are useful for any starter in Latin or to support learning about Romans. The programme and site is designed for primary aged children.

One concern about home education is whether parents can teach every subject well. Of course, the answer is no. This article from Eclectic Homeschooling explains how we all manage this.

Recently, a great hymn writer went to be with his Lord. This link is to the congregational singing of Great is the Gospel of our Glorious Lord and also provides the words.

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Changes

Sometimes life seems to go along smoothly and at other times, there are big changes. We are going through a time of change. One child is about to go away for a year as a part of their university course and another is about to go to the sixth form after being home educated. These are events that we have anticipated but we are also going through a time when we are needing to provide more care for our older family member.

This week, there has been a hospital admission and discharge as well as a meeting to plan increased levels of care. Of course, that means more people have to come to our home to make more assessments; new kit will be delivered and we will have more care givers in our home. We are grateful that we can have support but sometimes the whole process with all the meetings and phone calls involved gets overwhelming, as well as the sadness of knowing that this is needed.

This morning, I was sitting, in a nearly two and a half hour meeting, and thinking about the neglected housework; the children who were waiting for a picnic in the park; the floor that had just had milk spilled on it and the extras that were going to need arranging. It all felt too much. There are far busier people but for me, at that moment, the burden felt heavy. Then I remembered, these verses by Annie Cousins.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, 
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase; 
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. 


His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again! 


When we have exhausted our store of endurance, 
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done, 
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.

God's grace is sufficient for me and for everyone who trusts in Him.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12v9

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South Sea Island Rescue

Over the last few weeks, I have been busy reading children's books about Oceania for the book club that I run. I'm picky and for various reasons, the first four and half books didn't make the cut. The half was a book which I gave up on as unsuitable without bothering to finish! 

Now, I have found a book which we hope to use! I'm still looking for one more, so recommendations of chapter books on Antarctica or Oceania would be great.

John G. Paton South Sea Island Rescue by Kay Walsh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

John Paton had an amazing life. His life work was as a missionary in the South Sea Islands yet he was driven off the island for which he had a special love, Tanna and his most successful work was done on another island, Aniwa. 

John Paton was a missionary, builder, defender of the South Sea Islanders against the slave trade, fund raiser, linguist and Bible translator. He encountered poverty, cannibals, earthquakes and lost his first wife and baby son soon after arriving on the island of Tanna.

In this book, Kay Walsh introduces children to Paton's life. The book is easy to read and compelling, particularly, as it starts with John being hunted for his life by some cannibals. It doesn't hesitate to document some of the appalling treatment of the Islanders by the slave traders, such as the deliberate introduction of measles. It also shows how the Gospel brought so many benefits, both spiritual and societal. People were radically changed by the Gospel.

Ideally, I would have liked a timeline and a map. Doubtless, we will make the first and look at the other in the group! I do remember reading many biographies, as a child, but only having the vaguest idea about where they were set due to the absence of a map and being too lazy to check. 

Highly recommended for children from about age eight. Do preread for very sensitive children but although the material could be disturbing it is not treated in a scary or over sensational manner.

Just a bonus, my favourite adult book about John Paton is his second wife, Margaret's book, Letters from the South Seas. Sadly, this book is out of print but if you are able to get hold of a copy, it is well worth reading.


View all my reviews

Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own use. The views are my own.

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Remembering and Rejoicing

Tomorrow, we particularly remember the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of those who trust in Him. This is the most important event in history.

 

Thomas Kelly wrote a hymn which reflects on this.

We sing the praise of Him who died,

Of Him who died upon the cross,

The sinner's hope let men deride,

For this we count the world but loss.

Inscribed upon the cross we see,

In shining letters God is love,

He bears our sins upon the tree,

He brings us mercy from above.

The Cross! It takes our guilt away,

It holds the fainting spirit up,

It cheers with hope the gloomy day,

And sweetens every bitter cup.

It makes the coward spirit brave,

And nerves the feeble arm for fight.

It takes the terror from the grave,

And gilds the bed of death with light.

The balm of life, the cure of woe,

The measure and the pledge of love,

The sinner's refuge here below,

The angel's theme in heaven above.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

John 3 verse 16

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First things First

This is the last post in the Virtual Curriculum Fair 2016. 
My previous posts are 

• Making a home of Book lovers
• Learning Multiplication Tables
• The Icing and the Cake: a Method of Studying History

This week's topic is Seeking Beauty: The arts and everything that adds beauty to our World. 

This year the Virtual Curriculum Fair is hosted by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World, Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses and Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset. 

My topic for this week is about the most important things in life which add true beauty: spiritual things. We like to start our home education day with 

• prayer
• reading from a book about the Bible
• Bible memorisation
• singing

We do read from the Bible itself at family worship and in the evenings but for this particular slot, we use a children's book about the Bible.

When the children were preschoolers, we used

• 365 Bible stories by Carine Mackenzie. We found that this book lasted less than a whole year as the children tended to want more than one story.
• the New Testament series by B. Ramsbottom. I've just linked to one but the others are on the same website. 

As they grew, to reception age, we used these plus

• titles about individual characters from Christian Focus. These are in two series: Bible Wise and Bible Time.

Once, the children were around six, we read

• Leading Little ones to God by Miriam Schooland.
• The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos.

We have used the Bible Roadtrip before and I am hoping that we can start using this again, in September.

For Bible memorisation, we use

• Trinitarian Bible Society memory work
• Memory work set the children in Sunday School. They usually have a passage to learn in the autumn.
• Verses that we decide to learn.

We sing hymns that we sing in church and particularly ones that the children may not know well but, as well, often use our church children's hymnbook. As with any hymnbook, there are some that are sung far more often so we try to have a mixture of hymns that are well known and those that are not. We use a music edition and this definitely helps with singing less known hymns. If you are unable to play even a little then it is worth trying to find a recording to use to sing along. 

It is all to easy to be diverted from the most important things in life and this certainly applies in education. Having a habit of starting the day with the Lord and His Word helps to focus my mind on the most needful things and we pray will direct the children to the Lord.

Please visit the other blogs who are taking part in this week's Virtual Curriculum Fair. Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses - Seeking Beauty Through the Arts
Yvie @ Gypsy Road -Painter Song
Sarah@ Delivering Grace - First Things First
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World - Add An Element of Beauty with Fine Arts in the Homeschool
Lisa@ Golden Grasses - What Are We Fighting For?
Annette @ A Net In Time - Art, art, and more art
Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset - The Sounds of Music
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break - Music and Other Beautiful Things

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Ebenezer

On Saturday, we went to the opening of a new building for the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS). We had a tour round the new building and then went to the thanksgiving service in the warehouse part of the building. A service in a warehouse on a wet, grey day doesn't sound inspiring but it was a most encouraging occasion with around four hundred people meeting to thank God for the provision of the building.

We heard the remarkable circumstances which had led the TBS to be able to acquire an old factory site and redevelop it into purpose built offices and warehouse space for the work of translating and distributing the Bible.

The sermon was from 1 Samuel 7 verse 12

Ebenezer...hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

I was a bit dubious about singing in a large warehouse space but actually the a capella singing was beautiful. The last psalm was the first part of 78. I was really struck by the metrical version and yes, how we want to declare God's works to succeeding generations. May this be the prayer of every Christian parent.

Attend, my people, to my law;

thereto give thou an ear;

The words that from my mouth proceed

attentively do hear.

My mouth shall speak a parable,

and sayings dark of old;

The same which we have heard and known,

and us our fathers told.

We also will them not conceal

from their posterity;

Them to the generation

to come declare will we:

The praises of the Lord our God,

and his almighty strength,

The wondrous works that he hath done,

We will show forth at length.

His testimony and his law

in Israel he did place,

And charged our fathers it to show

to their succeeding race;

That so the race which was to come

might well them learn and know;

And sons unborn, who should arise,

might to their sons them show:

That they might set their hope in God,

and suffer not to fall

His mighty works out of their mind,

but keep his precepts all.

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Caring for an elderly parent at home and Giveaway

My booklet about looking after older people at home arrived today. 

This booklet looks at the practicalities of caring for an older parent, particularly, when they come to stay with the family of one of their children. This covers

• Who is responsible?
• When Grandma moves in.
• Grandma can eat jam first, you can't: Three generational living
• Looking after yourself
• When it all gets too much

The booklet can be purchased from Pilgrims' Friends.

I have a couple of copies of this booklet to give away. If you would like a copy either for yourself or someone else, please leave a comment with why you would like a copy and your email address. I won't publish these comments so your email address will stay private. I'm not particularly into random number generators so will select two from the comments. I am happy to post abroad if necessary. 

Giveaway closes Friday 12th February 2016 at 2300 GMT.

My hope and prayer is that this booklet will be useful. 

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The Foundation

This is a hymn that I have been thinking about recently. It's authorship is a bit of mystery. The author first appeared as "K" in John Rippon's selection of hymns. According to Cliff Knight's companion to Christian Hymns, the most likely author was Robert Kean who was precentor in Rippon's congregation. Other possible candidates are said to be John Keith or someone called Kirkham. It probably doesn't really matter.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He has said,

You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;

In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;

At home, or abroad, on the land, on the sea,

"As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

"Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

"When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

"Even down to old age all My people shall prove

My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake."

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Into the New Year

Last year, I quoted from Frances Ridley Havergal's hymn with its line

God is all sufficient for the coming year.

Of course, this has been true. He has been with us, through difficulty and joy and yes, He was sufficient for the last year and will be for 2016.

Robert Robinson's verses, addressed to the Lord God, seem particularly suitable for a New Year.

 The term Ebenezer refers to a public memorial meaning Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. (1 Samuel 7 v12). Doubtless, this meaning is why the term has sometimes been used as a first name.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace,

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet.

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I'm come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Wishing you all a joyful and blessed New Year.

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