Finished "The Song of Solomon"

Very beautiful, but I wonder why it is part of the Old Testament. What is it that Christians are supposed to take?

Me? I take it that romantic love and desire are part of God's plan for us. Devotion is beautiful.

"Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." 2:3

Love satisfies us and gives us strength.

Sigh.

A simpler place

"He often went back to places he had been at earlier times in his life, just to see if the places would seem the same. In most cases, because he himself had changed, the places did not seem exactly as he remembered them, but there were exceptions. The simplest places, where there was only rock and sky, or water and rock, changed the least. When he felt disturbances in his life, as all men would, Famous Shoes tried to go back to one of the simple places, the places of rocks and sky, to steady himself and grow calm again."

"Famous Shoes suspected that the young ranger did not believe what he had just said - he was not old enough to understand the need to go back to a place where things were simple. He had no happiness in his face, the young ranger; perhaps he had never had a place where things were simple, a place he could think about when he needed to remember happiness. Perhaps the young ranger had been unlucky - he might have no good place or good time to remember."

I don't usually write much about the books we are reading as a family because I'm not taking notes but this just jumped out at me last night and I had to write about it. Just a PSA about the book though, it's not for the faint of heart or squeamish. It's one of my husbands favorite books though and he wanted to share it with us. It's a great thing he did because I think I would not have finished reading it after the first yucky parts. In fact, I asked him to skip over them but he wouldn't. But the book is great. The depth of the characters is the best. The Indians aren't all bad guys and the cowboys aren't all good guys. You love some. You hate others. And some you're just not sure about.

What do you think about the quote above? Do you have one of those places? Is it a physical place, spiritual, or just a fond memory? I had never thought of it like that before but shouldn't we all have a place in our lives that we go to to "grow calm again" when life gets hectic?

Before we moved to the desert permanently, we used to come out and camp on BLM land. There is nothing but sand, rocks, bushes, and old mines out there. The boys toted around BB guns and dug holes. I went for long walks in the morning. We'd sit and stare at the fire at night, laughing and telling stories. It was simple. I didn't realize it then, but now I do. We needed that quiet. We needed the simple space and time to re-center our focus and relax. When we came home after a few days, we were happier and more content. And we returned to that same spot many times. We still do, even though we live out here.

I hope you have one of these places! And if you don't, go make one! Even one simple, peaceful room in you house would do. A porch spot with a comfy chair and a view. A nearby park or hilltop to gaze out from. Or a special spot on the couch with the perfect story in your hand.

Finished "2 Thessalonians"

There were two verses that I want to share this time through.

"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which  you received from us." 2:7

I don't think he is talking about hiding yourself away from the world. He's speaking about people that they have told the words of Jesus and have taken it in a direction they don't believe Jesus meant it to go. The disciples were people that spoke with Jesus first hand and their words are what we need to heed as we walk in Christ. If Jesus had written a book, we would be reading that. I think they were warning us that some people were taking their words and witness and leading others in the wrong direction. Funny that just this morning, I was reading about a public speaker that seems to be doing just that. He explains the gospel without quoting it. Many people may read what he says and take that as gospel instead of the words that the disciples wrote.

"Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." 3:15

And that is what we are charged with doing when we find people doing this. He isn't an enemy. He is brother that is being deceived. We, as Christians, need to remind him of God's Word and gently direct him back to it. We all have the free will to interpret the gospels ourselves. But we don't have the authority to explain it to others that way. Read the scriptures yourself. Pray and seek guidance. Open your heart to Him personally.

A Field Trip!

This is something we haven't done in a long time, a group event! We signed up for this over a month ago. It was three hours away and $22 a person, but the lure of a boat ride and seeing sea creatures up close was pretty strong. I asked the boys about it and they said it sounded interesting. It didn't start at 8am, so I signed us up!

My intention with "field trips" is to experience something that we may not have thought about. Oceanography isn't something my sons would be pulled to unintentionally. We don't live anywhere near the ocean. I'm not a fan of the beach, really. And no one we know works with the ocean. So, when I saw this one, I jumped at it.

I belong to groups all over Southern California, so that I see invitations to all kinds of events. I was pulled to this one because, even though it was far away, it didn't have a very early start time, included all ages, and was close to things we could do afterwards and make whole day of it.

Upon arrival, I knew we had done the right thing! We were all excited to see the big port with its ships, trucks, and trains. We recently watch "On the Waterfront" and Tom said he felt like we were waiting at the dock for our work tokens!

They were fascinated with the different shops. There was a boat repair place, petroleum business, and a fishery. Tom liked the old warehouses and cranes behind them in this picture. It looks like a movie set everywhere you look!

I tried to take a "selfie" with all of us, but Jake would not cooperate! Neither of them brought a hat...we didn't think of it. I always bring mine because I'm old and fair-skinned and hate the sun. Even with my hat, sunblock and protective clothing, I still got sunburned on one part of my shoulder which hurt today!

I took this picture of Jake because he wouldn't get in our group picture. I love his freckles!

Getting ready to board the boat!

This is one of the fishing boats unloading next to us. When we got back, there was a sea lion under the ladder waiting for a hand out. He looked like that was his regular spot and even chased off another sea lion trying to horn in on the action.

 

This is Jake's excited look. Really. He has a hard time with this. People think he is angry or sad, but really he's just thinking. It takes him extra effort to put on a cheerful smile and sometimes it slips his mind. I try not to ask him too many times if he's having a good time. It bothers him. And I really try not to let his serious face put a damper on my fun. I'm excited in my way and he is excited in his.

Watching the big cranes unload the ships was the highlight of the day. We'd all like to know more about it. If I didn't feel queasy while reading on the boat, I might have been able to find more information. I decided to file it away for later though.

We all took Dramamine this time! The information for the tour asked not to bring food on the boat, but when we got there everyone else had food. And we had to go without. Then the tour last an hour and a half longer than expected. By the time we left, we were starving! That's what I get for following instructions.

Jake still had to work hard at not being sick. As long as we were up on the deck with the wind we were fine, but we paid the price with a little too much sun. 

Standing around. Watching the shore. Keeping an eye out for sea lions and dolphins.

They both grew tired of standing at the rail, but didn't want to stay below deck, so I told them to try laying down on the life preserver chests. Laying down and rocking on the water is just about the best thing ever. They had to struggle to stay awake! But they were so peaceful!

Once we got out to a good spot, the crew threw out a net on a rope and dragged it behind the boat for awhile. The captain was an awesome guy. Tom talked to him a lot about the boat.

The bummer was that the net got caught on some rocks and tore, releasing everything they were trying to pull up on board and take a look at. They didn't have a spare net but were super apologetic. They were able to pull out some plankton and krill for the kids and talk about those.

So we headed back. Not much going on in the oceanography department, but we were happy to see all the shipping stuff.

All in all, it wasn't a waste of time. We loved the boat ride! We did get to talk to a few nice people, but didn't really make any friends. We were disappointed that we didn't learn as much as we would have liked. It would have been nice if the tour included information about the shipping docks, maybe talk about the harbor history, what research this group is doing, or what kind of things live in the harbor. The whole thing was only going out, scooping up critters, and looking at them. No critters equaled no info, so there was nothing. Tom did get some information because he's a seeker. He walked around and talked to the guides and asked questions. Jake would normally follow and glean what he could, but he was busy not being sick. I was enjoying the sights of the harbor.

By the time we returned to the dock, it was almost 3pm! We were starving! The tour organizer said they were going to refund our money since we didn't get what we came for, so the boys and I spent that money on lunch at Acapulco's!
 

Tom's pictures of the bridge. Too bad you can't walk across it! I'd like to take a tour of this!

Tacos! It is Tuesday after all. The restaurant was right on the water. Peaceful, shady, and cool. If I didn't have three hours of driving ahead, I'd have had a strawberry margarita.

I have no idea where there is a big rubber duck next door to the Maritime Museum.

We NEED to come back and see the USS Iowa! I keep forgetting about it.

More bridge pictures by Tom. It's funny because we used to drive over these bridges all the time when they were little and they'd ooh and ah over it then.

And then we headed home. We left at 7:30AM and got home at 7:30PM. The traffic wasn't too bad. Since there are three of us, I can take the carpool lane almost the whole way. And thanks to some awesome engineering, the carpool lane has it's own interchanges with more awesome bridges. It's a good thing I like to drive!

Finished "1 Thessalonians"

Ahh the letters...I found a few nice gems to glean this time around.

"For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." 5:2

This verse always reminds me to continually prepare my heart for the return of Jesus. I enjoy the time I have on this earth because at any moment it could all be over.

Which brings me to, "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." 5:16-22

Finished "Boundaries" by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend

I heard about this book on the Dave Ramsey show on the radio one day and though I needed to read it, for sure. I was right! I've had it for a while now and finally got to it.

I liked it because it confirmed a lot of ideas I've had in the past. It is Christian based self-help, which I don't always enjoy, but this made sense to me. I didn't agree with all the examples or ideas, but I could see where they were coming from and find ways to adapt them to my own world view.

It goes through what boundaries look like in different relationships, how they may developed and in what stages of life, and how you can make up for a lack of development in your own life. It doesn't just tell you what boundaries should be and then leave. I gives you details and ways to help.

The best thing I found in it though is confirmation that boundaries are a good thing and that we need a loving and safe place to develop those boundaries to be healthy, functioning adults. This is something I had started when I had my first child. I felt instinctively that for him to be able successfully navigate the world, he needed a strong and safe base of operations. This book shows stages from infancy to the teen age years. And it talks about how, as an adult learning boundaries, we need to find a group or just one person that can provide that safe place to practice from. It really hit home for me.

I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't believe you may personally have boundary issues, it will help you deal with others that do. It may even make you a better partner and parent!

Board Games

It's hot. And it's the end of the month...the lull before the storm really because we have a boat load of excitement planned for September. Nowhere to go. Too hot to be outside anywhere. Don't want to spend money to drive and get to something indoors and/or cool. So I pulled out the games. I love board games and I tend to buy them and then they rarely get played. The boys have outgrown them right as they became mature enough to play the games that looked like fun to me. But they are good sports and will play one every once in a while to entertain me!

Today I pulled out "Made For Trade". It's a game kind of like monopoly, set in Revolutionary times. It was made to teach some history and economics of the time. They especially don't like games that are too teachy, like this one. But it is fun when we do play because we tend to take on the characters we choose as pawns. 

This game led us to an economics talk because we didn't think it was quite accurate, but decided it couldn't be unless we changed it a bit and we just might the next time we play. We got into to a heated debate about freedom of speech and where one person's rights end and another person's begin, looked up the Bill of Rights, and practiced some debate skills.

Then the whole thing devolved into a battle on the floor which I tried to take a video of as proof of the insanity, but failed.

This evening, Dad got off work early and we went out for dinner. Conversation there continued about rights, motorcycle engines, the Alien and Sedition Act, WWI, Japanese internment, and the legalization of recreational drugs.

It has been one of those days.