Jack of All Trades...

I debated yesterday morning whether or not to go to church. I had been very, very tired all week and through the weekend, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it through the morning service. Rumor had it that Pastor Steve tends to go a little longer after he comes back from vacation, and that would put the service at almost two hours.

I decided to go. I didn't want to miss the liturgy and the fellowship. God sustained me through the whole service, and even gave me energy for the rest of the day. The evening service was wonderful, and we were able to sit with a group of new friends and talk. Things seem to be picking up momentum. Almost every day this week is filled with one activity or another.

Obviously I've seen Duane's hack post declaring himself the greatest husband in the world.

Since I agree with everything he said, I'll just leave it up.

I just a read very good article on Chasing Hats about the AAPC/RPCUS controversy. It is a very concise explanation of what was taught at the conference. Good for someone looking for an introduction to the debacle.

You know sometimes I think I'm the luckiest woman in the world. I've got the brightest, best looking, most intelligent, witty, handsome, funny husband in the whole universe. He is so great... with his chiseled good looks, his strong masculine jaw line and his impeccable taste... wow... other men don't even deserve to stand in his shadow!

(Hey this is really Duane, hackin' Sarah's blog. Serves her right for leaving the posting window open. I don't even know her password. Wonder what she'll do when she catches this? Wonder how long it will take her to notice?)

Does anyone out there in blogdom rent server space (for a reasonable cost)? I need a handful of megs (maybe 3-4 at the most) of space to upload my Latin and Greek notes in Word format (no graphics). I'd like to have class notes available on my blog for students to be able to download, print out, etc. I also have one student who wants to try to take the class remotely, so he'll need to be able to get to the notes.

One class will start next week and the others will start in September.

Let me know if you have space or if you know someone who does.

I received an email and a semi-frantic phone call from a friend of mine last week concerning her son's Latin class. I taught him first-year Latin last year in Illinois. Her ex-husband is apparently dragging her and their son into court, and homeschooling seems to be an issue. I don't know the details, but I can guess some of them. Her ex-husband has been against her homeschooling their son (she has primary custody) for the time she has been doing it, and last year was a struggle for her.

She had to ask me what my credentials were, and that is what led me to believe homeschooling is involved. She said her ex-husband's lawyers might call me if she couldn't get the information she needed.

Let me first say that I am not at all against formal education; I hope someday to be able to finish my Bachelor's degree, if not to an intellectual end, at least for the feeling of actually finishing something I've started (the only things I can claim to date are Bailey's birth, a few scrapbooks, some soccer games, and reading Beowulf).

What I fear is that my qualifications to teach will be questioned because I am not degreed or certified or whatever the government schools call it. I hope that is not used as leverage to prove that homeschooling is detrimental to her son. If someone were to bother to ask me, I could prove easily that the material I used was at least equal to but most likely superior to any public-school Latin class for fifth graders...oh, wait a minute...public schools don't offer Latin to fifth-graders.

My mistake.

Let's assume that if government schools were to offer Latin to fifth-graders, my curriculum would still be superior. Notice I said the curriculum would be superior; I'm not claiming to be a superior teacher. I'm not on a soapbox here, I'm being honest. My students had a definite advantage. There were only four students in a class, they could ask as many questions as they wanted, I was accessible all week to answer their questions, I had fellowship with and accountability to their parents...I could go on and on.

Situations like these exacerbate (did I use that word correctly, Rick :) ? Next time I see you I'll pronounce it for you to make sure I'm saying it right, too.) my frustration and hostility toward government schools. Not only that, but having to mumble to my friend that I only have X hours in Latin and Greek really makes me wonder whether I am qualified to be teaching.

My friend asked me to pray for her and her family as her son will be questioned on Monday in court. That's a lot for a sixth-grader to go through.

Thank you all so much for your kind and peaceable comments to Duane and me. We are doing fine. I'm more tired than anything else, and Bailey goes 100 miles an hour.

I suppose most of you who read my blog read Duane's as well, so you all know the Lord visited us with His mercy and goodness yesterday.

I was awake for a long time last night thinking of what I ought to say. While we do not know the reason God numbered our baby's days in the womb, we can speculate. Speculation is not always the right avenue, but I think that with our new understanding of the covenant, speculation will, at every end, lead to comfort. Our baby was a covenant child, and the promises were as much for him in his 7th week in the womb as they are for me in my 29th year. Therefore, we have confidence that God took him to be with Him, and we will see him someday.

Our baby will not hear the Gloria Patri with a child's ears, or lift his hands in our church to sing the Doxology. He won't learn the Apostles' Creed, nor will he memorize the catechism with his older sister. He will not know salvation through the church of the present age, nor the protection of the church through the hedge that is Christ. But he has a greater salvation that we will not know for many years, and he has the witness of the church of the ages with him. Surely those blessings are greater than any we can imagine.

I am tired today, and sad, so I am giving Bailey a lot of leeway in her playfulness. I am letting her pull books off the shelf (her favorite thing to do), and I am letting her play in a big bowl of water, splashing it all over the floor and making a mess.

While I will think of the baby often, I pray that God will continue to bless us with more children.

"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Another movie line...

1) "Funny old world!" "Funny old world? Dog my cats!" "Dog my cats, indeed."

Crazy John Robbins continues his attack on godly men with his latest Trinity Review.

"Sandlin’s is the voice of the Dark Ages speaking through one who calls himself Reformed. Listen to this voice, and the Gospel and civilization will once again be suppressed by a lifeless, mindless, ruthless ecclesio-cracy determined to impose "Christian culture" on a recalcitrant world. Sandlin represents the wave of the past—the dark, bloody, millennial reign of Rome that was ended by the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Luther, Calvin, Knox, and millions of other Christians who disbelieved classical Christianity and believed Biblical Christianity."

Truly, I'm speechless. Can't this guy pick a better fight?

Rick mentioned he wanted to take a break from reading for a while and relax by watching movies. I helped him sift through our movie collection and he left with three of the most un-recommendable movies we have: Fargo, Lady Jane, and Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy.

We've gotten in trouble before by endorsing movies, so we don't do it anymore. He had to borrow them with the disclaimer that he was watching them with his own discretion. I hope he enjoys them. Lady Jane will guarantee him a good cry, and the Trilogy at least doesn't smack of Hollywood. If nothing else, it's a welcome change of pace.

I can't believe it! Matt is blogging! First Wayne, now Matt - providing further proof of our postmillenial hope.

Some movie lines for y'all...

(Rick, you CANNOT give these away!)

1) "He also said, 'I am the vine. I am the door. Was he a vine? Was he a door?'"
2) "My angel, my all, my other self. Just a few words today, and that in pencil - yours."
3) "Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability."
4) Arlene: "Love your show, Debi." Debi: "Yes, well, you're our demographic."
5) "I came across time for you, Sarah."

I'll post more if I think of them. These aren't nearly as obscure as Rick's were.

Our new assistant pastor, Rich Lusk, and his wife, Jenny, just moved into town. He preached his first official sermon this morning. It was excellent.

This evening Pastor Lusk was commenting on how it was hard to leave their friends in Austin, and I am reminded of how tough our move here has been. Even though the situation is wonderful - we're in a great church, the people here are great, we have a house and everything we need - I still feel "homesick" for the East Coast and St. Louis, too. Moving to a new place is a difficult transition, and somehow I thought pastors might be immune because they are coming into a different situation than the average church member.

We definitely need to make an effort to reach out to them - we're all feeling a bit displaced and a mite lonely. If you have people who are new to your area in your congregation, be kind and reach out to them. You don't have to become their best friends, but it is very encouraging for someone just to make contact with you and let you know they've been thinking about you.

One of the "blog-worthy" items I thought about today was when Duane and I were first talking on the phone, we somehow got to talking about Scott Joplin.

I said yes, I enjoy Scott Joplin and play a lot of his stuff on the piano, and Duane said "Scotch opera? What in the world does THAT sound like?"

I guess you had to be there. It's really funny if you've ever seen Duane in a kilt.

We had Rick over for lunch today. While we were talking, I kept making mental notes to "put that on my blog." It's interesting how much blogging changes your perspective about what is memorable and what is not. Now all the trivial things each day seem blog-worthy, and therefore worth being preserved for posterity.

Or something like that.

Providence RPC in St. Louis has been conducting an adult Sunday School class on worship. As always, Bill Hoover and Pastor Jeff have been doing a thorough, wonderful job. Unfortunately, we had to miss the last several classes since our move to Monroe.

The class notes are available here. There are many links in the notes to other worship-related articles, papers, etc. available on the internet.

Duck and Kim Schuler's review of the new Trinity Hymnal (part 1, part 2, and part 3) proved particulary educational. Check it out!

Vexing thought of the day:

When is Matt going to start a Blog? Pull some strings with him, Rick!

We sang a song at the church I visited on Sunday called "They'll know we are Christians by our love." Since it was written in 1966 and therefore necessarily is copyrigted, I'll quote the source. Needless to say, I really couldn't bring myself to sing it. At least we skipped verse three.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored:

and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
and they'll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
we will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
and together we'll spread the news that God is in our land.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
we will work with each other, we will work side by side,
and we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride:

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
and all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son,
and all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one:

(Text and music Peter Scholtes, copyright 1966 by FEL Publications)

Jon linked to an article about the Million Atheists March. The article mentions the American Atheists' "Wedding the Atheist Way". I thought I'd read it.

Funny thing...in Ms. Murray-O'Hair's attempt to completely remove God from weddings, she recommends classical music you can have played at your wedding that isn't religious.

At the top of the list with the most pieces mentioned? J.S. Bach.

I thought I'd look and see how people are finding my blog (inspired by Rick).

I get about 10 hits a day from people searching for "SPQR" on Google. My blog comes up fourth. A UK search engine has my blog first.

The second-most popular search is for "this good day" or "Fernando Ortega."

Well, Jen came down and said that the right people aren't even here to take of the...umm...problem. So, there's a good chance they won't clear the drain out.

Fumet du chat.
Fumet du chat mort.
Fumet rance du chat mort.

Umm, umm, good!

My parents have a really nice screened-in porch off the back of their house that we like to sit in when I'm here with Bailey. Bailey can be in the fresh air and we can sit in nice chairs and visit.

Yesterday my Mom and I noticed a funny smell - well, a bad smell coming from the back yard. It was quite unpleasant, and in my condition, it wasn't making me feel any better.

My sister, who is the assertive one in the bunch, called the guys with County drainage. They came out this morning and the guy said it looks like there's a dead cat down the drain. (Yeah, Rick, go ahead and say it...) They didn't want to pick it up, but my sister convinced them to try to get it out of there...maybe. I'll spare you the details, but its pretty disgusting.

Needless to say, Bailey, my mom, and I are quarantined to the basement for a little while.

What I have been suspecting has been confirmed...those 4:00 a.m. posts on Saturday morning were in fact insomnia due to a peanut in the broiler. (God has given us another little one!)

Well, the insomnia...and maybe throwing up at a Greek restaurant on Thursday...and finding myself nauseated in church on Sunday, which definitely doesn't normally happen...

We are very excited and thankful, but I am very scared as well. Bailey is so high-energy, I hope this next one is a little more laid-back or I might not be able to keep up. I hope Bailey will love the new baby very, very much. The new baby is due just a week after Bailey's birthday - on March 21st.

Please pray for all four of us.

1. Saddest movie you've seen: Lady Jane

2. Funniest movie you've seen: Grosse Pointe Blanke or Life of Brian

3. Irrational fears you had as a child: I used to lay on my side in bed at night and I thought my heartbeat that I heard in the pillow was the sound of dinosaurs climbing up the basement stairs to get me. I knew we had 13 stairs, and so when I counted more than 13 steps, I held my breath and waited for them to get to my door. I usually fell asleep before they got there. I guess they gave up on me and went back downstairs.

4. Was there a book you had as a child that you were scared to read because the pictures were scary? Where the Wild Things Are

5. If you could have one talent in the word, it would be... to be a truly accomplished musician.

6. Language I'd most like to master in my lifetime: German or Italian

7. What is your favorite city? Annapolis

8. What is your favorite memory about the city in #7? I love the look, smell, and sounds of main street and the harbor at Christmas. There is just something about the old brick streets, the houses, and the atmosphere that is so nostalgic.

9. Do you root for the favorite or the underdog? underdog

10. Left-handed people are: absolutely amazing!

11. Animal you'd most like to see on the endangered species list: spiders

12. Milk chocolate or dark chocolate? dark

13. Movie with worst casting decision: Exodus with Paul Newman as the tall, dark Ari ben Canaan.

14. Most interesting foreign accent: Does Scottish count?

15. Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, well, or just plain tartare? Medium rare

16. Have you ever had fondue? Yes, and I love it. My mom used to make it all the time for dinner. You can eat yourself sick on French bread and gruyere!

17. Something interesting you've learned listening to NPR: Chemists have no idea what really happens during the Maillard Reaction and don't know why the reaction makes the brown bits in your pan taste so good. The mechanics of why an egg, when spun on its side, will eventually turn upright and spin like a top.

18. Can you balance a redox equation?: Funny thing. I love chemistry, and I actually used to balance them for fun.

This morning we sang a beautiful metrical arrangement of Psalm 84 written by Leonard Payton. Good stuff!

I bought a 1935 Episcopal Hymnal at the Monroe Symphony Book Sale last month for a quarter! It is chock-full of good stuff. It has a bunch of plainsong chants and some great metrical chants, too. But the crown jewel was finding The Lorica. We sang it at Providence whenever there was a baptism.

If you've never heard it, you've got to find a copy of it. (The Cyber Hymnal actually has it.) St. Patrick wrote the words and the tune is a traditional Irish melody - very much a jig. Bill Hoover could really crank it out on the organ. Watching him play it was like watching an aerobic workout tape. (Those of you who play the organ know what I mean.)

I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever, by power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river, his death on cross for my salvation.
His bursting from the spiced tomb;His riding up the heav'n'ly way;
His coming at the day of doom: I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself to power of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well Done" in judgment hour; the service of the seraphim:
Confessors' faith, apostles' word, the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord, and purity of ransomed souls.

I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heav'n,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even.
The flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old undying rocks.

I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, his might to stay, his ear to hearken to my need;
The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, his shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech, His heav'nly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I just can't get the Magnificat out of my head. You know, the one written by Samuel Wesley? In its genre I think it is one of the most beautiful pieces written. I would love to chant it sometime in the harmony that is written.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
For He has regarded
the low estate of His bondservant.

For behold, from this time forth
All generations shall call me blessed,
For the Mighty One has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.

And His mercy is upon generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty handed.

He has given help to His servant Israel,
So as to remember His mercy forever;
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed.

Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be, age after age. Amen.

Well, I have three students for my first adult Greek class.

We'll be using Machen. I broke down and ordered the answer key today. I don't like to use it unless I have to, but I will probably lose confidence around Lesson XXX or so.

Speaking of Machen, I've really been helped out with pronunciations lately. I had no idea that Schilder is pronounced Skilder - silly me, I though it was Shilder. Rick set me straight AND congratulated me on the correct usage of Schilder's terms.

I have always heard Machen pronounced Maken, then Doug Wilson tells me it's Machen (the right way).

What do you do with words you have to use on the spur of the moment that you have never heard pronounced? Duane and I had a discussion one time about britches. I'd always seen it britches, he said it was breeches. Turns out they are both correct.

I guess you just rely on the kindness of more loquacious people to help you out. However, I have still never met anyone who pronounces tomato "tom-AH-to". That, I think, would be pretentious.

For all you bibliophiles out there...do you think eBooks will ever replace paper books?

Is there something about the smell of a new book that just compels you to open the book and turn the pages? What about an old book that has been on the shelf for a long time - one that smells slightly of the oil from your hands and a little dust that has gathered? I don't think it gets better than that.

I always wondered about how the other crew members on Star Trek: The Next Generation felt about the Captain being the only person allowed to have printed books aboard the Enterprise.

I just finished reading Mark Horne's paper "Is God the God of the Mature, Professing Christian Only? The Response of a Reformed Paedobaptist to Greg Welty's 'A Critical Evaluation of Paedobaptism'".

Good stuff! I was hooked from the first page. I think that is one of the first papers I've read that defends paedobaptism from a true covenantal perspective. I need to read Rich Lusk's paper, too, but I don't know if I have enough brain power left tonight. It's hard for me to read off the computer screen for long periods of time.

Can you be sad while eating an ice cream cone?

Okay, Duane. Thanks for the viola jokes. :)

I just got a call from the fellow who manages the Monroe Symphony. My friend Charles had emailed the conductor letting him know I "play" the viola. (Yeah, bring on all the viola jokes...I can take 'em!)

I played in the Belleville Philharmonic back in St. Louis, which, although its claim to fame is that it is the second-longest-continuously-running neighborhood philharmonic in the country, isn't a very professional act. The players mess around, no one really cares, the conductor picks music that is WAY too ambitious for the group. The second violins all think they're concert masters and the cellists like to gossip. There were some good players in the group, but you couldn't hear them for all the other stuff going on.

Anyway, I balk at auditions; I've never been able to audition for ANYTHING. I'm more scared of failure, I suppose, than of the actual audition. I think I watched Flashdance too many times or something. I hadn't approached the symphony because I didn't want to audition. But the manager told me I won't have to audition - they don't audition strings and they really need violists. I hope my stand partner is tone-deaf so they won't kick me out.

It would REALLY be my dream to sit high chair on a stand someday so I don't have to turn the music. I think I played one concert high chair in my life - Carmina Burana - because my stand partner couldn't reach V position so he deferred. Whatta gentleman! Boy, was it nice to not have to turn pages!

Seems I'm having a similar problem with Blogger, too. It's not publishing anything I send and I'm getting a 503 error.

I'm also having trouble reading sensus plenior posts. The entry will say 9 comments, but I can only read 4. I've cleared the temp files, I've cleared the cache, reloaded the page, and I still don't see them.

I hate computers.