New Blog Announcement

Afternoon! I just want to let everyone know that I created a new blog at http://thesouthishome.wordpress.com/ and you can follow me there if you so desire. :)

Late Night Thoughts

It's 11pm, far too late for me to write a lucid post. But I need to get a few things out there into the world that is cyberspace.

So Kony 2012. I'm not going to explain it to you, you should do the research yourself, you'll probably understand it better that way than if I told you. I think it's great and all, what these people are doing. By all means, support them if you so desire, and certainly pray for the destruction of evil men and the freedom of innocent children.

But I was at work today. And I got to thinking(I have a lot of time to think out there in the fields). And I decided that America has it's own invisible children. Who are they? Only the 50 million unborn (and sometimes born) babies that the USofA has aborted. **

That's 50,000,000 human beings, people. Fifty million.

I read that this number of "legal" surgical abortions is equal to the population of these 17 states: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Imagine blacking out these states. Like they never existed. Like you and I never existed, basically.


"Perhaps this visual perspective helps one to grasp the number of people that are gone, dead-robbed of their God given, constitutional rights to life and liberty. How does the “most religious” nation on the planet allow such unspeakable horror?"

Horror. That's what it is, y'all. An unspeakable, gut-wrenching horror.

I'm a pretty strong person. It takes a lot to make me sick to my stomach. Watching gory movies? I can handle that. Talking about blood and guts at the supper table? No big deal. Butchering an animal? I grew up on a farm, silly. But abortion? Murdering 50 million human lives and calling it legal? Excuse me while my insides try to defy gravity.

All good writings have a conclusion that ties in everything else that was said. Well. It's simple. Kony is an evil man. He needs to be stopped. Planned Parenthood. Abortion. It's no less evil. It needs to be stopped.

But we can't simply say those words. As one meme puts it




We need to act. And I don't just mean by clicking a button. We need to be doers, not just hearers as James would say. I know he was talking about being doers of the word. But the same principle applies here. If we care deeply enough about something, we'll get out there and change it.

So what are we waiting for?


**Edit The third paragraph sounds like I've never thought about abortion before. It's always been a big deal to me, but more so just recently. This is just the first time I've ventured to share a little bit of what occupies most of my thoughts these days.

On St. Valentine's Day

True story:

"Time for lunch!" I called, as I served up the gumbo.
Elizabeth walked into the kitchen and began placing the bowls around the table.
"What are these?" she asked, holding up a box of sweetheart candies.
"Those are valentine's from mom. It's Valentines Day, you know." said Darcie.
"It's Valentine's Day??! oh boy! Happy Valentine's day!"
Elizabeth proceeded to run about hugging everyone and wishing them a happy Valentine's Day.

Someone shoulda told the poor child.



My eyes are not closed, they're just squinty-weird like that




So Happy St. Valentine's Day, everyone. If you have a special valentine in your life, do something extra special for them. If you don't have that special someone, make today special for other loved ones in your life! You never know how a hug from your little sister, a simple "Thanks for being a part of my life" from a friend, or the giving of a sweetheart candy that says "Soul mate" to your 4 yr. old adopted brother will warm your heart (and theirs!).

Today is not about you and how many roses or teddy bears you get. It's about showing your love for your friends and family. It's a day to give extra thought to how God showed His love for us, "that He sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

But most importantly, it's about chocolate! Preferably dark chocolate.

I'm kidding. Sort of.


Peanut Butter & Chocolate Kisses cookies made lovingly by mother dearest.

Promises Not Vain

Rising early, it is a dreary morning
News of another's loss, it is a darker day
Tears and heartbreak, it is all our loss
Fathers cry, hopes are dashed
Then, thoughts fly Heavenward
There, little ones are safe in love
His promises, called to mind
They will sustain

"O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be."

January's Reading List

The stacks of books in my room continue to multiply. (Next to my bed is a stack on the South and there's another stack on fruit trees. talk about multifariousness)

This is what my nightstand looked like in January
(notice my first euro in the foreground!)



I should probably put Rick Steves' Rome on the top of the stack so that I will actually start reading through it before April.

The Challenge of Jesus is good, although it takes time to digest everything N.T. Wright has to say. Small bites, people, small bites.

Passion and Purity is super good too. It's been really helpful.

And I'm still working through Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Nathan Coulter...well, you should just read my post on that book. Or if you're just too lazy, I don't mind telling you that it's one of my all time favorites. Here's a good quote. (I just like it, okay?)

"Uncle Burley didn't own any land at all. He didn't own anything to speak of; just his dogs and a couple of guns...He'd never let Grandpa or Daddy even talk to him about buying a farm. He said land was worse than a wife; it tied you down, and he didn't want to be any place he couldn't leave. He never did go anyplace much, except fishing and hunting, and sometimes to town on Saturday. But he wanted to feel that he could leave if he took the notion."

Call of Duty, by Steve Wilkins. Everyone should read this, (especially if you're a guy) but really, I benefited so much from reading this a second time.

Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King is fascinating. The more I read about what it took to build Santa Maria del Fiore, the more excited I am to see it when I go to Italy.

And lastly, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace by Michael Horton. It's amazing. ;)

The Door

There was a door
Open, inviting, reassuring
I walked toward it
Someone on the other side saw fit to close it
Now I'm left in the dark
Unsure, scared, alone
But wait
There's a light now
Hope, safety, comfort!
When it calls I will answer
Where it leads I will follow
Patience, confidence, courage
There is a door!

On Prayer

I've been thinking about prayer lately. Pastor Jim Jones preached an amazing sermon on Luke 11:5-13, the parable of the persistent neighbor and "ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

We often have misconceptions about prayer and how God answers our prayers. We think, "God will give me what I want if it is a righteous thing and I promise to be good."

Or we might say, "Since God loves me He will answer my prayer, whatever it may be."

"Give us what we want God because you love us."

Nope. Not at all.

God always answers our prayers. But He doesn't always answer them in the way we might want Him to.

I like to think of this in terms of a mother feeding a child. He may ask for cake but she gives him spinach instead. Why? Because it's better for him, it's what he needs and she has all the best for his health and growth in mind.

So it is with God. Sometimes He gives us spinach-like answers because He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. And when we're older we may come to understand that it was good for us even when we didn't like it at the time. We will be thankful that instead of giving us cake He gave us spinach.

Sometimes it's a long time before our prayers are answered. Pastor Jones compared this to a blacksmith working with iron. He must be patient and wait until the iron has gone from red hot to white hot before trying to shape it.

So God waits until our desires are white hot and pure. Until we can say, "Thy will be done" and honestly mean it. God patiently waits until He has brought us to a mature enough state to accept and handle His answer to our prayers. Just as a father does not give a .50 cal to his 7 year-old son, but waits until he is mature enough to handle it wisely and with care.

Does this mean we only pray about something once and wait for God? Not at all. We must pray, and continue praying. Be persistent like the man knocking on his neighbor's door for bread. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Continue to knock. When it is the perfect time, God will willingly, joyfully answer you. Sometimes it will be with spinach, sometimes with cake, but it will always be the best for you.

In making your requests known to God, take comfort in Luke 11:13:

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

Deep, Deep Love

The more I am aware of my sinful being, the more I stand in awe of the fact that God would desire to clothe me in righteousness.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Thy glorious rest above!

For Stonewall

Happy Birthday to Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate General and R. E. Lee's right hand man. Without him the South was doomed to failure. But as Stonewall would have said, "It was all in God's good providence."

My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me...That is the way all men should live, and then all men would be equally brave.

Remembering a Hero

Happy Birthday to one of my heros, Robert E. Lee. "They" may not recognize your day of birth, but you still live on in the South's heart!

Nathan Coulter

Yesterday I started Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry. Today...well, lets just say I haven't read a book quite so quickly in a long time. Maybe it's just because I'm obsessed with Mr. Berry's writings right now, or maybe he's just that good(which he is). I don't know. But he's been one of my favorite authors ever since I read Fidelity: Five Short Stories four or five years ago now. Anyways, here are a few of my favorite quotes from Nathan Coulter.



He left the team standing in front of the barn and came on into the yard. "Hello, boys," he said.
It didn't come out the way it usually did when he said it. It had the same sound as everything that had been said to us for the last three days, as if it were embarrassing to be around people whose mother was dead. So all we said to him was hello.

I can totally relate to the above paragraph. And I think that's one reason why I love Mr Berry's writing so much: he can articulate emotions and experiences that everyone goes through but often never know how to describe.



After awhile he handed the reins to Brother and rolled a cigarette.
"A cigarette is as much of an abomination in the sight of the Lord as a bottle of whiskey," the preacher said.
Uncle Burley lit the cigarette and smoked, looking straight down the road.
The preacher said, "If the Lord had wanted you to smoke He'd have give you a smokestack, brother."
Uncle Burley took the reins again and stopped the team. He looked at the preacher. "If He'd wanted you to ride you'd have wheels," he said. "Now get off."



We went back to the stove and talked again. You couldn't remember how the conversation started, or figure out why it should have got to where it was from the last subject you could remember.



Brother was gone, and he wouldn't be back. And things that had been so before never would be so again. We were the way we were; nothing could make us any different, and we suffered because of it. Things happened to us the way they did because we were ourselves...And there was nothing anybody could do but let it happen.



"Look at him sleep," Uncle Burley said. "He's living the good life, ain't he? When I get that old I want somebody to wake me up every once in a while just so I can go back to sleep again."



In a way the spring was like him, a part of his land; I couldn't divide the spring from the notch it had cut in the hill. Grandpa had owned his land and worked on it and taken his pride from it for so long that we knew him, and he knew himself, in the same way that we knew that spring. His life couldn't be divided from the days he'd spent at work in his fields. Daddy had told us we didn't know what the country would look like without him at work in the middle of it; and that was as true of Grandpa as it was of Daddy. We wouldn't recognize the country when he was dead.

Books From 2011

So in 2011 I started writing down all the books I read through the year. I'm sorry to see that the number only amounted to 29, but I suppose that's better than none. I really liked keeping a log of what kinds of things I was feeding my mind. It's very helpful to be able to look back and decide what I would like to read more about or less of.
I admit, there are some books that seem rather childish for a 19 year-old to have read, but hey, I was 18 last year too! :P Sometimes it's fun to be able to just breeze through a book you really don't have to think a lot about. But even in kids' books we can find deep truths about life. See my post on Beyond The Deepwoods.

So anyways. Here are the books I read in 2011. Some of these I had read before.
Let's hope I can double this number in 2012

January
Beyond the Deepwoods - Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell (2nd reading)
A Coming Evil - Vivian Vande Velde
The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
The Grim Grotto - L.S.
The Penultimate Peril - L.S.

February (this month I only read one book, but I'd *like* to think that's okay since I was caring for a great aunt and taking a couple of college classes)
The End - Lemony Snicket

March
Emma - Jane Austin
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austin
An Old-Fashioned Girl - Louisa May Alcott (2nd reading)
The Journal of Augustus Pelletier - Kathryn Lasky
A Line in the Sand - Sherry Garland

aaand then I decided that quantity doesn't always mean quality so I read fewer books a month the rest of the year but I think it's safe to say the quality improved.

April - June
Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis (2nd reading; part of a book "club" with Mom, Grace and Rachel)
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History - Frances A. Schaeffer
Chosen By God - R.C. Sproul (2nd reading; another "club" book)
Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara
The Blue Castle - Lucy Maud Montgomery (one of my most favorite books ever)

July
Beyond Stateliest Marble - Douglas Wilson (Very encouraging and insightful read. "Life is Christ, and death is more Christ. Life is beloved and death is the Beloved")
Scottish Seas - Douglas M. Jones III (2nd reading)
Huguenot Garden - Douglas M. Jones III (2nd reading)
Joyfully at Home - Jasmine Baucham

August-September
Under Enemy Colors - S. Thomas Russell
The Best Things in Life - Peter Kreeft - (2nd reading; "club" book)
The God We Love and Serve - Allen Dale Curry
Her Hand in Marriage - Douglas Wilson
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

October
Here Burns My Candle - Liz Curtis Higgs (This book was rather disappointing)
My Life For Yours - Douglas Wilson

November
The Long Walk - Slavomir Rawicz

December
Rise to Rebellion - Jeff Shaara
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace - Michael Horton
I'm still working on these two and a couple of other books

More books I was reading throughout the year (and still haven't finished)
The Art of Devine Contentment - Thomas Watson
The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith

How One Becomes A Zombie

Patrick, pretending to be a zombie, chases Lizabee around the house for a couple of minutes. Mom asks, "How do you become a zombie?"
He replies, "They dislocate your brain. Wait. Kathryn, how *do* you become a zombie?"
"Oh, they suck your brain out."
"How do they do that?"
"Through your nose."
Lizabee asks, "Oh so they do this while your sleeping?" She proceeds to make sucking noises.
Staring at Lizabee with a most serious face I reply, "They don't put you to sleep."
Wide-eyed Lizabee: "Oh."