Hi friends!

And how are you today?

Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday America! Hope you’re out and about, enjoying the festivities of the weekend with friends and family today. It’s a bit of a different 4th for me. As I write, Jon and my older boys are airborne, on their way to Romania with a missions team. It’ll be quieter around here and I’ll be missing them. Looking forward to hearing of their adventures. So glad they have this wonderful opportunity, and the little guys and I will make the most of our 4th here. Might even light a few fireworks. That’s what Charlie says anyway. (Gulp.)

So if you’re a book lover, keep reading. Truth be told, I’ve been dying to write this Summer THLG Reading List 2015 for some time now. I love to read. There’s nothing better than a great book to take along on vacation. And if I can’t get away, a good book is vacation. There’ve been stages in life when I’ve read like a fiend. Other times, I’ve barely picked up a book in months. It’s all a matter of available time….

I’ve read all the books on the list below. Some I found on The New York Times Best Seller’s list. Others in the library. But most from friends, word of mouth.

In my book (pun intended), a good book is a real luxury.

And uninterrupted time to read? Now that’s extravagance.

This isn’t a comprehensive list, just a few favorites that came to mind.

Summer THLG Reading List 2015

• A Girl Named Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel. Haven’s a storyteller. And that’s why I love this memoir. She’s quirky and she’ll make you laugh (out loud) with tales of her unusual childhood in Moreland, Indiana. Moreland is a sleepy little town with one stop light. And a boatload of characters. (And you know I do love characters.)
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Novel by the author of The Kite Runner. Hosseini is also a storyteller and he weaves a fantastic and believable tale set to true to life events in Afghanistan’s history during the last four decades. This is a moving book, violent at times, draws you in from the beginning. I was particularly struck by the poignant relationship of two women, main characters in the book. They start out as enemies by a strange twist of fate, but realize on the journey they desperately need each to survive. What an incredible friendship.

• Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. A mother of five. Aviator. Deep thinker, writer. In 1955, forty-nine-year-old Anne spent two weeks alone in a New England coastal cottage, penning her thoughts on aging, relationships, solitude, being a woman, caring for the soul. Those thoughts morphed into this thought provoking book.

• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Jeannette is an accomplished writer and journalist, a former MSNBC news correspondent. Had the most unusual upbringing in a very poor and highly dysfunctional family. Her mother: a distracted starving artist. Her father Rex: a brilliant man, but an alcoholic out of touch with reality. Can’t hold a job, moves the family from state to state avoiding bill collectors. Draws blueprints for a glass castle he’ll build as the family estate when his latest invention takes off. But it never does. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry.
• The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken. But it’s not really Nik Ripken. That’s just a pseudonym. “Nik” traveled around the world preserving the stories of more than six hundred Christians in over sixty “closed” countries. True stories of how faith survives, let alone flourishes in places that are overcome by darkness, despair and hopelessness. These God stories will floor you, blow your mind. This is what’s happening behind the scenes, the insanity of God.

• Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Greg outlines a “systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that’s not so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter.”
• The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. Harry Bernstein recently passed away, but he penned several memoirs, his first after he turned ninety. His is an amazing story. On the eve of World War I: “In a small English mill town, Harry Bernstein’s family struggles to make ends meet. Harry’s father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harry’s mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her dreams…. Then Harry’s older sister does the unthinkable: she falls in love with a Christian boy. But they are separated by an “invisible wall” that divides Jewish families on one side of the street from Christian families on the other. When Harry unwittingly discovers the secret affair, he must choose between the morals he’s been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.”
• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Laugh out loud funny. Definitely one of the funnier memoirs I’ve read. Don’t be deceived by the cover. This book is not intended for children and has considerable language. ( Cuz that’s how it was…..)

So have you read any of these books? Throw in your two cents today. I’m always pining for a great read, and I know others are too. Take a second and give us your book recommendation today!

The post Summer THLG Reading List 2015 appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Who likes rats? Not me, not me! And I don’t exactly see your hand raised either. The only interaction I’ve had with rats is that Templeton from Charlotte’s Web. Templeton the Rat, Wilbur’s selfish barnyard buddy.

Here’s what author E.B. White says regarding Templeton, that rude, mean, selfish little rodent at the trough: “The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything.”

Rats In A Cellar by allie taylor 

Yup, no “milk of rodent kindness.” Rats are not universally loved. (Except by snakes for obvious reasons.)

Have you read the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls? If not, it’s quite a read. And if you grew up in a poor dysfunctional family, just fyi it might be a very difficult read, bring back painful memories. Today Jeannette is an accomplished writer and journalist, a former MSNBC news correspondent. But she had the most unusual upbringing in a highly dysfunctional family. Her mother: a distracted starving artist. Her father Rex: a brilliant man, but an alcoholic out of touch with reality. He doesn’t hold a job, moves the family from state to state to avoid bill collectors. Draws blueprints for a glass castle he’ll build as the family estate when his latest invention takes off. But it never does.

Back to rats. Jeannette remembers regularly seeing rats eating out of the sugar bowl on the kitchen counter growing up in West Virginia. That among other things.

Yeah, RATS.

Don’t know if you’re acquainted with C.S. Lewis, but his writings have meant a great deal to me through the years. I remember stumbling across this C.S. Lewis quote shortly after Hudson’s birth nearly five years ago, following his unexpected Down syndrome diagnosis.

“We’re not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we’re wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

I pondered that quote for weeks and weeks.

Then I was reading this week, came across the following excerpt from one of C.S. Lewis’ books where he talks about Rats In A Cellar. This meant a lot to me, thought it might to you too.

“When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed.

And the excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected: I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself. Now that may be an extenuating circumstance as regards those particular acts: they would obviously be worse if they had been deliberate and premeditated. On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth?”

(And here’s where the rats come in…)

“If there are Rats In A Cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily, they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.

Apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in the cellar of my soul. Now that cellar is out of reach of my conscious will. I can to some extent control my acts: I have not direct control over my temperament. And if (as I said before) what we are matters even more than what we do–if, indeed, what we do matters chiefly as evidence of what we are–then it follows that the change which I most need to undergo is a change that my own direct, voluntary efforts cannot bring about.

And this applies to my good actions too. How many of them were done for the right motive? How many for fear of public opinion, or a desire to show off? How many from a sort of obstinacy or sense of superiority which, in different circumstances, might equally have led to some very bad act?

But I cannot, by direct moral effort, give myself new motives. After the first few steps in the Christian life we realize that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God.”

-C.S.Lewis, Mere Christianity

Related post: Key Women

The post Rats In A Cellar appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

I recently found myself standing over the kitchen trash can, retrieving something I’d just pitched in. I felt like Jeannette Walls’ mother. Do you know Jeannette, the MSNBC news correspondent, author of The Glass Castle? Well I don’t either. But her book is quite a read. (And you might like to put it on your Christmas list.) Jeannette had very humble beginnings, including regularly seeing rats visit the sugar bowl on her kitchen counter while growing up in West Virginia. Years later, when Jeannette was on her way to an MSNBC Christmas party in New York City, she looked out her car window and spied her mother. She was doubled over in a dumpster by the curb, trash picking. (And this was not unusual.) Strangely, her mother seemed to somehow prefer (even thrive) on this lifestyle. You’ll just have to read it yourself to get the scoop.

So let me explain why I was trash picking. (I’m sure Jeannette’s mother had her reasons too!) I’d just thrown away the glass top to a cheap dollar store candle. I dropped it in the trash can, then thought hard. How could I upcycle a cheap glass candle cover? Then it hit me. I could make a DIY Photo Paperweight! So I fished it back out (washed it!) and made this DIY Photo Paperweight. It’s simple and would make a great last minute economical, personalized Christmas gift for someone special. You may already have everything you need to make it.

Materials List: 

• Photo
• Twine or ribbon (optional)
• Scissors
• Cardboard
• Felt
• Tacky glue and rubber cement
• Clear glass candle coaster or the glass top to a cheap dollar store type candle

 Use the flat glass top to a candle.(above)

 Or an inexpensive clear glass candle coaster. (Buy it in the craft store in the candle section.)

Directions:

• Wash the glass well with glass cleaner.
• Cut photo into a round and place in the circle of the coaster or glass candle top.
• I tested some drinking glasses in my cabinet ’til I found one that fit inside the center circle well. I traced the photo around the glass, cut it out and the photo fit perfectly.
• Using the same method, I cut several cardboard circles to fill in the back until it was level with the edge.
• Cut another circle just a little larger, and use rubber cement to attach felt to the back of that cardboard. Use a light color so it wouldn’t show through the edges. Then attach the slightly larger felt covered cardboard to the back of the paperweight with tacky glue.
• I wrapped the edges of my paperweight (below) with twine. You could also use ribbon. Or just leave it plain.

Voila, your own DIY Photo Paperweight!

The post DIY Photo Paperweight appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.