Book Review: Brush of Wings

Brush of Wings
by Karen Kingsbury
New York: Howard Books, 2016

"Brush of Wings" is the third and final installment in the Angels Walking Series by New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury. The series explores the interaction between a group of angels and the humans that they are in charge of protecting and subtly influencing. The purpose of the mission is to insure that a baby who will become a great preacher is born.

This particular installment focuses primarily on Mary Catherine. She needs a heart transplant, but is determined not to waste the moments she has left waiting for a heart that might never come. Against the advice of her doctor and without telling her family or friends how serious her heart condition is, she follows a lifelong dream to go to Uganda and work in an orphanage. The one concession she has made to her physical heart is to deny her metaphorical one. She keeps Marcus, the love of her life, at a distance, telling him that "she is not the marrying kind."

Kingsbury is known for her faith-filled fiction. Her characters tend to hear God speaking to them on a regular basis, which seems unrealistic, but other than that, she tells enjoyable, uplifting stories. In this particular case, it's interesting to think about how angels might be working on our behalf.

Using Free Classes from EdX in Your Homeschool

Founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, edX is an online learning destination and MOOC provider, offering high-quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners everywhere.

Before I had my children try an edX class, I tried two of them myself. I loved the idea that I could take classes from universities I would never have the chance to attend in person. Even better, I could take them for free. I signed up for two classes offered by Harvard: Making and Meaning in the Medieval Manuscript and Book Sleuthing in the 19th Century. I enjoyed both of them. Course material included both written documents and video presentations. Book Sleuthing in the 19th Century was completely self-evaluated (all students are required to abide by an honor code) while Making and Meaning in the Medieval Manuscript offered multiple-choice tests. These classes were interesting, informative, and not overly challenging. In addition, I was able to move at my own pace.

Having had a positive experience, I asked my teenage sons if they would like to take a six-week course offered by the Smithsonian Institution: The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact on Pop Culture. I figured it would be a fun introduction to online learning for them featuring a topic they were interested in. They did find the class very interesting and learned a great deal, but the work load vastly exceeded anything I had experienced in my two classes. There were the video and written lessons, but there were also weekly assignments that took a great deal of time and effort. The assignments were then reviewed and graded by others in the class. In addition, they had to grade a few of their fellow students' work.

My older son has just started another class, this time one offered by MIT on Game Design.

At the free price point, no certificate of completion is provided. You can, however, print out the following evidence of course progress (This is my younger son's course on the Superheroes - as you can see, he had a bit of a learning curve on the first assignment, but then stepped up his game):



They also offer a verified certificate for various costs per class (most are under $100). In order to obtain such a certificate, one needs a government ID of some sort: a driver's license, government ID, or passport. For this additional cost, upon successful completion, one receives a .pdf certificate that can be printed as well as an electronic certificate that can be added to a LinkedIn Profile.

Classes are offered in almost every subject area. Some subjects are particularly suited for high school students, but they can enroll in almost any class that may interest them. Some classes are also offered for college credit (for an additional cost).

EdX classes offer a great opportunity to learn from professors from colleges and universities around the world. One can choose one's level of involvement - your student might just want to take advantage of the videos and written instruction, without doing all of the corresponding assignments. Many classes are archived so that they can be used for this purpose without any evidence of completion. Or, they may choose to obtain a verified certificate or college credit (when offered). If you are interested in including online learning in your homeschool, edX is definitely worth checking out.

Book Review: Talking to God: Prayers for Catholic Women

Talking to God: Prayers for Catholic Women
by Julie Dortch Cragon
Cincinnati: Franciscan Media, 2016

Sometimes it can be hard to find the words to pray, both in times of celebration and when we are hurting. Maybe we haven't prayed in so long, we aren't sure where to begin. As Grace Mazza Urbanski writes in the introduction to "Talking to God: Prayers for Catholic Women," "We encounter Jesus, and he encounters us, through prayer." We can't hope to have a relationship with God if we don't pray.

Julie Dortch Cragon understands how busy women are and how easy it is to let prayer fall by the wayside. But, that is why prayer is so important for us. We can't hope to serve all the people in our lives, to take care of our families, and to be productive in our work, if we don't root our lives in God. In assembling this collection of inspiring quotes and prayers, she helps make that connection with God a bit easier to pursue.

"Talking to God" offers prayers for almost every occasion, grouped by category. There are prayers to grow in faith and virtue, prayers for bodily needs, prayers for those who long to be parents and prayers for those who are parents (although there seems to have been some minor editorial difficulties in these sections with a couple of the selections in the longing category more appropriate for the parenting section). There are prayers for growing in love and prayers for one's work. There are also prayers for special family needs and prayers for time of loss and grief. The book ends with a collection of modern Marian prayers as well as time-honored traditional Catholic prayers.

One of the most useful pages of the book is "Short Prayers to Keep You Close to God." Prayer shouldn't be limited to morning and night. While those times are important and sometimes allow for a deeper connection with God, we need to connect with God throughout the day. These one-liners are easy to memorize and can be used when you need a quick moment of prayer.

"Talking to God" is a lovely book, certain to enrich your relationship with God. It would also be a great gift for the Catholic women in your life.

The Mother Letters: Sharing the Laughter, Joy, Struggles, and Hope

The Mother Letters: Sharing the Laughter, Joy, Struggles,and Hope
by Amber C. Haines and Seth Haines
Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2016

 

Are you searching for a Mother’s Day gift for a mother of young children or a touching baby shower gift? Perhaps you yourself are in need of some uplifting encouragement on your motherhood journey? If so, The Mother Letters: Sharing the Laughter, Joy, Struggles, and Hope may be the perfect book. 

Back in 2008, Amber Haines was the mother of three children under three years old. Her husband Seth wanted to create a meaningful Christmas gift for her and reached out to mom bloggers on the internet to write letters on the topic of motherhood. Seth shares, “I hoped the letters would include words of encouragement and mothering wisdom while perhaps providing Amber a toehold for the hard days. . . Over the next two months, letters poured in. Each letter represented a particular narrative, a different story.” I was one of the moms who responded to this original request. In 2012, some of the letters were compiled into an e-book and now Revell Publishing has created a gift book out of them. 

These letters are beautiful and heartbreaking. They speak of the good days and the hard days, the sleep-deprived nights, and the feeling that children grow up so quickly. There are letters from expectant mothers and mothers of grown children and everything in between. There are letters from adoptive mothers and step-mothers, those who struggled with infertility, and those who found themselves unexpectedly pregnant. Each mother shared a piece of herself. Read this book with a box of tissues close by. You will laugh and cry and share in the journey. 

While social media and the “mommy wars” can often pit us against each other – stay-at-home versus working mothers, breast versus bottle-feeding, homeschooling versus public school, free-range versus helicopter, vaccinate versus non-vaccinate, this book offers us the all-important reminders that we are all in this thing called motherhood together and that God is in charge. I was honored to be a small part of it. 

My New Garden Statue of St. Anne

This garden statue was listed on Amazon as Design Toscano Madonna's Garden Blessings Statue, which is partially true since the young girl in the image is our Blessed Mother. I have never seen a garden statue of St. Anne before, and I'm thrilled to have it in my garden as Anne is my confirmation name and she is one of my patron saints. I think it looks lovely!

Changing Minds and Hearts about Abortion

Leonard Pitts Jr. is a syndicated columnist whose columns appear in my local newspaper. I don't always (or even often) agree with him, but his columns offer reasoned arguments (as opposed to angry rants) and provide insight into how someone who sees the world differently thinks and that is always a good thing. One of the issues we disagree on is abortion. He has always been strongly pro-choice.

So, it surprised me when I saw a headline over a recent column stating, "Yes, I guess you could say I'm anti-abortion." You can read the full column on the Miami Herald website: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article60122306.html 

Here is the key excerpt:

How many baby bumps — wife, daughter, daughter-in-law — have I put my ear to or touched in awe, wondering who this new person will turn out to be and what things she will bring into life?

Baby love is not exclusive to pro-life people. Nor, for that matter, is being “pro-life.” The most ardent proponent of abortion rights favors life, after all, if only because he or she has one. So the very language of the debate creates false distance.

The iconography does, too. In recent years, abortion foes have taken to brandishing gruesome placards of dismembered fetuses to make their point. Those things never come close to persuading me. They never leave me feeling anything but angry and assaulted.

The most effective anti-abortion placard I ever saw took a different approach, a tacit appeal to shared humanity and common conscience. It said simply: “Abortion stops a beating heart.”

Boom. There you go. No need of weighty, philosophic discussions about the soul or when life begins. I wanted to reject that sign the way you reflexively reject anything that doesn’t agree with you, but I never could. 

This is where we pro-life people need to reach people. With the prevalence of ultrasounds today, everyone can see the life inside the womb. We need to appeal to the shared humanity of the people both inside and outside the womb. Most people who are pro-choice are not in favor of the mass murder of innocents (there are exceptions). Rather, these people actually believe that they are doing something good for women. They are misguided, not intentionally evil. These are the minds and hearts we can reach and change, one at a time. Abortion stops a beating heart. The painful truth speaks for itself.  

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article60122306.html#storylink=cpy

Book Review: Revolution of Mercy - How Kindness Changes Everything

Revolution of Mercy: How Kindness Changes Everything
by Bonnie Landry

In Revolution of Mercy, Bonnie Landry argues that there is a better way to parent and discipline (teach) children than through using rewards and punishments. That way is via "compassion, consolation, and tenderness."

St. Pope John Paul II wrote in "Familiaris Consortio" that the "mission of the family is to 'guard, reveal, and communicate love." Landry acknowledges that it can be easier to love and respect and affirm the life of babies, the elderly, the infirm, and pretty much anyone living outside of our house than it treat our own children with love and patience. Why is that? Because we are not responsible for how all those people turn out and those people (usually) are not trying our patience on a daily basis. Landry urges us to "remind ourselves of the dignity of our own children"  and treat them accordingly.

We get angry at our children because we do love them. "Our reactivity comes from the great chasm we see between our desire for them to become ideal adults and how few of those qualities they manifest at the age of two or seven or twelve." Working on reacting in a loving, positive manner requires daily efforts at self-control and a whole lot of prayer. We need that grace from God.

Landry emphasizes that a kinder, gentler approach does not mean condoning or permitting bad behavior, but rather shaping their character through example and a positive relationship. We need to "walk beside" our children, "to accept, ponder, and offer wisdom." When our children wrong us or others, we need to forgive them. "We do not condone the wrong, but forgive their sins in charity."

As Landry points out, she has "never, ever regretted being kind." In Revolution of Mercy, she makes some valid points. It is definitely important to focus on the relationship we have with our children before everything else. I don't know that it is possible to completely take away rewards and punishments as a parenting tool, especially with younger children, but if we focus on developing the the relationship first, we should have much less need of them. 

Revolution of Mercy is worth reading, especially if you currently have a less-than-ideal relationship with your children. It is firmly based on Catholic teaching and emphasizes the need for prayer and a vibrant sacramental life. It is focused much more on the "why" of parenting this way than in offering practical examples of how to do it. Landry does offer suggestions of other resources for that piece of the equation, but it would have been good to have examples of how one should respond in various situations. Overall, however, it offers much food for thought.