What I've been listening to

 1. One Year Bible, audio version 

I've been frustrated by the reality that my reading time and space is so limited.  When I'm sitting,  I often have a squirmy child or four squished up against my space bubble. So a goal this year is to listen. I'm listening in the New Living Translation,  which I don't prefer in terms of a precise translation, but it helps bring the passages to life in meaningful ways. It has been helpful to listen to the astonishing accounts and the scandalous sagas and the fierce family feuds and realize that humanity's insanity is not new in 2025. It is refreshing to see the threads of mercy and redemption woven in throughout the ages. May that mercy and redemption be reflected in my life,  and extended to every person I encounter.

2. War-time historical fiction 

I've actually been able to read a few books recently and am intrigued that I am currently drawn in to these books with similar themes. A Place to Hang the Moon, Over and Out, and Lines of Courage all spurred me to research various historical references. 

3. Kisses on a Postcard is a dramatized retelling of a boy and his brother who were London evacuees. I discovered this in my rabbit trail after reading A Place to Hang the Moon.  I have only listened to part 1, but plan to obtain access to the rest.

4. "How Did Indigenous Lands Become Mennonite Farms?" interview with John Ruth on the Anabaptist Perspectives series. These are things not taught in history classes but uncovered when one man traces the history of his family's property.

5. News. I have to choose my news sources carefully, to keep my emotional reactions to a minimum. What works best for me is NTD Evening News. I also listen to Joshua Philipp's Crossroads channel, where he explains current events in a way that makes sense, and generally de-escalates my emotional response to the daily drama. Although I certainly don't agree with all his premises or conclusions,  I generally appreciate his perspectives. Among the many reasons I appreciate Josh are his in-depth investigative reporting and his frequent use of the phrase, "We'll just have to see how this plays out!" He includes a daily Q&A, and has spent 5-7 minutes on my questions,  the couple times I asked them.

6. "Hello, hello! I'm Benjamin Cello!" Hey, it's a good way to get the toddler to hold still for the nebulizer treatments she was on for a few weeks!

7. Mike Winger at biblethinker.org helps me sort through practical questions from a Scripture based perspective.  

8. Noise. Toddler noise. Sibling squabbles. Hammers. Piano. Math lessons. Noise.  

9. Silence. My favorite sound. For awhile.  Then I'm ready for #8 again.

For your mental exhaustion....

Come, take a tour of my brain with me.

Here's the map:

Step on into the foyer of my mind; as you take off your shoes, we can discuss whether it is "foy-yay" or "foy-yer". We'll hang up that conversation with our coats,  and I'll observe whether you toss your shoes on the jumbled pile of miscellaneous footwear, or set them in a neat left-right pattern by the wall.

Enter the kitchen, where new ideas are cooked up hourly. We'll toss a bunch of word salad into the blender and- voila! We have us some Brainstorm Blend. Simmering on the stove is some stuff I've been stewing over- it ought to be good! We'll toss in some "sneezenings" (as our five year old says), and serve up some Deep Thoughts to chew on for awhile.  We'll lay a number of things on the chopping block; when our discussion gets out of hand, we'll just cut it out.

Now that we've ingested things that will take a bit of time to digest, we'll sneak in, quiet as a mouse, to the Book Gallery. What's outstanding about this library is that it contains only books that will be written; none that actually have been.  There's the binder of my Dad's stories that I plan to edit and print. There's a kids' book about people who live in all 50 states. There's a book with all the songs I've written and the stories behind them. There's a book titled "Through My Dirty Window." There are random papers flitting around with unfinished profound thoughts, observations, acronyms,  and lists- lots and lots of lists. The walls are plastered with crayon art, train doodles, and amateur watercolor paintings.

Although the Book Gallery is intended to be a place of blessed quietness, where one can settle in for a silent night, the halls are suddenly decked with balls and hollering. A young lass clickety-clacks past in her tap shoes,  back and forth, back and forth, up and down the halls.  Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack. A rubber bouncy ball bounds from one end of the hall to the other. Hot Wheels vroom down the racetrack. The piano drums out Charlie Brown and Snoopy from the music room. 

The music room! Come- now is the time to worship! There's actually quite an assortment of instruments. Most of them were short term enchantments of mine, but I'm pretty sure I'll pick them up again- someday when my arthritic fingers will need something to keep them agile. A violin that you can fiddle with-after we replace a couple strings. My dad's harmonica. A guitar. Another guitar. A couple recorders. A piano. A piano keyboard. A clarinet. A tambourine. A ukulele. 

After we make some joyful noise, let's step it up a bit, and visit the gym. My expertise is mental gymnastics, but there is a stationary bike for going in circles, and a treadmill on which I tread lightly. There's quite an assortment of bands and light weights. There are balance boards and a step platform. Most of these wonderful plans have come to a standstill.  I really do need to step it up a bit.

That's really only a tour of the ground level, but since the elevator doesn't quite make it to the top, that's where we'll have to end for today.  

Good Day!

In a Jam

 Once upon a day in the universe, there lived a young lady who worked very hard. Well, she wasn't so young. She may have been 40-something. 

She spent her days as a "stay at home mom" (SAHM) running hither and thither, and being made busy by innumerable responsibilities that, really, she began to wonder what exactly the "SAH" part of "SAHM" means. 

One day, this young lady was enjoying the rare luxury of a day spent MOSTLY at home, and was thoroughly enjoying the coziness of her jammies.  

There was a grocery order that needed to be picked up. "You know," said the young lady, with an air of conspiracy. "I can quick-comb my hair and go in my jammies! No one will ever even know!!"  

And she did. 

She quick-combed her hair and strapped in some children, and off they scurried to the supermarket,  where the grocery order was luxuriously loaded right into the vehicle for them.

It was working!

And no one was even going to know!

Then she called her friend with the new house, and asked if she could stop in to look.  Yes, that would work. No, the friend wouldn't care that she was in her jammies. 

So she did. The friend's mom stopped in also. No worries. 

Alrighty then. They headed for home.

Just before they got to their last turn before home, things took a bit of a turn. A pickup was stopped, flashers on. 

The lady slowed to a stop. The neighbor in the pickup came back to explain that a truck had roared by and startled the horse into the ditch. They had detached horse from buggy. The horse was out on the road, the buggy was still in the ditch. 

There was only one decently human thing to do. The young lady hopped out of her vehicle,  jammies and all, and helped the neighbor and the Amish man push his buggy along and out of the ditch. 

The End.