September 2010 Knowles Family Letter

Dear friends,

Welcome to our September 2010 letter! For those who aren't inclined to read much right now, I'll quickly summarize this letter in several brief bullet points:  

• time travel
• a student in public school
• Japanese
• a side business for Thad
• a wedding
• a baby in the house
• looking for a new church
• a valuable insight about my personal wiring

So that raised even more questions than it answered? OK, I guess you'll have to read on to find out more! It's really not that long anyway!

OK, we'll start with the time travel. Most of you know we traveled a lot in July, visiting relatives and historical/educational sites. Not everybody went to every place, but various ones of us toured Monticello (where Micah is hugging the status of Thomas Jefferson), the National Zoo (where Naomi and Ben climb on a bear statue), historic Philadelphia (where Melody seems a little uninterested in the Free Quaker Meeting House), Valley Forge, Amish country in Lancaster, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Security Agency's cryptology museum, too.  I bought matching red flag t-shirts for the everyone except the older girls to make it easier to round everyone up when we were in crowded public places.   After all of our sight seeing, we took two days to drive straight home! We left Andrew behind in Maryland for an extra few days, so he got to go to Luray Caverns, Hershey Park, and Ft. McHenry before Grandma and Grandpa brought him back to Florida when they came down here to see my grandson, Jacob. We're not quite done with the historical time travel.  We are planning a field trip to St. Augustine for tomorrow since we are studying the early American colonies in our home school. I could go on and on about all of this, but for those who are interested, here are some on-line photo albums with more commentary. Most of the photos are of the historical sites, flowers and animals, so it is pretty educational. 

• Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's estate in Charlottesville, Virginia):
• Historic Philadelphia (Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, etc.)
• Valley Forge (Revolutionary War encampment site near Philadelphia)
• The National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
• Over the River and Through the Woods, To Grandmother's House We Go!
• A Visit with Aunt Carol and Uncle Frank  

<< Andrew at Luray Caverns

Rachel, cousin Carrie, Joanna, and Lydia in Maryland

Probably the phrase from my first paragraph that most startled some of you was the "student in public school." No, that is not a typo. Lydia, who is 15, started at Lake Howell High School last week. We had planned to have her home this semester doing independent and on-line courses, but after giving it several weeks, she wanted more structure and accountability, as well as the opportunity to take "real" geometry, chemistry, art, and French classes -- all areas where I can't help her much anymore and don't have the money for private tutoring. Plus, Seminole State is less flexible with dual enrollment students than Valencia, which no longer accepts new dual enrollment students from our county. Thad mentioned the possibility of public school as an option for next year, so we just sped things up a bit and jumped in this year. The guidance counselor was more than helpful about getting her into classes with great teachers, who have, for their part, been quite accommodating with her starting the school year two weeks late. We did have to make one class adjustment, but otherwise things are going just fine so far! Since Lydia started this sophomore year with 10 credits and she's taking some AP courses, she should be graduating at the end of her junior year with some college credits. I'm really excited for her and quite confident that she will really shine in her new educational setting.  You can read more here: Making the Transition into Public High School or College   (Note: Lydia made her solo stage debut singing "Not for the Life of Me" for Lake Howell High School's Broadway Night on September 17.  Watch her astounding performance here: This Girl's Got Gusto!)  

The younger five kids are all still home with me learning American history and human anatomy along with math and English.

Rachel and Joanna have both started their new semester at Valencia College. Rachel is finishing up her associate's degree this semester and hoping to start at UCF's nursing school in the fall. She's planning to take this next spring semester off to work and travel. Before school started, Joanna spent another week in Daytona Beach with a bunch of Japanese home-stay students, which she always loves. She will graduate from high school in the spring with a bunch of college credits. She is also working part-time trying to save up for a car.

  

My husband Thad decided to join the academic action and take an accounting class at Valencia. He's already done a bunch of bookkeeping for many years, so he's starting a side business in it, which is much needed extra income for us. So if you know of any small businesses looking for someone with integrity and careful attention to detail, let me know!

Julia looked absoutely gorgeous as a bridesmaid in her friend Sarah Grace's wedding on Saturday! (See pictures here.) She's still working full-time, but her office moved so she has to drive a really long way to get there.

Mary has returned to work as a writer at Wycliffe Bible Translators after her maternity leave. Wycliffe is a family-friendly organization, so she can work from home three days a week, and bring Jacob to work the other two days if she wants. Or, if she needs to leave him home, one of us can watch him after Ryan leaves for work in the afternoon. Sometimes Joanna and/or Rachel goes over there after their Valencia classes, and sometimes Jacob comes here so the rest of us can love up on him for a few hours! So occasionally we have a baby in the house! On those days, Mary stays for dinner since Ryan is at work. We sure do love them! Jacob is adorable at 11 weeks old.

OK, so what's left of the teaser phrases from my introduction paragraph? Ah yes, looking for a new church. Transitions aren't exactly easy, but it is time to move on from the congregation we've been at for 8 years. We miss our seeing our dear friends there each Sunday, but hope to keep in touch with as many as possible! I am grateful that the pastors have always been very kind to our family and that we had a very pleasant meeting with our senior pastor last week. In the past five weeks, we have visited three different churches, all of them quite nice. I particularly enjoyed the most recent, Lake Baldwin Church, a PCA congregation where some of our friends are members.

Next, a valuable insight into the way I'm wired! My sister Barb (pictured at left with our parents and brother John and me) called me a few weeks ago with the news that she had been diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). What's more, my mother immediately replied, "Oh, you mean you didn't know that already? Virginia has it, too!" Oh my. I haven't been officially analyzed on this yet, but the symptoms sure do match up according to this very informative site: ADHD/ADD Adult Signs, Symptoms, Effects and Treatment. 

Hmmm! So that's what's been going on all these years! There are many things (such as distractibility, forgetfulness, difficulty with space organization, and time management) that I struggle with on a day to day basis, and this gives me fresh motivation to find practical solutions. An iPod Touch, an unexpected gift from someone who wanted to bless me, has been a huge Godsend in helping me stay on task with To Do list, alarms that beep when I need to do something, a calendar, and a notepad. I keep it with me all the time so I can make notes when I first think of something and then followup on it later.  I also have a Bible on it and my weekly prayer lists, too. One thing I did early on is to encourage myself by writing four lists: ways I already compensate for my ADDled brain, things I still need to work on, my personal strengths, and my personal weaknesses. You can find more information about all of this, including some of my lists, here: ADD and Me? We'll Manage!

Here are some other recent posts on my other blogs: 

Stained glass from chapel at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
• American History Unit Studies at Our House
• Weekly Grading and Lesson Planning   (a method that works with my brain wiring)
• Mothering by Faith and Grace
• "Teaching Our Children to Walk With God" by Shiela Catanzarite

Let me leave you with a few last inspirational thoughts.  When we were in Maryland, I asked my Grandma Hess, a recent widow at age 95, what her favorite hymn is.  She was a church organist for decades, so I figure she knows a whole bunch of them!  She thought for a moment, and replied, "Love Lifted Me."  I was able to immediately pull up a video of someone singing it on-line and handed her my iPod to watch and listen.  It was sort of fun seeing her with it -- such a new fangled device in old-fashioned hands!  I'm sorry I can't find the same music video, but here are the sweet lyrics:

"Love Lifted Me"

by James Rowe

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore.

Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.

    Love lifted me! (even me)
    Love lifted me! (even me)
    When nothing else could help,
    Love lifted me!

All my heart to Him I'll give, ever to Him I'll cling,

In His blessed presence live, ever His praises sing.
Love so mighty and so true merits my soul's best songs;
Faithful, loving service, too, to Him belongs.

Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves;

He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves.

He's the Master of the sea, billows His will obey;

He your Saviour wants to be -

BE SAVED TODAY!

I'd still like to give you something to listen to, so for those of you who like more vintage-contemporary Christian music, here's Phil Keaggy's 1981's adaptation of the old hymn "Rise Up O Men of God."  Keaggy has been considered one of the best guitarists in the world.  I used to listen to this when I was in college!  Even with the modern music, it's still an ageless anthem and call to action.

Rise up O men of God

Have done with lesser things

Give heart and soul and mind and strength,

To serve the King of Kings,

To serve the King of Kings.

Grace to all of you,

Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

ADD and Me? We'll Manage!

Dear friends,

My sister called me a few weeks ago with the news that she had been diagnosed with ADD  (Attention Deficit Disorder). What's more, my mother immediately replied, "Oh, you mean you didn't know that already? Virginia has it, too!" Oh my. I haven't been officially analyzed on this yet, but the symptoms sure do match up according to this very informative site: ADHD/ADD Adult Symptoms.

Hmmm! So that's what's been going on all these years! Perpetually forgetful. Generally messy. Hard to follow instructions or information that isn't written down. Difficulty with administrative details. Easily bored or distracted. Impatient with interruptions. Tending toward procrastination. Struggling with daily self-discipline. Not even noticing small things that need to be done. No wonder I drive my family nuts sometimes! Yep. That would be me.

No, it's not just laziness, though I'm sure I'm guilty of that sometimes, too. No, I'm not dumb. I graduated from college with honors. I've taught home school classes for years, and developed my own curriculum.  I've written three books and hundreds of blog posts. Like many people with ADD, I can also "hyper focus" for periods of time in an effort to tune out distractions and compensate for my quirky mental wiring. When I started to think about it, I could count dozens of ways (lots of lists -- and more) that I've already compensated for ADD (or the assorted symptoms thereof if I don't have a full blown clinical case of it).

I am amused that one of the most recent helps with this was a very unexpected gift. Even before I heard about the possible ADD, someone who loves me and wanted to bless me gave me an iPod Touch, which I never would have bought for myself since it is out of my price range. It not only has music (which I love!), but web & e-mail (when I'm within wi-fi range), clock alarms, calendar, note pads. My favorite app on it is a wonderful running To Do list that keeps tasks in date and priority order, beeps at me when I need to remember something, and is easy to edit when I don't actually get to something when originally planned. Ah, relief! What a Godsend! (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!) That has been a huge help to keeping me on track.   I take it with me wherever I go, so I can type something on the touch pad whenever I think of something I shouldn't forget!  (Update in 2021: I now have an iPhone with a camera, which means I can easily take pictures of things I want to remember for later reference. I use a lot of different apps, too. I'm about to graduate with honors from seminary, so you can see don't let ADD hold me back with learning!)

One other thing I did early on is to encourage myself by writing four lists: ways I already compensate for my ADD brain, things I still need to work on, my personal strengths, and my personal weaknesses. I've posted my "compensations" and "strengths" below, such as my creativity and sense of adventure. So I don't regard ADD with a sense of dismay or doom. It's just a difference that we need to work around.

OK, here are the lists of my compensations and strengths.  These aren't "functional lists" but they sure are uplifting ones!  I also have lists for things I need to work on, but I'll just keep those to myself for now!

Existing Compensations for Symptoms of ADD 

• reading things to remember or understand (visual learner, not auditory)
• master grocery list (organized by aisle) on computer to print each week
• chore charts for kids
• To Do list on iPod
• very detailed sermon notes
• write down names of people I meet
• address lists on computer
• e-mails and documents kept on computer for information -- able to do quick search to find what I need without needing to remember exactly where I put it!
• weekly prayer list
• vacation packing lists on computer, plus vacation organizer notebook and car bins
• detailed lesson plans for school -- unit studies plus some structured curriculum keeps things "together"
• journals and notebooks
• bins & bags for school supplies, games and puzzles
• school bins for kids' books, notebook, supplies
• teacher bin ready for morning school time
• labeled storage clothes bins
• bookcases and video shelves organized by topic
• clocks in most rooms of house
• blogs to record memories and thoughts that I might otherwise forget
• photography to help me remember
• dish cupboards have standard places for most items
• seasonal and holiday decorations in bins
• detailed outlines and even scripts for public speaking, though I also ad lib

My God-Given Personality Strengths

• creative, poetic, deep thinking
• love beauty, art, nature
• well-read, with a pretty good memory for what I read
• out-of-the-box thinking
• people say I am gifted at writing and public speaking
• soft heart: able to sympathize and empathize with others
• flexible and spontaneous
• adventurous -- like to break out of ruts
• eclectic interests: learn about a lot of different things and appreciate people who are different from me
• sociable and conversational
• value relationships over tasks
• once I really get going on an organizing task that needs doing, I get a lot of stuff done (if I'm not interrupted too much!)

OK, your turn!  Think about what challenges you face in life!  How do you handle them?  What are your strengths?  How is your personality unique, not necessarily "flawed"?  Get out your paper and pencil now.   Ready, set, go!

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
www.virginiaknowles.blogspot.com

Peach Pumpkin Muffins

Peach Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

• 5 cups flour (3 cups wheat, 2 cups white)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 Tbs cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 20 oz canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups finely chopped peaches

Instructions

• Combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil.
• In bowl, mix flour, sugar, ginger and cinnamon powder, baking soda and salt.
• Mix in in dry ingredients.
• Fold in peaches.
• Pour into a greased cake pan, pie pan, and/or muffin tin. (You can use paper liners for muffins.)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until muffins are done.

I planned to make peach muffins as part of a meal I was taking to my daughter Mary after the birth of her son Jacob.  While rummaging in my pantry cupboard for flour and sugar, I spied a large can of pumpkin I had bought on clearance a few months ago.  My mental tastebuds started imagining the flavors of peach and pumpkin together.  A quick web search confirmed that people do, indeed, make peach pumpkin muffins, so I adapted a recipe with less sugar and no topping.  They were delicious and very moist.  My version above made 12 muffins, 2 round cakes (pie pan size) and 1 loaf.  Bon appetit!

"It Became to Me a Dark Thing" (A Poem)

"It Became to Me a Dark Thing" by Virginia Knowles

It became to me a dark thing:
Words spoken over me, into me
Claiming divine light, right, might to rule.
"Go down, worm soul, go down -
You are unworthy to assume the dignity
Of one with victory crowned."
As if I had swindled treasure!
Embezzled grace and glory from celestial storehouses --
A dastardly slave, masquerading as a devoted heir.
Contrary! The enemy himself ransacked, then accused and confused this child.

Truth: Every spiritual blessing is lavished freely
From the Father's endless bounty of grace -
And these are not even His only such gifts to me!
First He paid, once for all, a royal ransom of liquid crimson
To redeem me as one who, yes, had bolted astray in wild folly with trinkets to squander
But then, once broken and defiled, repented and
Returned from far off, drawn homeward by trust in a certain goodness
Welcomed with wild glee by Him who sees down the road with forgiving eyes.
Such is the magnificent mercy of a Father's unending love
The true inheritance all along, abandoned and then reclaimed.

It became to me a dark thing:
There is a sulking shaming one who spurns my merry celebration of grace
Who daily offers back my filthy prodigal rags in place of my dazzling robes.
His grudging shadows seek to quench the light of truth.
What shall rekindle in me my Father's radiance?
Lift eyes from mud. Look up for rainbows, brilliant and glorious
Reflected by a well-washed and shining prism: saintly faith turned toward the light of truth.
Set your focus on things above, not on earthly things
Gaze on the Throne where darkness never dwells, to the King whose rule is Love
To His right side, where the Redeemer Son intercedes to purify the Beloved Bride.

"Let there be light!" Words spoken over me, into me, right and might.
A daily echo of unspoiled Eden calling forth fresh life
Revealing the delight on His face as we walk in the Garden again, restored.
Shall I ever listen, as Eve did, to the serpent's hiss of deceitful destruction?
The father of lies wraps words in figments of light to drag us downward to a certain darkness.
Yet there is One who speaks a more powerful word: Mercy triumphs over wrath.
"Let there be light!" My heart dances once more, sings the hallelujah!
So this gracious truth, this truthful grace, has silenced the foe again.
May I always trust, rest, bask, delight in my Father's life and love.
It has become to me a thing of light.
 

~*~*~

This poem may take a few readings to fully understand! I wrote it that way on purpose, to give you something to chew on for a while. My hope is that each of us will treasure who we are in Christ because of the sacrifice he made for us, and not give in to the dark lies of the accuser who wants us to strain ourselves earning the favor we already have. If you have any questions about why I wrote it, send me an e-mail and ask, but for now I would like to share with your some of the Light that inspired this poem. This is just a small sampling of Bible verses related to the ideas in my poetic verses. If you can think of more, please post them as a comment!

The story of the Prodigal Son is found in Luke 15:11-32.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death... What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:1-2; 31-39

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 1:3-4, 7-8



Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm... The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:14-15, 17


"Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Genesis 3:13 (See the whole story of the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.)

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:7-8"Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."2 Corinthians 11:14b

"The devil …is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:3-7

"I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10



"Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12


"Mercy triumphs over judgment!" James 2:13b

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9


"After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal." Revelation 4:1-6a

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1a

Jacob Eliav Tindall, My Grandson

Our first grandson, Jacob Eliav Tindall, was born this evening (Monday, June 21) at 7:28, weighing 7 lbs 1 oz.

Congratulations Mary and Ryan!

Grandma's turn to hold the little sweetie!

I am too tired to write any more tonight!

Blessings,

Virginia

Grace

Dear friends,

Grace!  We sure need it, don't we?  Unfortunately, we don't always experience it.  That can change.

The title of this video is "When You Get Tired Enough." I found it on-line after someone gave me an audio CD labeled "Grace" by the same man, John Lynch, on the same basic topic.  This one was for the students at Biola University.  John Lynch is the pastor of Open Doors Fellowship in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as an author.  I find his perspective extremely refreshing and motivational  just about now.   God's love for us is not at all based on how well we perform or how well we hide.

I highly encourage you to watch it!  (He's pretty entertaining, too!)  I'd love to hear what you think, so hit the comment button when you're done.

Grace, peace and joy to you!
Virginia Knowles
http://www.virginiaknowles.blogspot.com/

Honey Italian Potato Salad

Honey Italian Potato Salad

 Mix all of the following ingredients in a large bowl and refrigerate.  

• 10 medium potatoes, washed, cut into thirds, boiled, cut into bite size chunks and cooled
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, sliced thinly
• 1 cup chopped fresh broccoli florets (not stems)
• diced green, red, and/or orange peppers (optional)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (can be low-fat)
• 1 cup Italian dressing (can be fat-free)
• 1/4 cup honey

I made this recipe up a few weeks ago but can't find the photo I took of it, but it was yummy and the family liked it.  I just now found the e-mail I sent to myself with the ingredients that I typed in so I wouldn't forget them -- and I'm sharing with you, too!

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
http://www.virginiaknowles.blogspot.com/

Creativity AND Order (They Aren't Mutually Exclusive!)

Creativity AND Order
(They Aren't Mutually Exclusive!)
by Virginia Knowles

 

[Note: This was the feature article in the May issue of my Hope Chest e-magazine.]

 

Creativity! Orderliness! Imagination! Productivity! I've thought so much about these topics in recent months. It's going to be a challenge to channel all of the ideas buzzing and bouncing in my brain through my fingers, onto the keyboard, and out to you in cyberspace. But I'm going to try.

One thing that hugely irritates me is when people use fallacies called false dichotomies, framing situations in tight either-or constructions. In their minds, something must be EITHER this OR that, and can't be both or neither. It's all black and white, with no grays and certainly no colorful rainbows. One of the most common false dichotomies is that individual people are either creative OR orderly. In truth, we are all a mix of both, though some of us lean disproportionately in one direction or another. I'm saddened when I see an imbalance lead to personal dysfunction or family conflict. It doesn't have to be creativity versus order, as if we are pitting enemies. Creativity and order need to work together to create beauty and productivity. People who tend to be more logical and analytical can help create a useful infrastructure of life for their more creative counterparts. In return, the creative souls can enliven and envision their more technically-oriented comrades. A passion for whatever we do -- whether creative or more orderly -- can either burn and consume people, or fuel itself up on God's energy to love, light, and warm other people. In a marriage, we can see our creative or orderly personalities as an offering to serve our spouses, rather than a reason to demand that things always be done our own way. And we can see our spouse's requests to us not as threats, but as opportunities to show love.

You may have sensed by now that I am more of a creative and imaginative person rather than orderly, logical, and technical one like my husband. Yes, this sometimes drives him crazy since I tend to "fly by the seat of my pants." I do have to work at using my creativity to actually get things done around the house, reminding myself that tidying up a room or even cleaning out the refrigerator is like creating art since it brings beauty out of chaos. This morning I put this into practice by cleaning our master bedroom. It's amazing what a bit of decluttering, dusting, vacuuming, making the bed, cleaning the mirror, and rearranging nicknacks and pictures can do to make a room beautiful! I felt like an artist!

As Alice Bass writes in her book The Creative Life, "We label people creative, then grant them immunity from being like the rest of us. We put them in a special category. God does not treat his artistry with such a cavalier attitude. He takes care of the details and claims sovereignty over the outcome. What that means to your creative life is that unearthing your creativity does not grant you immunity from doing dishes. Sorry. But the good news is that your creativity includes everything in your life, not just the artistic projects on your list…. Being creative does not require you to step out of your life and into an artistic activity… If you figured out a way to potty train your resistant toddler, it wasn't artistic but it was creative."

 

Alice recommends a book called A Whack on the Side of the "Head: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger von Oech. It's an older book but I found it in our public library. (It is not written from a Christian perspective, and I don't agree with everything in it, but it's still quite useful.) Von Oech talks about soft (creative) and hard (analytical) thinkers and shows how each of us needs to use both the imaginative and practical phases of developing new ideas. For example, in the imaginative phase, we brainstorm to sprout fresh ideas. Even if some of the ideas seem silly at first, the mental leap just might take us somewhere else we need to go. In the practical phase, we evaluate, select, and plan our options so we can actually carry them out in a useful way instead of merely dreaming and dawdling.

So instead of seeing creativity as merely being "artsy" I can apply my imagination to solve problems around the house. A couple of weeks ago, my kids spotted two Little Tykes slides, a little one and a bigger one, at a neighbor's curb waiting for trash pickup. We snatched them as the garbage trucks were rumbling down the street. One of them was missing the stabilizer bar and would collapse without it. I told the kids that we needed a metal bar at just the right length and diameter. One of them remembered a piece of steel rebar in the storage room. It fit the holes, but stuck out a bit on each side so we covered the ends with a sturdy padding of plastic bags and duct tape so no one would get hurt. This is creativity in action. Then a few days ago, I needed some knobs to put on the doors of a bathroom cabinet that we had recycled from a neighbor's house. I remembered seeing some pretty porcelain knobs in a hardware bin in our storage room when I was looking for replacement parts for that Little Tykes slide. The cool thing is that a while back I spent several hours reorganizing all of our tools and hardware supplies into bins, tool boxes, tool bags, and zip-lock baggies. This made the knobs very easy to find! This is how practicality and organization served my creative decorating efforts today. You can read Organizing with Plastic Zip-Style Bags at Home and On the Go for tips on how to put your games, puzzles, school supplies, art supplies, flash cards, car supplies, pantry, first aid supplies, hardware, diaper bag, and family momentos in order!  You might also like A Place for Everything.

 

What about cooking? Everyone needs to eat, which is a practical thing, but how creative can we be at the same time? Sometimes I find the need to adapt recipes to our tastes and whatever ingredients we have on hand. 

• Whole Wheat Goodness: Pancakes, Bread in a Machine, Peanut Butter Cookies
• Baked Potato Night and Other Buffet Meals at the Knowles House
• See all of my recipes here: Recipe Box

I am not necessarily artsy all of the time (though I do like to sing, draw, and make things) but like I said, I've always got ideas buzzing and bouncing in my brain. I love to write. I can't NOT write. (Yes, I know that is a double negative, but it's the only way to say it.) These past four years, I've focused a lot of that creative energy on lesson plans for teaching an English class at our home school co-op, but I've been itching to put that back into more direct teaching of my younger five kids the way we did in our earlier years with my five adult and teen daughters. Now that we're done with co-op classes for the year, I've had a blast in the past week or so firming up plans for next year at home with my own kids. We will be doing American history through literature, writing, art, and music. Fortunately, not all of this planning has been random imagination. I'm learning to use my creativity for being orderly and productive, too. On Monday, for example, I totally reorganized our school bookcases in the dining room so that our first semester's worth of books are generally located on two shelves. I also have a Word table document on my computer listing all of these books by title, author, reading level, historical time period, and geographic setting -- as well as page numbers for individual stories and poems in larger anthologies.

 

Despite my distaste for un-creative busy work, my four younger kids (ages 4-10) all insisted that they wanted some workbooks to do over the summer. We do like the Comprehensive Curriculum workbooks that you can buy at Sam's Club for less than $8. They are at quite colorful, mind-stimulating and well-organized. The kids are going to do the entire math section as a refresher during the summer, and we'll use the most of the English section throughout the school year for language arts skills. (I am not buying any other packaged English curriculum since we are doing Charlotte Mason style copy work and oral/written narration with lots of literature and writing.) Melody loves the activities like matching and coloring shapes in hers. Micah, who is both very creative and very orderly, insisted that I tell him exactly how many pages of math he needs to do each day to finish by the start of our new school year on. I told him that he had 95 pages to finish in 28 week days (which I figured out later was incorrect!), for an average of 3.39 pages a day. He wanted to know exactly how many days he needed to do three pages, and how many days he needs to do four. So, I had to pull a little algebra out of my brain to do a simultaneous equation. See if you can follow along…  

• 95 pages in 28 days=3.3928571428571428571428571428571
• 3x+4y=95 (x=days for 3 pages, y=days for 4 pages)
• x+y=28 (total days)
• y=28-x (expressing y in terms of x)
• 3x+4(28-x)=95 (substituting the new x expression for y in the formula)
• 3x+112-4x=95 (calculating it out)
• 3x-4x=95-112 (grouping like terms: variable expressions on left, constants on right)
• x=17 (here's our answer for the number of days he needs to do 3 pages!)
• Check: 17*3 + 11*4 = 95 pages and 51+44=95 days
• So, on 17 days he will do 3 pages, and on 11 pages he will do 4 pages

Now, for extra credit, look at the original full decimal number 3.39285714285714285714285714285714 (Do you notice a repeating pattern in the decimals? You can write this as 3.39285714 with a line over the 285714 since those numbers repeat into infinity.)

 

Uh oh! Not done yet! The next day when we were driving in the van, I realized that I had miscalculated the number of weeks before school starts again. It is actually seven weeks from this Monday. [Note on June 4: I was STILL wrong on this.  It was nine weeks.  Oy!]  I tried to do the new simultaneous equation in my head, but I'm not that sharp. However, I did remember a much quicker way to do it. I knew that the new average number of pages per day was between 2 and 3. So I figured out how many pages he would do at the rate of 2 pages per day for 36 days. Then I subtracted from the total pages to find out how many were left over, which is the same number of days he would need to do an extra page. So since he had 92 pages left for 36 days, I multiplied 36*2 to get 72. Then 92 - 72 = 20. So he needs to do 3 pages per day on 20 days, and 2 pages per day on 16 days. Checking the math, 3*20 + 2*16 = 60+32 =92 pages. 20+16=36 days. Bingo! I am glad I thought of an alternate way of figuring out these numbers. Sometimes there is more than one way to solve a problem. The more you are used to brainstorming and gathering information, the more prepared you will be to find creative and orderly solutions to the situations you face, whether they are math or not.

 

What's that? You didn't know you were going to get a math lesson in an article on creativity? I guess after teaching my kids math for 20 years that I do have a little bit of technical in me after all to serve the greater good -- or at least to amuse you for a moment. None of us are completely random-creative or completely orderly-technical. What about God creating the world? He is the Ultimate Artist, as well as the Ultimate Organizer. Imagine all of the bizarre and colorful things he made to delight our senses! But he was orderly, too, creating certain things on certain days, putting animals and plants into species and families with recognizable traits, assigning Adam to name each kind. Even mathematics is full of order and beauty! Have you ever wondered at some of the marvels of the patterns of numbers? Read my little article The Mystery of Math!

 

I know this article has been sort of random and bounce-aroundy. I've actually written more about these topics in an ORDERLY (organized and edited) way! The following two blog links are from my book The Real Life Home School Mom.

 

Let Our Ordered Lives Confess the Beauty of Thy Peace…?

Motherhood Management in Your Home School

 

The two other full articles I included in the May issue were:

 

Arts & Crafts at Home

Bored? What to Do with a TV Off

There were lots of other articles linked, but you'll just have to poke around on my blogs for those!

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com
www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com
www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com
www.ContinueWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com
www.FinishWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

Blessings,


Virginia Knowles