Ignorant Historian

I think I’ve mentioned before that I am a huge proponent of adoption.  I wish I was in a place where I could adopt, but I’m not right now.  I hope God has that for me in the future, but if he doesn’t, I still want to do what I can to support adoption

When I thought of a way I can do that while providing some goodies for you all, my lovely readers, I was tickled.

One of the ladies in my church has been raising funds for her family’s adoption by selling soap.  This stuff smells so delicious, I wish I could eat it (I promise I haven’t actually tried to!).

So, what about the goodies for you?  I’m giving away two soap sets:

The purple box contains two Lavender Love hearts, and one Tahitian Vanilla Heart Salt soap, and one Oatmeal Scrub soap. Value: $14.75.

Sorry this isn’t the best picture–my camera is at work, so I had to do the best I could with my phone. This pink soap set contains one Pearberry Love heart, one Sweetheart Bar, and one Pink Grapefruit Scrub. Comes with loufa and box. Value: $12.50.

To enter to win one of these soap sets, leave a comment with the soap YOU’D most want to eat (okay, or just use!) from Bright Star Soaps. US and Canada only. Comments open until 11 PM Eastern Friday, February 4th. Make sure to leave a way for me to contact you with your comment!

You know what else’s cool? The first 10 people who buy $10 of soap from Bright Star Soaps, you’ll get an extra soap free! Don’t forget to mention I sent you, so she can give you your free soap!

“With the right lever you can move a planet.” – Dune by Frank Herbert (paraphrasing Archimedes)

“What my friends believed [against the Jews]–and believe–is an accumulation of legend, legend which comes to them no more guiltily than the cherry tree story comes to us.” – They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer, p. 142

“And we’re content with the world we know, just adjusted a little for our identities as Christians. That’s precisely why so many of us are so atrophied in our prayers, why our prayers rarely reach the level of ‘groanings too deep for words’.” – Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, p. 55

“I have learned the hard way that ‘well-educated’ doesn’t always mean ‘smart.’ ” – Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison, p. 8

“You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?”
“Yeah, and you’re the good guy.”
“At least I try.”
“As long as you’re trying to be good, you can do whatever you want.”
“And as long as you’re not trying, you can say whatever you want.”
“So between us, we can do anything. We can rule the world!” – Conversation between Wilson and House, House, “Fidelity”

“It is one thing when the culture doesn’t ‘get’ adoption and so speaks of buying a cat as ‘adopting’ a pet. But when those who follow Christ think the same way, we betray that we miss something crucial about our own salvation.” – Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, p. 19

“We’ll continue to enforce all the laws…especially the immigration laws.” – Joe Arpio, Maricopa County Sherriff

“But I didn’t want to see it, because I would then have had to think about the consequences of seeing it, what followed from seeing it, what I must do to be decent.” – Herr Hildebrandt in They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer, p. 201

“We adopted her when she was 3.  She was the perfect child–healthy, bright and beautiful.  But when Karen turned 4, we began to notice some neurological problems….we have learned that perfect is all about perception.” – Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison, p. 8

“…the same lie, at bottom, that dominated the Hitler Youth, the lie that children can educate themselves.  Children who grow up without religion cannot decide about religion for themselves; that’s a fallacy, that people can choose intelligently between what they know and what they don’t know.” – They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer, p. 214

Let’s continue the adoption theme of book reviews, shall we?  It’s what I’ve been thinking about.  Actually, the fiction book I’m reading right now (Run by Ann Patchett) talks about adoption, too.  But I didn’t know that when I picked it up.

Ever since I first heard about Adopted for Life, I wanted to read it.  Not only is it on the subject of adoption which interests me, it’s by an author I’ve respected ever since I heard him speak at my church a few years ago.  When I saw it on the Half-Price Books shelf on Monday, I immediately picked it up and bought it.

And finished it within 24 hours.

I was not disappointed.  This is the book on adoption–both  the adoption of children and the theological concept; they’re inseparable–that the Church needs.

While Moore said a couple smaller things that I disagree with, he definitely gets it.  As someone who is not currently in a place to adopt, he didn’t make me feel bad, but simply encouraged every Christian to consider what they can do to adopt or to support adoption.  He’s under no illusion that we all should adopt en masse, but he also knows we aren’t adopting as much as we should.

In some ways, adoption is one application of living the radical Christian life.  Except adoption has the further benefit of being what God has done for each and every one of us.

One thing that Moore said that I had never thought about before is that adoption is a way that we can show others that we aren’t procreating and caring for our children because of some evolutionary, biological imperative.   Adoption requires something more.

If you’re curious about the “why” behind the recent adoption push in Christian circles, have strong opinions for or against, or are simply open to a challenge, I hope you’ll pick up this book.

Yep, another non-fiction review.  It’s about all I’m reading these days.

When my intentionally-illiterate roommate was excited about finding a memoir to read, I immediately took her to our small branch library (if I didn’t think that she would have slapped me, I might have forced her shoes on her feet just to get her there before she changed her mind).  While it didn’t have any of the titles that were recommended to her (by me or any one else) on hand, she browsed the shelf, picking up several.

Another Place at the Table was the one that stuck.

It’s the story of Kathy Harrison and her family as they grow their family through adoption and foster care.  Though I still haven’t written the post on it, I’m a huge fan of adoption, so when my roommate enjoyed it, I knew I wanted to read it next.

It reads about how you expect (many heart-breaking stories of abuse balanced out with many touching moments), but it was very good.  Reminds me that being a foster parent is HARD but worth it.

There are hundreds (thousands?) of children in my area who don’t have someone to love them.  I want to do that.  While I’m not in a position right now, I’m working on getting myself there.  Sure, this means denying myself (which I’ll admit I don’t usually enjoy).  But I have a great example in my Savior for this, don’t I?

As she said, ”We could have had more time and more stuff [if we hadn't been foster parents], but I don’t believe we would have been any happier.” (p. 126)

I definitely recommend this book.

“In our quest for the extraordinary, we often overlook the importance of the ordinary, and I’m proposing that a radical lifestyle actually begins with an extraordinary commitment to ordinary practices that have marked Christians who have affected the world throughout history.” – Radical by David Platt, p. 193

“Why can’t others think and see the world the way I see it?” – Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, p. 23

“Lyman firmly believed that the best fisherman was he who caught the most fish, regardless of the bait used.” – The Most Famous Man in America: the Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate, p. 57

“And most pastors in Germany had always preached Christ crucified without seeing–who does?–that he was being crucified all around them every day.” – They Thought They Were Free, The Germans, 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer, p. 87

“When I went back into Darfur with my first reporters, the African journalists, I was asked why I was taking the risk, and I told them, not trying to be too dramatic, that I was not safe because my people were not safe–and how can you be safe if your people are not safe? And so who are your people?  Perhaps everyone is your people.  I was wondering about that.” – The Translator by Daoud Hari, p. 173

“To do its worst, evil needs to look its best.  Evil has to spend a lot on makeup.” – Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., p. 98

“And the bitterest single disappointment of Nazism–both to Simon, the insensitive bill-collector, and to Hofmeister, the sensitive policeman–was the fact that Hitler had promised that no officer would get more than 1,000 Reichsmarks per month and did not keep his promise.” – They Thought They Were Free, The Germans, 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer, p. 102

“There’s a big difference between not being a bad person and being a good one.” – Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley, p. 252

“It also bugs me when I hear about ‘Angelina’s adopted son’ or ‘Rosie’s adopted children’ — as if that word will always separate them instead of binding them together.” – A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenoweth, p. 14

“Fair enough: evil fascinates people who walk down the Tornabuoni and also those who channel surf across daytime TV.  The fastest way to kill the dramas on daytime TV would be to rewrite the scripts so that shows would begin to dwell on moral stabilities–on marital fidelity, loyal friendship, and generous cooperation in the workplace.  Nobody would watch.” – Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., p. 91

“I know now that there are rare people who will help you carry your burdens through this life.” – The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, p. 139

“[debating]…whether it was God’s will to install a woodstove to warm the meetinghouse in winter.  Surely, some argued (out of piety or stinginess it was hard to say), such an indulgence would send them down a slippery slope to decadence.” – The Most Famous Man in America: the Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate, p. 24

“I didn’t want to be treated as a girl-like-all-others, but as Anne-on-her-own-merits.” – Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

“Only women are called on to prove that they are ‘comfortable in this way.” (by taking off their clothes in front of cameras) – Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 156

” ‘What you mean is,’ I said caustically, ‘that religion is really just for idiots, weaklings, and defectives.’  ’Oh, dear,’ Jennifer grinned rather nervously at me.  ’How awful.  But yes…yes, if I’m honest, I suppose that is what I think.” – The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong, p. 114

“Just because I’m single doesn’t mean I have a forty-eight hour day.  I have the same amount of time as everyone else.” – Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley, p. 128

“…nowhere in the Establishment clause have I ever seen the words, ‘God-believing people are to be relegated beyond considered judgment.” - Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 191

“You’ve known me for two years, Sweets.  You should expect to be impressed by me.” – Bones on Bones episode “The rocker in the Rinse Cycle”

“My mathematics–until now the only firm and immutable island in my entire dislocated world–has also broken off its moorings, is also floating, whirling.” - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, p. 101

“Unfortunately, if a man does not behave like a gentleman and treat women with respect, there is very little a woman can say to change his behavior.” – Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 277

“Knowing His standards and goals for marriage helps two individuals live together for a greater common goal than their own pleasure and preferences.” – Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley, p. 94

“My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him.” – Derek Loux

“We hear so much from feminists about not being ‘objectified by men,’ but we are learning that self-objectification is not a path to lasting confidence, either.” – Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 165-166

1.  How do you eat an Oreo?

I pull it apart, and eat the cookie with the least amount of icing on it first.  Then I lick off the icing, and eat the other cookie.  And repeat, of course.

2.  What turns you off about the opposite sex?

Unteachableness.  I don’t like a guy who always thinks he’s right and has nothing to learn. (And yes, I tend to be a bit like this, which is probably why it bugs me so much.)

3.  Do you scrunch or fold your toilet paper?

Definitely fold.

4.  How many kids do you want to have?

8.  Okay, I always say that, just to see the look on the other person’s face.  Seriously though, I would like to have a large family.  That said, I DON’T plan on birthing many of those 8 (or you know, 5 or 6).  I want to adopt (possibly older children or a sibling set) and am excited to see so many families in our church getting excited about it as well.

5.  Do they bury people with their braces on?

I sure hope so.  It seems like a waste to take the time to get them off just for a little scrap medal.  Or are you thinking they’ll reuse them?  Ick!