Lisa of Longbourn

Change

lisaoflongbourn — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:23:56 +0000

One of my friends said that at camp she learned “change isn’t bad.”

I’m a completely different person since camp.

I had friends praying that I would be more outgoing and enthusiastic at camp. God answered abundantly, and I could only sit back and marvel.

But the change is going to be permanent. I’m not saying I’ll be good at volleyball, or that I’ll cut my hair. But my toenails are red. On a serious note I’m looking at changing all the major points of my life, so be warned. I’m talking to God a lot about it, and mostly my prayers sound like “I don’t know.” God knows, and He’ll clue me in on time.

Sunday I played soccer with friends from church. Tuesday I got up and ran. Confession: I predicted I would make it about two minutes. That was literal, but apparently my brother didn’t expect me to really only make it two minutes. So I’m going to get into shape. And I ate a granola bar for the first time ever. I also decided I like spaghetti.

One other thing different is that I’m on camp schedule, which besides including eating breakfast and lots of prayer and Bible reading, also means bed time is at 10:30, which is almost now. Good night.

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Camp Squares, Flag Poles, and Golf Carts

lisaoflongbourn — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:15:10 +0000

I’ve now told this story at least five times, so maybe I can write it.

At camp there is a square around a flag pole. Before each meal we gather at the square, and each team has a line. No one enters the square without permission from the square master. This is a well-guarded tradition. At no time during camp is the square to be violated. Even during free time when no square master is present, people walk around the square.

On Wednesday night, precisely one week ago, the staff fed the counselors ice cream sundaes and got us hyper on funny stories. Then they sent us out into the black night, with the square between us and our cabins. The counselors for the boys took off in one of the staff golf carts, shortening their walk.

And the counselors for the junior high girls, six of us: two from each of the teams, joined hands and stepped toward the square. And a voice behind us startled us. “What are you doing?”

It was just a counselor, left behind by the golf cart crowd. We invited him to join us, and he did, but mostly just on an observation mission. We took a step. We took happy steps. Into the middle of the square went our six-counselor team. And in the center we made a circle and played ring around the rosies.

All fall down. “Your light is on. They’ll see you. Your light is on!” The counselor escorting us silly girls observed that my lantern had indeed turned on as we fell. We were all laughing hard, and my eyes were closed, but first I turned it brighter and then got it off. And we finished the run across the square, parted with our escort, and returned to our cabin.

At which point we told stories, laughed, and formed a confidence support group. All of us had been such good campers and we were so good that few of us had ever violated the square. As penance we thought we maybe ought to return the golf cart the guys stole. Or we could return it decorated. Or…

We were blessed with a scathingly brilliant idea. We could fetch the golf cart and leave it in the square for the following morning.

After some deliberation about whether we would be allowed to be counselors ever again, and deciding who ought to drive and whether we could leave our cabin, half of us stayed with the slumbering junior high girls and the other half found the golf cart. And almost drove it into the gazebo and then the flag pole, but we didn’t. We parked it right inside the square and ducked under the cover of our cabins for the night.

It was the best adventure. We the support group of the ring around the rosies and golf carts definitely bonded, and all miss each other very much since we left camp on Saturday.

To God be all glory…

… so I don’t even feel guilty about relocating a golf cart. In case you wanted to know.

Lisa of Longbourn

After Camp

lisaoflongbourn — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:53:30 +0000

I’m home from Rocky Mountain Honors Camp. God’s work wasn’t as smashing and poetic as last year, but I am suspecting it may have more lasting impact. So I’ll write about the week later.

Meanwhile, I am dreadfully behind in my reading, and though I feel desperately the absence of my friends from camp, I think what I need more is my God. So I’m going to read the Bible and talk to Him a bit. Maybe outside. I’ll turn into a camper yet.

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Away

lisaoflongbourn — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:25:00 +0000

I will be away until July 5. Comment moderation is enabled. Any comments - you are encouraged to leave many - will appear after that.

Have a happy Independence Day in the USA.

I’ll be attending Rocky Mountain Honors Camp as a counselor again. Read my series from last year here: Lisa of Longbourn: Camp

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Refocus

lisaoflongbourn — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:21:14 +0000

“When we exited the museum, walking out into the green trees that line the banks of the Brandywine River, I noticed that the world seemed a different place. The colors appeared to be deeper and perhaps brighter than before. The random ambiguity of the branches of the trees seemed to be pointing to some hidden meaning in life. I began to realize that those few hours of intently looking at the paintings had refocused our eyes, had refreshed our vision. So I encourage you to go the web sites of artists like Makoto Fujimura and Sandra Bowden, open your eye making them available to be refocused so that you can turn and see the world around you in a fresh way. Even as great literarture [sic] teaches us to listen to the world, great art encourages us to look at the world with new eyes.” - by Michael Card

What have you seen today?

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Ramifications

lisaoflongbourn — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:21:46 +0000

Ram - n. a male sheep or goat, especially with horns.

Ram - v. the act of a ram by which he charges an object or rival ram horns-first.

Ram - v. by extension, any act of heavily-hitting something, particularly with a running start. Can be used of bumper cars or tree-trunks against a medeival gate.

Battering Ram - n. a long log or pole, sometimes headed with something sharp or toothed, used to strike blows against gates of a beleaguered city in order to destroy the gates and gain entrance.

Ramifications - n. the tremors or other consequences of a ram striking something.

Ramify - v. to create consequences like ripples in the water, various and successive

Actually, I didn’t use a dictionary for those. This amateur etymologist was reading a book today and found the word ramify, which she likes for being so visual. So imagine her disappointment when she actually looked the words up and discovered that all sources agree that Ramify and Ramifications have nothing to do with sheep. Battering rams are apparently associated with sheep, but the Online Etymology Dictionary doesn’t know why.

What the dictionaries say is that Ramify is from a Latin root meaning branch, associated with the Latin root meaning root and seen in Radish. It seems possible that Rams were named for having branches out of their heads. According to the dictionary Ramifications has nothing to do with impact as much as it does territory; it is the branching consequences of an action. Ramify would be similar. I like my description much better, but for etymology to be a science, I suppose there must be evidence.

It has been suggested that Ram, as in the sheep, is associated with a similar word for strong, impetuous, or violent. Since Ram is the shorter word, it seems more likely that the adjectives are metaphorical derivatives of the noun, describing the animal’s distinctive behavior.

Also to ponder: rampart - 1583, from M.Fr. rempart, from remparer “to fortify,” from re- “again” + emparer “fortify, take possession of,” from O.Prov. amparer, from V.L. *anteparare “prepare,” prop. “to make preparations beforehand,” from L. ante- “before” (see ante) + parare “prepare

ramp - 1) To act threateningly or violently; rage. 2) To assume a threatening stance. 3) Heraldry To stand in the rampant position. [Middle English rampen, from Old French ramper, to rear, rise up, of Germanic origin.]

rampant - adj. 1) Extending unchecked; unrestrained: a rampant growth of weeds in the neglected yard. 2) Occurring without restraint and frequently, widely, or menacingly; rife: a rampant epidemic; rampant corruption in city government.

rampage - 1715, in Scottish, probably from M.E. verb ramp “rave, rush wildly about” (c.1300), esp. of beasts rearing on their hind legs, as if climbing, from O.Fr. ramper (see ramp, also cf. rampant). The noun is first recorded 1861, from the verb.

Hebrew:

07483 ra`mah - thunder; vibration, quivering, waving, mane (of horse)

07215 ra’mah - corals

Quotes of definitions taken from Strong’s Concordance as provided by God’s Word for Windows, from Dictionary.com, and from Etymonline.com

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

One More Note on Miss Austen Regrets

lisaoflongbourn — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:03:23 +0000

My favorite part of the movie was when a friend, a married woman came up to Jane and told her that many women needed the encouragement that Jane Austen’s books offered. Their love wasn’t perfectly romantic anymore, but they could read books. (Lisa insert: maybe the books inspired the women to have a balanced view of love and marriage, or a value and lightheartedness for the friends and family and husbands and wives that they had.) The woman went on to say that God had given Jane Austen her gift for writing so that she could be such an important encouragement in the world - even if it meant that Jane couldn’t be married. That way she could still impart her gifts to the world. Jane’s life had meaning and purpose.

With all the happily ever afters we all love in Jane Austen’s novels, it is encouraging for single girls to occasionally hear a story where the girl doesn’t end up with the handsome prince, but her life was still good and worth something. Don’t worry; I know my life means something. It is just nice to hear the stories, to see an unmarried life in a romanticist-inspired light.

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Miss Austen Regrets

lisaoflongbourn — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:10:05 +0000

During Jane Austen Season on Masterpiece Theater this winter I decided to skip hassling my parents to record on the week when the biopic Miss Austen Regrets was on. If it was like any other biography, it would be very dull. If it was like the other movies, it would be very silly. If it was like Becoming Jane, it would be annoying. Unfortunately, as soon as my chances of viewing it were past, all the Austen fan sites came alive with gentle praise for the movie, and I regretted missing it.

Finally the copy of Sense and Sensibility came from the library, its featured chapter being the hour and a half long Miss Austen Regrets, a wonderful film (immodest women, if that bothers you, which it does me - no brothers allowed) about Jane Austen’s views on love and marriage, mostly centering on her advice to Fanny, her niece. It made me think. I watched it on my anniversary, actually, and at first I thought it was rather the wrong choice for that, but then it was such a message of trusting God to do with your life what He wills, even if it isn’t marriage - but retaining a high value of marriage that I am reconciled to the decision.

Not being a scholar of Jane Austen’s life, I am without criticism of the movie’s portrayal of her timeline, words, and actions. I never thought of her as being so flirtatious, but that is because I prefer, like Elizabeth Bennett, to imagine that the people I admire share my values and convictions and that their faults, which all people must be admitted to have, are never those which expose a good understanding to ridicule. I enjoyed the movie very much, especially the parts where Jane was writing Persuasion. The makers of this movie, at least, understood that story.

Cassandra’s relationship with her beloved witty sister the author is a fascination to me, and I am always willing to know more of it. One thing brought up by the movie, however, was her brothers. Jane Austen (and Cassandra, of course) had six brothers who played important roles in their lives. Yet the only book Jane wrote where there was any substantial brother role was Mansfield Park, and though his character moves the story when it appears, and though he is dear and inspiring to his sister Fanny, he is really not all that central to the plot. So I wondered why Jane Austen so rarely wrote about what she knew so well: the relationship of brothers and sisters.

Do you ever wonder if Jane wrote Pride and Prejudice about herself and Cassandra - and her namesake was really the better representation? Oh, I suppose outspoken and satirical Jane could never be the quiet and tender Miss Bennett. Perhaps she really would have preferred marriage to Mr. Bingley for herself, though. I agree with Miss Austen Regrets, that Mr. Darcy would not have done for Jane Austen (just as I imagine he would not have done for me, though like all good fans, I adore him).

So now I’m back to reading the Annotated Pride and Prejudice, reveling actually in the comparative necessary openness of the written story as opposed to the famed 1995 Pride and Prejudice that got to so subtly show the change in the hero and heroine. It is so relaxing to ponder what one reads, if it is a good piece of literature. And who that has read Pride and Prejudice could argue that point?

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Between Storms

lisaoflongbourn — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:42:52 +0000

This past week has been an answer to my wishes. Too few storms had come to Colorado yet this season. I love to watch a storm out the back window, or from outside if it’s not raining (too hard). Now we’ve had storms the past four days, I think. In between storms my sisters and I took our digital cameras outside and enjoyed the eerie light. We didn’t know there would be another storm until we looked up at the clouds and saw this:

How beautiful is that?

In about a week I’ll be up at a camp near Estes Park, Colorado. The weather there is beautiful, so I’ll be sure to take good pictures and maybe video of that. You can expect lots of thoughts when I get back, too.

Even now the leaves are fluttering energetically above my window, and the sky is too dark for the hour. I love it.

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn

Marble Works

lisaoflongbourn — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:30:31 +0000

One of my favorite games, the very educational and noisy Discovery Toys Marble Works.

Built out of almost two whole sets, my sister and I constructed the tower in the video above.

Some days you have to laugh and play. Aside from magnets, Marble Works is my next favorite game, and I intend to use both in playing with my kids. Other favorite games are Monopoly, Balderdash, Clue, Mastermind, Mad Gab, Taboo, Pente, old Payday, and Dutch Blitz.

To God be all glory,

Lisa of Longbourn