What’s Going On Right Now (4/7/11)

Spring by *Muhammed*
Image by *Muhammed*

This week Tim Challies’ new book on Christians and technology came out. I’m more than halfway through already (on my Kindle!) and highly recommend it, especially to those who are either overly suspicious or overly trusting of new methods and gadgets.
He also wrote a great post reminding us why Christians should read in the mainstream.

Wendy Alsup writes a very encouraging post on the Desiring God blog for when the Proverbs 31 woman seems hopelessly out of reach.

~ ~ ~

Very much in the line of a link I posted a while back, Gene Veith shared this post on why we need Jane Austen.

I feel like everyone should know how to pack a suitcase, but I get “How do you DO that?!” often enough that it’s worth linking up: How to pack your suitcase as efficiently as a flight attendant. There is no reason you can’t pack 7-10 days’ worth of clothes in a carry-on bag.

~ ~ ~

Don’t forget: this weekend is Spring Fever in the Garden in downtown Winter Garden, FL. These pictures should encourage you to go! (Plus, 4 Rivers just opened a second–larger– location in Winter Garden.)

Weekly Devotional: We Come O Christ to You

Church by lifecreations
Image by lifecreations

What a great hymn!

We come, O Christ to you, true Son of God and man,
By whom all things consist, in whom all life began:
In you alone we live and move, and have our being in your love.

You are the Way to God, your blood our ransom paid;
In you we face our Judge and Maker unafraid.
Before the throne absolved we stand, your love has met your law’s demand.

You are the living Truth! All wisdom dwells in you,
the Source of every skill, the one eternal TRUE!
O great I AM! In you we rest, sure answer to our every quest.

You only are true Life, to know you is to live
The more abundant life that earth can never give:
O risen Lord! We live in you: in us each day your life renew!

We worship you, Lord Christ, our Savior and our King,
To you our youth and strength adoringly we bring:
So fill our hearts, that all may view your life in us, and turn to you.

You can find the music online here, or in that dusty hymnal that’s somewhere near your piano… 🙂

Sisters’ Sleepover

The girls won’t let me take pictures of them today because they “look gross”. Yeah, right. 😛

Hope Fowler

HannahJoy Fowler

We had fettucine Alfredo for dinner by special request (picture taken with my iPhone)

Sarah Fowler - Instagram Fettucine Alfredo

We made rings (this is just a sampling!)…

Hope Fowler bead ring
Hope's
Sarah Fowler bead ring
Mine
HannahJoy Fowler bead ring
HannahJoy's

and had Snickerdoodle Muffins for breakfast this morning…

Sarah Fowler - Snickerdoodle MuffinsSarah Fowler - Snickerdoodle Muffin

This afternoon my grandparents are coming over for a visit and dinner!

Books I Read This Month (March 2011)

Books by shutterhacks
Image by shutterhacks

I read more than I thought I would in March. I hope I’m able to keep that trend continuing because I currently have about ten books out from the library, waiting expectantly on my coffee table. Looking forward to diving into the next batch! Again I remind you that I post all these to GoodReads, so get yourself an account and let’s be friends over there!

Seth Godin’s new book (and an awesome success in his new publishing model), Poke the Box.

A biography of Emily Post (Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners) that was more of a fascinating portrait of  her age (she lived from 1871-1960… she saw Reconstruction and Sputnik!) than her own life.

I re-read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the LOST book club. I meant to get to the other Chronicles of Narnia too, but I’ll just have to do the remainder this month! (By the way, have you heard they’re making a movie of The Magician’s Nephew next?)

Home to Holly Springs, which technically I should have read before I read the second Father Tim novel… not that it matters that much. 😛

Having been recommended by pretty much everyone whose opinion I respect, I finally read The Five Love Languages Singles Edition. I think I already knew most of it since people refer to it so much, but there was definitely some new content I hadn’t internalized.

Live Alone and Like It: The Classic Guide for the Single Woman, a reprinting from 1939 that’s hilarious to read in 2011. It used to be subtitled “The Guide for the Extra Woman”!

The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy, the nonfiction biography of Lionel Logue written by his grandson (after they began working on the movie). Well done.

Keep a Quiet Heart, which I read slowly during my quiet time with the Lord (started it in February). Now one of my all-time favorites.

Just last night I finished Gary Vaynerchuk’s latest, The Thank You Economy. I’m with Seth Godin on this one: “give a copy to your clueless boss”!

(Products are Amazon Affiliate links.)

Let me know what you’re reading too!

What’s Going On Right Now (3/30/11)

Spring! by Theresa Thompson
Image by Theresa Thompson

I never plan to do these link-y posts more than once a week, but sometimes there’s just too much great stuff!

This gets me every time I read or watch The Lord of the Rings: when Frodo is feeling like he just can’t do this herculean task anymore, Gandalf says

“But you have been chosen. And you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.”

The Leadership Journal talks about this in relation to pastors, but it really applies to everyone– mothers, musicians, government employees…

Desiring God Ministries is doing a read-along of the book Desiring God with John Piper himself. Chapters 1 and 2 are available now.

John Samson tells the story of the boat journey to remind us we have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

~ ~ ~

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London has entitled its 2011 season “The Word is God” and will mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible with a cover-to-cover reading between Palm Sunday and Easter Monday. The troupe will also put on mystery plays (the dramas of Bible stories that were the beginnings of modern drama), Anne Boleyn (Henry VIII’s short-lived queen and Reformation activist), and other performances and lectures about England’s Biblical heritage and the impact of the King James Bible on the English language and England’s culture.

~ ~ ~

Good ol’ FB has some charts on what people spend in an average household budget. It raises a question I often ask myself: if I made more money, could I be disciplined enough to keep the lifestyle I currently enjoy and save the rest?

In classic Godin style, Seth asks what we do with a slow news day.

If you have ten minutes unscheduled and the phone isn’t ringing, what do you do? What do you start?

Photo of the Day

My friend Bekka and I went to my friend Kate’s church to take pictures of her Upward basketball team earlier this year. I don’t know who this little cutie is, but this picture makes me smile every time I see it.

Sarah Fowler - Upward Basketball at College Park Baptist

All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of your children.
Isaiah 54:13

Weekly Devotional: George MacDonald

George MacDonald wrote A Book of Strife in the Form of The Diary of an Old Soul (Amazon Affiliate link), which is a book of poems for every day of the year. I actually heard about it in a letter C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend in his pre-Christian days. I’m determined to read more George MacDonald (thankfully a lot of his work is available for free on Kindle) since both C. S. Lewis and Elisabeth Elliot list him as an influence!

Boy Trec by chefranden
Image by chefranden

This is the entry for March 25:

Be by me, Lord, this day. Thou know’st I mean–
Lord, make me mind Thee. I herewith forestall
My own forgetfulness, when I stoop to glean
The corn of earth–which yet Thy hand lets fall.
Be for me then against myself. O lean
Over me then when I invert my cup;
Take me, if by the hair, and lift me up.

Recommended Classic: Jane Eyre

I promise I’m not posting books just because there are upcoming movies. It is, however, a great time to get your hands on an inexpensive paperback copy of a classic! (Incidentally, Jane Eyre is public domain so you can read it for free on Kindle or the lesser e-reader of your choice.)

Jane Eyre 2011 theatrical poster

If Jane Austen and her ilk is a bit saccharine for your taste, the Brontes might be for you. Many are dark and brooding and much more drama-filled. Jane Eyre is far from my favorite heroine but I do re-read the book every few years and have seen most of the movie versions. I don’t think anyone’s quite nailed Mr. Rochester yet.

Many friends have told me they tried to get into Jane Eyre and just… couldn’t. The secret? The first ten chapters are boring, and don’t have much to do with the rest of the story. Skim them. It’s okay… I won’t tell. 🙂

There’s quite a bit of literary talent to go around among the Bronte women. If you’ve already done Jane Eyre (chances are you have), check out Charlotte’s other books, Shirley or Villette. I actually like them better! Emily, of course, wrote Wuthering Heights, which I always found too juvenile and unrealistic  but some people love it. I recently read Anne’s Agnes Grey, which I enjoyed more than I expected. I’ll get to The Professor and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall one of these days!

Whether you read (or re-read) the book quickly before the movie comes out this month or read it afterward to compare and contrast, read it. No fair just seeing all the period movies and not checking out the source material!

What’s going on right now (3/28/11)

The Ligonier Ministries National Conference was last weekend. The sessions are now available online, and I highly suggest you make some time to view/listen to them! The optional sessions are about half an hour, and the rest are 1 to 1-1/2 hours long.

In addition, John Piper (author of the life-altering classic Desiring  God) preached at Saint Andrew’s on Sunday morning on the supremacy of Christ in calamity. It’s wonderful too.

Not enough Reformed theology for one post? John Samson wrote last week about how there can be five solas of the Reformation since ‘sola’ means ‘alone’.

~ ~ ~

In what’s been going around amongst my friends today, check out this post on why men love Jane Austen. There’s also a great post along similar lines about one of my favorite movies of all time, The King’s Speech.

~ ~ ~

I didn’t post yesterday that on Saturday I made some chocolate pecan toffee, very similar to this recipe, with my friend Bekka.

Sarah Fowler - chocolate pecan toffee

Tonight’s dinner was lemon linguine with grilled chicken. I’m waiting for the recipe to be approved on Tasty Kitchen… but basically it’s just linguine tossed with freshly grated Parmesan, freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, and a splash of olive oil.

Sarah Fowler - lemon linguine with grilled chicken

With the whole “food truck revolution” going on around the country, I wondered when Orlando would get some. Turns out several assembled at SODO today. Even though I didn’t get to go tonight, it bodes well. 🙂

Remember when I wrote about Atlas Shrugged? Turns out they’ve made a new movie, or at least Part One of the movie, and since it’s independently distributed they’re only able to do a limited release. Enter your zipcode here to ask for the film in your city, and spread the word! (If the site doesn’t load at first, try again… Boortz mentioned it on the air today so I’m betting the site is getting a lot of new traffic.)

What’s Going On Right Now (3/27/11)

Phew, what a week! In addition to the usual, I volunteered at the Ligonier Ministries National Conference (although unfortunately got a migraine on Friday), and today we (Chancel Choir) sang for two services at Saint Andrew’s before I photographed the latest Fine Arts event.

Last weekend I managed to make chocolate chip banana bread

Sarah Fowler - Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My beautiful sisters are going to spend the night with me next weekend!

Sarah Fowler - HannahJoy and Hope

I went to Hobby Lobby and got some fun crafty things for their visit. I also grabbed a couple extra things that have become three new cocktail rings for me (about $5 each).

Sarah Fowler - homemade cocktail rings

Have I mentioned (ha!) the awesome Fine Arts series at Saint Andrew’s? This afternoon Ben Lane gave an organ recital.

Sarah Fowler - organ at Saint Andrew'sSarah Fowler - Ben Lane organ

When I left for the concert, this funky caterpillar was on my car window.

Sarah Fowler - caterpillar on car window

I’m trying to be disciplined about taking more careful photos and posting them without editing. (It has the secondary benefit of saving a great deal of time!) Forgive my learning curve. 🙂

~ ~ ~

In awesome business advice this week, Chris Brogan wrote a piece about true entrepreneurs. Amber Naslund wrote lessons from the management front lines.

If you want to be temporarily famous, have Grammar Girl repost a link! I’ve had more people mention this hilarious magazine cover gaffe, online and off, than I’d have ever imagined.

Happy new week, ladies and gents!