13 Hours of Rain

per·se·vere \ˌpər-sə-ˈvir\ Definition: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement I just finished reading the chapter entitled "Sacred History: Building the Spiritual Discipline of Perseverance" in the book Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. Thomas provides a few reasons why perseverance is a difficult concept for married couples in today's day and age: 1. People are faced with potentially longer marriages due to advancements in medicine. Men and women live longer. Childbirth is a safer experience for women. In 1911, the average length of a marriage was 28 years. By 1967, that number increased to 42 years. Therefore, people are faced with loving each other for a longer time through the natural ebbs and flows of marriage. 2. Life is far too easy for North Americans. If we do not like something, we get right of it and buy something new. If we experience pain, we eliminate it through pain medication. If a math...

I should be doing dishes right now. Or laundry. But I do not feel like it. Therefore, in honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would compose a list of the different kinds of Moms I have either encountered or observed. Keep in mind, this is not an all inclusive list. Moreover, these descriptions are extreme depictions of a particular type of mom. All the mothers I know are a blend of several types. Though I am sure you can think of specific mothers when you read the profiles. Scheduled Mom Scheduled Mom believes in structure. Her children have specific wake-up times, nap times, meal times, and bedtimes. She is very organized and documents poignant details of her child's life. If you ask her, "Does your child drink whole milk?", she will not only answer in the affirmative but also inform you of how many ounces her child consumes. Scheduled Mom hangs a well-marked calendar in a prominent place and enjoys receiving organizational paraphernalia for gifts. She keeps up-to-da...

Becky posted several adorable pictures of her little girl sleeping. The pictures are part of a blog post entitled Sleeping Beauty . I couldn't help but go back and relive my daughter's sleeping moments through our digital photo albums. Here is a sequence of shots my husband took one morning, back in the day when we had to wake her up in the morning. While those days are gone, the memory remains. I have added some captions to summarize her expressions. Enjoy. Don't wanna get up. Suck thumb, sleep longer. I guess it's morning. Stretch... Who are you? Oh, it's Daddy! Stretch some more! Good morning Daddy! Where is mommy?

I am having one of those days. My daughter was fussing during her night snack. So I removed the apple-yogurt-cereal concoction I had created for her and left her strapped in the high chair while she continued her whining. "Fine," I said. "Sit there while I go have a break." I stormed out of the room and parked myself in front of the computer to read a few blogs. My poor husband had to contend with our daughter protesting in the background while he graded papers. I admit. I am a not-so-perfect mom. Some days I am excited to interact with my little girl. Other days I count the hours until her bedtime. Most days I try to provide interactive activities for my daughter. On occasional days I pop in Baby Einstein and encourage her to veg in front of the T.V. I came across a great article a few days ago entitled I Was the Perfect Mom: True confessions of a real life parent by Debbie Farmer. I chuckled while I skimmed through the introductory paragraph: I used to be a perf...

He wakes up and gets ready for work. She wakes up and cries for her breakfast. I wake up and get her milk. He says goodbye. She plays in her crib for a bit while I make the bed and check my e-mail. I change her diaper and bring her down. She eats. I eat. She plays while I alternate playing with tidying. She goes down for a nap and I do more housework. She wakes up and the cycle begins again. He comes home. We eat supper and briefly catch up on our days. We go our separate ways for a couple of hours. I put her to bed. He prepares for tomorrow's lessons. I deal with the dishes. He grades a stack of papers. And sometimes we watch a bit of T.V. Then we go to bed, exhausted. We wake up in the morning. And it begins again. It is extremely easy to drift into mindless monotony within our marriages. Who can blame us? Life is busy. And during my endless tasks of motherhood and the infinite demands of my husband's profession, we are tempted to take each other for granted. Understandably, ...

A frustrated teacher was sharing a story about a typical experience in the math classroom. After his lesson on factoring, he observed his students working on their homework. They kept on getting the questions incorrect. "What is the problem?" he asked, "Do you understand what is going on?" They did. They could explain the process beautifully. The teacher dug deeper. He found the answer to their difficulties. They did not know their basic multiplication facts. He then gave them a grid with the timetables until 20. Guess what? They were able to factor. As an advocate of numeracy, such stories disturb me. I was fortunate to have great mathematics teachers in my lifetime who did not shy away from drilling math facts into my brain. Don't get me wrong. I am all for actually understanding mathematical concepts. But if a kid has to grab a calculator to figure out the answer to 6 times 3, then we are really missing something. Numeracy begins when a child is young. We hav...

As part of the requirements of a seminar, I had to create an assignment for a mathematics class. Thanks to Song of Joy for the inspiration. If you can impress me with a solution to the scenario below, I will search you out and give you a prize for engaging in mathematics for leisure! Only one prize will be awarded. Contest closes in one week. Here goes! The Scenario : Anne works for a prominent hotel in the city. She is a catering manager. It is her job to oversee the many events that occur in the hotel’s banquet or conference rooms. Anne also needs to report the cost of the event, including all applicable taxes and gratuity. The cost can include items such as room rental, meal costs, and cash bars. However, the cash bar has been causing her some problems. Why? When a person picks up a drink at the bar, he or she often gives the bartender a drink ticket. The drink tickets cost a flat rate such as $4.00. This $4.00 includes all taxes and gratuity. When Anne records the cost of the drin...