The Woman All Spies Fear: a book review

My local branch library has moved across the road. The space is larger and brighter and nicer, and I think there are more books. Especially when it's very cold, I tend to hang out and browse the shelves for a few minutes before leaving in time to catch the bus and not have to wait outside.

In my perusal of the 900s, I came across The Woman All Spies Fear by Amy Butler Greenfield. She tells the story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a code breaker who worked for various U.S. government and military branches during, between, and after both World Wars. I had read a children's picture book about her and was interested in getting to know her more. (Just as an aside, her parents spelled her name with the extra "e" where and "a" would usually be.)

The book was excellent and I enjoyed it very much! I didn't realize that it's officially a young adult book, and I don't really care who it was written for; I just care that the story is good. I enjoyed reading about Elizebeth's life and work, and that of her husband, William (also a code breaker). Elizebeth cracked codes during both World Wars, including being part of cracking the Enigma code in the U.S. She also helped decode messages from rum runners during Prohibition, smugglers, and spies. She also helped various people and institutions develop codes; as a master cryptologist, she knew how to make sure codes were virtually unbreakable.

Interspersed in the book are short sections (2-3 pages each) teaching about various types of codes and ciphers. I found those bits equally interesting and had fun thinking about types of codes I could create, despite having no real need for codes!

Overall, it was a very good, very well-written book. It discussed Elizabeth's challenges as a cryptologist, some of which were because she was a female in the early 20th Century doing "men's work", but also of her triumphs and joys. It also told of her family: her husband, William, and his own work and mental challenges, and their two children, Barbara and John. 

I would recommend it for anyone interested in that particular period of history or codes and codebreaking.  

Sunday School

The Sunday School curriculum I'm writing does 5 lessons, then a review, in the hopes that they'll remember something. Each review focuses primarily on what they've learned in the past 5 lessons, along with some general questions, and then some sword drills also focused the past few weeks. For everything after the first review week, I also include some "if you have time" questions at the end from previous review weeks.

We have fun on review weeks. The whole thing is set up as a quiz with different teams trying to win the great prize of having won (the competition and glory of winning are enough for them). Some of the questions have one answer, some have multiple answers and more than one team can get points, and some of them are done as hangman or fill-in-the-blank.

Yesterday was a review day in Sunday School. We had a lot of fun and there was a lot of laughter, especially when they were trying to name everything that proved Jesus was human in their attempt to get the ones on my list ("He had birthdays parties and presents and went to the bathroom!") They remembered most of what we learned over the past five weeks and some of what they learned before then.

At the end, I was going to tell them what the next week's lesson would be and realized that I had no idea! I've been trying to finish the full year's curriculum before I get busy again next week (barring interruptions, it should be done within 2 day). I could tell them what we're doing in May, since that's what I was working on last week, but that was it!

After a bit of thought, I told them I was pretty sure we were starting name of God. I checked when I got home and I was correct! 

Barley Bowls

In my on-going search for inexpensive, healthy, tasty meals, I stumbled upon barley bowls. There are piles of recipes online for pretty much any taste. I sometimes us a "proper" recipe for breakfast and lunch barley bowls, including a grilled chicken barley bowl, a barley salad with lemon dressing, or an apple-walnut barley breakfast bowl. I haven't tried the carrot cake one just yet, nor have I tried "overnight barley" (just like overnight oats, another favourite of mine).

Often, though, I just make "whatever-I-have-on-hand" barley bowls. It's pretty much a mix of barley, vegetables, some form of protein, and a dressing. I make enough to last 3-4 days and can either warm it up or eat it cold.

Today's barley bowl recipe:

1. Cook 1 cup of barley in 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, turn it down and simmer until you can't hear it bubbling. It's about 30-45 minutes, depending on the type of barley.

2. While it cooks, peel and chop the cucumber that's been in the fridge for a couple weeks (the peeling part is only because the peel looks less lovely, but the inside is fine). Also chop up 3 green onions and a red pepper.

3. Earlier in the day, take 3/4 cup of corn and 3/4 cup blueberries out of the freezer so they have time to thaw.

4. Find the leftover already cooked pork stir fry meat and chop it up a bit.

5. Yay, the avocado is ripe! Chop that up too.

6. When the barley is cooked, add everything you've been chopping and thawing, and let it sit for a little while so everything warms up and the flavours merge nicely. 

7. Add some maple Dijon dressing (Dijon, maple syrup, lemon juice, seasonings, apple cider vinegar), and mix well.

8. Remove from heat, put some in a bowl, and enjoy!

Bonus: There is enough for at least 2 and maybe 3 more days. I may heat it or eat it cold; it really depends on my mood each day.

Also: I didn't thing time, but hard boiled eggs are also good in a barley bowl.

Esther and Bad Jokes

I get together with a group of friends every couple weeks for a Bible study. This year we're going through Esther with Lydia Brownback's study guide (it's a very good guide; I definitely recommend it). 

I love Esther. It's so full of God's plans and how He's working all the bits together for good, even if Esther and the others couldn't see it until the end. It's one of my favourite books of the Bible, and I plan to use it to teach the children about God's sovereignty and providence later this year.

But: We were on chapter three on Sunday, the part where Haman gets all upset because Mordecai wouldn't bow down to him, and responds by plotting to kill not only Mordecai but also all the Mordecai's people (the entire Jewish nation). 

And the whole time, all I could think was, "That's a bit of overkill."

Sunday School

I've been working on a curriculum for Sunday School on theology/doctrine. This is the first year, so our focus was first on bibliology, to lay down the basics of where we get our authority, then theology proper. Over the past few weeks, we've talked about the existence of God, the Trinity, and the hypostatic union. Next week is about the Holy Spirit: He is God, and He is not an impersonal force.

I'm enjoying writing the lessons and digging deeper into doctrine and Scripture. I have three main resources: Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue; Reformed Systematic Theology by Joel Beeke, and Basic Christian Doctrines by Curt Daniel. I also have piles of old lessons that I've developed over the years that sometimes overlap with what I'm writing.

It's a pile of work, but a lot of fun, both writing lessons and teaching the kids. This week I asked them how we would prove that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and they answered, "By looking up a lot of verses in the Bible!" That pretty sums up what we're doing!

The goal is to have a 4-year program, taking the children through as much Biblical doctrine as we can teach in 4 years. There is so much I have to leave out, partly because of time limits, and partly because they're children and not quite ready for everything I could throw at them.

My main concern is that I'll enable a generation of Pharisees who have knowledge without faith, or zeal without knowledge. I don't want to raise a group of children who know all the right answers and can argue theology, but who don't know God Himself. 

My biggest goal is to teach them to know God and to desire to know Him more. It's a lot, but it is my prayer for them. 

Crafts with the Kids

Yesterday was fellowship week at women's ministry and therefore fellowship week in the homeschool room, and that means games and crafts. Last month was crazy in the craft room with way, way, WAY too many children, so this month I changed some things. All of my craft kids were from the two middle rooms, so they were all 6-9 years old. The littles had their play time and the oldest two groups were games groups. That way I only had 14 craft kids and it was manageable.

We made rockets and shooting start. They were coloured and cut out, pasted to construction paper to make them sturdier, and then cut out again. Then we attached a bit of a larger straw (covered a the top with a bit of paper) to the back, gave them a bendy straw that fit into the larger straw, and all they had to do was blow through the bendy straw to launch the rocket or shooting star! They were a mostly simple and remarkably popular craft.

We also tried making rockets out of toilet paper rolls, but those were more challenging. I had to teach them how to make a cone out of a circle of paper, then triangles for fins. And then we had to attach them to the decorated toilet paper rolls, and they could not grasp "leave it alone for the glue to set" and were upset because things didn't just stay in place! Also, we ran out before we could add the tissue paper streamers to the bottom. Oh, well; they had fun decorating them and had the first craft to take home.

It was a pretty good craft time. I not only kept the numbers down, but I also managed to find something that they could all manage (okay, one youngster wanted me to do the cutting for her, but I refused because I knew she could do it).

Added to that, the young man who was helping was very helpful!

January

January was a month of cold and snow, followed by a January thaw, resulting in slushy and then icy sidewalks, followed by cold again. 

January meant life starting up again after the Christmas break. Sunday School started again, and then women's ministry and my homeschool kids. There was a birthday party for a dear friend and a baby shower for a young lady. I was invited to visit a Bible study for their monthly fellowship dinner and to share my testimony. I started practicing hospitality again and had a lovely family over for dinner.

One of the best delights in January was a new baby granddaughter. She's all sweet and squishy and tiny and adorable! It also brought news of another grandchild due in the summer.

One of the most important parts of January was starting to pray with the help of 31 Days of Praying Scripture by William Varner. I'm not quite done yet (I started late and I'm not using it every day), but it's been a huge blessing to me. I'm praying more and with more thought. God has also been using it and other circumstances to deal with some deeply rooted and sometimes hidden sins in my life, which is painful but then good.

I finished two baby blankets in January and bought yarn for a two more. I also started a blanket for a young couple getting married in May. I read a pile of books and started a pile more. I wrote several Sunday School lessons and am doing well enough that I think I'll finish this year's curriculum by the end of the February.

January was a good start to the year.

Turnips

Earlier this week I made a variation of shepherd's pie. It was actually cottage pie as I was using a ground beef/pork mix instead of ground lamb, but the only recipe that used turnips was for shepherd's pie, so that's where I started. I hadn't made either type of pie and I wanted some idea of how it should go together; also, I had turnips and carrots this week.

The recipe said that it feeds 6, but all it called for in terms of vegetables was one turnip and one parsnip, which did not seem enough.

Although I realized that I don't know how big a normal turnip is. I get my vegetables from the Odd Bunch, a company that rescues produce that isn't good enough to be sold (generally because of size, shape, or minor defects) or overstock. Since that's where my turnips came from, they might be smaller than normal. My only other knowledge of turnips is from Jan Brett's book The Turnip, and that turnip is bigger than any of the animals!

I added three turnips, one giant carrot, and three very small beets. It made enough for five servings and turned out very good.

I still don't know how big a turnip should be.

Books So Far

I've been reading regularly this year. January/February are my quiet months, so I regularly set aside time to read more. I'm also aiming at reading more nonfiction this year.

So far, I have read (or finished reading):

Fiction

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin. I really enjoy her historical fiction; this one taught me about the trials of upper-class women in Victorian London.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Bockman. It was pretty good. The concept was fairly standard: A grumpy old man is changed by the family who moved in next door. It was well-told and not too predictable.

Non-fiction

Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai. It was interesting to read what her life was really like after her earlier story in I Am Malala.

Biblical Counseling in Practice by Martha Peace. I had started it in December. It's very practical and looks at many of the challenges that women face.

Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson. I have to say, this was different, but in a good way. He looks at God, theology, and various issues, from a very unique perspective.

The Twelve Monotasks by Thatcher Wine. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this one. It's about the importance of doing one thing at a time and doing it well.

Unplug by Richard Simon. I found this one while browsing in the library. I don't have a smartphone that I carry with me (I use one primarily at home for a few apps); I prefer to use a flip phone. The book didn't quite relate to me as it was about detoxing from smartphone addiction. It was still a good look at how to keep my phone from taking over if I ever switch to it permanently.

Picture Books

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. It was a fun read; the illustrations really made the book.

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen. This is short and simple: Sam and Dave are digging for something amazing and keep missing diamonds. The kids felt bad for them, but happy that the dog found a treasure (a bone)!

Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Janet Wilson. This is quite different from Robert Munsch's regular books. It's a gentle story about a father and daughter remembering her grandfather. The kids enjoyed it, although I did have to explain to some of them what a funeral is.

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by David Ezra Stein. The kids love Interrupting Chicken (this is our second story about him). The youngest ones didn't quite get the idea of "element of surprise", but they loved the elephant popping up in the story.

Cooking Lessons

I have been working on cooking a greater variety of food. I received an air fryer for Christmas, so I'm having fun with that. I also get a box of produce delivered once a week, and there are sometimes things I'm not as familiar with or that I've never cooked with (tomatillos, persimmons, squash). 

I've learned some things along the way:

Butternut squash is very good in soup. I don't generally like squash (it's a texture thing), but I like it cubed in soup. I may try roasting it and then blending it to make soup.

The carrot soup is good. I used a pile of carrots, a handful of tomatillos, half an onion, and a small red pepper, all cooked and blended together. It likely did not need the ginger, as the other spices would have been enough. It's a bit spicy, but not too bad.

Pretty much any vegetable can be turned into a stir fry if you try hard enough. I made an eggplant and choy mue stir fry with some pork strips that I had cooked in the air fryer and a couple packs of udon noodles. It was a pretty good stir fry.

Pretty much any fruit can become baked oatmeal. So far, I've made blueberry/apple, blueberry/banana, blueberry/rhubarb, plain blueberry, plain apple, and plain pear baked oatmeal. I haven't tried blueberry/pear yet.

Most leftover veggies can be made into soup. Some can be added to scrambled eggs or used to make an omelet. Other's can join a barley bowl or pasta sauce.

Most fruit makes a good smoothie. My basic "recipe" is milk, some sort of frozen fruit (or fresh, in the case of the persimmons and sometimes apples), and a frozen banana. I often add some combination of peanut butter powder, yogurt, and spinach. I might add some honey or maple syrup if I think it needs to be sweeter.

Having a mix of fruits and veggies has forced me to be creative and search out new recipes. I'm enjoying learning about new ways to cook things and trying new flavours.

On Changing the World

Once I thought that I would do great and amazing things and change the world. 

Then I thought I might do good, still amazing things, and change a smaller part of the world. 

Now I do little, ordinary things, and don't worry about changing the world. 

I encourage children to learn, to think, to know God. I encourage parents as they teach their children and come along side them as they endeavor to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. I listen to friends when they need an ear and try to reach out to know people better. I do my best to love the people around me even when I'm not sure I'm doing it right. Sometimes I share my thoughts on books and people and the world for a small readership. I write Sunday School curriculum, and I try to get students to read and write, and I edit papers for friends, and I write articles about women of church history, and I watch over children while their moms fellowship and learn and study the Word together.

Perhaps I won't change the world. Perhaps that isn't my job. What I will do is be faithful with what God has put in front of me and trust Him to change the world.

Just a Bit of Something

 In going through an old notebook, I stumbled upon this beginning of a story:

Max the Smallest Truck

Max was the smallest truck n the whole yard. Every morning the bit trucks would head out to pick up loads of dirt and gravel and rocks, and Max would wait... and wait...and wait. Every evening the big trucks would come back, dirty and tired, and talking about all the things they had seen that day, and Max would still be waiting. Every night he fell asleep sad and lonely and wondering if tomorrow would be the day. But there was never a load for a little truck.

I have no idea where I was going with this, or if I even had any idea beyond the introduction of Max. Poor Max, doomed to be forever waiting and sad.

Well, It's Something

Sunday School started again yesterday, after a 4-week break. 

My current curriculum is set up so we teach 5 lessons, and then do a review lesson. The review lessons are in a quiz format, and I break the kids into teams. The questions sometimes have a single answer, so only the team who is "up" answers; sometimes have many answers, and we go around the room with the teams taking turns getting as many answers as possible; and are sometimes turned into hangman, where each team takes turns picking a letter and guessing the answer.

Yesterday was a review week and I wasn't sure how much they would remember after the break. They did pretty well. Their main retention, though, was saved for my lesson on how to best guess letters for hangman from the last review week! They did much better this time; the man was never in danger of being hanged.

At least I have evidence that they listen to me! 

It's Just a Little Thing

Yesterday, we had a birthday ladies' tea for a dear friend. She took the time to talk about when she met each of us and something she really appreciates about us.

She did not mention anything related to singleness or children when she talked to me.

It's not a huge deal. It's just that often I feel like people at church see me as the single lady who cares for the children and that's all. 

It was nice that someone sees something else in me as well. 

December

December was long and busy and good. 

I finished my last fall meeting on December 1st, which was the earliest I have finished ever. I try to finish by the end of November, but that never actually works. I was pretty pleased with not going past the first.

Once that was done, December was all about the Christmas concert. There was the challenge of making enough angel costumes for our 16 angels (all of them at least 9 years old, none of them short enough for the "long men's t-shirt" costumes). Then there were practices, the dress rehearsal, and the concert itself. It was a good concert; the children were wonderful and the parents enjoyed it. Plus, I finally broke the 1 hour mark, so that was an accomplishment. It always seems like a lot of work for a concert that's done in 45 minutes.

For several weeks I had felt almost sick on and off, and informed my body that if it must get sick, it had to wait until after the concert. It listened, and two days after the concert I came down with a cold and spent the week inside trying to get better! I wasn't terribly sick; if I had still been working my previous job, most days I would be expected to take some cold meds and go to work. I was thankful for a life where it was okay to get sick, no one would get angry, and no one expected me to work.

Then it was finally Christmas, which is always a good time. I have spent Christmas with the same family since 2018 (except one year I was with another family, and we missed each other and we decided to never do that again). It was quieter as some of the children were sick and there wasn't as much company as there would normally be. It was also very happy and I was very loved and able to demonstrate my love for them.

There has been a pile of snow this winter, mostly on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. It's lovely and I love looking outside at the mounds and drifts and the falling snow.

The month (and year) ended with breakfast with a friend, lunch and shopping with my brother, and dinner at another friend's house with a family I hadn't seen in quite some time (not all on the same day!). 

It was a good month. It was a good year.

2025 in Books: Picture Books

It is time to give some loving to the world of picture books! I read a LOT of picture books, but I only track the ones I read to my Wednesday morning kids with a goal to see how many years I can go without repeating a book. So far it's three years! I read some other picture books, occasionally to other children (although there's some overlap with the Wednesday books); other books I read and decide aren't right for my children.

Some of our favourites from the past year....

• Many by Mo Willems, including:
• Leonardo the Terrible Monster
• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster
• Knuffle Bunny Too
• Sam the Most Scardy-Cat Kid in the Whole World
• That is NOT a Good Idea
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
• Knuffle Bunny Free
• The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!
• The Pigeon Needs a Bath
• Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

• By Jan Brett:
• Annie and the Wild Animals
• The Turnip
• The Umbrella
• Mossy
• The Snowy Nap

• Amos McGee Misses the Bus, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead
• Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
• The Dodsworth books by Tim Egan
• The Trial of Cardigan Jones by Tim Egan
• Snow by Uri Schulevitz
• No T. Rex in the Library, written by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa
• Dragons Like Tacos Too, written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
• Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, written by Jude Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett
• The Many Problems of Rochel-Leah, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Felishia Henditirto 
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake, written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond
• Blizzard by John Rocco
• Cold Snap, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
• Don't Trust Fish, written by Neil Sharpson and illustrated by Dan Santat