Lots of Helpers

Book Review—Love, Amy

April 27, 2018 by NZ Filbruns 3 Comments

About the Book

Title: Love, Amy
Author: Amy Young
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: June, 2017

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed Love, Amy! It is quite an unusual book, but a great one. Amy Young subtitled her book, An accidental memoir told in newsletters from China. She compiled ten years’ worth of the newsletters she wrote from China, with tips for people who write newsletters after each year. I found these tips very interesting, as well as the letters themselves.

Amy went to China in 1995 to teach teachers how to teach English. Her first newsletter talked about some of the challenges she would be facing as she anticipated her upcoming move. After that, most of her letters, except for a few in the summers, told about the events of her life. She has some very funny stories, such as the frequent battles with mice, as well as some very sober accounts. She was privileged to see a number of people come to faith in Jesus, and endured a serious health crisis.

You will learn a lot of very interesting trivia about China as you read these letters. For example, at least in the mid 90’s, buildings in Shanghai were unheated even though the weather was quite cold! Also at that time, if a person in charge of directing bicycle traffic found you guilty of some minor infraction, they could either fine you, or worse, make you wave the red flag for 30 minutes to stop traffic!

I appreciated some of the lessons Amy learned. One time a man grossly insulted her. She couldn’t sleep that night until she truly forgave him. She also had to learn to surrender to “the daily crosses in my life.” Her thoughts about that were quite challenging. I found her observations about Tibetan Lamaism quite interesting, as well. She said it is a very dark evil.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in missions, especially to China. Also, if you find yourself needing to write newsletters to financial or prayer supporters, Amy’s tips are invaluable. I don’t know if they’ll make any difference in the way I write ours, since I do it a different way, but she has some very good pointers.

I received a copy of this book as a gift from the author. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions given here are my own.

I received a copy of this book as a gift from the author. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions given here are my own.

The Author’s Synopsis:

She came to China with a lesson plan. What she found was a new sense of purpose.

Amy Young traveled to China in the mid 1990s to teach English to educators. But she never expected the profound way they would enrich her soul. With the influence of the enchanting country and its extraordinary everyday people, Amy extended a two-year assignment to nearly two decades far away from home.

Starting shortly after her arrival, Amy shared her stories and her unique perspective through a series of letters. Her nine years of correspondence demonstrated a country going through growing pains: from political unrest to the SARS epidemic to budding prosperity. Amy battled language barriers, cultural faux pas, and invasive mice with nothing to lose. She even fought for her life with a potentially deadly illness, unsure if she’d survive to share her tale.

Throughout her journey, Amy drew strength from God and came to appreciate the beauty and power of an ordinary life lived well.Love, Amy: An Accidental Memoir Told in Newsletters from China is one woman’s deeply moving journey of self-transformation. If you like humorous anecdotes, immersions in Eastern culture, and honest stories that aren’t afraid to dig deep, then you’ll love Amy Young’s heartfelt tale.

About the Author:

Amy Young is a writer, speaker, and advocate for embracing the messy middle of your one glorious life. Author of Looming Transitions, Twenty Two Activities for Families in Transition, and The Looming Transitions Workbook, she also created the blog The Messy Middle (www.messymiddle.com), has been a part of Velvet Ashes, (an online community for missionaries) from the beginning, and contributes regularly to A Life Overseas. Amy enjoys nothing more than being with her people, wherever they are in the world. She also enjoys cheering on the Denver Broncos and Kansas Jayhawks. After nearly twenty years in China, she returned to Denver and much to her shock, discovered she enjoys gardening.

Guest Post from Amy Young:

The tug for a life that is “Anything but Boring”

When I was in college the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Sarah Plain and Tall changed my life. You’ve probably seen it and been moved too. Sarah, a spinster by the standard of her day, moves from Boston to the fields of Kansas to consider marrying a widower and help him raise his children and work his farm. Her brother could not understand why Sarah would move from so-called civilization to the middle of nowhere. But the longing she felt for her life to matter resonated deeply with me.

I was in the liminal space between adolescence and adulthood. Like Sarah, I knew I could stay where I was and live a good life, but I wanted more. And so I moved to China.

Our world is one that loves big, change-the-world stories. I love them too. I remember reading The End of the Spear, the story of Jim Elliott and his friends who were martyred for their faith. I also lost myself in the stories of Gladys Aylward, William Carey, Lottie Moon, and Amy Carmichael. I remember reading about a missionary that had some worm pulled out of his stomach that was the size of a large snake. Disgusting! Fascinating! All for the gospel! The life of faith was exciting and God was on the move all the time! While it is true, the life of faith is exciting and God is on the move, it is also ordinary, boring, disappointing, and confusing. When I started compiling the letters I wrote from my days in China, I was embarrassed by what “first year Amy” said. She was so clueless, so uninformed, so willing to display her lack of cultural knowledge. I wanted to put my hand over her mouth and ask her to please pipe down because she did not really believe what she was saying. But she did, “first year Amy” could not know what “fifteen year in China Amy” knew.

These change the world stories I love? Turns out they have been more sanitized than I realized without showing the cultural and ministry progression that must have taken place.

Even now, knowing what I know, part of me wishes my newsletters contained miracles and throngs coming to Christ because of my work. I thought throngs and miracles were what a “real” cross-cultural worker would do. I thought that would show that my life mattered, like Sarah’s when she moved to Kansas. Don’t we all want our lives to matter? I believed that mattering was measurable. By compiling and writing this book the lesson Love, Amy has taught me is that too often we confuse size with significance. I still hear the whisper that says, “Amy, really? You wrote about the cultural beliefs that influence standing in line and you think that is worth people giving of their prayer, money, and time?” Part of me is reluctant even now to publish these letters because they are common. In truth, I am happy with my life and the contributions I have made. Of course I have regrets and wish I’d handled certain situations differently. But if all we hear are the spectacular stories, we can miss the gift our beautifully ordinary lives can be.

Who made it into the Gospels? A widow and her two mites. A boy and his few fish. She is described as offering out of her poverty. His common lunch was used to feed more than he could have imagined. Jesus did not tend to elevate those in power or those who seemed impressive.

My first year, a fellow teacher in China told me, “You’re lucky you’re still in your first year. Wait until your second year and you have told all your stories. You’ll have nothing to say in your newsletters.” Isn’t that the heart of what we fear—that we will have nothing to say with our lives? The secret to combating this fear is not that secretive. Show up and be present. Taken individually, these letters don’t add up to much, but put them together and much to my surprise, month after month I wrote an accidental memoir.

As ordinary as it is, I do have to say, life in China was anything but boring! If you love memoirs and want to hear stories that will make you laugh or cringe (and sometimes both), join me on a college campus in China.

Click here to purchase your copy.

Stamping Mill Video

April 24, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

When I wrote a post, about a month ago, about the day that we explored Reefton, I mentioned that I wanted to upload a video of the stamping mill we saw in action. I finally got it finished, so you can see and hear it working. I have added explanatory text, since it was too noisy to narrate.

March 2018 Pictures

April 21, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We were amused when we looked out one day and saw this truck, with its two very different trailers, stopped on the highway in front of us.

Mr. Intellectual is still working through the Thinking Like an Engineer course that we got for review in October. He recently built this paper marble roller (this is the first step):

Mr. Diligence had to look at an atlas one day for school. He complained about the assignment, but then I found him and Mr. Sweetie studying it for a few days afterward!

Grandma recorded herself reading some picture books that we have, and Little Miss is loving having Grandma read to her! She quickly caught on to turning the pages at the bell, and is good at following along. Even though Grandma lives 9,000 miles away, we can still hear her voice! Esther helped with the first book, but since then, Little Miss is doing it herself.

I chuckled one day when I saw Goofball watching intently as Mr. Imagination told himself a story while he washed his hands!

My garden in March. It looks pretty bad now, since we had a hard frost.

Mr. Imagination was given a toolchest and tools for his birthday, from his brothers and sister, and his daddy and I gave him the watercolor set.

Apple Cider

April 14, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

There isn’t much fruit grown around here, but because Gayle is still working in Cheviot, he has been able to bring us a lot of apples. One Sunday afternoon, the boys decided to make some of them into cider. They washed the apples and cut them in half, then put them through a garbage grinder (which has been thoroughly cleaned!).

They ground the apples into a clean pillowcase, then pressed the pulp between some boards, using a jack to apply pressure.

Then, they carefully poured the juice through a strainer and enjoyed it!

From approximately a bushel of apples, they got nearly four gallons of cider.

Product Review—Princess Cut

April 13, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I asked Esther to write the review for a movie we were sent recently. Here is what she says:

I love getting things for review, and when Princess Cut, from Watchman Pictures, became available to review a few months ago, I was intrigued. After watching the trailer, Mom and I thought we’d try it out, so we requested a copy.

Last week, it came, and the next available day we had to watch it, we took time for it. I wasn’t disappointed. This movie actually pretty-well played out according to my expectations (which isn’t always a good thing, but I guess, in this case, it was!).

The main plot revolves around a girl who would really like to get married but has a hard time knowing how to find a good guy. She isn’t really interested in her parent’s input, either, which means that she’s often left to fend for herself—generally with disappointing results.

When her boyfriend of several years announces that he’s engaged, Grace is crushed. She had expected that he’d propose to her soon, but now his ring is on another girl’s finger. As she tries to sort through the emotional fallout, another guy from a coffee shop strikes up a conversation and soon they are going out on dates. When he starts pushing Grace’s boundaries, though, she realizes she must get out—before anything worse happens.

Finally coming to a place of brokenness, she opens her heart to her parents and receives much-needed guidance. But will the Lord bring someone else into her life, or does He want her to remain single? Can she find joy and fulfillment in the moment, even though things have gone the opposite way to what she thought she’d like?

One of my favorite parts of Princess Cut was Grace’s parent’s involvement. They respected the fact that she was grown up and wanted to make her own decisions, but when she asked for their advice, they gave her very clear, sound counsel. I loved that.

Another aspect I loved was how she did her best to not only learn as much as she could about what God wanted from her, but tried to live that out as well. Although that can be a difficult, time-consuming process to go through, it’s also very good.

As far as the plot-line itself, I wouldn’t consider it anything truly stellar, but it didn’t drag too much, either. I did appreciate the fact that kisses and such-like were only mentioned, and not shown on-screen. This movie struck me as something that you might find in a Hallmark movie (granted; I’ve only ever heard descriptions of one—never watched one to my knowledge!)—basically, a “boy meets girl” story with a Christian twist and (godly) character growth.

For me, the main takeaways from Princess Cut are a little vague. I appreciated the emphasis on getting counsel from older people, and I’ve certainly found that true and very helpful in my own life! I also appreciated the exhortation to young women to cultivate good attitudes and have healthy, God-honoring habits. I’ve learned that this is essential, and, by the grace of God, I’m always trying to grow in those areas! The message of contentment where we are right now, is, too, a big thing—one Mom and I have discussed off and on. It’s very hard to learn (and maintain!), but the results are amazing.

As far as the relationships themselves?—well, this movie could possibly set girls up for unrealistic expectations. They could think that once they give it over to the Lord, and “perfect” the lacking disciplines, attitudes, or fruits of the spirit in their lives, then the right guy will just come along and within a few months, they’ll be happily married!

It happens. I know it does. Perhaps even more often than I think! But I would suspect it’s not very often. Still, one can find joy in the season one is in—if we search diligently for it. And for me, having been on “both sides of the line” so to speak (both dating a guy and then not), I know that while yes, it is difficult to not have that physical or emotional fulfillment, it can be found in Jesus. He is enough, even though it doesn’t always feel like that at times.

I also do want to recognize that while this story may be almost picture-perfect in some aspects, it also almost had to be that way to be a satisfying movie. In all, while it wasn’t the most exciting movie I’ve watched all year, it still was very good and I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself watching it again someday. It’s very clean, and it does have some good principles—both of which I appreciate.

Thank you for your review, Esther! Something I’ll add is that we are still laughing at part of this movie. At one point, a number of potential suitors show up at Grace’s house (I won’t tell you why, but it’s funny). This part was absolutely hilarious, although the attitudes displayed were all too real. This part has sparked some good conversation about what NOT to be like. Here are screenshots of some of them:

We also loved the little brother. He really added to the story! One thing you might want to be aware of is the fight scene which starts at 1:24:15. No one is hurt, but it does look pretty violent for awhile. One more thing I just thought of. When Esther and I sat down to watch this, we gave the boys the choice of watching or not. They were pretending to gag at the thought of watching a movie about love, but Simon and Mr. Intellectual decided to watch just the first little bit to see how mushy it was. They ended up staying to watch the whole thing!

Family Walk

April 7, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One Sunday afternoon, our entire family walked down to the Ahaura River. We went down a road near us that went straight down the hill to the railroad track, then turned to cross a large creek.

Esther was very much not impressed with this old bridge. She calls it rickety, although many trucks cross it every day!

The creek.

After looking at the creek, we walked a long way to get to the river bed. It’s not the easiest place to push a stroller, but it worked all right with the big boys who enjoy pushing their little sister.

We had to cross the creek to get out to the Grey River.

This is the confluence of the Ahaura and Grey Rivers.

Just below where these boys are, the water rushes extremely fast through a very deep chute. They were at the top of it, keeping each other from washing away.

We passed these calves on the other side of the creek on our way home. We sure enjoyed that walk—this is a very beautiful area!

Mr. Imagination picked these lovely flowers for me.

Product Review—Creation Illustrated

April 4, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

When I had the opportunity, a few weeks ago, to sign up to review some unit studies that Creation Illustrated has started producing, I thought that sounded very interesting. I have never used unit studies, so this seemed like a good way to try one out. I was given the choice of using the Snow unit study, or the one about Pine Trees. Because we are studying botany for science this year, I thought the Pine Trees study sounded like a good fit. I was sent the Snow study as well; maybe sometime we’ll use it.

I have found this study interesting. We started by reading an article about pine trees from the Fall ’17 issue of Creation Illustrated, which is linked to in the unit study. There was a lot of information about pine trees (I didn’t know that only one species is native to the Southern Hemisphere!), where they live, how they grow, and what they do for mankind, as well as spiritual lessons that can be drawn from them. After that, we watched several YouTube videos that were linked to. One that was especially interesting was about pine trees in Japan, and another that we enjoyed was about the second oldest Bristlecone Pine in the world. Amazingly, it began growing soon after the Flood!

After our introduction to pines through the article and the videos, we started on the study itself. The first written activity was to learn to spell and define a list of vocabulary words. This was too hard for my 6- and 8-year-olds. The 12-year-old would have greatly struggled with the spelling, since he is dyslexic and these are hard words, so we skipped that part. We did work on definitions, though, by matching the words on one page with their meanings on the next page.

A Bible study about pine and fir trees was the next activity. We looked up the references given, and then decided if the verse talked about pine or fir, and what the wood in it was used for. I was glad that the version used was noted, because once we didn’t notice that it said NIV, and we couldn’t figure out what we were supposed to see! Once we did notice that, we skipped the verse. The last activity we had time for was to name the area in which certain pine trees are native, and then locate them on a map. Because we have had to take several days off lately, when I was sick or we were away, we didn’t quite finish the study, but I plan to next week. We’ll be identifying pine trees in photographs and answering a lot of questions about pine trees, and then doing a page of math calculations based on pine trees. I’m not sure yet if we’ll do an essay or an art project about pines; we’ll see when we get there. The last activity is a word search, so that will more than likely happen.

The Intricacies of Snow unit study appears to be very similar. One thing that would be very difficult for us to do is building an igloo, which is an activity that is suggested! There were more fill-in-the-blank questions in this study, it looked like when I flipped through. This study is based on an article in the Winter ’18 issue.

I have learned, by doing this review, that unit studies really aren’t our style. I’m glad to know that—but if they work well for your family, definitely consider trying out some of these! I like the way nature study, Bible study, Language Arts and Math are all tied together here.

Creation Illustrated is a beautiful magazine. The photography is incredible, and inside both the front and back covers of both of the issues I looked at is a two-page full-color photograph of a beautiful scene from nature, with a Scripture verse on it. I enjoyed looking over the articles and reading some of them. Each article uses some facet of Creation or the created world to bring out spiritual truths. I noticed articles on such topics as how kangaroos care for their young (fascinating!), the Grand Canyon, a man living a self-sufficient life in Alaska, and a family caught in a blizzard. Each issue also includes recipe cards for vegan dishes, a study guide for the issue, and a coloring picture and photo contest. One of the articles focuses on a day of Creation, a different day for each issue that I saw. A unit study is also being written to go along with each issue. If you purchase the unit study, which is especially aimed at 5th-8^th graders, you will get a link to a digital edition of the magazine. The unit study is downloadable, so you can use it for multiple students in your family. The unit studies are available here. If you are looking for character-building or nature-study resources in an attractive format, these magazines are great! Subscriptions to the quarterly print magazines are here, and subscriptions to the digital version will be available soon. Here is a peek at the Spring ’18 issue, which will be available very soon:

February 2018 Photos

April 3, 2018 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

The day before we moved, this cat knew something was awry. She was very restless, but she did settle down in the rag basket for awhile—I thought it looked like she was trying to shut the world out!

The view from our new living room. This is a frequent sight—rain!

Little Miss has started “feeding” her baby lately.

We enjoyed some gorgeous scenery on our way to Christchurch in late February. There had just been a cyclone, and the tops of some of the mountains had snow on them.

Ahaura River

March 31, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We live less than one kilometer from a rather large river, the Ahaura, which flows into the Grey River just downstream from our town. One Sunday evening, a couple of weeks after we moved here, the children and I walked down to the riverbed after Gayle left for the week. We had fun exploring down there. Here is the track that goes down to the boat launch from the main road.

We cross this one-lane bridge nearly every day, taking Simon to work and bringing him home. It looks fine from this perspective, and is sturdy, but it sure looks rough on top. It’s an old wooden bridge, with some asphalt on top. You can see every plank, and one day when I crossed, one of the planks had popped up. It was down again when I came back through, 20 minutes later. That doesn’t really inspire confidence!

The underside of the bridge.

This goat is staked out near the bridge.

Looking upstream from the bridge.

A lot of willow shrubs grow in the higher parts of the riverbed. I was interested in how the foliage had been swept in one direction by a recent flood.

Many stock trucks and other heavy trucks cross this bridge every day!

This is the railroad bridge just downstream from the car bridge.

This was the end of our walk. We decided not to try to cross this spot! The main river is just to the left.

Notice the silt? There were large drifts of it here and there. The boys had fun slipping and sliding in it—and then they had an excuse to dip in the river before we headed home!

Both bridges, from downstream.

Product Review—Carole P. Roman

March 27, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Most of the time, when I review a product, it is digital. That makes the rare occasions when we are sent a physical copy of something quite special! Our most recent review is one of those; we were sent three books from the Carole P. Roman books and collections. Out of a long list of possible titles, I chose two about American history and one about Kenya. As soon as the books arrived in this house, they were being read—and reread! A couple of weeks later, Little Miss is still loving them!

I had never seen any books by Carole P. Roman before, so I enjoyed being introduced to some great new resources for our family. These are lavishly illustrated books, with text on one side of each two-page spread and a picture on the other. Many of the illustrations are full-color drawings; some I noticed were drawings inserted into a photograph. I liked all of them!

The first book I chose is If You Were Me and Lived In…Colonial America. Through the eyes of a young boy, this book tells about the reasons that the Pilgrims wanted to move to America. You will imagine traveling on the Mayflower, and surviving the hardships of the first winter in the New World. The main events of that time are touched on, but the main emphasis is on daily life. We are learning about Jamestown right now, and will be studying the Pilgrims next, so this book was a good fit.

The second book I chose was If You Were Me and Lived in…The American West. I chose this one because of our study of American History, although it will be a good while until we reach the Oregon Trail. This book mainly describes living conditions on the trail, as if you were a child traveling in a wagon train. A number of the pictures appear to be photographs of a scene, with pioneers, or covered wagons, or a log cabin, added. I really like the effect this creates. One detail I did have a question about was the dates given; the child in this story traveled in “The Great Migration of 1843”, after a relative who had gone to California for gold told the child’s parents about Oregon.

Our last book is If You Were Me and Lived In…Kenya. I chose this one because we have friends who were missionaries in Kenya for several years. I found this brief introduction to the people and country of Kenya to be very interesting. Several words and names that are commonly used in that country are included; thankfully, the pronunciations are given! Foods and games are introduced, as well as wildlife and an annual celebration. My boys did notice in one of the pictures that the children were not holding the cricket bat the same way they do when they play; they said their friend who is a cricket fanatic would have a fit if he saw that picture! Otherwise, I thought the book was accurate.

I wouldn’t mind having more of these lovely picture books on our shelf for reference. They are a good supplement to history and geography, and Little Miss loves just looking at them; in fact, I had to get one back from her to check on something just now as I was writing this review! She has the two history books with her at the moment and is making up a story to go with the pictures. In fact, she just informed me that she can read some of the words! In the Colonial America book, there is a picture of a boy holding a lobster. Her interpretation of the text beside it? “A spider is getting a boy to eat.” Maybe these books are good for developing imagination, as well as imparting information?!

One more thing…I noticed this afternoon a note in the back of the Colonial America book that there are additional resources available on the author’s blog. I took a quick look at what was available for the books we have. There wasn’t a lot yet, but for each of our two history books there were a couple of pages of study questions. The books are great on their own for younger children; the questions would help with creating a mini unit study for older children.