A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

poetry

It Rained Warm Bread

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Know what I did yesterday?  I figured out what my son would be studying next year.  It was wonderful!  The only thing I need yet is Latin and French.  I organized the books onto two shelves so it would be all ready come September. We have LOTS of books for our World War 2 Study.  Anyways, as I was looking through my stack of review items I came across “It Rained Warm Bread”.  It’s another book I can add to our stash!  Moishe Moskowitz’s story of hope, is told by his daughter and put into poetry form by Hope Anita Smith. 

It rained Warm Bread

It Rained Warm Bread: Moishe Moskowitz’s Story of Hope.
Story by: Gloria Moskowitz-Sweet
Poems by: Hope Anita Smith
Illustrations by: Lea Lyon
Christy Ottoviano Books
Middle School, history, WW2, Holocaust, Poetry,
Ages 8-14
Seven chapters, 146 pages
Received ARC softcover, Sold as Hardcover.
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Moishe Moskowitz was thirteen when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family learned the language of fear. The wolves loomed at every corner, yet Moishe still held on to the blessings of his mother’s blueberry pierogis, of celebrating the Sabbath as a family, of a loyal friend. But each day the darkness weighed more heavily on Moishe as his family was broken, uprooted, and scattered across labor and concentration camps. Just as his last hopes began to dim, a simple act of kindness redeemed his faith that goodness could survive the trials of war: That was the day it rained warm bread.

It rained Warm Bread

The Details

I love poetry.  Poetry that tells a story can be a huge delight.  This book was no exception… Hope Anita Smith paints shapes with her words.  Shapes of sadness, sorry, fear.  Knowing well the shapes of wolves looming in the dark.  Shapes the speak to hiding, to loss of hope.  So much sorrow. 

Her words bring to life the hardships that the Jewish people in Poland had to bear during World War 2.  This story is told  through the eyes of one little Jewish boy.

Each poem is short, just long enough to bring to bear the message brought.  The poems follows the one before, bringing the reader into the life of Moishe.  

It rained Warm Bread

Themes can be found.  The love for his family, the concern of good neighbours, not knowing who to trust, learning early how to protect yourself, the sense of community within the Jewish citizens. We also follow the despair and sometimes the hatred of being despised by most you meet, and yes, the hatred a boy ends up feeling at being bullied by everyone and the country they live in.   It’s all very tangible in the words woven. 

It Rained Warm Bread

Hope occasionally raises it’s head.  A brother with an escape plan, a convict saying “he’s my helper”, memories of his father’s voice “where there is hope, there is life”, and the kindness of women with bread.  Hope brings courage, and through courage a boy survives.   Through that hope, my love for humanity can be restored.   Poignant words fill these pages. 

It rained Warm Bread

Should you get this book?

Yes.  Even if you aren’t doing a year long study on World War 2 get this book.  Learn, grow, see.  Feel the despair and be introduced to hope.  You so need to read this book, my heart has been made so quiet. 

I am looking forward to my son reading this book when we talk about the German treatment of the Jews.   Making a guide for reading through it is something I need to do I think.  It Rained Warm Bread will not just bring the horror to life, but also the immense sorrow, the loss that the Jewish people experienced. 

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The God Who Sees

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So I just finished reading a book called Heart Changer.  It’s a fictionalized account of the slave girl to Naaman.  He had leprosy and had to wash in the river Jordan.  You can find his story in 2 Kings 5. 

A quote that caught my attention runs as follows:

Even though I do not believe in your God, Miriam, I can sense that He is watching you.  That his hand is upon you.  And he has plans for you.  I never thought I could say that about a god, but your God is not one made of wood or stone.  He is one who hears and cares deeply.  He is one who sees.

I got to thinking about that.  God who sees.  What does that really mean?

The God Who Sees

Question asked:
What does it mean
That God is a God who sees?

Does it mean that when a sparrow falls
He actually cares?
Or is he a distant God just noting
The event without concern?

Does it mean when I weep in despair
while washing the dishes, that it matters to him?
Or does he again, just note it
and go on about his affairs?

Questions sometimes hit
When you think about a God who sees.
What does it really mean?
Does one who sees care?

The thought implies that he does.
What’s the point of seeing if it’s just
another point to make a note of?
Seeing implies that he really sees.

That he sees the depths of confusion and hurt.
That he notes the hunger of the sparrow
The pain on a brow
All the signals that something isn’t right.

So what happens then?
What happens when a God sees?
Does he act?
Does he do anything to show he sees?

I don’t always know it
Sometimes I do
Like when we read about how God
Gives us something tangible to show the intangible.

Using something that we know well
Like taste, texture, sight, smell
An action of giving
and then receiving.

To remind us of the bigger picture
HIS SON DIED.

So when I pause to really think
what it means to have a
God that sees.
It does matter.

It mattered before the moment
that those tears fell
When a heart wept
When a bird stopped singing.

God saw it then
He sees it now
And he’s already done it.

The question now is
Do I make the choice to see him?
To know the one
Who saw me first?

The God Who Sees

Well, a poem

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Oh, I am running so late for doing my five minute Friday post. It’s late on Saturday night!   Can you believe it? I do have a good excuse, you see last night I was busy until quite late at night.  I was at the TEACH curriculum sale in Brantford.   I had so much fun.  

Well, a poem

I was delighted to be at a table next to Sarah Wall. She blogs over at Raising Royalty. She’s such a sweet lady and is force to be reckoned with.  She makes me feel capable and like I can do important things too!  🙂   She happily and easily helped me manage a large table of books.  Such a good natured, nice lady.   Anyways!  Enough.. I had so much fun.  I love talking books and selling books and just dealing with books, so going to curriculum sales is just a huge amount of fun for me. 

As I’m writing these words I’m thinking to myself, what does the word well mean to me?  What resonates within me at the word?

Well, a poem

Well
A hole deep in the ground
Water at the bottom?
Or maybe something else.
Youngsters be careful
Not to fall but
If your donkey falls in on Sunday
You help him get out.

Well
A thought or emotion
How do things go?
If things are well
It is good,
A move to the positive.
I wonder though
Would you admit if
you weren’t?

Well
A job finished
Completion
A good job
The thoroughness needed
For something to be done

Well
Are you well?
Is your health okay
Any concerns
Is a doctor needed?
Run that mile
Walk that block
Keep your heart
Going tick tock

Well
Exclamation
A shock you see
Something unexpected
Between you and me
I didn’t know
How can that be?
It’s a surprise!

Well can be
So many things
What is well with you?

Names Matter

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So I’ve been watching this intriguing show lately.  It’s called The Imposters.   The basic premise is a young lady who marries people under an assumed name and then leaves them after taking all their money.   She’s known as Eva, Alice, CeCe and Saffron.. and who knows how many other names before then.  To the person affected the names used mattered.

I found myself feeling sorry for the people that she’s conned.  Imaging myself falling in love and then having that love betray me. Not a good thing at all. 

Over the course of the series, I am starting to feel sorry for this young lady of many names. Caught in a game that cons people out of their hard-earned money.  Pretending to love them in order to do so. BUT NOW… she’s in love and having to treat that love just like any other mark.  She wants to get out of the game but finds that she can’t.  Her very life will be at risk… and I feel sorry for her. 

I shouldn’t.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense.  A con-man is a con-man (or con-woman). And yet…there I am, rooting for her to find a way.  To find a way to get past this constant change in name and decide to settle on her own name and an honest way of living. 

As I ponder this incongruity I think about how God has tons of names, when the lad was younger we studied the different names of God.  We made a double sided plaque for the wall with all the names we found. 

The thing is… God’s names mean something.  

Names Matter
Jehovah-Jireh : My Provider
El Shaddai : Lord God Almighty  
Jehovah-Nissi :mThe Lord my Banner
El-Elyon : The Most High God 
Jehovah-Raah : The Lord my Shephrd
El-Olam : The Everlasting God

The list could go on and on
Showing us who Christ is,
in the names he bears.
Showing us who God is, 
in the names he bears
Showing us who the Holy Spirit is,
In the names he bears.

Names matter.
The name of God matters.
Elohim, 
Redeemer,
Saviour,
Spirit of Wisdom.

No Con
Just names that describe.
Names show
Names matter
Names help us glorify God.

Come join us won’t you?   Miss Kate‘s weekly word prompt is fun and helps you meet new people. This week the word prompt was name. 

Divergent Culture

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It’s another five minute Friday word prompt! Do join in won’t you? Miss Kate has chosen the word Culture this week.

Divergent Culture

Day by Day I see it
The people walking by
Day by day I read it
The stories, oh they fly.

Right now it seems that Facebook
Is full of anger see
My thought is right, Yours is wrong
Why can’t you let it be!

Trump is horrid
Trump is good
Trudeau is silly
Trudeau does what he could.

Pro-choice is the only way
Women’s lives to meet.
Pro-life is what is good and right
It’s what makes life so sweet!

Christians are bad
Their mindset is wrong
Care for the orphans
OH they cannot belong!

Their faith a reason
The orphans to care
Sometimes the rejection
Seems too much to bear.

Opinions run rampant
In this culture you see
Divergent opinions
Disagreements must be.

How do we meet
Is there a middle ground
I really don’t think there is
There isn’t one to be found.

So how do we show grace to those
Who fervently can’t see
That God indeed has a better plan
Which he can guarantee.

There’s not an easy way I know
When so easy tempers flare
Digging in “mine’s the way!”
Many do not see the care.

But try we must to show
That there’s another way
To hold our faith, and steadfast be
And face another day.


Promise

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I am currently going through a small book entitled “Learning about the Old Testament”. Allan Harman is walking me through different important parts of the Old Testament, helping me see the importance of different sections.   

I recently finished reading about the Covenant of Creation. I was reminded of the promise God made.

promise, a poem.

A promise made
Eons ago
God to man

Once a happy, easy relationship
Now one fraught with trouble.
Listen as she did.

Eve tempted.
Looked and listened.
Ate and offered.

Adam accepted.
The shame, the need
Clothing offered.

Care by God,
Sacrifice made.
An animal given.

Banishment,
Toil, trouble,
Babies will be hard.

But God will help.
His love to show
but stop. Listen.

A promise made
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.

Head bruised.
Pain on heel.
One more risky than the other.

This promise by God.
To a people in
Relationship fractured.

Care continues.
Promise covers
The Future.

Believe it.

Join us won’t you? Miss Kate lists a word prompt every Friday. We are a nice community full of encouragement for all different writers. Come on! 🙂

Practice Needed

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Last night I kept dozing off so never managed to wait up to write my Five Minute Friday post put out by Miss Kate.  Today’s word is Practice, you can find the link up here. 

A poem using the word practice

Practice is one of those words that can be both a noun and a verb.  It’s a noun when you talk about the way something is done, or a verb when you talk about doing it.  It makes it a bit harder to then let it flow through my brain and out my fingers. Bear with me a bit perhaps. 🙂 

Time and again I wait and wait 
Wondering if perhaps this might be the time. 
Might I get it right? 
If I combine this bunny and that 
Will I finally get my chocolate? 
When will I ever get a chocolate tricolour?   

I want one so bad, and yet the waiting,  
The trying, it takes so long. 
I know I could do the easier thing,  
I could simply buy one.  
That takes money though,  
Money I'd rather not spend. 
And besides, if I buy it,  
All my work up until this point 
It would be worthless, meaningless 
And I don't want that. 

This practice of keeping bunnies.  
It's not as easy as one might think 
Sometimes I'm tempted to give it 
To say, let's try for something easier. 
But as my hubby is apt to say, 
I rarely do things that are the easiest.
My practice is to work it out 
To do things the way I want them done.  

But at times I chafe at the bit 
Worrying and fussing so 
Wondering if my wait will ever be rewarded. 
And yet, patient I will be. 
Learning, practicing this game of genetics. 
Realizing that dominant and non-dominant genes
Will play themselves out. 

And oh joy... I do have a chocolate in my box. 
A healthy one too!  
No missing feet, no health issues, and 
Loppy ears too!  
A blessing, one of my own. 
Now, can I have her breed true? 
Can I ignore the call of those who want 
To buy her for a huge dollar or two? 

Patience is needed. 
As I practice breeding genetics 
In this, my bunny practice.