Book review: The Aquariums of Pyongyang

August 31, 2009

Book Review: The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten years in the North Korean gulag, by Kang Chol-Hwan

I thought this book might be a hard read. The Aquariums of Pyongyang chronicles the life of the author as a boy who, at the age of nine, was wrongfully imprisoned with his family in a North Korean concentration camp. Not exactly most people's choice for summer reading. I picked it up mostly because of those two American women journalists who had just been released from a North Korean prison a couple days before, and I thought it would be, at the very least, relevant to world events. I thought, well, maybe I'll educate myself on the basics and then skim the details. I didn't. I read each page enthralled by this man's heroism and resolve during this time of horrific injustice.

I was drawn in by what I found most unexpected, and couldn't help being fascinated by the author's amazing struggle for survival. What struck me most was that this family weren't anti-communists, weren't revolutionaries who were bent on overthrowing the government. Instead, they were communists, originally North Korean, but drawn back from settling in Japan with the hope of an even better life in North Korea. They chose North Korea based on the images that Kim Il-Sung projected to the world of a thriving communist lifestyle. What they found there shocked them. It was nothing of the sort. A country of severe poverty and militarism, they were slowly and systematically stripped of their possessions. Then one day the police stormed their house, and placed all the family, except the author's mother, in the Yodok prison in the wilderness and mountains for a ten-year sentence, facing brutal treatment, inhumane living conditions, and severe malnutrition. His terrible ordeals were well written, but told in such a way that it made it not too burdensome or gruesome for the reader to bear. Thankfully. I breathed relief every time he triumphed over each adversity.

I kept having to set my book down for a minute and grasp the fact that this wasn't a story from the 1940's, with lessons of history from the Holocaust yet unlearned, but that it was the 1980's and 90's. That it was real. I think of where I was during this same time. I had no idea. And that this very thing occurs today I can't fully comprehend. This book serves its purpose well in bringing attention to the oppression and isolation to North Koreans, and gives a voice to a nation of people whose voice has been taken away from them by a ruthless dictatorship.

this book is available from the Voice of the Martyrs catalog.

*Under Construction*

August 28, 2009

Right now the room is shaking. It's somewhat disturbing, as the room shaking makes you not be able to think about anything else but the fact that the room is shaking. Several hulking, yellow machines are just outside the door, digging very large trenches in the ground, laying pipes for the new sewer system that is going in.

The other day, when the diggers (the "Snorts" as they're called in my favorite kid's book, but, oh, I digress!) and the shakers moved in, I wrote on my facebook as my status: "RUN!! Excavators are taking over the world!!" Heheee... nothing like a little facebook-created hysteria! I've known for a while now that the sewer plan was in place. The planners have come by, I've seen them working on other streets, and last week, they spray painted lines where the digging would take place.

But what if I didn't know?

What if all of a sudden these huge machines just tore in and started tearing apart things? Yeah, I would be a little panicked!

Even now, I look at the back-hoe operators and hope that they know what they're doing. Hope that they know where the gas line is. Hope that the pipe-fitters fit all the pieces together properly. Hope that it's all sealed nicely. I have to remember that it's not just anybody that they put to work on this stuff. They know what they're doing. They've planned for months, years, on this whole project.

God, too, has a whole plan laid out for me for my life. He's planned it for a while now. He knows exactly where it all goes, how it all fits together. He knows right where not to go, where the plans I lay won't work out, or would be dangerous ground to tread. When I see big things happening, I know not to panic. It's under control. It's just under construction. Improvements are being made! I just read in a book the other day (I can't credit it yet, because I agreed not to publish anything about it till Sept. 8 when it comes out!) about Romans 8:28, one of my favorite verses, that God works all things out for good, and if it's not good yet, it's not done yet! I loved that.

Sometimes I've wondered about the places I've been, because the roads have been sometimes rocky, or haven't looked like roads at all, more like wilderness. I've been known to ask Him in retrospect, "why did You lead me THAT way?" To which, I usually am answered, "Jen, YOU chose that detour..." Okay. True.

Last week, a worker came by and left a very large wood stake with a note stapled to it, because I wasn't home at the time. The note asked me to place the stake where I'd like my sewer hookup to be. Me?! He wants me to pick out the best spot? Who am I to pick this spot out? I am not an engineer. I don't know what the most advantageous spot would be. Sure I could figure out the shortest. But heck, I don't know where the gas line is. I have no knowledge of what the rest of the plan is. He put the stake in a spot in my yard where they'd pick for it to go. I left it there.

It's better left to the Expert.

5Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

'Tis the season to be jolly....

August 27, 2009



This blog is about the polkadots in my life... thought I'd give you a visual blog of some of them today! What gifts I've been given...

Keelin at Englishman River Falls...

Candan taking a break at the park...

Watermelon contest at the church picnic!

My surfer dude inside his driftwood fort.

Celebrating the season filled with wonder and smiles, sand in my toes, and joy in our hearts! It's not over yet! Loving each day left of our fleeting summer days, and enjoying the bountiful blackberry harvest, too. Well, off to the beach!

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127:3

Book review: The furious longing of God, Brennan Manning

A friend of mine recently checked out a book from the library. She began reading, and to her surprise, she discovered that a previous reader had done something simply shocking. He or she had gone in and edited the library book-- crossing words out, rearranging text, rewriting the book in the margins. Could you imagine the nerve of that person, defacing the book as well as the author's intentions?

Yet, however, it's just exactly what I want to do with the book, The furious longing of God, by Brennan Manning. Throughout the book, the temptation is strong to edit it just a little. You see, the book is just almost great. It really could be. If only I could read less of the author, and read more about the Author.

The book opens with praise for Brennan Manning's writing-- three pages of praise for him. Followed by a foreword about Brennan Manning, followed by his life story, and it's forty (yep, forty) pages in before "fury" is defined as it relates to God.

Once Manning shifts gears, and gets to talking about God instead of himself, I am enthralled with his descriptive observations of the varied aspects of the character of our God, the intricacies of His mercy, the hope we have in His amazing love, His awesome power. I am fascinated with wonder and awe in the way he describes the furious love of God for me, and I am carried away to a place of worship. Then, every now and then, I trip over sentences which remove me from the place Manning had intended to take me, the sentences where he interjects himself back into the text. Again, I'd just love to edit these out.

Manning's overriding premise, however, is an invitation to accept that God's love is real, intense, intimate, and one to be embraced with the same reckless abandon with which God loves us. Manning got this part right. This I wouldn't dare touch. It's these moments of brilliance and truth that make this a worthwhile read.

After all these years, still writing book reports.

August 21, 2009

I have discovered that through many book publishing houses, PR firms, or other literary websites, that, if you have a blog and you like to read, that you can be sent many books free, provided that you publish a review of the book on amazon.com/ chapters.ca, and your blog. I have managed to obtain all my summer reading this way. Oh, and plus I won a contest at the beginning of summer in which I won 8 books! I can't believe how much I've read this summer... it's been so wonderful, as I feel I am finally recovering from years of a reading drought, having small children in my lap tugging away at whatever was in front of me. I loved that phase, too, but reading didn't happen. I forgot really how much I enjoy reading, and I've been sent some amazing selections. :) So, from time to time, I will be posting my reviews!

Counting up some blessings....

August 20, 2009

Been a busy week around here, having lots of good summer fun still going on, as you could probably tell by my lack of posts! Just wanted to stop and count a couple blessings in our family this week...

Brad and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary last Saturday the 14th. I can't believe it's been ten years already! That Brad has been able to put up with me for ten whole years is all a God thing, I know for sure! We had a great dinner out together, thanks to our good friends for kidsitting, topped off with, I had to try one, a deep-fried Snickers bar, topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Whoa... waaay good, but I am sure you can't have too many if you want to make it to your twentieth anniversary without severely clogged arteries and a good case of diabetes.

After we got home from our dinner out, we came home to a message on our machine saying my sister-in-law was at the hospital ready to deliver her baby! What a surprise!! She wasn't due till October. She was suspicious of the baby's lack of movement, and voiced her concerns to her doctors. They performed a few tests over a couple days, and decided that the safest course of action was to deliver the baby. So, on August 15 (New Zealand time), Theo was born, eight weeks early and a whopping 5lbs 3 oz!! I'm an Auntie! :) Turns out, Theo was exposed to listeria, and had bacterial meningitis, which may have been fatal if he hadn't been delivered right then. He and Mommy are doing well. Yay God again! :)

We had a day and a half of rain last week too, which I am listing as a blessing, even though everyone on my facebook and elsewhere doomed it as the end of our glorious summer. We've resumed our beautifully warm weather this week, it's not over just yet. We needed our rain badly, and I think it serves as a simple example that sometimes we don't see God's hand and His purpose in the things we're given. But, God gives us things in a different way than we think He should.

Anyways, that's what's going on here... all polkadotted and wonderfully good. I am so thankful.... God is good all the time!

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely. Psalm 135: 3

Confidential to my friend, returning your email very belatedly: I am so glad that you are sensing God calling you. He is, you know. I think it's exciting! I know what you mean by you being scared about losing yourself and feeling you'd be hiding behind religion. For me, "losing" myself was the best thing that happened to me, and was when I really found myself and began knowing really who I am. And my advice is, don't hide behind religion. That would be a scary thing. Don't follow a religion, follow God... there's a HUGE difference! Keep me posted!

Looking for my sense of humor...

August 11, 2009 (Happy Birthday, Dad!)

The other day at the park, Candan knocked my hand that was holding my rack of Scrabble tiles. Seven little lettered squares were sent flying through the air. I managed to recover six of them, but my J was missing somewhere in the grass. I was on my knees, head down, looking for the dark blue tile in the green grass, when Keelin snuck up from behind me without me seeing her, took her green Gatorade water bottle (you know, like hockey players use) and squeezed it out onto my head.

*SO COLD!*

*SO RUNNING DOWN MY NECK AND MY SHIRT!*

*SO SHOCKING!*

Frustrated already by having lost a Scrabble tile from a set that wasn't mine, I got really mad at Keelin and sent her away on a time out. I dried off, gained my composure, found the missing J....

and I found myself in tears....

whenever did I lose my sense of humor that I would get so mad over that??!

Her intention was to make me laugh-- to cool me off, not get me steaming mad.

I later apologized to my Sweet Beez for my overreaction.

I'm hoping you'll help me find my sense of humor.... send me a comment in the comment box that you think would make me smile! A joke, a story, a poem, a quote, a "hello", whatever you think... :)

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter

And your lips with shouting. Job 8:21

Mr. Del and my dinner guests...

Had a horribly lazy weekend, though not really by choice... my back went out on Friday (it was doing so good, too... it'd been forever!) and Brad was sick too. We're having guests (whom I've never met!) for dinner tonight, and well, after having done NOTHING on the weekend, I had a lot to do today. I put on my Windows Media Player on the computer and listened to some tunes while I worked on getting the house straight. After Cradlesong (lovin' it...) was over, this album came on, which I got for free off of amazon.com. This song keeps standing out to me, and it just is so groovy to dust to... here's the song, enjoy! I have stuff working in my head for tomorrow...

Campfire ban...

August 6, 2009

Because it's been such a weirdly dry summer this year, all of Vancouver Island is under a campfire ban. These bans happen quite a lot down at the central and southern parts of the island, usually by the end of July or so, but rarely does it happen up at the north end of the island. So when we went camping last weekend on the northern tip of the island at Cluxewe, we were affected too.

When we went there in June, we had a campfire practically our whole weekend long-- lots of S'mores, grilled sandwiches with our sandwich irons that you stick in the fire, and fire-roasted hot dogs.

Things were very different this last trip. We grilled our hot dogs on the barbeque, did the sandwich irons over the camp stove, and yes, our marshmallows, too. It was just not the same. As I unpacked our bags in front of the washing machine, there wasn't even that wonderful smoky smell to our worn clothes. Though we had a blast camping, our fire was an element of our trip that was sorely missed.

It's one thing to keep your campfire down for safety, but it's another to hide your fire for God, out of fear, or disobedience, or whatever. Sometimes I think I do. I pray that it becomes increasingly hard to keep down the light that God gives me to reflect His glory. I want to take the opportunities to share my story when I'm given it. I think too often I let those times go. But I want to be all about shining my light, to shine how good He's been to me. I even want my clothes to smell like it. :)

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:15

Indiana Jen and the Temple of Fruit... (sequel to Raiders...)

Competent Communicator Speech #5, "Your Body Speaks"... requirements for the speech are the use of hand gestures and body language to make your speech more effective. (so picture my hands moving as you read... hehehe)

I declared war.

War on blackberries.

You see, I live on 1/3 of an acre, and along our entire back fence behind our house are blackberries. Miles and miles of vines all peeking through or cascading over our fence, and trailing into the garden beds, suffocating the real plants I'd like to keep in their beds. You might say, Ask your neighbors to remove them? Well, that wouldn't work, because the eight feet behind our fence is our property too. It's entirely our problem to deal with.

Some might say that I am lucky. Blackberries are yummy in the summertime, right. Nope. Not at all lucky. You see, these vines are just plain invaders. Back in the main section of the bush some fruit does grow. The vines however, do nothing but trail their very thorny ropes all through the garden without fruit, and they make it all but impossible to get at the fruit it does bear.

This past spring, I was given a new tool for my arsenal against these dreadful invaders. A machete. You don't plug it in, but man, what a power tool! I took it out of its canvas sheathe and admired the shine of the blade. As I held the wooden handle, I was transported into a movie... suddenly, I would become Indiana Jen, slashing my way through the jungle and clearing a path on a search for treasures past. Namely, my roses.

I stood there in my garden, took a stance, closed my eyes, and swung the blade at my enemy.

I opened my eyes expecting to see my giants having been felled... but instead... nothing.

You see, my blade wasn't sharp.

I had borrowed it, and it needed a little sharpening.

After a good sharpening... I was back at it... I climbed back into the carpet of vines, wondering what exactly was underneath. You see, Indiana Jen has the same fear of snakes as Indiana Jones....

This time, as I swung and chopped at the beasts, one by one they fell in surrender. I cut them all off to the top of the fence. Victory was mine. (This year, anyway.....)

I've made a fascinating discovery now in midsummer about what I had done to my vines. Every vine I've hacked back now bears a huge, beautiful bundle of fruit, just about now ripened. I am about to reap the biggest harvest of blackberries I've ever had, because I cut down most of the plant. Now if you think about it, that is sort of counterintuitive. The more vines you have, the more fruit you'll bear, you'd think, right? The more you have, the more you have?

It was then that I saw the metaphor.

It's not productive to just spread out and trail along aimlessly. It looks like you're growing, but if you're not producing its fruit, then it's not real growth. In fact, you may be inhibiting someone else's growth, and suffocating them. Fruit is the product of real growth. And if you're just spread too thin, or not effective in an area, cut it off. Even if you're doing something good, but it's not bearing fruit, cut it off. To have focus, to have a purpose, gives you reason to blossom and fruit you will bear for a plentiful harvest.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. "John 15:2

Back home and on the laptop... :)

August 4, 2009 (wow, already...)

Camping was great... we had so much fun, and though Candan didn't catch any fish, he still had fun with his new rod and reel that lights up when you crank the handle. His mommy threaded his first hook on his line. I feel so proud :)

Shannon and I kayaked out far away from the rest of the world to a place where there weren't any footprints on the beach except for ours. (not even bear footprints, a good thing, I think...)

and I have so much to write about that adventure. Shannon asked while we were paddling how many blogs I was writing in my head, because I was being really quiet. She knows me, eh? "About five!" I answered. It's true :)

I can't write out any of them however, today, because I have Speech #5 to give tomorrow at Toastmasters, and well, I was too busy camping to write and practice it. So, that's what today is all about in between caring for my little barfy girl. Poor thing, missed all the s'mores while she was sleeping with a fever.

I am doing my speech on the blog I wrote back in April... Indiana Jen and the Raiders of the Lost Garden, with a few modifications, and a different conclusion :) I'll post it as soon as I am done.