Clementine (Sara Pennypacker)

Clementine is an eight-year-old who definitely pays attention. Just not to whatever her teacher or parents want, apparently. And it's not fair that she is named for a fruit but her brother isn't (so she calls him Turnip or whatever pops into her head). Her best friend is Margaret, who lives in a room that looks like a magazine picture (Clementine's room does not). One day, Margaret accidentally cut part of her hair, so Clementine helps her but cutting off the rest. This does not go over well. Clementine understands that she is the hard child. Will her parents keep her? Or is she too much to handle?

This children's book is a delightful look at life through a what I assume is an ADHD child's eyes. It's funny, it's zany, it's scatter-brained. It was intriguing to see that Clementine was always paying attention to something—just not what others told her to. Overall, I quite enjoyed this quick read, though I didn't like how sometimes Clementine gets words wrong (example: "historical" instead of "hysterical") and she isn't corrected. That's fine for adults reading but not for kids learning words.

Rating: A-

So Begins 2026

image from here

Happy New Year! As is my custom, this post lays out goals for the year. The goals themselves are in italics, with explanation following in regular font.

If I could pick an overarching theme for the year, it would be a quote from The Lord of the Rings: "do not spoil the wonder with haste." I try to pack too much into my life, and my days are a dizzying blur devoid of wonder or gratitude. I hope to change that this year, and part of that . . . is having fewer goals.

Spiritual
- Meditate more. 

- Love self-forgetfully. 

- Be thankful.

The Biblical call to meditation is not what some envision (emptying the mind). Rather, it is a charge to ruminate on God's Word. To that end, I actually want to read less this year but think on it more. To swap quantity for quality.

Loving others is easy to make transactional (I muse on that here). To love self-forgetfully is to do so regardless how I am treated in return. 

Loving God means (among other things) being grateful to Him in any circumstance, and showing thankfulness daily. I started doing that more last year, and it was transformative. I need to keep going.

Nutritional/Fitness
- Keep weight under 180 lbs.

- Develop underused muscles.

I'm pretty happy where I am right now fitness-wise, but it is always good to improve. To lose a few more pounds, fully heal from shoulder surgery, and to address chronic (though mild) soreness or pains by working muscles I typically don't.

Reading
- Read 40 books.

I've done 50+ books the last few years, and this should be easily reached. I knocked the goal down to 40 to focus on enjoying more and consuming less.

Household Management
- Minimize/declutter the home.

I get stressed with all the clutter around the house. If I could convince the family to reduce . . . I think we'd all enjoy having less.
---
Goals are good, but God is better.  

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." - Proverbs 16:9 

I hope to hit on the above this year, but the ultimate goal is to better know, obey, enjoy, and rest in Christ. More on that in a day or two. 

To 2026!

The Year in Review

As is my custom, I find it helpful to reflect upon the good and the bad of 2025.  I start the year with goals; this post looks back at some of them and considers other factors we experienced this year.

Spiritual

My goals here:

- Be disciplined in reading/prayer routines (and reduce putzing).
- Do devotionals with the family twice a week.
- Serve better, but in fewer roles.
- Focus more on others. Figure out balance with competing needs.

Some good things here. Prayer was better from mid-year on, when I started doing evening quiet times (in addition to morning) with better regularity. And I now do Sunday morning 'prayer walks' for about an hour, which has been transformative. Humbling but good and necessary.

I did not do devotionals with the family nearly enough.

I stepped down from two roles this year (one 'permanently' and the other temporarily), which was needed to better focus on the family and my own spiritual disciplines. That has been helpful, yet life remains overwhelming at times due to the busyness of the season (lots of activities and obligations for all five of us). Overall, though, this was a positive year spiritually.

Nutritional/Fitness

My goals here:

- Get (and keep) weight under 185 lbs.
- Eat more fruit/vegetables. Eat out less.
- Improve gut health.
- Complete 270 workouts; bike 1200 miles.

Weight loss achieved! For the first time since college, I dropped my weight under 180 lbs (my low was 175). I am just over 180 today, as the holiday eating has taken its tool, but am confident I can stay at/under 180 moving forward. What a blessing. The keys for me have been eating less (and better) and walking more (doing an evening mile walk plus other things). 

I completed 272 workouts, which is satisfactory. I had shoulder surgery in April that knocked out a month, but I was able to hit 1000 miles on the bike, making it the first time I've done 1K in consecutive years.

Most workouts were gym, bike rides, and yardwork. Including the past few years' totals for reference:

2023: 22 runs for 54 miles, 182 gym workouts, 58 bike rides for 623 miles, 15 hikes/walks for 55 miles, 21 mow/yardwork, 113 hours spent working on the basement.

2024: 12 runs for 25 miles, 169 gym workouts, 82 bike rides for 1119 miles, 9 mow/yardwork, 13 'other' (hikes, etc.)

2025: 9 runs for 14 miles, 127 gym workouts, 92 bike rides for 1015 miles, 34 hikes for ~95 miles, 10 yard work (mowing/shoveling)

Reading
My goals here:

- Read 50 books.
- Read 15 works at my American Reading List.
- Minimize my owned-but-unread pile

I read 55 books, and kept my 'owned but unread' pile at an okay number. My post here caps this year's book recommendations. I read only 5 works on my ARL. Overall, though, I'm satisfied.

Household Management

My goal here:

- Minimize stuff in the home.
- Figure out ideal home organization.
- Buy less/budget better.

Buying less went pretty well until November, where the sales got me. I need to be better about ending the year well. Our home still has too many things. We made some home organization strides, but not enough. This one needs improvement.

_____________

Conclusion
Looking across the categories above, it was a pretty good year. Here's to a better 2026. "Never stop starting."

Thus Concludes 2025

Another reading year "in the books." This post recaps the year and presents what I consider the best of the bunch.

I read 55 books this year, totaling 14,487 pages—about 40 pages a day. My average rating was 89.6/100.

Of the 55 books, 0 were audiobooks, 2 were eBooks, and 16 were borrowed from the library or friends. By genre, I read 6 fantasy books, 16 religion, 19 graphic novels, 6 literature, and a smattering of others.

I chipped away at my 240-book American Reading List (presented in four parts: here, here, here, here) and read four titles on those lists. I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I studied theology books to prepare for a Sunday school class I am developing. And I kept my 'owned but unread' pile to a reasonable size.

Here are my top ten reads from this year:

The ESV Chronological Bible
Andrew Peterson: North! Or Be Eaten

- Also check out the others in that series!

Marilynne Robinson: Home

Tim Keller: Every Good Endeavor

Kevin DeYoung: Daily Doctrine

Richard Osman: The Thursday Murder Club

James K.A. Smith: On the Road with Saint Augustine

Herman Bavinck: The Certainty of Faith

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

Various: Batman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls

Happy reading!

Looking Back

Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.

- Deuteronomy 32:7

2025 is soon over. The turning of the year is typically a time of reflection and anticipation; today, I focus on the former.

The Bible calls us to remember. The word shows up 234 times in the ESV. Some of those are featured in specific stories (e.g. Genesis 30:22), some are God remembering His covenant and people (e.g. Leviticus 26:40-45, Jeremiah 31:20), and some are a broadly-applicable call to all of God's people to remember three things:

- they were slaves and rebellious (e.g. Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 9:7, Isaiah 17:10, Isaiah 46:8-13, Ezekiel 36:31)

- they were freed by God; He has done marvelous things (e.g. Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 15:15, 1 Chronicles 16:8-18, Psalm 77:11, Psalm 105:5, Ephesians 2:11-13)

- they owe the Lord their obedience (e.g. Numbers 15:39-41, Psalm 103:15-18, Revelation 3:3, 2 Peter 3:1-2)

We were slaves to sin. God freed us. We owe Him our lives. As you think back on 2025, keep these three things in mind. Our reflections tend to focus on our specific achievements or trials, and yet a year is not defined by our victories (or failures). We are called to focus on and remember the Lord, who while we were sinners died to set us free (Romans 5:8). May we reflect on the ways (large and small) the Lord has shown us mercies this past year; they were new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), whether we recognized them or not.

Winter Fire: Christmas with G.K. Chesterton (Ryan Whitaker Smith)

Winter Fire collects writings from famed wit G.K. Chesterton related to Christmas. The book has:

- 30 daily readings (a snippet from Chesterton plus commentary from Smith)

- 11 poems

- 5 essays

- 2 short stories

- 10 recipes [not sure if these were from Chesterton]

- 8 games and traditions [ditto]

- a smattering of old-fashioned paintings related to the holiday season

The book was . . . okay. I love Chesterton's wit and wordplay. It was nice to read some of his article snippets (many are from G.K.'s Weekly or other sources I didn't know). It was interesting to see how the struggles with Christmas in his day mirror our own (commercialism, etc.). Smith's commentary was mixed: occasionally helpful and complementary, but more often simple regurgitation of the Chesterton writing for the day. The poems, essays, and short stories were fine. The recipes, games, and paintings felt like filler. Overall, I would have preferred more Chesterton content and less of the other stuff.

Rating: C+

LOTR: Book vs. Films

Last month, I finished re-reading The Lord of the Rings. This post reflects on the book vs. the films. I've done this before; this post will complement my original.

The Differences

1) So many things are condensed (or omitted) in the films. In my original post, I mentioned a few, but there are others. What I noted this time around:

- Frodo and Sam (and others, as they join) take much longer to get to Rivendell. Many days and adventures, including an encounter with elves (led by Gildor), a supper with Farmer Maggot, a stay in Frodo's new house (he sold Bag End), a journey in the Old Forest (with Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry), the Barrow Wights, the long walk from Bree to Rivendell (with Glorfindel's aid towards the end).

- The Council of Elrond (and the fellowship's overall stay there) is much longer.

- Their time in the Mines of Moria is longer, and events rearranged [but largely retained] between book and film.

- Their time in the Forests of Lothlorien is much longer, and we get to see the Elvish city Caras Galadhon [which we see in passing in the extended edition of the film].

- Merry and Pippin's time with the Ents is drawn out over days, and includes a stay in Treebeard's house.

- Frodo and Sam's time in Emyn Muil navigating the rocks.

- Gamling's role in Rohan. (He is in the films, but Eomer takes the dominant role)

- Theoden/Rohan's journey to Isengard after the Battle of Helm's Deep.

- Aragorn's journey to summon the Army of the Dead (and their subsequent actions before, but not during, the Battle of Pelennor Fields).

- Theoden's/Rohan's journey to Pelennor Fields and his encounters with (and assistance from) the wild men of the mountains.

- Prince Imrahil and his army's role at Pelennor Fields.

- The Healing House in Minas Tirith and people therein (Ioreth and others).

- The entire story after the destruction of the One Ring. This includes Aragorn's assumption as king and his activities there, the Scouring of the Shire (and Battle of Bywater), and other elements.

2) A few things were extended in the films compared to the books. Off the top of my head:

- The humor of Merry and Pippin. They provided very occasional and mild comedy in the books (about the same as Frodo and Sam); that was drawn out heavily in the films as they were made the comic relief.

- The Righting of Theoden's mind.

- Aragorn's interactions with Arwen and Eowyn. Those relationships were the romantic interests in the films and played up to maximum effect.

- Aragorn and claiming (or fearing) his kingship.

- The Battles of Helm's Deep and Pelennor Fields. Pinnacles of the second two films were raced through in the books.

3) Characters that got more (or less) screen time than page time.

- Who got more screen time: Arwen, Eowyn, Theoden, Legolas, and Aragorn stood out to me

- Who got less: Radagast, Glorfindel, Tom Bombadil/Goldberry, Gamling stood out 

- The below graphic is helpful and has more comparisons. (copied from Facebook)

The Similarities (in Spirit)

I'll keep this short, but what I mention below is huge.

1) The overall story.

2) The main characters.

3) The iconic quotes. Though who said them and when may differ, I was impressed with just how much dialogue from the books made it into the movies.

4) The 'tone' of the world. You know you're in an ancient story with much impression of depth. 

Overall

I think they did an amazing job capturing the spirit of the books in the films. Yes, many things had to be condensed. (I found this mildly ironic, as people complain the films are so long.) As always, the books pack in so much more. But what works on the page doesn't always work on the screen—the medium is the message, as Neil Postman would say. And the changes they made for a visual representation in large part made sense to me.

Many people have a favorite book that was ruined by a movie adaptation. I'm thrilled that LOTR managed to be a hit in both worlds. These artifacts should be (and probably are) used in a storytelling class, looking at the art of conveying the same story in different media.