Musings

We were in the middle of listening to the story "Heidi" just before Sparkle started school. The last chapter the three of us listened to together was "Sunday Bells" where Heidi returns to her grandfather. In it Heidi realizes why God sent her away from home and kept her away for so long -- "If God had let me come at once, as I prayed, then everything would have been different. ... God has arranged it all so much better than I knew how to." When her Grandfather asks her what happens if we forget God, she explains that "Then everything goes wrong, for God lets us then go where we like. When we get poor and miserable and begin to cry about it no one pities us, but everyone says, 'You ran away from God, and so God, who could have helped you, left you to yourself!' "

Sparkle's homework for school is 100 minutes of reading each week. Since Sparkle wouldn't be able to listen to the rest of the story at lunchtime, I gave her a copy of "Heidi" for her to read for homework. The first translation that I gave Sparkle was a little too difficult for her to read. (She kept looking at the timer.) I also had a simpler adaptation of the story, with a picture on every page, so I gave her that version. I don't like the adaption as well, because it changes the story and leaves out a bunch of stuff. Hopefully Sparkle will read the full (and prefer) the full version when she is older.