These are all the things I’m saving…quotes I’ve highlighted, books on my reading list, websites and articles I’m saving, photos I’m taking, and things I don’t want to forget. If I had a notebook that held everything in one place, it would look something like this!
Commonplace Quotes
“Trust God in the dark. We are safer with Him in the dark that without Him in the sunshine.”
- Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light On Dark Clouds
“There is only one practical remedy for this deadly sin of anxiety, and that is to take short views. Faith is content to live ‘from hand to mouth’, enjoying each blessing from God as it comes.”
- Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light On Dark Clouds
“If he saw the responsibility as too great for his ability, it was because he had a realistic idea of how immense that responsibility would be. For such a trust, to lead an undisciplined, poorly armed volunteer force of farmers and tradesmen against the best-trained, best-equipped, most formidable military force on earth - and with so much riding on the outcome - was, in reality, more than any man was qualified for.”
- David McCullough, 1776
Recommendations
The Everyday Reading Summer Reading Guide - Summer reading is a different animal, and I love stretching my genres and trying new authors in the summer. This is my favorite summer reading guide! I exercise a little caution on the romance titles especially, since I like my books clean, but I have found so many great books from this guide over the years! If you used to enjoy the guide from Modern Mrs. Darcy back in the day, you need to try the one from Everyday Reading - I like it even better! Hint: She also has a really fun summer reading chart here.
Kyle Hates Hiking Youtube Channel - I have a weird interest in National Parks, mountaineering, and survival or true crime stories, and this channel brings those three things together! I’ll often play one of these videos while folding laundry.
Ask Dr. Jo Youtube Channel - My nearly middle-aged self often rolls out of bed with a crick in my neck or a sore shoulder, and I am so grateful to have found this physical therapy channel! Every time I have a knot in any of my muscles, I just search on this channel for stretches, and it fixes it within a couple days. I even used these videos when I had a pretty bad case of costochondritas, which is inflammation of the muscles between your ribs that make it feel like you are having a mini heart attack every time you breath. Her videos were the only thing that helped!
A Fun Way To Add More Classic Literature - This article about creating literary book boxes for kids has my wheels turning for the summer.
Books I’m Reading Right Now
The Music Of The Hemispheres by Michael Clay Thompson (Teacher’s Manual) - I am reading this book aloud to my middle schoolers as we finish up the school year this week - I think I am learning just as much as they are! I have always liked certain poems that have a clear rhythm and rhyme scheme, but had a harder time with other types of poems. This book explains the structure of poetry and some of the poetic elements to notice in even non-rhyming poems, and I feel like I understand poetry so much better now.
God’s Light On Dark Clouds by Theodore Cuyler - This book is a beautiful exploration of God’s purposes in suffering, written by a mom that just lost his daughter. I think the encouragement in here is so applicable to any kind of hardship or suffering, and I’ve been finding passages to highlight almost every day as I work through it after my Bible reading. I recommend reading it even if you are not currently going through any trials.
2084 And The AI Revolution by John Lennox - One of my personal study projects this year is to learn more about AI and technology. This book is a thorough treatment of the history and philosophies associated with AI, from a Christian perspective. I am learning so much! I know things with AI move so fast that some of the information in this book is probably already out of date, but I think the author’s analysis is timeless.
Bits Of Nature
We have been going from winter, to summer, then back to winter over the last week or so. My kids were literally playing at a splashed in 80-degree weather last week, and then woke up to fog and snow on Monday morning. That’s May in the mountains. These are photos I’ve snapped outside over the last few days.
Moments Of Happiness
-Wrapping up all of our school year read-alouds, including The Wind In The Willows, pictured above. It feels so satisfying to close the last page.
-Going through boxes of old notes from family and friends, and piles of artwork from my kids’ little years. So many memories were revived, and everything is filed away nicely now.
- Starting The Wingfeather Saga as a read-aloud with my kids - the first book is more light, and the silly footnotes are making us all laugh! I’m already anticipating the tears that will spill when we get to the ending of the series, but they will be good tears.
-Watching my girls in their ballet class. We haven’t done any ballet since the crazy covid times, and we are at a stage where they all three can be in the same class. I love seeing how graceful they are becoming.
-Having friends reach out to me for a get-together, not just vice versa.
-Noticing that the pools are opening a little early this year, with Memorial Day and our especially warm weather. I’m keeping an eye on the weather to determine our first pool day of the summer.
-Making summer plans, especially for the 4th of July!
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