4 hours ago
Note: I wrote this newsletter to send with my Christmas cards, and I decided to share a modified version here as a nice little summary of our year. I'm sure you are all busy with your families on Christmas Eve, but maybe sometime in the next week you'll have time to read this, and you'll know I was wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
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As I sit down to write this, our house is dark. There are no twinkly lights, no ornaments or garland. After throwing together our Christmas cards at the last possible moment last year, I thought I better get an early start if a newsletter would happen in 2024, so no Christmas decor graces our home just yet. But my oldest is building up a fire in our woodstove, it’s the week before Thanksgiving, and our speaker is playing Psalm 100 put to music. Gratitude is our atmosphere this evening, and despite a year that had it’s share of disappointments, there are so many things for which to thank God.
Our year started off rather dreadfully, but also with a spontaneous bit of fun. For me, this will ever be known as the year that I had the worst dental procedure known to man, aka: a gum graft. The fact that I have previously worked as a dental hygienist made the procedure especially excruciating, since I knew exactly what they were doing each moment! I lost the ability to smile for two weeks (literally, couldn’t move my muscles properly all through January), but a new little puppy brought a smile to my heart at least.
Yes, Derek talked me into another dachshund, the full sister or our other dog, Lulu. We named the new puppy Dot, and she’s been a ton of fun, and also trouble, for the whole of 2024. Thankfully she is turning out to be a “kid dog”, and she loves snuggling with any of the kids before we tuck her in each night.
Our five kids have grown so much this year, not just physically, but in all the other ways you can think of as well. Our oldest three signed up for 4H in the spring - for woodworking, sewing, and leather-working. They each submitted projects to our county fair and won various ribbons, and two of them even got to send projects to the state fair and won ribbons there! I am so proud of the diligent work they put in, and for how well they each did. My little girls have another year or two before joining 4H, but in their spare time they keep each other busy with imaginative games, forts, baby dolls, and drawings that I find all over the house.
In May we took our annual vacation to Arizona - mainly to see the Saguaro cacti in Saguaro National Park, which were just as impressive as I thought they would be. Apparently Phoenix is not a popular destination so close to summer, but the weather ended up being just perfect for our warmth-starved selves. We took a side trip to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs - it was the first time I’ve ever been in California. The wind and solar farms in the desert were a little jarring, but our destinations ended up being well worth venturing into the land of $7 gas, just for a day. Of course the hotel pool will always be the kids’ favorite part of vacation. We could take them to see the wonders of the world, but it wouldn’t be vacation without a fun pool.
Our favorite summer experience was a day trip to a small mountain town to see wildflowers. While we hiked around the trails, we counted 21 different varieties of wildflowers, and seeing the colors bursting over the hills was glorious. God is so creative, isn’t He? We are casual hikers; we never were the type to backpack our toddlers into the mountains, so it’s fun to be able to get into nature more as the kids grow.
As a summer project, Derek and our oldest son rigged up a makeshift greenhouse and started a garden. We have grown things in a small porch greenhouse before, but it was exciting to have a more substantial vegetable garden, and we enjoyed a crop of squash and tomatoes as the summer stretched into fall.
I am still homeschooling the kids, and they each have been progressing very well. It’s such a blessing to have them home with me and to get to see them learning and growing, not just academically, but in their knowledge of the Lord. I am still involved with several other ladies in running a homeschool support group at our church, and this fall we also joined a co-op one day a week that has been a blessing for all of us.
Derek is working for the same government organization, most of the time from home. Even though he is locked away in his office, there is something special about having him under the same roof as us each day.
Time and space fail me, and newsletters that try to cover everything get tedious. I will only briefly mention that many books were read, many hikes were taken, kids jumped off diving boards for the first time, we went to the movies, we went on field trips, we taught all the kids how to roller skate. We had more doctor (and orthodontist) appointments than typical, plans were cancelled because of the cost of broken appliances, we had to buy a new (to us) car. We attended the state homeschool conference together, we spent time with both sides of the family, we saw our dear friends from out of town, and enjoyed weekly fellowship with other believers at church. Somewhere along the way, Derek and I passed our 16th anniversary with not a ton of fanfare, but with the quiet, solid kind of love that makes this stage of life so special.
So it’s been a good year. Any trials seem minor, and the blessings glitter like the Christmas lights that will be going up this weekend. It’s a lovely thing that each year ends with Thanksgiving and Christmas - what better way to close the year than by remembering all our gifts, and then contemplating the greatest gift of all, our Savior Jesus Christ!
There’s an old hymn line that describes Jesus as the “Light of light” coming to earth “as the darkness clears away”, and I’ve been contemplating that phrase as we approach the Christmas season. The Light of the world was born to us, clearing the darkness of sin and death away for all those who repent and trust in Him for their salvation. That God our Savior would be born a little child is a mystery too great to comprehend, but He was. He came to defeat our sin and the curse of death on the cross. So as I close this letter, I pray that you would know Him, and that in knowing Him, the light of Christ will shine on you and your family this Christmas season and always.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:12, 14
(Note: Affiliate links are used for the books in this post. Thanks for supporting my book habit.)
On The Page {Anything I Read}
{Old-school blogs} I'm trying to get back into reading blogs this month. I've been thinking about that fact that sometimes the only reading we tend to count are books, but many other types of reading are valuable. Shouldn't I be able to count an interesting magazine article, or a short story as part of my reading for the year? And yes, perhaps even blogs? There are other forms of writing we can learn from, be challenged by, and find encouragement within, and I want to honor the time I spend on reading those sorts of things as well. I've especially enjoyed reading The Big White Farmhouse blog, and her "This Week Around The Farmhouse" posts have prompted me to try this new format. I would like to write more in 2025, and sometimes amidst this busier season of life, I make writing too hard on myself. A set format helps.
In My Armchair {Projects I'm Working On}
{Wrapping presents} I actually finished most of my wrapping before December began, but we have a few straggling presents that need to be finished.
{Birthday cards} I started out 2024 very strong on sending out birthday cards to my friends and family, and then I totally dropped the ball over the last 2-3 months. I already sent out my Christmas cards this year, but I would like to attempt to catch up on birthday cards.
In The Kitchen {Things We Made}
{Cinnamon rolls} I made cinnamon rolls from scratch recently, from the recipe in "the red book" as a friend once called it. This is the third time I've made cinnamon rolls - the first time they turned out amazing, the second time they were heavy and dense, the third time was a success again. I have no explanation for this.
{Canning apple butter and apple syrup} A friend from church taught me how to water-bath can this summer, and this is the third time I've tried it. All my jar lids popped within seconds of taking them out of the canner, and I took that as a sign that I am getting better at this. I was fairly freaked out the first time I tried canning, but I'm becoming more and more comfortable with it! Pick up this book if you want to learn how to can preserves safely - it is so helpful, will help you understand the process, and set your mind at ease
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In The Accounts Book {Money We Have Saved}
{Less coffees out} At the end of November, I dropped my kids off at Awana and decided to grab a Starbucks and do a little browsing. I pulled up to the drive through window, and the barista announced the total. It was seven dollars, for a medium-sized coffee. I think the realization suddenly hit me that this is way too many dollars to be dropping on coffee. I could buy a book with seven dollars! I could make the same thing at home for less than a dollar! We've bought far less coffee since.
{Using old wrapping paper} I used to buy new Christmas wrapping paper each year, until I realized that the half-used rolls of wrapping paper were starting to pile up. I decided to not buy any new wrapping paper until I used up our “scraps” - we are now on the third year of wrapping paper scraps! And I think we honestly could get another year out of the wrapping paper we already have. I’m honestly getting a little sick of the same wrapping paper every year. This is what I get for always buying the rolls with the highest square footage, but monotony aside, it does save us money.
Out My Window {Beauty I Noticed}
{Crunchy snow in the trees} We've had more snow than usual this fall, and alot of crunch snow is hanging on back in the trees. Sometimes the "brown months" feel dreary, but it's amazing how even a few patches of snow can make the entire landscape feel cozier.
On My Person {Things I've Worn}
{All the sweaters} Winter is probably my favorite season to dress for - I'm just a sweaters and boots and cozy coats type of girl. These are just a couple outfits I've worn this month - the Santa sweater was for a Christmas sweater contest with my family! I knew I wouldn't win, because my Christmas sweater isn't crazy enough. I first purchased it for a crazy sweater party we hosted years ago, and I thought the Santa's on it were so outrageous back then...but as I get older, I look at that sweater and think, "Is this actually kind of...cute?" My dad says that's a sure sign I'm getting old. But I do kind of like it. I might wear it non-ironically one of these days
Out And About {Places We Went}
{Christmas lights drive-through} We always see this huge Christmas light display on the side of the interstate, and this year we decided to check it out. I let the kids open new Christmas jammies, and after they changed we all piled in the car with some hot chocolate and drove through the display (for a fee). The music that the lights were synced to was nearly unbearable, but it was still pretty cool. We played our own music and enjoyed the experience. I was sure I would get a migraine from all the flashing lights, but I'm happy to report that I didn't.
{Trail of lights} Every year we go to a Christmas "trail of lights" with my family for my dad's birthday, and this year we all wore ugly Christmas sweaters for fun. It was a great time as always. I was appreciating recently how in-sync we are with our extended family - it is a blessing to not have to stress about serious conflict when we get together because we all think alike on so many things
On My Mind {Thoughts I Want To Share}
{A Christmas tradition} I have to mention a tradition we just started a couple years ago. We were in a Christmas picture book phase, and we picked up a book my aunt gave us years ago called "The Last Straw" - it's story about a family that draws names to do special things for each other in secret. My kids decided we needed to try this, so every week of Advent we drew names, and we had a "secret pal" for a week. We each had to do something nice for our secret pal each day (though we nearly always figured out who our secret person was before the week ended). I thought this would be a one-year activity, but my kids have not let us forget it. Every December they look forward to drawing names and secretly doing things for each other. It brings a smile to my face every time I find a cup of hot chocolate precariously balanced on my bed, a baggy of pretzels on my nightstand, or a plate of toast covertly left where I normally sit with my coffee (yes, there is a general trend toward food gifts). I might say that it teaches my kids to appreciate the joy of giving or something, but I'm not going to make it so didactic. It's just a fun little thing we do.
In My Heart {Things I'm Treasuring}
{1} The glow of the Christmas trees, with pajama-clad sillouettes staring up at the branches.
{2} The warmth coming from the wood stove.
{3} Little dogs that must always sit right down next to me.
{4} Christmas packages from friends.
{5} The way the light shines in our windows first thing in the morning.
{6} A healthy amount of outside commitments.
{7} Time just to be.
After months of a slight reading rut, I am back in a reading mood, and it's high time I caught up in sharing books I've read lately. This is more of a "quarter three plus two months" round up. I will share the books I finish in December in a different post.
Books I Liked
The Nature Of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant - I read These Silent Woods by Grant earlier this year, and was excited to pick up her next book. In this book, our main character, Emlyn, is hiding from her ex-boyfriend Tyler, who left her for dead three years before. But when their mutual friend turns up missing, they work together to find out what happened to her. I love the picture Grant draws in this book of the wilderness, and the treacherous nature of backpacking. There is a sweet love story that is drawn out by the end of the book, but not overdone. I am looking forward to seeing the next book Grant writes. Content Notes: The characters talk at one point about how Emlyn was found naked when she almost freezes to death. It's a weird phenomenon, but people who are on the verge of death from hypothermia actually do often undress as they suddenly feel very warm - often without realizing what they are doing.
Daughter Of Mine by Megan Miranda - Hazel returns home for her father's funeral, and finds out that he has left her the house - but her brothers are not happy about it. From the start of the book we get the feeling that something is off with this family, and as the tensions in the relationships start to rise, we wonder who to trust. I find Megan Miranda's books just the right mix of mystery and suspense - she knows how to instill that uneasiness in the reader in a really subtle way that I find interesting. This book's ending was more hopeful than some of Miranda's other books, and I enjoyed it. Content Notes: Some curse words, vague references to a sexual relationship between two characters in the past, murder.
True Grit by Charles Portis - If you have ever seen the old John Wayne True Grit movie, you will enjoy this book. The book has the same flavor as the movie, but even more enjoyable. Mattie narrates the entire book, and her independent spirit comes through in her frequent diatribes as she's narrating - I thought it was very funny and also fun! The plot and characters are very similar between the movie and the book, and there was even some Christian content that you wouldn't expect. I also loved that we got more details about what happened to all the characters after the adventure they had together. Highly Recommend!
Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt - It honestly took me forever to get through this book. I think it is because the subject of death was hanging over me a bit this summer, and then I started this book without realizing that grief was a huge theme. Meryl Lee is sent to boarding school as she is morning the death of her friend Holling, and later the divorce of her parents. She wants to become "accomplished" at something, and along the way she learns how to connect to others and see the grief they are dealing with as well. She also connects with an orphan boy named Matt, who is running from a gangster who wants to kill him as he is also morning the death of his own friend. This book felt heavy, and it took me months to get through it. I did find it interesting how Schmidt connected separate worlds that he built in his other books - The Wednesday Wars world, and Lizze Bright And The Buckminster Boy (which is actually my least favorite of his books that I've read - I didn't like that one). Just Like That had the same flavor as his other books, just sadder, and I probably read it at the wrong time, but I'd still recommend it if you've read his other books. I'll probably have my kids skip it unless they're ready to be sad though.
The Full Cupboard Of Life by Alexander McCall Smith - This is part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which is like a cozy mystery series set in Botswana. McCall paints such a lovely picture of Africa in these books, and all the characters are lovable, with friendly little mysteries to solve. These are my bedtime, comfort-reading books, and I recommend them!
Bread Of Life by Abigail Dodds - I've been reading this book as part of my devotions lately, and Dodds' reflections on spiritual topics related to bread are very inspiring. I found myself with alot to ponder as I read this book, and each chapter ends with a bread recipe that Dodds has developed. Recipes are not a main feature of this book, the focus is on pointing you to Jesus, the Bread of Life - so even if you can't eat wheat, you will find plenty to love about this book. Highly recommend.
Cinderella and Other Stories From The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang - I read this book with my girls for literature in our homeschool. Fairy tales are weird, but we enjoyed most of these. The Bronze Ring we found to be the weirdest story, but the rest were a little more enjoyable with happy endings.
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater - I read this one with my little girls for school. Some books are not enjoyable to read aloud, and some books are written in a way that makes reading aloud just flow - this one is the latter. I enjoyed every chapter with my girls, and they were very invested in it. We all thought the ending was a little absurd, but my daughter wrote an alternate ending as a school writing assignment, and I quite enjoyed what she came up with!
Transformed By Truth by Katherine Forster - Full review of this book here.
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge - This is a sweet, short Christmas book. A little girl who is being raised by her elderly aunts begs to leave the doors unlocked on Christmas Eve so the Wise Men can visit. The aunts tell her they definitely will not leave the door unlocked, but when the window is left open, wonderful things do happen.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson - This was a re-read - I read it again to the kids before we went to see the movie! My kids find this book very funny because of how awful the Herdman's are, but their change of heart at the end of the book is so heartwarming. Content Notes: A few uses of God's name in vain (by the Herdman's), and one (humorous, because it was ridiculous) mention of sex - I kind of skipped over those for the sake of my little girls. This book is a good one to read aloud.
The War On Children by John MacArthur - I received this book a while back and finally picked it up to read this month - MacArthur outlines all the ways the culture is currently attacking the family and especially children, and how Christian parents can respond. I always love how MacArthur says it like it is, and this book was full of good reminders for me.
A Little Book On The Christian Life by John Calvin - This is the first time I've picked up any of Calvin's writings, and I was so pleasantly surprised. Since John Calvin is so often discussed in the context of Calvinism, you start to get the idea that it's all he ever talked about. This little book will cure you of that notion. I found Calvin's advice for living a Christian life so compelling and encouraging, and I looked forward to reading this book after my Bible each morning. So much of this book was timely for me, and providentially spoke to things I was currently working through. I know I will be reading it again.
Books That Were Okay, With Some Content Warnings
The Hot Zone : The Terrifying True Story Of The Origins Of The Ebola Virus by Richard Preston - This book tells the story of the first Ebola outbreak in history. It is nonfiction, but it is written in the style of fiction, and I could not put it down. I was equal parts horrified and fascinated. Ebola is a brutal virus, and its effects on the human body are horrific. I learned so much from this book, and it indulged my slight tendency toward germaphobia. If you are even a little interested in infectious micro-organisms, give this one a go. Content Notes: Very graphic descriptions of the effects of ebola on the body, mentions of prostitutes as a way the virus might have spread, some curse words. Not recommended for youth or the squeamish.
Crisis In The Red Zone by Richard Preston - This book is a follow-up to The Hot Zone, as it was written after the Ebola outbreak that happened in 2014. I remember that outbreak as I was pregnant and still working as a dental hygienist, and feeling relieved when they contained the outbreak in the U.S. An interesting aspect of this book was the ethics of handling the limited number of ebola treatments that were developed at this time. It also made me not trust NGOs. Content Notes: Same as the previous book. These books are not for weak stomachs.
The Rom Commers by Katherine Center - In this one, Emma, a floundering screenwriter, gets the chance to work with screenwriting celebrity Charlie Yates - unfortunately, he doesn't realize what he's agreed to until Emma shows up on his doorstep. Tensions are high, but sparks start to fly between the two as they learn to work together. Old-school rom-com vibes throughout the plot, with a happy ending, so I enjoyed it, even though some of the content I wish was left out. Content Notes: It's been a while between reading and writing this summary, but I remember a smattering of curse words, some involved kissing scenes, references to sexual relationships or thoughts about those sorts of things (I don't remember it being too explicit). I enjoy Center's books, but there is always the sort of thing that I have to skip past a bit. I usually equate it to what you'd get in a PG-13 movie, maybe pushing it a little more than that. I wish it wasn't in there so I could recommend her more generally, because her characters and plots are always so fun.
Books I Wouldn't Recommend
I was trying to decide whether to mention these books, since I wouldn't actually recommend them. Usually if inappropriate content pops up in a book, I'll just quit it, since I don't like to waste time on books I can't even recommend. This is one of those situations where the scenes or content I didn't appreciate came up further along in the book, and by then I was invested in seeing how the story turned out, so I skimmed past and finished them anyway. Sunk cost fallacy, I suppose. I've heard feedback that people still appreciate knowing my content notes anyway, so here they are.
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware - I was intrigued by this book since I heard that it was inspired by And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Admittedly that is one of Christie's more disturbing novels, so I should have been expecting this book to be disturbing - it definitely was more twisted than I thought going in. It was filled with twists and turns, abusive behavior from one of the characters, lots of murder (if you're not familiar with And Then There Were None - spoiler alert - everyone dies in that book). I didn't like the ending and how morally twisted it was. Not my favorite. I should have realized what I was getting into, honestly, but sometimes people mention Agatha Christie and I lose my better judgement for a minute. Content Notes: Lots of violence and murder, quite a bit of cursing, some feminist ideology, no good male characters at all, morally twisted ending.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty - A mysterious lady who appears to be a psychic boards a plane - she starts having some sort of episode and handing out "age and cause of death" predictions for all the passengers. The rest of the book is about how the passengers deal with the predictions they've been handed. I went into this book not really knowing much, and I don't love that so much of the plot of this one centers around psychics - it's a little more central than I anticipated, though in the end the lady doesn't actually end up being a psychic but an insurance actuary. Content Notes: References to psychic abilities and visiting psychics. References to sexual relationships. One scene briefly describing a man's private parts that was too much, and might have made me quit if it hadn't occurred so far into the book, since I was pretty invested in how it turned out by then.
I am reading several books currently that I am quite enjoying, so come back at the end of December to read about those. If you would like to know which Christmas-themed books I liked, I'll share them on Instagram as I finish them.
What books have you loved recently?
This week I got my Christmas shopping done.
Sometimes life gets a little hectic, and before I know it I have five projects hanging over my head. And the calendar keeps rolling on, and each day passes without anything getting crossed off my list, and the pressure in my chest builds. When I start to feel like I'm a few interruptions away from bursting into tears, it's time to set some things aside and make sure those projects get done.
That's what I did last week. I have a sweet husband who had the week off, so he filled the homeschool teacher role for a couple days. But aside from that, I cancelled school for the week, and I spent every spare minute crossing things off my list. I finished my Christmas shopping (except for a couple little straggler gifts). I sorted, edited, and uploaded all my 2024 photos (so far) for printing in January. I cleaned out my kids' rooms (no small task) in preparation for Christmas presents. And then I spent the weekend sending out emails, writing an overdue book review, writing a couple blog posts.
So here we are. I've been wanting to share our recent happenings on here before we are full-on into Christmas season. Despite what the weather did a couple weeks ago, it's still fall, and I don't want to let it slip by without chatting here.
Our Fall
Our post-election snowstorm.
Ever since 2020, I get very skittish in election years, and I've particularly avoided going out on Election Day. You just never know what is going to happen, and I'd rather be tucked away in my little mountain home to deal with the results on our own, for good or for ill. So I stayed up far too late on Election Day, went to bed with the slow dawning of relief spreading through my muscles, and when I woke the next morning with nary an election hiccup in sight, it felt like Christmas morning in more ways than one. Snow blanketed the ground, and we cheered the results and declared a snow day. I baked, we played Christmas music. It was lovely.
It turned into two lovely days, and then three, as the snow continued to fall, and our previously planned events were cancelled clear into Saturday. Finally on Saturday morning, with my husband and oldest out hunting, the younger kids and I could take it no more. We went roller skating, and had a grand time.
This fall we pinched our pennies a bit. Instead of a corn maze (which are quite expensive here) we went on a tour of a tea factory, and visited a fall bulb sale at our local gardens. Instead of a pumpkin patch, we visited our ranch friends, and they gifted us with pumpkins from their garden that are still gracing our house. Instead of picking produce, we went on an adventure in the mountains, and sat in the middle of a huge, secluded aspen grove while we read books and ate candy corn. Fall fun doesn't have to cost alot, does it? Spending time with people you love in the brisk air is what makes fall special.
Homeschooling is going really well, much more smoothly than the previous two years. As I've written before, I think when you hit a homeschool rough patch, the thing you really need to do is power through. Things do tend to improve if you give them time. Even though I have more to manage than ever before, I feel more up to the task as well. I would like to write about our curriculum choices for this year at some point, since we made a bunch of small changes and we are also managing work for our new homeschool co-op. We are taking a more "purist" approach to Charlotte Mason style history this year - my kids are reading so many good books, and it's really wonderful to see them connecting with what they're reading. I'm reading about half their books with them right now, and I myself am learning so much! A curriculum summary will be coming eventually, but for now all the books are my favorite change.
A Hobby Update
Every year around this time, I find myself wanting to learn how to crochet. I've tried learning to crochet before, but it's tricky! I will persist though. A Christmas ornament crochet pattern caught my eye on Etsy the other day. Even though I've gone shopping for the correctly colored yarn, I have not had time to attempt my project yet. Now that all my pre-Thanksgiving tasks are out of the way, perhaps this week I can give it a go. I hope to report success the next time I write an update.
Reading has been very touch-and-go since the summer. I have finally finished quite a few books, but can't seem to get my reading momentum going on any one book. I will have a reading update blog post coming in the next couple weeks, but I have a feeling my yearly totals are not going to be as impressive as previous years. One recent book quite likely will make my favorites list though - I just finished True Grit by Charles Portis a couple weeks ago, and I found it delightful. If you like spunky main characters, amusing first-person narration, and the Old West, it's a winner.
I haven't been baking nearly as much as I typically would in the fall, but I did make caramel pecan cinnamon rolls last week, and they were very tasty.
Derek and I have found several new shows that we are finding amusing. Our favorites are usually competition shows (think Survivor), and we found one called Anonymous. It's one of those social media game shows, which can often be annoying, but this one grew on us. We also have tried a show called The Snake, which is a one-day game show where contestants have to complete tasks while figuring out which player is secretly trying to sabotage them. And then we stumbled across Frogger - which is, well, a real-life Frogger. Similar to America Ninja Warrier, but sillier. We're saving that one to watch with the kids. One of these days I'll get Derek to finish watching Downton Abbey with me, but for now, competition shows are scratching the entertainment itch.
Gratitude
I told Derek a few weeks ago that this year has felt like a year of disappointments. I rattled off a list of things that have just not worked out the way we wished. We had to buy new appliances instead of taking a planned trip to see friends, we didn't have successful hunting seasons, and finances have been leaked away by scary trips to the emergency room.
What I really needed was a bit of sleep, because things always look worse when you're tired.
But in the last couple weeks, my heart has started to calm. God is gracious to us, and somewhere along the way that knowledge settled back on me, like the snow settled on the ground last week and made it sparkle. We are very blessed. All the things I was disappointed about are just life; but life is also full of gifts, isn't it? This is the time of year when we are reminded to open our eyes wider to see them fresh.
Remember when we all used to post thankful lists this time of year? I'm thankful for:
-A house that is filled with warmth, and voices, and a little bit of chaos
-The way snow looks when it's hanging all over pine trees
-The smell of fresh-baked bread
-Books that make you feel like home
-A healthy husband and children
-The smell of fallen aspen leaves
-Watching the sun rise before anyone else is up
-Holiday plans with family taking shape
-Friends that let you know when you're missed and welcome you into their homes
-A group to study the Bible and sing hymns with
-Good preaching
-The right to educate my children at home
-Pumpkin candles
-Twinkle lights
-Siblings to laugh with and supporting parents
-Fuzzy blankets
-Thrift store finds
-A small-town library that lets you check out board games
-Decaf coffee
-Small dogs that don't pass up a chance to cuddle on my lap
-Sweaters
-Sleep
So many little gifts when you stop to think about it. I know this, I've been counting gifts for years, but sometimes life gets busy, and you forget how wonderful everything can be - God's common grace in showers every day. And of course, underneath it all is always that deeper gratefulness that comes with knowing my Savior calls me His own. If everything else falls apart, if every hope is disappointed, if everything is lost - that is something that can't be taken away.
Happy Thanksgiving season! Knowing me, I won't get around to writing another personal post before the day. So I hope you all are overwhelmed by gratitude to the Giver of all good gifts this year.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17
I’ve been thinking lately about what kind of habits and skills I want my children to have in place before they are technical adults. When I pause a moment and realize that my oldest will be eighteen in a mere five years, that is sobering. What kind of things do I need to teach him before he launches? Five years doesn’t feel like enough.
It is tempting to focus on college prep skills - how to write a great essay, time management, how to take a test, how to read difficult books. Or maybe we should focus on life skills - how to not overdraw your bank account, how to file taxes, how to change a tire, how to be a valuable worker and hold down a job. And of course, there are character traits I want them to have - how to persevere, be reliable, be honest, be a courageous person, be an encourager, forgive others, be kind.
All these things are important, and of course we make plans to instill all those things in our children. But what are the most important things they need to learn? As I fret and worry about all the skills that my children should have, with an eye on the ticking clock, a verse niggles at the back of my mind.
“‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken from her.’” Luke 10:41
The good part Mary chose was to sit at the feet of Jesus, to hear His words, to soak them in and treat them as the treasure they were.
This is the one thing that is needed. My kids will learn everything else at some point, but if they miss this one thing, they’ve missed it all.
The habit of being in the Word daily, verses hidden in their hearts, the skill of how to study the Bible - this is the one thing that is needed, because these are Jesus’s very words. This is how we grow in our love of Him, and if we’ve missed Him, we’ve missed everything. So at the top of my list of things I want to give my children is the skills to know Him through His word.
Daily Bible Study And Memorization
When I was 9 years old, I read a fiction book in which one of the characters casually mentioned that you can read the whole Bible in a year if you read three chapters every day and five on Sunday. It was like a lightbulb turned on. Shortly after that, I used some of my own money to buy a devotional book, and started a daily Bible routine of my own, reading three chapters a day.
I read through the Bible several times by the time I reached the teenage years, and just reading the Bible and letting it get into all the corners of my mind was hugely helpful. My mom also took us to a community Bible study, and we learned alot of basic Bible study skills there. We attended a small country church that deeply cared about encouraging the kids to memorize Bible verses, and they offered two dollars toward summer camp fees for every verse we memorized. I memorized hundreds of verses before I graduated high school.
By the time I was an adult, I had my devotional routine firmly entrenched, I knew many Bible verses, and generally could find whatever passage I was looking for. Love of the Bible is bolstered by a familiarity with the Bible, and that is a beautiful thing. Since they were little, I’ve been trying to give my own kids both those things by equipping them to develop their own daily devotional habit.
These are a few ideas for helping kids with daily Bible time and verse memorization.
-Encourage your kids to join you for your quiet time each morning. I think the most impactful way to help your kids develop the habit of being in God’s Word every day is to make it a habit for yourself. I know that I have memories of my mother sitting at the kitchen table every morning, with her coffee in hand and Bible open. Knowing she was making her own Bible time a priority was a great encouragement to me.
-Read the Bible together. Sometimes kids go through a period of struggling with reading or understanding the Bible. Don’t let learning struggles get in the way of giving your children God’s Word! I’ve been reading the Bible with my kids as part of our homeschool morning time for the last couple years, and it has been so enriching for our family. It has opened up so many spiritual conversations that we may not have had otherwise. My goal is to read every book of the Bible to them before they graduate.
-Give them external motivation if necessary. I personally am not opposed to giving kids some sort of reward for being faithful in Bible reading, for memorizing verses, or for reading the whole Bible themselves. There may be a danger of them only reading the Bible because of the reward, but I also know that God’s Word is living and powerful, and does not return void (Hebrews 4:12,Isaiah 55:11). Even if their motivations may start out as less than stellar, my hope is that the little extra push will establish a habit in them that will not be easily broken later.
-Join a Bible memory program, or come up with your own program and reward system. I loved that the church in which I grew up had a meaningful reward for Bible memory, and when we had children I knew we needed something similar. We’ve been part of an Awana program at church for years now, and it has been a great way to encourage my kids in Bible memorization. As I’m starting to have kids graduating from Awana now, I am trying to mull over ways to create my own program so they remain motivated to memorize.
-Memorize verses together. We’ve had alot of success whenever we have established a routine of learning Bible verses as a family. I usually say a phrase, and have the kids repeat it, until we are comfortable, and then we go to the next phrase. Sometimes I’ll write the verse on a board, and between repeating it the kids will take turns erasing a word, until we can say it with no help from the board. Faithfully learning more passages of Scripture together is something I’m still working on, because I can see how those passages we have done have stuck in my children’s minds.
Developing Bible Study Skills
Aside from solid Bible reading habits and memorization skills, as my kids began to reach the teen years, I want them to learn how to deeply study a book of the Bible on their own. Though I’ve done Bible studies at church and Bible study guides on my own for years, I have only learned how to deeply study a book of the Bible on my own over the last couple years. It’s been so enriching for me, and I would like to pass those skills to my kids before they grow up so they can enter adulthood with an established method of how to rightly handle God’s Word.
Instead of a list of tips, in this section I want to give a review of a book that I recently read. It is a wonderful tool for helping teens learn how to really study the Bible before they leave home.
Transformed By Truth by Katherine Forster
My previous tips are mostly aimed at helping kids develop a habit of Bible study, but I think Transformed By Truth by Katherine Forster is a wonderful way to address the heart of Bible study. Forster is a National Bible Bee winner, and in the process of studying for the Bible Bee, she has gained so many wonderful insights into the Bible and how to dig deeply into God’s Word. She has written this book for teens in the hopes of spurring them on toward a deeper love of the Bible.
Forster shares her personal experience of learning to study and love the Bible. She starts with presenting the “big picture” of the Bible, and why this book should be the most important one in the world to us. Throughout the book she systematically shows us why we should study the Bible. I love what she says here:
“Bible study isn’t about gaining a bunch of knowledge. It’s not about becoming a better Christian so God will love you more (the Lord forbid we ever think that way!). It’s not about being smarter so we can feel better about ourselves. In fact if all we ever do is collect information about God without letting it touch our hearts and move us to love and wonder, we’ve completely missed it. In Bible study, we get to behold our God.” pg. 81
After diving into the why of Bible study, Forster gets into the “how” of Bible study. There is so much meat in this section of the book. She addresses developing the habit of Bible reading and studying the Bible with the local church. Then she gives a thoroughly helpful explanation of how to do your own inductive study of a book of the Bible. She teaches us the proper methods of observation, interpretation, and application, and gives us a myriad of tools to enrich our Bible study - all while offering advice on how to avoid misinterpretation by comparing Scripture with Scripture and always keeping context in mind.
“On our own, we’re liable to misinterpret the Scriptures, twist them to fit our own desires, and misuse them to build up our own self-righteousness while tearing others down. We’re handling weighty, everlasting things with fingers of dust. Why would we think our hands could hold these truths on our own? Why would we think our minds could comprehend the words of God Himself unless He graciously gives us help?” pg. 106
Forster also covers so many Bible study tools that the vast majority of people are probably not familiar with. You may have used a concordance before, but do you know how Strong’s concordance can be used to find out the specific Greek or Hebrew word that is used? Do you know how to use a lexicon to understand further shades of meaning in the original language? These are some of the deeper Bible study skills that Forster walks teens through in this book.
Throughout Transformed By Truth, Forster’s love for and high view of Scripture is embedded into every page. You can’t help but catch it by the end of the book.
This is a book I will be having my middle schoolers read as part of their homeschool this year. My oldest is nearly done reading it, and after my daughter reads it, I want to go through the “how” sections again as Forster walks us through an inductive study of 3 John. I think putting these skills into practice will be so impactful for them, giving them confidence for future independent Bible study. And it will also be so meaningful for me. It’s a privilege to get to teach these things to my children before they are grown, and Forster’s book is a wonderful guide and encouragement for learning together.
Time is ever slipping through my fingers. I’m reminded of the psalmist asking the Lord to “teach me to number my days, that I may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). As my children grow older, my prayer is for the Lord to teach me to number the days of my children’s childhood, and use them well. The burden of preparing them to enter the world as Christian young people is overwhelming, but it is a weighty gift to have these years to pour into them. I want to make sure we don’t miss out on the one thing that matters most.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:8
Note: I requested a copy of Transformed By Truth from the publisher in exchange for a free review. This is my honest opinion.
Yesterday we took a day off our typical homeschool work, and went to see The Wild Robot as a family. Aside from being just a visually beautiful film, I was touched by the message, and found myself pondering the themes as they relate to motherhood.
Roz is a robot that has become stranded on an uninhabited island, and is given the task of caring for a baby bird. She doesn’t want to take on this task at first, but finds she must. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, she’s inconvenienced, her efficiency suffers, she makes many mistakes. Her robot plates are dinged as she rescues her charge many times, and the shine is rubbed off her shoulder, near her neck, where Bright Beak settles every night to sleep. But somewhere along the way she becomes more than her programming - she treasures her memories with Bright Beak, and they become a part of her, something that no reprogramming can take away.
The movie brought tears to my eyes several times, and I think the theme is a poignant one for this age. When motherhood is discussed for the modern woman, there seems to be an immense focus on everything negative. Why would any woman give up her dreams, her career, her independence, her body, her time to devote her life to another? What if a woman becomes a mother and loses herself? But the message of The Wild Robot is that yes, you will lose yourself, and maybe that’s exactly the wonderful thing about being a mother.
Even if motherhood is something one has entered into reluctantly, it is also something that holds the possibility to make a woman better - more - than she was before. All the dings and scrapes are not damages, they are marks of love forever left on your body and your heart, beauty in place of everything you’ve given up for your children. Just as Jesus calls us to lose our lives, to repent and believe and put off the old self with our sinful desires so we may gain eternal life in Him - so it is possible for motherhood to reflect that transformation in its own, imperfect way. We also lay down our lives in everyday ways for our children, and the beautiful gift from God is that as we do, He hands our lives back to us again - maybe battered in the process, but polished; more brilliant than it could have ever been before, crowned with the splendor of sacrificial love.
I think there is a picture here too for the child. Roz must “make it all up” as she goes, but she does her best. She doesn’t teach Bright Beak in exactly the right way to swim or fly, but she gets up every day and tries again and again. She finds others to help teach her little charge, she puts immense energy and creativity into helping to launch him to his place as a full-grown bird. Bright Beak doesn’t always appreciate her efforts, and there is strain in their relationship, but by the end he learns to not just to see her mistakes, but to see that she has done her best. She has given of herself to help him soar - and without her, he wouldn’t have made it at all.
As children grow up, they sometimes see more of their parent’s flaws, and that is always going to be a hard transition. But we children have a responsibility to not just see the mistakes, but the sacrifices, and the love behind every step a good-hearted parent took to help us get where we are.
So if you have a mom and dad that are worth even a little bit of their salt, you should do as Bright Beak does and fly through glass to make sure they know - to tell them you made it because of them, and you love them for all the things they gave for you. Through all their foibles and triumphs, they made you who you are - and through your struggles and affection, you made them who they are too. That’s the exchange of parent and child, and it’s a glorious gift for both - something that The Wild Robot captures in a lovely way.
I just looked back in the blog archives and saw that I apparently haven't shared a Wednesday Five post in almost a year! That is unacceptable, because these posts are so simple to put together. They give me a simple chance to share some good finds, or a bit of encouragement, without having to sit down and outline a more intensive article-type post. I am making a goal of sharing one of these every other week over this homeschool year (or at least once a month?), and this is the first installment!
A Quote
"For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand."
-C. S. Lewis
I share this quote because if you replace the "pipe in their teeth" with "a cup of tea on the table", this perfectly describes my own experience with trying to read more Puritan books. I have been more moved, inspired, and convicted by the Puritans than any modern devotional book I've ever read, and whenever my devotional time starts to feel dry, I pick up a selection from my little stack, and it's a breath of fresh air. Highly recommend reading the Puritans if you never have - currently I'm reading Contentment, Prosperity, And God's Glory by Jeremiah Burroughs, and I think it would be a great choice for dabbling in Puritan writings, especially as Americans (as we are pretty wealthy compared to much of the world).
A Recommendation
I recommend you try making evaporated milk ice cream. I first came across this concept on a random recipe forum, when a commenter explained a traditional Mexican guava ice cream recipe. You don't need a churn, you don't need any fancy ice cream equipment, and the first time I made it last year I didn't even have guava, so I substituted orange juice concentrate. It turned out so yummy, like an orange creamsicle, and my kids have brought it up so many times since then.
I finally got around to making another batch recently, with raspberries this time, and it was delicious. For a very rough, basic idea of the process, you refrigerate an unopened can of evaporated milk until it is very cold, then you whip it up with a hand mixer, add sugar and some sort of fruit puree, and then freeze it. I can't find the original recipe I used (like I said, it was literally just typed in a comment on a forum I've long forgotten), but I'll try to type up an actual recipe to share soon.
A Bit Of Nature
I have to re-share a couple more wildflower pictures. This was the most glorious bit of nature from our summer!
A Book
I've been reading alot of books that were “just okay” lately, so I don't have any firm recommendations in the book category. I did recently start one called The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay, set in East Germany during the Cold War, and so far it’s promising! I will share a reading round-up at the end of September, so keep any eye out for that to see how it turns out.
A Moment Of Happiness
Autumn is approaching, and as I reflect on our summer, I am all too aware that I have a limited number of free summers left with my kids. Every year I feel pressure to squeeze in as much fun as we can and make alot of memories while we have them, especially in the warmer months.
Unfortunately, prices have gone up for practically everything (if you haven't noticed), and between that and several home appliance repairs, our wallet was feeling a little thin. It was necessary to change my expectations for what kind of summer memories we could make this year, because the memory-making part is not optional.
To save money, we recently changed our idea for a day trip to a mountain town festival and swapped our plans for a more local hike. It turned out to be just beautiful. The day was sunny and unusually warm for the mountains, we walked along a completely deserted trail. We saw so many flowers, we enjoyed a snack under a bristlecone pine, and we made plans to come back soon on a day when we could walk a little farther. On the out, we ran into some horseback riders, and my sweet, social kids had such a sophisticated little conversation with them as they stroked the horses' necks and gave them treats.
It was a whole afternoon of simple, satisfying enjoyment, for only a few bucks of gas. In leaner times, I might have to let go of some of my ideas, but that doesn't mean I have to let go of making good memories with my family. Good memories don't have to cost a thing.
Regardless of the state of your wallets, I hope you too are finding ways to make good memories with your loved ones as we tumble into the fall.
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