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A Few of My Favorite Quotes from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Charlotte Mason encouraged her students to keep something she calls a Book of Mottoes, or a Commonplace Book. She says, “In the reading of the Bible, of poetry, of the best prose, the culling of mottoes is a delightful and most stimulating occupation, especially if a motto book be kept, perhaps under headings, perhaps not.” I keep a Commonplace Book in Charlotte Mason-fashion. I use my Book to write down my own poems and music, sermon notes, lecture notes from Bible studies, book studies, and The Habit, story ideas, funny things my kids say, recipes I create, lists of things I need to do or buy, journal entries, schedules, and…
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New Construction Doesn’t Mean Perfect Construction
We live in a beautiful, new house. Our house sits on a treeless lot, previously used as horse pasture, and overlooks the rolling hills and corn fields of the Midwest countryside. We live on the top of one of the hills. We can see across to the tops of the other hills around us, like standing on the edge of a bowl and looking to the other side. The country on the inside of the bowl stretches out before us like canvas. I can see cars traveling down the roads that criss-cross the bowl. Their small shapes stream along black lines of ribbon. At night, the lights from the other…
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Grace Upon Grace at Christmastime
This is a guest post from my sister, Kelsey. Kelsey has her Master’s Degree in Social Work and mentors new social workers while coordinating case managers. She recently decided to go back to school to learn ASL so she can better assist her clients. In her free time, Kelsey likes to read, write, exercise outdoors, and study the Bible. *** Grace upon grace. The only way I can give grace upon grace is because it was given to me first. I don’t deserve grace, but because of God’s goodness, not my own, the Word became flesh–grace upon grace in human form. He died for my sins. He suffered much. I…
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A Tour of Our New House, and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, dear friends and family! As you might guess, our big update this year is that we moved back to the area in which I grew up. I would, however, like to give you a personal update about each of us. I’ll go first! I started writing a lot this year. Much of my inspiration to write came from participating in The Habit, but I also had more time to write once everything went into lockdown mode in March. I’m so thankful for all of you reading and listening to the articles, poems, and music I post! When I started this blog, I hoped to build a small community…
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Helpful Homeschool Poems for Samuel [Snow and Barber, barber]
I like to write short poems and stories for Samuel to read during our homeschool days (just like this one). We learned about the phonogram ‘ow’ this week. ‘Ow’ makes the sound ow, as in, “Get into bed now!” ‘Ow’ also says oh, as in, “My kids grow so fast.” I wrote this poem for Samuel as we studied our ows and ohs. SnowThe silent snow falls down;It covers the streets,In soft white sheets,All over the sleepy town. We also spent time this week memorizing this funny poem from The Real Mother Goose. Barber, barber, shave a pig,How many hairs will make a wig?Four and twenty, that’s enough.Give the barber…