An Incredible Journey Begins

It’s 8:00pm. The kids have just gone to bed and my sweet husband is downstairs cleaning the kitchen. I tiptoe down the stairs, relishing the first calm and quiet of the day. I climb onto the barstool at the counter, take a deep breath, and throw out an idea I’ve been mulling over for a day or two.

“I have a crazy idea. You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to … but you should want to.”

“Um, okay … what is it?”

“Well, I spend a lot of time teaching our children, right? Why don’t we spend some time teaching ourselves? We can use a mid-level curriculum from Ambleside, and set our own reading schedule. We can use the same Composer, Poet, Artist, and Geography lessons as I’m already using for the girls - and we can add in some higher level History and Literature. It’ll be fun!”

“Okay. Sure.”

“Wait. What? Okay? Really?! You’ll do it with me?!”

And just like that, we committed to not only educating our children at home, but also doing some intentional work on educating ourselves.

Our entire educational philosophy centers around the idea that “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” (Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6) I’ve spent hours coming up with a curriculum and schedule that puts that philosophy into action for our children. An atmosphere of appreciating rich ideas. One in which we live a life slower than the one society tries to push on us. An atmosphere where we are learning from every little thing we do. An atmosphere that is God-focused and Christ-centered.

Discipline to do hard things. To try new things. To persevere in the midst of adversity. Grace to make mistakes, and then discipline to do the hard work of fixing those mistakes - or to do better the next time around. Discipline to form the habits we need to keep ourselves healthy - in mind, body, and soul.

A life that is continually growing, shifting, and learning something new. A life in which we are not afraid to be wrong - one where we intentionally engage in meaningful conversations and dialogue with others. A life where we are open to new ideas in a variety of subjects. A life in which we are not afraid to change our mind once we hear or read a story that enlightens us to a new point of view.

It came to me, one night as I was lying with my 4-year-old waiting for her to fall asleep … if that is the education we are striving to provide for our children - shouldn’t we be providing it for ourselves as well?

The truth is, I have always loved learning. You know how when you ask most kids what they love most about school, they answer “Recess or P.E.”? Well, those were my least favorite. My favorite part of school were the books. I always loved to learn something new. I loved to read books about faraway places. I was a true Rory Gilmore. I can remember a time when my aunt told me I would end up being a "professional student.” And in so many ways, that prediction has come true. I guess my excitement over learning is contagious - because somehow I convinced my husband to come along with me for the ride.

So I started doing some research and we decided to start with the booklist for Ambleside Year 6 (which for most homeschooling families is somewhere around 6th or 7th grade). We have chosen to focus on History, Biography and Literature in addition to supplementing the Bible, Poetry, Art, Composer, Nature Study, and Geography that we are already using with the girls. We’re one week in, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we’re really loving the experience.

For history, we’re alternating between Augustus Caesar’s World and The Story of the Greeks. For Biography, we’re looking at Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill. And for Literature we’re reading The Age of Fable as well as The Hobbit. In one week - and after narrating just a few chapters (side note: have you ever tried narrating a book? It’s HARD!) - I’ve already begun to learn more about the world than I remember learning in high school. I’m piecing things together in a way I never did as a younger me. I suspect that has more to do with my age and life experiences than it does with the curriculum itself - but what I am sure of is that we were never created to stop learning. I’m excited to see where this journey takes us over the coming weeks, months, and years.

How are you educating yourself these days?

How to Read More Books

It's no secret that I love books. At any given time, I have at least 3 books stacked on my bedside table - sometimes more - all in progress. When I was younger, my mom would regularly find me in my bed late at night with a book. In grade school, all of my teachers said I had read every book on the classroom shelf.

Remember the scene in The NeverEnding Story where Bastion is hiding under the blanket reading a magical book in the attic, and then he pulls out his sandwich and coke for lunch without stopping? That was my childhood dream ... to read in a secret place all the way through lunch and dinner. Like Bastion, I was often pulled into the story I was reading - in a way that made the characters feel real, and made me feel alive. People often ask me, 

Just how do you find time to read so much?!

Believe it or not, there have been times in my life when I go months without reading a book - but at the end of the year, I always end up reading at least 2 books or month as an average. Some months I fly through books - and there are other months that I end up savoring one or two books (mostly the nonfiction ones). There's just something magical about a well-written story, and it's often a book that gets me out of a mind rut. So today, I give you my top ten hints on how to read more books.

Read in front of your kids.

I'm not talking about reading books to them - although that's super important too - I'm talking about taking time yourself to read your stuff while they are around. It's important for them that they see you enjoying books. And it's important for your own mental sanity! For me, this means taking 20-30 minutes first thing in the morning to read a few chapters. Usually the girls will curl up next to me with their own books. Some days we talk about what we’ve been reading. Although Eden can’t read words, she will often tell me the story she’s been reading - either from having had it memorized or from looking at pictures. 

Bring a book with you.

Wherever you go. You never know when you might end up waiting in a line far longer than you would like. Or when you'll end up at a farm with a play space that you had no idea about (True story ... totally happened to me. We were there for 90 minutes ... and I had forgotten my book!) I've been known to read a book standing in line at the grocery store. This is called using your fringe moments (there's a book on that too!) Once you become aware of the opportunities in your day where you can read, you'll realize you actually do have quite a bit of wasted space in your day!

Turn off the tube.

I can't remember the last time I actually watched TV. We have one in the basement - but it hardly ever gets used. We cancelled our cable when we first got married over eight years ago in an attempt to save money, and we haven't missed it since. In fact, it's quite the opposite - the noise of the TV bothers me terribly. I'd much rather have music playing - or live in silence - than hear the constant sound of chatter. And don't even get me started on commercials. Give me a book over TV any day.

Disconnect.

Turn off your computer. Delete social media from your phone and download the free Kindle app. Sign up for the daily deals to get really cheap e-books. Or use Overdrive to download library books for free. You'd be amazed how much more reading you do when you don't have the ability to mindlessly scroll through Instagram and Facebook.

Set a goal.

Start small. Maybe it's one book a month. Setting a reading goal for yourself can help encourage you along the way. When you reach the goal, give yourself a pat on the back - or a big scoop of ice cream - as a reward. You'll have a new story in your head, you'll be a little bit smarter, and you'll feel amazing about yourself!

Listen to Audiobooks.

I recently joined Audible on a whim (because I got two free audiobooks with a 30-day trial), and it's been amazing for helping me - and the girls - enjoy books in a different way. I love that I can "read" while doing laundry, brushing my teeth, cooking dinner, cleaning up, driving from place to place. I have also noticed my laundry gets put away and my house cleaned way faster when I'm listening to a book - mostly because I look around to find mindless tasks to do so that I can listen to just one more chapter. If you don't want a monthly commitment to Audible, you can also listen to audiobooks from your library using Overdrive or Libby, or you can snag daily deals on Audible. (You can get a free 30 day Audible trial with 2 free credits. There's no penalty if you cancel after snagging your two free books - and they are yours to keep forever and ever. Why not try it out?!)

Don't be afraid to leave a book unfinished. 

I'm all for challenging yourself to read something outside of your comfort zone. It makes us better readers. It makes us smarter. It helps us see the world differently. But the reality is, if I’m not loving a book, I read some reviews. If they are overwhelmingly good, I try to push through. If they are mediocre, I give up. There have been several books that I've put down as "mediocre" to only later pick up again and completely adore by the time I've finished it. Sometimes I find my head isn't in the right space to finish it - so I simply save it for later. Sometimes I find it to be nothing like I expected - so if the reviews are overwhelmingly good, I try to challenge myself to push through to the end. But in the end, if I'm not feeling it - I close it and not look back. I give myself the freedom to pick it up again another day - or to just leave it on the unread shelf. Don't get stuck in a book that you just don't like. There are too many good books out there to read something that is mediocre.

Pay attention to your brain.

I try to vary what I’m reading. If I read a hard book, I follow up with an easy beach read. I want to enjoy reading - and too much of the same thing can become boring after a while. I like to think of my reading list as a feast, with several different courses, that I can move between fluidly. Sometimes our life is such that we just need to escape with an easy-to-read children's literature award winner. Sometimes we want a little spice between the pages. Sometimes we want to dig deep into an old beloved classic. Listen to your brain - and give it a variety of options.

Keep track of what you read.

You can do this in an old fashioned pen and paper journal or you can do it online. I ADORE Goodreads. There's something so exhilarating about finishing a book and marking it as "Read" on my Goodreads list. It not only makes me feel good about finishing a book, but it also helps me make sure I'm reading a variety of things. I also love that I can see what my friends are reading - especially in times when I'm feeling in a reading rut and don't know what to read next. 

Go to the Library.

Libraries are precious commodities. With no money in your pocket - or your bank account - you can go into a library, register for a library card, and leave with a stack of books. If you get home and decide you don't like one, it's okay ... you simply return it the next week and you haven't wasted any money! I like to place holds on books using the online catalog. The librarians pull the books for me and I can walk right in and check them out from the desk. It's like online shopping for books ... but totally free! If you aren't sure what to read, walk around the library stacks and check out the end caps to see what librarians have put out. I have often chosen a book simply by its cover - or its name. Librarians also LOVE to talk about books ... so don't be afraid to ask them what they recommend. Our library will even give you a custom book list based on your answering a few questions about what you like and are interested in. Or - if you're feeling really bold - ask any random person you see in the library what their favorite book is. You'll get a book recommendation AND you might make a friend in the process!

So there you have it. My top ten hints for reading more books. Now go get your summer reading game on! And tell me .... what will you read next?

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash.

The Clothesline

This post was originally published in April 2015 when we lived in the cutest little bungalow in Atlanta. Since we left that house, I've longed for a new home that had the same feeling of home. This weekend, we hung up our clothesline in our new home on the North Shore of Massachusetts. It's funny ... that simple act of hanging a clothesline ... it feels symbolic in some ways. No longer are we wandering along a road, searching for a place to hang our hats. We are finally settled. And it feels so so good. Although our house isn't 100 years old, and there's no road that runs directly beside our new clothesline, so much of this post rings as true today as it was 3 years ago. And yes ... the picture is new :-).

I stand outside basking in the sunshine while I hang clothes on the line. Get a pin, hang it up, get a pin, hang it up. There’s something so calming about doing the laundry this way.

It’s such a sensory experience. I feel the dampness of the clothes as I pull them from the basket and put them on the line. I smell the fragrance of detergent and fabric softener. I hear cars driving, people walking, and the occasional airplane overhead. I see the many different colors in the clothes we wear daily.

And it’s no different in the taking them down. The dampness is gone – replaced with warm dryness, and sometimes that stiffness that only the sun can give. The smell has shifted to the clean smell of sunshine. We hear the siren of a fire engine; the neighbors’ dogs barking as people walk by. The sun is so warm you can almost taste it – making you long for a very cold glass of water.

As I do this work – the work of hanging up our laundry – the little ones play around me. Throwing sand out of the sandbox, picking leaves and flowers off the plants that have been patiently waiting  for the arrival of spring, inspecting the world in only the way tinies can.

People walking by sometimes stop to chat, commenting on the clothesline or the flowers we just put in. Sometimes it’s a familiar face, other times it’s a complete stranger just finding their way to their car parked down the street.

I can’t help but think back to when the house was built, over 100 years ago. Some mother did just as I now do, grab a pin, hang it up, grab a pin, hang it up. Talking to the neighbors as they walk by. Watching her little ones run around in this very same yard – I can’t help but wonder what it looked like back then.

In just a few short weeks, we have made doing laundry this way a part of our life. I find myself checking the weather at night to see if there will be sunshine to dry my clothes the next day. Hanging clothes up on the line even on cloudy days, in hopes that even a little bit of fresh air will do a tiny bit of good. I get disappointed if a day goes by and that little clothesline of mine is empty.

It’s funny how something so simple – and seemingly old fashioned – can bring such a smile to our faces. This business of hanging up clothes forces me to slow down and enjoy my surroundings. We’re all so much happier when we are outside; it just makes sense to do the daily business of life outside. The things of nature – the trees, the wind, the birds, the squirrels, the neighborhood owls – they all remind us that we are just one tiny part of the vast world that we live in.

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.

Some Thoughts on Spring in New England

When a person loses the ability to take pleasure in the mundane - in the cigarette on the stoop or the gingersnap in the bath - she has probably put herself in unnecessary danger. ... One must be prepared to fight for one’s Simple pleasures and to defend them against elegance and erudition and all manner of glamorous enticements. ~Rules Of Civility

I’m just gonna be real for a second. Spring in New England sucks. It's not the deep dark days of Winter that get me down in New England. At least not this year. This year, I found those early Winter days to be magical - the early darkness of days, the forced slowness and calm, the limited sunlight. I knew it doesn't last forever, that the light returns, and that Spring DOES show up. But the six weeks between we set our clocks back and Memorial Day ... that's the real struggle. We are in the hardest six weeks of life for me here. It's the time when we think Spring should be here. We should be able to go outside in something other than snowsuits and boots. We might still need hats, mittens, and coats - but we shouldn't have to be getting all suited up just to go on a walk. The sun might feel warm, but the wind tells a different story. Instead of seeing flowers and new birth, we look outside and see a sea of white. It almost always snows in March ... and the last few years it's snowed the first week of April as well.

Meanwhile back in Georgia, people are packing away the heavy coats (if they ever got them out at all), are spending long days full of sunshine and playing outside, and are maybe even planting Spring gardens. They are cutting fresh flowers for their centerpieces and getting ready for the start of farmer's markets. 

But I embarked on a journey to embrace the seasons this year ... and to find the beauty in it all. What I'm learning is that my way of embracing these terrible early Spring days is by hibernating. It's my time to just be still inside my house. I ignore the world around me as much as possible. It's the time of year when I regularly say no when people invite me to hang out. I know that better days are coming, but right now ... I just can't bear to do anything except hibernate in my own hole and pretend the world outside me doesn't exist.

It's my time to practice my bread making. It's my time to use up the contents of my freezers (yes ... there are multiple.) To clean the house from top to bottom. To rearrange furniture. To read books. To pray. To write. It's now, more than any other time of the year, that I just long to be alone. Now is the time that I'm doing all I can to take pleasure in the simple - in the mundane - in the quiet.

I know that soon, the snow will melt. The sun will shine it's warm rays and the wind won't be quite as crisp. I know the flowers will bloom and we'll be out of the house more often than not. Come summer, our days will be full of fun. Full of friends. Full of sunshine and picnics and beaches.  

There is a season for everything ... this is my season for being still. 

Staying Out of the Grocery Store

I have a whopping goal for February: to buy no groceries except milk, eggs, yeast (because we are completely out) and the occasional cheese. We gave up the grocery store for Lent last year, and it seems that February is as good a time as any to start being diligent about eating out of the freezer.

This was my goal for January - but sales on fresh fruit, baby carrots, and spinach did me in. And then we ran out of pasta. And then we ran out of flour. And then I didn't have Worcestershire sauce. Or Soy Sauce. And then I saw rotisserie chickens at Costco - while I was there to pick up cheese. I guess there are worse things to splurge on ... but I'm REALLY trying to stick to our commitment to eat locally and seasonally. I promise the berries I bought were not local. Nor was the spinach. So January was a fail. We'll try again this month.

This should be easy for me. Our freezers are STOCKED with food. And we still have a bi-weekly Winter CSA pickup that includes some storage crops, dairy, and meat. It's not that we really NEED groceries. It's just that I get an idea in my head to make something for dinner, and then I don't have an ingredient, so I end up at the grocery store - where things are on sale - and I end up buying food that we don't really need (but we'll eat) and spending money that I could spend on something else later down the road. Anyone else have this problem?

So I'm going to rely on you my dear readers, to keep me accountable. Is anyone really out there reading this anyway?? I figure I'll check in at the end of every week and share what we've eaten and how we're being creative with what we have. It'll be a delayed CSA Adventures so to speak ... you'll see how we're using our CSA goods after they've been stored, instead of fresh off the garden. It'll be fun, right?? Heck, maybe we'll even create a few new recipes!

So who's ready for some freezer-inspired fun?

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash.

Snow Day Maple Candy

When we made the decision to stay in Massachusetts instead of moving back to Georgia, we agreed that we had to do something to embrace the change of seasons. By now ya'll know winter is the hardest for me - it's cold ... snowy ... and it consists of bundling and unbundling small children any time you have to go outside. But I'm committed to this place ... and so this Winter I've been committed to appreciating the season that we're in, and finding the good things. After all ... There is a season for everything, right? (Cue the music...)

One of the ways we've embraced Winter this year is by making a list of all the snow-day activities we want to do. Then when there's snow on the ground, we can bundle ourselves up and make some fun out of it. After all - my kids adore the snow - and I just can't imagine their little lives without it anymore. So one day this week, when we were surprised by a couple of inches of snow, we decided to take a cue from Ma and Pa in our Little House in the Big Woods book and try our hand at making Maple Candy.

As you can see here, I poured way too much maple syrup in our pie pan of snow, so then we rushed outside to add more snow, thinking that would help it solidify; but all it really did was turn it into a big pie plan of mush. We ended up with something that resembled maple snow cream ... but we did end up with a few pieces of soft taffy at the bottom. Next time I'll use less syrup and boil it a bit longer so it hardens a little more. Regardless, it was delicious, and we made a happy Winter memory - so all in all, I'd say it was a big win.

Chicken and Dumplings

 “They are great in soup,” she said. “But I don’t really like soup,” I confessed to my best friend, who is convinced that soup is THE greatest thing to eat during the winter months. “It’s like drinking your food .... and I’m just not okay with that. I mean, I like to eat it maybe once a month ... but not once a week - and definitely not several times a week!”

We were talking about how to use the parsnips I have in my fridge from my CSA share. They keep piling up - like my beets - because I just can’t figure out how to get my family to eat them. And THEN ... then she said something brilliant.

”What if you add dumplings to it? Then it’s a little more hearty.” 

Spoken like a true Southerner. I just love her. And since that moment I have been dreaming about how to turn leftover chicken into chicken soup with dumplings.

I am pleased to say that I nailed this one on the first try. That doesn’t always happen, but after I took the first couple of bites I proclaimed to my family, “Man I love when something works.” And work it did.  

This is a perfect recipe for a lazy day at home (if you need to make broth) or you can make it a quick weeknight recipe by using chicken broth you already have (which is what I did). It’s cold and rainy today and this was a perfect rainy Sunday afternoon lunch.

Ingredients: 

For the soup:
2-3 cups leftover chicken
2-3 carrots, chopped (1-2 cups)
1 parsnip, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 onion  (1/2 cup)
1 cup chopped celery (I used frozen) 
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
8 cups chicken broth  
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Herbs de provence (you can also use a blend of thyme, rosemary, and whatever else you like)

For the dumplings:
1 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 tbsp butter (melted)
Pinch of herbs (I used Herbs de Provence) 

Directions:

Melt butter in a large dutch oven or soup pan. Add parsnips, carrots, onion and celery. Cook 5-7 minutes or until they smell amazing. Add a pinch of salt, garlic, and the herbs. Mix well and cook 1-2 minutes longer. Add chicken and broth. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so. While you wait, mix your dumpling ingredients, taking care not to overmix. You want it just barely incorporated. 

When your veggies are mostly tender, drop spoonfuls of the dumpling batter into the soup. When all the batter is in the pot, cover your pot and turn the heat to low. Let it cook for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the dumplings clean.

That’s it! You’re done! Chicken and dumplings as good as my Grandma used to make!

Note:  We store the leftovers separately so the dumplings don’t get mushy or fall apart. The soup will freeze well, but the dumplings won’t - but who ends up with leftover dumplings anyway?!

Celebrating Candlemas

Today marks the midway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  You guys ... that means we're halfway through Winter!!! When doing some lesson planning last week, I discovered that there's a real name for this celebratory day - Candlemas! It's mostly celebrated in Europe, but let me tell you ... I'm a huge fan and am determined to make it an annual celebration in this New England household. Although the end of Winter is misleading here in Massachusetts and we tend to have snow into the Spring, this day helps me remember that Summer WILL come - no matter how cold and snowy it might be today.

But there's an even more special thing about today ... it's the 40th day of Christmas. I know ... I know ... it's technically Epiphany and not Christmas anymore, but there's something significant about this 40 day mark. 40 days after Jesus was born, Mary & Joseph took him to the temple, where they met Simeon. Simeon had been promised that he would not die before he met the Lord's Messiah. He had waited his entire life for this day ... and upon the presentation of Jesus he knew without a doubt that this baby was the Messiah the world had been promised. 

Now, Lord you let your servant go in peace: your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people; a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel. ~Luke 2: 29-32

There's something so significant to me that we celebrate this Feast of Simeon right smack dab in the middle of Winter. Right when we are all waiting for the light to return. Right when we think we can't press on any further in these dark, cold days of winter ... we are reminded that the Light has come. That more light is on its way. That God has fulfilled ... and continues to fulfill ... his promises to us.

I mean ... how can we NOT celebrate a day like today?! When I discovered all these wonderful things about this 2nd day of February, I decided we'd make today a special day. Here's what we're up to today:

Morning Light - this is what I call our Morning Time together. This is the start of our homeschool day together and usually includes a reading from the Bible, singing our monthly hymn, talking about the weather, the calendar, and the season we are in, poetry readings, and usually a picture book of some kind. Today we lit candles all around us, learned about how people celebrate Candlemas in Europe, read the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Luke 2, watched a video of the Song of Simeon (which, by the way, gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes), talked about what we're waiting for (Me - Warmth! A - Gramma to come visit! E - someone to give us new kittens), and then I had them cozy up under blankets by the fire while I told them the fairy tale of the Snowdrop.

Art - We then moved to the kitchen counter, armed ourselves with paper and oil pastels, to create a piece of art that represented how we heard the story. I love doing this with the girls - especially with stories that have very few pictures - because it really encourages them to think about what they've read and be creative about what they imagine. After we finished our pictures and talked about what we drew, I showed them illustrations from a Kindle version of the story.

Crepes - One of the traditional ways people celebrate Candlemas is by eating crepes or pancakes - the round shape symbolizes the long days of sunshine that are up ahead; so we'll be including crepes in our dinner plan for the evening. We'll have breakfast for dinner with savory crepes full of eggs and bacon and sweet crepes full of jelly or Nutella. We love any excuse for crepes - and it's been a while since we've made them, so the girls are quite excited for tonight's dinner. And of course we'll eat by candlelight - because today is the day we celebrate light after all!!

Singing - For a week now I've had the Song of Simeon from my Lutheran youth days in my head but I've been unable to find music for it anywhere. Today a good friend came to my rescue and send me a picture of what I had been singing - and I'm so excited to share it with my girls tonight after dinner. I dearly miss good Lutheran liturgy, so I love being able to incorporate it into our family life as much as possible.

Nature Journal - Later this afternoon we'll grab our nature journals and add an entry about Snowdrops. They aren't sprouting here yet - it's still a little early for that - but it's fun to anticipate their arrival. We're hopeful that there are some in our yard ... and if not, they'll be the first bulbs we plant in the Fall!

Decorating Candles - I had great intentions to make candles today, but I never got my act together to buy wicks, so instead, we may decorate some tapered candles from Trader Joes that I have stashed in a drawer. Honestly - whether or not we get to this project is yet to be determined ... it just depends on how well my girls can get along the rest of the day. At the moment, things aren't looking so promising ;-)

Planning Seeds - This is more my activity than one that I'll share with anyone else - but hey, every Mom needs some self-care, right?! It's the time of year when we start to plant seeds for our Spring and Summer garden. Although our garden will be very small this year, as our yard is mostly shade, I do want a few plants to tend and nurture throughout the harvest months. I pulled my box of seeds out and can't wait to buy some potting soil this weekend and get our little babies under the grow lights.

It's such a joyful day ... Spring is on it's way! We've made it halfway through Winter! The days are getting longer! The light is drawing near! Before we know it we'll be playing on the beach all day! And until then, we'll remember the story of the Snowdrop. And find strength to hope for the summer we know will arrive.

It was bitingly cold, and the days that followed didn't bring a sunbeam. It was weather to freeze such a delicate little flower to bits. But there was more strength in it than even it realized. That strength was in its happy faith that summer must come, and this had been imparted by its own deep desire and confirmed by the warm sunlight. And so with patient hope it stood there in its white dress, in the white snow, bowing its head when the snowflakes fell thick and heavy or while the icy winds swept over it.

January Book List

Winter is really the best time to read. The days are shorter and SO much colder, so it's so much easier to cozy up by the fire with a good blanket and book. Although we do a good share of reading in the Summer, we have lovingly dubbed Winter to be the "reading season." And let's be real ... most of my reading these days consists of children's books - either to my kids or in preparation for future homeschooling years. We probably read 10-15 books a day most days ... and while I'll save our favorite picture books from January for another post, I thought it would be fun to see a stack of what chapter books we're digging into this month.

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street - One of the juvenile fiction books I read this month, it's such a cute story about a family in New York City who is on the verge of losing their apartment right at Christmas-time. The five siblings have eleven days to save their lease, and they come up with such clever, sweet ways to show their landlord just how much they love living there. It's a beautiful illustration of how we never know what is going on in someone's life, how sadness can be permeating if we keep walls up, and how simple acts of kindness and love can change a life. It's one that I'll pick back up come December as a bedtime read-aloud for A.

The Secret of Nightingale Wood - This is another one I found in the children's library, but it reads like a true classic. I found myself forgetting that I was an adult and falling into the storyline as if I was a 12-year-old girl. It covers some tough mental illness topics, and isn't one I'll be reading my children any time soon, but it's definitely one I'll come back to in several years when the girls are much older. Set in England in 1919, it is a fictional story of a mother who is mentally ill after the death of her son, and the struggles that the 12-year-old daughter goes through in trying to help. It raises issues surrounding depression and suicide and I think it could be a good conversation starter for talking about how we take ownership of our own health and choosing health providers that listen to us and our family members. As a reader, I loved every word of it and would recommend it to any teenager or adult. 

The Hideaway - This was my guilty pleasure book of the month - aka a great beach read or sit by the fire with a cup of tea read. It's set in the South, and I'm a sucker for good novels about people in the South. It takes me home and reminds me of my own family growing up. The story made me happy - as any good beach read should - and it reminded me how the older people in our lives all have stories that we've never heard. 

The Heart's Invisible Furies - This was my Book of the Month book for August. I started it back in August and put it down out of sheer boredom in September. But when I saw it won the award of Book of the Year from Book of the Month for 2017, I decided it was worth picking back up and pressing onward. I'm so glad I did ... it ended up being a beautifully written, thought-provoking novel about the coming of age as a homosexual in Catholic Ireland. While it didn't move me the same way A Man Called Ove did, it ends on a happy note and was well worth reading to the end. Not a BOTM member? Try it out ... I'm finding that I love every single book they send me and not a one is one I would have picked up from the library on my own.

Back Bay - I picked up Harvard Yard at a Library book sale in the fall and decided I couldn't read it until I read the first book in the series. It was nothing special, but I'm glad I read it. I learned a lot about the geographical history of Boston and a few fun tidbits about Paul Revere. It was a fun, quick read, and I'll definitely pick up Harvard Yard in the next month or so!

As Good As True - This is a brand new book that I got on my Kindle for free thanks to the Amazon First feature of Amazon Prime. A Historical Fiction book set in the 1950s, it tells the story of a Syrian woman who tries to stand up against her husband and daughter by letting a black mailman deliver their mail. There's quite a bit of domestic violence and abuse in it, so it could be a trigger for anyone who has stories of domestic violence and abuse in their life. I found it hard to read large chunks at once, but it's an incredible story of what life might be like for a minority in our society - not only in the 1950s, but also today.

River Runs Deep - I saw this on the endcap in the Children's Library a week ago and just had to grab it. It was good ... but not great. It did have some great nuggets of history that I had never heard before ... did you know that long ago there was a Doctor who turned a cave into a hospital in an attempt to cure tuberculosis? And that same cave served as a hideout for runaway slaves, who were aided by the slaves owned by the Doctor? I'm now so intrigued by Mammoth Cave, and am having the hardest time finding any adult material on it. If you know of a good book or two that tells the story of Stephen Bishop or Mammoth Cave, send it my way!

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids - I'm trying to read at least one book each month that has something to do with parenting or marriage. I come from a family where one parent was a yeller and I sometimes find myself falling down that road - particularly in times of stress or unrest. This book has been incredibly helpful in understanding how the brains of children work and how my actions and reactions help influence their emotions and actions far into the future. It not only gives helpful insights to what our children may need from us as parents, but also gives real steps that we can take to help shift our parenting from one of power and control to one of coaching and empowerment. It may be the best parenting book I've read in a long time (but truth be told ... I don't read a ton of parenting books.) She has another book out called Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings that will definitely be in my pile later this year. I need all the tips in helping my girls stop fighting and be friends for life!

Winnie-the-Pooh - Would you believe I had never read the original Winnie-the-Pooh? I read this to sweet A at bedtime and it became a great way for us to wind down after the day and just have some one-on-one cuddle time. Being the first chapter book we've read at bedtime, it started a new daily ritual for us, and for that I'm so thankful. For those of you who haven't read it, this is the first collection of Winnie-the-Pooh stories. We meet Christopher Robin, Pooh, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, and Kanga & Roo come along somewhere in the middle of the book. Written as if though the author is speaking to Christopher Robin, it has a unique writing voice that is lost in most modern children's books, and is the perfect bedtime story.

Little House in the Big Woods - These were some of my favorite books growing up - does anyone else remember watching the TV show with Michael Landon as Pa? I found the complete set of books at a thrift store some time last year and have been anxiously waiting the moment when my kids were old enough to appreciate them.  When we finished Winnie-the-Pooh and A asked for another chapter book for bedtime, this was the one I chose. When she saw we only had a few chapters left, she said, Oh Mama! Does that mean we get to read the next one soon? I love sharing some of my favorite books from childhood with her - and I'm finding that this one is really the perfect book to read together in the dark days of Winter. It's reminding me that there's beauty in simplicity, and just how lucky we are to have the things we have. It's opened up great conversation about what life used to be like and we've been able to talk about the similarities and differences between our life today and their life so many years ago.

So that's what I've been reading this month. What about you??

Embracing Winter at the Beach

I am not a Winter person. I can remember the first time I saw “real” snow. I was a sophomore at Valpo, and I walked from my apartment to my class at a turtle’s pace as I stared at the snowflakes falling on my mittens. They were beautiful. I had heard no snowflake was ever the same, but being from Georgia, my experiences with snow were rare, and mostly from inside the warmth of my house.

After that first big snow experience, though, I was over it. I hated having to bundle up every single day and hike across campus in snow boots. Three years at Valpo and three more at Akron Law and I was so totally done with snow. I moved back south as fast as I could - where I loved the occasional winter snowfall. Because it was unusual. It was beautiful. It was extraordinary.

And then we moved to Massachusetts. D knew winter would be hardest for me. He knew my thoughts about snow. And we knew Massachusetts sees a lot of it. But I'm a firm believer that weather shouldn't be your primary reason for moving - or not moving - to a certain place.

But ya'll .... winter is SO hard for me here. Cold temperatures start sometime in October and run through May - sometimes even into June. Half the year you're wearing coats, hats, and gloves. The months of February-April are just brutal ... because just when you think Spring should be on its way, you get whacked with a Spring snowstorm and below freezing temperatures. You can't start a garden until June - you don't get to eat fresh tomatoes until August - and then it seems like Spring, Summer and Fall all roll into one very short season.

It feels like the deeply cold days of Winter began a few months early this year - temperatures have been cold since mid-November, with single digit highs the last couple of weeks. While it was amazing to have a White Christmas, I'd really love if the temperatures would stay above 20 degrees. Anything much colder than that and I feel like life is just impossible. Especially with kids.

Just yesterday I found myself falling into my depths of winter despair. We bundled up and went to the library - and it was near impossible to get home without crying. The bundling and unbundling of very small children any time you go anywhere makes you just want to stay home. But when you stay home, your kids go crazy - so you feel like you just have to get out of the house every once in a while. Life will be SO much easier when we no longer have to deal with carseats and they can keep their coats on ... but with girls as small as mine are, we still have a few years before that's possible.

But some time last year, I committed to truly embracing the seasons. All of them. Even Winter.

So with the temperature nearly at 30 yesterday, and a reminder in my head that one of the reasons we moved was so that I could go to the beach anytime I wanted, we went home and grabbed our snowsuits and headed to the beach. I've never seen snow on the beach before. It was mesmerizing to watch big pieces of ice flow in and out with the waves. I could have stayed there all day had I had a fire or a big cup of hot chocolate. Well - maybe not all day ... that might be pushing it ...

When we made the decision to move near the beach, I joked with a friend of mine that one way I would embrace Winter would be to head to the beach with my snow pants on. Yesterday, I stayed true to that promise. And I'm oh so glad I did. I'm already making plans to go back in the next couple of days after this monster storm hits.

I'm learning that the trick to embracing winter is to lean in to the warm and cozy things you can do inside, while being crazy enough to bundle up and go outside just often enough to enjoy the beauty of winter.