Books I Read in 2019
At the end of 2018, I got together with some girlfriends, and one of them showed us her list of books she had read that year. I loved the idea and decided to keep track of the books I read. I’m sure there are apps out there, but I just opened up a note page on my phone and started listing them. I didn’t set a goal for how many I wanted to read, I just wanted a place to keep track. Wanna take a guess how many I read, though? 143! WHOA! I kept track of all the physical books and the e-books I read. I listed every book…
My Letter to Santa
All I want for Christmas is. . . . . .to create memories with my family . . .to slow down and enjoy the moment . . .to give the gifts that people want and need . . .to be an answer to someone’s prayer . . .to mindfully enjoy holiday food . . .to reflect on childhood memories . . .to enjoy family traditions . . .to celebrate with friends . . .to capture the smiles . . .to remember the true meaning of Christmas
7 Christmas Books to Add to Your List
Here are a few of the books we have read and re-read over the years. The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore We tried to memorized this story once. This Christmas classic was first published anonymously in 1823. It tells the story of St. Nicholas climbing down the chimney and filling all the stockings before springing back to his sleigh. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson A fun story about a mom who directs the church Christmas pageant and is joined by the Herdman siblings, or “the worst kids in the history of the world.” Christmas magic abounds as they hear the Christmas story for the first time…
Freedom to Choose
I’ve been taking a writing class with a friend. I’m taking it for two reasons: learn how to be a better writer and learn how to be a writing coach. The class I’m teaching for our homeschool group requires a lot of writing, and I want to help the scholars with their writing skills. The writing class was pretty basic–watch a few videos and write a paper on the prompt given at the end of each. Then give feedback on another paper. We ended up writing 3 papers. The mentor teaching the class also gave feedback on one of the papers. Below is the final paper I wrote and that…
One Sentence Journal
Today I just want to share an idea with you that I found interesting and want to try to implement myself. The idea was sparked from a combination of things: a podcast about telling a better story, a book that talked about a one sentence journal, and me always looking for ways to make my journaling better and easier. The podcast about telling a better story was an interview with Matthew Dicks. I’ve never heard of him, but I liked what he taught. There is definitely power in being able to tell a good story. Matthew shared a tip to help practice story telling. At the end of each day…
An Act of Goodwill
When 4 out of 5 kids are sick we watch a lot of movies. One of the ones we watched last week was called Klaus. Yes, it’s a Christmas movie. And, yes, we watched it before Thanksgiving. It’s not my style to do anything Christmas-y before December 1st, but I was looking for something new, and it looked entertaining. The movie is about the bratty son of a prestigious postman. The wealthy father is trying to train his son, Jesper, to be a postman, but Jesper has no ambition and deliberately does things to distinguish himself as the worst student. He doesn’t think he needs to learn anything and should…
An A to Z Gratitude List
November is traditionally a month for gratitude. Some people create a daily gratitude post for social media. Others use prompts and write in a gratitude journal every day. Others wait until they are gathered around the Thanksgiving table to share things they are grateful for with their friends and family. How do you share your gratitude during November? I haven’t been as focused this year on gratitude as I have been in the past. For the past year, every night I write down 5 specific things from that day that I am grateful for and that seems to have filled a need. But, in general, there are things that I…
My Winnie-the-Pooh Experience
7 years ago I read Winnie-the-Pooh for the first time. I don’t know why it took me so long to read the books, but now I love the stories and adventures of Christopher Robin and his little friends in the 100-acre wood. The kids and I often share favorite parts and allude to characters and scenes from the book. The following is a post I wrote soon after I read the book along with The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Please share comment below with your feelings about Winnie-the-Pooh. ************************************************************************I’ve never liked Winnie-the-Pooh. I always thought he was boring and dumb. But a new book caused me to see…
How Fairy Tales Teach Emotional Intelligence
I recently heard a quote by Einstein that intrigued me: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” I immediately went to the library, pulled a bunch of fairy tales off the shelves, and brought them home with every intention to read them aloud to my kids. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of summer, and our read aloud time was pretty much non-existent. All the fairy tales went back to the library without having been read. Am I really worried about my kids not being intelligent because they haven’t read enough fairy…
10 Things to be Happy About
I’m sure you’ve heard that song by Pharrell Williams from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack—Happy. It’s a peppy, upbeat song all about nothing being able to drag him down because he’s happy. No matter what happens in his life, he chooses to be happy. It’s a good message. Happiness is a choice. The people over at Lifehack give a few tips for choosing happiness. Figure out what happiness means to YOU. Choose to be around the right people. Help others. Take care of your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. What makes you happy? Sometimes creating lists helps remind you that there is a lot to be happy about. Here…
