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susie spurgeon, turkey chili, and happiness.
Susannah “Susie” Spurgeon was the wife of Charles Spurgeon, a famous British pastor in the mid 1800’s. I’ve been contemplating her life as a pastor’s wife lately. Susie had a difficult life. As a cultured, newly married young woman who loved travel, art, and literature, she developed a debilitating illness that required major surgery, and left her in pain and mostly house-bound for the rest of her life. The illness may also have caused her to be infertile after the birth of her twin sons. If there was anyone who had an excuse to opt out of ministry, Susie did. Her marriage to Charles was a strong and joyful one,…
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judah’s book club.
So, Judah started a book club! The idea has been marinating with him for a couple years now, and in 2019 we were ready to make it happen. We chose a book together around Thanksgiving, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier. It’s one I discovered through the Read-Aloud Revival, and we both read separately and enjoyed. Then we went about inviting friends. Judah’s stipulation was that his book club be for friends age 10 and up. He’s part of a great class of kids in Classical Conversations, and had a couple other friends he wanted to invite, so I sent an email to parents, suggesting that the…
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monday update.
Happy April, blog friends! There seem to be various and sundry things to update you on, so I’ll consolidate into one post and try not to be too long-winded. Last week just so happened to be our single busiest week of the semester. We knew it was coming. We prepared in advance for it. But it was still a doozy. David had not one, but two out of town trips, and I had a couple big commitments here at home. I managed to get sick smack in the middle of everything with a sort of sinus thing, probably pollen-related, which I’m still battling. But God was faithful, my mother-in-law was…
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road trip reflections.
Hello friends! It was fun to sit and read back through our Road Trip blog posts in preparation for writing to you today. It’s been six months since the trip, which we took in September, 2018. I gathered some of my favorite pictures from our experience, and have a few reflections as I think back. But first: if you’re new to the blog and would like to follow our actual trip, start here. To summarize: In 19 days we drove 6,000 miles total to the Grand Canyon and back (actually the farthest point west we reached was Las Vegas), through 19 states (hey, 19 states in 19 days!), three time…
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master bedroom 2019.
Two years ago today we were neck-deep in our master bedroom addition. We were preparing for a church New Member’s class and I was shedding tears because there was a giant hole in our living room wall, our front yard was a mud pit, and there was a good possibility that the roofers would not be finished in time for us to welcome 25 people into our home. Well, guess what. We survived that season and that New Member’s class. I’ve learned so much since then. I’ve learned that a brand new toilet and crisp white subway tile still get dirty in the regular disgusting ways that any bathroom gets…
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authors & adventures.
I can’t believe we’re nearing spring break, and I’m only just posting about our homeschool group. We officially have a name now, folks! It’s Authors & Adventures (which we make sure to shorten to A&A, not AA). So, if you’re curious why our family feels the need to be apart of not one but two homeschool groups, let me explain: Classical Conversations helps us with our academics and curriculum. And Authors & Adventures provides the fun extra stuff: field trips and book clubs. We’re blessed that both groups have provided wonderful community and friendships — for both me and my kiddos. My friend Kelly started Authors & Adventures…
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a march cold front and warm hats.
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on daily bible reading in 2019.
I’ve been a professing born-again believer for most of my life, and therefore I’ve been reading my Bible for most of my life. I don’t take that for granted, you know. Being raised in a home where spending time learning God’s Word was the norm, something I was encouraged to do almost without thinking. That heritage was a gift given to me by the Lord that I did nothing to deserve. And honestly, I’ve had varying and changeable motivations for reading my Bible (or as I’ve called it “having a quiet time”) over the years, probably the primary one being from my Enneagram One-ness, which, if you’ll remember, is the…
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first knitting projects.
I did it! I completely two whole knitting projects. Let me tell you about them. About a week ago, I finally tried the original hat pattern I linked in my last post, and came up with this: Yep, a little lumpy. Clearly, I didn’t actually finish; I got most of the way there, learned some things, and then, lo and behold, found an amazing beginner hat tutorial on Youtube that I decided to try instead. It was so amazing, in fact, that this was my second project: Doesn’t it look great!? Such a difference. Now I will confess that the above hat was actually intended for my dad,…
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knitting update.
Happy Friday, dear friends! I thought it would be fun to give you a little update on knitting, because I’ve been practicing lots this winter. I’m nowhere near an expert or have even completed a single project, so why on earth am I writing a blog post about it? Because it’s fun! I don’t think I realized I could enjoy the process of learning a new skill so much — when I don’t even have results yet. I’d also like to take this opportunity to tell you what I’ve discovered so far. That way, if you decide to try your hand at knitting, maybe it will save you some time…
