What's In My Teapot?

For this book review, I enlisted the help of one of my in-house experts: my soon-to-turn-eight-years-old daughter! It wasn't a difficult assignment: I just asked Elasa which Christmas book, from the small stack I lugged home from the library, she liked best, and without hesitation she brought me this one: The Christmas Tugboat , by George Matteson and Adele Ursone and with paintings by James E. Ransome. I had my own hesitations since the story is about how a tugboat helps to bring the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to New York City, and we don't even do Christmas trees, but the story is so appealing from several other aspects that I thought it was worthy of mention! For starters, Christmas aside, this is a really fascinating book about tugboats and a lot can be learned from the viewpoint of the narrator, who is a child! Secondly, it is a really neat family story, since the girl's father is a New York Harbor tugboat captain, and he takes his wife and daughter

Our family started the tradition of celebrating Advent last year (read more about it in this post ) and since it was a highlight for us, there was little question about us doing it again this year!  Even though I don't regret starting this tradition, it did remind me that one should always be careful what one starts, for children are good at holding you to it and often remember nitty, gritty details and want to do them, too! Last year we decorated our little paper milk cartons on the day before Thanksgiving, and that was one thing in particular that the children remembered and thought we should repeat, and so we did! The only difference was that last year Wesley was at a meeting and this year he was home- albeit peeling 10 pounds of potatoes for the next day's festivities- so I think I liked this year's version better!!! It takes a surprising amount of time to decorate 24 cardboard boxes, but the children stuck with it to the end and kept their creative juices

Am I the only one wondering exactly how we arrived at December with such unprecedented speed? It really does not seem like a whole year ago that we celebrated Advent, had an anniversary, watched Elasa blow out her birthday candles...and here we are: doing it over again after what feels like a span of about seven months! If time really does speed up the older you get, there may well come a time when the decorations will just stay up year round because the year will only be about a month long, anyway! I had some trouble (again!) coming up with a book of the month for December! I had vague ideas of what I wanted, but nothing turned up in all my searching that quite matched what was in my head. I guess it rarely does, so I should not have been surprised. What I did find in my searching was a disturbing number of cowboy and Amish romance novels with Christmas themes. All I want for Christmas Is a Cowboy was one such title, so you can see why I was having some trouble! The book I d

Thanks to random.org for its help in generating a random number, we have a winner... And the winner is none other than my very own MOM!!! Mom commented: "This book sounds intriguing! Maybe I could read this on some of these long winter evenings." Well, Mom, now that you have a book to read coming your way, all you need is a good snowstorm and a cup of tea to go with it! It is not the easiest read, but I hope you find it as inspiring as I did! Two people borrowed the book while it was still in my keeping and they both found it challenging and worthwhile, so I am hoping that this book's message can continue to inspire all who read it to choose the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is the way of the cross, but it is also the way of joy, and just as the life of Chiara Corbella Petrillo bore witness to that reality, so can each of ours, as well. Special thanks to all who entered! I always end up wishing I could give a prize to everyone who puts their nam

A book that was written as a witness to the life of a woman who died of cancer at the age of 28 sounds really, really sad and depressing. And the fact is, it is sad. In a perfect world, stories like Chiara's would not need to be written. But the title, A Witness to Joy gives us a hint that there is something different about this story, something greater than grief and mortality. Indeed, one cannot get away from the notes of redemption and triumph. And oh, yes, the joy! Inexplicable, holy joy that could only come from one source... The story of Chiara Corbella Petrillo is astonishing. Told by her very close friends, Simone Troisi and Cristiana Paccini, it is a personal account of her life, mainly starting with her courtship and marriage to Enrico. Then comes the first blow: their first child will not survive beyond birth. The couple refused to abort, even under pressure, and saw it as their mission to immediately accompany this baby to her encounter with God. Chiara

Now and then, it's fun to be a part of the making of a new tradition. And when the new tradition is part an effort to send Christmas packages to children the world over, it makes it all the more worthwhile. This year was actually the third year running that my family got together to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas child . Those who are interested in participating choose how many boxes they want to fill and buy what they want to put in their boxes, then we get together to look at the collections, stuff our boxes to the gills, and talk about where our boxes might end up. Ukraine? Syria? India? A tribe that never heard the Gospel before? Operation Christmas Child gives wings to our gifts, and we can only dream of the delight behind the children's eyes as they unpack their goodies. Perhaps the only Christmas gift they ever received? Here are a few of the things that made their way into our boxes: a baby doll with a homemade blanket, stuffed sock monkeys and othe

When I push the little orange "publish" button up in the corner of my screen tonight, and send this post spiralling out into the vast stratosphere of the World Wide Web, it will officially be my 100th published post!!! Hurray for the all-inspiring number 100 !!! I briefly thought that maybe I should make a list of 100 children's books in order to celebrate, but that notion lasted about 5 seconds. I may be a certified night owl, but even I want to get to bed before daybreak!!! Therefore, I decided on the number 10, which is neatly related to 100, and even looks a little like it...just missing one little zero, that's all! Since we are in the month of November (how, I am still trying to figure out!) my mind naturally went to the special holiday of the month as I considered which children's books to review. The other thing that got me on this track was that a friend of mine asked me on Sunday if I had any good Thanksgiving books to recommend for her to rea

There are a million things to do and my house is a genuine wreck, so I decided to do the only logical thing left to do when faced with a mountain... Sit down and write about it. Writing is a genuinely soothing thing to do (most of the time) and it's even better therapy than soaking in the tub (which, by the way, needs a good scrubbing) or sitting on my bed with a good book (which, by the way, has the sheets stripped off at the moment.) Whatever happened to TGIF ( T hank G oodness I t's F riday)? Shouldn't I be excited about a weekend of work and crossing things off my weighty "to-do" list? Well, for starters, whoever coined that handy little phrase may have been a homeschooling Mom putting her books away for the weekend, but it certainly wasn't someone who had cleaning the attic on her agenda. In truth, I am pretty sure it was someone with a maid. Oh, yes...and plans to spend Saturday shopping and sipping coffee at Starbucks. My reality is a li

When it comes to fall, I often play the part of the pessimist. Sidewalks slick with sludgy leaves? Check. Dead flowers and bedraggled tomato plants. Uh-huh. Early darkness and everlastingly cold feet. Yup, that would be fall. And yet... There is more to the story. There are days like today when the sky dares you to come up with a prettier shade of blue, and the leaves on your neighbor's Japanese Maple look like fine-cut velvet. There are days like today when the pumpkins and mums sitting around on front porch stoops actually look attractive, instead of just imposters replacing the marigolds. There are days like today when the air describes the word mild and the temperature hovers right there in that perfect zone of comfort. Maybe fall isn't such a bad idea after all? On days like these, Fall redeems itself and gives pessimistic people like me the smallest of smirks. "Lovely, aren't I?" "Take this, thou lover of hot, muggy Summer!&quo

Ahhh, but it's good to be back! This break with blogging has been a little like vacation, where it's good to go, but even better to be home again. And just like with vacations, I am arriving "home" with all kinds of things to say, but with so little time to say it in between regrouping and getting back into the groove! Did I miss writing? Yes. Did I learn some important things that I hope to remember in the coming days/months/years? Yes. Did I suddenly have all manner of things to say as soon as it was off limits? Yes. Was I bored without it? No. After all, there was a family wedding (Wesley's youngest sister was married on Saturday) and two dresses to sew for the occasion, a two- year- old in the throes of potty-training, four showers (you know, the celebration kind involving food and gifts!) many days of second grade, a field trip to a farmer's market with two sisters-in-law and a total of 8 children ages 8 and under, and lots of normal life th

Sometimes God’s voice is heard through the wind; sometimes through the fire. And sometimes it is heard through the broken modem, that integral little box that sits in the basement and connects our computers to the World Wide Web. I was tempted to look at this broken box as an annoyance and a nuisance. And at first I did. But suddenly, there was God, putting His finger on my internet usage and my blog and I started seeing this as an opportunity. Here was my opportunity to purposefully turn away from something that has become too important to me over the past year. Here was my opportunity to turn the time that I have been using to read blogs, write, look up recipes and browse Pinterest into learning more about God and serving my family. Here was my opportunity to fast. There is only one problem: I hate fasting. Of all the spiritual exercises that we are admonished to keep, this is one that really makes me squirm. And if I am being asked to give something up for a while, cou

Sorry to keep you all waiting with bated breath!!! Our internet is down at home, thanks to a broken modem, so I had to wait until we could come to the library this evening to plug into their service. So here I am, sitting on a child's chair at a child's table and figuring all of this out while the children play and look for books. Not a bad arrangement. And now- on to the part you've been waiting for... Who is the winner of the $20.00 gift card to Amazon? Christie!!! Who commented, "I have a list of children's books I want to get. With four children age four and under, some new books would be a lifesaver this winter. I love stopping by your blog. You are a great writer." It's a pleasure to have you stop by, Christie, and I am thrilled to have you win this on behalf of you and your children! Happy reading... And thanks to all the rest of you for joining, too! Its great to hear from some kindred spirits out there who love books