Everyday Life

Everyday Life, Nonfiction, Quick Lit, Reading, Reviews

A Longing for Faithfulness and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

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If you read my last reading update, you know I blitzed through a bunch of new releases in the first half of the summer, some good, many not. I walked into the second half of summer with deep longing for what one might flippantly call old fashioned. I was done with the FOMO kind of reading that I get when I see exciting “Summer Reading Guides” or buzzy posts about beach reads. I was craving characters, stories, or nonfiction deeply rooted in the idea of faithfulness.

Faithfulness is the word of my heart right now. Celebrating the legacy of my husband’s grandmother this summer cemented this idea for me, giving me a word for what was a growing idea in my mind. I would love to be known as half as faithful to God, my family, and my every day work as she was. (And I should add that joyful faithfulness is really the longing here, for she was no browbeaten woman, but warm and sharp and capable and kind). There is a lot more anyone who knew her could say about her legacy, but to stay to the point of why this matters in my reading life, I realized that what I am yearning for in my thought life is a kind of mentality that doesn’t thrive in the current age. A courageous perseverance in steadily loving and caring for people, all kinds of people, without chasing after fame and followers, that commitment to something good and true over the long haul whether it’s trending or not is not popular in books, movies, or much of anything right now.

So coming into this second half of the summer, I was tempted to give myself a firm reading line, like, “No books published after 1960!” That would be ridiculous; I know by experience there are good and noble books published here and now. Even so, it’s the old books calling to me now. For fun reading, I’ve been enjoying Margery Sharpe (The Foolish Gentlewoman), Maud Hart Lovelace (my youngest girls and I read the first four Betsy-Tacy books over the school year last year, and now my oldest daughter and I have been collecting and reading all the rest of the Deep Valley books this summer), D.E. Stevenson (always), Frances Hodgson Burnett, and much more obscure titles that I have sitting on shelves all around my house, waiting for me to remember picking them up in thrift stores and book sales and come back to read them finally. There’s a measure of satisfaction I find right now even in just the act of being faithful to go back and read a book I’ve long been meaning to read.

And then I heard this title in a book group setting: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Oh! The very title is soul-filling. Published by Eugene Peterson in 1980, and revised in 2000, it’s a book on what it discipleship, or following the way of Jesus, over a lifetime looks like. It isn’t soul-crushing in its expectations for people or a lecture on what not to do at all, but a look at the way the Psalms of Ascent lead followers of God into understanding and dedication in the Christian life. It’s beautiful and clear, and I can’t recommend it more highly. I don’t know why I haven’t heard of it before, but I tend to think it all comes down to my ears perking up to that title because now is the time I should be reading it.

I also picked up Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World. It was a good wake up call for me to remember how important it is to be intentional in our decisions, not in a confrontational way, but in a guiding and focused way with our kids. Most parents want their kids to be aware of needs around them and generous and loving towards others, and also to have a resilience to face hard things as they grow up and become their own independent people in this world, but we don’t always connect how our parenting can instead make them feel a sense of entitlement that carries them right into unending self-centeredness. This book has a lot of good tips and insights for getting away from entitlement and toward generosity and thankfulness.

I’m planning to pick up a recommended mystery novel soon on audio, finish Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart (but it’s a little eerier than I expected….hoping I can stick with it), also finish Jayber Crow because I need more Wendell Berry in my life, and get back to some Gene Stratton Porter books I’ve been meaning to read for ages. As always, I would love your recommendations and hope you are finding some awesome books to carry you through the end of summer and into the back to school/back to fall season.

Faithfully,

Mia The Reader

P.S. If you’re ever curious, please see the About page for an explanation on my online nom de plume!

Everyday Life, Parenting, Quick Lit, Reading, Reviews

Thirty Minute Days and Bookends and Books

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Hey friends! What have you been reading lately? I have to admit, my reading life has been quiet lately. I do have a few good book recs for you below, but only a few right now. I was talking to a friend in a similar stage of life -parenting and homeschooling big kids, while also parenting babies and preschoolers, taking our big kids to various sports, attempting to maintain healthy relationships – and we agreed, we have a grand total of about thirty minutes of “free time” a day. That’s all the time there is right now that doesn’t involve a home task like folding laundry or a parenting moment like reading to children.

Thirty whole minutes.

Thirty minutes to exercise, reply to texts and emails, shop for anything we need online, take a shower, work on a project, or do any other thing that doesn’t involve the care and keeping of home and family. Thirty minutes to do all that is required to be the healthy, put-together, accomplished modern women we’re supposed to be. Thirty minutes to decide what’s worthwhile.

“Yep, thirty minutes,” we nodded and ruefully smiled in solidarity.

Naming that to a friend and stating it here now is simply sharing this piece of my life. It’s not to complain or to say, “someone, tell me how to squeeze out of my life more usable time for my own pursuits!” The reality is simple: that thirty minutes of free time is all I expect in a typical day. I’m learning to sit more comfortably with that reality. When I take on a project, be it writing or home improvement or anything, I know that thirty minute time slot per day is all that project is going to get in this season.

I keep on using the phrase “in this season” because I am aware that it won’t always be like this. Someday my small children won’t require my full attention in their every waking moment (side note: my 12-month-old is my biggest handful yet, y’all), because they won’t be small, and that fact catches at my heart and compels me to cherish the season for what it is. Rest assured, that’s what I’m doing. But it’s impossible to ignore this: right alongside being happily present in the glorious life season I’m in is learning to be okay in the Thirty Minute Days reality.

So for now, I do a lot of things less than I used to. Yes, I even read less than I used to. But I still read. I still breathe. The two go hand-in-hand in a way I can’t explain. Some of you know what I mean. I read a nonfiction book for a few minutes every morning before the kids get up. I read a fiction book every night before I fall asleep. I literally bookend my days. And I stay sane. Another hand-in-hand fact that I can’t explain but that is absolutely true. Bookending my days with actual books keeps me a feeling like an actual person. Sure, I wish I had more time and mental space for writing my own stuff. Someday I’ll even watch a TV series or something outside of my current norm, but for now, book ending my days and living with the fact that between those bookends, I will only have thirty minutes to pursue all the other things is alright. My prayers in these Thirty Minute Days often are only an incoherent “oh, help.” But what I’m really saying is “Please. Help me seek and share delight and love in this day without wishing anything away, help me to be wise in all these minutes, help me to live the life You called me to live with joy.”

The Books I’ve Read in October/November

The Thursday Murder Club – This is one of those books whose characters you instantly fall in love with and whose pages you can’t turn fast enough. The pace of the plot was perfect, the setting so real, and the writing both humorous and thoughtful. I wouldn’t call myself a big mystery lover, but if I am going to like a mystery, it’s gotta’ have a lot of good literary elements around it. Five stars. (Just got the sequel on my Kindle from the library — squee!)

The Last Chance Library – A novel that’s an ode to local libraries and the people who love them, as well as a delayed coming of age narrative that’s becoming more common in modern storytelling. I liked the setting, the writing style, and most of the characters (the main character was a bit exasperating, but that’s part of the plot). I sure did want to go to my local library simply to be there every time I picked up this book! Four stars.

The Pearl Thief – I have waited far too long to pick up this prequel to Code Name Verity and I hereby swear to read everything by Elizabeth Wien as quickly as possible. Her two books I’ve read so far are a unique combination of quality characters navigating the new postmodern world after WWI and into WWII with fabulous settings and plenty of action to keep readers absolutely enthralled.

Gentle and Lowly – I started this in September on the recommendation (and as a gift from) my parents and have since realized lots and lots of people are reading this book right now and that is a very good thing. It’s full of the kind of truths churched people need to hear as much as unchurched people about who God is and how God really loves us all. I have to admit, I don’t always love the writing style – when you read as many Puritan writers as Dane Ortlund, that probably tends to affect your own writing a bit – but the content is profound. Simple, but profound, and profoundly lost in my own reading of the Bible often. I always take my time with nonfiction (I mean, I give it about ten minutes a day so yeah, that’s going to take a while), but this is a book I’m going through even more slowly than my usual pace, taking it in each short chapter in a morning and thinking it over for a few days between. I’ve got two more chapters to go. Five stars.

Wonderland – Not my favorite middle grade novel I’ve read lately. Too rushed, too heavy, too many characters left undeveloped. 2 stars.

Honey – A short and light story by the author of Pie, my favorite middle grade novel I read this year. I’m thinking of reading it aloud to my kids in the next few weeks. Honey doesn’t have as compelling a mystery or fully developed characters as Pie, but it’s a solid book just the same. 3.5 Stars.

A Place to Hang the Moon – I already read this beautiful, moving book by myself earlier this year. Now, one of my children is studying this time period in school, so it didn’t bother me at all to read this one again, this time aloud to my kids. They are enjoying it and asking lots of good questions about the historical time period (they’re ages 12, 10, 7, and 4). I don’t know that I would pick it to read aloud to just my 7-year-old or 4-year-old, it’s really more geared towards the 8 and above group, but it’s the kind of quality literature that everyone can get something out of. (Psst – I did skip parts of the “rat catching” chapter since I knew that one is kind of graphic for the little ones and largely unnecessary for the plot).

I’ve also got a lot of books piling up on my To-Be-Read shelf (aka my nightstand) but as you can imagine, lines from the song “Let It Be” play in my mind pretty constantly in these days. You know, in these Thirty Minute Days I keep going on about…they go by in about thirty minutes, too, it seems, so the name has double meaning! But the books will still be there when I get to them, won’t they?

Until then, happy reading and here’s to living joyfully in whatever season you find yourself in today.

Much love to you,

Mia/Alana

Everyday Life, Parenting

Our Summer Morning Tasks

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I adore summer. The warmth, the long days of sunshine, the swimming, the freedom from schedules, the way we can eat on the back porch and jump right into playing and reading and creating all day long…I could go on and on. But seven people in a household creates quite a mess of laundry and food prep and house cleaning, with or without an ongoing school year! So even though it’s summer, we have to crack the figurative whip to keep everyday work from drowning us. Enter, our summer morning task list! It’s not rocket science, but man is it life changing for us. Each day has its own special task that my three oldest kids take part in.

I love this system so much, and though they probably wouldn’t readily admit it, I can tell my kids are pretty happy with it, too. Our sudden drop in responsibilities to start the day from school to no school had us all feeling unhinged after the first week. I’m finding that even at a young age, kids crave a sense of accomplishment and collaboration to start off their days. When kids pursue all fun all the time, they can feel the imbalance of reward with no effort, but when we’ve worked together to beat a challenge, even something as mundane as a dirty living room, and then we go on an outing or simply soak up time at home building Lego creations and playing in the backyard, there’s a sense of rightness to it everyone can feel and appreciate.

Between our Summer Morning Tasks, our own fun Summer Reading program (courtesy of Pam Barnhill), and our neighborhood pool, things are almost zen around here. (If you believe that, you think better of us than you should, haha! I have an almost teenager and a 7-month-old with three kids in between, after all!) But you know you’re in a good season of life when your biggest complaint is not being able to find a good summer fiction read. Sob. Nothing I’ve read lately has ended up being very good, which makes me terribly sad. You’ve got to help me! I always struggle with novels this time of year because there’s a lot of buzz around “beach reads” and the stereotypical beach read can be kind of airy, lacking substance. I’m going to give Next Year in Havana a try because it looks so summery and rich and I’ve heard good things, but I’m taking all recs.

Until next time, happy reading and happy summer!

Children's Books, Everyday Life, Homeschooling, Nonfiction, Parenting

Favorite How-To Books for Kids

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Hi, readers! Can you believe it’s almost summer vacation time! Maybe you’re dreading all that free space in your children’s lives, or maybe you’re like us right now: every May, as our school year winds down, everything we’ve been doing all year suddenly feels unbearably stale and burdensome. Our minds have already taken in a lot, and they’re begging us, “Please, not one more date and important historical event to remember, not another science fill-in-the-blank sheet! For heavens sake, do not give us another “fun” book report assignment!” As the seasons transition to more sunshine and energy, we naturally want to run and play.

So how do we finish the academic year strong?

Or how do we keep our minds engaged all summer without killing our souls with more of the same schoolish stuff?

We pull out some how-to books and learn some skills with our hands!

Here are our current favorite how-to books. I’d love more ideas if you have them!

Sewing School 1 and Sewing School 2 – These books are so perfect for kids who want to learn to sew. They include pictures and detailed instructions, patterns…everything but the actual sewing materials. The projects are very doable in just a few hours (or less!) and will appeal to both girls and boys. My six-year-old daughter, nine-year-old son, and eleven-year-old daughter have all enjoyed these projects! If you don’t have a sewing machine for the projects in Sewing School 2, this machine has been awesome for us. I am a very out of practice and mediocre seamstress, so I am totally re-learning as I go along with the help of these books.

Cooking Class – This is the best starter cookbook for ages 5-8! The recipes in Cooking Class are easy to follow along, tasty, use mostly wholesome ingredients, and don’t require trips to the store every time your student asks to make something from her very own cookbook. I gave this to one of my six-year-old for Christmas and she has made many recipes out of it. They were all delicious and crowd pleasers.

In Bloom – As I mentioned in a recent Things that are Saving My Life post, I love this book even more than my kids do. We also have several other how-to-draw books, like this one about cartoon cars and this one about horses. I have heard amazing things about the classic Drawing with Children and have had it on my shelf from my mom’s days of homeschooling for years, but haven’t pulled it out yet. Next week I plan to open it up and try it. Maybe I’ll do the Brave Learner method and sit down with the book at the kitchen table by myself, start drawing, and see what happens….

The Redwall Cookbook– Any cookbook based on whatever literature/books your kids are into right now will be a welcome change to an otherwise ho-hum school or summer day. My two oldest have been devouring the Redwall series, and my son is always raving about how good the feasts sound. Both he and his older sister were so excited to get this from the library! Until they realized it features quite a lot of vegetables…English mice and other animals have very different tastes than American children, apparently! But they have been writing up grocery lists for me based on the dessert section, and that has been worth it.

That wraps up our favorite how-to books that are keeping us sane as we finish up the school year. May is also the time of the year I seek out a movie or two based on the literature or history or whatever connections to our studies I can draw. Last year we finished out with the film version of our literature read-aloud, Anne of Green Gables. This year I don’t see an obvious connection between what we’ve beens studying: The Gold Rush and Simon Bolivar, and also Newton’s Laws of Motion…any ideas for me??

I hope your school year ends well and your summer gets off to a great start! I’ll be back with some book reviews in just a few days, but until then, Happy Reading!

Everyday Life

Colored Pencils to Cookbooks to Coffee at 2:00 – Things That Are Saving My Life, Winter ’21

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A few years ago, I attended a delightful favorite things party that was disastrous for me. You may know about these parties…they’re like high stakes cookie swaps. Instead of swapping cookies, you bring a small item that gives you an inordinate amount of joy, and leave with someone else’s favorite item. I went to this party and watched twenty of my friends and acquaintances share their favorite little things, and I realized I hadn’t stopped to appreciate any little things in a long time. The thing I brought to that party wasn’t really much of a favorite of mine at all.

Since that wake up call, I’ve been keeping a list. I like to save my Favorite Things list to share in the dead of winter when Anne Bogel asks on her blog “What’s saving your life right now?” February can be a hard month. We’re so over winter at this point, but hibernation isn’t an option. Drat. As I looked over my list this year, I noticed that some of my lifesavers are products but the most important are practices. So, as we enter yet another month of gray, wintery weather, I hope that seeing some of the items or practices getting me through winter will stir you to think about your own favorites and how you can make the rest of this season more livable.

Prismacolor Pencils are our favorite!
  1. 2:00 O’clock Coffee Break – Instead of asking myself at 10:00 a.m., 11:18 a.m., and 1:37 p.m., “Should I make another cup of coffee?” I have decided once and for all that at 2:00 p.m., I will sit down with a second cup of coffee. I like to read or write while I drink that second cup, but sometimes I jot down a list or grade somebody’s schoolwork. Often I’m holding/nursing my 3-month-old. But I look forward to the 2:00 o’clock cup every day, even if the “break” only lasts 10-15 minutes.
  2. Friday grocery pick ups – Here’s another “decide once” life saver. I load my Aldi Instacart all week and then pick it up on Friday morning. Finally, we have food on the weekend, and I don’t have to stress over when I’m going to grocery shop every week. I also stick to theme nights for meal planning, like Kendra Adachi recommends in her book. It goes something like Monday Soup, Tuesday Tacos, Wednesday Roast Something, Thursday Convenience Food, Friday Pizza, Saturday Grill, Sunday Leftovers.
  3. Saturday Chores – Much like the Friday grocery pick up decision, the Saturday chores give me peace all week. When Thursday comes and I think, “Eesh, our bedroom carpet really needs vaccuming!” I don’t have to expend any energy wailing “When will it ever get done?” because I know: Saturday. We clean the bathrooms and vacuum everywhere, and I thoroughly clean the kitchen. Even if that’s all that gets truly clean some weeks, we’ve got a baseline that makes me feel less crazed in the brain.
  4. Prismacolor Pencils and Sharpener – Our homeschool is so much more enjoyable with these colored pencils. We do our map work with them and whatever other coloring we do, for school or fun. They are silky smooth and rich in color, and actually last a very long time! We’ve had our set for five years and use it daily. The Prismacolor sharpener is also a must! Regular pencil sharpeners wreak havoc on these soft pencil cores. Last winter (before I spent most of my down time holding Baby #5), I really enjoyed these pencils and In Bloom: A Step-by-Step Guide to Drawing Lush Florals. I’m completely inexperienced at drawing, so if I can enjoy it, anyone can! [On the art supply front, I am in search of good markers! Crayola just isn’t cutting it, so if you have some markers you love, let me know [Edit 4/26/21: We actually have come to love Crayola Supertips, thanks to Leanne for recommending them!]
  5. Ethique Shampoo Bar – I started 2020 trying to reduce plastic use in my home. Some of my attempts didn’t work out at all. Clean Cult products didn’t actually clean very well. Darn. But the Ethique shampoo bars are perfectly amazing. I started with a sample pack and found that my favorite is the Frizz Wrangler. It both cleans and moisturizes; I don’t even use conditioner anymore. I would use this shampoo bar even if I weren’t trying to reduce plastic. I also can honestly recommend Dropps laundry detergent. I switched from Tide with Bleach to Dropps and I can’t tell a difference. Our family of seven goes through a 210 pod order twice per year, and I love that it’s a subscription I don’t have to think about.
  6. The Whole30 Cookbook – Laugh if you want but these recipes are seriously good! We use a lot of them whether we’re in the middle of a Whole30 or not. My kids love the Italian Meatball Soup and I cook the Cherry Chipotle Chicken and the Chicken Cutlets with Roasted Pears on the reg (that second recipe is on the page linked above).
  7. Kindle Paperwhite – My Kindle is a crucial part of my reading life right now. Even though I prefer paper books, I wouldn’t get half as much reading done if I couldn’t read in the dark while holding baby Peter. I bought one for my husband for Christmas this year because I knew he would get a lot more chances to read if he had a backlit e-reader, too. (Hint – the refurbished ones work great!)
  8. The Convect Bake Mode – A friend recently told me that the fancy convect mode on my oven really just means that the fan continuously blows the heat around the whole oven so the bake is even. What??? I have been bemoaning my gas oven for two years and how the bottom is so much hotter than the top. I have to put everything on the highest wrack possible and things like cookies still have blackened bottoms and pale tops! I tried convect bake a couple of times last week and the difference was amazing. I should’ve read that user manual a long time ago. (Thanks, Megan! I owe you a batch of evenly baked cookies!)

9. Adoration – Introduced to me by Sara Hagerty’s book Adore, this idea has really meant a lot to me lately.

I’d love to hear what’s saving your life this winter, too! And for more Favorite Things on this blog, follow the links below. May the rest of your winter be warm and cheerful and full of good things, especially good books!

The Things that are Saving My Life Right Now – A Favorite Things Redemption Story

Favorite Things, 2018 Winter Edition

What’s Saving My Life, 2019 Winter

Cherries and Wicker – A Summer Favorite Things List