Hello, Friends! 🍂✨🍁 My kids and I did some much needed yard/deck garden cleanup as well as a foul pile in our basement. 🙄🫣🤣 Feels so good to have it done! ☑️ Today is a gorgeous gray, fallish type of day with a gentle, breeze swirling the leaves. 🍂 We aren’t huge Halloween 👻 celebrators, but I did use a few stickers in my to-do list!
I’m loving working on my list, because now that those two big projects are done, I can turn to journals, penpals, and READING plans/crafting! Squee!
Starting setting up my new 2027 Daily Pocket Moleskine! I glue a lot of the pages they have in front together and use them for my purposes and will seasonally decorate the month pages. I don’t usually pre-decorate the daily pages unless I know I’m going on a trip etc! I love the little touch of creativity waiting for me each morning. ☕️
Letters going out to pen pals !! and if I could just find my packing tape, I could finish a package and letter! 😂🙄😡 I am slowly catching up and I’m so excited because I have a few new penpals in my list next! 💌📬
Hubby got me these flowers this morning! 💐 😻♥️✨what a blessing!
I’m finalizing my thoughts on Victober 2026 and hope to come back soon to chat a bit about what I read! Spoiler, I had a WONDERFUL Victober! So thankful! 🥹
Turning a calendar page…bittersweet. 🥹♥️✨Fun picture books from the public library! ♥️✨😻 We especially LOVED Applesauce Season! Thanks, Jen, for the recommendation!
Homeschooling is going pretty well, thank God! A few adjustments here or there, but we are getting into a groove. My oldest/senior took a duel enrollment class and did well! Sound Foundations dyslexia curriculum is going well for my current two dyslexics! I finished A Lion to Guard Us with one of my youngers and it brought back memories of reading it with my 21 yo old! 🥹🥹🥹 We are actually really enjoying Colonial/American Revolutionary time period. It’s a newer batch of kids this time through! 😂 The Chronicles of Narnia has been such a blessing AGAIN.
I have lots of little reading plans and hopeful ideas and dreams for writing and creating in the new coming year. Isn’t it lovely to have something to look forward to? ☺️😍😌 How are you? Anything new and neat you are creating, planning, or dreaming of? I’d love to hear! 🎃✨
listening 🍂~ my sister recommended Jervis Campbell to me and on my initial listen, I’m loving it! I can’t wait to take some time to read his lyrics and dive in a bit more. I’m STILL plugging away at The Pickwick Papers and it’s cracking me up all the while annoying me, also! 😂 Good ‘ole Dickens. I’m carrying it over into November.
watching 🍁~ Thanks to Kim 😅, I’ve enjoyed episodes of Cinderella and the Four Knights on YouTube. A wee repetitive, but over all, very sweet and funny. My littlest and I really enjoyed Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin. 🎃I kind of want to rewatch it again soon! 😂 We watched a couple episodes of Over the Garden Wall, but they are CREEPY for my youngest! We’ve been keeping tabs on the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series, too! Very exciting! I’m a fair-weather Wisconsin sports fan. I only pay attention when any of them are doing well! 🤣 My 17 yo daughter is a super Brewers fan, so she is over the moon! Let’s go, Brewers! 😁✨Tonight could be the night! ⚾️
reading 🍂~ I’m most excited about The Emmanuel Promise by Summer Joy Gross. I’m a couple chapters in and I can tell it’s going to be a powerful read for me! 🥹♥️🙏🏻 I’m really enjoying a last minute Victober addition , Ayala’s Angel by Anthony Trollope! I have many piles to choose from, but my mood seems to be shifting to beautifully-written children’s literature, nonfiction, and historical fiction.
noticing 🍁~ I was so blessed to attend a women’s retreat with my sister and the weather and scenery were SO breathtaking! It was so nice to relax and catch up with her. I also saw the strangest sight near my home this past week. A heron on top of a 40 foot tree! 😂 My hubby snapped a photo as I was driving.
What are you listening to, watching, reading, noticing? 🍂🍁✨🎃♥️
The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy (Book 1) plus Sophie on my lap! 🥰🐈
Happy Monday! ☕️ I’ve been a bit MIA and I’ve missed poking around blog land. How are you? I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite hobby and decided it would be fun to share my reading themes/genres/buzzwords with you! If I can I will give you an example of a book I’ve read! Many of these are mashups of others, but I’ll categorize them under the MAIN subject they fall under. I won’t be necessarily going deeply into plot or content, so please check into it before reading yourself or handing to child. ♥️ If there’s heavy content, I’ll mention that, but MOST of the books I read are on the sweet 😅 end. This of course, it’s not an exhaustive list, but a few of my favorites from recent memories. 🥰♥️📚
Historical Mystery 💕~ Matthew Shardlake Series (Tudor Time period – gruesome), Maisie Dobbs (Interwar Time period), Man of Shadow & Mist by Michelle Griep, The Mysteries of Pendowar Hall by Syrie James are a few I’ve loved! Newer-to-me The Bangalore Detectives Club!
Historical Fantasy💕 ~Green Rider Series (check content), My Happy Marriage Light Novel Series, Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst, The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw, James Rollins (check content) and Michael Crichton (content). The Will of Many was fantastic.
HistoricalFiction 💕~ Laura Frantz books, A Gentleman in Moscow, and author Catherine Richmond books, I loooved her Through Rushing Water. The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas was fantastic Biblical historical fiction. Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini!
Nature/Seasonal Driven 💕~ Gladys Taber’s memoirs about her farm, Robert MacFarlane’s poetry book The Lost Spells. A lot of L.M. Montgomery’s novels has this, try Pat of Silverbush and Mistress Pat! The Summer Book by Tove Jansson! Susan Branch cookbooks/memoirs!
Character-driven Detectives 💕~ Commissario Guido Brunetti Venice Police Procedural Series (check content), Sherlock Holmes by Sir Conan Doyle (check content), Miss Silver Mystery Series by Patricia Wentworth (violence), Maisie Dobbs Series by Jacqueline Winspear (check content), and Hercules Poirot Mysteries (violence) by Agatha Christie.
Gentle, Sweet Regency Romance 💕~ Georgette Heyer is my favorite for these because they are silly and light, but generally well-written. Alissa Baxter has had a few I enjoyed! Mr. Gardiner and the Governess by Sally Britton was sweet. Unequal Affections by Lara S. Ormstrom is a lovely retold version of Pride & Prejudice that I thoroughly enjoyed. Sarah E. Ladd has some fun titles, too!
Victorian Literature 💕~ Elizabeth Gaskell is an absolute favorite here! I recommend Wives & Daughters, North & South, Mary Barton, and Sylvia’s Lovers, My Lady Ludlow, especially. After the books, there are amazing BBC film adaptations of some of her works. The Three Brides by Charlotte Mary Yonge and The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. You have to work a bit hard at Victorian Literature, but you will be greatly rewarded! A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a wonderful place to start!
Character-driven “Middle-Grade” (genre doesn’t matter here, if well-written and character led)💕~The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter are my favorites! I recently read A Snicker of Magic and it was so good. The Worst Witch Series by Jill Murphy is so sweet and has darling illustrations. My favorite lately was The Secret of Honeycake by Kimberly Newton Fusco! Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech! The Hobbit by J.R.R.T. goes without saying. Eva Ibbotson! Kiki’s Delivery Service 1&2!
Cozyish, Magical Realism 💕~ The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (check content), Emma M. Lion Series, Garden Spells and First Frost (check content) by Sarah Addison Allen are so cozy! Leif Enger! RAY BRADBURY!
(Well-written) Cozy Mysteries 💕~ (Think Hallmark + Crime🤣) A Seaside Cafe Mystery Series by Bree Baker, Murder With a Hint of Pumpkin Spice by Laura M. Drake, Gladwynne Grant Mystery Series by Lisa R. Howeler, and the Northwoods Mystery Series by Annie McEwen!
ArcheologyAnything 💕~ James Rollins (Sandstorm!) , Dan Brown, and Michael Crichton (check content on these three), Karabos by Lyndsey Llewelyn, Kate Mosse (check content)!
Family/Found Family Stories 💕~ The Story Girl and The Golden Road by L.M. Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill by Montgomery. Melissa Wiley’s The Martha and Charlotte Years Series. Authors O. Douglas, Molly Clavering, and D.E. Stevenson are wonderful! Carol Ryrie Brink! Noel Streatfield! Gary D. Schmidt (tear-jerkers!)!
American Midwest/West 💕~ Laura Ingalls Wilder Series, Laura Frantz, multiple Carol Ryrie Brink (Caddie Woodlawn, Magical Melons, The Winter Cottage)! The Native Patriot by Pegg Thomas, Leif Enger! The Virginian by Owen Wister! Maud Hart Lovelace!
Character-driven Experimental/Sci-Fi/Time-Travel 💕~ Timeless Series by Gabrielle Meyer (a few of these were meh for me, but I enjoyed the Jack the Ripper one – time travel with a unique twist), Connie Willis’ historical time travel! and the Thursday Next (check content) Literature time travel police. Orion the Starborn and Orion and the Door of Echoes by K.B. Hoyle are both great!
Lighthouses 💕 ~ jury is still out on finding a favorite! 🤩 Do you have recommendations? The Tides of Time by Sarah M. Eden was pretty good, had time travel, too! Pelican Point by Irene Hannon and Mysterious Magic of Lighthouse Lane by Erin Stewart were recent ones that were ok!
Indigenous/Native American 💕~The Brave and others by James Bird (check content), Birchbark House by Louise Eldrich, Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon (check content). The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson was fantastic.
Classic Christian Nonfiction 💕~ C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, anything Amy Carmichael, Mother Teresa, Oswald Chambers, Lilias Trotter, Charlotte Mason, Watchman Nee, A.W. Tozer, Edith Schaeffer, Ruth Bell Graham, etc!
Poetry 💕~ Wendell Berry, Jane Kenyon, Jessica Powers, Emily Dickinson, Robert MacFarlane, among many, many others!
Character-driven Thought-Provoking Philosophical/Spiritual Vein💕~ Elizabeth Goudge (A City of Bells, The Scent of Water, Pilgrim’s Inn and her children’s books, A Little White Horse, Henrietta’s House, and Sister of Angels), Jane Austen (Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Lady Susan) and Kazuo Ishiguro ( Remains of the Day and Klara and the Sun). Never thought I’d end up here by Ann Liang. Liang has several I’ve enjoyed (check content). Gabrielle Roy and Niall Williams! What you are looking for is in the library by Michiko Auyama! Leif Enger!
Character-driven Literature Themed 💕~ Thursday Next Literary Detective Series (language, check content), The Invisible Library Series by Genevieve Cogman (check content) and The Great Library Series by Rachel Caine (check content)! These last two lean heavily into Historical Fantasy, too. I looooved Deron R. Hicks Shakespeare Mysteries for children !
Sweet Fairytale Retellings 💕~ Fairest Son by H.S.J. Williams (gender-bent Snow White) , To Love A Beast and Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer, Bluebeard and the Outlaw by Tara Grayce, and The Winter Prince by Constance Lopez. I highly recommend, Beauty Reborn by Elizabeth Lowham (check content). Followed by Frost by Charlie N. Holmberg, and Belle: Amish Beauty & Beast by Sarah Price was a cheesy, but fun mashup! East by Edith Pattou was a darker, extremely well-written ‘East of the Sun’ retelling. Joanna Ruth Meyer is consistently a great loose fairytale re-teller author, too! Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett was fun! Britain Kalai Soderquist’s Glass Roses: A Victorian Fairytale!
A bit of a splurge! Gorgeous hard cover of 2nd book in Kiki Series! I’m a sucker for cats! 😻
How about you? Have you ever thought about your favorite things in books? What are your favorite genres/tropes/buzzwords? 📚💕☕️
I really love the daily rhythm of getting up to make coffee, read Scripture, journal, and dip into a few devotional or slow reads. It happens MOST mornings.
Here’s what’s in my bag currently, this changes constantly except for the journals and Holy Bible, those are always present.
Every couple of years, I get a new journaling Bible because I fill them up! I try new translations, occasionally. I’m really enjoying this one! The floral journal is a prayer diary etc. This is very personal, not always pretty, but I love seeing God’s faithfulness. I don’t write in it everyday because I use the margins in the journaling Bible, too. But if I need more space or want to “get something off my chest”, I use the journal.
There’s often pens and highlighters, plus I just started a new five year journal this year! I usually list a bit of the day or gratitudes! My husband’s grandmother’s prayer book! I’d like to read through this soon. That’s a print of her wedding I’m using as a bookmark.
A few books I’m slowly dipping into currently. As Kingfishers Catch Fire is new-to-me collection of sermons and I’ve never completely read Rose from Briar by Amy Carmichael. The other two are rereads, a beautiful daily devotional and a health book.
My cute tote holds it all, so I can sit wherever I need to! I had to make it mobile with remodeling.
What’s on your quiet time stack? Do you have specific times/things you like to include?
A homeschool mom friend’s amazing dahlias that she grew! 😍♥️ She gave some to us!
{Full disclosure ~ bit of a busy week, so this is a few days of answers mashed together 😅}
FOR TODAY~ Outside my window…🍁 it has been simply gorgeous! Breezy, cool, yet sunny and warm midday!
I am thinking…🍁 about so many things, Scriptures I’m reading, writing deadlines, a nature outing, relationships, and of course, what to make for dinner! 😅
I am thankful for…🍁 two local friends and our little book club! 🥰 The foliage and weather has been sublime! I’m in heaven with the sound of the rustling, golden corn fields!
From the kitchen…🍁 we tried these this week and they were GOOD, one of my children had stomach aches with too much flour.
I am creating…🍁 articles/collages for my writing project, attempting October daily blog posts (already welched this week! 🤣), have a backlog of pen pal letters to respond to, still want to make a wreath of the eucalyptus from my daughter’s wedding for her, need to begin Christmas crafting, want to keep poem momentum, reading journal, church girls group lessons, homeschool group lessons etc. 😁 You get the drift.
I am going…🍁 on a nature outing with some of my kids and friends! Very excited! ♥️
My younger sister made me this lovely candle holder! It has a flickering battery candle! How CUTE is that!? I need more! Hahahaha!
I am wearing…🍁 it’s a bit chilly, so green stocking hat, green tennis shoes, green pants?, green flannel shirt, and jean jacket? 😅🍏🌿🌳💚
I am reading…🍁I talk exhaustively here on the ‘ole blog about what I’m reading, but here ya go! 😉 Victober is still prominent! I’m slowly listening to The Pickwick Papers. I finished Uncle Silas and while I liked parts of it, it wasn’t a new favorite. I started My Lady Ludlow, the only longer Elizabeth Gaskell I haven’t read! I’m relistening to The Canterville Ghost because it’s another funny Oscar Wilde that I really enjoyed in the past. I’m actively reading another in a cozy mystery series, too. The kids and I just finished The Horse and His Boy and it was so good! 😊
I am hoping…🍁 to make a dent in some of those above creative projects later today or tomorrow and to take a walk!
I am hearing…🍁 my 17yo cleaning kitchen and chatting with my 7 yo. Birds chirping and my fan whirring. 🥹♥️
Around the house…🍁 my big porch purge is still staring at me with beady eyes. 👀
One of my favorite things…🍁 anticipating an upcoming women’s retreat with my sister. 🥰♥️
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…🍁 everything I said above! Possible coffee with my mom! I need to figure out how to wrangle all my family here at home to use a free pass we were given for a local attraction!? 🤔😂 It’s hard to get our schedules to align!
Here is a picture thought (or two) I am sharing for you…
Hello, Friends! Happy Victober Eve! 🖤🍂 Can you believe we are headed into the 4th quarter of 2026!? 😳😱♥️ Here are my favorite reads of July-August-September in short snippet reviews ~
Classics ~🍂
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini – so, so good! A kind-of ‘gentleman’ pirate with a moral compass, and a Robin Hood-ish loyalty to his men and the less fortunate.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh – fading English aristocratic family, questions of their Catholic faith, and deeply, poignant thoughts on change. I was pleasantly surprised by this book! Reading it with my two local friends made it even better!
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal- (reread) a heart-wrenching book I was craving about changing familial relationships, growing older, seeing with the eyes of a child, and living close with the land. Beautiful, beautiful book! The little granddaughter’s sassy attitude towards her grandmother bothered me a lot more this time through, just fyi!
The Virginian by Owen Wister – I finished another 50×50 read! I so enjoyed chatting with my buddy reader about this book. Unique POV’s, beautifully written, deeply intriguing characters. I ended up loving this! Brutal western cowboy violence, just FYI and conversations around the birthing of the American West.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde – I’ll tack this in here, because this was a last minute listen as an early start to Victober! I absolutely loved this hilarious play about two British gentleman and the craziness that ensues from perpetual stretching of the truth.
Glass Roses by Britain Kalai Soderquist – If anyone wants a slight Victorian adjacent light romance, I recommend this one! It’s written in letters between two cousins. One cousin’s story is Cinderella-ish and the others Beauty & the Beast. I really enjoyed it!🥰😅♥️
Fantasy/Sci-Fi ~
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis -(reread) Great characters! Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill are off on a Narnian adventure. A lion 🦁 included! ♥️ My four younger kids and I are going through the whole series together.
Firebird by Kathy Tyers – sci-fi Star Wars-ish story with unique world and great characters! Deeper conversations about what we believe truly affecting how we live. I read this as part of Sci-Fi September. The first is included free on Audible currently. I’m now reading Fusion Fire, the second in the five? book series.
Mystery ~🍂
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear – despite the clunky, morally gray additions to this series, I still find Maisie Dobbs, a very compelling character and enjoyed the new chapter in her private investigator life.
The Bangalore Detective Club by Harini Nagendra – A young newlywed couple begins their life together and solve a mystery in 1920’s Bangalore, India. I really enjoyed this first and the second was good, too, definitely will be completing the series.
The Electric Detective by Peter Ward – A droid wakes up realizing she has been created to assist the police in solving a murder. Things aren’t what they seem! AI, technology, and moral questions arise. Fascinating and a little creepy. A touch of innuendo, just fyi.
Resort to Murder by Annie McEwen – Set in Wisconsin, I really enjoyed the family dynamics of running a small resort together! Great characters and the mystery was good too. The second was good, as well. I’m waiting to read on since they follow the seasons and the next have a snowy setting.
Gladwynn Grant Cozy Mystery Series by Lisa R. Howeler – Small town characters and intrigue! I loved Gladwynn and her grandmother! These were so sweet and gentle.
Nonfiction ~🍂
The Opt-Out Family by Erin Loechner – very interesting look at a former social media influencer’s decision to pull out completely from it all! I liked how she presented her information. Personal stories and ideas for alternatives, but not a guilty formula.
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney -I really ended up enjoying this classic book lover’s ode to reading and book collecting. I loved learning about different women authors that may have inspired Jane Austen. A little of the author’s whining, but overall, I loved this!
Do Something Beautiful for God by Mother Teresa – daily quotes pulled from Teresa of Calcutta’s words. Highly recommend!
The Spirit-Controlled Woman by Beverly LaHaye – A bit dated, but powerfully convicting look at how Spirit controlled living can help us with our personal weaknesses and strengthen us to love like Christ.
Magical Realism ~🍂
Crosstalk by Connie Willis – (reread) I loved revisiting this book around a company with a secret project in development to connect romantic couples by mind emotional sensing. The MFC’s family is VERY annoying and the stress of a company environment can be a bit much, but this hilarious book brings up questions on autonomy and telepathic abilities. Innuendo and light language. What we think we want isn’t always right at all. Very cute and ridiculous fun. I reread this for Sci-Fi September.
Dream of Kings by Sharon Hinck – a fantasy retelling of sorts of the Biblical story of Joseph. Light dream telling feels slightly magical. I loved the slow discoveries of our MFC as she deals with grief, finding her place in a new land, and new, complicated friendships. Very slow, sweet romantic subplot.
A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd – a town with a snicker of magic. This is a heart wrenching story of a young girl who dreams of belonging. The writing was lovely and the longing so palpable. The townsfolk and family dynamics, so great and realistic.
I think those were my favorites from a summer of reading! I read so many great books, what a blessing. How about you? What were some of your favorite summer reads? 😍♥️ What things are you looking forward to picking up this autumn? 🍂 🎃 Goodbye, September ~ welcome, October! 🧡🤎🖤🍂🍁🌾
•loving the deep character studies in The Virginian•
Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me – a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
Outside my window… ✨sunny and cool! Gorgeous! I wish I could mow/weed-whack but already have a lot going on. It’s been raining a lot and so I’m behind on yard work.
I am thinking…✨of my tween/teen girls class I’m teaching at church tonight! Our Charlotte Mason co op beginning tomorrow! Cleaning projects! Books to be read! 😅
I am thankful for…✨my new refrigerator! Even if it cut into remodeling budget. 🙃♥️👀
From the kitchen…✨I’m making sweet 🌽 corn for lunch and need to get sloppy joes in crockpot as we have church. I attempted a cake for my hubby and I’s anniversary this week. It was WAY more difficult (and too sweet) than I anticipated and was a bit of a flop. The kids ate it all, anyway! 😂♥️👀
The Summer Book by Susan BranchEgg whites! 👀
I am creating…✨reading journal 📓 spreads and filling in September pages ~
Found alien stickers to add! 😍♥️😂Working on these prompts! Working on these, too! Back to Hogwarts!Ditto! 😅✨My favorite readathon is COMING. I’m starting now! 🍂✨Dr.Wortle’s School is my first pick with my IRL bookclub! 😍I’m never going to read those all, but fun to dream! 😂
I am going…✨ nowhere until church, working on homeschool lessons, church lessons, cooking etc.
I am wearing…✨heather gray knockoff 😅 Arirang World Tour Tshirt and green cargo pants, sandals and pearl earrings. Probably will change into something different for church!
I am reading…✨many things, but mainly excited about The Brothers Karamazov and starting Victorian things!
Here’s where I’m at in Bros K! 😎🤣👀 I’m loving it!
I am hoping…✨ to get ahead on some outside responsibilities stuff, revive my lagging health goals, and work on helping with the next step in our remodeling. 🫣😅🥵
I am hearing…✨my hubby shuffling papers in his home office. 😅
Around the house…✨messes and mayhem! 😅♥️Two children just came back from taking garbage to our dump. We have dishes etc to catch up on and the refrigerator switch out. We have more school to tackle and a little church prep, still.
One of my favorite things… ✨the golden, blues, browns, and greens of September! 🌾🍂🍃🌻
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…✨ Homeschool co op! A movie night with my 7 yo! “Relaxation” this weekend. 😅♥️
Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he can’t distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than any one. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offense, isn’t it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill-he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness.
The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky, p.48-49
Youch. 🥲♥️ 🙏🏻 Slowly reading a chapter or two of this amazing book after my morning prayer time! Happy Monday!
I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”
