What is inspiring you or bringing you joy currently? Please join me in comments, in your journal, or on your blog!
🌷I’m grateful today for…🌷
||for newly minted 14 yo daughter 🥰||her delight in completing her Redwall Series collection ||reliving memories and enjoying photos of almost 2 months of participating in a local production of The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, what a wonderful experience and lots of new friends ||people who devote themselves to care for others in dangerous or difficult places|| those who are adoptive or foster families || new to me music, Sarah Sparks || for Jane Brocket, Sarah Clarkson, Tresta Payne, andTerri Conlin’s email newsletters, full of beauty, encouragement, and delight || for my church ladies Bible study on Philippians||
||sunlight on forsythia and Charlotte Mason, glimpses of spring hope || springy play lists || for little boys who ask for Christmas trees 🎄 during spring snow storms || friends who send me videos and photos of our local Aurora Borealis sightings || prayer 🙏 || daffodildowndillys and the promise of tulips 💐 || clothesline flapping noise|| cat snuggles, whiskers and darling purring with contented closed eyes || lovely return visits to favorite reads, in this case The Alpine Path by LM Montgomery || warm, brown sweatshirt and oversized cozy black sweater || warm, cozy glow of lamps||
|| birds daintily eating dog food on deck|| wrestling with a short piece on Gerald Manley Hopkins for friend’s magazine ♥️🌿✒️📝||time away with hubby learning about serving our world with love, with a bit of space for quiet contemplation|| delicious, quiet breakfast with our pastor and his wife|| enjoying the nooks and crannies of our hotel|| long car conversations with my husband ||birthday surprises arriving and special food ingredients waiting on countertop ||little boy excitedly helping me wrap gifts for sister|| trying how to figure out how to send a surprise to Canadian penpals 💜😏🤓💌📬📦 💸🤑😂|| lovely books stacked everywhere here to dip in and out of||
||our friendly local public library || a felted bit of sunrise, gift from a daughter, shining into my soul||magazines +coffee + Trader Joe’s + my sisters = ♥️♥️♥️||contemplating books that impacted as a woman/mother/caretaker in an ongoing series|| sunshine 🌞 in Wisconsin, never take it for granted ||plan to take daughter & friend to craft store and fancy ice cream 🍦 soon, she’s so excited ||
I believe this is “La Discessa dello Spirito Santo” mentioned on pg 155, School Education by Charlotte Mason ~ so gorgeous! {Google image} If it’s not the right one, oh well, I still love it! 😂♥️
Hello, friends and fellow beauty chasers! ♥️☺️🌿 I’m finally getting a chance to list my favorite reads from the first quarter of this year! Hopefully, you find a delicious new read among these!
Dragonfly Poolby Eva Ibbotson- 5 stars 🌟 This is a children’s WWII historical fiction with a classic feel to it! We follow Tally as her widowed father sends her out of the city to an alternative, unschooling-type boarding school. This felt so cozy and it reminded me of our Charlotte Mason homeschool. Matthias was such an interesting character and there was an assignation plot with a Nazi angle.
The Thirteenth Childby Patricia C. Wrede- 4.5 stars 🌟this was a slow, introspective clean YA fantasy! It is an alternative history of the westward expansion in America’s frontier. Magical beasts threaten the pioneers and magicians help set protective barriers. Eff is the 13th child of a family of 14 children and seeing the world through her eyes was interesting! I love stories with big families! The 2nd in this series is a bit slow, love the 3rd.
Live No Lies by John Mark Comer – 5 stars 🌟 This reads like a classic nonfiction on the Christian faith. This was super challenging and a high calling while being “relevant”, in which Comer shared his thoughts on today’s cultural and spiritual landscape. He really dove into the resistance of the world, the flesh, and the devil with Scriptures and practicing spiritual disciplines. It will be interesting to see if the specific topics he addressed will make this book feel dated, but I really was challenged!
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien – 5 stars 🌟 (reread) What can I say?! My reread of this was only made more wonderful by discussing this via Zoom with some Booktuber friends. 😄♥️
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arim – 5 stars 🌟(reread) This was sooo what I needed to read at the time I picked it up! Beauty and nature as a healing agent, the intricacies of marriage, being fully human, religion vs. relationships, and so much more! This follows the lives of four women who spend April together in an Italian villa. I also rewatched the film and it was just as good as I remembered!
Sinking City by Christine Cohen – 4 stars 🌟 wonderful, clean YA fantasy set in a dreamy Italian setting. Creepy sea creatures have a mysterious pack with the Italian nobles. We follow the daughter of one of these nobles who has to take matters into her own hands and teems with a powerful, unstable magician!
Dragon & Thief by Timothy Zahn – 5 stars 🌟 This is the 1st in the Dragonback series, a children’s sci-fi fantasy story! This surrounds a symbiotic relationship between dragon-like alien and a orphaned boy! The dragon becomes a tattoo on the boy’s back. They work together to try and find out who betrayed the dragon’s kinsfolk and to clear the boy’s name.
Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella by Megan Morrison – 4.5 stars🌟 The plight of the working class weighs on Ella’s shoulders and Prince Dash is lost without the curse that has plagued their family for generations. Fairy-Godfather Serge is struggling to return to his roots of caring for people in a meaningful way. These three characters as well as many others, converge into a WONDERFUL adventure story with a surprising deeper message. One caveat, I wouldn’t give this to younger children, due to some content.
Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnes – 4.5 stars 🌟 This 1940’s thriller/ mystery follows a married couple who find themselves falling into an espionage plot right before Britain entered WWII! This was a psychological, slower, introspective story and I loved the married couple’s relationship. Slight humor and the last third of the novel picks up the pace.
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park – 5 stars 🌟 Tree-Ear and Crane- Man are lovely characters in this story set in 12th century Korea. Tree-Ear admires and befriends a celadon potter. Beautiful lessons about found family, hard work, and love.
The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden – 5 stars 🌟 This follows two girls and their doll family, with interwoven reality and “unreality”. So poignant , deep, thoughtful, and full of longing. About family, love, and what does it mean to be alive. This is very sad and maybe a bit scary for a sensitive child. The Tasha Tudor illustrations make it shine. I read this with a friend via Voxer.
Gods, Graves, and Scholars by C.W. Mercam – 4 stars 🌟 I believe I got this recommendation from Carol years ago and I’m so happy I finally tackled it! This was a fascinating nonfiction look at archeological discoveries up to about the 1950’s and the people that broke the codes, made the discoveries, or dug up the ruins. Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Central America/Mexico finds were all touched on. I think what I loved most about this is how much this tied into my Bible reading especially in the beginning Old Testament books, because this made the Bible come alive.
Evelina by Francis Burney – 4 stars 🌟 This long novel is said to be Jane Austen’s favorite! This was set in the 1700’s and is full of subtle, snarky British humor and a lot of class dynamics. I can definitely see Burnley’s influence on Austen’s writing. I found the excessive formality hilarious and there was a large cast of quirky characters. This has very little plot, but it was interesting to follow the young woman, Evelina, as she navigates growing older and finding her way in society. I listened an audiobook of this and really enjoyed the reader.
How about you? What have you read this year that you REALLY enjoyed? I’d love to chat below! ♥️🌿
•monochromatic children playing in school yard, black & bright splashes against the drab gray of early spring• puddles fizz-pluming under my tires•theater life, two children’s makeup-encrusted smiles, as they see me gazing up at them, role reversal•spring yard clean up, imprints left in the soaked grass• bags of purge waiting to be someone else’s treasure•ruddy grinning cheeks, watery eyes, runny noses, muddy springy play, cold wind grasping at straws•
•bookish mugs for bits & bobs, gifts from friends • soft-colored sticky tags, enough to share• splashes of color against red-brown brick• discussing Grapes of Wrath, sipping oat milk latte, and conversation with a sweet friend• foam heart on latte, day of small things• little boy with bandana, ninja, he says• blocks on book shelf in alternating pattern• epic soundtrack as I slip through gray countryside, just a hint of green under her skirts•an unexpected flash of stain glass•
•little bodies being compass roses, pointing arms north•almost 14 yo birthday gift buying, disconcertingly not little girl things anymore • shafts & shadows of longer sunlight •shockingly orange chairs• midwestern goodbyes •surprise book won, Katherine Wentworth by D.E. Stevenson • reviewing, revamping, & renewing rhythms• charming nooks & crannies•
RM’s song “Wildflower”*, the ritual and smell of grinding coffee, reading Joy Clarkson’s Aggressively Happy, watching a murder of crows in a stubbled corn field, reading Live No Lies by John Mark Comer, the new year approaching, and rereading The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp.
•wee flicker of little candle ‘Christmas at the Burrow’• the warmth and deepness of freshly ground and French-pressed black coffee in Christmas mug•the glimmer of light off the gingerbread men salt & pepper shaker•little, snowy glass cottage trinket•reading Beauty Chasers with Annie, chapter by chapter, discussion•Sophie racing around the house, her orange-y tail twitch, her sweet whiskers, her ‘cat-ti-tude’•the glow of the old-fashioned Christmas tree lights • Ella’s Christmas spirit and excitement• a juicy, sweet pineapple• Gideon’s love of baths•Schielch animal dioramas everywhere• a friend talking books with me• zoom reading nights with online kindred spirits •Peanuts postage stamps from dad•rubbing coconut oil into little chapped hand•dipping deliciously into aggressively happy by Joy Marie Clarkson•finding swirls, sparkles, and wind sighs in the coldest time of the year•
The work of humanity is to see one another safely home. ♥️
I confess that I’ve had to internally fight to keep my heart calm ♥️ and in the moment this Advent season. This past year has been a good struggle for me. This coming to the end of my strength, coming to the end of self, I find of course, Jesus calmly standing beside me, loving me. ♥️♥️♥️ I picked the words “anticipation & expectation” for 2022 and wow 😯 that didn’t play out how I thought it would. 😎😂 But slowly reflecting in this Advent season, I’m seeing what a gift this year has been. I didn’t realize that what I was anticipating and expecting was something very different than what needed working, kneading in, and cutting away from my heart. 🥹♥️ God is SO faithful.
How are you? How are you holding up? What are some things you’ve been thinking on, learning from 2022? ♥️ I still not perfectly clear on what I’m to pull away from my struggles this year, but some things have bubbled to the surface and I’m slowly working on acknowledging them, trying to reorder affections that are wonky, and really focus on what is important in my life. I’m praying about my words for 2023 and what things I need to focus on through good habits, focused attention, and quiet listening. Listening to the still, small voice of Jesus and deep, attentive listening to the people in my life. And listening to the whisper of words on the wind, wrangling them into inky encouragement on paper.
My personality and lifestyle needs a healthy balance of habits & structure with a good dose of freedom and openness. It makes for an uniquely delicate dance, keeping a rhythm flowing, yet being open to being human, room for life, creativity, and laughter. Do you struggle finding the right pace for the journey of life, too? Praying for clarity and for faithfulness as we cross over into the new year.
May you have a blessed last few Advent moments and a wonderful Christmastime! 🎄 May God give you fresh vision as you look to the new year! Happiest Christmas! ♥️♥️♥️ Love, Amy
What is inspiring you or bringing you joy currently? Please join me in comments, in your journal, or on your blog!
🍂I’m grateful today for…🍂
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness 🕯, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 🪔
2 Corinthians
|| searching for cemeteries || diluted sunlight, cool breezes|| another daughter enjoying Black Beauty || learning about Stalin, fascinating discussions || nature journaling paraphernalia spread out || wild flower weed bouquets || candle-lit chili suppers ||cardamon cinnamon, those words AND the new tea || new notebooks || orange-y, brown, green, and purple-y pens ||the wonderful words: russet • plum • golden • scarlet• || roar of wind through remaining leaves ||
|| chasing words || trees at local arboretum, so many varieties in one delicious spot || Joni Mitchell’s songs, art, and dipping a little into her biography || #380 of the Creative Pep Talk Podcast || Vincent’s letters to Theo || acorn tops in bottom of tote bag || box of raspberries || piece of paper birch bark || zoo ticket memories repurposed as bookmark || kitty sleeping on me, all stretched out, so warm || watching “You’ve Got Mail” with hubby, an autumn tradition || golden hue of this time of year || thrifted moccasins ||
|| perusing earrings and rings while thrifting || little animal vignettes in surprising places about home || Tombrow pens 🖊 || stickers of trees and acorns ||my little one falling asleep on me while reading the Tailor of Gloucester || every morning, his soft squishy Ezra Jack Keats poem and snuggling moment with me || Old Farmer’s Almanac tidbits || mums and fat squat pumpkins all in a row || cardigans swinging from back of all the chairs -|| new pencils, crayons, and composition notebooks ||bells ringing on church ||
What are you noticing today? I’m so grateful for the little gifts all around me! 🥹♥️
What is inspiring you or bringing you joy currently? Please join me in comments, in your journal, or on your blog!🍃🍂
I’m grateful today for…
🌿this quote🌿
“…Love watches, and sleeping slumbers not; weary, is not tired; straitened, is not constrained; frightened, is not disturbed; but, like a living flame and a burning torch, it bursts forth upwards and safely over-passes all.” ~Thomas A Kempis
||Psalms 143|| delicious words swirling around me|| first homeschool co-op of the new school year, seeing friends and “meeting” new ones in the musicians, artists, and writers we will be enjoying together||my baby sister’s 30th birthday ||daughter’s excitement over hairdo change and getting ears pierced||celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary||
||golden-tinged September🍂🍂🍂||son’s excitement about helping friend work in Colorado||beginning Christmas planning|| The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange – enchanting!||P.G. Wodehouse audio books, hilariously ridiculous || “Honey in the Rock” by Brooke Ligertwood|| “Find Me in the River” by Delirious||an Oswald Chamber quote texted to me from my sister||
||Jesse Ahmann’s instrumental cello on YouTube ||foggy pauses||cool, crisp early morning air, with a hint of autumn||laundry snapping on the line||hubby finding a praying mantis on lawn||hard but good conversations||duvet put back on bed, cool and soft||Amish woodsmoke on the wind||bits of red-tipped sumac peeking around bends in the road||Bull thistle fluff blowing in the air, sunset blazing through it||
||Middle-Earth mornings ||harvest moon shining on my face as I awake from sleep||new tea, cardamom cinnamon coming in the post||letter writing to friends in Canada||homeschool mom chat||autumn stationary perusing||journaling saving my sanity||listing gratitudes helping rightly order my heart||purr of Ghibli, our adore orange tabby kitten||piles of books to try and soak in||
How about you? Anything just really bringing you joy currently? Watching anything good? Reading? Creating? I’d love to hear. Happy End of Summer, friends. May you get the chance to soak in the remaining warmth and light of the year! 🍃🍂🍃 Peace & love, Amy 🍎🍏🌾🍂📚🍂🌿🍃📬🖤💌☕️🫖🌾🍎🍃🍏🍂♥️🖤🌿✍️📬💌🖤
Early morning prayer and Bible reading outdoors has been life giving the last few weeks 🌿♥️🌿
☕️Dear Friends,
What is inspiring you or bringing you joy currently? Please join me in comments, in your journal, or on your blog!♥️🌿♥️
I’m grateful today for…
This 🌿quote🌿…
It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity – a friend on IG reminded me of this quote and it was exactly what I needed.
||pressing pizza dough down into three pans, flour-y hands|| talking with 3yo about his Schliech puma and jaguar toys||our new rescue kitten, Ghibli or Gibs||laying in the breeze and looking up through the Honey Locust to a patch of blue above||Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, an unique, adult murder mystery within a murder mystery ||Black-Eyed Susan’s opening their eyes||
3yo and I’s snuggle reading 📖 one day…
||my daughter’s chamomile flowers|| a wildflower bouquet from my oldest son|| new paneling slowly going into the bathroom || delish iced coffee made by friend, talking about homeschooling, life, and books with my bookstudy women||Christmas gift planning, thrifting and homemade ideas|| catching 3 yo on floor with pile of books, slowly turning the pages|| looking up and around and seeing 3 children reading near me ♥️📚||
||stacks of picture books to put away|| Malcolm Guite reads C.S. Lewis’ poetry at The Kilns ||zucchini, cucumber , and lovely green peppers from Amish stand||glorious sunrises breaking the dark’s hold || star-drenched skies|| paper bits, quotes, snippets, collage journal resurrected || jalapeño tango paint color still growing strong from Menards|| the summer smell, new mown hay, a friend said it “smelled green” and I looove that 🌿🌳🪴💚||
What’s on your gratitude list? Are you still soaking up summer or gearing up for autumn? I’m praying and planning a bit, but I’m still loving summer. I’m sooo enjoying reading 📖 outdoors and hanging out our 🧺 laundry. 🌿🌞♥️🌻🌿 Have a wonderful weekend, friends!
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 