Novelist Katherine Anne Porter wrote, “Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist-the only thing he’s good for- is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.”
I was so inspired Chantel’s DIY Literature Degree that I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate something similar. I’ve been feeling the pull (again) to be purposeful about certain areas of my life. I need some home education, spiritual, and life inspiration! I put together a stack of books to pull from, resources, and habits to especially focus on this summer. I’m sure this will extend far beyond 3 months 😉, but I love sharing in case it encourages/inspires someone else and as a bit of accountability for me. Firstly, here are some of the books. I am going to be dipping into these, and/or finishing, or rereading. My Bible and Fire Bible notes are a biggie as well plus various devotionals I dip into!
~ Formation of Character by Mason (life/ home learning)
~ Learning All the Time by Holt (home learning)
~ Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge ✔️
~ Women by Edith Stein ( spiritual/creativity/life)
~ The Cloud of Witness by various (ongoing)
~Slowing Time and Motherprayer by Mahany (spiritual/life)
~ poetry from different poets (spiritual/life)
~Know and Tell by Glass (home learning) ✔️
~ Real Learning Revisited by Foss (life/home learning) ✔️
~Pilgrim at Tinker Creekby Dillard (nature/life) ✔️
~Jane & Dorothy by Marean Veevers
Some of these are on my Summer ABC list too, which works well!
Our last co op Picture Study artist! Fascinating!
The next area is my health. I’ve been floundering a bit in the program I was in and have gained a lot of weight back. I prayed about it and talked with a few close people and made some modifications. I’ve started back in and am feeling hopeful. I am prioritizing getting outside/walks, drinking water, trying to sleep, journaling, healthy food, and a biggie is limiting social media. I also have to have margin around our busy summer schedule. The key to these things is just a little bit everyday. I know it sounds like a lot, but I’m keeping it VERY simple to set myself up for success. 🙏🏻❤️🔥
Multiplication with Beans
Lastly, I really want to focus on real life relationships. I have a lot of people here at home and around me that I want to pray for and keep in touch with. Soooo, I’m focusing on s-l-o-w media…like penpals, this blog (it takes me a lot of work to post as I’m working from my phone), and an occasional reading wrap up on Booktube (super slow because it’s a lot of work to film and edit)! This means I won’t be around Instagram this summer, and limiting how much Booktube I watch! I have plans to connect with church and local homeschool moms this summer and I’m excited and a good nervous. 😅 I’ve been seeing that I need to break some covid-era dependency on online friends. Not that I’ll forget them entirely, my Victorian Reading friends through Kate Howe’s Patreon are dear to me! 😍 I’m really focusing on reading aloud to my younger kids and dates with my hubby, too.
Recent library picture books that we loved! 🥰
How ‘bout you? How is your summer shaping up? If you could create a DIY degree for yourself, what would it be? I’d love to hear! Chat below! 😍♥️🏡🌿🍄📝📚
I’ve been thinking, praying, and starting to research/plan for our next formal home-learning year. It’s so fun to pull off treasures from the past…ahem, books my older kids loved and share them with my youngers. We had so much fun listening to this old Jim Weiss retelling of a few of the fables plus there’s a few other stories for another day. ♥️
Winter is just about here, friends! ❄️♥️One of my delights this year has been dipping into a fair amount of poetry. Here are some highlights for you to consider adding to your stack for next year…cozy up, grab a hot drink , and read on ☕️. Enjoy!
Mary Oliver’sDevotions ~ I received this as a Christmas gift a few years ago and have been sipping from it here and there. Oliver has such an eye for life-giving details in nature and she asks us questions that go just a bit deeper. I love that about her. As a modern poet, she is definitely a bit more approachable and easier to ease into than some of your classic poets. Not every one of her poems hits for me, but sometimes one line or a word will meet me right where I’m at in that moment. I’m often surprised by her.
Emily Bronte ~ I was extremely surprised how much I loved this dark and brooding poetry. Just like the all the Bronte sister’s fiction, this was sooo atmospheric and because she talks of death frequently, it actually made me contemplate how I’m living life. I found the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets collection to be a wonderful selection of her poetry and I love the small size of these editions.
William Wordsworth ( and don’t forget Dorothy) ~ I love the poems and writings of this brother and sister duo. William’s beautiful poetry centered in life around The Lake District, Cumbria, England really feeds my soul and my faith. He really grasps the touch of God in nature and it is such a testimony to me. I love his poetic storytelling, too. Dorothy’s journals are so simple, domestic, yet so compelling. They both have that artistic eye. ♥️ I loved sharing Wordsworth with our Charlotte Mason co op homeschool group last term.
Gerald Manly Hopkins ~ Wow. Mr. Hopkin’s use of language and metaphor is so gorgeously layered and rich. I will confess I struggle a bit with his writing richness, but if I have a little patience and read just to enjoy each word, I walk away blessed. His wrestling with faith and art is so relatable and real. He’s one of the hardest poets for me to read, but also one of my favorites.
Robert MacFarlane The Lost Spells ~ I would be remiss to not mention this gorgeously illustrated (Jackie Morris) collection of modern nature poetry. MacFarlane is a lover of Hopkin’s wordsmithing and the homeschool co op and I loved looking at both poets together earlier this year. MacFarlane’s wordsmithing, storytelling, and putting himself into the everyday life of animals and plants is just lovely. He is another poet whose work is perfect for those new to poetry!
Kim Piña ~ this is an online friend that I was blessed to “meet” YEARS ago, through blogging. 💗😍♥️ I love Kim’s word play, almost like a songwriter/compelling poem-rap style, and I love how she asks deeper questions tangled with the daily mundanity of life. Her Instagram account is lovely, too!
Robert Frost, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Sara Teasdale ~ I’m extremely new to these three poets and can’t wait to really sink into their work more in the new year. I was familiar with a few famous poems, but I recently got Mirror of the Heart, a Teasdale collection, Rilke’s Everyman’s Library Pocket Poet collection, and The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Latham, and am so excited for new words to drink up.
I also asked for two new poetry collections for Christmas and can’t wait to dive into these more!
I’m nervous about this one, because I saw it on Instagram, but what I’ve read of his poetry, I found compelling and came away with ideas to consider. I’m mostly excited about this collection as I love Kortney’s work and have always been so inspired by her! ♥️
Lastly, I have two poetry nonfiction books that I’d love to get too, just to keep growing and learning about this life-giving art.
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and What is Poetry? by Michael Rosen ♥️
How about you? Do you read poetry? Who are your favorites? ♥️❄️♥️Happiest Winter Beginnings and Christmas 🎄 to you all, friends!
..is my surrender to the crushing narrowness of earthly existence the beginning of my liberation from it, precisely because this surrender is my “Amen” to your human life, my way of saying yes to your human coming, which happens in a manner so contrary to my expectations?
Karl Rahner, Watch for the Light, p. 74
Spiritual
I’ve begun a reread of The Life of Prayer by Edith Schaeffer and have really been enjoying a refreshing and convicting look at prayer. I’m loving how she lays out that prayer is first worship, then for repentance, and FINALLY for requests. A reminder that I sorely needed, (looking at you, whiny prayer journal)! 😂📓😌 I decided to choose a reread for my Advent devotions from my shelf, Watch for the Light: Readings forAdvent and Christmas, and it has been so thought-provoking. I’ve streamlined my prayer journal a bit, also, to help refresh my reflection time. I’m also slowly buddy reading The Christian Year by John Keble with two friends this year.
Physical
Honestly, I’ve made some huge health goals, but have really been struggling. I tend to hide and binge 🥲 eat through my exhaustion or big emotions. 😩🖤 Food addiction is a real thing, friends. This trying to process in unhealthy ways. I’m laying out here what I mentioned to my support group, too, I’d love to fit back into these lovely Carhartt overalls that I had got for myself in 2021. But more than size, I want to learn to be vulnerable with people when I need help, deepen my prayer practice, and use my love of creativity and journaling to process my thoughts and feelings. I acknowledge here, too, that sometimes I actually need to get OUT of my head/books/social media 😖 and feelings and change my thoughts upward to Jesus and outward to others. 🖤
Mental
I’m finding that taking short walks with music or an audiobook has been clearing the mental cobwebs. I’ve also really enjoyed instrumental music/soundtracks. I’m seeing that I’m handling the early sunset and waning light of this year much better than last year, by pressing into the unique beauty of THIS season. I’ve REALLY been blessed by poetry this year and hope to do a post about that soon.
Emotional
I’ve been noticing lately that overwhelming feelings threaten to drown me if I don’t purposefully choose to take life in small moments. Our whole, ‘wild and precious life’ is made up of these minute moments. I’ve forgotten the way of small bits of joy and gratitude a bit, 🥲 and it is always so wonderful to hear that still, Small Voice gently guiding us back into The Way. I found that free with my Audible account, the audiobook of Hinds Feet on High Places, is available and while I know that the allegory is very ‘on the nose’ in this book, it is one of my favorite books of all time. I identify with Much-Afraid SO much, but I mostly love this book for the picture of Jesus, my Lovely Shepherd.
Beautiful Jackie Morris postcard from a friend.
Servanthood
My son and I were talking the other day and we realized that this really isn’t an easy area. Some individuals may be a bit more servant-like naturally, but I know that I need to practice it and make it a habit. I’ve been working hard to reach out consciously to one person a day. This could be a text or popping a card in the post, focused listening to those right in front of me, or bigger things as the Holy Spirit leads. Of course, I also end up being SO blessed 🥲 in return by this.
But as for me, I will watch ♥️expectantly for the LORD. I will wait ♥️ for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. ♥️ Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; ♥️ Though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me. ♥️
from Micah 7, I recommend listening to this song after savoring these verses.
Thank you for being here. You are a blessing and are loved. How ‘bout you? How are YOU truly doing? Glad to be doing this life with you. 🥰🌾🍄✨🌙❄️🥗☕️🌲🍂🍁🖤📝📚📖📓💌📬🗝️🧺
Don’t you feel a tug, a yearning to sink down into the silence and solitude of God? Don’t you long for something more? Doesn’t every breath crave a deeper, fuller exposure to his Presence? It is the Discipline of solitude that will open the door. You are welcome to come in and “listen to God’s speech in his wondrous, terrible, gentle, loving, all-embracing silence.”
Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 109
Focus Areas:
Spiritual ~ I was a bit sluggish this week about REALLY pressing into my quiet times and calming myself down enough to enter in. We came off a wonderful, but exhausting graduation party for my oldest son and it takes me a long time to recover from events. I kept up with my group reading plan, but didn’t deeply meditate and pray/journal as much as I want to. The end of this week has been better and it feels so good to soak in Matthew among other things. My sister reminded me of Pray As You Go app which helps me focus as I begin my prayer times. ♥️
Physical ~ I honestly struggled a bit with getting in the groove with my food. Just grazing and bingeing, even on “healthy” things. Out of exhaustion or anxiety, finding myself feeling hungry in my MIND not legitimately hungry in my stomach. I found that listening to the audiobook of Rezoom by Susan Peirce Thompson or Half of Carla’s YouTube really helped me calm down a bit. Not making or having unhealthy choices in the house really helps me, too. I did get out on my walks with my audiobook. I’m 56% through Klara & the Sun and 😯 it’s thoroughly intriguing. I bought a new tshirt and struggled with the mental battle about my worth because it was a bigger size. 😞 Just be brutally honest here. I am excited to receive it, though, and support my friend’s creative endeavor .
Mental ~ I had so much fun updating my book journal and purging/ organizing my reading stacks. I decided to focus on one particular stack of things I’m reading with others or have wanted to read for a long time. I gave myself permission to set aside books that were too silly, not grabbing my attention, or just weighing me down. I read a few poem’s every day (Oliver, Wordsworth, and Native Nations poems) and it was so nice. I’m super interested in learning about the “Balkans” area after finishing the historical fiction thriller The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
Emotional~ I had some hard relational talks this week that were good. I tend to avoid and stuff down which isn’t healthy. I really tried to keep up on some household rhythms and it’s amazing how much that lifts my mood. Just putting a fresh weed 😄 bouquet on a clean dining room table with tablecloth, washing the dishes after each meal, etc. Being outdoors really helped me! I also did a fun video about my favorite things and I wrote two snail mail letters. I’ve been trying to sleep a little in afternoons lately and it’s SO nice. I did get a little Totoro stamp set and some new, darling stickers which was a blessing. Maybe I’ll show them to you next week. Stationary is the way to my heart! 😂💕
I watched “Heidi” performance with two of my children ♥️🌲Shakespeare in the Park (Macbeth) with some friends and three of my children ♥️
Servanthood ~ this was tough this week. I think coming off the graduation party made it extra hard. I want to focus more on the little things I can do for those around me and do them well. Not be so distracted. I was able to do some fun things with others last week and it was wonderful to connect in those big things, but I can see some daily practices I believe Jesus wants me to give more in. ♥️ He is so gracious and faithful to help and strengthen us. I do want to start gratitude journaling again to practice thankfulness and get outside my head. Look for a Joy Journal entry soon, hopefully.
Verse Focus for Coming Week:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30
Graduation party leftovers ♥️
How about you? How did your week go? Bless you all! 🌿🌟❣️✨🌙🌻🌧️🍎🥦☕️🌳🌱
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 