Category: Prayer

Wednesday Wonders 🌾🌻🧡🍂💛🤎🐌🦗🕷️🕸️

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Rain coming! Smells heavenly!

Listening 🍂 ~ I have many things I want to listen to, especially from the Living Education Retreat. I’m looking forward to finding an uninterrupted moment so I can take notes! Looks like a wealth of knowledge here! I also want to try a recommendation from a friend, The Story Girl Podcast. I’m loving the audiobook of Firebird by Kathy Tyers. It reminds me of Star Wars, I’m liking the characters. We’ve been listening to this as a “call” to our morning time and we all agree it’s so invigorating and beautiful! 🤩

We own the Winter and Autumn collections in this series and really love them!

Watching 🍂 ~ I’m trying to limit Booktube to the weekends. My children recently watched The Sheep Detectives and said it was really good! I hope to try it this weekend?! Honestly, my brain space/power is SO low with all the outside things started!

Reading 🍂 ~ I just finished Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara and it was a compelling police procedural mystery. A little grittier content wise, but I loved the writing. I liked the characters a lot even if a bit more overtly morally gray than I like. I’m slowly plugging away at The Virginian with my buddy reader and am loving it! Very well written and funny! I’m reading a couple chapters each morning of The Brothers Karamazov, and wow. 🤯 I’m also enjoying the second in a sci-fi series, Arabella and the Battle of Venus. We finished The Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden in my other group. Wow. 😮 It was dark, gritty food for thought. Not a favorite!

Noticing 🍂 ~ September is lovely, still summer-ish, yet shifting to autumn. The younger four kiddos and I went on a wonderful nature walk this week. 🤎💛🧡 It was so fun seeing old ‘friends’ again and noticing new treasure.

What are you listening to, watching, reading, noticing this week? 🥰 ~

Monday Ponderings 🧡🌻…an ancient-memory book… 📖

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The cellar hole that had once held a home had been abandoned for many years. None but a dweller of the forest could have found it, for its road was lost, its stones were overgrown with wild brier and sumac, and the old gray birches that had sprouted around it were now tall and arched by the winds into a roof. But the cellar hole could remember. There, on one side, a brick fireplace had once stood with the bean pot snugly simmering in its oven, the andirons holding four-foot logs, and a mother rocking a cradle and knitting on the wide hearth. The cellar hole remembered spinning wheels and sleigh bells, sizzling doughnuts and molasses cookies, fishing tackle, guns, singing school and Bible readings, hardships and laughter, snow drifts and white lilacs. Now it was nothing but an ancient memory-book of things past. The thicket of black alder, pine and hemlock that led to it kept its pages closed to all except those who love the country.

~Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Miss Hickory, p.54-55

The Simple Woman’s Daybook ✨🍂

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New puzzle and The Silver Chair audiobook! 😍♥️


FOR TODAY~

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 Branch
Egg 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. 😅♥️


Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you…

Hope your week is going well! ✨♥️🌻

Mondays Ponderings 🍃🍂

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Clouds ☁️ 😍♥️

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!

August Ends, September Begins 💜

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Bye late summer mugs!

Happy September 1st! We are prayerfully and slowly getting into the groove this week with our autumn homeschooling schedule which kicks into high gear next week. I’m still holding onto late summer though. September has the potential to be a favorite month, EXCEPT if we get extremely humid weather. 🥵 Like yesterday. 😂

My last read for the Keep Me in Suspense Bingo Board. It’s actually turning out to be deeper and more introspective. The mystery is a bit slow and lackluster but the interpersonal relationship dynamics between the older father and his daughter, a 40 yo nun, is fascinating!
Welcome, Early Autumn mugs!
A favorite spot ☺️♥️
Charlotte Mason Co-op prep!
Book mail! 📬💌📦📖
Very sweet new-to-me series! Husband and wife in small town! The wife is a wee-bit manipulative, but I loved the first for the most part.
From Instagram! August was a great month! 🥹🥰😍♥️ I’m amyofhearthridge on there, too, if you use IG!
Hubby and I went to Chicago for a quick 1 1/2 day trip! He surprised me with a ticket to see BTS. 💜

Korean pop band! It was an fantastic show!

So proud of myself for making a half eggplant and half noodle lasagna! 😅💜 Next time I need to figure out a better way to prep the eggplant. It was a bit salty.

Hope your week is starting on a high note. I’m still holding onto all the inspiration and beauty from this past weekend. I’m hoping still to make a vision/inspiration board for our new school year! ♥️

•leave it all•

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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.”

Isaiah 49:4, NLT

~

Monday Ponderings ♥️🌿

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Sauté zucchini with browned and drained sausage! Add s&p and red pepper flakes to taste! So good! 😋

Good Monday morning to you all! Getting a late start! I’m on a little accidental reading/planning retreat and I’m not complaining. 😅♥️🌿 I was thinking about all the unread books I own! 😫😱🤣 A small project I’d like to start which works well with my 50×50 list is to start reading my owned books. I get a lot from the public library or Little Free Libraries, but would like to prioritize books I own. I also reread favorites quite a bit. I was shocked that in my bedroom alone, I had over 100 books I haven’t read! 😂🙃 I had even more that I have read and want to reread. 😱So in full disclosure, I made myself write out the unread ones in my room. Eeep!

Let’s not even talk about my Kindle. 😂 Those don’t bother me as much, but I’d like to be conscious about not just getting ebooks because they are cheap or free.

This project is for fun and also a little challenge to myself as I’ve been thinking a-lot about how I can use my time and energy enjoying what I already have or creating meals or art instead of chasing something ‘out there’. Does this mean I will quit book buying/borrowing? No! I so enjoy browsing and discovering treasures. I’ve already seen myself naturally start to slow book buying over the years because of our home library being so rich. What a blessing to be able to draw from our shelves life giving words. I want to be able to choose myself how my time is used and be led by the Holy Spirit instead of social media or ‘experts’. This applies to many areas of my life, but this is one small area I can slowly make concrete changes. I can give myself ‘things to look forward to’ in nature experiences with my kids, photography, shopping our own home shelves, being creative with meals, rearranging and freshening what we have! Putting those puzzles together, using up those craft supplies, the list goes on and on! It’s actually kind of exciting.

♥️ Any thoughts?

Cozy Corners 🦋✨🌻♥️🌿

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Hello 👋 ~

It’s taken me until today (Friday) to feel a little more relaxed! 😌 I realized I was trying to “force” myself and the kiddos to relax. Ha. 🙃😂 We were able to pop into our lovely small local library and browse. A couple of my kids have been enjoying the summer reading program, so we picked up some more picture books. I’m sure missing my wonderful, curated living books which are packed away, as you know, for continued remodeling. I may treat myself later by pulling out a few bins of our history period we are studying this coming school year. It will satisfy my itch to be among my ‘friends’ for a little while. My 14 yo daughter chose after the library to get an iced matcha and my two boys chose ice cream from our little drive in diner. We love the local hippy coffee shop with cheerful vibes and the fun diner. Our area has SO much natural beauty, too, and we have a couple of places we plan to haunt soon.

Our lovely friends let us chrysalis babysit and we got to watch three Monarchs hatch this week. 😍♥️🌿🦋 Such a rewarding experience!

We spent the afternoon at a nearby lake and I truly felt myself relaxing. The cool wind and toasty sun, flickering through the trees was perfect. I’ve been wanting to reread my Summer Book by Susan Branch and I was able to slowly savor her lovely illustrations, quotes she collects, and recipes. I love her work so much! It made me excited to be a home keeper again. 😍☕️✨🌻 One of my favorite things was sitting on the fishing dock with the sun beating on me. The weather was perfect. We also saw a pair of Belted Kingfishers flying low over the water. 🥰🥰🥰🥰

I did a little journaling set up! I like doing little goals sheets, not religiously or anything, but to give myself a pretty way to track my habits etc that I’m continuing to work on. I’ve done these little symbol keys before! They are fun! ♥️

I made a massive Brain Dump List and some other to-do things because it helps me to focus and calm down without all that rattling around in my brain. I’m also figuring out a way of curating the quotes from my reading that I want to jot into my commonplace. I read a lot and mark my books up, but I want to figure out how to better choose quotes! I loved this video about recently on this topic. I’m letting Jane Austen’s Bookshelf simmer before choosing favorite quotes to add out of the ones I marked.

I’ve been on a Booktube watching break and it’s interesting how many other things I get done and how much actual reading I get in! 🤣 I finished The Opt-Out Family and I must say it may be so far one of my favorite things I’ve read this year. I’m going to slowly go back through it, as I want to note ideas and passages better. Highly recommend! ♥️✨

Finished my reread! Love Miss Austen so much! This isn’t a favorite of hers for me, but the 2nd half was such a wonderful character study. ♥️✨

How was your week? ♥️😍🌿✨☕️🌻

Little Pockets ✨

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Slowly catching my breath • little pockets of goodness • catching up with things and people needing attention • trying to press into the Lord’s peace~ ✨🌿☕️♥️

Monday Ponderings ♥️🌿✨ Baggins “core” (with a Side of Tookishness) Refresh Week

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Hello, Friends! 😁♥️✨🌿 We are on the other side of my daughter’s wedding! It was a lovely day. 🥰🥲♥️ I thought I’d do a cozy refresh this week before I dive full force into to my autumn planning for all my homeschool and other responsibilities. The house needs some deeper cleaning and organizing, but mostly, my younger children and I need some summer cozy and fun. I’d like to bring you along and share little bits here and there. 😍🥰☺️ What are you up to this week?

🥰🌿😍✨♥️

The Simple Woman’s Daybook ♥️🌿✨

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I used to participate in this blog link up on my old blog YEARS ago! I don’t think it’s done officially anymore, but loved reading them, so unofficially joining here. My Wednesday Wonders post is inspired by this original one! Thank you to the original creator wherever you are! ♥️✨

FOR TODAY~
~Outside my window… it’s gorgeous! Less humidity, sunny and smells so summery!


~I am thinking…about the wedding in a few days! I’m thinking about time flying…😭♥️


I am thankful for…so many things! Today though, for my hubby who works so hard. He puts up with my crazy moods. 😭😆🤣☠️


From the kitchen…not much! It’s been so hot and busy, my cooking is uninspired currently. Brats, hotdogs and watermelon a lot these days. My aunt made delicious food during our visit and I helped by adding fruits and veggies. 🤣


I am creating…just been working on my reading journal a tiny bit. Looking forward to after the wedding to do some writing and penpal-ing.


I am going…nowhere really. 😆 My hubby and I may sneak out for a quick date tomorrow? Maybe get some BBQ and a salad?


I am wearing… blue jeans, black & white patterned button down short sleeve shirt, brown slide sandals, antique-looking cream teardrop stud earrings.


I am reading…a million and one things, but primarily, Sense & Sensibility.


I am hoping…that the wrinkles disappear from these wedding outfits I’m attempting to steam. 🤣🙃🤓


I am hearing…A/C gurgling and blowing.


Around the house…it’s quiet! Children are either working, getting nails done, on a picnic, etc! Hubby working. It’s actually strangely quiet.


One of my favorite things…TWO fat penpal letters in the post today!!! 😍♥️🌿✨


A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…steaming clothing, writing 3 minute speech, decorating, and getting myself plus two boys ready for wedding! 💒 Cooking in there, too! 😏


Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you…

Just keep steaming…

Monday Ponderings at the Lake {Day 100} ✨♥️🌿

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A quick visit to my aunt and uncle’s home has been so peaceful and perfect before things pick up this weekend. Praying for a yielded and submissive heart to the Holy Spirit’s soft whispers. ✨♥️🌿🙏🏻 This ends my 100 Day Project, I didn’t quite do 100 days posting consecutively, but I really grew to love chatting and being purposeful about seeing my blessings. Hope to keep going here. How are you doing? ~