Reminiscing . . . .

My favorite magazines in the world are the Reminisce and Reminisce Extra! magazines. They are simply wonderful!  This June, I ordered a super-inexpensive subscription for each of them for my Aunt Linda. Last year, I sent her an issue with a school room from Alturas, Florida. The picture was taken in the era she was in school in a nearby community.  Her grandparents lived in Alturas, so my Mom and Aunt Linda spent much of their growing up years there. She knew the teacher and some of the students in the picture. I hope she sees other familiar places in the issues to come.

The prices were so reasonable ($10.98 per year) that I went ahead and subscribed to them myself. They are getting increasingly difficult to find in the stores (I think they're too wholesome for most vendors to want to carry).  Well, both issues arrived today, and I can't wait to start "looking back."

Saturday Fun!

Saturday  was a great day for our family.  Our oldest DS was meeting some friends at Stone Mountain. Rather than jsut take him there, Dad decided to take the kids for an outing.  Dad had not been since 1982 and our boys had not been ever.  Dad found a truly great deal where they could all have a "bottomless" cup for Coke.  All day long, you could go to any of the vendors and get your cup refilled for free! DS 1  was able to spend the time with his friends while Dad and DD and DS2 

I stayed home (too much sun for me) and had a good time tinkering around the house. Of course, the house was too quiet, but I enjoyed watching episodes of "The Father Dowling Mysteries" and working on some projects I wanted to get done before school starts.

School Days, School Days, Good Old Golden Rule Days

My favorite time of the year is just around the corner! Back to School!  I love the beginning of the school year for so many reasons:  new books, new subjects, pencils, and new boxes of crayons fill the school room-even for my teen agers! Back-to-school also signals the nearness of Fall, our favorite season of the year. 

Today we are attending the homeschool expo in BigTown. I love to see all the vendors and their wares. The boys usually see someone with whom they can play chess or their card games. One of Virginia's handmade dolls, "Maria" (named for Maria in the Sound of Music) came from a convention like this several years ago.
I'll be sure to post in the next few days about what we see.

Wishing each of you a wonderful day as you "Brighten the corner where you are."

Music in Our Home and Other Thoughts

This has been a busy week at our house, and promises to be even more so as the week goes on. I am trying to get everyone's room cleaned up before school starts.  My goal is to have the rooms not only clean, but arranged in such a way so that they can be easily maintained.  There really is something to the old adage, "A place for everything and everything in its place."

Making my tasks a bit easier has been the melodious sounds of the children playing the piano. Our oldest DS was asked to assume the role of leading the music on the Sunday evening services. He can practice with the others playing the songs on the piano. DD has also been playing her guitar--that is lovely also.

We have Church tonight and more cleaning tomorrow!  Friday, the event of the summer will finally have arrived: the homeschool curriculum fair.  I can't wait!  Hope your week is going well, dear friend.

Shhhh, she's reading . . .

My summer will be getting a bit quieter, hopefully, in a couple of days. I have a lot of housework I want to do, but I look forward to having a bit more time to sit and read.  I would love to listen to some quiet music, and accompanied by a tall glass of sweet tea, read for a couple of hours. I also hope to get some more of the squares completed for the afghan. I have noticed that our kids are always very content with life when they are in the midst of a good book, but it seems harder to get them to sit down to read.  We'll make that a priority the rest of the summer to establish a better pattern for the fall term. Fall is my favorite time of year, but it is always sooo busy!

Squaresville!

I am having such a great time with this afghan. These are some pictures which I took a few days ago. The afghan is made of 13 rows of 11 granny squares. I am sure you have seen afghans like these on the backs of chairs and couches. I am thrilled to be finally making one, and as always, I thank my beautiful daughter for helping me get it started and for helping me post these pictures. 

In the top picture, you can see the pattern book I am using. It is a Leisure Arts pattern from 1974!

I found it in our favorite Friends of the Library bookstore in Franklin, NC. It was hidden away in the Clearance boxes in the back (believe me, everything there is truly clearance-priced). I grabbed it, hoping to one day sit down and make this lovely afghan. 

In 1980, a college roommate showed me how to make a granny square. I made an afghan for someone else and then went on to make my parents afghans; their's were each just one continuous granny square. 

This one is a bit of a different pattern, and it is truly a "classic" design. I have really tried to make it using the pattern in the book rather than the old way I learned so many years ago. The major accomplishment in this endeavor is that I have learned how to read some of the crochet instructions and to understand their abbreviation system. Last time I visited the craft store where I buy the yarn, I looked at some granny square pattern books, all from Leisure Arts. Maybe when I finish this one, I can try one of the other patterns. 

The Good Old Days . . .

One of the characteristics I appreciate the most about our children is that they seem to like the good things from the past that DH and I do.  We all love these old Hanna-Barbara cartoons.  Yogi, Huckleberry, Johnny Quest, Top Cat, Fred Flintstone . . . . the list goes on and on. For Christmas, we gave our boys (young men in high school) some of the vintage sets:  Space Ghost and the Herculoids.  All of the background music is the same; the voice actors are the same; the sound effects rarely vary from one series to the next. But they are great! For years, the boys have loved Top Cat.  They grew up with the original Johnny Quest, Awgy Doggy and Huckleberry Hound.  When we are having a stressful week, we pull out these dear friends from the DVD cabinet.

Stiching Projects

I am currently working on this lovely sampler. I have the top row of  letters completed and a small amount of the boarder.  The colors are beautiful, and it seems to be going well.  I would like for my DD (dear daughter) to find a sampler that she really loves enough to complete.  She is very good at crocheting and knitting, and she is going to take a sewing class as part of her homeschooling this fall.  When she was a little girl, we learned about Dorcas from the Bible and how she helped the needy.

What crafts are you working on these days, dear friend?  Do you like to craft with the TV on in the background?  Music or just the quiet?

Wishing each of you a blessed new week serving the Lord with gladness.

Reading

What are you reading these days?  I am reading a novel entitled, Waiting for Willa by Dorothy Eden. It is quite suspenseful, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  I also purchased a very old Nancy Drew--I'll try to post a photo of it soon.  I happened to be in a bookstore in a neighboring state this past week. This independent bookseller specialized in local authors and in suspense novels. Their definition of suspense was quite different, and I have to admit that I was intrigued by some of the titles.  In fact, I made a mental note of several of the titles to check on Amazon. Once I was away from the store, however, I realized that the titles in which I was interested were not the least bit edifying.  They were harsh stories, involving harsh topics and wrapped in a tempting packages. Waiting for Willa was published around 1969, and it is worldly enough. If I tell our children to be careful what they read, then I have to lead the way.

Many years ago, I read Stephen King novels and thoroughly enjoyed being scared out of my wits. I remember one day sitting in the student union cafeteria of the University I attended. I had just purchased lunch, and I had with me a copy of King's latest novel.  As I began reading, I was immediately pulled into the story.  But I also began feeling an intense heaviness, almost like a physical weight. The feeling was also one of dread.   At this time in my life, my Christian walk was being strengthened by faithful Church attendance and true fellowship with these Believers. Anyway, as I rose to go home, I walked by the trash can to empty my tray, and "on impulse" I threw away the newly-purchased Stephen King novel.  Dear friends, the feelings of heaviness and dread disappeared immediately!  It took me a while to understand it all . . .  The Lord wants us to run from the worldly influences which cloud our judgment and compromise our values.

What are you reading these days, Christian sister?

At Home Together

Well, here is our second post. Our little family has been a bit scattered over the last few days.  I am happy and grateful to say that we are all back home! God is so very good.  This lovely picture is actually a puzzle; I have not put it together, but hope to one day. It would be marvelous to glue and frame.

I wanted to share some thoughts about the coming content of  this blog.  First, I hope it honors the Lord. Second, I want to share some of our family's interests. I had thought about labeling the blog "Our reading and listening corner" to discuss the books we're reading and music to which we are listening. My daughter and I share a love of crafting, and I thought about that in the title. Maybe "A Light Unto My Path" says it all:  I would not enjoy these gifts of life to this extent were in not for the Presence of the Lord Jesus in my life.

I hope that you, dear reader, have the joy of Christ in your heart and life.  If you do not, please know that He loves you and wants you to have an abundant life with Him here now and a glorious forever with Him in eternity.  God so loves you that He sent His only Son to pay the price for all of the things we have done wrong. Accept that gift and allow that Light to guide your path!
John 3:16
Psalm 119:105

Welcome to this Blog and to Our Home

I hope that with this new blog, you are encouraged!  May the Lord Jesus be lifted up with the thoughts, images and comments placed here. I am so grateful to the Lord for all He has done in my life and in the life of our dear family.

His Word truly is a lamp for our feet, a light for our paths.  Through the Bible, we are shown the way to a life that is truly successful--one that glorifies Christ, one that is abundant and full and free from fear.

May you, dear reader, be blessed by these simple posts.