Even though we have a few days left before the end of May, I have other posts scheduled until next week. So I figured I’d share my end-of-May wrap-up now.

May feels so different now that we don’t live by school rhythms any more, since all of our kids are grown. May used to be one of the busiest months of our year with end-of-year programs, recitals, etc. I enjoyed all of that at the time, but also felt pressured. I like the quieter pace now.

May is also our transition between spring and summer. Though summer doesn’t officially start until June, we start getting summer temperatures and humidity in May. We’re looking forward to some outings over the long weekend ahead.

Family

Not much going on besides some get-togethers at either our house or Jason and Mittu’s. We enjoyed Mother’s Day together, and Jim and I took the RV for a test drive. I mentioned in a recent Friday’s Fave Five that the Brood X cicadas, the ones with the 17-year life cycle, emerged over at Jason and Mittu’s house. They sounded like Rice Krispies as they molted. They’re in mating season now, so they’re really loud with making noise to attract a mate (though I don’t know how the females can distinguish them from each other with all that noise going on).

We haven’t done much with the sewing room or spare room as we’ve had other things going on the weekends. Jim did put together a couple of over-the-door storage units I had wanted for Mother’s Day. I’m hoping we can get the spare room done before Jeremy, my oldest son, comes to visit in August.

Timothyisms

While at my grandson’s house, he was “playing school” with his Granddad. At one point my husband asked Timothy, “What’s 7 + 7?” Timothy said, “I’m the teacher. You have to guess.”

Creating

I’ve made a few more cards than usual this month.

This was for Jesse’s apartment-warming party.

The building and “Congratulations” were done with the Cricut.

This was for Mittu for Mother’s Day:

I did the wording on the computer, and the flowers are multi-layer stickers.

This was for a baby shower:

The “It’s a Girl” was done on the Cricut.

This was for a young man at church for his high school graduation:

I did the “Congratulations” on the computer.

Reading

Since last month I finished:

• Daughters of Northern Shores by Joanne Bischof, (audiobook) sequel to Sons of Blackbird Mountain that I liked so well a few months ago. Three Norwegian brothers live in Virginia, one of whom is deaf. The youngest one wrongs someone and flees the country to go to sea. He feels he should go back and try to make things right, but he doesn’t know how he’ll be received
• Hungry for God, Starving for Time by Lori Hatcher. Five-minute devotionals for when you need a spiritual protein bar. Very good.
• The Laura Ingalls Wilder Companion by Annette Whipple. A great companion to the Little House books, with lots of interesting background information and related activities to try.
• Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. Classic tale about the boy who wouldn’t grow up. A bit darker than film versions, but fun.
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (audiobook). Classic dystopian novel in which babies are designed in test tubes and everyone is supposed to live for pleasure. But if you’re not happy, then what?
• Animal Farm by George Orwell (audiobook). Classic allegory about the Russian revolution and Stalin’s takeover, but also a fable about throwing off oppression and then becoming oppressors.

I’m currently reading:

• Be Counted (Numbers): Living a Life that Counts for God by Warren Wiersbe
• Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands by Jen Wilkin
• How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren (almost done!)
• The Sign Painter by David Bunn
• A Room With a View by E. M. Forster (audiobook)
• Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (audiobook)

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday’s Fave Fives and almost weekly Laudable Linkages and book reviews, I’ve shared these posts:

• Have Mercy on Your Pastor This Mother’s Day. “There are different needs among the congregation. No one sermon will meet them all except as it points us back to the only Savior who can help and heal and provide grace.”
• Faithful in Obscurity. “You may be a busy mom of little ones, a secretary stationed at her desk, a cashier at a counter, a caregiver tucked away in a lonely room, or in any number of occupations where you feel unnoticed. Don’t be concerned if you don’t get as much attention or response as other people. Don’t fret over whether your work seems ‘important.’ Faithfully do what God has called you to do, for His honor and glory.”
• Trusting God for Our Children’s Safety. “It’s one thing to trust God for my needs—it’s another thing to trust Him for my children’s.”
• Faith—not Genes—Determines Our Standing Before God. Korah was killed in one of God’s most severe judgments against rebellion. But his sons went on to serve God in the temple and write psalms.

I also had a guest post at Almost an Author: Sculpting a Masterpiece. Like Michelangelo carved “everything that wasn’t David” to create his famous statue, so we need to chisel anything that would detract and confuse in our writing.

Writing

I’ve just in the last couple of weeks gotten back into working on my book. I keep thinking I need a whole afternoon free to work on it. But I find that my brain feels fried after a couple of hours, at least in this revision stage. So hopefully that will inspire me to work when time is more limited. And the more I work on it, the less time it will take each session to figure out where I am and what I need to do next.

I want to give you a heads-up that I was asked to do a radio interview about my Faithful in Obscurity blog post on Wednesday morning, June 2. I was totally shocked! If all goes as planned, I’ll share the details Tuesday, June 1. The site does have a button to listen live. They have some recordings of past episodes, but I don’t know if my segment will be on the recording. I have not heard back from them since I sent an email accepting the invitation, but maybe that’s normal until the day of the interview. I keep thinking maybe I misunderstood, or they accidentally asked the wrong person, or this isn’t really legit. 🙂 But I clicked on the link to their program and listened to a couple of past episodes to see how the program went, so it’s a legitimate program. I’d appreciate your prayers that I would be calm and say what God wants me to, that I won’t blank out when asked something, that all the connections and logistics will work like they are supposed to.

How was your May? What are you looking forward to in June?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers)