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September Reflections

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s funny how a month can seem long in some ways and short in others. September had several full days plus some slower-paced ones.

We celebrated my youngest son’s birthday this month and enjoyed meals and games together. We got some sorting, organizing, and purging done of old boxes and my dresser.

Timothy is learning the joys of orthodontia. 🙂 He got spacers and an appliance installed and will get his braces on in March.

Creating

I usually go with a tech or gamer theme for Jesse’s cards. But this time, I remembered he also likes medieval things. I looked around my Cricut images and found this design:

I had something completely different in mind for friends’ 50th wedding anniversary. But as I looked through the materials I had on hand, this design almost assembled itself.

Reading

Since last time I have finished:

1 and 2 Timothy for You by Phillip Jensen, not reviewed. Not my favorite of the “For You” series, but I did glean a few good things from it.
A Face Illumined by Edward Payson Roe. An 1878 story about an artist who sees a woman with a beauitful face marred by her manners and attitude. He seeks to try to awake “a woman’s mind” in her, leading to near-tragic results and showing him his own faults.
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett, audiobook. A young boy in genteel poverty finds out he is the sole heir to his grandfather’s estate. His grandfather moves him to England to teach him to become an earl but is changed himself. Somewhat overly sweet, but a lovely story.
The Bitter End Birding Society, audiobook, by Amanda Cox. Ana Watkins comes to Bitter End to help her aunt clean out her house to prepare for moving to a retirement community. Finding out her aunt has had a long and bitter feud with a seemingly nice neighbor, Ana investigates and finds a sixty-year-old story of a moonshiner’s daughter who fell in love with a preacher’s son. Very good.
The Island Bookshop by Roseanna M. White. Kennedy Marshall comes back to the Outer Banks to help her injured sister and run the family bookshop. A discrepancy on the store’s deed leads to a surprising search about her grandmother’s history. Very good.
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon J. Mondragon, audiobook. A church’s prayer shawl knitting group is encouraged by their pastor to take their knitting out into the public, much to the consternation of the group’s leader. Gradually, God works not only through, but in the prayer shawl ministry in surprising ways. Delightful story, though I found it lacking in a couple of areas.

I’m currently reading:

Exodus for You by Tim Chester with the ladies’ Bible study at church.
Titus for You by Tim Chester
Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive by Russ Ramsey
Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child: Facing Challenges with Strength, Courage, and Hope by Boris Vujicic, father of Nick Vujicic
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost
North! or Be Eaten, the second in the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson.
The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanna M. White, audiobook

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

What God’s Sovereignty Does not Mean. “People have argued for centuries over what God allows vs. what He ordains and how His sovereignty and our responsibility work together. . . . But through years of talking with other Christians and reading Christian writing, it seems to me there are some things God’s sovereignty does not mean.”
The Only Bloodline That Matters. “It’s not whose blood flows through our veins that determines our characters or our destiny. It’s whose blood flowed on the cross.”
When Evil Gets Worse. My thoughts processing Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Are You Full? What the Bible says we’re to be filled with.
How to Withstand Pressure. Inspiration from sea creatures that survive the intense oceanic pressure they live in.
Ways to Pray for the Lost. Scriptural ways to pray for lost loved ones to come to know the Lord.

Writing

My turn to present a chapter for critique to our writing group came up last week. It’s good to get back into my manuscript more deeply, and I’m always inspired by the feedback. Now if I can just keep that momentum going!

Looking ahead

Not much is on the schedule for October, so I hope to get lots done at home!

How was your September? Are you looking forward to anything in October?

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Ways to Pray for the Lost

Posted on September 28, 2025 by Barbara Harper

One of our former pastors who is now with the Lord used to encourage us to pray Scripturally rather than falling into “Christian cliches.”

One evening he especially challenged us regarding praying for people who don’t know the Lord. It’s not cliche to pray “Please save so-and-so.” Paul said of his countrymen, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).

But, if you’re like me, praying the same way repeatedly can seem rote after a while. Petitions based on Scripture not only refresh our prayers but also give us confidence that we’re praying according to God’s will.

The discussion that night sparked a brief search which turned up a few verses of praying for the lost. Since then, I’ve added others as well as some passages that aren’t prayers in themselves but can be turned into prayer.

We don’t necessarily need to mention all these things every time we pray for our non-Christians friends and loved ones, but considering one or two of these at a time can help us pray more fervently and effectively.

We can pray that:

They hear or read God’s Word. Romans 10:17 tells us “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” There are so many ways now to encounter the gospel–in one’s own Bible, on apps, via audio, and so many more options.

Someone tells them of Jesus. In a sense, books, blogs, social media posts, tracts, etc, involve someone telling the hearers or readers about Him. I’ve heard testimonies of people who believed on the Lord alone in their rooms after reading the Bible. But for many, a personal example is needed.

When Jesus had compassion on a crowd “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” He told the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38). In Romans 10:14-15, Paul writes, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”

We can also pray that those who share the gospel would be given the right words to make it clear. Paul prayed for words, boldness (Ephesians 6:18-20), an open door (Colossians 4:3), and clarity (Colossians 4:4).

God will draw our lost loved ones to Himself. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

The Holy Spirit will guide them into truth and remind them. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us into all the truth (John 16:13), teach all things, and remind us of what Jesus said (John 14:26). Paul goes on to say, “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Their hearts will be “good ground.” In what we call the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus talks about various people’s hearts as ground that the seed of the Word is dropped into. The seed doesn’t take root and grow in some because it’s snatched away, in others because their heart is stony, in others because thorns choke it out. But the one with “good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.”

Though we’re not specifically instructed to pray this way, I’ve prayed at times for hearts of lost loved ones to become good ground, for the stones to be removed, the bedrock underneath to be broken up, the thorns to be kept back, so that the seed of the Word can take root and bring forth fruit.

A line from a little-known stanza of the beloved hymn “Just As I Am” says, “Just as I am, Thy love unknown/ Has broken every barrier down.” I think God does that in some by bringing circumstances into their lives to soften them and by bringing them under the sound of the Word that they reject at first, but which gradually breaks down the stoniness. I think apologetics ministries are most helpful here in making way for the gospel.

They would be convicted of sin. Jesus said the Holy Spirit “will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (John 16:8). Though conviction feels awful, without it, people don’t know that there’s anything they need to be saved from. In one sense, as we mature in the Lord, we realize more fully how awful sin is and how offensive it is to God. But we need this initial realization of what sin is in order to realize we need God’s grace.

Their eyes would be opened and hearts turned from darkness to light. Paul said the mission God gave him was “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18). Again, though this isn’t written in the form of a prayer, we can certainly pray these things for those on our hearts.

That they would not be deceived. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says that some people will fully expect to get into heaven, but will be told that He never knew them. One of my frequent prayers is that none of my loved ones would be deceived into thinking they are saved if they are not. I also pray they would not be deceived by those who twist Scripture to try to make it say something it doesn’t (2 Peter 3:16).

I’ve also prayed that people would realize that whatever they’re trusting in is not dependable and will not satisfy in the long run, or that whatever is keeping them from salvation is not worth it.

They would understand God’s love. God says He drew His people “with cords of kindness, with the bands of love” (Hosea 11:4). Paul prays for the Ephesians “to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19). Once while reading this passage, the phrase “to know the love of Christ” jumped out at me. Paul goes on to say that this love surpasses knowledge–yet he prays we’ll comprehend. He’s praying for believers here: we can continually grow in our understanding of God’s love. But I think we can ask for Him to open the hearts of our unsaved loved ones to God’s love as well. God’s law convicted me of my sin and my need of forgiveness, but His love drew me and convinced me it was safe to come to Him and He would receive me.

I was astonished to realize that a familiar passage followed this one in Ephesians. After Paul prayed that the Ephesians would comprehend God’s love, he said, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). We use these verses as encouragement for all kinds of things. But in context, praying for others to know God’s love and be filled with the fullness of God, we can trust He’s able to do more than we can ask or think.

What encouragement that our lost loved ones aren’t “impossible cases.” God is able to work through His word, His people, and His Holy Spirit to turn hearts to Himself.

(Revised from the archives).

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Here are some noteworthy reads found this week:

Whispers of Eternity: Hope Beyond Death. “The Bible teaches that physical death is not the end. Every one of us—believer and unbeliever alike—will continue to exist somewhere. Scripture is clear: we will spend eternity either with God in heaven or separated from Him in eternal torment (Matthew 25:46).”

America: From Civility to Savagery? “The way that Christians responded to the Aucas in 1956 can guide believers as they respond to Americans in 2025. Rather than rise up to take their revenge against that Ecuadorian tribe, Christians chose to seek reconciliation. Today is no time to meet political violence with more violence by mimicking the perpetrators. Now is the time for believers to be what they want others to become, leading by example (1 Corinthians 11:1).”

A Question for All the Teens Who Saw Charlie Kirk Die. “I just want to ask the question: Are you okay? I want to consider what you saw and acknowledge that it may be sitting heavily on your heart and may be troubling your soul. I want to acknowledge that you might be frightened about your future now that you have witnessed a man being assassinated for simply expressing his political and religious viewpoints. With these things in mind, I have three brief matters I would like you to consider.”

The Blood of Charlie Kirk Speaks: A Missionary Perspective. “When horrible events of such import happen and you are far away from home, it lends itself to a different perspective on those events. We have been surprised by how much of a global event this is.”

Talking to Your Family about Your Coming Death. “The atmosphere in the hall with his wife, son, sister, mother and all the extended family was remarkable. There was sorrow, but not despair, surprise but not shock. This family was prepared for this moment. It was not the case a year ago.”

5 Ways Love Is the Secret to Better Bible Teaching, HT to Knowable Word. Though this is aimed at Bible teachers, I think it can apply to writers, speakers, bloggers–anyone who tries to share God’s truth with others.

I’m Triggered, HT to Challies. “In a world overcome with blaming and discrediting, Christians need to pause and ask how we contribute to divisive discourse. One subtle way that we disengage and cause further disunity is by developing ‘hot-topic’ words or phrases that we dislike, and then implicitly, or even explicitly, dismissing someone’s message (or even dismissing them) when they use these terms.”

Health Anxiety and Avoidance: Why Running From Fear Makes It Worse, HT to Challies. “Avoidance feels safe. When something makes us anxious, the simplest solution seems to be: stay away. Don’t go to the appointment. Don’t open the bill. Don’t step into a situation that makes your stomach tighten and your heart race. . . . But here’s the catch: avoidance doesn’t solve anxiety. It strengthens it. Like feeding a stray cat, avoidance keeps coming back for more. The more we avoid, the more powerful the fear becomes.”

This One, She’s Mine. I actually came to this post from a link that was supposed to go somewhere else, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this sweet testimony.

“Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves, to be severe only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow-creatures with kindness, and to judge of all they say and do with that charity which we would desire from them ourselves” (Jane Austen).

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s the first Friday of autumn! Right on cue, the leaves are starting to turn colors. We’re not quite into fall temperatures yet, but I know they’re coming! I’m pausing the busyness with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to focus on the blessings of the week.

1. Successfully getting my email to work. I Last week I stupidly opened and answered a suspicious email. I didn’t click on anything in the email, but I changed my password just to be safe. I had no problems on my computer or iPad, but for some reason, my phone wouldn’t receive or send email. After struggling with it for several days and looking up solutions online, I deleted the account from my phone and re-added it. That did the trick, with no loss of emails or notes.

2. A newly painted dresser. My dresser has been in sad shape for many years–banged up, dented, discolored, and even a little mildewed in places. It had colonial-looking drawer pulls with dust in the crevices that I couldn’t get out. We bought it from a college student for my second son’s things when I was pregnant with him, so it’s been around a while. Jim said we could get a new one, or he’d refinish or paint the old one for me. I looked online at several options and couldn’t find just what I liked, so I asked him to paint it. It’s not finished yet, but I am excited about the transformation already.

3. Drawer sorting and purging. Since I had to take everything out of the drawers anyway, it was a good time to reorganize them and get rid of several things.

4. Odds and ends tasks. This week has been a little quieter than the last, affording some time for smaller non-urgent tasks like cleaning out my purse. I also enjoyed an excursion to Hobby Lobby for a few needed things. I didn’t have Thanksgiving on my mind when I went, but they had their Thanksgiving stuff on sale 40% off, so I got the non-food items needed for that day.

5. Celebrating friends’ 50th anniversary. The children of our pastor emeritus and his wife threw them a big party for their 50th anniversary. It was sweet to celebrate these dear people. We also really enjoyed the conversation around our table. Plus it was fun to see the venue, the Grand Victorian. We were in the nicely decorated barn rather than the main house. The grounds were beautiful with a pond by the driveway as we came in.

This was the ladies’ restroom.

How is your September wrapping up?

Review: The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Barbara Harper

It’s rare that I try a book without ever having heard of it or the author or seeing a recommendation from someone I trust. But I was looking through Audible’s Plus Catalog of titles they rotate in and out, and The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon Mondragon caught my eye. It looked like an interesting novel about a group of knitters, which seemed like a relatively safe topic. Since it was free, if I found something objectionable, I could just delete it.

I’m so glad I tried this book. It was delightful.

A group of four women form the Heavenly Hugs Prayer Shawl Ministry at their church. I was confused about prayer shawls at first, wondering if they were something people wore as they prayed. But no, the ladies pray as they knit them for those who will receive them, and then hand them out to anyone ill, grieving, or going though a hard time so they’ll feel comforted and “hugged.”

The women meet every Wednesday morning to knit and pray together in their church’s prayer chapel. But one morning, they’re surprised to learn they can’t meet there any more. The chapel is being painted. Besides that, their pastor wants them to take their knitting out in public. People weren’t coming to church as much any more. If they knitted in public, people would ask about their knitting, and they could tell them about their ministry and the church.

In addition, the church’s bishop has told the pastor that if things don’t improve with the church soon, they’ll be closed down. More is riding on the success of the knitters’ mission than they know.

Margaret, the group leader, is livid. They’ve met in the chapel for years. How can they have peace and quiet to pray out in public? She wants to meet at her house, but the other ladies aren’t willing to go against their pastor’s request.

So they head to the coffee shop in the mall. Rose, kindhearted and interested in others, loves the idea. She likes to talk about knitting. She lives in a retirement home and is starting to feel invisible and useless. An overprotective daughter keeps her hemmed in until she can hardly do anything. Going out in public to knit seems like an adventure.

Jane has two teen-age daughters who are driving her to desperation with their constant bickering and discontentment. Only Rose knows Jane’s secret sorrow, that her son is in prison for using and selling narcotics.

Fran is the newest knitter among the group, taught and helped by Rose. Her husband passed away suddenly the year before, and the fog is just beginning to lift.

The ladies aren’t knitting long at the coffee ship before a college student comes over because her grandmother used to knit and she wants to see what the ladies are doing. When she hears about their prayers, she asks them to pray for a crucial upcoming test.

Slowly, other people do the same thing–stop by out of curiosity and then ask for prayer. The next time the ladies come to the mall, they find word has gotten around: they receive several prayer requests written on paper napkins. The prayer requests lead to more involvement in people’s lives.

Margaret feels the people stopping by are interruptions. “We’re supposed to be praying,” she repeats often. She can’t see past the green hair of one young man or the weariness of a middle-aged woman to the soul inside them.

But gradually, God works not only through, but in the prayer shawl ministry in surprising ways.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

Rose kept asking questions, drawing out Eileen’s memories of her father the way knitters pull their yarn from the center of the skein.

You’re right. God is orderly. But people are messy. They have problems and wounds and fears and besetting sins. Isn’t that what prayer shawls are all about, though? Trying to give people the comfort and strength they need to face and get through those things?

These characters were so well-drawn. The narrator of the audiobook, Christina Moore, did a beautiful job, especially with Margaret’s and Rose’s voices.

The plot is laced with humor and warmth and poignancy.

I’m not a knitter and I don’t know the jargon. But that didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book. There’s enough specific detail that I think seasoned knitters would understand and enjoy it, but not so much that it bogs down the narrative.

There were only two things I didn’t like. The author has God speaking to one character. I don’t think she ever identifies Him as God–she calls Him a “presence.” But I think we have to be very careful about putting words in God’s mouth, assuming we know what He would say in a given situation. I think writers can show how we think He could lead someone without having Him speak verbally. In fact, the author does this nicely with another character.

The other thing is that, in all the talk about people’s prayer needs, there’s no mention of anyone coming to believe on the Lord. People come to church who didn’t before and are encouraged to reconcile with estranged loved ones and such. But people can do that without knowing the Lord. I’m not sure what faith tradition the author is from. I know some authors prefer not to spell things out spiritually, but to let the change in characters’ lives speak for themselves. They feel that being any more explicit would be preachy. But I think a lack of clarity here causes confusion and leaves the reader without the most important message they need. I’ve written before that the whole plan of salvation doesn’t necessarily need to be included for a book to be Christian fiction, but what is there should be clear.

Otherwise, though, I loved this book. When I finished it, I missed the characters. A sequel has been written, so I’ll likely pick it up sometime. Meanwhile, this title is free for Audible members through October 7 and is about 8 hours and 20 minutes long if you want to give it a try.

How to Withstand Pressure

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Barbara Harper

The USS Thresher was a nuclear-powered submarine that sank in 1963, killing all 129 people on board. A series of events caused it to sink and then to implode due to the extreme pressure deep in the ocean.

Research equipment with cameras that could withstand the oceanic pressure were lowered and found the Thresher in five pieces. In addition, the cameras saw fish and other life forms that were previously unknown.

These sea creatures thrived in pressure strong enough to crush a submarine, How?

This article details features of a few specific deep-sea creatures. But the bottom line, Wikipedia says, is “Deep-sea organisms have the same pressure within their bodies as is exerted on them from the outside, so they are not crushed by the extreme pressure.”

These creatures aren’t crushed by deep sea pressure because their internal pressure is equal to it. In fact, many die (even explode) when they are brought to the surface for study because their pressure is no longer equalized.

We face a lot of pressures these days, don’t we? Making a living, keeping up with responsibilities, making time for those we love. Then we all have struggles against our own besetting sins. The world is getting less friendly to Christianity every day. And we have an enemy of our souls who seeks our destruction like a roaring lion.

We’re not equal to it in ourselves. “My flesh and my heart may fail,” Asaph says. Mine, too. Then he goes on to say, “but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

The apostle John wrote, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The one within us is more than equal to the pressures around us.

“Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:7-8, HCSB).

Sometimes God relieves pressure by removing a burden from us. Other times, He gives us grace to bear it. Missionary pioneer Hudson Taylor said, “It doesn’t really matter how great the pressure is. What matters is where the pressure lies, whether it comes between me and God or whether it presses me nearer His heart.” We need to let pressures of life push us closer to our God. He invites us to cast our care on Him, to depend on His strength in our weakness, to come to Him for rest.

Revised from the archives.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Barbara Harper

I haven’t been online as much as usual this week, due to being busy with other things. But here are a few good reads I found:

Reading as Rebellion, HT to Redeeming Productivity. “I know the stats. I’ve heard the stories. But I believe we’re humans, not robots. Trends aren’t determinative. We make choices. We have agency. Which is why I refuse to bow to the fatalism that marks too many takes on the decline in reading—the insultingly low expectations of teachers and commentators who throw up their hands and surrender the next generation to the power of the cultural tides. I want you to rebel. That’s right. In today’s world, reading is an act of holy insurgency.”

How to Avoid the Comparison Trap with help from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Is Christian Antisemitism on the Rise? This article not only deals with that question but also discusses what is and is not antisemitism.

Male Friendship Is Declining. Wives Can Help, HT to Challies. “I was grateful for him considering our family, but that conversation gave me pause. Why did my husband seem to think he’d be letting our family down if he spent a weekend with friends?”

Just Ask, HT to Challies. “I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating: don’t be afraid to ask your friend about how they are doing in their grief over losing a loved one…even if it’s been years or decades since their loved one died.”

Violence and Technology, HT to Challies. “For someone like Kirk, who became a larger than life Internet figure, literally someone lampooned by South Park, he would seem unreal in a sense, mediated through a thousantd YouTube videos. A figment of celebrity and the digital gaze of viewers. Not a father (which he was). Not a husband (which he was). But an image to be torn down symbolically. And this is only possible because his humanity had been slowly divorced from his digital image.”

God is not looking for Christians with great power or influence but those who are faithful to his word and his name.–Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

Friday’s Fave Five

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Whew! It’s been a busy week. But a good one, overall. I’m sharing blessings from the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. My last college yearbook. I was in college five years instead of four. During my second senior year, my husband and I were full time students first semester, got married over Christmas break, and then were part-time students second semester. Neither of us received a yearbook that year because only full-time students both semesters got one. I looked at someone else’s and saw I was in one of the candid photos–the only time in five years that happened.

I saw a while back on the university’s alumni page that old yearbooks could be ordered from the school. I finally got around to that a couple of weeks ago, and only had to pay $13. It turned out to be a used yearbook, but that’s fine. It was fun to look through it and to find “my” picture. And even though I was still listed under my maiden name there, my class picture and my husband’s were on the same row across the page. As I put the yearbook on the shelf, it just felt complete to have it there.

2. Connect Four. Every fall, the ladies group at church organizes “Connect Four” groups. All who want to participate are divided into groups of four who get together once a month over the next four months for whatever they might like to do. Our group met at McAllister’s last Sunday. I knew one of them from my care group, but had only met another and didn’t know our youngest member at all. There are always a few butterflies going to a meeting like that, but it was a lot of fun.

3. A nice gesture. As our group left McAlister’s, I stopped by the restroom and then went back to the counter for a cookie. The guy behind the counter, who wasn’t the same person who originally waited on us, saw me reach for a cookie and said, “Oh, wait–we have some fresh ones.” He went back and got a just-made cookie for me.

4. Jesse’s birthday. My youngest son turned thirty-two! Jason and family came over as well and we Facetimed Jeremy.

As a bonus blessing–I faced that cake with fear and trembling. 🙂 Some years ago Mittu made this Lemon Blueberry cake, but with gluten-free flour. Jesse loved it and has asked for it for his birthday ever since. The first time I tried it, it left me in tears–a number of things went wrong in the process of making it, and Mittu had to come rescue me and fix it. She made it for the next several years. 🙂 But her oven hasn’t been acting right since they installed a new heating element, and she didn’t want to chance making the cake there.

So with much prayer and trepidation and reading the recipe over several times, I got started (I had bought a yellow GF cake mix just in case this one didn’t turn out right). It took all afternoon, but the layers came out nicely–praise the Lord!

But I am not good at cake decorating. I got started with this one, and when the icing in the middle started leaking out, I sent Mittu an emergency text.

She came and did a beautiful job decorating it.

4. Answered prayer. For some reason, I get frazzled when the schedule is full, even if I am looking forward to the events. I mentioned last week that we had something going on four days in a row this week. God blessed in allowing me to have some productive days last week, which helped immensely. This week, I asked God to help me remain calm and take each day and event as it came. He did.

5. Time with Timothy. Jason and Mittu are helping with a new ministry at church, and Friday was their first event. Child care was offered, but Timothy wanted to spend the time with his grandparents. 🙂 Jim had recently sorted through some old video games and got out one for Xbox sports. He and Timothy played through bowling, track and field, volleyball, and other options. Here they’re boxing. 🙂

I’m thankful for God’s grace through a busy week, and I am looking forward to a quieter coming week, hopefully.

How was your week?

Review: Little Lord Fauntleroy

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Barbara Harper

Little Lord Fauntleroy has never been on my to-read lists. But I was looking through Audible‘s Plus Catalog of free books they rotate in and out, and this title caught my eye. I saw that the novel was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, who also wrote The Little Princess, which I loved, and The Secret Garden, which I had mixed emotions about. I decided to give it a try.

Cedric Errol is a little boy living with his mother in “genteel poverty.” His father had been the third son of an earl in England. When he came to America, he fell in love and married. His father hated Americans and felt this one was just after his son’s money. So he cut his son off from his inheritance and position.

Cedric’s parents lived happily together for several years until his father became sick and died. Cedric calls his mother “Dearest” because that’s what his father had always called her, and it seems to make her happy.

Cedric is seven years old at the story’s beginning. “He had never heard an unkind or uncourteous word spoken at home; he had always been loved and caressed and treated tenderly, and so his childish soul was full of kindness and innocent warm feeling.” He’s special friends with the grocer, Mr. Hobbs, a young bootblack named Dick, and the “apple woman.” Even when winning a race with another boy, he encourages him by saying he only won because he’s three days older and his legs are a little longer.

Then one day a stranger from England, a lawyer named Mr. Havisham, arrives at Cedric’s home. Cedric’s father’s brothers have all died, and Cedric is the heir to his grandfather’s estate. His grandfather wants Cedric to come to England, live with him, and learn how to become an earl. He would become Lord Fauntleroy. His mother is invited, too, but the earl doesn’t want to see her. She’s be provided another home nearby so she and Cedric can visit every day.

Cedric’s mother believes his father, who loved his home in England, would have wanted Cedric to accept this invitation. She doesn’t want Cedric to start out with bad feelings against his grandfather, so she doesn’t tell him why his grandfather won’t see her.

The earl is described as “sitting in his great, splendid, gloomy library at the castle, gouty and lonely, surrounded by grandeur and luxury, but not really loved by any one, because in all his long life he had never really loved any one but himself; he had been selfish and self-indulgent and arrogant and passionate.” Everyone is intimidated by him. But Cedric’s mother said he was kind and generous. So Cedric approaches him without fear, which impresses the earl.

He wants Cedric to realize the riches at his disposal, so he gives instructions that Cedric can have anything he likes (perhaps not realizing that this was what ruined his two older sons). Instead of indulging himself, Cedric wants to use the money to help others.

Just when I thought the book was going to be fairly predictable, an unforeseen crisis arises.

Cedric is almost too good to be true. I haven’t found anything to explain why Burnett wrote the book: this was her first children’s book, though she had written for adults before. Perhaps she wanted to give children an example to follow. It’s interesting to trace the development of characters in her children’s books (at least the three I have read). Sarah in A The Little Princess is ideal as well, but not so perfect. Mary in The Secret Garden is spoiled and nasty.

Wikipedia says this book was as popular as Harry Potter in its day, and it started a fad of boys wearing the long curls and white frilly shirt that Cedric was known for.

Virginia Leishman did a nice job narrating the audiobook. It’s free through September to Audible subscribers, and only about six and a half hours long. I also got the Kindle version for 99 cents, which includes some of the original illustrations, which were fun to see. I don’t know why the newer cover shows Cedric with dark hair when the book repeatedly mentions his golden curls.

Even though Cedric and his mother are somewhat idealized, this was a sweet story that I enjoyed very much.

Review: The Island Bookshop

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Barbara Harper

In The Island Bookshop by Roseanna M. White, Kennedy Marshall has a career she loves in the Library of Congress. But when her sister back in North Carolina’s Outer Banks has a serious fall from a ladder, Kennedy travels to help care for her sister and run their grandmother’s island bookshop.

Kennedy hasn’t been home in a while. She loves the island, her sister, and the bookshop. But she’s avoiding Wes Armstrong. They’ve been friends since childhood, but Kennedy had deeper feelings. Then Wes married her friend Britta. Though Britta passed away, Kennedy knew too many of her secrets–secrets she can’t bear that Wes should know.

Wes’s family has built a successful business on the island, but a development group has offered to purchase the business. The money would help, but the business has been Wes’s life. He struggles with knowing what he should do.

When Kennedy’s sister’s recovery takes longer than expected, Kennedy faces some difficult decisions.

When a question comes up about a different name on the lease of the bookshop than Kennedy’s grandmother, Kennedy searches for information among county records and old boxes in the attic. She finds a number of editions of The Secret Garden in various languages as well as some old letters with surprising news.

Interspersed between the modern-day chapters are scenes from Kennedy’s great-grandmother’s life. Ana is pregnant when she comes to the US during WWII from Dalmatia in Croatia, which at that time was part of Italy. Her husband, Marko, had come earlier to get a job and find a home. But he doesn’t come to meet her when she arrives. Italian-looking immigrants were viewed suspiciously at that time, and Ana doesn’t receive much help or direction. Finally a sea captain gives her a bit of information which leads her to the wife of the man who hired Marko for his fishing boat. The wife graciously takes Ana in, though she has to deal with anti-Italian sentiment from some of the neighbors.

But her friend’s daughter is enamored with Ana. They both love books, and Ana shares her favorite, The Secret Garden.

Then tragedy strikes. Ana doesn’t know what she will do in a new country with a newborn daughter.

I enjoyed both the modern-day and the historical stories. I hadn’t realized Croatia had been part of Italy. At the time, most people in the US weren’t interested in the difference–Italy was Italy and was ruled by Mussolini, so Italians were suspect. It was hard enough to adjust to a new country without that added layer.

I don’t usually read seasonally except at Christmas. But it was fun to read a “beachy” story at the end of the summer.

Themes of faith, forgiveness, and second chances are woven well through both narratives. Roseanna is one of my favorite authors, and this book is a lovely addition to her body of work.