As I am sure is true for most of you, December has been a busy month. We’ve pared down some activities: I didn’t do any holiday baking except for apple pie for Christmas day. Jesse made cheesecake and Mittu made chocolate pie, so we had more than enough sugar to go around.

We seemed to have a good blend of activities to go to without feeling overwhelmed: the Fantasy of Trees, a Christmas play, a Christmas concert, Family Fun Night, a Christmas Eve service.

Jim and I celebrated our 45th anniversary! I shared some thoughts on 45 years of marriage here.

We’ve enjoyed time with the whole family since Jeremy came and we’ve seen Jesse a little more than usual.

Despite getting sick in the middle of the month for a week or so, everything got done that needed to get done, and we had a good month.

Now we’re in the phase of asking ourselves “What day is it?” several times a day. 🙂 Jeremy is still here for a few more days, working from our home this week.

Watching

As I write this, we haven’t watched any of our usual Christmas movies–or any movies at all, really, except A Biltmore Christmas. It’s main draw was being set in one of my favorite places, the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. The plot has a screenwriter tasked with drafting a remake of a (fictitious) classic Christmas movie set at the Biltmore. She’s not getting it quite right, so her boss sends her to the Biltmore at Christmastime to get inspired. She finds a broken hourglass that, when turned, sends her back to the 1940s when the original movie was made. The ending everyone knows and loves has been lost, so she has to try to get the writer to change the ending he has in mind–and along the way she falls in love with the leading man. It’s a Hallmark movie free for Netflix through December. The fictitious old movie is similar to The Bishops’ Wife. Though it was Hallmarkish, it was fun.

Creating

December was a busy month for cards. I didn’t get started when I wanted to, so I relied on decorative paper and stickers.

This was for our anniversary:

It was funny that Jim included my favorite candy with his card, so he literally did make life sweeter. 🙂

This was Jim’s Christmas card:

Jeremy’s:

Jason’s:

Mittu’s:

Timothy’s:

Jesse’s:

I don’t feel like this was my best-ever batch of cards–but the sentiments were heartfelt.

Reading

Since last time I’ve finished (linked to my reviews):

• 2 Corinthians for You by Gary Millar. Our ladies’ Bible study at church went through this. Very good.
• Waking Up in the Wilderness: A Yellowstone Journey by Natalie Ogbourne. Very good.
• Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer, audiobook, the latest in her Time Crossers series. In this book, the heroine knows no one else with her “gift,” so she doesn’t know what to think about living in both 1727 as the granddaughter of a plantation owner and in 1927 as the daughter of a famous preacher. Very good.
• An Honorable Deception by Roseanna M. White, audiobook, the latest (and I think last) in her Imposter’s series. Excellent.
• The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron, the third in her Lost Castles series. This one involves a replica of a famous portrait of Queen Victoria over three timelines: England in 1830, then in WW2, then modern day. Very good.
• Christmas at the Circus by Joanne Bischof, an okay Christmas novella.
• Bespoke: A Tiny Christmas Tale by Amanda Dykes, very good.
• Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor by Roseanna M. White, audiobook, a very nice Christmas novella set in Edwardian England with nods to Jane Austen and The Nutcracker.
• Christmas With the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, audiobook. Could have been great; some language and immoral behavior marred it. The parts with the queen were excellent.
• Everyday Gospel Christmas Devotional by Paul David Tripp, not reviewed yet.
• The Christmas Hummingbird by Davis Bunn, audiobook, not reviewed yet.

Tin Can Serenade by Amanda Dykes was a delightful short story.

Our Sunday School class went through selected psalms with a booklet put together by the teachers from some of their resources. One lady mentioned In God I Take Refuge by Dane Ortland, so I got it about 2/3 of the way through the class. It has each of the psalms printed along with some devotional thoughts. It’s not as in-depth as a study Bible or commentary, but was very good. I’m looking forward to reading the whole thing next time I am in the psalms.

I’m currently reading:

• Ezekiel: The God of Glory by Tim Chester
• What’s a Disorganized Person to Do? by Stacey Platt
• The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper.
• Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton by Ryan Whitaker Smith
• A Holy City Christmas: Charleston Holiday Tales, short stories by various authors.
• Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge, audiobook.

Tomorrow I’ll post my top books of the year.

Blogging

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

• Is God Only Your Emergency Contact?
• Traditions: Blessing or Burden?
• 45 Thoughts on 45 Years of Marriage
• A Christmas Boomerang
• We Can Trust God on Our Journey

Sometimes at the end of the year, I’ll have a post with the most-viewed posts of the year. I like to see what kinds of writing people are interested in. The timing didn’t work out for such a post this year, but I did take a peek.

My top posts published this year:

• Old Age Syndromes to Avoid
• Fading with Age
• Life Doesn’t Always Turn Out Like We Thought It Would
• Don’t Wait Until You Feel Like It
• But I Did Everything Right
• Review: Being Elisabeth Elliot
• To Confront or Cover?
• When Small Frustrations Boil Over
• “All Sunshine Makes a Desert“
• We Won’t Understand All, But We’ll Trust More

My most-viewed posts of all time:

• Coping When Husband Is Away
• Christmas Devotional Reading
• Thanksgiving Reading
• Quotes on Thanksgiving and Thankfulness
• Recipe for a Happy Marriage
• Church Ladies’ Groups
• What Does It Mean to Magnify the Lord?
• It Was for Me
• When There Is No Hunger for God’s Word
• Senior Version of “Jesus Loves Me“

Writing

There’s been nothing on this front besides blog posts and Christmas cards. 🙂 Our critique group has been off for about six weeks but will start up again in January.

Looking ahead, I plan to spend the latter half of this week resting and maybe puttering. Somehow I ended up with four medical appointments in January. 😦 Thankfully, they are all just regular check-ups.

I don’t usually make resolutions or choose a word for the year, but somewhere in January I like to evaluate habits and schedules and see where I need to change or tighten things up. I especially want to make time for my manuscript and hopefully get it ready to submit.

How was your December? What are you looking forward to in January?

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

It’s a little early for an end-of-month wrap-up, but between Thanksgiving tomorrow and other posts over the weekend, this seemed like the best time for it.

It’s still hard to believe it’s time for Thanksgiving, and December will be here Sunday!

We’ve had a relatively quiet month, which is appreciated right before the busiest month of the year.

Family Funnies

Our Alexa often doesn’t respond to me, even though I try to speak to it loudly and clearly. One night, after I tried unsuccessfully to get it to do something, Jim strolled in, spoke to it, and it responded. I said, “I don’t think it likes me.”

Jim said, “Alexa, you behave.”

Alexa responded, “Hmm. I’m not sure how to help you with that.”

Creating

I only made one card this month, for my friend Melanie. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but we got together yesterday. She likes purple. 🙂

Reading

Since last time, I finished:

• The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox, fiction, audiobook and library book. I loved this one! A homeless man finds an abandoned baby girl and tries to care for her himself, naming her Ivy. The story shifts back and forth from this timeline to 24 years later, when Ivy tries to find out how her patchwork family came together.
• The Secret Keepers of Old Grocery Depot by Amanda Cox, fiction, audiobook. Three generations of Tennessee women try to protect each other with secrets, but instead strain their relationships. Good.
• Mrs. Tim Carries On by D. E. Stevenson, classic fiction, audiobook. A fictionalized journal of a young wife’s doings during WWII while her husband is overseas. This was okay.
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper, nonfiction. Some bad language, but otherwise good writing advice.

I’m currently reading:

• 2 Corinthians for You by Gary Millar with our ladies’ Bible study (one chapter to go!)
• Ezekiel: The God of Glory by Tim Chester
• What’s a Disorganized Person to Do? by Stacey Platt
• The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper. I’m just reading a few pages of this at a time.
• Waking Up In the Wilderness: A Yellowstone Journey by Natalie Ogbourne
• The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron
• Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer, audiobook

Blogging

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

• God Knows What You Can Take. God does give us more than we can handle, but not more than He can. Yet even within that framework, He knows our weaknesses and what would be too much.
• Praying for the Election.
• Achy Joints. The body of Christ is held together by joints and a surprising lubricant.
• Enjoy the 80 Percent. We tend to fixate on small irritants instead of enjoying the vast majority of things to like about a person or situation.

Writing

I did get some good time in on my manuscript, but that will probably take a back seat next month. I want to get things done for Christmas first, and then we’ll see if there is any time left.

I’ve mentioned Ciara Dierking a couple of times, the young wife and mother who lost all four limbs after a horrific illness. She said something in her interview with Revive Our Hearts that stood out to me: “What we deserve is God’s cup of wrath, and what we’ve been given . . . Even if He gave us nothing else beyond just not giving us the wrath, He has given us so many blessings.” What a perspective for thanksgiving. God has blessed us so much with salvation and forgiveness and the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we’d have enough to be thankful for eternity. But He heaps on more blessings every day.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. I hope you have a special day with people you love.

I agree with Anne of Green Gables in saying I am so glad I live in a work with Octobers. We’ve had beautiful color in the area and mostly moderate temperatures. I love this respite between the extremes of summer and winter.

I mentioned at the end of September that we had a few more social occasions than usual on the calendar for October. A couple of them fell through for various reasons–the illness of one friend and another traveling from OH to SC had to take a different route due to damage from Hurricane Helene in NC.

We did have one couple from church over along with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. And Jason’s family and my youngest son, Jesse, went with us to the Medieval Faire about an hour a way. It was the first time we had done that, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Otherwise, it’s been a fairly quiet month.

Partly due to anticipating company, I got some little “extra” jobs done around the house that felt good to accomplish.

A year ago this month, Jim had prostate surgery which turned into a bigger ordeal than we had planned when the doctors found an undiagnosed hernia in his abdominal wall with some of his intestines poking through. (He had felt a bulge there and asked two doctors about it, but they said it was just a fatty deposit.) He had a long, uncomfortable recovery, but, thankfully, has not had any long-term problems since then.

We didn’t have any family birthdays this month, so I didn’t make any cards. So I’ll plunge right into this month’s reading round-up.

Reading

Since last month, I’ve completed (titles link to my reviews):

• Be Alert (2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude): Beware of the Religious Impostors by Warren W. Wiersbe
• Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know For Sure You Are Saved by J. D. Greear. Excellent resource for anyone struggling with assurance of their salvation.
• Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate, fiction. Kate goes to hold down the fort and keep things safe at her forgetful grandmother’s house until the rest of the family can come for Christmas and make arrangement for Grandma’s care. But Kate begins to wonder if they are making a mistake.Very good.
• Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson, fiction, audiobook. A fictionalized diary of an army wife in the 1930s. Amusing in places.
• Written on the Wind by Elizabeth Camden, fiction, audiobook (This was finished at the end of September but not reviewed until October). A man heading the Trans-Siberian Railway project witnesses violent crime at the hands of soldiers, and escapes from Russia to share with the world what happened. The only person he cam trust is the woman at the bank in New York that has been financing the project. Very good.

I’m currently reading:

• 2 Corinthians for You by Gary Millar with our ladies’ Bible study
• Ezekiel: The God of Glory by Tim Chester
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper. Making progress!
• What’s a Disorganized Person to Do? by Stacey Platt. Reading this in spurts.
• The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper. I’m just reading a few pages of this at a time.
• Mrs. Tim Carries On by D. E. Stevenson, audiobook
• The Painted Castle by Kristy Cambron
• The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox

Blogging

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

• After the Storm. Thoughts on the destruction of the hurricane.
• To Confront or Cover? Scripture tells us sometimes to confront people when they sin against us, and other times to cover over an offense. How do we know when to do which?
• Jesus, Our Example and More. Jesus is more than just a good example, but there are places the Bible holds Him up as an example to follow.
• Will You Be Thankful for Your Elected Officials? The Bible tells us not only to pray for but to be thankful for our leaders. How can we do that when they oppose God’s truth?
• Silence, Shouting, or Singing. The Bible has instruction and examples to worship God in all these ways.

Writing

I’ve started another piece for Christian Devotions, but have not gotten back to my manuscript’s rough draft. Since I’m in the stage of revising my first draft, I feel like I need a large swath of time available to work on it. But then I can only do that kind of revising for an hour or so before decision fatigue sets in.

However, I did listen to a few writing-related videos.

The Christian Writer’s Institute hosted a Zoom Q&A with literary agent Bob Hostleter that was enjoyable and informative.

Living by Design hosted a Zoom call as well for training in writing for the internet (for their site specifically, but much of the instruction would apply generally as well).

Thankfully, both these Zoom meetings were recorded. I wasn’t able to to attend either “live,” so I appreciated being able to watch them later.

I had bought a course on Writing Nonfiction on sale from Serious Writer some time ago, but had not watched it yet. They sent a notice that they were closing down that side of their organization, so we’d need to finish courses before the end of the month or lose them.

So I made time to watch them. I was a little disappointed. The course had eleven different “modules,” but each was only two to six minutes. The material could have been put in a couple of blog posts–and, honestly, I would have preferred it that way. But it did have some helpful information.

Looking ahead to November, it looks like it will be a fairly quiet month until Thanksgiving week. I have an eye doctor appointment and the last of our church’s “Connect Four” get-togethers (where we divide up into groups of four women each and meet once a month over four months to get to know each other. So far, we’ve met for lunch each time). I also hope to get together for lunch with my friend who had to cancel earlier this month.

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

I know I often say that the week or the month passed by quickly. But, wow, September set a record for going by in a blur.

I’m thankful fall is officially here. It’s finally starting to feel like autumn.

We had a couple of quiet weeks, then attended a craft show, the Tennessee Valley Fair, and celebrated Grandparents Day all in one week. My youngest’s birthday was the following week.

Of course, this last weekend we dealt with the edges of Hurricane Helene. Thankfully, we didn’t lose power or suffer any damage except for some of our plants, which were nearing the end of their season anyway. We’ve heard of downed trees, roads closed, and bridges washed out as well as more serious damage between here and FL.

Creating

Can you tell what my youngest son’s interests are? 🙂

The background paper and game controller stickers were from a scrapbooking packet of boyish interests, though girls are gamers, too.

Reading

Since last time, I completed:

• Be Hopeful (1 Peter): How to Make the Best of Times Out of Your Worst of Times by Warren Wiersbe.
• Help for the Hungry Soul: Eight Encouragements to Grow Your Appetite for God’s Word by Kristen Wetherell, nonfiction. Excellent.
• Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens, fiction, audiobook. Not my favorite of Dickens, but I am glad I finally read this novel exploring the many ways selfishness can manifest itself.
• Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham, fiction. This will be one of my top ten books of the year. It’s a split-time novel, with one timeline taking place in the Biltmore house, particularly the library, in 1915, and the other in Asheville, NC, in modern times. To save the bookstore her grandmother established, a young woman must look into her grandmother’s past. One of my favorite places, a great story, and lots of bookish references.
• Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance, memoir. Mixed emotions about this one.
• Written on the Wind by Elizabeth Camden, fiction, audiobook. Just finished this and will review it later this week.

I’m currently reading:

• Be Alert (2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude): Beware of the Religious Impostors by Warren W. Wiersbe
• 2 Corinthians for You by Gary Millar with our ladies’ Bible study
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper–still chipping away at this one.
• What’s a Disorganized Person to Do? by Stacey Platt–just reading a small section at intervals
• The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper. I’m taking this in small bits as well.
• Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate, fiction
• Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson, audiobook

Blogging

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

• Believing What We Don’t See. Much of what we believe is unseen but not unfounded.
• When Trying to Avoid Pain Creates More Pain. God allows suffering for many reasons, but we make it harder when we stiffen against it.
• The Most Important Thing. Many distractions assail us, but the most important thing in life is knowing God and making Him known.
• Freedom to Lament. We try to fix other people’s problems with pat answers, but sometimes we need to just sit and weep with those who weep.
• God’s Grace for This Moment. We can feel overwhelmed with small and large concerns. But we only need grace for this moment, and God’s grace is sufficient.

Writing

I have not done much on this front but hope to next month.

Looking ahead, October is usually a quiet month for us, a nice rest between “birthday season” and Thanksgiving and Christmas. We do have a few more social occasions on the calendar than usual, but they are all things I’m looking forward to.

How was your September? Is there anything you’re looking forward to in October?

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

Although July flew by too quickly, we enjoyed it while it lasted. It’s been hot, but not as much as it can be this time of year. A few showers the last week have cooled things off a bit and relieved my husband of daily watering plants.

The guys went on a camping trip right at the end of last month, and Jason, Mittu, and Timothy went to see Mittu’s family in OK. Jim helped someone from church move, but I’ve stayed pretty much indoors except for church, lunch with a friend, and dinner out with the family one night. The flowers we planted last May are blooming profusely, and we’ve harvested and even given away some of Jim’s squash and zucchini.

We enjoyed celebrating the fourth of July and Jason’s birthday this month.

Creating

This was for Jason’s birthday:

Watching

I read Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber a few years ago. It’s her story of going to Oxford to study and being surprised at running into people of faith there. She had no desire to become a Christian, but couldn’t escape being confronted with it. I had seen that a film was made of the book, but forgot about it til recently, when Jim and I watched it. Although the movie focuses more on the romance than her faith journey, the latter is still there.

We were surprised in may ways. I had thought of Oxford as a hotbed of leftist and “woke” thought, like many colleges. But that didn’t appear to be the case when this book was written (at least, if it was there, it hadn’t snuffed out conservative or religious thought completely).

There were a couple of bad words and “off” comments, but otherwise we enjoyed this movie quite a lot.

We also enjoyed Belle and Sebastian, a French film dubbed with English voices. It was based on a book, I think by the same name. A boy finds a stray dog which villagers thinks has attacked their sheep. But the boy, Sebastian, makes friend with the dog and names it Belle. They end up helping members of the French resistance fighters escape across the mountains.

I didn’t turn on the opening ceremony of the Olympics until about the last hour or so. I didn’t know until the next day about the controversial content. Part of me is shocked. Part of me feels like, “Well, yes, the world hates the truth of Christianity, and they are getting more blatant about it.” I’m still processing it, but I don’t know that I’ll say any more about it. I’m sure just about everything that could be said has been.

I’ve seen several Christians call for a boycott of the Olympics. Of course, each should follow their own conscience in the matter. Personally, I don’t know how much good that would do. But more than that, I feel the athletes are not at fault for what the program directors did. I may not watch the closing ceremony, in case it’s more of the same stuff as the opening ceremony—I haven’t decided yet.

Reading

Since last time I finished:

• Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (audiobook). A father pins all his hopes and dreams on his young son following him into business, but the son dies as a child. The father has little use for his daughter, who is the one person who truly loves him. The father’s pride brings him low, but the story is ultimately redemptive.
• The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the family of The Sound of Music fame. Not surprisingly, real life was different from the movie.
• Read This First: A Simple Guide to Getting the Most from the Bible by Gary Millar. Good resource for those new to reading the Bible or those who have struggled with reading it.
• A Month of Summer by Lisa Wingate (audio). Novel about a woman who has not seen her father for thirty years, but now needs to see to him, her developmentally-delayed step-brother, and her step-mother who has just had a stroke. Very good.
• When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor, a fictitious account of a true situation where a school for missionary children in China was taken over by the Japanese during WWII. As a story, it was good, but I struggled with how some facets were handled compared to what I had read in missionary biographies.

I’m currently reading:

• Be Decisive (Jeremiah): Taking a Stand for the Truth by Warren W. Wiersbe
• Help for the Hungry Soul by Kristen Wetherell
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper
• Shadowed Loyalty by Roseanna M. White, audiobook
• Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
• A Boy’s War by David Michell

Blogging

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

• Are You Thirsty? Those who trust in the Lord have a continual source of refreshment and nourishment.
• “All Sunshine Makes a Desert.” As much as we would like all our days yo be sunny and bright, we’d dry up without rain. The same is true spiritually.
• Assorted Stray Thoughts, some serious and some silly.
• Be Careful of Your Strengths. We run to God for help in our weakness. But we can easily fall when trusting in our own strength as Uzziah did. He was “was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.”
• Fading with Age. Hair color and some abilities fade out as we age. But as long as we’re breathing, God can use us.
• One Book That Can Speak to Everyone. Writers are instructed that their books can’t be for “everyone.” Publishers want them to narrow their focus to a specific audience. But there is one book that truly can speak to everyone.

I didn’t remember my eighteenth blogging anniversary was this month until WordPress sent me a notice about it. Out or curiosity, I looked at my stats to see what my most- viewed post was: Coping When Husband is Away. The most-viewed in the last year was Mary’s Three Encounters with Jesus’ Feet.

I’ve been so blessed to get to know many of you virtually (and a few in person). Thank you for your kind and encouraging comments! And thank you for reading. I pray you’ve been blessed here.

Writing

I’m in the phase of revising my first draft, which is much slower work than initial writing. I got a big chunk done this month, which felt really good.

As we turn toward August, the calendar is pretty full. My oldest son will be coming to visit soon, and we’ll celebrate both his and my birthdays.

How was your July? Are you looking forward to anything in August?

We’re still a few days from the end of June, but since I have other posts scheduled the next few days, this seems the best time to reflect on the month.

It’s been a busy one. Three doctors appointments (thankfully just the check in, touch base, see how things are going kind). Father’s Day. My turn to present for our writing critique group. A radio interview. A day’s outing to see family members from CA who were in Kingston, TN (more on that tomorrow). Facebook impersonation issues. Computer and Cricut (the machine I use to make cards) glitches to fix. And then the regular tasks of meal preparation, dishwashing, laundry, and such.

I was wishing before the radio interview that there was a way to turn off the nervousness leading up to it. But that’s probably what keeps me dependent on the Lord for help, so I guess it’s a good thing in the long run.

Watching

I usually share any particularly good programs or movies we’ve watched, but I didn’t make note of any this month. So I’ll ask you: do you have any good, *clean* movies or series to recommend? Jim like WWII movies, space movies, and some suspense. I like classics, historical, or “based on a true story” films. We’re not usually into romances, but occasionally will watch one.

Creating

I made three Father’s Day cards this month. One was for my step-father.

Both the wording and the cut-out of “DAD” was done with the Cricut, then glued to a dark blue background which was then glued to the front of a card.

This was Jason’s:

This one was a little tricky because the design was contributed by a user and didn’t quite include all the steps needed. Then my Cricut gave out and I had to do a few of the layers with an X-acto knife. But I like how it turned out.

This was Jim’s:

I had a couple of ideas on the Cricut to use for his, but when the machine stopped working, I didn’t have time to figure all that out before Father’s Day. I was glad I had gotten these stickers beforehand.

Reading

Since last time I have finished (titles link to my reviews):

• Be Complete (Colossians): Become the Whole Person God Intends You to Be by Warren Wiersbe
• Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis by Douglas H. Gresham
• Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri. This is the story of a mother and her children forced to flee Iran when a fatwa is put on the mother after she converts to Christianity. It’s told from the point of view of Daniel when he was twelve. This will be one of my top ten books of the year. It was excellent, though the writing style took some getting used to.
• The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron, audiobook. An earl’s daughter and a tenant farmer’s son become friends over books and a cello. When he goes to WWI and she has to marry someone she doesn’t love, they drift apart. Now they are rival booksellers just as WWII begins. Excellent.
• Mildred Budge in Cloverdale by Daphne Simpkins, about a retired “church lady” and the challenges she faces. I’m afraid I didn’t care for this one, but most of its reviews are positive, so maybe it’s just me.

I’m currently reading:

• Be Decisive (Jeremiah): Taking a Stand for the Truth by Warren W. Wiersbe
• Read This First: A Simple Guide to Getting the Most from the Bible by Gary Millar
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper
• The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp
• When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor
• Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (audiobook)

Blogging

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

• Life Doesn’t Always Turn Out Like We Thought It Should
• Jesus Satisfies the Longing Soul
• Honoring Fathers
• What If You Have Good Reason to Fear?

Interestingly, I think Old Age Syndromes to Avoid, which I posted near the end of May, received the highest number of views in one day of anything I’ve posted. It looks like many of us are concerned about how to age well.

Writing

I was able to get a lot done on the chapter I submitted for our writer’s critique group. There’s no motivation like a deadline. 🙂 I’m hoping to dig into it more in the days ahead.

In July we’re looking forward to Independence Day and Jason’s birthday. Otherwise, the calendar looks blessedly empty! I hope to catch up on some writing as well as some things around the house.

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

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

When our kids were in school, May was one of our busiest months. We had end-of-school-year recitals, plays, programs, and parties.

Now May is a relatively quiet month. I love that it’s still technically spring. It’s warmer than April but not as hot as June.

I told a friend recently that it seems the older you get, the more doctors’ visits you have, even when you’re healthy. I think May was the first month this year that I have not had any kind of medical appointment. Yay! I have three in June. But that’s life.

This month we enjoyed Mother’s Day, a lunch with morning and afternoon sessions for women at church one Saturday, getting a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis, and getting spring plants in as well as regular family gatherings.

Making

The first card I made this month was for Mittu for Mother’s Day:

The daisies are multi-layered stickers. I had a little different design idea in mind when I started, but it eventually involved into this. It happens that way sometimes. I was pleased with it. I tried to use a decorative punch on the corners of the “Happy Birthday” part, but it messed up—so I just lopped the corners off. 🙂

This was for Timothy’s end-of-fourth-grade celebration:

The “4th Grade” letters are puffy stickers.

Watching

We enjoyed quite a few good films this month.

The Match was based on true events about a Nazi prison camp that arranged a soccer match between the prisoners and German athletes to celebrate Hitler’s birthday.

Hugo was about a boy living in a Paris train station in 1931. His father had worked in a museum and liked to tinker with inventions. He brought home a mechanical man found at the museum and tried to get it to work, When his father died, Hugo was given to the care of an uncle who kept the clocks at the train station. When the uncle died, Hugo continued to wind the clocks but remained hidden from the station inspector, stealing food from vendors. He becomes friends with a girl named Isabelle whose grandfather runs a toy shop in the train station. The older man turns out to be Georges Melies, a pioneering filmmaker (if you’ve seen the iconic image of a moon face with a rocket stuck in its eye, that’s his work). The film starts slowly at first, but eventually becomes quite interesting. Isabelle refers to a lot of literary classics, which was fun as well. The station inspector has some lines of double entendre, but otherwise the movie is clean.

The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music tells the story of the family from The Sound of Music, but from the viewpoint of Agathe, the oldest daughter. Matthew MacFadyen plays the father, who is a little less intimidating but also a little clueless in this version. Several points in this film are quite different from The Sound of Music, leaving me wondering which was closer to the truth. I have a book about the von Trapps in my Kindle collection, and this film is motivating to read that sooner rather than later. But as a movie and story, I enjoyed the film.

One Life is about the real-life Sir Nicholas Winton, played by Anthony Hopkins. The younger “Nicky” was a broker who had gone to Czechoslovakia in 1938 and saw families who had escaped from the Nazis in Germany and Austria but were living in desperate conditions. Worse, Czechoslovakia was under imminent threat of invasion. Nicky worked with a small crew to try to get as many children out to freedom as he could before the borders closed. The point of view goes back and forth between the older and younger Nicki. The older Nicki has a scrapbook he kept with all the details about the children he saved. He thinks it should be given to some historical site for preservation, but it ends up in the hands of a BBC television show. As I watched this scene, I realized I had seen a real-life clip of it in a video somewhere. This was quite a moving story. It makes you ponder the influence of one man. Nicky didn’t act alone, but if this telling is correct, nothing would have happened without his initiative and convincing others that it was possible. Yet he felt guilty for not doing more.

Lastly, one night Jim surprised me by suggesting we watch the 2007 film version of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. This is my favorite of Austen’s novels. I like the 1995 film version with Ciarán Hinds and Amanda Root much better, but it was still fun to revisit the story (except for the worst movie kiss ever in the 2007 version).

Reading:

Since last time I finished (titles link to my reviews).:

• Be Satisfied (Ecclesiastes): Looking for the Answer to the Meaning of Life by Warren W. Wiersbe, nonfiction. Very good.
• The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi, nonfiction. We tend to go all out to solve problems (the genius way) or decide they are not worth the bother (the lazy way). Kendra suggests combining approaches to know what needs effort and what doesn’t–which may differ from person to person.
• Now and Then and Always by Melissa Tagg, fiction, audiobook. Mara is running from several hard life circumstances when she ends up at a Bed and Breakfast owned by a woman named Lenora, who takes her in like a daughter. Lenora goes on a trip leaving Mara in charge, but ends up being gone for months with no way to contact her. Meanwhile, Detective Marshall Hawkins ends up at the B&B when placed on administrative leave from his job. He helps Mara with renovations while trying to overcome the crippling grief of losing his daughter. Good.
• All My Secrets by Lynn Austin, fiction, audiobook. When an elite 1920’s family’s patriarch dies, his mother, wife, and daughter discover that the family’s wealth will go to a near male relative. The mother thinks the daughter should find a wealthy suitor before news of their financial ruin gets out. The grandmother thinks they should embrace a simpler lifestyle. Both try to influence the daughter. Very good.
• Yours Is the Night by Amanda Dykes, fiction. A solider, fake chaplain, and reporter are all tasked with taking a French woman to safety during WWII, and the journey changes them all. Very good.
• For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer, Fiction, audiobook, third in her Timeless series about time crossers–people who live in two different timelines and have to chose one when they come of age. These time crossers are twins in 1692 as the Salem Witch trials begin, and one is a reporter and one an aviatrix in 1912. Very good.

I’m currently reading:

• Be Complete (Colossians): Become the Whole Person God Intends You to Be by Warren Wiersbe
• Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis by Douglas H. Gresham
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book That Changes Lives—Including Your Own by A. J. Harper
• Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri
• The British Booksellers by Kristy Cambron, audiobook

Blogging

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

• A Servant’s Heart.
• God’s Love Compared to a Mother’s.
• Supposing.
• Song of Solomon.
• Old Age Syndromes to Avoid.

I look through my spam comments occasionally, because, for inexplicable reasons, sometimes legitimate comments get in there. However, lately I’ve had hundreds of spam comments each time I look, most of them from the same IP address. WordPress doesn’t seem to have a way to ban that user. So I’ve temporarily closed comments on any posts older than a month. I hate to do that, because sometimes I do get comments on older posts. But spammers seem to target older posts. I haven’t had any spam comments since, so this tactic seems to be working. I may turn all the comments back on in a few weeks.

Writing

I had a couple of good sessions with my work-in-progress. It seems like the more I do with it, the more I see needs to be done. But step by step, hopefully it will eventually get done.

As we get ready to turn the calendar page, June will be a bit busier than May, but not too bad.

Has was your May? Are you looking forward to anything in June?