Summer is in full swing around here!
Read
This month I finished The Imitation of Christ, which has many passages worth pondering; in fact I think I’ll share one below. I read Beyond Mere Motherhood… I found the writing a bit choppy, but Cindy is inspiring (and includes lists of books and other resources) and I especially appreciated the chapters on “the suffering mother” and “the wise mother.” (I also read Three Days in June [not my favourite Anne Tyler] and listened to A Lantern in Her Hand [I didn’t like it as much as I had hoped] and am halfway through two other books that I hope to finish in July.)
I wanted to focus on reading novels to the kids this summer since during the school year, I don’t read out loud very much outside of school books and picture books. So far we have finished More About Paddington, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Our Only May Amelia!
Do
- We had a 40th birthday bash for a friend from church (lunch out, walking by the river, cake, ice cream, tea, card games).
- Andrew and some helpers moved the rest of our belongings across the border and into storage.
- The kids made homemade bath bombs with cookie cutters and essential oils.
- We spent two afternoons at Waddington Beach.
- I submitted my documents for the past year and plans for next year to the school board.
- I took the kids to Potsdam for a day (Children’s Museum, free ice cream in the park, thrift stores, library) and we stopped to pick strawberries on the way home.
- Andrew took the kids to Touch-a-Truck, which is always a hit.
- The kids have found some great items at garage sales and free beside the road (including stacks and stacks of fancy card stock).
Eat
We’ve made homemade ice cream three times so far!
- Black currant and earl grey with caramel ripple
- Maple ginger with caramel ripple (both with this base recipe)
- Cookies and cream (for a birthday baked Alaska!)
The theme we chose for the fellowship dinner at church was something with a surprise inside. We made:
- SK jam-bellied bran scones
- pumpkin muffins with apricot jam and cream cheese
- deviled eggs with olives hidden in some of them
- meatloaf stuffed with hard-boiled eggs
- dates stuffed with almonds and cream cheese
Play
I found Rivals for Catan, a two-person, card game at a thrift store and quite enjoyed playing the basic version. (It comes with cards for three other options once you’ve got the hang of it.)
Grow
I had to look back at last month’s report to see what has changed in our gardens since the beginning of June,
We’ve been eating the salad greens and replanted many of them. (I really need to do more with the kale!) Some of the tomato plants are enormous and I’m very pleased that the ones I started from seed have grown a lot. We were given a watermelon plant, a mystery pepper, and two broccoli plants to add to our garden and so far they are doing fine. The sunflowers haven’t done much, as the spot by the fence doesn’t get as much sun as I had anticipated. I just planted six potatoes (yukon gold) in front of them, since a friend offered me the sprouted spuds. We’ve been eating the shoots of the walking onions and we cut off the garlic scapes this week.
Listen
This song is not new to me, but it’s been in my head lately.
Ponder
“Lord, grant that I may know what I ought to know, love what I ought to love, praise what pleases you, value what you deem precious, condemn whatever in your eyes seems filthy. Let me not judge things by outward appearances or form my opinions on the hearsay of those who know but little; give me that true judgement which can form a correct opinion on matters both of the world we see and that other world of the spirit, and let me above all else ever seek what best pleases your will.” – Imitation of Christ
“When the Holy Spirit reminds us to pray, we can be sure that God is at work. Prayer, then, is not so much begging God for shiny baubles as it is asking to be a part of the work God is doing.” – Beyond Mere Motherhood
Meditate
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” -Revelation 1:12-18