Gathering Up Sunshine

Happy day after Thanksgiving! 

The new banner that Grace and I made.

It's just been such a beautiful day here, weather wise.  Jeff and I took a brisk walk around a favorite park.  Made me think about Ma from The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, when she said,"Get yourselves full of sunshine while you can.  It will soon be winter and you'll have to stay indoors."  The book goes on to say,"Out in the bright soft weather they were storing up sunshine and fresh air, in themselves, for the winter when they could not have any."  That is what today was about, storing up sunshine, because the long winter is just around the corner.  I hope you were able to store up sunshine, too. 
~Jenn

More regarding Elisabeth Elliot

Hello again friends.  It occurred to me that you all may not know about a wonderful, encouraging, free resource that has been such a blessing to me. 

Have you ever been to Elisabeth Elliot's website, ElisabethElliot.org?  Did you know that you can access her newsletters from 1982-2003?  Do you know what a wealth of encouragement she poured into those newsletters?  And the best part is that they are not lengthy, so you could read them, soaking in the godly wisdom, in little bits of time.  Bits like this:

"Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep the path than the sheep are to follow.  He is endlessly merciful, patient, tender, and loving.  If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led, we will with out fail be led.  Oh that I am sure."

Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter Sept/Oct 1992

Oh, My Stars!

I read a lot.  I read books.  I read blogs, a lot of blogs.  I read aloud to my kids every day for a couple hours.  I love to read.  I am hooked on it, you might say!  That's why I love Google Reader.  One of the features that I use frequently is the "star".  I decided that it might be fun to post some of my favorite "stars".  So here it goes.

The number one slot goes to Summer Tomato's How to Start Working Out When You Don't Like Exercise.  I don't think I need to say any more on this topic.  *sigh*

Number two slot goes to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home's When We Fail.    Thank you, dear lady!  I needed to hear this after my day of trying to teach a certain child yesterday.

Number three goes to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers's Homeschool Showcase # 63.  Lots of good reads there.  I am still working on them, myself.

Number four goes to Best of Fates' This is a Cat in a Bowl.  It made me smile.  I just love cats.

And number five goes to The Animal Blog.   The whole blog makes me smile.  I guess I was in the mood to smile this week!

My favorite video this week is:


I want to learn how to fold a shirt like that!

And here is a cool post from Pioneer Woman that I just found.  Your kids can learn vocabulary and earn real rice for real people.  Don't ask me how that works.  I just go with it.  I will say it is for younger kids, as my 7th grader found the words too easy.  I told him to keep going anyway, because people were hungry.

I hope you enjoy these sites as much as I have.  It may take me a month to get another crop of good ones to share, or it may be another week.  :-)
~Jenn