READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY 2021

Will post as soon as I finish reading my historical fiction book set during Christmas---that's how far behind I am!

.........................Book finished. 

This day emphasizes the need for reading....for yourself, for others and especially for children. Reading aloud to children can provide a shared adventure that can continue for a lifetime.

In our home each child knows of Captain Underpants because their dad read this to each of them---amidst much laughter, Now it's a "shared joke."

Not exactly high brow literature, but it has become a shared family experience,. Another book brought out words that rolled off all our tongues, "Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo has fallen into the well." Winning awards in 1968, 1997, 2007 & 2009,  the book now receives a red light from socialjusticebooks.org.  It certainly addresses in-sensitivity in our culture, we never considered.

I realize how easily I am drawn to a book by an award, a title or book jacket or even an author's previous book. I even feel responsible keeping current on books for grandchildren. I was drawn to this book by all of the above criteria. A main focus of the book was character Louie's mission "to save a pitiful motherless donkey" as friend college friend, Doris is doing on her farm with a dancing "house" goat--even potty-training her. (I can hear Joyce Ann laughing at those goat antics now) Plus, the donkey" was named Winslow, my G.O.A.T. child hood friend has that very name. Winslow is also the "she" in my childhood shenanigans. 

Sensitivity as I read has taken on new significance. As Solomon reminds in Ecclesiastes 12:12b, "Of making many books there is no end...."

On Read Across America Day may we all realize the importance of reading aloud to children and our responsibility for selecting the best out of many.

"There's no such thing as a good book written just for children---if it's well-written, it can appeal to any age audience! That's my opinion and I.m sticking to it." (Dotsy Liles)

NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY

National Adoption Day.

A day to celebrate. 

That is so true for our family. 

Book was one of "his" first words.

When he would "empty" his bookshelf, we called him our circulation librarian. 

Nowadays his books are everywhere. He chooses the ones he wants to read or for you to read to him.

Books at bedtime are essential and sometimes he wants to help the experience! Now you can enjoy that experience. I bet it will make you smile.

THROW BACK THURSDAY #3

...another entry just for me---a grandmother with an affinity for books. Most former children's librarians never lose their love for sharing books. Watching a granddaughter follow in your footsteps, warms the heart.

Lucy reads Llama Llama Red Pajama Feb. 2013

Rhythmic Language Demonstrated
Practice for upcoming teacher training to emphasized importance of reading aloud.

Sereni-TEA : a BIG cuppa

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
(Philippians 2:3, NASB)

Do you know someone who sips from a cuppa humili-TEA everyday? I do.
The Henizes---who put others first---always. Their door is aways open. Their humility spills over into the lives of every one they know.

They practice Ephesians 4:32. Kindness to others! Marge and Larry Henize exude it!

They embody the gospel and live it every moment of every day---at least every moment I've ever been with them.

For us, visiting in their home is as close to heaven as one can be. It's like a retreat. Blessings abound! Open-eyed prayers so you can face the ones you love. Yummy food. Table talk. Stories. LAUGHTER! Sharing. Peace. Serenity.

Reading aloud caps off a day in the mountains---nothing like it!!!

No better place---to sip a cuppa sereni-TEA. For me, it's the BIGGEST cuppa sereni-TEA available this side of heaven. 

Little Altars Everywhere……………

2/2/11 ………………is more than just a title of a novel I read in 1993. The sequel, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, came out 5 years later. I know these things not from memory, but because all of this info is noted in one of my book journals. At best, these notations are a hodgepodge sketch of what I’ve read. BTW, these books are not a spiritual read---but more like dysfunctional reality books that are set in Louisiana in the 60s.

It’s the word altar from that title that has captured me lately. It had me wondering if I had altars scattered throughout my life. “Mizbe'ah,” Hebrew for “altar,” means “to slay” though altars evoke thoughts of sacred places. A sacred place where I knelt (on the maroon cushioned pads at the altar of FUMC in Hoptown) as I took communion alongside Daddy. A religious rite of bowing down and worshipping the One who was slain for me. One worthy of my worship at that altar.

What are the altars in my life? From a previous entry, folks know that I have built altars of ease and convenience. What am I so-o-o worshipping that I’m giving up, or sacrificing, or in effect slaying other things for, in order to keep these altars in my life? Ask yourself that hard question. Some of these sacrifices are very costly. How many altars are you erecting in your life? . “Not so little” altars of affluence or materialism seem to be erected in the homes of many Americans.

Recently, during a conversation with a young man, I became aware of his lifestyle being one of sacrificing the eternal on the altar of the immediate. (pleasure & instant gratification) That, my friends, is a very dangerous altar. But before we begin to look down our noses at those damaging choices, we need to consider the number of times we, too, have sacrificed opportunities with eternal implications because we were kneeling at the altar of busyness. Have you ever sacrificed relationships on the altar of work?

In the past I have certainly sacrificed time with family on the “altar of books.” But God …..showed me how I, at times, had wisely balanced & combined the two by sharing that book loving part of me with my own children. There it was in writing at the bottom of the page containing “Little Altars…” a list of books I had read aloud in 1993 to Josh and Molly. Josh was a senior in high school and he still shared that time with me. To this day he and Molly both talk about The Education of Little Tree as one of their favorite books from our read-aloud times. Even when they were in elementary and junior high, they listened as I read aloud Good-by Mr. Chips (9) and The Yearling (12) each morning to their older brother, Buddy. Shared adventures, through books with one’s kids, bring balance and topple self-serving altars. It’s those “self-serving little altars” we need to topple.