Truth, Love And Books

Friend, Thank you for getting back to me. I did have some additional thoughts. To respect your time I will too try to be succinct.  You clearly possess the ability to communicate, to think logically and you value truth. I have always thought you were intelligent! I remember laughing when you legit corrected Mrs. Smith once, haha!!! My thought first goes to the value of reason. If we are all simply molecules in motion brought about by an unguided process, why deem our thoughts as worthy of being expressed? Would they not be the result of physical impulses? CS Lewis puts it in a better way: “Supposing  there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinkin...

Is reading a dying hobby? In an era of ultimate distraction, reading should be viewed as much more than just a hobby. The benefits of reading are truly astounding: Lowers blood pressure, helps brain function, and improves sleep to name a few. The pivot in perspective has always been beneficial for my own heart and mind, which in turn is good for those around me that I am trying to love well. Mamas, I know you may feel you have zero time to read. Not everyone is a night-owl and if you're like me, some days, all you want is a shower. Un-interrupted. And then there's the siren song of the smart-phone. Easy and quick entertainment. But disciplining myself(oh but it's a process) to choose to read over scroll has surprisingly been one of the most valuable disciplines in my motherhood.      Reading has been an impactful way for me to bond with my children. It cultivates conversation, it's free, gives us all a chance to breathe, to learn something new and when we spend time ...

My oldest child and I tend to butt heads. We are both, dare I say, a smidge alike temperamentally. Both outspoken yet deep thinkers, passionate but stubborn. Teaching her to read will always be one of my life's most proud accomplishments. Really, it was a joint struggle but amidst the work, I had a deep-seated fear not that she wouldn't eventually read well, but  that she would ultimately hate  stories and reading.   It felt like a long year and a half of tedium. When I re-shifted my focus on bringing more delight in our homeschool reading, her fluency took off.  She was off to the races ever since the end of first grade and it has been such a gift to see her relish reading. One of the keys to help her enjoy book time has been having a wide variety of new, incoming picture books. I'm at the library more often than the grocery store(PTL for click-list)! And that's the way I like it.   Even though May feels like cram season, cram before our state testing that is, ...