An Open Book: August 2024 Reads

Another month has arrived, so it's time to link up with An Open Book to share what I've been reading. August was a fantastic month of festivity (we attended a Catholic family conference, celebrated a bunch of birthdays and our wedding anniversary, and baked delicious treats) and it was a fascinating reading month. For some reason, other than one children's graphic novel, I only read nonfiction books! Some were excellent, some were tedious, but they all were really, really interesting. 

(A segment of the nonfiction books comprises the beginning of my crash-coarse in mathematics. I'll probably make a blog post about this at some point, but in short: I want to help cultivate a beautiful, holistic view of mathematics in our family's homeschooling life, so I'm beginning my own preparation by reading and thinking and diving into the world of math.)

Let's dive in! 

A Education in Life

"You need to bring the kids over. Come anytime!" From beneath her white veil, the religious sister smiled at me and continued to insist. "Bring the kids over!" 

I knew that I needed to finally do it. 

When I had first learned that this woman had opened a home for elderly people and those near death, I was excited. The life-affirming mission of this home was beautiful. Yet, I hadn't taken my kids; it was hard to determine the "perfect" time to make a trip. However, that day after Mass, the answer popped in my head. 

"What if we just came and brought our schoolbooks?" I said slowly, turning the idea over in my mind. Instead of meandering home or heading to a park after daily Mass, once a week we could drive over to this home for the dying instead.

It would be, I realized, an answer to a prayer that dwelled in the depths of my heart.  

When we visited relatives last Christmas, I thought about how good it is to be with others, even if we aren't constantly doing an activity together. There's something reassuring and comforting about curling up on a couch with a book and seeing a couple other people playing a game nearby or watching a show together. Just being around other people, in community, is a beautiful and consoling thing. 

An Open Book: July 2024 Reads

Welcome to August! Now that the new month has begun, it's time to link up with An Open Book to talk about what I read in July.  Since it was so hot outside, my kids and I spent A LOT of time inside reading ;) I was excited that I finally finished two books that I've slowly been reading for a couple of months! I also read a lot of fantastic books, from children's literature to classics to historical fiction. Let's dive in! 

Rest and the Great Commandment

This scene has played out in my home more times than I can count:

I’ll be trying to accomplish something—put dinner on the table, take care of a crying child while other kids are asking me questions, respond to a month-old message from a friend—and my voice pierces through the crying and clamoring: “I’m trying, I’m working so hard, please just be patient.” I have a smile on my face, but the tension in my voice and shoulders quickly spreads throughout the room. I know that I'm on the brink of exploding into frustration. Sometimes, the dam breaks and my exhaustion and anger burst out into biting words. 

My husband’s voice calls out as he enters the room. “Do you need to go sit by yourself in your room?” 

Good man that he is, he sees through my attempted charade of patience and handles the situation while I dash down the hallway for respite. The overstimulation of the moment begins to dissipate as I let my body and my mind rest. Despite my best efforts, I struggled to patiently love others when I was wound up and filled with unrest. 

Just moments later, I am refreshed by my rest. I am renewed and once again can care for my children with patience and charity.  

While I continue to fall short of how God calls me to love, it always comes more naturally and easily when I’m encountering others from a place of rest and peace.

We often refuse to rest or even believe that we haven’t “earned the right” to rest. All sorts of excuses and objections fly up that hold us back from experiencing deep, healing rest in God. Yet, the more I explore this topic in my prayer and work, the more convicted I grow that rest is absolutely necessary for each and every one of us. While there are many mental, physical, creative, and professional benefits to regular rest, one of the most important fruits of rest slammed into my brain only a few months ago: Rest helps us live out the Great Commandment.

An Open Book: June 2024 Reads

We've been living in a stretch of triple-digit temperatures, so I think summer has finally decided to officially arrive :) In the past few weeks, I picked up some interesting books that I'm excited to share about! I'm linking up with An Open Book to talk about the fiction and non-fiction that crossed my shelf the past month. Let's dive in! 

An Open Book: May 2024 Reads

It's the beginning of the month, so I'm linking up with An Open BookAn Open Book to discuss the books that accompanied me in May. It was an extremely fun month for reading, with memoirs, historical non-fiction, historical fiction, and novels forming my reading stack. Let's dive in! 

Nalbinding a gnome hat

 Last month at a Medieval Fair, I spotted a spinning wheel. My fiber-loving heart jumped, and I ducked inside the tent, where a few women sat around doing different fiber crafts. My children stopped suddenly at the entrance of the tent, however; they were engrossed in the work that a different woman was doing. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, it looked like she was knitting. That's nice, but not nearly as exciting, I thought. But then, I did a double-take. Instead of working with a couple knitting needles, she was using a thick, plastic-looking needle, a few inches in length, to loop and weave yarn around her thumb and through a dense fabric that was forming. 

"Is that a type of knitting?" I asked, leaning closer. 

"No," she responded. "It's nalbinding." 

As this woman proceeded to tell me about this endangered, ancient handicraft, I was gripped with a strong desire to learn it for myself. When she mentioned that, due to the fabric's construction, you can't "drop stitches" that unravel like in knitting or crocheting, I knew I needed to learn this. It sounded perfect! When she added that, since the gauge is determined by your thumb, making specific patterns difficult, I became even more excited. No complicated patterns to keep track of as I keep my toddler from destroying the house? When can I start?

An Open Book: April 2024 Reads

Another month has rolled around, so I'm linking up with An Open Book to chat about what I read in April!  As usual, it wound up being a great mix of fiction, nonfiction, and a couple children's books. Let's dive in! 

An Education in Clover

As my eyes scanned the neighborhood street, I observed the irony. The yards that some people fastidiously poured time, money, and chemicals into were barren. These lawns looked dead, lifeless, and empty. However, the other yards—those lawns belonging to people who didn’t pour time, money, and chemicals into them—looked very different. Overgrown with flower-touched weeds and bursts of clover, these yards were full of life. Bees hummed as they hovered above the white clover puffs and butterflies flitted back and forth.

In some yards, there was vibrant life—and in others, desolation and death. Perhaps this is too dramatic (a yard is just a yard, isn’t it?); yet, I wonder if we can learn something from a clover-filled yard. 

I look into my own backyard as I sit her in the dining room, and I see an ocean of clover. Each year, the clover has been spreading more and more across that space. This abundance of clover has brought an incredible amount of joy to our family. Over the past several days, my children have spent hours upon hours playing and rolling in the clover. The clover is deep and thick, in some areas rising well above my ankles. It is soft and silky and delightful. Joyous smiles light up the faces of my children as they play, and I join them in sharing this bliss. The clover in a yard is a gift to us--and it also is a gift to others. 

Life pours into our backyard, seeking out this clover.

An Open Book: March 2024 Reads

Christ is risen! 

I hope that you all are having a beautiful Easter season so far. I personally am enjoying the chance to bask in the glory of Easter after the intensity of Holy Week :) With the start of another month, it's time to link up with An Open Book! In March, I did not get much done in the way of writing, but I read a lot. It was a really fantastic lineup of books, so let's dive in! 

My Electrifying Existence

The house was hushed and the lights were dim as I walked away from the bedroom where three of my children slept. Holding the toddler in my arms, I grabbed my laptop--might as well watch a show while putting her to sleep, I figured. I grabbed the charging cable too, since my laptop would not work unless it was plugged in. 

Still holding my child, I started to plug the laptop's charging cord into the outlet. A slight shock briefly jarred me, and stupidly, I thought I had put it in wrong. Grasping the cord, I carefully tried putting it in the outlet again. 

RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

A surge of electricity pulsed into my hand. I dropped the cord and--still holding tightly to my sleepy toddler--leaped away. "DEAR GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!" I yelled as the waves of electricity pushed up my arm. They rolled through my chest, into my other arm, and briefly down towards my waist.