Uncommon Grace

A polka-dot deer

Today I have a little deer shirt to share, a gift for a four-year-old friend (whose birthday party today was really cool).

And also, a little three-year-old foot. Because I can't resist.

Hoping your weekend is going beautifully!

Friday reads: The Secret Garden

I've been meaning to share this book with you all for a long time. (In fact, it's the reason I decided to start doing a series of book reviews here.)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and illustrated by Inga Moore. Elisabeth and I read it last spring.

Now, The Secret Garden is neither my favorite piece of children's literature, nor my favorite read-aloud book of all time. (I mean, the phonetic spelling of the Yorkshire dialect? Wow. What a way to turn an excellent aloud reader into a stuttering mess.) The story has some pretty dark elements (I had to omit a few passages as I read it), and I certainly wouldn't be winning any Waldorf points for reading it to a seven-year-old. (Ha!)

But -- and this is a big but -- the illustrations by Inga Moore are absolutely breathtaking. And they are all throughout the book. Not only are there several lush full-color, full-page spreads in every chapter, but there are smaller illustrations on almost every page. Some are in color, and some in black and white. Some illustrate plot developments, some illustrate anecdotes or funny sayings from the text, and some are botanical illustrations showing how the garden and the world came alive for Mary Lennox (and all of Misselthwaite Manor) that spring and summer. The details of this book are so beautiful.

So incredible are these illustrations that I will go out on a limb and say that this is the only edition of The Secret Garden worth owning. It's definitely a book that has truly enriched our lives. We keep it on the piano right in the living room and someone in our house can be found looking at the pictures at least a couple times a week. I mean, it really is that beautiful. (I was kind of tempted to just plop the whole large format book right onto the scanner and start scanning away to share images with you, but since that would be uncool at best and illegal at worst, I thought better of it.)

Anyway, I hope you all have the opportunity to experience this beautiful book first hand.

(By the way, the story is equally appealing to girls and boys. I would recommend it for either gender, but not for the under-9 crowd except as a read aloud, and even then, not for very sensitive children.)

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I don't know why this should come as a big surprise to me, but since I've been blogging every day in November, I've noticed my online time has increased more than I would like. I think what I'm going to do to keep it more manageable for myself is to post in the evening after my kids are in bed rather than during the day as I have been trying to do. Each post will still be "new" for the same amount of time, but the time of day that they'll go up will change. So, keep on visiting! I'll still be here every day for the rest of the month. Hopefully this will keep things predictable for you and for me.

Mama.

Mama. It's a big word, for being so small. And it's a big job: so scary, uncertain, frustrating, maddening.

You have a new baby. You're filled with love -- and other emotions, too. Emotions as complicated and delicate as the hormones of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. The emotions, like the hormones, are interconnected and complex.

Your baby grows. You are still filled with love -- and all the other emotions, too. Every day brings new fears, and new jubilation.

Your child stumbles. You stumble. But you go on, motivated by this incredible love for your child. It never gets any easier, this loving, stumbling, getting up and going on.

But you know -- you just know -- in your heart of hearts, in your mama-heart, that this is your path. This is what you were meant to do. This child? This child is your greatest gift -- the greatest gift you have been given, and also your greatest offering to the world.

I've been thinking about my mama-life a lot lately. As my babe reaches three-quarters of a year next Thursday. As I ponder the upcoming holidays, and the gifts I hope to give my children -- beyond what they will find under the tree on Christmas morning.

My job as a mama has been harder, in some ways, this fall than it has ever been. And in so many other ways -- some of them, I know, still hidden from sight -- it has been incredibly, richly blessed.

I needed something, some little thing, to commemorate this -- all of this -- my growth, my struggles, all of it.

So when the opportunity arose for me to choose one of Lisa Leonard's beautiful pieces  a couple of weeks ago, my eyes and heart kept leading me back to this one:

Mama.
Hand holder. Dream soother. Love giver.

Yes. All that, and so much more. Thank you, Lisa. It couldn't have come at a better time.

(This mama necklace is a limited edition piece. It's so incredibly beautiful and well-made -- the details are perfect! If you're not familiar with Lisa's beautiful work, and beautiful family, please go check her out. I can't think of a more generous, gracious mama.)

Martinmas knits 2009, part 3

Sorry I wasn't able to post sooner today, the day just got away from me.

So, I guess I've unconsciously saved the best for last. Elisabeth's 2009 Martinmas knit is the Children's Poncho (also by Knitting Pure and Simple). The yarn is Malabrigo worsted in Hollyhock.

This is the most beautiful thing I have ever knit. As I was knitting it, row after row, increase after increase, it seemed a bit tedious, and it was always bunched up in my knitting bag. But oh, my goodness. The moment I saw it on my little girl on Martinmas morning, I almost gasped. The color is so amazingly rich, in the way that beautiful kettle-dyed Malabrigo yarns are. The drape (besides the somewhat annoying flippiness of the garter edge) is gorgeous. The weight is luxurious.

I wish the color were better in these photos so you could get a real idea of the beauty of this garment. You'll just have to trust me -- and coming from someone as picky as I am, you know it's true.

More details: I added pom-poms to the ties because I loved Erin's so. This is the largest size (10-12), and I knit it about 4" longer than the pattern indicates. I wanted it to be long enough to cover Elisabeth's arms completely (which it would if the edge wouldn't flip up -- I'm going to try to block it better if she'll relinquish it long enough). I remembered hearing that the pattern ran small, and I'm so glad I went up to the largest size. Elisabeth is tall for her age, but I may have tried the 6-8 size if I hadn't known better, and that would have been too small.

Anyway, here's to beautiful knits in beautiful yarn, for beautiful daughters who love their handknit ponchos.

Martinmas knits 2009, part 2

Today a have a little violet sweater to share.

This is the Baby Sweater on Two Needles, aka "February Baby Sweater" by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The yarn is Peace Fleece worsted in Violet Vyehchyeerom (which means "evening", and I love that). The buttons are extremely cool and I wish I could tell you exactly what they're made from, I can't recall (some interesting kinds of wood), but I purchased them locally and the heart (the top one) is dyed with henna.

And oh, how I loved knitting this. (If you're contemplating knitting this, or the grown-up girl version, don't let anyone scare you about the lace. Even if you've never knitted a lace pattern before, it's not at all difficult. I really, really enjoyed knitting the lace, actually.)

It turned out to be very big. I didn't knit it to gauge -- the pattern calls for 5 stitches to the inch and I was at 4 stitches to the inch. I thought I would try to size the pattern up because I couldn't figure out what size it was supposed to be, even after looking through hundreds of finished projects on Ravelry. Finally after knitting it, I took the measurements of three different store-bought 6-12 month baby cardigans, and I only learned then the answer to the mysterious sizing: when knit to gauge, the February Baby Sweater will yield a 12-month size! So now I know, and you all know, and you can spread the word.

So mine is the length of a 12-month sweater, but wider because I tried to gauge it up. Fortunately it's too big rather than too small, because this baby of mine will certainly only get bigger. The one thing I wish I had done differently was to omit the decreases at the bottom of the sweater (before the inch of garter stitch at the bottom). The decreases may be nice if you are doing buttonholes all the way down, but if you're going for an A-line sweater as I was, they didn't help. On the other hand, I kind of wish I had worked decreases on the sleeves before the garter stitch edge. So those are probably the only changes I would make next time.

Because I enjoyed knitting it so much, I'm strongly considering knitting one more before her birthday. She is, afterall, my February baby.

Martinmas knits 2009, part 1

We have the tradition of giving each child a new warm piece of clothing for Martinmas. I like them to be handknit by me, although some years they haven't been (we've done these in the past, for example).

So, this year I had the ambitious (to me) goal of knitting three sweaters. And I succeeded!

The first of this year's completed Martinmas knits is James's. His was actually the last one I completed, but I'm sharing it first. Disclaimer: Normally I wouldn't let my child play in the snow without being bundled up, but we were only out there long enough to get these pictures, and he is wearing layers of wool, top and bottom.

{eating snow}

The pattern is the Child's Neck-down Cardigan #981 from Knitting Pure and Simple. This was the second time I've knit this pattern -- I like it a lot. (The first time was for Elisabeth's Martinmas sweater from last year, which I'm realizing has never been photographed!)

The yarn is The Fibre Company Organik in Dark Red. I did not like this yarn. I'm serious! I know it's really popular and people love it, but it really didn't feel any nicer to knit than, say, Lamb's Pride, which is quite a bit less expensive and not "designer". It's a lot scratchier than I would have liked, and my little guy is really sensitive to fiber, anyway (synthetics cause him to break out and wools have to be oh-so-soft). I also ended up not loving the color I chose. I wanted something in a really deep red, which I thought this was at first. But once I'd knitted it for a while, it really began to look like more of a brick red to me, which isn't really what I was going for. (It looks like a deeper red in the photos than it does in real life, as well.)

There were two other things about this sweater that I didn't like -- it's shorter than I would have liked, but it's a good thing I didn't knit it any longer because I only barely had enough yarn for the hood. And the star buttons are pretty sharp, so I may end up swapping them out for something else later if I find anything I like better. We'll see.

Anyway, James likes the sweater pretty well. He has complained about the hood being too scratchy, but it's OK as long as he has another hat under it. I know we'll get use out of this sweater this winter, even if not as much as I anticipated (due to the scratch factor and short length). Overall, I'm satisfied with the project, although I won't use this yarn again.

I like this pattern a lot. I will most likely knit it a third time. And I love knowing that, even if it's not quite what I expected, my little one is being kept warm with something I created with my own hands. So in the end, this is a heartwarming story.

I know it's getting to be that time...

...when almost all of the searches leading people here are for for "advent" and "advent calendar". So let me point you in that direction....

Celebrating Advent :: Part 1 Ideas for the advent calendar -- what and why.

Celebrating Advent :: Part 2 Huge compilation of ideas for what to put into the advent calendar.

Celebrating Advent :: Part 3 The advent wreath, and ways to make it relevent to your family.

I've been thinking, now that Martinmas is passed, that I really need to sit down and make a "skeleton" of our days in December -- the activities I know we want to do, my husband's work and gig schedule, and figuring out which things can be done on which days.

Even in the two years since writing these advent posts, our family's celebration has shifted a bit. We are giving fewer "object" gifts than ever -- many, many more "opportunity" gifts. (Activities, coupons -- for treats like cocoa before bed, or night walks, etc.)

Anyway, I hope that you all receive these posts in the spirit that I offered them -- as a help for simplifying the holiday season by drawing it out. By not allowing it to get out of control with doing and buying too much, but paring it down to the essentials, the things that make this time of year really special for you and your family. Please don't take my suggestions as yet another thing to pile onto an already overfull month. The last thing I would want is for you to be burdoned with guilt about needing to add a complicated new tradition to your lives. But if it helps you to have some structure (today we'll decorate, next week we'll bake, etc.), and gives your family a joyful way to celebrate, then I hope my suggestions are helpful to you.

xo, Grace

Saturday night

How is your weekend going so far? Ours has been sweet and slow-paced. Tonight, it's snowing again, my children are all asleep, I've got a cup of my favorite cocoa brewing. (We have that a lot around here, it seems!)

I spent some time this afternoon trying to design this year's Christmas card. So far, I don't quite have it. Something seems to be missing. Back to the drawing board.

Wishing you a sweet end to your weekend!

Friday reads: seasonal books

I bet you thought I wouldn't get a post up today! Well, it's still Friday, and here I am -- just squaking it in. Today was very dark -- I kept waiting for even a patch of sunshine to take some photos -- and by 3:00, when it looked like the sun had gone down and it started to pour freezing rain/hail/slush, I knew it was a lost cause. I had planned a review of a book with illustrations that warranted sharing, so instead I've had to come up with an alternate plan.

I actually meant to link to my three favorite books on seasonal observance/celebrations/festivals in my Martinmas post, so it's probably a good thing to just post about them now, since I think I've only mentioned them in passing before.

Mrs. Sharp's Traditions is my very, very favorite. It was the first non-pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding mama book I ever read --while I was pregnant with Elisabeth. The style is humorous and may be off-putting to some (it's written a tone mimicking a Victorian ladies' advice book or magazine), but that is really so perfect for me. The amazing, wise thing about this book is that it draws parallels from another time with our own time. It really is all about how to reclaim family life -- I think so many of us feel powerless and end up throwing our hands up in defeat. Mrs. Sharp is here to show you simple ways to make home a warm respite from the impersonal, face-paced world outside. The first part of the book is about daily rituals that help to bring harmony, balance, and predictability to family life. The rest of the book (the majority) follows the year month by month, discussing different festivals and seasonal customs and pastimes. Part historical, part practical, part humorous, but always full of grace and charm. In my early days of parenting, Mrs. Sharp was like a trusted friend, always giving me a bit of steadying wisdom as I navigated my new role as a full-time, at-home mama and keeper of the home.

Festivals, Family, and Food is a lovely book on the seasons and festivals of the year. It contains stories, songs, poems, recipes, and anecdotes about celebrations throughout the year. It also has an appendix about everyday rituals. I can't tell you how many of our family's little customs and rituals originated in this book. I got it so long ago (in Elisabeth's first year), and began adapting pieces of it into our family's life such a long time ago, that I sometimes don't even remember that it was the origin for much of what we do. So many of the little songs and poems that accompany our days and our year are found here, and I sometimes surprise myself, after tearing through stacks of other books trying to find a resource for one of them, that it was here all along. It's not illustrated, it looks rather bland at first glance. But the information and suggestions are dense. It is completely possible, even for a family who has been using this resource for a long time, to find something new in it, something that is applicable now that wasn't before, a recipe that begs to be tried. As humble as it appears, it really contains a wealth of gifts for family life.

All Year Round is the most "Waldorf" of these three books. It gives a deeper, richer context and background for each of the festivals. It has a strongly anthroposophical flavor, although nothing extreme or into the esoteric. When I want a clear, concise description of a festival, its origin and history -- what it's "for" -- then I invariably turn to All Year Round. I like the format of the book, and it gives many, many ideas for crafts -- both for adults and children. The beginning of the book has several helpful question and answer sections about festivals, inner work, etc. I have read these dozens of times and they always help to reorient me about how and why we choose to celebrate festivals through the year.

One other helpful book, for poems, songs, and other ideas is A Child's Seasonal Treasury. I'm sorry to see that it's out of print and fairly hard to obtain, because it contains a wealth of great poems, verses, fingerplays, songs, and games, arranged by season. It has some sweet rhymes for counting and the letters of the alphabet, as well.

Some of you had asked for some more details about our family's celebration of Martinmas. I didn't elaborate on those answers for a couple of reasons -- one was that there wasn't too much I didn't share in my previous Martinmas posts, and the other was that most of them came from these three books. So, hopefully this will be helpful to those of you who are looking for additional information.

Have a great weekend, everyone -- I'll be here with some weekend posts at some point on Saturday and Sunday. See you then!

Our Martinmas -- and lantern tutorial

We celebrated a beautiful Martinmas last night with a group of Waldorf homeschooling friends. There were moments that were so quiet and reverent, looking around the circle of us singing together, and there were moments that were rowdy and almost challenging to bring back to center. But overall, it was such a delight to celebrate as a group. I hope that this will be the first of many festival celebrations with this newly-formed group.

I didn't get very many pictures (just these three, in fact, and I was missing my lens!), but the few I have tell a story, I think.

We met in a large park and shared a simple meal (of pumpkin soup, bread, cider, and tea). Then we set out, a merry little band, singing. We stopped at a couple of houses in the neighborhood, and then wound our way back into the park. In a stand of trees, we stopped and I told the story of St. Martin to our group. All was still and dark, except for our lanterns. Finally, a quieter group found its way back to the tables to pack up and bid one another farewell.

There were moments that weren't perfect. But it was beautiful -- magical, even.

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This year, we again made our "go-to" lanterns. I loved the balloon ones we made last year, but didn't want to do them two years in a row (not that my children would have minded!). I thought about making some out of beeswax (sort of like these), but ultimately decided against it because I wanted my children to be able to make their own lanterns.

These lanterns take 3-4 work sessions. You'll need heavy-weight watercolor paper (approx. 12"x18"), high-quality watercolor paints (those that come in tubes rather than the dry ones in a tray), paint brushes, smooth boards (can be made of plastic, wood, or any smooth surface) for painting on, cooking oil, paper towels, glue, a hole punch, tealights, and yarn, ribbon, or wire to make the handle.

The first day, we made our paintings, using the wet-on-wet watercolor painting method. I like to use paintings that are completely saturated in color for these, so this method is perfect for that. (I took a lot of pictures of our painting day this time; find more pictures here.)

Once the paintings were completely dry, we oiled them using cooking oil and paper towels. (This picture is actually from 2006; I don't have one from this year). It is important that the paintings are completely saturated with oil. You are not going for a light coating -- you want the paper to be soaked all the way to the back. This makes it translucent once dry. Expect each one to absorb several teaspoons of oil, at least. This is really messy and they will need to dry overnight.

The next day, we marked one of the long sides of the painting with lines that were 2" apart and 2.5" long. I cut along the lines. 

Then we glued them into a cylinder along one of the short sides, using clothespins at the ends to hold them together, and stones to weigh them down while they dried. Once the sides were dry, we folded the notched ends over and glued them shut, once again using stones as weights while they dried.

Finally, we punched holes and added our handles -- these were yarn that had been finger-knitted by Elisabeth, and glued tealights into the bottom of each lantern. It's really good for children to have running projects like this, even something like this where each work session only takes a few minutes. It's very strengthening to work on something over several days.

I hope if you try these, the instructions make sense and they turn out beautifully! Let me know if you try them. Enjoy your beautiful lanterns!

Wishing you...

...the strength of inner light this Martinmas, as we await the return of the Light at  Winter Solstice & Christmas.

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I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of this year's lanterns. The sweaters are all complete, and I'll give each its own post beginning Monday. For more about our family's celebration of Martinmas, you can check here and here. (For some reason, I didn't post about Martinmas in 2007.) For a long time, we were the only family we knew that celebrated this festival. But now lots of you have started to celebrate it, and tonight, for the first time, we are sharing a lantern walk with a group of Waldorf homeschoolers. Good things.

Oh, and thank you so much for your words on yesterday's post. Things have settled down here, as they always do.

Many blessings to you on this Martinmas day!

Thank you

I had another post all set for today, but instead, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for your many sweet comments recently. Thank you for continuing to stop by and visit me in this space, even when I haven't been here consistently. Thank you for being an amazing community.

Yesterday was the worst day we've had in a long time. My kids were grumpy and fighting, I'd woken up with a headache (which is unusual for me), and my temper was short. I was yelling a lot. In the middle of all this chaos, James got a nosebleed (which he tends to get from time to time when he's throwing a tantrum or crying really hard). I called my husband at work, and I never had the chance to tell him about my day, because he started to tell me about the day he was having -- which included the fact that both of his classrooms had been broken into over the weekend and vandalized -- very badly. I actually typed out what had happened, and just deleted it because it's too horrifying, and frankly, gross, to share here.

So, there I was, still in my pajamas, covered in James's blood, all three children crying, my husband at his wits' end at work. I really could have had a breakdown. But the mailman came to my door with a package at that very moment. An unexpected care package from a friend I have never met face-to-face. It was full of beautiful things for each of my children, and some treats for me.

In that one moment, everything turned around. Somehow a woman from the other side of the country cares enough to send a surprise to me and my little family out of the blue. How blessed I am.

So thank you. Thank you to Courtney, specifically, and to all of you. For taking the time to say hello each day, for being a community of women who uplift and brighten. You are all around the world. You are in your homes and places of work. You are sharing your thoughts, listening to the thoughts of others -- silly thoughts, creative thoughts, even deeply personal thoughts. This is a community.

love to you all,
Grace

For the sleepover

I made some pillowcases for Elisabeth and her friend for the sleepover.

we have a pop-up trundle bed so both girls got to have a bed

I used two ready-made white pillowcases and sewed contrasting fabric and ribbon that Elisabeth had selected to the bottom.

They look really cute, although the insides are sloppy. I think there must be a better way of doing pillowcases. Oh, well, they were fun for the girls to have, even if they end up falling apart at some point.

Edited: There is a better way! Next time I make pillowcases, I'm going to use Kirsten's tutorial. I figure, if you wanted to do it with ribbon, you could just leave out the trim fabric and make it with just the main fabric and the border per her instructions, adding the ribbon at the end.

snow white and rose red japanese fabric

And actually, I really like them -- the colors and details -- and for something thrown together quickly, they're perfect.

This and that, on a Sunday evening

Hello! It's still Sunday, and I'm here. (Getting used to weekend posting may be a challenge!)

I don't have too much to share this evening ... we had a lovely, quiet Sunday, without much to report.

Tonight, I'm anticipating my favorite festival on Wednesday, and finishing work on the sweaters.

I'm eating a snack of frozen blueberries.

I've had this song running through my head for several days now. Although the sentiments are clearly intended in a romantic vein (and may not be applicable to parenting), the hook of the song always makes me think of my wee Fiona. Such a joyful one, she is.

My favorite (and usual) camera lens is off to be repaired. It hadn't been autofocusing. Hopefully the repair won't be too complicated or expensive. Fortunately, I have other lenses I can use in the meantime, although they are both less versatile.

And that's about it.

See you tomorrow!

A wee Saturday post and a wee heart

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on the last few posts. I'm having fun being here daily, too!

Today was a day of contrasts -- it began on a sad note when Elisabeth's first sleepover had to be cut short because her little friend wasn't feeling well and needed to go home. It was so sad to see our little friend feeling so awful, and so sad to see both girls so disappointed.

It ended on a happy note (for me, at least), as I got to spend the evening out with a friend, something I really needed this week.

In the middle, there was some wet felting. (I love the wet felting in cookie cutters method. I learned it from Living Crafts a couple of years ago. It's also how these bird ornaments were made.) And there was some zany hilarity as I got lost on the highway twice (on my way to meet my friend), and had to backtrack twice.

So, there you have it. A wee Saturday post, squeaked in just in time. Because I'm not about to start missing already! ;)

Thinking about Simplicity

We've had a lot going on this fall. A lot. Some of that, you know about. The dissertation, and work to graduate on time, being chief among it all. But we've had other stuff, too. Most of it good, some of it not-so-good. And we've all been pulled along in this current of activity, keeping afloat, but not always thriving.

Each Monday, I wake up and realize, "Holy cow, I have seven cello students arriving this afternoon, and this house is a MESS!" And so Elisabeth and I usually spend about 30 minutes frantically tidying, vacuuming, and dusting the living room (where I teach) before my first student's arrival. This past Monday, as I was knee deep in this catch-up ritual, I had this moment. This moment of complete overwhelm and complete clarity, all at once. I'm sure you know the kind. I realized, in that instant, that we have too much: too much stuff, too much stimulus, too many activities, too many bills, too much work, too much on the schedule, too much stress, too many commitments, too much clutter, too many choices.

books, packed up for later

The thing is, I try to be really conscious of this. (I mentioned yesterday that I try to be very mindful about what comes into our home, for example.) And I'm guessing that as chaotic and generally cluttered as things feel around here to me, they are probably a lot better than they would be if I were less conscious.

Enter Simplicity Parenting, a book that recently crossed my path. I'll admit to feeling a little bit skeptical at first -- don't I already know all this stuff? Well, yes ... and no. Sometimes you just need a reminder.

I absolutely love Simplicity Parenting. It's giving me the strength and motivation to remember to say no a little bit more. To set boundaries, and seek balance.

I haven't even finished reading the book yet, and I've already gained so much from it. My feeling is that any parent -- at just about any point on their parenting journey (from infant to teen and everything in between) would gain insights from it.

It's organized beautifully. Every few pages, key points are highlighted in headers entitled "Quite Simply". There's so much good in this book, it's possible to open it at random and find a perfectly beautiful, succinct, and relevent idea for your real life.

I especially love the chapter on rhythm. Just listen to this:

~"(Quite Simply) Rhythm builds islands of consistency and security throughout the day."

~"Meaning hides in repetition: We do this every day or every week because it matters. We are connected by the things we do together. We matter to one another. In the tapestry of childhood, what stands out is not the splashy, blow-out trip to Disneyland but the common threads that run throughout and repeat: the family dinners, nature walks, reading together at bedtime (with a hot water bottle at our feet on winter evenings), Saturday morning pancakes."

naptime

OK, those are just two quotes, and they really only scratch the surface of what's in this book. There are so many concrete, practical suggestions about how to rein in family life, to take it back. Whether we already have a good start, or whether things are completely out of control, these are suggestions that can really help to make things meaningful to us.

linens from our church that we help wash each month

Coincidentally, Kyrie mentioned Simplicity Parenting yesterday (yes, we're friends, but no, we didn't discuss this first), and said she feels almost evangelical about it -- and I agree. This may be only the second book (after Mitten Strings for God) that I have felt this way about. Really -- this book is really, really worth it. I wish I could buy a copy of each for every parent I knew.

our dragon candle, today

I'm still struggling with the feeling that our lives are a bit cluttered right now. However, I'm learning to look again. To realize where we're doing well, and to carve out space in our days for more of that, and less of everything else.

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Since I've committed to writing here every day this month, I'm trying to come up with as many ideas as I can to fill all those days. One thing that I've been meaning to do here are semi-frequent book reviews of some favorites -- both new and old. So I'm going to be doing these on Fridays in November -- the final Friday (November 27) will be my annual winter/holiday book post.