Good morning to you from Shafferland!
We had a good day yesterday and some of our lake water receded, so we are
thankful for that. We have more rain in the forecast this weekend, so we’ll see
if it comes back up again, but for now, we are okay!
I have some treasures for you
today. Are you ready??
I was never
particularly attached to art growing up. I liked it, but I didn’t have favorite
artists or dreams of particular pieces in my home someday. Now that I’m all
grown up (ha!) I’ve become attached to a
couple of artists and love finding their work for our house – and my office. But
now and then I also love finding free art prints to rotate in frames around the
house. Not something to have full time, but something to represent a season or
a short time-frame. This post has links to a bunch of free vintage
prints. We’re not overly (true) vintage in our house, but I know many people
are, so I’m sharing it in case you need a fresh piece for your space!
This post offers two gems in one! Heather
blogs about a coastal-inspired teen bedroom makeover, which is BEAUTIFUL (and
I’m not a teen, but I’d happily have a room like it!), but she also gives the
storied history of this room with her daughters over the years. THIS is why I
advocate for pictures and scrapbooking. I love seeing how homes grow and change
with the people who live in them. I love the memories and layouts that fit each
changing season, and goodness, does she ever do a beautiful job of that in this
post. “Afters” in a home don’t have to mean that the “before” was bad or wrong.
It can just mean that the needs changed!
Ahhhh
yes. Another beautiful “tiny” home layout. This one is 450 feet, so it is not
as confining as most tiny homes, but I love it. I love the layout, and I love
the screened-in porch. The homeowner does a nice job with the tour, so have fun
looking through her adorable little home!
It’s
been almost exactly 14 years since Ryan and I ran a 10K in Fort Wayne (right
before he proposed!) and that was the first time I knew Fort Wayne had hills.
It always seemed like such a nice, flat city. WRONG. 😊 Running hills became the hardest part of the race for me, and they
weren’t even truly intense hills. So Ann’s words about running hills made a lot of
sense to me, as did her analogy to the hills of life. We have a few of those
going on right now too, and I’m sure you do also! Hopefully this piece helps
you like it helped me.
I
stopped by the bank the other day and as I exchanged pleasantries at the
window, the nice lady told me how much she liked my jewelry. I didn’t have on
anything magnificent, but I had paused to put a little extra time into
my jewelry that day, completing my set with a few bracelets. It always is
amazing to me how going that tiny extra step helps me feel more put together. Audrey offers some ideas (including jewelry!) for taking your
wardrobe up a little notch in some simple ways!
Melissa wrote about what constitutes
clutter, which (according
to her) can be different for every person. But I love her perspective on it,
because I do believe it is true that different households want and need
different things to make everyday life work. While the piece gets a little
ad-heavy at the end, I think the overall advice in it is really good. (And her
décor is so cute!)
This has NOT been my year for
reading. Work, classes, parent care…those things have taken priority, and
reading has taken a back seat. But I have a couple of books I want to mention
to you today, so here we go!
The Bible Recap by
Tara-Leigh Cobble. This book is not new at all. In fact, I may be one of
the last people on earth to read it. But in case I’m not, and you are
actually that person, I’ll tell you about it. Read-the-Bible-in-a-year plans
have been around forever, and in that respect, this book is no different. This is
a chronological reading plan that will walk you through every page of Scripture
in 365 days. But rather than just giving you a list of verses to read per day,
this also offers two pages of easy-to-read commentary to go with each day’s
reading.
This should not replace Bible
reading. You still need to read the actual passages. But this can offer you
some helpful explanations if you find yourself confused by what you read in the
Bible. It’s not intended to be overly academic or deep. But it’s also not
fluffy and condescending. It’s a good guide if you are looking for one to go
with your Bible reading.
I just finished this one earlier
this week and would recommend it to anyone who needs a boost in reading through
the Bible in its entirety.
HarperCollins Bible
Dictionary edited by Mark Allan Powell. I bought this book for my
Introduction to Biblical Studies class, since it was required reading. It’s not
new, and it’s not small, but I loved it far more than I imagined I would. At
just over 1100 pages, I doubt it’s a book anyone would sit and read for fun.
And in full transparency, I’ve not read it all the way through either.
But it’s a really great and
easy-to-read resource for any student of Scripture (which we can all be)! Arranged
like a regular dictionary, the book offers entries for people, places, and
things mentioned in Scripture, but rather than “defining” them in the spirit of
a standard dictionary, this book offers passages that tell the stories of each
name or word. Some cover several pages and others are just a little paragraph.
Along the way, they include photos of places and archaeological finds to help
make some definitions easier to understand. They also include Bible references
to point you to the locations in Scripture where these words are used.
Here’s an example of a very short
one: “Damaris – a woman who was one of Paul’s few converts in Athens
(Acts 17:34).
Here’s a longer one: “Myrrh
– an aromatic gum that grows in Arabia, Abyssinia, and India. Highly prized
from earliest times (Gen. 37:25), it was used in incense (Exod.30:23) and as a
perfume for garments (Ps.45:9) or for a lover’s couch (Prov. 7:17). It was part
of the cosmetic treatment used to prepare young girls for the king’s bed (Esther
2:13), and it was also used in embalming (Mark 15:23; John 19:39). Myrrh appears
among the items of luxury trade that exemplify the wealth of Rome (Rev. 18:13).
Along with gold and frankincense it exemplifies the rich gifts brought to the
infant Christ by the magi from the East (Matt. 2:11).” There is also a
drawing of Myrrh on this page.
I admit to rolling my eyes at
this purchase before the class, but I have actually found it really helpful in
my personal Bible study and teaching prep, so I’m glad I bought it! I’d
recommend it for anyone!
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