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Our little homeschool just finished a wonderful children's book series by Gloria Whelan!
The first book is called Once on this Island and it takes place on Mackinac Island during the War of 1812!
The other books in the series are, Farewell to the Island and Return to the Island.
We met wonderful, interesting characters and learned so much about what life was like for those living on Mackinac Island during the war between Britain and America.
The second book takes the main character all the way to London which gave us a glimpse of a very different way of life than here in the States during that time and then, of course, the last book is back on the island with more adventure involving a fur trading company and the local Indian tribes.
The little girls were playing Indians all day today in the woods with braids in their hair, beaded necklaces and scarves over their shoulders.
If I were on the ball I would have taken a picture or two!
Anyway, perhaps you'll check these books out from your local library like we did!
LOVED THEM!
My daughter, Chloe, started a blog featuring her own poetry and some of the music she loves!
She is the daughter who was born in Australia 20 years ago!
She loves painting, writing and music
which are traits handed down from my mom's side of the family,
though I tell Chloe that I was constantly singing to her and her siblings when I was expecting her!
We sang the patriotic songs I learned in grade school:
This Land Is Your Land, The Star-Spangled Banner, My Country T'is of Thee, America the Beautiful
And every children's song that I could think of:
Daisy, Daisy, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, In The Good Ol' Summertime,
Hey Diddle, Diddle and the whole album of a wonderful lullaby cassette that I received as a gift when I was expecting our first child in 1990 featuring songs called The Appalachian Lullaby, Tomorrow We'll Go to the Fair, Look at Teddy, and Raindrops.
We sang all the hymns and church songs, too, that we loved so much: Jesus, Tender Shepherd, Jesus Loves Me, I Am So Glad, Day by Day, When We Walk With The Lord, When He Cometh, Within Thy Wings.
We learned all kinds of Australian children's songs and discovered the singing group, "The Wiggles".
It was so cute listening to Miss Polly Had A Dolly in an Aussie accent!
And since our oldest, Shane, attended prep grade in Australia, we learned the Australian National Anthem, Australia Fair, and I still catch myself singing it from time to time!
Life was less busy in those days living so far from home without a lot of extra activities.
I would walk in the neighborhood close to the school with the girls while Shane was in school and sing the whole time! No one seemed to be out and about in the neighborhood and the girls loved it.
We sang all the songs again at bedtime!
Chloe would then grow up to be the one child who actually liked to recite poetry, and the other day she inspired our whole homeschool class with typing out their own writings along with accompanying artwork!
So, anyway, here is Chloe's blog!
I hope you enjoy it!
https://coffeechlo.wordpress.com/
It was a beautiful day yesterday sitting on the deck by Lake Walden celebrating my dear friend, Sarah's, birthday!
A wonderful group of ladies took time out of their day to share their love with our treasured friend.
Most of us have been friends since childhood and we laughed about old memories.
We were blessed to have in attendance her mother and mother-in-law who joined in on the fun plus a few young ladies and a handful of children who scurried around us to offer up a delightful mix of youthful energy!
The sun warmed us nicely on this beautiful fall day!
We sang hymns.
Were angels chiming in?
It was beautiful.
Everyone wrote a memory of Sarah and then a question for her to answer.
It was quite fun!
We laughed and reflected and even received a few wonderful lessons on family, faith and the latest rage in household paint colors.
A few opened up about minor or major struggles.
We listened.
We learned.
We laughed.
We shared.
You know what?
We loved!
We loved being together.
We loved being in the fresh air.
We loved the fellowship.
This morning is a new day.
We hear of death and sorrow and heartache.
Our hearts are aching for friends who've loved and lost.
We ache over sickness and loss and uncertainty.
One day our hearts are filled with joy.
The next heartache and sorrow.
I am reminded of what is precious in this life.
Love.
And the relationships we've been blessed with.
God is reminding me that our relationships are the most important thing we have on this earth!
The love of our Heavenly Father the most important relationship of all!
He lovingly calls us to Him, wants us to confide in Him, talk to Him, listen to Him!
He's our Best Friend!
Our Best Friend Forever!
He is constantly giving us unexpected gifts of love:
~a friend out of nowhere.
~a conversation of comfort.
~a smile from a stranger.
~a quiet moment to hear His voice.
~a small child to hug.
~a glorious sunrise.
~the joy of a birthday, a celebration, a birth.
~the comfort only He can give when our hearts are broken.
Can we find joy in that?
When our joy is lost, He gives us His!
Let us find the time to love.
We were created in love~it is part of our identity.
Enjoy it!
Celebrate it!
Give it away!
Life is a gift.
Love is a gift.
"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love,"
Colossians 2:2
