On Reading ~ Timeless ~ Gabrielle Meyer

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu on Unsplash

 “And reading is a wonderful thing for the mind. I have not been many places in my life. But in books, I have traveled all over the world.” 

― Roger Lea MacBride, In the Land of the Big Red Apple

This week, I'm traveling in time with Gabrielle Meyer. I'm reading her third book in the Timeless series, For a Lifetime. 

The premise of this series is that the main character lives in two different time periods simultaneously. When she is awake in one time period, she's sleeping in the other time period. She alternates between the two times and places with no loss of time in between.  It's fascinating to see each heroine develop and choose which path she will stay in when she turns 21. 

I reviewed the first book, When the Day Comes and the second,  In This Moment. Both were excellent. I recommend reading them in order. 

I know this is a bit confusing, but go look at my reviews. They'll explain better what I mean. These have been some of my favorite books since I read the first in 2022. 

Now, back to my book! I'm on page 348, and it's almost birthday time!

Enjoy your week!

Laura

Christmas Quotes... Ebenezer Scrooge

Before:

"Bah, humbug!"

1

2

3

After:

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

May we too honor Christmas in our hearts and keep it all the year as Charles Dickens suggested.

Merry Christmas All....

Laura

A Christmas Quote... Martin Luther

Photo by Wim van 't Einde on Unsplash

Good news from heaven the angels bring,

Glad tidings to the earth they sing:

To us this day a child is given,

To crown us with the joy of heaven.

~Martin Luther

Christmas Blessings to You!

Laura
Happy at Home
for the Holidays

Are You Going Home for Christmas?

Are you going home for Christmas?

Have you written you'll be there?

Going home to kiss the mother

and to show her that you care?

Going home to greet the father

in a way to make him glad?

If you're not, I hope there'll never come

a time you'll wish you had.

Just sit down and write a letter-

it will make their heart strings hum

with a tune of perfect gladness

if you'll tell them that you'll come.

~Edgar Guest

I encourage you to pick up the phone or a pen right now and reach out to your momma, your dad, and your loved ones.  There's a reason people send Christmas cards this time of year.

Happy Christmastime!

Laura

The Santa Claus Question...

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?

.

.

Claustrophobic.

.

.

Tee hee!

Have a merry Christmas!

Blessings from Harvest Lane Cottage!

Laura

A Christmas State of Mind

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, 

but a state of mind. 

To cherish peace and goodwill, 

to be plenteous in mercy, 

is to have the real spirit of Christmas."

~ President Calvin Coolidge ~

A Continual Christmas

2008

"Let no pleasure tempt thee, 

no profit allure thee, 

no persuasion move thee, 

to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; 

so shalt thou always live jollity; 

for a good conscience is a continual Christmas."

 - Benjamin Franklin

Don't Sink Under That Burden!

“It has been well said that 

no man ever sank under the burden of the day. 

It is when to-morrow's burden 

is added to the burden of to-day

 that the weight is more than a man can bear.” 

George Macdonald, poet (1824-1905)

How to Be Happy ~ from Mrs. White

Photo by Joe Caione on Unsplash

"If one wants to be happy, 

one must do happy things."

~ Mrs. Sharon White

The Legacy of Home

Stuck in it's ways....

My friend Sherry once asked me, "Do you know where I can get a different mind, mine is kind of old and stuck in it's ways."

Actually, yes. I do know!

Proverbs 23:7 says, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he." Everything we think, say, and do is filtered through our minds, through our hearts.

"But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?"

Matthew 9:4

We all have minds and hearts that have "stinkin' thinkin'". It's what we get when we listen to the world and our own thoughts instead of the Truth. The only thing that is really really true in this world is what God says is truth. All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. When left alone to our own thoughts, we can come up with some doozies!

The only thing that is really really true in this world is what God says is truth. 

To get a new mind, we must go to our Creator God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. We must ask Him! The Holy Spirit is ready to give us that new mind; but, it takes a little work on our part.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Romans 12:12

We renew our minds with the word of God, with prayer, with worship, with anything that directs our attention back to God. Our hope comes directly from Him. Here are a few hope verses for you to think about today. I know that I need to have my mind washed with the Word of God.

"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope."

Psalm 16:9

Proverbs 13:12 says,

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."

Romans 5:5 says,

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Romans 15:13 says,

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

My friends, search out those hope verses. It may be a tough year. Our faith in God and our hope in Him will get us through.

I've prayed God will give you each hope.

Blessings from our Lord to you,

Laura

~~~~~

May I suggest?

Walking to the Spring... Meet Jesus

~~~~~

Shared at:

You're the Star Mondays

Happiness is Homemade Saturdays

"The Attic Was a Lovely Place to Play."

Don't you just love this time of year?

"The attic was a lovely place to play. The large, round, colored pumpkins made beautiful chairs and tables. The red peppers and the onions dangled overhead. The hams and the venison hung in their paper wrappings, and all the bunches of dried herbs, the spicy herbs for cooking and the bitter herbs for medicine, gave the place a dusty-spicy smell.

Often the wind howled outside with a cold and lonesome sound. But in the attic Laura and Mary played house with the squashes and the pumpkins, and everything was snug and cosy."

Little House in the Big Woods

Laura Ingalls Wilder

One of my very favorite books

Favorite First Lines... Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb,
and he almost deserved it."

     Voyage of the Dawn Treader 

by C.S. Lewis

Favorite First Lines... Anne of Green Gables and Thoughts on Reading

"Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops, and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her door, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof."  

Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

I'm sure this sentence would make even the brightest of English teachers scratch her head!  I absolutely love Anne of Green Gables.  It's full of fun, fancy, dreams, and drama.  My favorite part, though, is that it's full of twenty dollar words!  It would be a perfect book to enjoy reading aloud with your family.  A family read aloud time goes far to help your children love reading. Not good at it?  No one is when they start.  Remember, these little, or not-so-little, ones adore you.  You are the most beautiful, the smartest, the bestest in their eyes.  Gather them to you and cuddle for an old-fashioned good time.  

Are they little?  You can read picture books to them.  You will be surprised, however, how soon they will enjoy chapter books if you will read to them.  I read to my children so much when they were younger, my youngest fairly skipped picture books because she preferred chapter books! They can also understand at a much higher level than they can read when they are young. Share experiences in books. Give your family new things to learn and talk about together.  Go ahead. Make memories. 

Blessings,

Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage


~~~~~
May I suggest?
Home... Emily Dickinson
~~~~~

Featured at A Return to Loveliness

Advice From Marmee

Michael and Me
14 and I'm not telling!

"Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty." ~Louisa May Alcott Marmee's Advice in Little Women

I've got to get this figured out and fast!  
I'm too busy to do the important things right now!

Blessings,
Laura


Shared:  
No Rules

Carrying an Atmosphere ~ J.R. Miller

“Everyone carries an atmosphere about him. It may be healthful and invigorating, or it may be unwholesome and depressing. It may make a little spot of the world a sweeter, better, safer place to live in; or it may make it harder for those to live worthily and beautifully who dwell within its circle.” 

~J.R. Miller~

 ~~~~~

May I suggest?

Thoughts About Children

~~~~~

Erma's Bread

"The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread 

and coming out with ONLY 

a loaf of bread are three billion to one." 

~ Erma Bombeck

Cherry Pits, Erma Bombeck, and Jehovah God

I remember a quote from Erma Bombeck.  You'll remember her from the seventies.  She said, "If life is a bowl of cherries, why am I aways in the pits?"  A lot of us can relate.  That's what made Mrs. Bombeck so popular.  She was famous for her witty way of stating the obvious.

God is famous for stating the not-so-obvious.  It is He, Jehovah God, our father, who through the Holy Spirit, inspired Paul to write, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28. 

Unfortunately, that verse does not not mean that everything that happens to us is good.  Quite the contrary.  It doesn't even mean that all things work together for good for everyone.  It means He uses whatever the circumstances are to work for those who love Him, the ones He called for His purpose. 

So, we have to trust Him even when we don't feel like it, even when we cannot see any way that He can make things good.  Trust, it all comes down to trusting Him and being patient for His perfect will and His perfect timing.

So, next time I'm pitting cherries again, I'll remember that He is Good all the time, not just when we're eating the cherry jam.

Trust and Obey for there's no other way...to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

Blessings,
Laura

~~~~~

May I suggest?

Cherry Fluffy Stuff

~~~~~

A Model of Motherly Trust

"She took her worries, if she had any about us, to God. She was wonderful that way. She had a wonderful trust that God could and would work anything out that she couldn't manage. Mom was wonderful that way."

Grace Livingston Hill

A Girl to Come Home To

Oh that I would be just like that mother. I too often take the worries right back after I give them to God. But, so many things are just too big for me. So, I will just keep giving the worries back to my Heavenly Father Who is so Able and Trustworthy.

Every Day is Mother's Day

Laura

Trusting

Art of Homemaking Mondays

Swift Living

Jonathan Swift
1667-1745
Dublin, Ireland

"May you live 

all the days of your life."

  When I was young, I didn't get this. Now that I am celebrating yet another birthday after more than fifty, I understand. There are days we "live" and days we "get through". As the years pass, there are fewer and fewer days ahead. Let's be intentional about living all the days and not letting them just slip by. God bless you all, and may you live all the days of your life. What are some ways that you can be intentional about living?

Blessings,

Laura

Thankful for four years

after my cancer diagnosis

"With Every Rising of the Sun..."

Amy Lane Photography ©2015

"With every rising of the sun

Think of your life as just begun.

~

The past has shriveled and buried deep,

All yesterdays. There let them sleep.

~

Nor seek to summon back one ghost

Of that innumerable host.

~

Concern yourself with but to-day,

Woo it, and teach it to obey

~

Your will and wish. Since time began

To-day has been the friend of man;

~

But in his blindness and his sorrow

He looks to yesterday and to-morrow."

.............................

Author unknown

From the Character Classic Tiger and Tom

ISBN 1881545083

Have a wonderful today!

Laura