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"Let's be cheerful"! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger. Let us be as careful that our homes are furnished with pleasant & happy thoughts as we are that the rugs are the right color and texture & the furniture comfortable and beautiful"! Laura Ingalls Wilder

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

giving and receiving






Today we worked on our Bible memory verses (Proverbs 3:13-18), spelling, math, typing, and journals. The history notebook in the first photo was a grand idea... we didn't get there.  We had a deadline you see. A sweet 7 year old friend was stopping by so we could give her her birthday gift.  The girls crafted accessories for Charity's A.G. doll as well as an undersea birthday card in keeping with the theme of the birthday party she had this weekend.  They worked on this as I read aloud from Uncle Tom's Cabin.

I choked my way through Tom's final morning with his family and the beginning of his transport (feet shackled) with the slave trader.  The most difficult for me was when they stopped at the blacksmith shop to have the handcuff size altered (just in case Tom decided to get uppity).  As Tom is waiting alone in the wagon he is surprised by a final goodbye from the son of his former Mas'r.  The boy is appalled, full of praise for Tom and threats for the trader.  Tom in his kind, Christian manner reprimands the boy and lovingly admonishes him to live purposefully.  He is instructed to love and respect his father and his mother and to be a good man.  (Choke, choke, sob)  "Come on mom, keep reading."




Somewhere in the middle of this difficult passage the mail lady knocked at the door with a package.  Sweet Jacqui, The Barefoot Crofter sent me a lovely gift...  When she read this post she thought that I would appreciate a book she owned and generously decided it would be mine.  Inside the book was a wool bookmark and along with it was a lovely note concealing a knit heart.  I look forward to perusing it more deeply tomorrow morning with my coffee.  I just love gifts, both the giving and the receiving... O.K., especially the receiving.  Thank you so much Jacqui!!

Blessings, Debbie

25 comments:

  1. I felt tears in my eyes as I read your passage and remembered more from Uncle Tom's Cabin. I cried my way through a lot of that book.
    What a lovely and thoughtful gift from Jacqui. I love how the internet has brought people closer together. Have a great day Debbie. xx

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  2. How sweet life is.
    Have a lovely day Debbie.

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  3. You had me choked up. Life is good. Life is good. blessings ~ tanna

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  4. I'm going to find Uncle Tom's Cabin TODAY. Yes, I am.

    What thoughtful gifts your girls are giving. (And what lovely ones you received!) Enjoy the gift of this new day - Tuesday.

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  5. Sigh...

    Beautiful.

    Thank you for sharing your day, and the words from the book...tell your girls that I said they are sweet to make such thoughtful gifts.

    Your surprise was special too. All of the giving wonderful as it took thought and love to give what would be loved.

    Deanna

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  6. Have you ever read Amos Fortune, Free Man? Tears, tears, tears. I don't know how often my two have had to suffer through my emotions while reading aloud. But. I've come to accept it and am glad I'm not the only one, Debbie. :)

    Lovely gifts to both give and receive! Thanks for sharing with us...which is a gift you perhaps had not intended.

    Blessings, ~Lisa

    PS: You'll have to let me know if you do try the vanilla. :)

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  7. The American Girl doll brought back warm memories. Both of my girls still have there dolls in their rooms.

    And... I saw a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin at my mom's house this weekend. I was going to ask her if I could borrow it to read, but the print is realllly small. I need to check and see how well my readers handle it.

    You have made me want to read it.

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  8. What a wonderful gift you received! So sweet and thoughtful :) I hope you have a relaxing Tuesday!

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  9. What a beautiful and poetic little package!
    I love to hear about your school days.

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  10. Your day is filled with precious moments. Your tender heart is teaching as you let your emotion be the teacher. What a thoughtful gift. JB

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  11. I love this little peek into your school day...which turns into a sharing-and-visiting day...which turns into a receiving kind of day...
    Most days, we don't complete the to-do list. (Do you?) But I pray that each day, we do what He wants us to do!
    {{{Hugs}}}

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  12. A special homeschooling day - precious memories for me. Oh - I ache for my students at the schools where I teach. They have so little in their academic day. So hard, sometimes, to know of such better alternatives, and be helpless to say or do anything about it. So, I shine. And, strive to give my unrest and anxiety to the Lord. So thankful I had the ability to make other choices for my children.

    Joy!
    Kathy

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  13. What a nice day! I won't even tell you what we studied. You would think I was missing a nut or two, which I might be. We did start The Inpolitically Correct Guide to Science. I love your gifts you received, they look so sweet. Not to mention the gifts your girls made. I just always thank God so much for the gift of teaching my own kids.

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  14. I have never read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but am thinking I should give it a go from listening to you. Your days seem very full to me. Presents are wonderful.

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  15. School days with birthday gift-making are especially purposeful and good. I like reading about your school days. Will you read to me?

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  16. Thank you for that Debbie. It was a pleasure to send some love to you over there. How you managed to read such a moving passage out loud, I can't imagine. Xxx

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  17. I'm ashamed to say, I have never read Uncle Tom's Cabin, but you certainly are encouraging me to do that. What lovely gifts!

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  18. beautiful and thoughtful gifts:)

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  19. Some how Jacqui knew you were meant to have her book, with the added touch of a special book marker.

    I agree with you, gifts are fun.

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  20. What a lovely you day you had! And such sweet gifts. I spied your curtains with fringe. Is that fringe? How cute!!!

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  21. I have never read that, although Harriet Beecher Stowe's house is a half hour or so from where I live.
    Enjoy your new book!

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  22. Such gifts you have in your life, and the wisdom to recognize them as such. Wonderful.

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  23. Ohhh it was good to catch up on you a bit. Life is full and I am trying to sneak in a bit a blogging when I can. I miss you and look forward to your return. I pray that when you are done with your fasting you will be refreshed and that a lot has been moved forward in our Lord's Kingdom.

    Blessings and ((HUGS))
    -Mary

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  24. Not fair to make me laugh through my tears! I can totally identify! Oh how I miss homeschooling -- even though I know it is not the right choice for us as a family right now. Such beauty in the small quiet moments.

    Blessings!
    Deborah

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  25. I've never read it. You have given it a dignity that I've never heard associated with it. Maybe I will read it now. And hey for a sweet moment, reading with the children, being surprised by love.

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