About Dana

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I'm a dichotomy of blue jeans, pretty jewelry, frugalista, and Southern girl living the simple rural life. I want to live my life holistically, thoughtfully, economically, and most of all gratefully, and encourage other women to do the same.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Most Peaceful Time of the Day

I'm writing this during the most peaceful time of the day. In the spring, that's around 7 pm to 7:30 pm. The sun is fading, the birds are calling their last calls, and any close neighbors (I don't have too many) are either inside eating dinner or running their kids to sports practice. I happen to be alone, which is peaceful enough. But closed up inside the house is not the kind of peace I'm talking about. I'm working at the computer with my office door open onto the outside porch, and I am hearing only nature. That's so much more peaceful to me than even pure silence. I hear the cry of the owl-monkeys...uh, pileated woodpeckers....it's a joke name we give them around this house because their cry sounds like something in the Amazon jungle.

After the unpleasant activities of the early afternoon - paying taxes online and finding a collection agency for clients who don't like to pay - I started to unwind with a little springtime planting, adding cucumber and sweet red peppers to the vegetable gardens. And a WHOLE BIG BUNCH of impatiens to the shady deck. I noticed the clematis were looking lovely on the trellis.


JT, my baby, did a little farming on the tractor.
Did you buy that? (A) My "baby" is not allowed to plow the field at his tender age, and (B) Doesn't this look suspiciously like a tractor from about 1920? It's actually a photo from our field trip this week to Biltmore House, the nation's largest house, in Asheville, NC. It was one of the few things he was allowed to touch there.

Anyway, I digress. If you need to decompress, grab yourself a glass of iced tea and head outside to sit on the porch around 7:30. Your blood pressure will drop a few notches.

Take a load off -
Love,
TCB

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Book I'm Reading in April

I'm focusing on one book this month, as it is a busy spring month for finishing school activities and planting my garden and flower beds. I'm re-reading an important book my sister-in-law was so nice to give me some time ago: Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. Shepherding a Child's Heart

The main premise of this Christian child rearing book is that, as stated in the Bible, "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Tripp teaches parents how to address heart issues and not simply require rote obedience from their children. God has put us parents in charge of our children, and we should direct them toward a biblical perspective when it comes to obedience, not just make them obey because it is convenient for us.

This book contains deep spiritual lessons about parenting. I read it once many years ago when my son was an infant, but it is so much easier to digest now that I have a "tween." There is also a section for teenagers, and who doesn't need help with that??

Happy reading. I'd always like to hear about what you're reading now, too.

Love,
TCB