A Wise Woman Builds Her House

There is are two beautiful posts at A Wise Woman Builds Her House.

The first one I found was called On Things Hoped For... where a wise woman ponders her in-law children yet to be. Her daughter asks her - do you realize one day the size of our family will double? What a blessing that will be. She thinks on things yet to be...

• dinners with all the children and spouses
• helping with new grandbabies and new homes
• holidays together
• older sisters helping little sisters with their first gardens
• little brothers helping older brothers with their yard work

Imagine ... I get to gain 5 more daughters and 2 more sons!!! What joy. I am praying!! :-)

The second writing was so dear to my heart. One of my favorite quotes of all times is by Emilie Barnes (my Emily's namesake) saying "in the heart of most of us (women) is a little girl who longs to be a lady" (from The Spirit of Loveliness). So of course I couldn't help but love a writing titled How to be a Lady. The wise woman writes on the two aspects of being a lady - the outward and the inward.

Outwardly she shares that we should strive to ...

1. Carry ourselves with good posture not slouching.

2. Dress modestly.

3. Look clean and well kept (hair, nails, etc).

4. Clothes in good repair.

5. Dress femininely.

6. Smell lovely.

7. Peaceful countenance and joyful demeanor.

While inwardly striving for ...

1. A Gentle and Quiet Spirit

2. Love, joy, peace, patience

3. Discretion

4. Unselfishness

5. Purity

6. Humility

7. Kindness, Goodness and faithfulness

8. Self-control

9. Sobriety

10. Grace and mercy

11. Godly character

Wouldn't this world be a more wonderful place if only ...

Charming the Birds from the Trees

I found a new blog recently that I love - it's called Charming the Birds from the Trees. It is written by a young mama with two children named Emma. Here is her bio:

I am a twenty-nine year old Orthodox Christian who is happily married to an Orthodox priest. I am a mama to two little ones (Sugar Plum is two and a half and Little Man is one) and I enjoy trying to create a peaceful and lovely life for my sweet family!

One of my favorite posts I've found on her blog is a series of teaching called Finishing School. There are posts on several different topics - my favorite being on Femininity throughout the Seasons. I love the change of seasons and have begun notebooks with ideas for each month. I get so inspired by Dawn's seasonal notebooks at By Sun and Candlelight. All her notebooks inspire me.

There is a great one of her clipboard. I am fully using mine right now. It currently holds:

the upcoming April calendar (time to transfer to my bulletin board)

today's to do list - getting longer by the minute

grocery list

menu plans for the week

Bi-lo and Ingles sales items for the week

page on Easter plans - still mostly blank letting me know there's some planning to be done!!

bills to pay today

questions and to do list to talk over with Artie

Terry's birthday party plans - 4 wheeling!!

Beginning summer plans - teaching new chores, reading club, activities, calendars to do - 40 or

so days of school left?

spring cleaning lists I'm working on

some notes about a surprise for Artie for Father's day

today's updated bank account balance

and back to the start of this post - my upcoming spring plans!!

Artie has finally after all these years made peace with the fact that I can't work or do anything in my head - it all has to be down on paper for me to be able to think clearly. :-)

So, I love Emma's list of Spring ideas and will be making plans accordingly.