​

​

Greetings from Cleburne!

May doesn't officially begin until Sunday, but our family is getting a head start on celebrating and thought you should, too! So that's the theme of this week's link list, sent to you from a quaint little Texas town called Cleburne, where several of my kids and grandkids have met up with me and my mom to slow down a bit and breathe easy for a few days.

So far, we've taken in a quilt show, admired the work of a woodcarver's guild, visited a model train exhibit, picnicked at a local park, played on the playground, swam in our hotel pool, played lots of board games, and enjoyed free popcorn and bottled root beer at a community screening of Charade (starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn) at Layland Museum last night.

We'll have even more free fun today before heading back home tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a few ideas for planning some memorable days of your own in the merry, merry month of May:

Free resources for you this month:

• May 1 - Frequent Flyer Day - Did you know you can earn free airline tickets, even if you don't fly frequently?
• May 5 - Cinco de Mayo - Bring on the Mexican food, including homemade guacamole, easy Tex-Mex enchiladas, and lots of fresh pico de gallo​
• May 9 - Hooray for Buttons Day - For some fun button craft ideas, peruse my “Cute as a Button” Board on Pinterest
• May 19 - May Ray Day – Browse our list of 50 Fun Things to Do Outdoors, then go outside and soak up some sunbeams
• May 21 - International Tea Day – Host a tea party and take our tea time trivia test​
• May 24 - National Scavenger Hunt Day - celebrate with a Nature Scavenger Hunt or maybe a Photo Safari or even a Stay-at-Home Scavenger Hunt​
• May 31 - Memorial Day - We offer a wealth of resources for celebrating Memorial Day​

What I'm reading this week:

I finished listening to A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman a few days ago and have mixed feelings about it.

On the positive side: She encourages readers to use their art to reflect God's glory. And she uses a very broad definition of art: birthing children, learning languages, writing books, baking cookies, and so forth. She argues that everything we do should be done in intentional and creative ways so as to better reveal God's character to the people around us -- a premise with which I agree 100%.

Freeman writes: "One thing I know for sure is the job that I do with my hands will change over time. I don't believe there was one great thing I was made to do in this world, I believe there was one great God I was made to glorify. And there will be many ways -- even a million little ways -- I will declare his glory with my life." Amen! I love that. Don't you?

But on the negative side, Freeman references a couple of quotes that smack of bad theology (eg. God wants us to do whatever pleases us and makes us happy). She did a decent job of bringing balance to that thought (if you have the mind of Christ, what makes you happy will be pleasing Him), but somebody else could take the quote at face value and run in a completely different (and dangerous) direction.

Progress on last week's goals:

By the grace of God (and with the help of hired professionals for the window cleaning), I ticked every last chore off last week's to-do list, and had a wonderful time at Texas Home School Coalition's Called to Teach convention where my boys volunteered over the weekend.

Goals for this week:

• get ready for open house this weekend (we're putting our house on the market -- more mixed feelings!)
• attend daughter's nursing school graduation
• spend time in Missouri with my college students who missed this trip

Another poll for you:

It looks like lots of my readers are National Park fans, and several listed as their favorites parks I've not yet visited. (I guess I'd better get cracking on that bucket list, right?)

This week's question: How do you feel about moving? Do you view it as a grand adventure or as a dreaded chore that takes years off your life every time you have to do it? I definitely fall into the latter camp, but am intrigued by folks in the former.

​