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Hello, Friend.

Do you know the mark of a true friend? A friend is a person who will discretely let you know when you have broccoli in your teeth... or broken links in your newsletter!

So I'll start this week's missive with a shout out to JF (my initial twin) who was first to alert me that the links I shared last week to 50 Favorite Hymns and my Harmonica Songs were both misdirected.

Sorry about that! To download either file, you can follow the links in that last paragraph or check the corrected copy of issue #93 in the Flanders Family Freebie Archives.

But now back to the broccoli.

I'm grateful to have a husband who's not afraid to let me know when I have something stuck in my teeth. I can flash him a quick grin in any social setting for instant feedback on whether or not I'm safe to smile. 😬

But he's definitely grown into that role over the years.

Back when we were first dating, Doug took me to a drama banquet where I ended up sitting across the dinner table from his old girlfriend all evening. It wasn't until I got back to my dorm room that I discovered the enormous peppercorn lodged between my central incisors! (No wonder Rhonda had been laughing so heartily at all my jokes. 😂)

Despite the fact Doug's always had an amazing eye for detail, he claims he never noticed anything in my teeth that night. I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But -- thankfully -- he's done a great job ever since alerting me to any stubborn morsels and keeping an ample supply of toothpicks at the ready to help dislodge them. 🤪

Free resources for you this week:

• ​Famous Friends Matching Game - how many of these BFFs can you correctly pair?
• ​A Friend Loveth at All Times - a hand-drawn coloring page based on Proverbs 17:17
• ​Friendship Conversation Starters - discussion prompts to get your family & friends talking
• ​Praying for Your Friends - a free printable prayer guide for interceding for your friends
• ​In Search of an Encouraging Mentor - for those who crave faithful friends but don't know where to find them
• ​More Friendship Printables - a word study on friendship, an acrostic poem template, & more
• ​Should a Married Woman Have Close Male Friends? - not if she values her marriage!

What we're eating this week:

We've been eating way too many homemade brownies this week, but they are too delicious to resist! Serving suggestion: Use extra nuts when baking, then eat them while they're still warm, topped with ice cream. They're mmmm-mmm-good!

What I'm reading this week:

My daughter has recently been raving about a book she's reading -- The Men We Need by Brant Hanson -- repeatedly telling me how insightful it is, sending me quotes, reading favorite passages aloud, paraphrasing important concepts, and summarizing entire chapters.

I put it on my own "to read" list the first time she mentioned it, but it got bumped closer and closer to the top with each successive mention. Once I finally got my own copy, I finished it in less than 48 hours. It is such a good book, in fact, that I'm assigning it to my kids as part of their homeschooling. Although it's written to men, many of the character qualities discussed -- loyalty, contentment, self-control, a willingness to work hard, not being overly needy -- would be equally desirable in women.

What we've been watching this week:

Lots and lots of my daughter's volleyball games: home games, away games, and a weekend volleyball tournament

Progress on last week's goals:

In addition to ✅ attending the aforementioned volleyball games, I also finished ✅ teaching 20+ adolescent and young teen girls the needle art of trapunto (a high relief quilting technique), ✅ shopping for children's clothes, toys, books, and crafting supplies at the CCC sale, and ✅ volunteering at said sale so that others in our community could shop, too. Live in East Texas? Don't miss it -- especially CCC's half-price sale on Saturday! ("Friends don't let friends pay retail.")

My goals for this week:

• catch up on math lessons (all those volleyball games got us behind)
• volunteer during Senior Day at the East Texas State Fair ​
• empty two more book boxes in the garage (into $20 bookshelves I bought at CCC)
• organize power tools in garage (using a $7 shelf I found at CCC)

Another poll for you:

Last week I learned that lots of my readers play multiple instruments. Some even craft their own!

Opinions were split as to whether a parent should insist her child stick with music lessons, although the majority of those who were allowed to quit later regretted doing so.

Best compromise: Have your children continue taking lessons, but give them freedom to change instruments if they wish and select more of their own music.

This week's question: Imagine you're introduced to someone who has a peppercorn stuck in her front teeth. Would you...

1. tell her about it the minute you notice
2. pretend you didn't see it and end the conversation as quickly as possible
3. stare at her mouth while self-consciously sucking/picking your own teeth

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