Plumfield Moms

More than once, Paul asks his children in the faith to imitate him. That isn’t easy, but it does sound nice when he says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” And who doesn’t wish to have the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

When he says, “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,” what do you imagine this encompasses? He tells the...

The Viking Quest series by Lois Walfrid Johnson is a truly excellent historical fiction saga that immerses teen readers in the riveting world of the 10th century. Spanning five books, this series transports readers from the lush coasts of Ireland to the cold farms of Norway and then to the icy shores of Greenland (and beyo...

In this life, I will sometimes feel like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. In the profusion of chairs my tail is likely to get caught once in a while. If I don’t get down from my comfortable perch and regularly exercise my discernment muscles, I will become trapped and useless. I can’t sit around yowling about my tail. Rather than seeking my comfort, I ought to be seeking to glorify Christ. My moderation should become evident...

Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt is a lovely and thoughtful coming-of-age story about a young female writer. Though not strictly autobiographical, the novel brims with emotional authenticity and bears notable similarities between Hunt’s life and the lives of her characters. Like her protagonist Julie Trelling, Hunt grew up i...

When I spoke with Smith this summer, he mentioned that this might be the first year witho...

Because the passions of the flesh are waging war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). As Jesus warned, our flesh is weak. It wants us to give in to our passions. Giving in, lying down, closing our eyes for just a minute, is so much easier than going to war against them. Especially if our passions have become our bosom companions. 

Wage war? How?

Wake up and pay attention. In his second letter, Peter twice states his intention of wakin...

Thanks for listening! We are so glad that you are here! We open the episode with some of our banter. You won't hear the intro music for about 90 seconds. 

• The 21st Century Pack Horse Librarian 
• 1819 News Article 
• Librarians in the News (at The Card Catalog) 
• UV Light Bulbs 
• Ozone Gene...

Having just finished another Ann Rinaldi novel, My Vicksburg, I find myself reflecting on some disturbing patterns that mark her work. Rinaldi’s books are nothing if not uneven. At their best, they provide interesting, historically rich narratives with strong female protagonists; at their worst, they lean int...

Diane’s References

• C is for Cowboy by Eugene Gagliano
• Four Wheels West by Eugene Gagliano
• Esther Morris picture books
• The Viaduct Murder by Ronald Knox 

Tanya’s References 

• A is for Arches by Becky Hall 
• By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
• Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carol 
• Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis 
• The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

Sarah Kim’s References

• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn...

Over the last seven or eight years, I have paid close attention to S. D. Smith, author of the Green Ember series. While I deeply enjoy his books, I’m even more captivated by what he writes to parents about his creative purpose and approach. I first discovered Smith during a season when my children were very young, and I wa...

"He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood."

We humans need pictures, and we love drama, but we should also be mindful that our very lives depend on God daily placing himself between us and dangers of every sort all day every day. We seldom see drama in the mere fact of getting home safely from work every day. I know that I don’t acknowledge often enough how spectacular it is that, at the end of each day, I am stil...

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge is a classic I’ve known about since childhood. I vaguely remember seeing a movie adaptation long ago, but until now, I had never read the book. When I noticed the audiobook in my Audible library was about to leave the catalog at the end of the month, I decided it was the perfect time to listen to it while wrapping Christmas presents.

The story is compelling and rich with Dutch ...

   As I look back over the means Jesus has used to form me, I see how gentle he has been with me. We all suffer trauma as we grow, but my burdens were tailor-made for me by my creator. Oh, it hurt at the time! It was unpleasant to have to look honestly at the weaknesses I’d spent a lifetime trying to conceal from the world. It is painful to have that concealment exposed as sin. Thank the Lord, he doesn’t leave us lying exposed with...

Marmee and Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante is a fascinating and insightful biography of both Louisa May Alcott and her mother Abigail. Because both Abigail and Louisa were private women who wanted their letters and journals to be destroyed upon their deaths, much of what we know about their lives has been speculation based upon what survived from Louisa’s father Bronson Alcott’s journals...

The Master calls Servant Three worthless. He hasn’t matured, he’s of no use to anyone else, he has borne no fruit. Bearing fruit is a recurring theme throughout God’s Word. Jesus himself warns us that “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19 ESV). He isn’t in a hurry, though, to cast unfruitful trees into the fire. In a parable in Luke 13, the owner of a vineyard tells his vinedr...

Welcome to our third year of Our Reading Life!

Our Reading Life - January 2025

Diane’s References

• The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey 

Sarah Kim’s References

• • The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Icon: A Novel by Georgia Briggs
  • The Long Walk by Sławomir Rawicz

Lily’s Victory Garden by Helen L. Wilbur is a beautiful tribute to the healing power of gardening and neighborliness during WWII in America. Every night Lily’s family listens to the news from their second floor apartment. When it is all done, Lily and her dad snuggle together in his Morris chair to read the paper aloud to each other. When Lily reads an article about a lottery for plots in the community Victory Garden, she decides t...