Friday, November 7, 2008

Caddie Woodlawn


We have been reading this during lunch. we just finished it, and I can heartily recommend it! It is a great read aloud. What makes it even more fun to me is that it is based on the true stories that a Grandmother told of her own childhood to her Granddaughter, who is the author Carol Ryrie Brink.


Caddie is a bit of a tomboy, playing in the woods, and exploring with her two brothers every day. Near the end of the book she gets in trouble for playing a trick on her "more refined" cousin, and her Mother deals with her quite harshly. later that night when her Father tucks her in bed, he has the following to say, and I think it is so sweet.


"Perhaps Mother was a bit hasty today, Caddie," he said. "She really loves you very much, and, you see, she expects more of you than she would of someone she didn't care about. It's a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys. It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful. What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way! A woman's task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness. It's a big task, too, Caddie--harder than cutting trees or building mills or damning rivers. It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things. they have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through the wilderness. A women's work is something fine and noble to grow up to, and it is just as important as a man's. But no man could ever do it so well. I don't want you to be the silly affected person with fine clothes and manners, whom folks sometimes call a lady. No, that is not what I want for you my little girl. I want you to be a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind."


I love that!


Now for our little game of gratefulness that we are playing for the month of November, and no Dawn you need not have 5, that is just what I have been doing.

There is a common thread of gratefulness for our health, and our families, and for the freedoms we have, in my comments. We just can't thank Him enough for those things you know. Please keep the comments going, they are so fun, and it truly is good for the soul to physically list them!


Today I am grateful for:

- Wholesome books that have good messages

- A son who makes me laugh all the time. I can't imagine life without him!

- Little girls that don't let the fact that they are sisters get in the way of being best friends

- Library fines that are so much smaller then blockbuster fines

- The man that makes my bed every day.... (that would be my husband of course)


What are you grateful for today? Come on, don't be shy, it really does feel good to list them, and then to think about what else we are grateful for all day long!

6 comments:

Lisar said...

I love that excerpt from the book you are reading....
Today I am especially grateful for the fact that it has been raining for the majority of the day and now into the night....we desperately need rain and I pray that it will continue for some days.
I am grateful that I don't have to try and think up 5 things I am grateful for!!! But then again, I guess I am grateful for the big AND little things in my life and i should express my thanks for the small as well...so I am also grateful for the ability to be able to help my parents out by making them some meals tonight...and grateful that they are alive for me to be able to help them...

Michele said...

I'm grateful for my church family. I don't have any biological sisters, but I have lots of sisters in Christ.

Your thankfulness for books reminds me of my gratitude for shared memories and sayings of past books. "Tut, tut, it looks like rain" can be quoted and we all know the reference.

I will always be thankful that I lucked out (Okay, I know it's not really luck) and married the most unselfish man on the planet.

I'm grateful for my history lovin' boy.

So grateful am I that my daughter will empty the whole dishwasher by herself. Unasked. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Charlotte Cushman said...

I am thankful for little pumpkins that I can pluck off the front step and make into pumpkin muffins for the kids instead of cold cereal.

I am thankful for friends who give my son rides so I don't have to load everyone up.

I am thankful for google.. so I can find a recipe for pumpkin muffins.

I am thankful for the bench under the oak tree where I can't hear what is going on inside of the house and can read my Bible quietly.

I am thankful for my husband surprising me today with taking the day off from work.

Anonymous said...

Boy howdy, everybody got the jump on me this morning!LOL!

Today is a special day for me. Today, my second born, Thomas, is 18 years old. Now don't ask me how that happened, cause for the life of me I can NOT figure it out. That sweet, little chubby faced boy, who loved the dirt, and animals and everything fun in life, has now become a man. A young man, granted, but a man none-the-less.
So today I am grateful, thru tears, for this boy turned man. He, (like your K, Amy) has made me laugh every single day of his life.
He has been stubborn to a fault, but has supplied me with all the hugs I wanted. He never was a mama's boy, but always loved to spend time with me...and thank God, he still does.
I am thankful for those late night talks; all the school days where he spent more time day-dreaming than doing school; the trips to the zoo, the fair, and the park; the millions of laughs; and how much he absolutely adores his younger siblings. Seeing him with the 21 month old in his lap...it just does things for my heart y'all.
I love this boy turned man dearly. And I hope he always stays close by, so I can watch him be the best father his children could ever imagine.
There is a lot more I am thankful for, but that is all I am listing today.
Sorry to hijack your blog Amy.
Dawn

Anonymous said...

I am thankful for:
1. Four very different seasons
2. Homeschooling moms who have been down the road before and give me much-needed advice and encouragement.
3.Christian friends who love us just the way we are, and pray for us to become everything God wants us to be.
4. The smell of baby toes
5. White chocolate covered pretzels

Joy Cometh in the Morning said...

Today I am thankful for the discipline of getting up early to go to the gym. I am also thankful for the sore muscles that go along with that work-out!