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!