On Ancient Mythology and Refined Theology: Fall 2026 Newsletter
This is not the writing day I counted on when I made my plans for the week but, in a lot of ways, it’s better.
As I write this, Charlotte is on the couch nearby, quietly reading library books to herself. Warren is sitting upright on the floor- a newly acquired skill- playing with a children’s piano toy. Classical music plays throughout our home, and the morning sunshine peeks through our blinds leaving stripes along the wall. The bags and lunchbox lay, still packed and ready, on the table which I thought we’d be grabbing them from as we made our way out the door. And somewhere, on the other side of town, in a gorgeous church filled with the most loving teachers, a cubby marked with Charlotte’s name sits empty today. The morning program she attends once a week so I can have a scheduled writing day.
I accepted surrender to a slower paced day somewhere between Charlotte sleeping in and the pace at which she savored her heaping breakfast plate. There’s been quite a few “breakfasts on the go” this week- egg casseroles warmed and packed in thermos containers, eaten picnic style at our different destinations. While that is special too sometimes, it just can’t beat being together and pausing between bites to point out the vibrant cardinal that’s come to eat his breakfast in the window feeder beside our breakfast table. As the kids settled into their play, I finally slid my laptop from its bag and settled in on the couch beside them. Sitting here now, peeking out over the top of my screen to take it all in, reminds me why I first fell in love with writing as a teenager. Writing has always been a way to take notice of the simplest joys in my life. I’m living the life I prayed for.
Truly, we all needed the rest. Justin left town over the weekend for a week-long work conference. Since he left, we’ve had friends and family in and out helping us through our routines including a weekend spent painting pumpkins and Fall baking with my sweet college friend turned auntie to the babies, a precious mother’s helper praying over and rocking Charlie to sleep as I stole a peek on the monitor from the room where I rocked Warren, and grandparents popping in to offer extra hands for bathing slippery babies. There’s been our regularly scheduled activities each day and some additional, special outings sprinkled on top. We have had FUN. But when Charlie burst into tears at FaceTiming her Daddy or clung to my legs asking me to be the one reading her bedtime stories, it reminded me how grateful I am for a life with routines that feel safe, secure, and restful. That wasn’t always a reality for our family. (You can read SJ’s Story here)
Since August, we have transitioned from the unscheduled days of summer to the more structured days of Fall, as I’m sure many of you have. Part of that structure includes the homeschool co-op I teach at and that I’m still learning to balance my writing around. This year I took on both the middle and high school students (teaching literature and history to both levels). It’s also my first school year with two babies. Through it all, there’s been a lot of life, but also a lot of personal writing deadlines come and gone, unfulfilled. (When I’m tempted to feel frustrated about that, I have to remind myself often that my babies won’t be this small forever. I left my job to be present here in these moments, so let me not rush to make writing feel like work now too. The day will come when writing becomes more consistent. Until then, I will watch for my moments to create and do my best to use them well.) I thought a newsletter might be the best way to make my return to the blog as the co-op prepares to break for the months of November and December.
So, here’s what we’ve been loving, learning, and prioritizing in the days at hand…
What I’ve Been Reading
Most of the books I’ve read these last few months have been the materials I’m teaching from with my co-op students. All age/grade levels are currently learning about ancient history.
We follow a Charlotte Mason teaching philosophy meaning we focus on developing the child as a whole, laying the foundations of faith and godly character, training habit formation and home management right alongside academics. All of the books we read are “living books”-quality literature that is rich with beautiful language (and illustrations where applicable), characters of integrity, and symbolism and themes that provoke deep thought. They are the opposite of much of children’s literature today that features familiar television or movie characters and surface-level story lines for the purpose of entertainment only. When nonfiction, they are written by authors with incredible passion for making the facts and events come to life rather than merely listing names and dates like a textbook.
With my middle schoolers, I have read the epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin Classics’ version of the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as an assortment of lesser known books about the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and their accomplishments, the craft of archaeology, and the world’s first civilizations from Mesopotamia to the Indus River Valley to Ancient Egypt, all the way to the later civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome.
With my high schoolers, I have read the ancient Indian epic called the Ramayana which is both a cultural and religious text and known by most of India’s population, Sophocles’ three great Theban plays (Greek tragedies) including Oedipus The King, Plutarch’s biography on Alexander the Great, a collection of tales translated from the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt including both records of historical events and mythology, Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and some fiction works set in the same historical time periods.
A few days a week- after we’ve come home from whatever the day’s outing has been- I tuck Charlotte into bed for her afternoon nap and settle in with Warren for the reading assignments of the week. It has been such a gift to do my “lesson planning” right as I rock my sweet little guy to sleep. I’ve also really enjoyed reading about this time period because I never had the opportunity to take World History in high school since it was the same year I was out of school on the hospital homebound program. It has been fascinating to go back and connect my understanding of biblical events to this newly understood timeline of world events and all the characteristics of ancient cultures.
Around all of this reading for work and a whole bunch of children’s books for Charlotte (I’ve got a post coming soon with the newest books I’ve stocked her library with), I still find myself working through The Wild & Free Family by Ainsley Arment. I’m currently reading through chapter 11: To Pursue A Vision, from which the following quote comes:
“Let us not merely live together as a family going through the motions of day-to-day life. Let’s dream of what’s possible when we’re unafraid to band together and do hard things.”
I started this book just before Warren was born, so it has been a very slow read but that’s okay. More often than not this reading happens in the half hour before bed and I end up falling asleep on top of my book. In another season I know I’ll be back to reading more regularly, so I don’t worry about not keeping a certain pace right now. (Even though I do still get a little jealous when my friend Monica sends me her end of the year book tracker and she’s always read a crazy amount of books on so many different topics. I’ll just make sure I’m on her team for trivia nights!)
On my reading list for November and December are The Biblio Diet by Jordan Rubin and Dr. Josh Axe, and The Life Giving Home by Sally Clarkson. Maybe I’ll throw a fun fiction one in there too! I’m a new follower of the Faith & Fiction Book Club , and I feel so inspired!
What’s Been Keeping My Hands Busy
Publishing:
As of this month, all three rounds of content edits were completed on the book that I’ve been working to publish this year (a guidebook for medical mothers battling their child’s diagnosis in faith), meaning that it has officially moved into copy edits for grammar. The project management team is beginning to talk about cover design and back cover copy. Watermarked pages are being prepared for me to send out to those I’m asking for endorsements from. A part of me wonders how I will ever market this book well from my current season of so little writing, but I can only trust God and remember it was His voice that whispered those chapter titles in a Ronald McDonald House before we’d ever brought Savannah home. This book is from Him and for Him, and He will do with it whatever He wills.
Birthdays and Family Celebrations:
Since Justin and I met in the Fall of 2007 and began dating in the Fall of 2008, the season has always felt like it has belonged to us, in a way. As the years passed, so many of our family’s birthdays and anniversaries fell within these months too- our dating and wedding anniversaries, two of our daughters’ birthdays, two pregnancy announcements, and two losses (child loss and then miscarriage). After a series of confirmations from the Lord, we believe the sweet baby we lost by miscarriage was a girl. We named her our Autumn Joy- it seemed only fitting.
This year we celebrated Savannah’s 7th birthday in Heaven (our family calls it SJ Day), Charlotte’s 2nd birthday, and we will soon celebrate Justin and I’s 13th anniversary!
When Savannah first passed, Justin and I wanted a simple way to honor her every year that we would be able to sustain even when grief subsided and the pace of life picked up again. We decided that we would always gather everyone for a family dinner with guacamole (Savannah’s favorite), stories of Savannah, and conversations to remind us of our priority to live for eternity. One day, we’d love for our “SJ” Day to also stand for our “Serve Joyfully” Day, where our family annually sets aside the day to volunteer our time with/for other medical families like ours once was.
This year, however, we were excited that Charlie was finally old enough to understand the purpose of the day.
We threw a pink gingham table cloth over the dining room table (because “pink is Savannah’s color” as she would say), set out a stuffed pig wearing a birthday hat and carrying a cupcake that I found at TJ Maxx and bought for just this occasion (Savannah slept with her “piggy” every night and he even joined us for family pictures), hung a fabric banner that said “Happy SJ Day” in eclectic patterned letters and a second banner with photos of her face at all different ages wearing scrapbook paper birthday hats I had crafted a few nights before. We shared stories of Savannah with Charlie as we ate guacamole. Warren got his own avocado plush to hold at the table with the rest of us- the closest he could get to guacamole this year. And as we held one another close and rocked before bed, we read books about Heaven and talked about what Savannah must be experiencing. I’m so grateful they will grow up knowing her.
For Charlotte’s birthday this year, we spent the Saturday before with family and friends for a backyard birthday party thrown by my sister in law. Like Savannah had her piggy, Charlie has picked out and carried around a stuffed ladybug affectionately named “Lady” since she was small so a ladybug theme felt just right. This was the first time since my baby shower with Savannah that we had gathered in a celebration of any kind for our family, and it finally felt right. Some of you know that Charlotte’s first year was a whirlwind and I battled a lot of grief I hadn’t counted on as raising a healthy daughter exposed things I hadn’t processed (or even known to consider) about raising a medically complex daughter in the isolation of a global pandemic. Making mom friends is so hard when you’re wrestling through how to answer even the easy conversation starters like- “is she your first?” or fearfully overthinking starting solids after living so long with a feeding tube. Then a brother came hot on Charlie’s heels and challenged us to keep growing around the grief because life was changing fast. Laughing and joking alongside family and friends there at this 2nd birthday party, watching Charlotte enjoy the inflatable water slide with the other kids and Warren being passed from one set of arms to another, I felt comfortable to be gathered with others in a way I have longed to. I realized I had finally caught my breath. The next day we had our family celebration- just the four of us- with birthday pancakes with sparkler candles, Charlotte’s presents from us, and a restful day of play.
Justin and I’s anniversary is celebrated twice also… once as a date night, and once as a family affair. We celebrate the day as our family’s birthday. God recently highlighted the way Charlotte has memorized entire pages of her favorite books and nudged me to begin memory verses with her. For this reason, one of our family birthday gifts this year will be our full family mission statement written out on a sign to hang in our home. She is ready to begin learning and reciting it. It will be an every day reference as we build her character and establish strong habits. We’ll likely celebrate as a family with a sunset beach picnic and, for our date night, Justin has been wanting to go see the Odyssey in theaters!
Scheduled Fall Activities:
Besides the co-op, Fall has also meant the start of our weekly Community Bible Study program. While I am in a small group setting and subsequent teaching time working through my own lesson, Charlotte is in the 2’s and 3’s class enjoying a worship set with the other preschool rooms, a Bible story and activity, a memory verse, playground and snack time, and time for puzzles and play as she waits to be picked back up. This stretches from 9-11, and puts us home just in time for lunch and naps. Before her nap, I like to read the same Bible story she covered in class and let her tell me the parts she remembers while it’s fresh in her head.
One morning a week Charlie now attends a paid morning program at a local church too, so I can have a scheduled writing morning. While she is reading Bible stories and doing craft-ivities with childhood classics like If You Give A Mouse a Cookie or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I’ve got Warren asleep in the carrier or playing on the floor by my feet while I’m working on a writing task of the week (which has mostly been book edits before now). Though I love being a stay at home mom and believe strongly in the work I’m doing, I do not- at all- feel guilty for stepping away to work on something that models for my children how to work hard, serve God’s people, and trust Him with the dreams in their hearts. Those dreams came from Him first.
And, of course, we have been busy decorating our home for the coziness of Fall, doing Fall crafts, and breaking open the pumpkin puree cans for some Fall baking. My personal favorite was a pumpkin spice syrup for my morning lattes!
Sharing the Kitchen with Charlie:
Charlie has been standing on her kitchen stool and helping me with cooking tasks since she was just barely a year old. Now, when she hears me in the kitchen, she comes running with her apron and repeating “I’m gonna be a helper!” She drags her stool across the kitchen and scurries up it to see what we’re working on that day. One of the things we have made quite frequently these last few months is Half Baked Harvest’s fudgy zucchini brownie recipe. (It wasn’t because I dressed up for Halloween that Justin’s co-worker called me a wizard. He couldn’t believe how good these tasted for being made with zucchini!)
Together we watch the new Cooking with Bob videos every time they’re posted and grow in our appreciation for spending time together in the kitchen and in our confidence to try new things. His videos are honestly kind of mesmerizing, and I love that Charlie thinks so too. (Do you think she could pick up an English accent from watching during this time of critical language development? Fingers crossed!)
Lily Lou Tay (Hannah Taylor) is another of our favorites. I don’t think we can crack eggs without Charlie imitating her famous “boop!” for each one we plop in our mixing bowl. And I love the winks Hannah gives when her audience anticipates her famous line about recipes with 1 teaspoon of vanilla- “and two if you’re sexy!”
What The Kids Are Loving:
Reading The Parables
On a recent public library trip, I found this series called My First Bible Stories (Stories Jesus Told) by Su Box. Each of the six books within the series- The Sower, The Good Samaritan, The Great Feast, The Lost Sheep, The Prodigal Son, The Two Houses- focuses on a different parable Jesus told, first introducing Him as the original storyteller on the opening page. The language is simple, the illustrations are wonderful, and the stories have absolutely captivated Charlie, who carries a different one of the books to me every day and begs me to read them to her.
In the past, I might have saved a book on the parables until a child was older, thinking they needed to be able to understand the underlying symbolism before reading them at all. I don’t think that way anymore. The Word is alive and active. We get what we need from it each time we come, and we will for all our lives. There’s always greater revelation to be found with the Lord. Now, I see the benefit in familiarizing Charlie with the details of these stories from an early age. The more often she hears them, the more she will recall that she’s heard them before. The more she comes to understand how universal they are, the more she will search for meaning within them. And, the more she searches for meaning within them, the more her life will be transformed by them.
Football Games
Listen, if you know me, you know football is not my thing- which might make you raise an eyebrow if you also know who my husband is. Just a few months into dating, Justin took me to Miami for the Dolphins’ Playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens in January 2009. Miami lost and Justin didn’t talk the entire two hour drive home. He’s lucky he got any other dates after that! But win or lose, Superbowl or heartbreak, the man is loyal and that means something.
I wanted Justin to have the experience of sharing this passion with his children. I knew it could be a core memory of their childhoods to spend time with him in this way. So, I encouraged Justin’s passion the only way I knew how. With a passion of my own. Books.
I got Charlie a board book called “Goodnight Football” and began reading it with her quietly before bed each night, pointing out helmets, bands, cheerleaders, and goal posts. Soon she was asking Justin to take her to football games and picking out shirts that said “Game Day” and bracelets that said “Touchdown.” He was her hero the first time he took her to a game at the high school where her parents met and let her sit on the field. (Special thanks to Justin’s best friend Shawn, who worked in the Athletic Department, for that one!)
Now that it’s Fall, we have been found fairly often under those Friday Night Lights as a family. Take your pick of the 9 local high schools with football teams. We cheer for whoever is defending home that night, because that’s what we’re really doing there too. Building, cheering, and defending a family that we pray will always feel like home.
(We later found the rest of the Goodnight sports series at our public library. See photo below.)
Pretend Play
Whether it’s asking customers what they would like and making cones with Melissa and Doug’s ice cream counter set or patting dolls held close in baby carriers while whispering it’s going to be okay, Charlotte is all about pretend play now that she’s turned 2. What I love about pretend play is that it’s not only a way to spend quality time with my daughter, but it’s building something into her. With every experience that she acts out, she is gaining background knowledge about the way the world works, building her vocabulary, and learning social behavior across different settings. When we act out grocery shopping, taking an animal to the vet, or going to the dentist, we’re giving Charlotte a confidence to participate in those experiences when we leave the house rather than expecting a screen to distract herself through them.
If you have elementary age students, you can even create “word banks” with the vocabulary used during pretend play for your child to extend their learning by creating simple sentences. Depending on their age, you might offer sentence starters such as “I see a ___,” “I like the ____,” “I went to the ____,” etc. Encourage your child to draw matching pictures to deepen the word associations. And make sure you narrate those same experiences while you’re having them in real life, so your child can make the connection.
What I’ve Been Reflecting On
Prophecies, Pain, and Purpose
I don’t know what it is about ancient literature that loves a child with a threatening prophecy over their life, sent to die but instead discarded by someone with more compassion than to kill, eventually circling back to fulfill that same prophecy anyway. You’ve got Paris of Troy, Cyrus of Persia, Oedipus of Thebes, Joseph of the Bible, and I’m sure the list goes on. After reading enough of them, my high schoolers have wrestled with the question of whether trying to decide what to do with a prophecy is actually what ends up fulfilling them.
I have to admit, I’m wondering the same about prophecies spoken by God, our relationships with Him, and the people we are becoming through them.
There have been things spoken over my life since childhood. Promises from God confirmed in various seasons though I’ve yet to see them come to pass- and not for lack of trying. I’ve sought out experiences to prepare me for these promises, made purchases, stepped out in faith, even told people as though they were already true… and, so far, nothing. I’ve been embarrassed by this, but recently I’ve stepped back and noticed something happening that is much more small, quiet, humble than my big expectations. In the background of all this striving, there has been a gentle becoming. There is a lot of wisdom gained from so many frustrations. There is a new grace for people on paths I’ve not always understood- now that my own has not gone according to plan. There are also new ways of showing up to the same old work, because new perspectives have shifted priorities and allowed for something so much more pure. Maybe, all along, this was the real preparation. The process of becoming.
Maybe the prophecies we receive from God account for the messiness of the process. In fact, I know they do, because Scripture tells us Joseph spent 13 years first serving and then imprisoned in Pharoah’s house before ever becoming a ruler within it. For 13 years, he had to hold on to the hope that God had not forgotten him before finally watching his brothers bow before him like those strange dreams he had once shared with them. And then there was David who was anointed by Samuel some 15 years prior to becoming king over the tribe of Judah and roughly 20 years prior to becoming king over all of Israel. In between the anointing and the ascent to the throne was military service, exile, and civil war.
Sitting in a prison, running for your life, losing not just a child but also years to grief when you believed you were called to a life of so much more… It feels humiliating, but only if we forget who God is or who we are to Him. The prophecies God speaks over us are often a part of His plan to work all things for good for those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). He sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) and, even knowing the pain we will endure through this fallen world, He gives us glimpses of the future possible if we’ll only keep pressing into Him for it. He sets purpose before us, before we ever understand the fullness of it.
God confirmed it through a dream I had not long ago. It was a dream in which I time traveled to my earliest days of dating Justin. When he saw me, Justin was eager to ask questions about our future. “Do we get married?” he blurted. I smiled, “we do.” He pumped a fist in the air. “Tell me about our life,” he urged. I told him about our friends, our family, our work and our experiences. “And what about children?” he asked. “Do we ever have any?” I hesitated, contemplating what to tell him, watching hope burst forth from those bright blue eyes and, slowly, I smiled again. “Yes, we do. We have three, and… they are beautiful.” His smile swept from ear to ear and, I understood, knowing the pain coming in our lives only distracts from the joy still possible through it… the purpose discovered within it.
So, when will the prophecies spoken over our lives finally be fulfilled? I don’t know. But lately I’m thinking of prophecies a lot less like the big To Do’s God gives us in order to glorify Him with our unique gifts, and a lot more like the invitations He gives us to grand adventures with Him. Because, when it comes to adventure, no one wants to set a timeline and rush the experience. And, with adventures, sometimes getting off the beaten path for a while turns out to be a better story.
What I’m Looking Forward To
It sounds silly since I only work one morning a week (I read for 2-3 nap times and evenings a week to prepare), but I am really looking forward to having these next two months off from the co-op. The families of the students within the co-op usually feel the same. Because while I love my job and this community that we get to be a part of, I’m also so grateful that it is a community that prioritizes families being together and having learning experiences outside of just your strictly academic ones.
I’m looking forward to personal reading during nap times, extra writing time in the evenings, another day of the week available for our Advent activities and outings, and the flexibility to make plans with all the family and friends coming in and out of town. Maybe even a trip of our own.
I also have another writing project that is so close to finished that I can’t wait to share soon!
Praying you are counting all the simple joys of your own precious season,
Note: As an Amazon affiliate, I do receive a small commission on anything purchased through the links included in this post. Thank you for your support of our family and my writing as you shop these links. And please be reminded that true joy is not found in materialism or comparison, so I pray there is never any pressure to purchase something just because it’s what another person is doing. You are equipped with the Holy Spirit to make the right decisions- including purchases- for your family and budget.
