Happy Birthday to Evangeline!

Dear Friends,

A blessed Sabbath to you all~ We recently celebrated the 5th birthday of our dear Evangeline. We feel very blessed to have had her with us these five years, and to have watched her grow into a good little "mother", taking care of her ever-growing baby collection!

Grandma and Grandpa Graham sent some fun new books~

And here she is, enjoying the healthful nut/banana/berry "cake" that AnnaMarie made her :)

Happy birthday, little Evangeline! May the Lord continue to bless and keep you, and watch over you all your days.

On another note, we have been enjoying reading the "What Katy Did" books, by Susan Coolidge. If you have not heard of these books, I highly recommend them as being wonderful stories that teach morals while entertaining! I was not prepared to find such a gem of godly wisdom in the first book, as this passage that I would like to share with you. It is a little long, but well worth reading and pondering~



"Why, Cousin Helen, what can I do lying here in bed?"

"A good deal. Shall I tell you, Katy, what it seems to me that I should say to myself if I were in your place?"

"Yes, please," replied Katy, wonderingly.

"I should say this: 'Now Katy Carr, you wanted to go to school and learn to be wise and useful, and here's a chance for you. God is going to let you go to His school--where He teaches all sorts of beautiful things to people. Perhaps He will only keep you for one term, or perhaps it may be for three or four; but whichever it is, you must make the very most of the chance, because He gives it to you Himself.' "

"But what is the school?" asked Katy. "I don't know what you mean."

"It is called the School of Pain," replied Cousin Helen, with her sweetest smile. "And the place where the lessons are to be learned is this room of yours. The rules of the school are pretty hard, but the good scholars, who keep them best, find out after a while how right and kind they are. And the lessons aren't easy, either, but the more you study the more interesting they become."

"What are the lessons?" asked Katy, getting interested, and beginning to feel as if Cousin Helen were telling her a story.

"Well, there's the lesson of Patience. That's one of the hardest studies. You can't learn much of it at a time, but every bit you get by heart makes the next bit easier. And there's the lesson of Cheerfulness. And the lesson of Making the Best of Things."

"Sometimes there isn't anything to make the best of," remarked Katy, dolefully.

"Yes there is, always! Everything in the world has two handles. Didn't you know that? One is a smooth handle. If you take hold of it the thing comes up lightly and easily, but if you seize the rough handle it hurts your hand and the thing is hard to lift. Some people always manage to get hold of the wrong handle."

. . . "Are there any other studies in the school, Cousin Helen?"

"Yes, there is the lesson of Hopefulness. That class has ever so many teachers. The sun is one. . . Then, there is one more lesson, Katy-the lesson of Neatness. School-rooms must be kept in order, you know. A sick person ought to be as fresh and dainty as a rose."

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This little passage has stayed with me since I read it. Instead of the School of Pain, we could easily add our own situations: The School of Poverty, The School of Exhaustion, The School of Disease, The School of Childlessness, etc. May we each learn our lessons well, humbling calling upon the Head Master when they seem too much for us to bear.

Blessings to you this day, dear friends,

Marqueta