"If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that-warm things, kind things, sweet things-help and comfort and laughter -and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all."
A little Princess ~Frances Hodgson Burnett
Oh this is a lovely book...
Speaking of gifts...one of the greatest gifts I have received is the ability to read to my girls. We follow the Charlotte Mason style of learning, so there is much reading that is required. We've always read to the girls. Since they were born we've read to them-and those days were precious. But the books the girls and I are reading these days are so wonderful. So full of beauty and wisdom and just good storytelling, that I feel I've started school all over again.
The books speak to me as well. How could they not? Many of the books we read I've read before in my youth. But somehow they stay with me now. I chew on them for hours after we've finished reading. The girls and I talk and talk about the books, mostly the characters. Each of them having their own thoughts and feelings. They too are chewing.
I could never have imagined a better life for myself.
Image: Jungle Tales by James Shannon
