Dear Hope Chest friends
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are filled with hope for the New Year!
I wanted to let you know that I have added a new page tab to my main blog. My new page is cram packed with information on Missions! I have linked to various organizations and efforts that our family has been involved with in recent years, as well as myriad blog posts and recommended resources about global missions and how you can teach your children about outreach here and abroad. You can find it here: Missions.
Missions hits very close to home for me, especially now. My daughters Rachel (almost 20) and Joanna (just turned 18) will be leaving for Italy on February 2. They are each taking a semester off from college to partner for three months with our friends Lee and Jeannette Walti (see Walti World blog). Their destination is Chiavari, a town on the northwest coast. Their primary activity will be teaching English to local Italian in order to develop relationships and further outreach opportunities with the Waltis. They've been working really hard to earn money and learn Italian, so please say a prayer for them! Combined, they are trying to raise about $2000 more for their trip, so if you would like to contribute financially to the cause, please let me know and I'll send you our address. Rachel and Joanna have set up their own blog, Abbondanza de Vita, to share about their trip. There are only two posts on it so far, but they have a lot of fun Italian music and a slideshow of their fundraising dinner there, so check it out! They have also planned two more Italian fundraiser dinners on January 7th and 15th. Comment on their blog or reply to this e-mail if you'd like to come!
I've been busy lately preparing for a workshop called "With Literature and Justice for All" about using American historical fiction, biographies, poems, speeches and other literature to teach about the themes such as justice and courage in the upper elementary and middle school grades. I will present it at the 4th annual Books & Beyond conference, which will be held here in Orlando on January 21-22. (I'm hoping to get video of the workshop this year, since my daughters pitched in and bought us a video camera for Christmas!) There will be about 30 workshops on a whole variety of topics, not all literature. Don't miss the nationally-known guest speaker and keynote, teen storytelling workshop, extraordinary platform of speakers, lunch, vendor hall, and support group display area. Fill up with encouragement and inspiration to start 2011 with fervor! Some of our nationally known speakers this year include author Debbie Strayer, story teller Jim Weiss, learning disabilities specialist Kay Ness, as well as Bob & Tina Farewell and Shirley Solis of Lifetime Books & Gifts fame. Registration is only $20 for an individual or $30 for a couple. Teens are invited, especially since Jim Weiss is presenting a story telling workshop just for them! Look for Books & Beyond on the left side of the screen at www.nearhim.org or click here to register.
Come, Oh Redeemer Come (How to Carry Advent into the New Year)
Last but not least, a little poem (not by me this time) for the new year!
"We Live in Deeds, Not Years; In Thoughts, Not Breaths"
by Philip James Bailey (1816-1902)
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
Life's but a means unto an end; that end,
Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God.
The dead have all the glory of the world.
Let's make the most of our lives! Thad and I are reading a Christian book called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars by Mark Batterson to encourage us in this area! People have asked how we can send our teen and young adult daughters off to far flung places like Italy, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic for up to 3 months at a time, but I just say I want to raise my kids to be lion chasers! And I, in turn, learn from their bold example! 🙂
Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
www.virginiaknowles.blogspot.com
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