Thoughts from my childhood

I came into the kitchen one evening, to make my lunch, last week and saw this. Books everywhere=) My mom spent the day at a library used book sale and returned home with loads of books. She’s very cleanliness minded…these were in the process of all their covers drying from being washed.

Some of these were the very books she had barrowed from the Library and read to us when we were kids. My mind flooded with memories of my sweet mother reading to us as kids as I looked through the titles. She had the best reading voice I know, bringing every single story to life. Changing her voice for each and every character. And using all the emotion needed to engage even the most reluctant listener. She read to us everywhere: in the car, while we were doing homework, for school, for devotionals, over a meal, - and my all time favorite time – at night.

Like this one by Jean Fritz read by mom over lunch…I would always hurry with my food so I could go stand behind her chair and look at the pictures. It was always a great spot until it got crowded by my other siblings who also preferred to listen from this place.

Laura Ingalls I can picture it like it was yesterday. Christmas time and we were all just out of the tub, in our pajamas, squished on the couch around mom listening intently to this well loved story.

I loved this one…he was such a hero!

When my school crossed into American early history in 7th grade mom had me read this…wow I couldn’t get enough. I read this one in a week. Those that know me know a book hast to be very interesting, to me, for this to happen.

Galileo. I read this one and wrote an essay on it, mid grade school I believe.

And who doesn’t love the Laura Ingalls series?!?! I remember my mom reading the series to us (for a unit study) through the opened door  so that not only us girl could here but also the boys in their room. Whenever the furnace would kick on, it would get pretty hard to hear her. I would just lay there and watch the flames behind her as she read. I loved those days!

Isaac doing homework…he’s the last one of us ten still in school. Mom’s graduated all ten and he’s her last…and out of us ten I think he’s the best student of us all=)

How some of the books were transported from the sale to the car and from the car to the house.

“The Little Auto” now this was my favorite nap time story=)

One of my favorite stories of all time (mom gave me this book=) She read this over lunch and I can still remember it was soup and popcorn. And she cried when she read the last paragraph …”so a man can stand up”. that line gave us all chills

My mom read to us for hours, sometime she would have to stop because her voice was hoarse. Her water breaks which only took minutes, seemed to us eager listeners more like hours, because we were always left on a cliffhanger. But she loved to read to us. She was telling me the other day how she misses when we were all young and she’d read in the car when we all traveled together. She instilled in me a love for good literature and I hope to pass this on someday. possibly to children of my own

I know I had the best childhood growing up, without a shadow of a doubt. With parents who poured their time, not finances, into their kids (making all the difference) who wouldn’t.