​

Hello, Reader.

Well, we made it home safely from Europe, although an airport strike in Germany made us wonder if we would. Like forty thousand other travelers, our flight was cancelled without notice, so we had to scramble to find an alternative mode of travel.

We had to take planes trains, busses, and taxi cabs to make our way to London via Amsterdam, although one daughter ended up getting routed through Dublin instead. But, by God's grace, we all made our connecting flights and landed in Texas right on schedule.

Rebekah's layover in Ireland got me to thinking about the fact St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, so that's our theme for this week. However you celebrate, I hope you'll enjoy the printables below.

Free resources for you this week:

• ​St. Patrick's Day Trivia Test - see how much do you know about the history of this holiday
• ​St. Paddy's Day Word Scramble - see how fast you can unscramble all these themed words
• ​It's Not Easy Being Green - a quiz to see how familiar you are with various green characters
• ​St. Patrick's Day I Spy - another fun activity to do on this day
• ​St. Patrick's Day Banners - deck the halls with these pretty green pennant banners
• ​Kiss Me, I'm Irish - find more ideas for celebrating St. Paddy's Day on my Pinterest board
• ​Irish Blessing Coloring Page - I love this Gaelic poem -- such a beautiful blessing!

What I'm reading this week:

​

​Hannah's Children by Catherine Ruth Pakaluk was much deeper and more theoretical than I expected. The author examines plummeting birth rates and the failure of even aggressive pro-natalist policies to reverse the trend by traveling across the US and interviewing outliers. She questions 55 women who've intentionally had anywhere from five to fifteen children. In this fascinating account, she shares their reasons for wanting a large family, what kind of personal sacrifice was required to achieve it, and how they felt about the results. As a mother of 12, I found myself resonating with many of the testimonies shared. Some of their stories even brought tears to my eyes. ​

On the podcast this week:

I didn't publish a podcast while we were traveling, so I'm sharing another episode from the archives. As it happens, my husband and I got officially engaged on March 18, 1987, the day after St. Patrick's Day. Here's the story about how he proposed.

Loving Life at Home: Episode 36 ​THE WRONG WAY TO PROPOSE MARRIAGE​ One thing I’ve learned through more than three and a half decades of marriage? Endings are far more important than beginnings. That’s true of our service to God and also of our service to our family. Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

I only finished 75% of my published to-do list last week: I ✅ embroidered several new quilt squares, ✅ enjoyed our European vacation, and ✅ finished two more pages in my Easter Journal, but have not even ❌ started getting our senior tributes/slide shows ready for my youngest son's and oldest grandson's upcoming graduation, so that task is getting bumped to this week.

Personal goals for this week:

• make slide shows
• host annual Leprechaun Lunch​
• walk 7 miles
• make sample project for leather class
• send new memory passage to kids and grandkids
• fast for 5 days (to help fight cancer)