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Hello, Reader.

This coming Sunday is Grandparent's Day -- so this week would be a good time for a call or a card if you or your children are still blessed to have grandparents living. My own passed away many years ago, but my mother and both my husband's parents are still with us and very much appreciated. I'm grateful for the relationships they share with our kids.

Or maybe, like me, you're a grandparent yourself now. Then use this holiday as an opportunity to brainstorm: ask not what your grandkids can do for you, but what you can do for them.

That's really the point of this week's link list -- to suggest ways you can invest meaningfully in the lives of your grandchildren or facilitate a closer relationship between your parents and your children. Enjoy!

Free resources for you this week:

• ​Praying for Your Grandchildren - faithful prayer is a great way to bless your grandkids
• ​Praying for Your Adult Children - while you're at it, pray for your grandkids' parents, too
• ​Grandparents Day Printables - fun worksheets for kids to fill out for Grandma & Grandpa
• ​Grandparents Day Coloring Page - this printable features Proverbs 17:6 (quoted above)
• ​6 Smart Ways to Connect with Your Grandkids - invest in your grandchildren, near or far
• ​Smart Uses for Flanders Family Resources - I love how this Grandma is using our printables

What I'm reading this week:

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​The Complete Guide to Fasting showed up in my recommended reading list from Audible, probably because my initial response to last year's cancer diagnosis was to begin an extended fast (coupled with lots of prayer). I've since seen lots of research that promotes fasting as a way to treat/ reverse a host of diseases. Dr. Fung cites many such case studies/clinical trials, highlighting the effectiveness of controlled fasts as a tool to combat obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other maladies common to people who consume a standard American diet. ​

This week's reader request:

I've received several requests in the past few weeks for new hand-drawn scrapbook calendars... for the year 2027! (I guess a lot of my readers like to plan well in advance.) Well, they're ready now (along with similar calendars for 2025 and 2026). Follow this link to download your free copy and find out how I normally use them.

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On the podcast this week:

Loving Life at Home: Episode 96 ​25 WAYS TO BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR​ Since September is National Good Neighbor Month, I thought this would be the perfect time to share some of our family's favorite ways to be good neighbors (or at least, the top 25 😊). Compiling this list of ideas was easy. Our family has been blessed with scores of wonderful neighbors over the years, so it was a simple matter of remembering all the kind things they’ve done for us along the way and following their good example. Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

I checked most the items off last week's to-do list and made decent progress on the rest, including: ✅ framing nearly four dozen pieces of my kids' and grandkids' artwork and dropping them off for the ETSF art contest, ✅ assembling 12 crockpot dinners for my freezer, ✅ sharing a fellowship dinner at church, ✅ attending Symphony in the Park, ✅ crocheting first half of a wedding gift, and ✅ tole painting a tiny tin box (but I ❌ need to paint a bigger one before my next craft class).

Personal goals for this week:

• paint another tin (and video the process for my co-op class)
• finish crocheted wedding gift
• attend daughter's volleyball tournament in College Station this weekend
• print/distribute lesson plans for next six weeks
• catch up on grading math homework
• play some more pickleball with husband and kids
• reduce email inbox to < 25 messages

If you enjoy this newsletter and would like to support my work, there are five ways for you to do that:

1. ​Pray for me & my family
2. Invite a friend to subscribe to this newsletter​
3. Follow me on Instagram​
4. ​Buy one of my books​
5. Hit reply and say hello 👋

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Thanks so much for all your help! I'll be back next week with more links, reviews, and resources. If you have any special requests, please let me know. 😊