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Hello, Reader.

Monday marked the first day of fall. Are you as excited as I am for the change in seasons? Hello chilly mornings, colorful foliage, crisp apples, and sweater weather!

The fact this newsletter is a day late this week is an indication of how busy our autumn has already become. But we're making some great memories! This week's link list will hopefully help you do the same. Enjoy!

Free resources for you this week:

• ​50 Fun Activities for Fall - pick and choose what appeals to you from this printable list
• ​Family Camping Memory Game - since camping's one of my family's favorite fall activities
• ​Autumn Days Word Scramble - race to see how fast can you decipher these mixed up words
• ​5 Things to Make Fall Better - for those who'd prefer a simpler, DIY bucket list
• ​German Heritage Word Find - since Oktober Fest also began this week
• ​To Everything a Season Coloring Page - features Ecc. 3:1 with hand-drawn leaves & acorns

What I'm reading this week:

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Janine Sevy's How to Thrive on One Income is packed with proven tips and practical advice aimed at enabling mothers to stay at home with their children. This she herself was able to accomplish by embracing the frugal lifestyle: clever economizing, careful budgeting, and sound financial planning. She gained far more than she gave up by doing this, and in this slim volume shares her strategies for not only surviving on a single income, but flourishing. Many of her tips highlighted things I also practiced during our lean years. Others were completely new to me, but ideas I'm eager to try.

What we're watching this week:

World Watch News for the win! We love this daily 10-minute synopsis of current events and the comforting reminder that "whatever the news, the purpose of the LORD will stand." What's more, new viewers who sign up by September 30 can get a FREE 3-month trial subscription.

This week's reader request:

One of my readers asked that I create another free printable music practice record that would be appropriate to any musical instrument instead of specifying piano. That seemed reasonable enough to me. Here's what I came up with (click on the photo below to download a copy for yourself):

On the podcast this week:

Loving Life at Home: Episode 99 ​HOW TO LIVE A YIELDED LIFE​ Jesus calls believers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. But what does a life wholly yielded to God even look? It's marked by a willingness to die to yourself, trust God completely, know and obey His Word, submit to His will, point others to Jesus, suffer for His name, follow Christ alone, and love others selflessly. Listen in as we unpack all this and more in Episode 99. Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

You can tell by looking that I bit off way more than I could chew last week yet again. The only items I marked off my to-do list was ✅ volunteering on opening day of the East Texas State Fair, ✅ mailing a wedding gift, ✅ decorating my tree-for-all-seasons for fall, ✅ hosting Grace Girls, and ✅ spreadiing more mulch.

But I still haven't ❌ finished grading math homework, ❌ registered for family camp, ❌ painted my daughter's water bottle, or ❌ organized the costumes buckets in my garage. Obviously, the costumes are not a top priority right now, so I'm not even going to pretend to do that over the next week. But the grading and camp registration have to be done ASAP, and the water bottle painting sounds fun, so those are getting carried over another week....

Personal goals for this week:

• send in camp registration ASAP
• grade math lessons
• paint Abby's water bottle
• babysit 9 of my grandkids while parents are out of town 👩‍🍼
• attend book launch party for You Bet Your Stretch Marks 🐅
• cheer for my daughter on through another 3-day volleyball tournament 🏐
• submit swag bag freebie for upcoming Homeschooling the Heart Online Summit​

If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support my work, there is an extra-special way you can do that this week:

Just sign up for a FREE Rakuten membership! As long as you are a new user, you and I will EACH get $50 bonus cash back when you join by September 30 and make qualifying purchases totaling $50 within your first 90 days.

It's like an online Christmas shopping spree!

Rakuten is simply a shopping portal that allows you to earn cash back on many online purchases. It's super simple to use (I even made a how-to video to explain how it works). We've been using if since 2008 (back when Rakuten was known as Ebates) and have earned well over $5000 cash back so far!

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