Episode 7: ARE YOU A READING MOTHER?

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

And introducing granddaughter, Chalice Allison.

Books mentioned are shown at the end of this transcript.

 

Rocky: Welcome to the podcast FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy: Hello ladies. It is so great to be with you again, and today, I'm going to introduce to you another member of our wonderful, big family. I have here sitting with me, Chalice. Chalice Hosanna Allison is Serene's daughter. Chalice is here today because she is learning the ropes of recording these podcasts, and Arden will be teaching her. She's meant to be here since the very first one, but something has happened every single time. Many times, Serene has needed her. In fact, Chalice is Serene's right hand lady. I don't know what she would do without her, and we all love Chalice. She's 18 years of age, and an angel sent from heaven, and you will get to meet her 18 year old sister. Yes, she has a sister who is the same age as her, originally from Liberia. When you get to meet Cherish, she's a little bit different than Chalice. Chalice is quieter, but I hope she'll say a few things today.

Chalice: Hi!

Nancy: When Cherish comes, well, she won't stop talking. She is the social one of the family. In fact, she is head of CNN on the hilltop now. I won't tell you what CNN is. Of course, it's not the fake news, but it's something else we have. I'll tell you when I introduce Cherish to you. There are 14 children in the Allison family, 10 of them still at home. Chalice, let me ask you a few questions. Tell me, what is your favorite thing to do? One of your favorite things, because I think you must have so many favorite things you love to do.

Chalice: I have so many favorite things, but my favorite thing would probably be hanging out with my family, having a fun time just hanging out.

Nancy: Yes. I love that. Don't you love that? To hear from a beautiful 18-year-old girl. She's not wanting to just go out and do so many of the things 18- year-olds are doing today. She just loves to hang out with her family, but I better tell you a secret. It's fun hanging out with her family because Colin and I, we just love to go over to their family. Sometimes, after supper at night, my husband will say, “Let's go over to Serene and Sam's,” so we'll pop over, and it's always the same. They are all sitting around, mom and dad and all the children, each one doing their own thing or talking together and just being together, and it's so wonderful. I love the family atmosphere, don't you love it?

Chalice: Definitely.

Nancy: Yes, and it's never boring. In fact, when you have Serene around, there's always some very interesting information, discussion, or some amazing thing that happened because, with Serene, there is usually something rather interesting happening nearly every day. Isn't there? All the funniest things in the world happen to her. There's always a story. I just love that, and I know Chalice has said to me that her best friends in life are her Mum and Dad and that's just such a beautiful testimony. Even though Chalice loves to be home and loves to be with her family, she has still traveled quite a bit. How many countries of the world have you been to, Chalice?

Chalice: Well, I've been to the United Kingdom--all of them.

Nancy: That's four countries.

Chalice: And I've been to the Bahamas and China.

Nancy: Wow. Yes. Chalice actually does get to travel a lot because she travels with Serene because usually Serene always has a baby. When she's having to do interviews or filming, Chalice comes along so she can watch the baby while she's doing an interview. She ended up going to China with the whole Trim Healthy Mama team. I wonder if you ever saw my Instagram picture of Serene on her way to China? They were gone for, how many days was it? Twelve days or something? You went?

Chalice: Yes.

Nancy: Evangeline was going too, her and her husband and Pearl and her husband, Charlie, and Serene and Sam, and other Trim Healthy Mama members of their organization. Serene decided she was going to travel light. She was tired of lugging around cases everywhere. She thought, “this time I am going light.”

She searched the Internet and found that there are people who do loads of traveling and have to travel light, and they purchase these Merino wool clothes. They are so fine, and you can wear them summer or winter, and because they are wool, they don't sweat, so they don't get stinky, and you can just keep wearing them every day.

Chalice: They do get stinky, but you just have to lay them out overnight. In the morning, they're fine.

Nancy: Wow, that's amazing! Anyway, Serene purchased these Merino wool clothes. Of course, I said to her, “That's so great.” Because I was brought up in New Zealand, a sheep country, and my father was the one who designed the way shearing is done across the world today. He was, in his prime, the world champion shearer, the fastest shearer in the world in his day.

He has now passed on, but he always used to say that you must wear wool. He always wore wool, and he tried to get us to always wear wool because it was healthy for you.

Anyway, Serene purchased a skirt, some leggings, a top, and an extra little top, which she wore. That was her outfit in which she traveled to China and which she wore every single day. She arrived home in it--the same outfit. She did not have another outfit. When she left, she had this little backpack on her back of just a few little things. She had nothing else because she had her outfit on her and that was all. And Remmy, she had purchased for him these little Merino wool clothes. He had an even tinier backpack and that's how she traveled. She didn't get too stinky?

Chalice: No, she had a couple extras.

Nancy: Oh, she did, yes, but they fitted it in her tiny little backpack, didn't they? Anyway, I've never quite got to traveling like that. I always try to travel light, but I never get to that extent. Did you like going to China?

Chalice: Yeah, it was amazing. It was probably my favorite country I've ever been to.

Nancy: Yes, but you'll most probably go to many more. When you traveled to the UK, in fact, that's when you came with us. You were only 14 then, and you were a little bit homesick? Which country did you like best in the UK?

Chalice: I think I liked Wales the best.

Nancy: I thought you liked Scotland the best, but she liked Wales. That was beautiful. We went for some gorgeous walks in Wales, didn't we? That was so amazing. Then we went out into the highlands when we went to Scotland. You'll always remember that. The snow fights up in the highlands, do you remember that?

Chalice: A little.

Nancy: Too long ago? Oh yes. I think you've traveled to lots of states here in America too. Have you ever counted how many?

Chalice: Nope.

Nancy: You haven't?

Chalice: I've been to lots.

Nancy: Yes, and you've even lived in different states before Trim Healthy Mama came into being. Sam did quite a number of projects where he had to go overseas and to other states in the nation. I think you lived in Mississippi, didn't you?

Chalice: Yes, Mississippi, Texarkana, and Maryland.

Nancy: Texarkana is in Arkansas, wasn't it? We visited you in all those places, and they were all very interesting. In fact, I remember that's why we visited you because we missed you so much. We were used to having you around. In fact, I remember an incident, and this is when you came back from one of your trips,

I don't know whether you remember this, Arden (Arden's here recording) and you were just young. Here on the hilltop, we have Evangeline's family, Serene's family, and Pearl's family, and the children have all grown up together. They all live their own separate lives, but there's also this wonderful coming together. The children, after they would have homeschooled in the day, are always wanting to get with their cousins. They're like brothers and sisters. I remember one time Serene and Sam arrived home unexpectedly, and I remember, I was over at Evangeline's place. Arden was coming around the corner of the house, and his cousins saw him.

I have never seen anything like it in my life. They were so excited to see their cousin who they love. They pounced on him. They had him down on the ground with bear hugs of love. I've never seen such love poured out with such kind of demonstrativeness because they were all guys. To see that love together, when they were together again, it was so amazing.

Do you ever remember that, Arden? You do? Anyway, I know another thing you love to do, Chalice. You love to read. What are some of your favorite authors?

Chalice: My favorite author would have to be George MacDonald because when I was little, my dad got me to read “THE LIGHT PRINCESS” and then I started reading all the bigger books, and they're so amazing. My dad's dad gave them to my dad, and then my dad gave them to me. They are like heirlooms.

Nancy: Chalice is a George MacDonald fan. Have you ever read any of George MacDonald's books? Well, I've got to read them too because Chalice has borrowed them to me. Chalice loves to come over when she's read a good book, and she doesn't just tell us about it; she arrives with it, and she says, "Here, Nana and Granddad, you've got to read this. It's so good."

George MacDonald, you may know, was actually C. S. Lewis' mentor. He was a Scottish minister, but he wasn't the status quo, and he didn't bow to the status quo, and he had so many revelations of understanding that they didn't always accept in the so-called church. He began to write instead, and he wrote novels, but filled with doctrine and revelation. They're wonderful stories, always in Scotland, but also filled with wonderful, beautiful biblical revelation.

Chalice was blessed as a young girl. She read these books and got all this wonderful deep stuff as she read them. They're good. Get hold of one if you're not familiar with a George MacDonald book. You love the Lamplighter books too, don't you? What's your favorite?

Chalice: I was going to say “THE WHITE GYPSY” but even better would have to be “ISHMAEL”

Nancy: Oh yes. Oh yes. That's what happened the other week, Chalice came over. She said, "Nana and Granddad, you've got to read “ISHMAEL" I read it, and I would have to say, oh my, it's one of my favorite books too, along with the sequel, which is called “SELF RAISED.” They're actually one book--one story just carries on, but it's in two books. It was written by E.D.E.N Southworth. It has E.D.E.N, and it actually stands for Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte. She was the most popular American novelist in the latter part of the 19th century, and she wrote more than 60 novels.

This one, if ever you can get hold of ISHMAEL and SELF RAISED, they’re worth reading. It's about this little baby that was born in shame. He didn't even have an acknowledged father to take his name. He was born in utter poverty. He was born dying. In fact, his Auntie, who was left to look after him was expecting him to die any minute. In fact, she hoped he would. She didn't want to be bothered with this little baby that was born in shame and also added another mouth for her to feed. She just hoped he'd die, but he didn't die.

There was something in this child, and God put something in him, and he just rose. He had within him such a longing for knowledge and for righteousness and for justice. There was something of God upon this child. Even out of poverty, God caused circumstances to happen where he was helped along the way. Eventually, he rose to the zenith of height in our nation and became a great man of righteousness and judgment.

He was just something else. I remember when he rose to that status of being a lawyer in Washington DC, and he had not been to college. He had no opportunity to do that. He hadn't been able to go to college to study law, but he read books. He was a voracious reader, and he read, and he read, and then he would go to the courthouse and watch and observe, and God had miraculously put him in touch with a supreme court judge.

He came to him and he said, "I believe I'm ready to sit the bar exam." He just laughed. He said, "You cannot do that; you haven't even been to college."

He said, "I beg to differ with you sir." And he said, "I believe I'm ready."

Anyway, this judge gave in and said, "Okay, you can sit the exam."

Of course, he passed with flying colors, and do you remember reading about his first case? This great big lawyer, one of the best in Washington (because he was friends with a certain supreme court judge) he gave him this case, and it was about this husband who was wanting to take the children off his wife. Somehow Ishmael didn't feel it was right. Something was wrong. He went and searched and ferreted out this poor woman who had been left by this man with the children, and he had gone off and squandered money. Now he was wanting the children back, but he'd never taken any notice of them. Ishmael realized the right justice was with this woman. Although this man had plenty of money to pay him, he decided No, I will not take that case.

Instead, he stood on the side of this woman who could not pay him any money, and he had to stand against the three best lawyers in Washington. There was such an amazing gift on this young man that he won the case, hands down. The whole of Washington had never seen anything like it. In fact, these big lawyers, they wanted to get them into their firms, but of course, he declined because he did not agree with their justice. He was always out for justice. Anyway, I can't tell you any more of the story. It is the most amazing story. They have to read it, don't they?

Hey, did you ever read “THE HIDDEN HAND”? You did. Did you like that one?

Chalice: It was really good.

Nancy: I have read that it is the most popular Lamplighter book, but I haven't read it yet, but maybe I will. You still liked ISHMAEL better?

Chalice: Yes.

Nancy: Anyway, do you get the Lamplighter books for your children? They're wonderful stories, aren't they? The only one problem is they are rather expensive. Do you have a better way of finding them? I know you have great ways of getting books.

Chalice: Well, some of them, I look up the author's name and find older copies that aren't Lamplighters. They are older copies, and sometimes they're cheaper.

Nancy: Yes. That's a good idea because you can always search and find ways of getting them cheaper. Although I'm not back-dooring Lamplighter, they are the most wonderful.

Chalice: They won't be as beautiful.

Nancy: I know. That's right. You know what? I had quite a number of Lamplighter books. They weren't Lamplighter books then. When I was a child, I had these old copies. They were in my library when I was a child, and I can remember reading . . . I wonder if you've read these ones. I had “A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES.” have you read that?

"CHRISTIE’S OLD ORGAN."

“THE HEDGE OF THORNS.”

“THE BASKET OF FLOWERS.”

They were all my favorite stories when I was a child. I read them over and over again and cried my way through them every time. I love these books and now they are available with Lamplighter. As Chalice said, you might be able to find them cheaper which would be so great.

Oh, I know another author that you like. You like G.A. Henty books too, don't you?

Chalice: Yeah, I like history.

Nancy: Yes, so you have found lots of those online haven't you? What's your favorite?

Chalice: My favorite would have to be “ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S EVE.”

Nancy: I haven't read that. What's it about?

Chalice: It's about when the Catholics in France are trying to kill off all the Protestants. It was really good.

Nancy: Yes. I'll have to read that sometime. I have read a few G.A. Henty. If I had all the time in the world, I'd love to read more. I don't get time, but they are such wonderful books of history. They give it in such an exciting way. Wonderful books for your children. Of all the ones I have read, my favorite is “FOR THE TEMPLE.” Didn't you love that one?

Chalice: Oh, that was my first.

Nancy: Yes, “FOR THE TEMPLE” about the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. You've got to get that one. I'm sure you can pick it up or download it for free. It's such an amazing story It's one you can read to your children. It's so wonderful.

Isn't it great to read? Reading a book is like having a friend. The sad part about it is you come to the end and the friends gone, but I have always loved reading.

In fact, I have a huge library of books and beside my bed, I have three piles of books, about three feet high each. All of these are books that I desperately want to read, but I can't find time to read them, so they stay in their piles. When I get to bed at night, which is really the only time I have to read, I think, "Oh, I could read that book," and then I think, "No, I've got to get a little bit more Word into me." I have such a longing for the Word. It's not just a book. It's food for my soul, and my soul hungers after it. I love to read it, so of course, I would read the Word more than anything else. I do love to read Bible commentaries.

I guess not everybody loves to do that. And meditational books like A.W. Tozer, his books. Have you read any of A.W. Tozer? I love especially “THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD,” “THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY,” and ‘THE PURSUIT OF GOD.” All of those are amazing books. They take you into the depths, away from the shallow, into the depths and challenge your soul. I'd encourage you to read them if you can.

In fact, I was reading somewhere recently where this author said, "If you read something new, you should also read something old to balance it." I think that's quite a good idea. Today, we usually just read what is modern, what's around today, but it's good to balance that out with reading something old. There's a wonderful scripture in the Bible. I love it. It's in Matthew 13:52. Jesus was telling a story. "Therefore, every scribe which is instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is a householder which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old." I love that.

Bringing out of our treasure both the new and the old. Perhaps you could take up that challenge. When you read some modern book, go back to something old as well. I think this is a good Scripture to remember too, even with music, because music evolves over time, and every different generation has a different style of music. The young generation usually only likes their style of music, especially in the church. Today we are blessed with beautiful worship songs. Some of them are shallow, but many of them are so beautiful, worshipful, and glorious. I think we as older people, because I'm one of the older ones, have to embrace and enjoy the new.

I love to do that. I also think that, in embracing the new, we shouldn't forget the old. I love to have the good old hymns, which are filled with doctrine and such wonderful truth about our great redemption, to have our grandchildren sing them so they don't lose them. They have the new, but they have something of the old too. Today, most young people have never even heard of a hymn; they don't even know them. They do miss out on some of those wonderful doctrinal truths. Let's remember new and old.

Now, while we're talking about books, perhaps I'll keep going. Would you like to hear about some of the interesting books I've read over the years? I've read hundreds of books, although I must put a little word of caution here. Before I was married, I was what would be called a bookworm and read whenever I could. I read into the hours of the night; I read under the blankets with a flashlight because my parents had told me to turn out the light.

Then I got married. Then children came along, and I found that I could no longer keep up that practice because I had to discipline my life to be ready for each new day, to manage my household, and care for my children. Gone were the days when I could just read any book I liked or whenever I liked. What I found is that I would usually keep for my light reading a good historical novel. I would keep to perhaps Christmas time or some vacation time where I was relaxing. In normal daily life, I would keep to my Bible and my commentaries and my meditational books. Because when you read a meditational book as you're going off to sleep, it sends you to sleep.

If you read an exciting story, it keeps you awake, and you're tempted to keep reading into the hours of the night. Then you wake up the next morning bleary-eyed and tired, and you cannot function as a mother. I believe, dear mothers, we must discipline our lives for the great task that God has given us to do. We can't let other little things take over, so they take away our strength and our anointing for the job that God has given us. So, we should get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Now, I haven't always done that, so I'm not actually talking from real experience, but God has been speaking to me. I'm realizing more and more how important it is to get to bed at a reasonable hour to function the next day. Don't read any old book into the hours of the night. Because you're a mother, you must discipline yourself and keep your reading for when you can have a very special moment, when you're on vacation, or perhaps you're riding in the car or doing things like that.

Another thing we must watch too is that social media because that takes over a lot of mothers in the evening hours. Eventually, when children are in bed and everything is done, at last, you've got some “me time” as you call it. You think, "Now I can get on social media, and I can get on Facebook." That often gets a hold of you and takes you longer than you intended. A dear friend of mine was telling me recently; she handles a big homeschooling email group. She said she notices that at about 10:00 at night it gets busy. All the mothers have got their children in bed and now they're getting on social media. It's the way it goes, but that's sad. 10:00 at night, you should be getting to bed ready for the next day.

Is your husband in bed? You're not just leaving him there alone, are you? No, you need to go to bed with your husband when it is possible. That's what we're meant to do. We're meant to be available for one another, not sitting out on social media while he lies there waiting for you. Let's remember, be disciplined about social media, even about reading.

Let me tell you some wonderful books for when you get the time, this wonderful “dessert” time. I always call books that are enjoyable my” dessert.” They are special. Have you ever read any of Elizabeth Goudge's books? She wrote an amazing book called “GREEN DOLPHIN STREET.” It was situated in England and then eventually went to New Zealand at the time of the Maori wars. It was the most fascinating, amazing story.

When we get a good book, it does the rounds. I read it; Evangeline reads it; Serene reads it; my sister reads it. We all talked about it, and we loved it, such an amazing story. Of course, the most amazing part of the story is that this young man knew two sisters who were both in love with him. When he went down to New Zealand, he wrote for the one he loved, but sadly, he got the wrong one. Then the book tells the story.

She also wrote “THE CHILD FROM THE SEA” which was the story of King Charles II and his secret wife, Lucy. That was an amazing story. She also wrote “THE DEAN’S WATCH,” “THE SCENT OF WATER” and many others.

Oh, let me tell you about a book that you most probably don't know about. Hardly anybody knows about it. It is just a simple paperback, but I think it's a book that everyone in America should read, and we should read it to our children.

In fact, Chalice, I gave it to your mom for all of you to read. Now, have you read it? Well, I better tell you the name. It's called “THE JOURNEY OF PRIVATE GALIONE: HOW AMERICA BECAME A SUPER POWER.” Have you ever read it?

Chalice: I haven't even heard of it.

Nancy: Wow. I'm going to have to get onto your mother and tell her, "Hey, you've got this amazing book. You've got to read it to the children." It tells the story, his daughter writing it, and she only found out in very, very later years as he was nearing the end of his life, because he could never tell. He could not speak about the things he saw. God miraculously led him. It was towards the end of the Second World War. He felt that he had to go and walk. He didn't know why.

He hadn’t met God, but God directed him. In fact, he walked, and he kept walking, and he felt these hands behind him, pushing him onward when he was too tired to take another step. He felt these hands pushing him on, and he found Camp Dora. This was the concentration camp where the Germans were making the missiles in the second world war. He discovered them, just at the end, just before Russia got to them.

The US were able to gather up all those scientists and all that technology, and they brought it back to the states, which eventually helped our space program. Without this young soldier, life would not be what it is today. We may have been taken over by the Russians. It was a divine thing that happened. God was with him, and God used this young soldier to discover this camp. It is an amazing story. I'm sure you can pick it up on the Internet, but it's something you could read to your children. It's history that most people don't know about yet affected the course of the whole of USA. I'd really encourage you to get that and read it.

Another interesting book that I have read recently is “CYROPAEDIA.” It's the education of Cyrus by the great Greek historian, Xenophon. Now, I'm sure you've all heard of Cyrus who was the “King of Persia.” He was also called the “King of the Four Corners of the Earth” and “Cyrus the Great.” He was not what you would say a godly man, and yet he was. He didn't walk with God, but he was a man who walked after righteousness and justice. It's amazing.

Did you know that Cyrus is mentioned 23 times by name in the Bible, and he's alluded to several more times? In fact, his name, Cyrus, was written in the Bible, not just about him, but his actual name before he came to power and became Cyrus the Great. One hundred and fifty years before he came to the throne, his name was written in the Bible. Isn't that amazing?

It's worth reading about him. I got to find out his history. In Persia, he was sent to a school. The whole purpose of the school was to learn righteousness and justice. Wouldn't it be amazing to have schools like that today? The children who went to that school were also taught generosity and benevolence, and this was upon Cyrus. Even as a little child, he was taught it. Even more than that, it was in him. It's interesting how God is in everything. God obviously raised up a child who became a man with these attributes, because He had to find a man with these attributes and in power who could fulfill His prophetic word, which was that the children of Judah, who were taken to Babylon, that after 70 years they would come back to Jerusalem.

Now, how is that going to happen? Well, God raised up a man. He raised up this man who was so benevolent. The stories of his benevolence and his generosity were amazing. In fact, when I read this book, it wasn't a Christian book, but it was like I was reading the Bible. I was getting convicted every day. He became the General and then he became the great King of Babylon because he conquered Babylon. He was always looking out for his soldiers to praise them, to affirm them. When he saw them do something good, he would always praise him, and he would give them gifts. He loved to give gifts. He was so generous.

The people back then wanted to be conquered by him because when he conquered them, he didn't make them slaves; he freed them. They all worshiped him to the ends of the earth. They loved to know that they were under his power. This man, because of who he was and because he was so generous, thought of these Jews. "Here they are, they are captives in my country of Babylon, but they have their own country." God put it in his mind to send them back to Jerusalem, and he even provided the finance for them to rebuild the temple. It's amazing how God raises up people in history, even those who don't know his name. In fact, in Isaiah 45, it says, "I raised you up even though you did not know me." God was using him. I loved reading that book.

Another book that was amazing that I read was “THE TONGUE OF THE PROPHETS” by Robertson John. This is the biography of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who is the father of modern Hebrew. Now, the Hebrew language was lost; there was no longer a spoken language. For 2000 years it had been lost. God raise up this man Eliezer Ben Yehuda to restore the Hebrew language. He went through absolute suffering and ridicule the whole time he was doing this book. He gave his life for it. It's an amazing story of how the Hebrew language came into being again. Amazing!

At the end of our podcast today, let me get back to, perhaps, where you really are, as a mother with children. I hope you are reading mother to your children.

It's so important to be a reading mother. I love Strickland Gillilan’s poem. The last stanza says:

"You may have tangible wealth untold,

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I, you can never be.

I had a mother who read to me."

Do you read to your children? When I was raising our children, I constantly read. When the little ones were getting upset and bouncing off the walls, I would say to them, "Children, let's have a story." I would gather them around me, cuddle them in tight, and we would read stories. They would get up, and they would be happy again. When they all got into a bad state again, "Okay, let's have story time again." I was forever reading them stories, and I always loved to read in rhyme. It's so much easier and more fun than just reading a story, isn't it?

One of the favorite authors I read to my children when they were growing up was Bill Peet. Have you read any of his storybooks, ladies? If you haven't, get them for your children. You can go online. They are paperback, but they are amazingly illustrated, and they are all in rhyme. This guy, Bill Peet, wrote 36 children stories, and they were all amazing. Let me tell you about some of them.

We are going a little bit longer today, but I want to tell you about this. The favorite one that our children loved was called “HUGE HAROLD.” It was about this great big, huge rabbit. In fact, there were a couple of lines in that book, and the children still remember them today. I mean, some of my children are in their fifties, and they will still say,

"Doggone and dagnabbit!

That's what I call a whoppin' big rabbit!"

Those lines just stayed with them because they were so fun to say. He wrote “KERMIT THE HERMIT” about the hermit crab and loads of other books. I haven't got time to tell you about them all.

It's fun to read rhyme to your children. That's why nursery rhymes are so good too. I read nursery rhymes to our children. They all learned them by heart because nursery rhymes are so important for their language development, their memory development, even their music development because you sing them to them as well. Also, their math development. They are amazing. Do your children know the nursery rhymes? Well, I do have to admit that a lot of them are pretty crazy. You don't even know what they're talking about.

I used to think that, even when I was teaching my children nursery rhymes, I thought, "They're really a bit crazy," but the writing was so good. Children love rhyme, and they need the rhyme. They need to say it. Eventually, I thought, I will one day write my own nursery rhyme book, which I have. I wonder if you have a copy of it. It's called “NANNY’S NURSERY RHYMES.” I wrote these nursery rhymes and Serene and Pearl wrote some of them too. These are nursery rhymes that speak about the things we want to impart to our children, like working hard, being happy, putting on a smile, honoring your parents, and so on. Of course, there are fun ones as well. If you want to get this book, it's hard covered, you can just go to aboverubies.org, and you'll find it there because nursery rhymes are so good.

Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/NannysNurseryRhymes

As the children got older, we read them serial stories at night time. We'd get a great book, and we would read, well supposedly one chapter, but it was always more because the children would plead for more. We'd read another chapter, then they'd plead for more. We'd read another chapter, and I used to read for hours. Some of the books, we'd cry; some, we'd laugh, but they were just such wonderful times together. One of the ones we specifically loved was “CHILDREN ON THE OREGON TRAIL.” Anyway, our time has gone today.

Perhaps I will close by reading to you the whole poem by Strickland Gillilan. It's called “THE READING MOTHER.”

The Reading Mother

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea.
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth;
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness lent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-
Stories that stir with an upward touch.
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a Mother who read to me.

By Strickland Gillilan

BOOKS LISTED IN ABOVE PODCAST:

“THE LIGHT PRINCESS” by George MacDonald 

“THE WHITE GYPSY” by Annette Lyster

“ISHMAEL” by E.D.E.N Southworth

“SELF-RAISED” by E.D.E.N Southworth

“THE HIDDEN HAND” by E.D.E.N Southworth “A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES” by Amy Catherine Walton "CHRISTIE’S OLD ORGAN" by Amy Catherine Walton “THE HEDGE OF THORNS” by John Hatchard “THE BASKET OF FLOWERS” by Christoph von Schmid “ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S EVE” by G.A. Henty “FOR THE TEMPLE” by G.A. Henty “THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD” by A.W. Tozer “THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY” by A.W. Tozer “THE PURSUIT OF GOD” by A.W. Tozer

“GREEN DOLPHIN STREET” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE CHILD FROM THE SEA” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE DEAN’S WATCH” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE SCENT OF WATER” by Elizabeth Goudge

“THE JOURNEY OF PRIVATE GALIONE: HOW AMERICA BECAME A SUPER POWER” by Mary Nahas

“CYROPAEDIA” by Xenophon

“THE TONGUE OF THE PROPHETS” by Robert St. John

“HUGE HAROLD” by Bill Peet

“KERMIT THE HERMIT” by Bill Peet

“NANNY’S NURSERY RHYMES” by Nancy Campbell

“CHILDREN ON THE OREGON TRAIL” by A. Rutgers van der Loeff