About Charlene
Hi, I’m Charlene Notgrass. I was born a long time before you, way back in 1953. One time a good friend wanted to know the identity of the wedding picture he saw at our house. I think he was a bit embarrassed when I told him it was Ray and me. I guess we have changed since 1974!
I loved homeschooling — once I learned how to make homeschooling who I was instead of something I carried around like a big, heavy burden every day.
God is my precious Father. He gives me grace through Jesus every day. I need it because I am not like Mary Poppins (“practically perfect in every way”), but much more like Jo in Little Women (“hopelessly flawed”). I’m thankful for my life. I love to work with my family and with our good friends and team members in Notgrass History. It’s like a dream come true. I am happy when I am researching and writing homeschool curriculum. My husband, Ray, and I like visiting historic sites and just being together, but our very favorite thing is spending time with our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren. Sometime when you have a couple of days, let me tell you about our ten grandchildren!
My life has had abundant blessings and abundant trials I never could have borne alone, especially the loss in 2012 of our first grandchild, Avery, when he was just sixteen months old, and our daughter Bethany in the summer of 2024. God has loved me too much to give me a life without heartaches. He has proved Himself to be the God of all comfort. He has used my heartaches to teach me humility and compassion. From the lessons God has taught me and is teaching me, I offer you daily encouragement. 🌷
Some of you may have read this post on Friday when I accidentally sent out two in the morning email. Oops! So sorry about that! I recently wrote about The Present Mama, using this verse from 1 Thessalonians: But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own […]
For my post today, I have rewritten a post I wrote six years ago. I wrote it after a mama called to talk about her daughter with learning challenges. The girl was in 7th grade, as I recall, and her co-op was about to study something her mama was afraid might be too difficult for […]
Family life is a whole lot of getting up every morning and doing the same things you did yesterday. What a blessing that is because those same things you did yesterday include: loving your husband bathing your baby listening to your teenager reading to your ten-year-old checking on your mother feeding your family teaching your […]
