Welcome to Daily Encouragement!
Hi, I’m Charlene Notgrass. I was born a long time before you, way back in 1953. I loved homeschooling — once I learned how to make homeschooling who our family was instead of something I carried around like a big, heavy burden every day. From the lessons God has taught me, I offer you daily encouragement.
Living Life Immediately
I was standing in our tiny kitchen in Illinois talking on the phone, while little Mary Evelyn waited eagerly for me to get off. With her mommy tethered to a landline with a cord, our resourceful little girl got pen…
Let the Little Children Come
Recently as I sat in church, I noticed a little boy about three years old in a pew in front of me. He leaned his head on a lady whom I assumed to be his mother. I didn’t see her…
Capitol Tour Tag-Alongs
Ray and I hugged our sweet Henry and his folks yesterday morning and headed west for the Midwest Parent Educators Conference in Kansas City. The clouds were so ominous that we got out our travel weather radio to see if we…
Listening Hearts
“He thinks he knows everything!” “Whew, what a know-it-all!” “You can’t tell him anything!” (or the Southern version, “You can’t tell him nothin’!”) None of us want people to describe us in those ways. We need to be teachable like…
Happy April Foolish Day
Several years ago I got to know an older man with one handicapped son about thirty years old. The father described their close relationship with a Southernism: “I’m foolish about him and he’s foolish about me.” Every child longs for…
Precious Words
We emotional females sometimes remember feelings better than we remember details. I remember how I felt one time when I complimented a young woman in front of her mother. Her mother quickly minimized what I said. I don’t remember the…