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.
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…
Rejoice Together
In Luke 15, Jesus told three lost and found parables. He spoke of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. In each parable, people rejoice when what had been lost is found. Each time they rejoice with…
Things Old and New
Ray and I took to the road yesterday morning, heading north to our first homeschool convention of 2014 and, more importantly, to our beloved John, Audra, and Henry. The house sitters got lined up; the laundry got done; the clothes…
Skirts and Hems and a Mother’s Touch
On Sunday a friend and I reminisced about fashion hemlines when we were girls. Attendees at homeschool conventions are great evidence as to how times have changed since then. I imagine you could find modest hemlines varying as much as…
Buds That Blossom
Perhaps the most popular of Aesop’s fables is the tortoise and the hare, from which we learn the adage, “Slow and steady wins the race.” As the tortoise walked slowly, purposefully, and steadily toward the finish line, he moved closer…