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.
Face Time
After the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus told most of them to sit and pray, before taking Peter, James, and John with Him. Then He left them, too, and went a little…
Laura Fans
We made it! It’s been a very long journey, but we made it! Ray and I have now been to every place that Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. It took us seventeen years. Our family loves the books. Ray read them…
My Dress is Not Perfect
On a recent Sunday morning Ray and I visited the church of a dear couple we have known for 34 years. One of the joys of the morning was reconnecting with their only child who is now in her twenties.…
Hope
When families walk into a vendor hall at a homeschool convention, they find neat rows of booths stocked with curriculum and other useful resources. First time attendees are overwhelmed. I remember that feeling. The first time Ray and I “wide…
The Church Visitors
My husband Ray was in full-time ministry for over twenty years. During that time, we were in the role of welcoming people who visited church rather than being visitors ourselves. That has certainly changed this spring. Family visits and homeschool…
I’d Rather Be Here Now
When I was a young wife and mother, Ray was a campus minister at a church in Oxford, Mississippi. I was blessed to know many Jesus-loving, family-focused, and hard-working older women in that congregation. I soaked up their examples and wisdom.…