A Quiet Simple Life | Sallie Borrink

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

A Quiet Simple Life

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Our Cozy Home No. 75


Happy July! I hope you had an enjoyable Independence Day. Ours was quiet. David is in the midst of two large projects so he is working long hours, six days a week. We’re thankful for God’s provision.

Last week someone contacted me about working on a long-term project together. It was a brilliant idea that brings together my skills and this person’s knowledge and skills. So last week we started working on it. Hopefully I can share the details next week.

Our Summer Homeschooling

Caroline and I are doing some homeschooling each day since we homeschool year round. Not a lot, but enough to keep us moving forward in various ways. We’re currently reading Revelation aloud in our Bible time. I knew she would find the imagery intriguing. My goal is to read aloud through as much of the Bible with her as possible before she graduates. (Hopefully all of it, but some books might be a bit of a challenge.) We’ve read Proverbs, Esther, and Ruth so far. I don’t have a specific plan in terms of order. I’m selecting whichever book seems appropriate at the time. We’ve had some great conversations while reading these books of the Bible.

I know I’ve already mentioned it, but we have thoroughly enjoyed Compass Classroom’s Word Up. I highly recommend it. If you have a child who learns best with video, visuals, and humor then this is the thing for your vocabulary. We’re just about done with the first one and will go directly into the second. I am thankful I found Compass Classroom because I think they will be a good fit for some high school classes. I’m looking into other companies as well, but so far we’ve enjoyed what they have to offer. Compass Classroom also has an excellent blog full of interesting ideas.

Word Up!

I’ve been working on homeschool planning for the fall. I’m on the slow train that makes frequent scenic stops. LOL! I’m not interested in rushing and pushing myself to get this done. We’re not going to use any live online classes so we aren’t competing with others to claim a spot. It will all come together in its own time.

Homeschooling and Education Trends

Speaking of homeschooling, I’ve been hearing interesting bits about homeschool enrollment here and there. David was told there were 5,000 attendees at the recent homeschool convention in Denver. An astounding 42% of them were brand new homeschoolers for the fall. That’s amazing. A friend told me one of the very good school districts near her ($$$$$) lost 1,000 students last year and are laying off teachers. A thousand students. That is a LOT of money. That doesn’t include the ones they will lose for this fall. The Christian school they are a part of already has four grades that are full for the fall. This has never happened in the 15+ years they have been a part of this school.

If you’ve been following the forum I have about Anti-Racism and CRT in Education, you already know why this is happening. Many parents were unhappy with the masks and grew increasingly angry about them. The parents were unhappy with the distance learning and then they were really angry when they discovered what the teachers were “teaching” behind their backs.

But the teaching of Critical Race Theory is going to be the proverbial last straw for every family that can make another choice. Now that the NEA has voted for masks and jabs for kids as well as demanding the teaching of CRT moving forward in the fall? I told David I would not be surprised to see homeschooling hit 20% in this country. It was already up to 11.4% of children last year and how many of those families will honestly want to go back?

Pandemic pods will continue to increase in numbers except they won’t call them pandemic pods. They will be called cottage schools and such. That movement was already growing before 2020 in the gifted/2e circles, in classical education circles, etc. I would guess it is accelerating now. (If you don’t know what pandemic pods are, I linked to a few articles last year about them.) Now that parents can pool their money and hire a teacher they trust to create their own little school, why would they send their children back to school to be taught to hate themselves?

Guess what? They won’t.

Add in increasing numbers of students rejecting college straight out of high school. David interacts with a number of high school students on a regular basis. Over the past several years we’ve seen the shift from them heading to a four year university to instead starting at community college with the plan of transferring to a four year college to now going to trade school or working for a year or two to decide what to do.

This rise of homeschooling (and private schools) due to these events is going to reshape America in the coming years in ways we don’t fully understand yet.

New and Updated Posts

Last week I spent time updating a lot of post. A few were posts that I had archived and brought back out. I actually have quite a few to republish that are still in process. The ones I’ve republished include:

These are posts I updated and expanded:

My Week Ahead

My week will include:

  • homeschooling
  • writing new posts
  • updating posts
  • republishing posts
  • working on my new project

On the homemaking front, I want to do something with my hands. Maybe a little cross stitch project? I simply feel this need to make something physical. I also need to order firewood and make an appointment with the allergist (for me).

I’d like an outing to Barnes and Noble and Hobby Lobby, but the weather is so hot and humid I don’t even want to leave the house. David is so busy with work that he really doesn’t have time to do such things right now so those may have to wait. We’ll see what the week brings.

What’s up in your home? I hope you’ll leave a comment and share!

Artwork: “Not Too Much To Carry” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

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Speak the Truth Boldly and Stop Apologizing


I recently watched a lovely video by a young woman. She was explaining how she lives, the location, and why she made the somewhat less conventional choices she did. Her reasoning was sound and she brought up some profound insights related to her choice. (This was a secular video, not Christian.)

What made me sad is that she apparently felt compelled to add disclaimers and such throughout the video. It was as if she knew that the things she was saying would be offensive to some people so she was offering an apology in advance. She could already hear people saying, “Well, that’s great for you but not everyone has that option” or “It’s really selfish of you to do such and such when there are so many people who can’t this and that.” And so on.

Frankly, her decision to try to proactively appease the angry and spiteful people she expected to comment on the video’s content marred the production. It was still lovely, but it lost something.

She didn’t need to apologize for anything she said. Everything she said was truthful. (There was nothing remotely political about anything she said.) “These are the choices I’ve made, this is why I’ve made them, and this is the value I see in these choices.” I wish she had spent a few more minutes talking about why she loved the life she had created for herself rather than trying to not offend those addicted to seeking ways to be offended.

Note I didn’t say she spoke “her truth” because that popular way of looking at “truth” is a lie from the pit of hell. There is no such thing as “her truth” or “my truth” or “your truth.” There is the truth. There are ways that people perceive the truth, but the truth is the truth. No one has the right to discredit this young woman and her choices just because they don’t like them or it doesn’t fit the reality they’ve constructed in their head.

We should not apologize for boldly speaking the truth, especially that which is obviously true even though not popular.

Do you apologize for speaking the truth? Why?

Please stop apologizing for speaking the truth. Please stop offering disclaimers when you speak to others.

Should we speak the truth in love? Of course.

But if you are afraid to speak the truth, then ask yourself why.

This young woman felt the need to apologize in advance for her current life choices. Sound, rational choices. Why? If people don’t like what she has to say, they can leave and not watch her videos any longer.

That is my approach here. If someone doesn’t like what I say here, she is free to read somewhere else. I will not stop speaking the truth simply because it might offend someone. In this current culture, this post itself will probably offend someone. Someone will probably be offended by the fact that I said there is no such thing as “my truth” or that we need to not be afraid. That I am pushing Christians to be bold in speaking up for the truth.

What are you apologizing for? What are you avoiding in conversation? How are you censoring yourself?

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Speaking the truth matters.

Over the weekend, David shared two related articles with me.

Bari Weiss writes in the article Winston Marshall Was ‘Bloody Terrified’ to Quit Mumford & Sons. He Tells Me Why:

Who would willingly walk away from a job they love at the peak of their career?

As you might imagine, that’s the question I’ve been asked more than any other over the past year.

The answer, for me, was that staying at The New York Times would have meant that I had to become a half-version of myself. Staying would mean betraying my deeper values. And that was the sense I got from reading Winston Marshall’s essay.

He writes: “I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning.”

Winston Marshall writes this in the article Why I’m Leaving Mumford & Sons:

On the eve of his leaving to the West, Solzhenitsyn published an essay titled ‘Live Not By Lies’. I have read it many times now since the incident at the start of March. It still profoundly stirs me.

“And he who is not sufficiently courageous to defend his soul — don’t let him be proud of his ‘progressive’ views, and don’t let him boast that he is an academician or a people’s artist, a distinguished figure or a general. Let him say to himself: I am a part of the herd and a coward. It’s all the same to me as long as I’m fed and kept warm.”

For me to speak about what I’ve learnt to be such a controversial issue will inevitably bring my bandmates more trouble. My love, loyalty and accountability to them cannot permit that. I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning.

The only way forward for me is to leave the band.

This is why I parted ways with Teachers Pay Teachers. I was no longer willing to participate in the direction they had taken and it became clear there was no chance of that direction changing. By remaining on the platform and helping to fund their company in a small way by selling my products there, I was giving my tacit approval of their pivot to being a strong proponent of anti-racism and critical race theory.

I will not live by lies.

Are you willing to live by lies?

If you aren’t willing to stand up for the truth now, when will you be willing?

Will it be too late?

Speak the truth boldly and stop apologizing.

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Simple Thanksgiving Activities for Children


Thanksgiving is a special time of enjoying family and giving thanks for our many blessings. We set aside this day to reflect on the many ways God has blessed us over the year and thank Him for His goodness to us.

In keeping with the spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving, here are some fun and simple Thanksgiving activities for children using things you probably already have around the house. These creative ideas will keep your Thanksgiving celebration simple and meaningful this year.

Cranberries in a Jar

Fill a canning jar or other glass container with fresh cranberries. Have each person guess how many cranberries are in there and write it down. When it is time to count, take the opportunity to practice estimation. Take out a half a cup of cranberries and use that information to determine if the first guess was a good one or if it is possible to make a more accurate prediction. Then count to find out who came closest.

Graph Paper Indian Corn Craft

Using graph paper, cut out corn shapes. Use crayons or colored pencils to color in the squares and make Indian corn. Use light brown paper to make shucks and connect them together into a cluster and hang.

Thanksgiving Dinner ABC

Make a list of what your family likes to eat for Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, etc.). Then put the words in ABC order and draw a little picture of each item.

Thanksgiving Fun Fact Cards

Learn new and fascinating facts about the traditions and people of Thanksgiving with my Thanksgiving Fun Fact Cards.

Thank You Notes

Write a thank you note to someone who has blessed you in some way this year. Illustrate the card with either a Thanksgiving theme or a picture to match the reason for the thank you.

Thanksgiving Bingo Game

Make a list of Thanksgiving words such as turkey, cranberry, Pilgrims, Mayflower, pumpkin, etc. Have each child fill in a bingo sheet drawn on a plain piece of paper, putting the words wherever they choose. Then play bingo using candy corn or candy pumpkins for the cover pieces.

Turkey Feather Thanks

Cut out a turkey body from construction paper and hang on the wall or door. Each day write something for which you are thankful on a feather cut out of construction paper and add it to the turkey.

Thankful Art Collage

Make a collage of things for which you are thankful. Use magazines, newspapers, catalogs, stickers, or your own drawings in the collage.

Creative Sticker Story Writing

Use Thanksgiving stickers for some of the words in a Thanksgiving story you write. For example, if you use the word “pilgrim” instead of writing the word, put a pilgrim sticker there.

November & Thanksgiving Writing Prompts

If you would like to add some writing to your Thanksgiving activities, this collection of Thanksgiving Writing Prompts includes something that will interest every child.

Thanksgiving Story Sequence Chart

Read a favorite Thanksgiving story or select a new one. After reading the story, take a large sheet of paper and divide it into four sections by drawing a vertical line and a horizontal line. In the four sections, retell the highlights of the story by writing a sentence and drawing a picture. This is also a great way to practice sequence (first, next, next, last).

You can see all of my Thanksgiving-themed printables and worksheets here.

Thanksgiving Read Aloud Books

Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving picture books along with fun activities to do with them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Simple Thanksgiving Meal Planning


Hosting a successful holiday meal is almost all in the planning and this includes the Thanksgiving feast. If you are hosting Thanksgiving this year, here are five simple Thanksgiving meal planning steps to ensure you have an organized and enjoyable holiday.

This post will walk you through how to plan your menu, compile your shopping list, write out your cooking timetable, prepare your Thanksgiving meal, and enjoy your meal with family and friends.

Plan Your Thanksgiving Menu

Brainstorm what to serve by looking through your recipes, cookbooks, magazines, and online recipe collections. Take into consideration:

  • family traditions
  • individual favorite foods
  • food allergies
  • the amount of time you have to prepare

Next, narrow down your menu by choosing foods that compliment each other in color, texture, temperature, and taste. Aim to have a colorful plate with a variety of sensory experiences. Offering a selection of choices helps ensure that everyone can find several foods they enjoy.

If any of your guests have offered to bring a specific dish, accept their kindness. If a guest offers to bring something in general, ask her to prepare an item that will be well-suited considering her time, traveling distance, and budget. Consider asking guests to bring a dish that is easily replaced rather than one of the primary foods. Always have a Plan B in mind in case a guest is not able to come at the last minute.

Put a photocopy of each recipe in a folder so they are all in one place. This way you will only have one folder to keep track of instead of a dozen or more cookbooks, recipes cards, magazine clippings, and online bookmarks.

Compile Your Shopping List

Once you’ve planned your menu, compile your shopping list. First, take an inventory of what you have on hand. Check expiration dates and physically check each ingredient in your pantry, including spices that you assume you always have on hand such as:

  • cinnamon
  • nutmeg
  • thyme
  • parsley
  • sage
  • poultry seasoning

Planning a special holiday meal is too important to go by memory! If anything you need is past dated, buy another one. This isn’t the time to take a chance on an old ingredient.

As you check each item, decide if it is something that can be purchased right away and stored or if it must be purchased closer to the actual holiday. Make one list of things to buy immediately and another list for the few days before the holiday.

Don’t forget to include any special items you need to pick up such as:

  • cooking utensils
  • Thanksgiving decorations
  • Thanksgiving napkins
  • flowers
  • gourds

Add these to the appropriate list.

Write Out Your Cooking Timetable

Using a calendar, decide when to prepare each item. If anything can be made ahead and frozen, by all means do so.

After making a general timetable for November, make a timetable for each of the several days before Thanksgiving. Make notes as to which foods to prepare each day, when to take the turkey out to thaw (if using frozen), and any other specific tasks such as polishing silver, unpacking special Thanksgiving dishes, etc.

Finally, make a timetable for Thanksgiving Day. Write down the times you need to prepare dishes in order for all of them to be done at the appropriate time. Make sure to take into account which dishes need to go in the oven and at what temperature. You might discover you need to adjust your menu if you have too many things to bake or roast in the oven at the same time at different temperatures.

If you will need help in the kitchen, determine in advance who you would like to help and what you would like them to do. Make a note of it.

Prepare Your Thanksgiving Meal

By Thanksgiving morning you should be in great shape since you have already mapped out all the details ahead of time. Follow the timetable you prepared and troubleshoot any unexpected developments.

Although little glitches may arise, remember that your guests will probably never even notice unless you make a big deal out of it.

A happy and relaxed hostess makes everything taste better!

Enjoy Your Family and Friends

You’ve made it! Your reward for all of your planning is the ability to enjoy this special day and make some great new Thanksgiving memories.

Enjoy!

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