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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A Snowy, Sleety Sunday In Mid-April


We’ve been in the midst of a spring snowstorm this weekend with howling winds, sleet, freezing rain, and snow. The winds have been relentless the last two nights, disrupting my sleep. But we press on!

I shared my Parenting and Homeschooling at Godspeed post last weekend, intending to follow up with more posts a few days later. Then I finally made the decision, after months of debate, to leave Facebook. So my time this week was spent preparing for that. It’s crazy how much work it is to leave Facebook, but it is when you use it for so many things. But I am just about there. Tomorrow evening I intend to download everything to save and then push “Delete” for my account and all the community pages associated with it. After two weeks, it will be gone. (Facebook gives you time to change your mind. I am not changing my mind.) (Follow up: Post about quitting and first thirty days after quitting.)

David is staying on Facebook which is fine. He doesn’t struggle with it the way I do and it is important for our business that he be on there. We will still have our business page and group, but I’ll only be able to access those through his account.

God speaks in themes in my life and He clearly was telling me to not look back with this change as well as others. The idea of not looking back came up in multiple and completely unrelated places in the same day after I finally made the decision and put things into motion. I clearly sense He is telling me it is time for new things. New ideas, new people, new routines, etc. Today my Streams in the Desert calendar said:

“There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a person who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist, though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.”

I started using Feedly again to subscribe to blogs and websites. I normally just pop in to various places, but decided to try to organize them in a way that put them all there. I’ll see if I like it or want to go back to my regular way. I also thought about putting together a post of blogs and websites I’m currently reading and visiting. I thought that might interest some people. I read a lot of different kinds of things, but always enjoy finding new ones!

So it’s off to bed on this lovely snowy night that looks like deep winter outside. I love the glow of the snow at night so I am lingering tonight to enjoy it. And just think! In only four and a half months we’ll be getting out the fall decorations. LOL!

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Parenting and Homeschooling at Godspeed


Several months ago I started thinking more deeply about the family culture we have created in our home. It was an appropriate time to reflect on it because I saw the first eleven years of our parenting journey all culminating when we had our daughter tested and finally had the answers we had been seeking since, really, she was a tiny infant who was very challenging to parent. I realized that cozy was the word that best described our family life. We live a cozy life. And I also realized that we had embraced what I call cozy parenting and cozy homeschooling.

Around the same time, someone shared a video on Facebook that left me completely mesmerized. Entitled Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known, it conveyed in a beautiful and compelling way many things I had already come to understand about life, the body of Christ, church life, etc. but it took them a step further.

As the video says, “This is the story of a parish minister who learned to walk instead of run.”

But it is so much more than that.

I realized that the very ideas he is talking about as a pastor apply to me as a parent.

I could almost say that my story is that of a mother who learned to walk instead of run.

Especially as a homeschooling parent.

Especially as a parent of a child with unique learning needs.

And, like Matt Canlis, the pastor in the movie, my journey also took about thirteen years.

Christian or not, the principles and insights in this video are truths that can bring peace, understanding, and joy to our families.

And bringing peace, understanding, and joy to our families is what I call cozy parenting and cozy homeschooling.

I encourage you to take the time to watch this video. The video’s settings won’t allow me to embed it here so I’ll have to send you over to Vimeo. (You can click on the screen capture above or the link at the end of this post.) The video is almost 37 minutes long and be sure to watch it all the way to the end.

(I’m telling you how long it is so you can set aside some quiet time to watch it and you’ll have the opportunity to grab a cup of something yummy and a pad of paper and pen. Yes, the video is that rich in what it offers. You can also read more about it at Live Godspeed.)

And then I hope you will come back and tell me in the comments what spoke to you as a parent, as a homeschooler, or as a Christian.

In the coming days, I’ll be writing about topics related to the concepts of Godspeed, cozy parenting, and cozy homeschooling. I’ll be referring to the video and also sharing my own thoughts from our parenting journey the past twelve years. I hope you will find these posts encouraging and share from your own experiences and insights in the comments each day.

Click here to go to Vimeo to watch Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known

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Children Who Struggle With Church – An Update


Over the past several years, I’ve written numerous times about our challenges with parenting and church. But some things have happened over the past few months that made me realize I needed to write an update regarding children who struggle with church and how it has played out in our family. I think it’s especially important because I’m hopeful it will encourage parents who aren’t as far along the parenting path whether they read it now or find it at some point in the future.

By way of background, almost three years ago I wrote a series entitled Raising Gifted Children in the Christian Faith. In that series, I put forth some of the difficulties that parents face when raising a gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) child as it relates to matters of faith. I also wrote about our struggles with our daughter’s desire to avoid church due to being a highly-sensitive person. If you aren’t familiar with them, here is a bit of a run down.

Truth be told, we did not attend church for a number of years despite the fact that our faith is very important to us. There were multiple reasons (including my health), but even if I had been healthy I don’t think it would have changed things a great deal. Church was simply an uncomfortable place for our daughter. It was too loud, too busy visually, had too many people, there were too many people invading her space, etc. We tried different churches off and on, but nothing ever worked well.

Until this past fall.

Finding A Church That Fits

We finally did find a smaller church where we all felt comfortable. It’s in the denomination I grew up in. It’s traditional. It’s fairly quiet. The sanctuary is restful. The pastor preaches the Gospel and is not a screamer. There is no loud rock band. There is no light show. There are down-to-earth people who are friendly, but not overly so. The service is orderly so we all know generally what to expect.

It works.

It works so well that Caroline even asked if she would ever be able to play the piano in church. I told her she would when she was ready because it is the kind of church that wants everyone of all ages to participate, not just the staff or the people deemed worthy.

Getting Up Front

There were a few other things that happened that were truly answers to prayer. Our homeschool co-op has a Christmas program each year and Caroline has never participated. She refused to do anything that meant going up on a stage. This past December she sang with her class. It was the first time I’ve ever seen her participate in anything like this (and she’s eleven). We stayed to watch the middle school play and she loved it.

In fact, she plans on signing up for drama at co-op next year.

And recently her GEMS club did a GEMS service at the church where they have the club (not the church we attend). Caroline passed out bulletins, seated people, and participated in the song/dance that the girls did to help lead the worship service. She looked like a total natural and no one would ever have known it was the first time she’s ever done anything like that. She did not want a speaking part, but that is probably coming with joining drama next year.

I don’t have any pictures to share. I did take a couple at Christmas, but she was so far away they aren’t very clear. For the GEMS Sunday I chose to just sit there and be in the moment, not worrying about video or pictures. (I was also focused on not breaking out sobbing from thankfulness – really.)

(But I do have this picture of us from this fall.)

Sallie and Caroline November 2017

Something Just Clicked

I cannot tell you what has changed over the past year. She has had the same co-op teachers a few times over the past several years and they have commented to us in recent months on how much she has changed. Other people can see it too. I really don’t know what clicked or why it clicked. It could be any combination of things.

All I know is that we gave her time and space. We backed off and did not push her to fit our agenda of life when it was clear our life agenda (such as attending church each week) was not working for her and was, in fact, traumatizing her.

I write this to give parents hope. I don’t know if every scenario will work out like ours has. I can only share our story and tell you that even though we made a lot of decisions that people didn’t understand, we did the right thing for our daughter in this area as well as homeschooling. We have prayed every step of the way and I believe God has guided us even when it seemed like we couldn’t possibly be making the right choices.

I’m in the process of writing an ebook that I’ll be selling on my site. The working title is, “Help! I Don’t Understand My Child!” because that best sums up my mothering experience the first ten years. I’m not done with my parenting journey. I can’t tell you how it will all turn out and I won’t even pretend that I have all the answers for the years ahead. I can say we are in a good place right now. Not perfect because nothing involving human beings is ever perfect. But we’re in a good place and I’m very thankful for that.

If you feel like you are drowning or losing your mind because you just can’t figure it out or you feel like you are making decisions for your child that no one understands or supports and yet deep in your gut you know they are the right ones… I do want to offer support and hope that it can get better. In our case, it has gotten much better and I’m so thankful to be able to say that.

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Around Our House On A Snowy February Saturday


Twelve years ago I watched the Torino Winter Olympics while flat on my back on the couch. I was so sick I could barely eat and was lucky to get off said couch once a day for about 45 minutes to take a shower in the early afternoon. Twelve years later, the cause of all that sickness was sitting there with me last evening, watching the opening of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and chatting about geography and national outfits. I could never have imagined the young lady sitting there twelve years later, but I can say this. It was worth all of the long hours, days, weeks, and months of illness I went through to get her into this world.

We also acquainted her with the sad reality of North Korea and what life is like under perhaps the most brutal regime in the world. We haven’t talked a great deal about topics like this and it was understandably distressing. I don’t like having to introduce my child to all the depravity and sin of the world. Come, Lord Jesus.

The picture above of the three snowmen with shovels is a set I bought a few years before we had Caroline when I saw it at our local bookstore. I thought it was so cute I had to buy it. I had no idea when I bought it that it was David, Sallie, and Caroline! The snowman set below is one my mom gave me many years ago. There are different letters on each side so there are many words to be made. A number of years ago Caroline was changing it daily to real and made-up words. Real learning and phonics in action!

Snowmen that spell out words

Yesterday we purchased two six foot folding tables for the unfinished basement. Since we no longer have our learning room, we needed a place where we could spread out our art and creative projects, especially things like painting. The dining room isn’t an option as I can’t deal with long-term mess in a main living area. Before we did the cozy home remodel, I would let Caroline set up her easel and paint in the dining room. With new floors I find myself reluctant to let her do that. So we invested in the tables and are setting up our work area.

I would also like to have space to spread out my projects when I want to work on them so we’ll see how it goes. I have a feeling we need one more table that is just for me and my things since Caroline likes lots of space when she works. LOL!

I’ve spent quite a bit of time the past month working on my Pinterest boards. I tried using a scheduler (Tailwind) for a bit and I frankly hated it. Too slow, too much work, and just not enjoyable to work with even though other bloggers swear by it and the tribes feature. I really like using Pinterest in real time and in a real way instead of using a scheduler. One of the biggest problems I have to clean up after using Tailwind is my boards are full of multiple versions of the same pin with no repins. For a blogger/business owner, that is really bad. With the Smart Feed, the strength of your Pinterest account depends on how often your pins get repinned, the strength of your individual boards, the strength of the group boards you pin to, etc. So I’ve been going through every board I have and massively deleting pins that needed to go. I also changed some boards, added some boards, left some group boards, etc. I still have some to do, but I can see the end in sight. Pinterest drives a lot of people to my site and also brings a lot of buyers to my printables shop so it is something I need to take care of.

One thing I am really liking is my new email service with MailerLite. I had MadMimi for a long time, but needed something that had more options. Now truthfully, I haven’t taken advantage of all those new options yet, but I think it is a great service for the price. I’ve tried out a few of the pricier ones (such as CovertKit and Active Campaign) and did not feel that what they offered justified the significantly higher price tag.

I’m continuing to work on my Getting Rid of 1000 Things. Our area has a very active local selling group on Facebook and I’ve been taking advantage of that. I have sooo many things I can get sell on there starting with Caroline’s clothes she’s outgrown. My goal is to pay for all of Christmas 2018 with the money I make off this endeavor over the course of the year.

Last weekend I spent most of my time further organizing our books and was going to include that in this post, but decided to do a separate post. I have the pictures all taken. I just need to write it up! So that is coming soon!

What’s going on in your world today?

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