Something Better Coming
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
1w ago
I have written recently, in a few different places, about the loss of a very good friend and about her legacy. My daughters didn’t get to meet her, but they love her because she loved them—Leslie always asked about them, and even sent the occasional birthday gift their way, so she was a sweet presence to my girls even though she lived on the other side of the country. The other day, my daughter asked about Leslie’s birthday. “We have to celebrate it,” she said. But when I opened my contacts to double-check the date of Leslie’s birthday, my daughter grew suddenly still. “You mean,” she said qui ..read more
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The Mousehole Cat
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
3w ago
My favorite kind of mail is Surprise Mail: the packages that I didn’t order, but that arrive on our porch unannounced and full of possibility. The Mousehole Cat arrived in just such a package: a friend sent it as a surprise, but also, because the card ended up arriving separately a few days later, as a bit of a mystery. I saw her name on the package but I didn’t have context for the gift. Instead, we opened the book and wondered at it—the why? and the what for?—before we sat down to lunch and read it aloud. And the book was wonderful. The Mousehole Cat is about a cat, Mowzer, who lives with a ..read more
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Jesus and the Gift of Friendship
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
1M ago
We live in a college town, where jobs are few and far between and the cost of living is high. So that major event so many kids face at least once—the best friend who moves away—has happened to each of my daughters many times. It is hard to stay here, so many friends they love have had to leave. And each time, it is hard. Some of these friends have been good, true friends—those rare friends who speak your particular language, however quirky the dialect, and who seem utterly irreplaceable. The hope of “making a new friend” just doesn’t cut it when you lose a friend like that (for example) the su ..read more
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Sacred Seasons
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
1M ago
Just a quick reminder: in the next few weeks, I’ll be closing down my current email newsletter, so if you’d still like to receive these book reviews in your inbox (plus some fun new writings as well!), please be sure to subscribe to my Substack, The Setting, right here. But don’t worry: I’ll continue to update this website with reviews. Thank you! Above our dining room window hangs a set of four tiles, each one depicting a season. A little orange house sits in the center of each picture, half-buried in snow, then surrounded by spring blooms, fresh apples, and fallen leaves in turn. These tiles ..read more
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Homecoming
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
2M ago
In one of her talks, Elisabeth Elliot once quoted a woman she admired—an active and helpful woman, one who was quick to serve without ever seeming over-stretched. Elliot noticed that this woman said yes to the things she could do but didn’t let the sense that she should do things bully her into committing to everything. When Elliot asked her how she could tell which things were which, the woman said, “I ask myself, can somebody else do this?”1 That is, can somebody else be my husband’s wife? No. Or my children’s mother? Of course not. Can somebody else bring a meal to this family or make that ..read more
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A Break and a Big Book List
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
9M ago
Well—I find myself at a cross-roads and, dear readers, I don’t know how I feel about it. The truth is, we have crossed this wonderful threshold as a family and now, behold! Every human in our family is a fluent reader. We still read aloud together now, but it’s become optional. No one really needs me to read to them (or pre-read for them) in the way they once did. And I’m left wondering: is this blog something I’ll continue in this stage of life? Or is there something else the Lord is calling me to? Right now, I don’t know. But a rest seems wise, and some time to reflect. So here is my plan: I ..read more
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All About Bible Animals
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
9M ago
Our nine-year-old is all about animals. I joke that she is our Gerald Durrell, not just because she loves the fuzzy, purring, cuddling animals, but the many-legged and wriggling ones, too. (She does make a pronounced and emphatic exception for bees. And honestly, bees, if you’d stop stinging her, I feel confident that she’d love you, too!) She’s the one who materializes next to me with a pet snail named Cucumber; the one to name the spider nesting in the end of our garden bed Rosie; the one busily rescuing earthworms from The Evil Garden Fork of Doom. She is the reason I picked up a copy of th ..read more
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A Place to Hang the Moon
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
9M ago
This spring, I turned forty. My husband crossed that threshold a few years before I did, so I wasn’t particularly nervous about it. But here I am now, on the other side, with a sprinkle of gray hairs, a new ukulele, and some really great friends–the kind who whisk me away for an overnight “reading retreat,” wherein we eat meals foraged from my favorite books (Latvian stew from A Gentleman in Moscow! Eggs and scones from My Family and Other Animals!) and go to bed before ten. On this trip we packed mostly books, which we read on a beach on Lummi Island, the three of us alternately eating, talki ..read more
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The Sower
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
10M ago
Good gravy, that was quite the break I just took! I’ve missed weeks posting before, of course, but not that many. What happened? I suppose the simplest explanation is that life suddenly filled up with end-of-school shenanigans. Meanwhile, a number of writing and editing assignments landed in my inbox simultaneously, all of them due stat. Dear readers: my sincere apologies. I don’t flatter myself that you’re checking in every Friday, wondering what on earth you’ll read to your children without my guidance, but I do consider it my end of the bargain to post consistently each week. And I let down ..read more
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God Cares For Me
Little Book, Big Story
by Théa
1y ago
Over the past two months, one of our daughters in particular has been assailed by a series of sicknesses. If we had a punch card for the urgent care clinic, we joke. If I had a dollar for every generic waiting room painting I’ve studied this year, I say. In the grand scheme of things, her ailments are small, but they’re persistent. And when you’re six, two solid months of illness uses up a significant portion of your life lived so far. That can feel pretty discouraging. So the other morning, when she was back at home again, missing not just a cool field trip but the do-over field trip we’d sch ..read more
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