Author Archives: Sarah Young

60 Poems Lost

Listen HERE In a recent prisoner exchange, Afghanistan surrendered an American Christian for an Afghani convicted of selling drugs and terrorizing.  The Christian had spent the past two years in jail in Afghanistan even though he had all the proper documentation, had initially been welcomed by governing authorities, and was in the country to helpContinue reading “60 Poems Lost”

The Old Cane Pole

My dad has a long cane pole hanging in his garage. When we visited for Christmas, I asked him to tell my sons about it. “Well, it was Papa’s,” he said, meaning his dad, “and he called it a Calcutta cane pole.” Dad went on to describe the way Papa held the pole, the wayContinue reading “The Old Cane Pole”

Ladies and Gentlemen

Listen HERE Since my family is studying Medieval History this year, our car trips have been full of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Men of Iron, and Ivanhoe. Chivalry is not dead in these stories! Perhaps the courtesy and manners in these stories only ever lived in myth, but I still raise my daughtersContinue reading “Ladies and Gentlemen”

Spit on. Struck. Slapped.

Listen HERE There’s an awkward part of Handel’s Messiah where the alto sings, “Despised. Rejected,” over and over. In that section, she also repeats, “He gave His back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair…” It is always a little uncomfortable to think about Jesus having hair on hisContinue reading “Spit on. Struck. Slapped.”

Just the Right Time

As a home educator, I have one of those closets in my house. You know the one I mean. It’s the closet that won’t shut and is the black hole of everything homeschooling.  Puzzle pieces, math manipulatives, parts of speech sorting activities, and dice all go to the closet to die. (Pun intended.) When IContinue reading “Just the Right Time”

Prayer in the Present Tense

Listen HERE We drove 2,088 miles to be with my parents for Christmas and 1,662 miles to come back home again from my in-laws’ house.  Driving from the top of the country to the bottom and back again gives my family the opportunity to see varied landscapes, animals, architecture, and people.  It also expands myContinue reading “Prayer in the Present Tense”

The Burden of Advent

Did you get it right this year? Advent, I mean. Did you do it right? Did your perfectly clean house smell like gingerbread? Were all of your gifts purchased and wrapped before December began? Have you had angelic family devotions every night where your children gathered around the piano and sang Silent Night perfectly onContinue reading “The Burden of Advent”

“Letters from Father Christmas” : A Review for the Advent Season

In 1920, a small boy asked his father a simple question: “What is Father Christmas like and where does he live?”  In answer, the father began the tradition of writing a newsy letter from Father Christmas to his children, detailing the preparations for the holiday, the past year’s events, and other fun tidbits from theContinue reading ““Letters from Father Christmas” : A Review for the Advent Season”