There are lots of things to be sad about with this corona thing, but a serious silver lining over here is sisters.
Oh man do I ever love these lovely ladies.
One of my favorite things during this whole quarantine has been listening/watching them hype Lucy up about Harry Potter.
You see, that little series is one of Elle’s very favorites.
Lucy had banned it long ago, when we were walking the streets of Japan (a side trip when we lived in China). She had been reading as we walked along, her nose deep in her book, and had smacked right into a street sign pole.
Ok, that’s not really when she warded off all the remaining Harry Potter books, but it sure cemented a funny Harry Potter memory in our family memory hall of fame. Ha!
Anyway, as long as we were all quarantined, Elle decided she was going to try to muster up some Harry Potter love in that little sister of hers. And when there’s a will, there’s a way (especially when that will is filled with love). Even with the likes of Lucy, who could, by the way, probably win a blue ribbon for being stubborn.
Gradually as Elle talked it up Lucy got a little more interested. And then when they snuggled down on the couch and read the first couple chapters, forget about it. Lucy was hooked.
This picture below may be one of my favorite images ever, mostly because Lucy hasn’t read a real paper and ink book for a couple of years. She can’t see the words well enough and it’s frustrating for her. But that girl was into that thing enough that when Elle had to leave, she was determined to keep going.
…and going:
Roped Claire into reading some with her too…
…and that was double happy for my mama heart.
They couldn’t stop even when we went to wave from the car to our newest missionary cousin who arrived home:
Elle always needed the rundown of what was going on, and kept reading with her intermittently.
Lucy sure appreciated these sisters!
Notice that the choice of clothing doesn’t change much, yet Lucy is now in BOOK 4. Those pineapple pajamas are mostly her clothing of choice…oh and that red striped shirt. She can’t see the need to branch out much these days!
I am a sentimental girl, so this image really got me:
More reading but this time with our “reading-stance-of-choice” for all of my kids’ growing up years. They knew I would read longer if they tried out all kinds of new hairstyles in my hair.
Grace didn’t get too into the Harry Potter reading gig, had her own homework up to her eyeballs, but she was around feeling the vibes too.
Nothing like sisters.
And also, nothing like Harry Potter 😉
I really love the messages of the Harry Potter books. It is a favorite of my 3 kids. Brilliant.
Your girls might enjoy the podcast – Harry Potter and the Sacred text. It’s done by two Harvard divinity school grads and they take the entire series chapter by chapter. Each episode is a half hour or less. Also, the series on cd by Jim Dale is a winner!
Oh I love love love this podcast. It’s funny to mention that I love this podcast considering that I am not religious at all, I’m not a member of any church and I have only Red the books once in my early 20s to know whats up – to educate myself of you will. But I love how they are able to use the books and their knowledge of religious practise to reach deep down to our humanity and our shared and individual experiences. It is so good!
Oh thank you for this! Hoping these podcasts will help to distract her as she recovers from surgery!
Here is something that might be of interest to Lucy: https://www.feelif.com/how-feelif-works/
Feelif is all about enabling the blind and visually impaired to become digitally sighted. It is a small company from Slovenia and they won the Global Champion 2019 on World Summit Awards for the best digital solution 2019 in the World in category Inclusion & Empowerment.
Sounds interesting, I will check it out!
Congrats to Elle and Carson on their 4/10 wedding. And thanks to “Grandfather” for putting it on his podcast so we all would know before Shawni/Elle could announce it themselves. He loves to make other peoples’ announcements for them doesn’t he?
Maria- you just did the same thing to her also. Be thoughtful!
Nope, just listened to the podcast.
Elle posted about it on Instagram…
Yes, AFTER Grampy’s podcast. What else could she do?
Here are some crazy thoughts:
Maybe not all blog readers are that into “Eyre-stalking” that they read Shawni’s blog, listen to Richard’s and Linda’s podcast and follow Elle’s Instagram. So maybe you, Maria – presumably as a complete stranger, did announce the wedding to a lot of readers.
Maybe Elle doesn’t care about her grandfather telling about her wedding.
Maybe he had asked for her permission before.
Maybe she did care and doesn’t need reminders by random strangers on her mother’s blog.
Maybe, maybe.
Also Harry Potter and sisters are great!
Wow, so excited to get a podcast narration of the whole thing! So amazing!
Nothing like Harry Potter! My oldest is 22 and youngest is 14 and my husband started reading them out loud to all of us each night this last month. It is comforting. So good!
I’m so glad they got married. Don’t they need to live out of state of family I think he is still in school? It makes no sense to wait until they can return to normal, putting off the wedding would also require to households for a short time. In my state a marriage license is good for a short period time, like a few months. Who knows what will be open and when. Each state is taking on a different timeline in all this.
Harry Potter forever!! This is just so heartwarming, Shawni. And those are the sweetest sisters, ever. We have had our own HP moments with our girls over the years (now 9-16 yrs) and my husband FINALLY read the books when he read the entire series to our youngest daughter a couple years ago. He “accidentally” would read past her bedtime every single night . . . guess who was hooked. 🙂 What beautiful memories for you, especially as kids become flung far & wide the next few years. My oldest is a sophomore, and I keep thinking what a gift this is, to have my four girls with me for these next few months, with minimal distractions. I want to be present and take advantage of it!
My oldest is probably close to Elle’s age. He’s always been a mega reader and loves Harry Potter too. It’s been so fun watching him rope all his little brothers into loving it as well. “You can be cool and like Harry Potter! Don’t be ashamed of it! It should absolutely be part of everyone’s childhood!” Haha.
Love seeing these girls gobbling up that book together! Hooray for HP!
Just checked out Elle’s beautiful photos on her public Instagram account. GORGEOUS in every way. Elle has such amazing style; i love a barefoot bride.
I remember Charity being disappointed she wasn’t able to announce in her pregnancy her own way in her own time.l because Richard did it first. I wonder if Elle feels the same way. For someone who wrote e a book called the Entitlement Trap that guy sure is entitled.