I picked up the pamphlet that your son Nathaniel wrote entitled Hand That Rocks The Cradle. What a great blessing that little booklet has been! I have a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, and they just love when Mom reads to them. I know the time I have spent reading to my daughter (7) has greatly improved her reading skills and we both have learned quite a few new words together. My son amazes me at times by recalling events of a book to me later when it didn’t seem like he was really listening when I was reading. Cathy D.

I’m wondering if any of you have experienced this (or could it possibly be something only my little ones did?—I kind of doubt it):

I’m sitting on the couch (a chair would never do) reading a good book, like The Long Winter by Laura Ingles Wilder, with one child sitting on my right and one child sitting on my left and one child on the back of the couch behind my neck and one child on my lap. The fifth child would have to make do. Everyone HAS to be situated just so to see all the pictures, which MUST be examined minutely. I think this is one of the ways God taught me patience. Let them look at the pictures and ask their questions — we’ll eventually find out if Almanzo gets home out of the storm in time. Some years ago Johannah painted me a picture of this cosy scene, using a photo taken of us long ago. I was wearing braids and sitting on the old brown couch so I know it had to be long ago. If I could have just an hour of that time again, right now, I would gladly read Corduroy fifteen times in a row and not complain.