There is one thing we can always count on; the fact that time just keeps moving on.
Here we are at another month’s turning; saying goodbye to June and saying hello to July. July is actually a week into the month already. I hope your Independence Day celebration was fun!
There is so much planned for The IN SEASON Lifestyle during this month of July.
COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY
Our lessons about the book of Deuteronomy have begun. We haven’t made it very far into the study yet; just through Chapter Two. Why not come and join us and see what God shows you in these amazing sharing sessions that we are exploring and viewing together?
God has shown those old Israelites so many profound facts for living as they have begun coming into their new homeland. We can learn so much from them.
You can find these new lessons under our COME AS A CHILD topics every Thursday. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts with us.
SEASONS
Seasons started out this month by focusing on Independence Day. The author has felt inclined to point out the differences between Independence Day 2020 and Independence Day for all the years of the past.
Independence Day during a national pandemic certainly has its bumps and twists. All travelers are not experiencing the same journeys. We shared some of our past articles and contrasted them with an update for 2020.
How do your many years of Independence Day celebrations stack up against each other?
One thing we noted for sure during 2020 is a new need for a getting back to the basics.
We will spend the rest of this month exploring some of the basic concepts, philosophies and ideas that made the founding of our nation great.
While the rest of the world is tearing out and destroying history for their own political reasons; we want to stand for truth and see what looking back can mean to us. Some of us want our grandchildren to know what their textbooks may no longer be teaching.
Join in with our SEASONS topics in July to get a better grasp on where we are going. We warmly welcome your comments and thoughts on these new articles that are already in the making.
The other part of SEASONS in July 2020 will be putting a final emphasis on the season of summer. How has that been at your house this year?
Maybe we will be able to present a few fresh ideas in the days to come for continuing to celebrate the end of summer.
For one of those celebrations; I’ll be giving you the details of our latest adventures which we are calling G-MA Camp.
Yep; I’m taking a week off to spend with my twelve year old grandson and my six year old granddaughter. We will have G-Ma camp!
There are a few tricks up this Grandma’s sleeve yet; even in the middle of a pandemic. We are going to have fun in spite of the not-so-fun circumstances; and no one will even notice all the things they will be learning as we go – except maybe their parents when they come over for our end of the camp celebration.
I’m hoping our two youngest grands will be able join in with us next year. They are too young right now to spend a week away from home. I know we only have a very short span of time left with the twelve year old before he becomes the captain of his own little world and forgets how much fun we can have in a week at our house; but we will cherish this while it lasts. I have high hopes for the six year old remaining a child for a while longer. It will be even more fun when the other two can join in with us all. They grow up in a blink. I’m praying for our “camping” experience to be a good one with lots of fun memories. I use the word “camping” very loosely here.
OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO
Another travel feature which we hope to bring forth this July is a little article about the sweet southern town called Tuscumbia. We will visit some music museums, stay at a quaint bed and breakfast facility and take in some local restaurants.
Research for this article may take several trips though; because there is so much to do in this one little dot on the map.
Most of the things we have planned for this first episode are some unique and interesting places that are off the beaten path. These destinations are not so familiar to most travelers. We will be pointing out the more obvious destinations too; so stay tuned.
This short trip will be our first attempt at normal travel since COVID-19 reared its ugly head; and we will tell you about all the precautions we are taking just in case. For starters we are wearing masks inside the car because there are four of us going together.
Even with the circumstances and the precautions to be taken; we are excited to be venturing out a bit and look forward to sharing our adventures with you.
AN APPLE A DAY
With so much emphasis on the pandemic; it has been so hard to focus on the more regular and normal articles we want to present on living a healthy lifestyle.
We decided not to fight the obvious and just write about how we are trying to stay healthy in the pandemic and what tasks we think are working well for safety and healing in our area. These articles will offer a lot of hope and encouragement; as we feel mindset has a lot to do with staying healthy these days.
We will also be giving some new tips on weight loss after fifty. This Grandma planned to be able to fit into her high school jeans again by now; but somehow the pandemic kept us too focused on consuming calories. There seems to be a long way to go to meet this goal. It is back to the grindstone here. I want to die skinny!
MONDAY NIGHT MENUS
We did promise to share some new vegetable recipes for those of you who have enjoyed a garden this summer; or even if you simply took advantage of your local farmer’s markets.
On top of the meal menu we shared in June; we will be focusing on the best recipes for squash, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes as July continues.
We hope you will keep participating with the “front-porch” meals ideas we suggested back in June all through the summer. Big porch ceiling fans are definitely recommended though. Otherwise; it can get pretty hot outside.
PIECES OF THE PUZZLE
The history of social justice is continuing as we are still gathering the facts for answering our ten original questions on whether or not Christians should participate in social justice demonstrations.
This month as we have continued studying past history; another piece of history has been in the making with Black Lives Matter. We have some strong thoughts and opinions about this movement; but we are holding them for when we get closer on our historical timeline which has already been laid out for these social justice articles.
This history keeps marching on. A good question to consider today is whether we are doing things to move forward or are we kicking ourselves with revolutionary measures that will only take us backwards.
Time will tell.
We will be continuing this series of articles in July by looking at the facts about The Holocaust. As a writer, if I had to chose one instance of the worst social injustice ever committed; this would be it. Stay with us for more of the facts that most modern-day history books are leaving out.
PEN ART
Summer brings out the poet in us. We published several favorite poems by Gail Landgraf this month that were written especially to fit the seasons we were in during this time of our lives. We hope you enjoyed all of them. If you missed any; here is a link to one of our favorites: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/morning-poetry/
REVIEW OF JUNE ARTICLES
There was nothing boring about June of 2020. Here are a few of the happenings that we shared with our readers:
COME AS A CHILD
In June we wound up our long study through The Book of Numbers. I hope you enjoyed every minute. God surely showed all of us some new adventures. You can review any of the June lessons here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/provisions-for-the-levites-in-the-promised-land/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/forming-cities-of-refuge/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/you-will-know-them-by-their-love/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/which-generation-are-we-going-to-be/.
There will be a summary book coming out in the PRODUCTS section of the blog soon which will wrap all of the Book of Numbers lessons into one convenient package, with a book summarizing all of the studies we have done in each book of the bible so far (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers.)
These new summarized editions of the studies will be posted in our The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store sometime during the next six months; so keep watching so you can place your orders.
The author is presently working on invitations to book-signing sessions for the first part of the book we produced in our Genesis study called The Gospel Hidden In Genesis. We think we will be able to give you a preview in August. After that book launch; you should be able to find several new books from our bible studies for sale in our store.
It will be nice to have them all together in one place with easy references whenever we need a review. We prefer you purchase them from us; but they are also available on Amazon.
PEN ART
We gave you some Memorial Day poems back in May and followed those up with some pretty powerful words about the miracle of life in July. Remember; if you wish to submit your poetry for publication in our PEN ART topics; just send them to wordcastlepublications@gmail.com and we will try to publish as and when appropriate. We love reading your poetry and wish would could pay for such; but not yet. Credit will be given to each author though.
THE HOUSE DOCTOR
I hope you caught all of our articles in June about using beach décor at home. We try to make our decorations meaningful and the articles are designed to make you ponder your decorating decisions as deep as the sea.
Here are the articles about the beach; just in case you might have missed them: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/beach-decor/, https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/summer-decorating-with-the-ships-of-the-sea/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/beach-themes-of-summer-the-anchor/. We also threw in an extra article about preparing the house for Father’s Day fun here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/fathers-day-decor/.
SEASONS
SEASONS topics for June started out pondering summer and the glory of the beach.
We went from there right into Father’s Day celebrations. If you missed our Father’s Day articles; you may review them here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/fathers-day-gifts/. It is a well-known fact that our father’s hold our nation together and provide hope for the next generations. I sincerely hope we honored our nation’s fathers in some way with the articles we wrote in June.
Another event we loved in June was Flag Day. I hope you caught our article on the flag which spoke of Betsy Ross: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/flag-day-celebration-seasons/.
MONDAY NIGHT MENUS
We began the Front Porch Menu’s Series with our favorite recipes for summer vegetables this June. More of these articles will take us through July and August too. https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/summer-vegetables-for-dinner-on-the-porch/
OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO
This topic explored in June how much fun it is to travel to Blue Ridge, GA for Independence Day celebrations. We hope it was timely and early enough for you to mark you calendars and head on over toward their famous 4th of July Train excursion. https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/blue-ridge-georgia-for-independence-day/.
PRODUCTS
We offered new products with June and July themes during both months. If you missed either; you still have time to shop by clicking right here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-in-season-lifestyle-community-store-for-july-2020/
HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!
Stay safe and well!
Gail Landgraf/Editor/Publisher/Writer for The IN SEASON Lifestyle Blog