We are officially Versatile Bloggers!

Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting awarded us with a Versatile Blogger Award!

Thank you so very much, Erin!  

Here are the rules:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.
• Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.
• Give this award to 15 recently discovered bloggers.
• Contact those bloggers and let them in on the news.

Since there are two of us running the blog we thought it might be fun to list 7 random things we have found that we both have in common:  There are way more than seven, but these are some we came up with:

1. We both grew up in families that moved a lot, so we attended many different schools.  Chari's travels were mostly in California, while Willa's family moved from Boston to Maryland  to Oklahoma to Arizona to Alaska to Switzerland. 
2. We were both first-borns of three in our families.   Chari was the oldest of three girls and Willa was the only daughter with two younger brothers. 
3. We both gave ourselves a "living books" education without even knowing what that was.   We read as much literature as we could get our hands on -- as CS Lewis said of his own reading boyhood, "some books suitable for children and some most decidedly not."  We both did nature study, kept copybooks, and loved the fine arts.  Consequently when we first discovered Charlotte Mason education, we both "recognized" it as what we had wanted for ourselves when we were growing up.   
4. We married in the same year.... 1985.  
5. We both married Catholics, and we both converted to Catholicism -- Chari before she married, and Willa a few years afterwards. 
6. We both went to Ireland and at very close to the same time!   Chari was pregnant with her oldest, now 23, and Willa's second-born, also 23, was just a few weeks old when she went.  
7. Both of us had children born with rare and unexpected medical conditions.   For that reason, when Aidan was transported to UCSF hospital in California for his liver transplant, in 1999, Willa and Aidan almost overlapped with Chari and her daughter, who had just left the hospital after heart surgery.  

All these things happened before we actually met in person. 

Now for the 15 recently discovered bloggers.  Since Chari and Willa are longtime bloggers who have just started this particular blog, we are still in the process of collecting our TUAR reading list.  We both have favorite blogs and have many favorites in common, but haven't really gotten together on what blogs represent our shared  identity.  Here are a few and hopefully we will add more over time either in this post or in future ones. 

1.  In House: A Homemaking Journal.    Michele is co-designer of Mater Amabilis and also runs Family Centered Press.  We have known Michele online since even before we met each other.   This blog is about simple things to do with homemaking and is so refreshing to the spirit to read.   
2. Sparrow Tree Square:  Thoughts on Literature, Learning and Life.  By a grown homeschooler who started an online seasonal literature anthology when she was only a teenager.   The archives are available if you look at the links on the blog.   Very sweet, and very literature-based. 
3. Moments with Mother Culture.  Karen Andreola's blog.    She doesn't post often but when she does it is nice to read.
4. My Summer Notebook.  This is a beautiful blog by Susan who formerly blogged at High Desert Home.   Unfortunately, she is not going to be posting on either blog anymore, but we are still linking to it, because it is a treasure trove of wisdom.  She has homeschooled several children who are now grown and having children of their own.  
5. The Catholic Young Woman.   Willa's daughter's blog.   She has several contributors and the posts are targeted towards yes, young Catholic women from teens to young adults.   
6. Love Notes for Teens.    A Year of Encouragement from Mom.  By our friend Angie.  

More to come later,

Willa & Chari