Your Mid-Summer Escape
JULY 2025 Newsletter: A Prayer, a past read, pepperoni rolls & more!
“Fruit Flavored" watercolor/ink original artwork by Brooke Zoller, The Pondering Scottie
WELCOME TO SO MANY NEW WONDERFUL SUBSCRIBERS TO THE PONDERING SCOTTIE!
Hello, and welcome to The Pondering Scottie! I’m Brooke and I’m delighted YOU are here. Subscribers can enjoy weekly encouraging posts and notes centered around the topics of Jesus, family, travel, books, homeschooling, nature and some surprises thrown in along the way! Members get access to all archived, paid posts and chats.
So, let me share with you that usually the first post of the month is a newsletter type post like this one with all kinds of (hopefully!) interesting tidbits for you on such topics as books, nature, trips, music/podcasts, quotes, AND SO MUCH MORE! Each newsletter is different and unique, and I hope you enjoy this little mid-summer escape!
What I’ve Been Pondering Lately…
Happy 4th of July weekend!
In honor of America’s birthday, will you join me in praying for our country?
Dear Lord,
We lift our country up to you.
We pray for our president and all our leaders.
We pray for our people, unite our hearts, unite our nation.
May we be a country that blesses you, Lord.
Amen
Brooke’s Book Nook:
Where’s my bookmark?
Page 46 of Dane C. Ortlund’s book, DEEPER. Dane’s books just hit different; they touch me at the soul level. He encourages his readers all throughout the book to keep looking to Jesus. This is the second book by Dane that I have read and come out wiser and richer as a person and as a Christian for doing so!
A Past Read I loved: Have you ever read Brennan Manning’s, The Ragamuffin Gospel? It’s an older book now, yet timeless in my opinion. If you’re looking for an inspirational read, this is THE one. Here’s some of my favorite quotes from the book/author:
“Trust defines the meaning of living by grace rather than works.”
“We get so preoccupied…that we become immune to the glory of creation…we miss the experience of awe, reverence and wonder.”
“Only love empowers the leap in trust, the courage to risk everything on Jesus.”
This Month’s Children’s Book Feature:
By popular poet, writer, and speaker, and my friend, Tanner Olson, All the Things I Say to God explores the profound world of prayer and shows children that heartfelt conversations with God can occur anywhere, anytime, and about anything.
Follow Abby on her journey of faith as she discovers how to express her gratitude, ask questions, pray for others, and use silence to communicate with God. Led by her own curiosity, she finds out that you can pray for anything and everything—God’s love knows no bounds.
This is a delightful book and read aloud and would make a lovely baby shower or birthday gift!
See something in this newsletter a friend would like, then please share with them here:
*SUMMER BONUS:
My friend Mollie Donghia shared that she and her family had picked many fresh strawberries, and it reminded me of this recipe from an older church recipe book I had. I wanted to share with all of you. Hope no one is on a diet!
An easy delicious recipe for FRESH STRAWBERRY BREAD & BUTTER
1 1/2 c flour 2 eggs
1 c sugar 1/2 c oil
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 c fresh strawberries, mashed well
1/2 tsp baking soda
Mix dry ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in loaf pan at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
STRAWBERRY BUTTER:
1 c fresh strawberries, mashed well
1 c powdered sugar
1 c butter, softened
Blend well with mixer. The butter makes enough for 2-3 loaves of bread and may be kept frozen for future use.
The Pondering’s Podcast Pick:
I love this podcast, A Drink with a Friend. I just adore Tsh Oxenreider and the guests she chooses are so interesting! She may interview an author, a musician, a priest, a bookstore owner, a friend or even her own college age daughter! Whoever it is, you are sure to get one or two good takeaways or blessings! Find her podcast where you listen to them and peruse her episodes, then choose a topic or person you want to hear about and give it a try for an hour! Let me know if you give it a listen or already listen!
Scottie Travels:
This month let’s go to… West Virginia!
Cue the John Denver song, “Almost Heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River… (who else just sang that in their head?) My husband and I are on a quest to visit all 50 of the states by 2030. We have one criterion, we have to at least spend the night in the state, none of this “changing planes at the airport” kind of stuff, but really experience the state, talk to its people, eat their food, listen to their music, see the landmarks, ya know, the whole bit!
So, this month, here’s my bullet journal of our recent trip to West Virginia…
Our state 36…West Virginia!
“Wild and Wonderful” is their tourism theme
The Nicest people - shoutout here to Joe, who was a random guy we met and was THE best spokesman for their state!
Beautiful state: Appalachian Mountains, rivers, fishing, camping, rafting - an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise!
“Pepperoni Roll” - coal miners used to make these for their lunches, we ate one at a restaurant, and it was delicious!
Love the Magnolia series Barnwood Builders filmed in White Sulphur Springs, so we visited the town and shop/cabins here, really cute town and home of Greenbrier Golf Club too!
Lewisburg, WV voted “coolest small town in the USA” and where we stayed! It was cool and we’d stay here again!
WV is a state we’d like to explore more! Have you been to WV?
As we wrap up this month…
Ponder This:
You can learn a lot about a person by what they read.
What do you think they could learn about you? And is this accurate?
If you’re a (homeschool) Mom, here are 5 things you can do to refresh yourself this summer:
Read a book or two just for fun!
Have a coffee date with a girlfriend!
Attend a homeschool conference or used curriculum sale in the nearest city!
Hire a teenager or college student to clean your house for a day!
Take the kids to a friend’s or grandma’s house for an afternoon or a day and do whatever you want!
Until next time, sweet friends!
Brooke
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Love all these ideas, Brooke! Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund is one of my favorites...I've read it several times and it comes up in conversation so often because it's just so sweet. I'll have to check out the other one! Your 50 state adventure sounds amazing, I can see my husband and I doing something like that when the kids are all grown. Do you try to hit up a few states along the way within one single trip?
Ah Brooke, you completely had me at your luscious watercolored fruit, friend! Happy July ...