Keeping Their Place

In 1851 there were over a million servants in Britain. This book reveals first-hand tales of put-upon servants, who often had to rise hours before dawn to lay fires, heat water and prepare meals for their employers, and then work into the small hours. Yet there are also heart-warming stories of personal devotion, and reward, and of how the servants enjoyed themselves in their time off. There are moments of great poignancy as well as hilarity: a steward's dawning realisation that the housekeeper he befriended is a thief; a young footman chasing a melon as it rolls through a castle's corridors into the moat; the smart manservant weeping at the station as he bids farewell to his mother. This was an era when footmen were paid extra for being six foot or over, and female servants had to wear black bonnets to church. Drawing on letters, diaries, and autobiographies "Keeping Their Place" provides a vivid insight into the day-by-day lives of country house servants between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.

When a Misfit is kidnapped, Elspeth finds she has little choice but to join the growing rebellion against the Council. Her extraordinary mental powers could tip the scales of the struggle, but Elspeth feels torn between toppling the corrupt authoritarian regime and seeking clues vital to a more personal quest—her ambition to destroy what remains of the Beforetime weaponmachines.

To be human is to long for home. Home is our most fundamental human longing. And for many of us homesickness is a nagging place of grief. This book connects that desire and disappointment with the story of the Bible, helping us to see that there is a homemaking God with wide arms of welcome—and a church commissioned with this same work. "Many of us seem to be recovering the sacred, if ordinary, beauty of place," writes author Jen Pollock Michel. "Perhaps we're reading along with Wendell Berry, falling in love with Berry's small-town barber and Jayber Crow's small-town life. . . . Or maybe we're simply reading our Bibles better, discovering that while we might wish to flatten Scripture to serve our didactic purposes, it rises up in flesh and sinew, muscle and bone: God's holy story is written in the lives of people and their places." Including a five-session discussion guide and paired with a companion DVD, Keeping Place offers hope to the wanderer, help to the stranded, and a new vision of what it means to live today with our longings for eternal home.

Place-Keeping presents the latest research and practice on place-keeping – that is, the long-term management of public and private open spaces – from around Europe and the rest of the world. There has long been a focus in urban landscape planning and urban design on the creation of high-quality public spaces, or place-making. This is supported by a growing body of research which shows how high-quality public spaces are economically and socially beneficial for local communities and contribute positively to residents’ quality of life and wellbeing. However, while large amounts of capital are spent on the creation of open spaces, little thought is given to, and insufficient resources made available for, the long-term maintenance and management of public spaces, or place-keeping. Without place-keeping, public spaces can fall into a downward spiral of disrepair where anti-social behaviour can emerge and residents may feel unsafe and choose to use other spaces. The economic and social costs of restoring such spaces can therefore be considerable where place-keeping does not occur. Place-Keeping also provides an accessible presentation of the outputs of a major European Union-funded project MP4: Making Places Profitable, Public and Private Open Spaces which further extends the knowledge and debate on long-term management of public and private spaces. It will be an invaluable resource for students, academics and practitioners seeking critical but practical guidance on the long-term management of public and private spaces in a range of contexts.

Thompson's study uncovers descriptions of the church that emphasize certain characteristics presented in the opening scenes of the narrative: the blessing and presence of God, the unanimity of the believers, the communal caring for one another, and the proclamation of the gospel.

Are you lonely? Do you struggle to find the real friends you long for? Here is your invitation to build lasting friendship through meaningful and intentional practices that anyone can do. The older we get, the less we find ourselves spending time in the company of good friends. Organic friendship becomes nearly impossible—after all, there are all sorts of obligations tugging at our attention. Or we find ourselves getting frustrated with shallow, draining conversations. Or, most painful of all, we feel like no one wants us—and who wants to be rejected? If you have found yourself desperately wanting connection but confused about why you are not experiencing it, you are not alone. And you don’t have to stay there. As Christian women, our faith calls us to support one another on the path of growing as a follower of Jesus—a call that will connect us, create a solid foundation for trust, and bind us together in Jesus’ love, no matter what struggles we face on the road of friendship. Together Is a Beautiful Place offers practical habits that are sustainable, deep, and valuable. You will identify what makes a godly, lasting friendship; tackle lies and false expectations about what it takes to build lasting friendship; and learn to tackle the barriers to friendship and invite healthy friendship rhythms. You will find that it is possible to grow healthy friendships, starting now.

If you're tired of staring at the same mess every day, but struggling to find the time and willpower to clean it, you probably have a very good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. Designed by therapist KC Davis, this revolutionary method of cleaning and organizing helps end the stress-mess cycle. After KC Davis gave birth to her second child, she didn't fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. Between postpartum depression and ADHD, she felt numb and overwhelmed. She regained her sanity--and the functionality of her home--after one life-changing realization: You don't work for your home; your home works for you. In other words, messiness is not a moral failing. A new sense of calm washed over her as she let go of the shame-based messaging that interpreted a pile of dirty laundry as "I can never keep up" and a chaotic kitchen as "I'm a bad mother." Instead, she looked at unwashed clothes and thought, "I am alive," and at stacks of dishes and thought, "I cooked my family dinner three nights in a row." Building on this foundation of self-compassion, KC devised the powerful practical approach that has exploded in popularity through her TikTok account, @domesticblisters. The secret is to stop following perfectionist rules that don't make sense for you--like folding clothes that don't wrinkle anyway, or thinking that every room has to be clean at the same time--and to find creative solutions that accommodate your needs, pet peeves, daily rhythms, and attention span. Inside, you'll learn exactly how to customize your approach and rebuild your relationship with your home, including: -How to stop seeing care tasks as a reflection of your worth, but rather as kindnesses to your future self -How to use calming rituals to keep you from feeling overwhelmed when you look at a big mess -How to stagger tasks that are easy to procrastinate throughout the week and month -How to quickly transform a room from messy to fully functional through the "5 Things" tidying method, and other shortcuts requiring minimal energy Read this book to make home feel like a sanctuary again: where you can move with ease, where guilt, self-criticism, and endless checklists have no place, and where you always have permission to rest, even when things aren't finished.

Making conscientious choices about technology in our families is more than just using internet filters and determining screen time limits for our children. It's about developing wisdom, character, and courage in the way we use digital media rather than accepting technology's promises of ease, instant gratification, and the world's knowledge at our fingertips. And it's definitely not just about the kids. Drawing on in-depth original research from the Barna Group, Andy Crouch shows readers that the choices we make about technology have consequences we may never have considered. He takes readers beyond the typical questions of what, where, and when and instead challenges them to answer provocative questions like, Who do we want to be as a family? and How does our use of a particular technology move us closer or farther away from that goal? Anyone who has felt their family relationships suffer or their time slip away amid technology's distractions will find in this book a path forward to reclaiming their real life in a world of devices.