Saturday, October 26, 2013

Language of my Heart

Diaries and journals have always interested me. As much as I journaled while growing up I was always curious what other people wrote in their diaries.  There were several different times when there were some journals among the things Daddy brought home from estate auctions and we always enjoyed reading them. I still remember the day I discovered my Mom's diary's in the attic. And how disappointed I was when she went and destroyed them. I have always wondered what all she had written and wished that there would have been a way to read them and learn to know the teen that grew up to be my mother.

Another box I discovered several months later contained hundreds of letters from her sister that she wrote to her while she had been a teacher in Gorrie, Ontario, far from home. I read those letters and enjoyed them immensely. A whole series of books could be written simply from the contents of those letters. The peek into the life of a young Amish school teacher's life was delightfully entertaining. I laughed and cried my way through the entire box of letters. Later I was really glad I did when my Mom returned the letters to her sister.

One of my favorite books from when I was a teen was called The Language of my Heart it was the real journal an Amish girl wrote during her teen years. I read and reread my copy more times than I can count, it was out of print for quite a while but last year the publishers decided to do a reprint and today I'm offering you the chance to have your own copy by having a giveaway.



To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment telling me if you ever tried journaling.

For a second entry post a link to this giveaway on your blog or Facebook and come back and leave another comment telling me you did.

I will be choosing the winner on Friday, November 1st.
 
Giveaway is now closed and a winner has been chosen.

54 comments:

  1. I did keep a journal in my teenage/early college years. After a snooping family member read them I stopped because I truly wanted my thoughts to be private and never known by anyone. That being said- it is fascinating to read others' journals!

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  2. I kept a journal for over 20 years, and like your mother, I destroyed them. Now, I have a private blog where I record things of interest as well as struggles and concerns. My public blog is a record of some past experiences and my current projects.

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  3. I shredded my journals just before my wedding. I now wish I would have kept them.

    Would love to read this book!

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  4. I would love to read the journal of an Amish girl. It must be interesting getting an inside look at that life through the eyes of person who is living it.

    I was never very good at writing a diary. I liked the idea of one much better than actually writing. My poor diaries start of with January 1st filled in with glorious intentions of writing everyday. But after two or three more entries the rest of the pages remained blank.

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  5. Someone will enjoy winning a copy of this book! I never kept a diary or journal, but consider Blogger a daily journal now. Good luck to one of your readers!!

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  6. Oh wow Mary Ann! Gorrie, Ontario is about 15 miles from where my mother's family grew up here in Southern Ontario. Sometimes it seems like a small world!

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  7. I tried keeping a diary as a kid, but was generally too preoccupied with DOING to remember to write about it.

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  8. I've tried hard to journal in the past, but it's always been hard for me to articulate feelings onto paper. Reading journals, letters and blog posts has always been fun, and I'd love to read this book!

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  9. I think most of us have tried our hand at keeping a journal (a little like blogging) but I agree some are far more interesting than others! My Granny kept traveling journals and I am blessed to own those! Her schooling stopped at age 9 but she was multilingual and would have loved to become a playwriter!
    'The Journal of Anne Frank' comes to mind as most teens have read it (at least overseas). Unforgetable!
    Kindly add my name in the hat for 'The Language of my Heart' Mary Ann. Just the title has my imagination going!
    God bless,

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  10. I always wanted to keep a journal, but never did. Even now, I often think I should start keeping one. Maybe I will start someday.

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  11. I've tried a few times but never stayed with it.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  12. I wish I had kept a journal. So many things we forget...

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  13. I did journal a bit as a young teen. I had not done any more until I had children. I wrote journals for each of them about their young lives. As they grew and things got busier, I have let journaling slip. Would like to start again.

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  14. I kept a diary during my preteen years. I never kept them and now I wish I had. It is interesting to see how one changes and grows. I would love to read the journal of a young Amish girl. I do enjoy reading biographies as well. Blessings to you.

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  15. I kept a diary for maybe 15 years but destroyed it before I got married. Wish I had it now, but oh well, that's life.

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  16. I think I kept a diary when I was really young, which would probably be funny to look at now, but as I got older, I never did keep a journal. Well, I sort of keep photo journals, if that counts, but pictures can't usually tell what someone is thinking or feeling at the time.

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  17. I kept a diary from probably about age eleven until I was 18 or 19. My grandma gave me my first one and that's what got me started. I still have them tucked away, not sure if I want to read them or not! So why do I keep them? I'm not really sure!

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  18. I've kept a journal for about 20 years. I would love to have Language of My Heart. I read it many times when I was younger but haven't read it in years.

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  19. I have journaled in the past. Some were so intensely personal and full of things that I did before I came to know the Lord that I got rid of them. I didn't want my children to read about my misadventures as a young, unsaved adult.

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  20. I keep a journal that started with the birth of my third child, a girl. It was a great shower gift. I have kept it up through two subsequent births and try to write in it whenever I can. Sometimes the things I write seem so trivial, but when I go back and read it later, I reminisce and cherish those special memories.

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  21. I have always kept a Garden journal over the years, as a record of planting, with photos.

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  22. I've never kept a journal. I wish I had, I'd love to go back and see things through a teenagers eyes. Even a a young married girl's eyes. I've always been a reader, never really into writing. That's probably why I like reading blogs and not writing any. Thanks so much for offering this generous giveaway. It would be grat paired up with a quilt and a cup of tea. ;-> Toni Anne

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  23. I was given a journal for a high school graduation present (1975) and have been writing ever since. Not daily, but enough to have a record of my life. Yes, some of it is embarrassing, some of it is trivial, but I am so grateful to have it. I read it and can see how much I've grown, how much I've changed and how much I'm the same person. I've used it to teach my children too. I love reading journals and memoirs! Technology has changed over the centuries, but human nature and emotions stay pretty much the same.

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  24. I have been keeping journal for almost 40 years.

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  25. I kept a journal when I was a teen but destroyed it when I moved out of my parent's house. I still remember all that I wrote in it, though.

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  26. I have a journal for each of my children where I write about them. I don't write in them very often though.

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  27. I've never had a desire to journal. I do like reading other people's that have been published though...

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  28. I have very much enjoyed journaling in the past, and hope someday I can make it a more regular thing. Maybe I would be inspired by someone else's journaling!

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  29. My aunt purposely kept her diaries for us to read. Even though she only recorded the basics, rarely any emotions, it's like watching a movie in my head when I read them. She wrote that she found my grandmother's diaries in the trash. They read them together and then destroyed them. Like you, I would love to have read them.

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  30. I have 12 actually; one for each child. :) I start when I find out I am expecting and continue until...well, I'm not sure when I'll give them to each child. I am still writing in them. I don't write in them every day, but try to at the very least on their birthday. I also try to chronicle important events in their lives. So far each child only has one journal, but in the future they may have more than one. I have tried to keep a personal one but forget to write in it every day. Sometimes I can get a good stretch in, but mostly it's every few days.

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  31. I've kept journals off and on since I was a teenager. I've never kept up and never kept them, sadly. I've started keeping one as I enter a new time in my life so hopefully I will both keep up and keep it (not destroy it).
    I love reading journals! I guess I never thought anything I did was good enough to share...

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  32. I did try to journal all the time, mostly because all of my friends did it and it was the "cool" thing to do. I eventually realized I'm just not a journaler. I don't remember to write and my hand can't keep up with my brain when I try to get all my ideas down. I love a pretty journal and I always have the best of intentions but I almost never follow through.

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  33. I've tried journaling but never kept it up. I "journal" on my blog and enjoy looking back to see what has happened in the years that have gone by since I started. I'd love to read this book.

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  34. I have tried writing in a journal off and on throughout the years, but many times my journal was picked up and read by my sister, mother, etc. This discouraged me from writing down my private thoughts anywhere, so it never lasted long.

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  35. I tried a bunch of times as a kid, but I never lasted a week!

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  36. As a genealogist, it breaks my heart to read of all the destroyed journals. They would be so lovely for generations later to read. I have so wished, having read many journals over time, that someone(s) in my family had kept a journal. That being said, I have tried many times and have never followed through for long..I have kept the attempts however.
    Thank you once more for your generosity.

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  37. I have done journaling for many years. At times I've quit and regretted it. I'd love to read the book you are offering!

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  38. I do keep a journal and also a separate prayer journal. I had always thought I should destroy them..but now I may keep them and one day my children can read them when I am gone.

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  39. Keeping up a journal as a child was difficult for me. It always ended up being forgotten in the midst of our family's life.

    As an adult, I've used my blog as a form of journaling. My children love to read about how we've spent our day or what I'm thinking about.

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  40. I did try as a little girl after receiving a diary for Christmas. I still have it and it is a joy to read. :) Thank you for the chance to read it.

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  41. I always thought I would be too embarrassed to read (or have someone else read) what I wrote as a teen, so I never kept a journal. But when our kids were little, we kept a regular, almost daily, journal of all their antics. Now we can't find it! I'm still hoping it will show up.

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  42. I kept a journal while growing up, although I wasn't a daily writer.I wish I still had it would love to look back at where I was.

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  43. Yes, I journaled as a young teen. Most of my entries are rather boring, but still fun to read.

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  44. No, I've never kept a journal because I didn't feel comfortable writing down my private thoughts if someone I didn't want to might be able to read them. I write very long, personal letters to my close friends, though, so I guess that's a form of journaling. Of course, there's a chance that someone I prefer didn't might read those letters, too, but I guess I just trust that my friends will know how to keep them private for me.

    Ann

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  45. I have journaled off and on thru the years. Last time it was mainly a garden journal, but I put other events in it as well. Somehwere in a box, are my teen journals--full of interesting things about my then 14 year old husband, I am sure.....

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  47. I've journaled on and off since I was five. I wish I had kept those early journals... diary-keeping fascinates me, also.

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  48. I have tried journaling, but I am not very dedicated to it. Usually "life" gets in the way :) Right now I would love to have time to try art journaling. I do keep a Smash book where I put bits and bobs of paper and pictures. Thanks!

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  49. I've kept a journal since I was a little girl - about the time I started writing. I very occasionally take out the older ones and read them - the ones from when I'm an adult are far more enlightening than when I was a child (at least to me). Now, I try to write daily but I don't always succeed.

    Thanks for hosting this give-away - the book sounds very interesting!
    Lea

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  50. I tried very hard and with all the commitment I could muster, to keep a journal, but I never could remember from one day to the next that there was a journal that needed my attention. There were always other things that needed my attention more, and then at night after the kids were in bed, I just fell into bed, exhausted.

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  51. I tried very hard and with all the commitment I could muster, to keep a journal, but I never could remember from one day to the next that there was a journal that needed my attention. There were always other things that needed my attention more, and then at night after the kids were in bed, I just fell into bed, exhausted.

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  52. I tried it, but never really liked going back and reading what I wrote. It always sounded so strange and not like me.

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  53. I never kept a journal however now I wish that I had.

    I would love to read a journal written by an Amish girl. I think it would be interesting to read about her day to day life as an Amish teen.

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  54. I've enjoyed keeping a diary for many years. The most interesting ones are when the children were young. I don't write as much in my journal because of arthritis in my hands...or is it because I find so much fun blogging and writing books? : )

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.