“I hope when we find our ‘house of dreams,’ dearest, that there will be winds around it. I wonder where it is… that unknown house. That home of the future where we will have love and friendship and work… and a few funny adventures to bring laughter into our old age.”
~ L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Windy Poplars
Recounting God’s goodness in March & April:
Ironing projects for the wedding, and how the sweet smell of iron on felt always makes me think of Nanny’s house
A sunny afternoon to walk down to Papa Larry’s, pick a few of the first daffodils, and fill a sample jar for the wedding; how Papa ordered 200 cut daffodils and tied bows himself for all the vases
Breadbaking and more breadbaking, loaves and loaves
A March day to work with all the screens open, winds blowing throughout the house, slamming doors and rustling things
Soup and bread meal with all my sisters and bridesmaids
Walking my old newspaper route down Edgewood to visit each neighbor and ask to use their driveway for wedding parking, and how gracious and excited they were for me
Forsythia bushes beginning to golden
The night the storms came: prayers in the basement and card games by flashlight
Pancake breakfast on the Blackstone because we had no power, tree limb pickup, a meal brought to us, kids all over the front yard, cheering when the utility trucks came up the road
A whole-family evening game of wiffle ball
Wedding-music-practice-turned-kitchen-jam-session with the siblings
Jared’s parents bringing in so many bouquets of flowers and preparing a feast for everyone the night before the wedding
A wedding morning on the glowing edge of spring
Stringing banners in the trees and fluffing tablecloths on picnic tables in the morning light
Elsie, Elanor, & Lila with rubber boots and curls in their hair; the little boys in hobbit cloaks
Putting on my grandma’s earrings and the pearl necklace Jared gave to me
Moms, sisters, and friends praying over me just before the ceremony
Peering through my grandparents’ blinds to see people gathering and Jared down at the pond in his wedding suit, waiting
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing & Dad’s sermon on Ephesians 5 & becoming man and wife right there at the pond’s edge, under a spring sky
Homemade chili lunch, sourdough, honey, & a table of cookies and pies the church ladies made
Kids in dress clothes playing tug-of-war and having sack races
Running down the driveway to a shower of rice and confetti
Arriving home in Arkansas a week later to the daffodils we planted in fall, bloomed
The first few ordinary days of marriage: organizing the kitchen cabinets, folding laundry, trying out a new coffee maker, open screens, and dinner on the back porch
Planting the first herbs in the garden
Days of rain and a visit from my family, which always means ping-pong in the kitchen
How I’ve taken on my mom’s habit of sweeping the floors late in the day, when the sunlight finds all the crumbs and dirt
On a week when sickness crept into the house: herbal teas, homemade applesauce, elderberry, & Rings of Power
Tilling rows and planting our first garden of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, & squash
Learning to salvage things from the fridge before they spoil, making muffins out of ripe bananas
Hanging baskets for the back porch
Finding a local plant nursery nearby and big greenhouses full of flowers, feeling a bit more at home
Driving on a dark, stormy morning to the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service and a big potluck breakfast afterwards
Talking with Rick about beekeeping and hunting, and him lending me copies of homestead & gardening magazines
This lovely interview with Vesta Sproul
Jared sending me a George Herbert poem from work
Setting up the sewing room and starting in on projects, windows open for a late afternoon rain on the garden
Listening to Elizabeth Elliot while I cleaned the kitchen
Phone calls and FaceTimes with my family and the littles
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