Fresh Basil, June Babies, & Other Growing Things

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“My heart exults in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
There is none holy like the Lord:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.”

~ 1 Samuel 2:1-2

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Good things in June:

Sunday rain and coming home to a Crockpot of soup

How Don wears a cover over his cowboy hat when it rains

Discovering the weekly grocery ad

Eden Annalise, a new niece who is beautiful and calm — a perfect third child

Finding out we are expecting our own wee lad or lass in February, and the inexpressible joy of something growing inside me

Staying up late, trying to think of baby names

Washing all the clothes in the bathtub just for fun, hard but good work that makes me appreciate the toil of my great-great grandmothers

Making sun tea

Dark afternoon to bake oatmeal cookies

Jared’s parents bringing ice cream to evening church for everyone

Eating pancakes and watching Garrett Lewis and the weather radars

Sunny day for bee work and noting lots of honey production in the hives

Pickleball & a milkshake

Saturday nights for homemade tacos and Arkansas baseball at Jared’s parents’ house, reminding me of the summer nights when we’d watch the Cardinals game in Papa and Mema’s living room, crickets singing outside

Evening weeding in the garden

Ringing the church bell with all the kiddos and how the rope lifts them off the ground

Driving up through the mountains to announce the baby news to my family

Leanna loaning me childbirth books; of homebirths and midwives

Running with all the nieces and nephews to check on my old garden, which Mom and Janaya have carried on; taking bundles of oregano home with me

Jared bringing me coffee and eggs in bed

Studying Ruth while I waited for the laundry to soak

Morning out to get labs, breakfast, and a new washing machine, and just how much joy there is in the ordinary things these days

Letters in the mail from Elsie and Hudson, reading them over the herb bed, and writing all of them back

Walking several miles at the school before the storm

Making Jared a Father’s Day breakfast and giving him his first few gifts

Sleepy Sunday afternoon for a Jimmy Stewart movie

Picking green beans for dinner

Making a blackberry gooey butter cake

The Father’s Day meal Teresa cooked: Cincinnati chili dogs & sweet potato soup

Thick mornings to weed and water the garden before the heat settles in, baby making everything a little slower and hotter

Finding and meeting our midwife, and just how comfortable we were with her

Tacos4Life

Harold making me two quarts of granola when it was all that sounded good

On a hot Monday afternoon in the kitchen, listening to the college World Series on our old radio

Hanging pictures and artwork on our walls, finally, which brought them in a little closer and made our whole home feel more like ours

How I bring a basketful of herbs in from the garden every few days, making the whole kitchen smell of basil

Jared bringing me applesauce, yogurt, and cold rags as morning sickness ebbs and flows

Finishing a novel and resting

A weekend with Josh and Alexandra: good conversations and lots of Boggle

A beautiful, breezy evening for a church potluck at the lake, featuring hot dogs, baked beans, horseshoes, and a bunch of happy kids on a merry go round

Making Mema’s cucumber salad with cucumbers from the garden

At last, getting around to sewing curtains for the bedroom windows

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