The Long Winter

My friend who shares my name, Bethany Rose, called me last Tuesday morning from somewhere up in Minnesota, where she was bundled and walking her Great Pyrenees named Shiloh. โ€œWeโ€™re experiencing a warm front,โ€ she said. โ€œItโ€™s twenty-five degrees today.โ€ I was planting a tray of lettuce on my patio in Missouri, because we were … Continue reading The Long Winter

Miss Twiggley’s Tree

Mom said itโ€™s been like Miss Twiggleyโ€™s tree here latelyโ€” which might be my very favorite childrenโ€™s book, about a funny lady who lives in a tree โ€œwith a dog named Puss and a color TV.โ€ When a rainstorm washes the town away, the groceryman and mayor's wife and police chief and town dogs all … Continue reading Miss Twiggley’s Tree

The Man Who Built the Lord’s House

The first thing folks notice when they step through our front door are the big, oak cabinets that span the far wall of our dining room. And when they sit to share a meal with us, and we pull out dishesโ€”maybe even a pieโ€” from those cupboards, they notice we call them โ€œFrankโ€™s Cabinets.โ€ I … Continue reading The Man Who Built the Lord’s House

Paragraphs & Sentences

โ€œBooks donโ€™t change people;โ€ John Piper has said, โ€œparagraphs do, sometimes even sentencesโ€โ€” which helps explain why the books I read in 2021 really did work in me, because I crept along in them. I didnโ€™t read pages at a time, but paragraphs, even sentences. Over in the Author Conservatory, weโ€™ve been talking about the … Continue reading Paragraphs & Sentences