"On warm evenings, we would sit out on the front porch from supper until bedtime. There was no TV then, of course, and on weeknights little traffic on the road. It would be so quiet that you could hear other people talking on their front porches or a bunch of children off playing somewhere. ...Sometimes … Continue reading Summer Canning & Slow Afternoons
Books are a love language, and one of the ways Jared demonstrated his love for me early on was by lending me his pastoral library. I love books, Jared loves books (he has more than I do), and he’s always been generous with them. I’d come home from my visits to Arkansas with commentaries and … Continue reading Two Little Tributes
We saved pickling for the hottest afternoons in July, letting the big round thermometer beneath Papa Jay’s sunroom swing well over 90, the humidity souping up like the moss on his pond. It was a big job, with loads of cucumbers to harvest between our garden and Papa’s. Over a few weeks, Mom would save … Continue reading Pickling Day
“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 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 … Continue reading Fresh Basil, June Babies, & Other Growing Things
Dear Maggie,* Last May, Jared and I found ourselves in that funny place of not-yet-being-engaged but knowing we would be pretty soon, if know what I mean. It’s a gentle transition you don’t necessarily talk about, but that’s written all over a girl’s face and obvious in the things she starts buying: dishes, for example. … Continue reading To a Girl Engaged
It was one of those mornings in June when the air was so thick you could almost bottle it like syrup and put it on your pancakes. In fact, I did have pancakes that morning. We'd loaded the van early, picked up my Nanny Karen, and stopped for breakfast at Perkins somewhere off the highway. … Continue reading A Good Soldier
On the Vocation of Nursing Jared and I spent one long week in the hospital back in February, watching his grandpa struggle to live. We stood at his bed rails all hours of the day, watching the nurses come, check, chart, rearrange IVs, then pass the clipboard of notes to the next nurse, then the … Continue reading Take Care
"Hold us in quiet through the age-long minuteWhile Thou art silent, and the wind is shrill;Can the boat sink while Thou, dear Lord, art in it?Can the heart faint that waiteth on Thy will?~ Amy Carmicheal Things that brought me joy in May: The afternoon the storms swept in from Oklahoma; rain and homemade lattes … Continue reading Visiting, Fishing, Watching the Storm
I called Mom from the kitchen the other morning while doing four things concurrently—telling her about the weekend, emptying the sink of dishes, washing towels and bedsheets, and making a grocery list. I was also thinking about how I needed to water the garden, make the bed, and take out the compost bucket. Mom herself … Continue reading Wife & Mother
"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 … Continue reading Our Spring Wedding & Winds of Change
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