True Friends, True Love, True Life
A true friend sent me a picture this morning on Facebook. A man and his horse in the background with these words in the foreground . . . Your greatest test is when you are able to bless someone else when you are going through your own storm. How do we bless others when we’re […]
Out of Sight
We wait at the end of the driveway for the school bus, Nick and I. Drizzle and gray and damp cold with no sun seen for three days straight—we know this weather well here, this time of year. Sometimes it’s hard to keep believing there’s a sun up there when all looks dreary. But […]
Tricked or Treated?
On this date, 496 years ago, nails pierced wood. Truth pierced lies. On this date, 496 years ago, one brave man stood alone, probably knowing full well the potential consequences from others—the Church, in particular. And this one man started a movement that still moves. Because truth never stops expanding, consuming lies. Light never stops […]
Humble Pumpkin Posts
In early June, I wrote a post lamenting about our flooded Wisconsin farm fields—how the farmers might not be able to plant corn in time for a decent harvest. My own farm garden lost the first pumpkin planting. Although seeds were pushed into freshly tilled earth on June 1 as usual, the persistent cold and […]
Horror Moans
I’m sitting in a circle of single women, all in their early to mid-twenties except for my co-leader and me. We’re reading Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst, discussing our emotions and how to deal with them in God-loving/self-loving/other-loving ways. Well, how can a group of women have discussions about emotions without bringing up the topic of […]
Time Goes By
Autumn’s crisp is in the air. I can see my breath barely as I step onto the wood planked porch watching you walk down our winding gravel drive to the bus. Your shoulders have broadened and so have your horizons. You’ve left homeschool for high school. With bigger books, with bigger words, you have moved on […]
The Harvester Tree
I have never written a poem. There is my disclaimer. But I can’t get the image of a particular tree in Alaska out of my mind. And so I wrote words—words that tumbled out of my mind and onto a page. Perhaps you might find some meaning, some hope, from these few words spilled, even if […]
Opening Clams
I was enamored by the many sea otters I saw up close while in Alaska. They swim effortlessly, diving sleekly into ocean water depths in pursuit of shelled creatures—mussels and clams. Once they capture a closed shell, they bring it to the surface, turn onto their backs, open the shell, and float nonchalantly while enjoying […]
Insides and Outsides
My mother always told me not to judge a book by its cover. Often pretty outsides cover not-so-pretty insides and vice versa. Like this book here I found on the top shelf of our loft library . . . From the outside, it looks like a beat up dictionary or something, not inviting. But I […]
Mountain Tops
Sometimes when one travels afar and ascends slopes to view summits, clouds cover. Sometimes when we dig in and climb hard, we still can’t see the heights. We end up short and feel cheated—defeated. Driving two and a half hours to the base of Mt. Rainier, an active volcano standing majestic at 14, 410 feet […]
Steaming Real
Ever been steaming mad? I have. Ever been steaming mad at God? Me too! I’ve been so hot and steaming mad that I’ve screamed till my throat was raw. I’ve screamed inside my car. I’ve screamed while I’ve walked our 44 acres of trails. I’ve steamed, alright. And I’ve found that steaming screaming is purging. […]
Perfectly Weak
Weakness. I’m thinking of my son’s. I’m thinking of my own. Here we are, two broken souls, trying to learn and grow. We started schooling at home last year. Since we adopted Nick at nineteen months, he has received speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. He is hearing impaired, completely deaf in his left […]