When Life Hits Hard and You Wonder How to Hold On
A blur hangs over our farm. I think the sky is crying. Teardrops hang from pastures wired. Webbed strands dangle from spruce looking fragile. I know better. Appearances often deceive . . . What looks most fragile is most strong. Yet, I wonder. I think of myself—my whole life—especially these past twelve months. How […]
A Field Trip to Remember
I picked her up at 4 PM sharp, that precious daughter of ours. Through all these past tough weeks of trying to stabilize thoughts and emotions, she went to work cleaning up others’ messes and just the plain old dirt that accumulates in life. At least the messes she cleans CAN be cleaned up. Some […]
A Mother’s Lament on Father’s Day
Father’s Day. We all went to church together—that little country Orthodox Presbyterian church up the road in our little Dutch community. We’re not Dutch and in a place where the funny motto, “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much” floats around, we sure do feel welcomed here in this old church. They’re the kind of […]
God’s Not Dead
It’s June. High school graduation parties are in full swing. It’s summer. We have four weddings in two months coming up—one right here on our farm on June 28 with horses in the background and wildflowers on the tables, tucked into vintage blue Mason jars. Pinterest perfection with a Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice ambience. […]
True Healing
The morning started out all slow and soft. Just enough warmth of spring allowed a walk through gardens without even a sweater and snapping of photos without her knowing. She’s back. Sort of. No longer delusional, thanks to some powerful medication, she’s not quite herself and she knows it. The quick and easy smile isn’t […]
Sure as Mother’s Day
Some things in life are sure things. Like Mother’s Day. I don’t know when the day was set aside to honor our mothers but I know it has been around ever since my mother labored with me for hours on August 2, 1959. At 5:40 P.M. at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, Ohio all 9 pounds […]
Climb
She loved to tell me how she was such a tomboy as a kid—how she climbed those gnarled apple trees and ate those green fruits till she got sick at her stomach. And I loved thinking I was like my mom in this particular way. I loved to climb. One of my earliest memories was […]
Expectation
Victory, triumph, peace, freedom. This is why they waved palm branches along that road I walked from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem—the same road my Lord Jesus traveled. I could see them in my mind, lining both sides of that road. I could see the smiles. I could hear the shouts. I could feel […]
New Life
I need a resurrection from the dead. Everything in me hurts, thanks to a respiratory flu that has kept me either close to or in bed for three days now. My head aches, my nose is raw and red, my eyes are swollen and weepy, even my hair follicles hurt! Medicated with NyQuil and Dayquil round-the-clock, I’m […]
Hope that Flies and Hops and Sings
The sand hill cranes are back. I saw and heard the first flock of thirteen yesterday flying over our farm, trilling. And the red-winged blackbird? The robin? My husband and I saw one of each yesterday on our walk along our farm’s trails—our first sightings of spring. One sat in a tree—the black and red […]
Turn Over
Some people want do-overs of days or weeks or even years. What we really need is a turn-over. I traipse carefully to the barn over icy patches beginning to melt. Sound of birds chirping a new day tell me our long wait is near over. Spring is coming soon. Grain and vitamins scooped into each […]
The Eve and Morn of Grace
We started the New Year with a bang! Not of pots and pans clanging as in years past or of firecrackers traditional. We were just five hours short of the midnight hour, to be exact. Zach backed out of the garage with Nick in the passenger seat on his way to a friend’s for an […]