A month after my 23rd birthday, I married the only man I had ever dated. This could have been a recipe for complete disaster. I was young and naive; how could I know what I wanted or needed out of life at that age, much less what I’d want in a life partner after dating […]
Burdens: A Reflection on Mother’s Day
In snatched quiet moments here and there, I’ve been thinking a lot about the women in my life, those whom I know intimately and those with whom friendship is just beginning. I think about women who are celebrating sweet baby girls in their lives after losing beloved sons, women who are going through their 2nd […]
Miracle
Just about this time four years ago they laid him in my arms, that little six pound eight ounce miracle. Like Sarah, there were so many moments I doubted God would allow us to hold our child. Unlike Sarah, I never laughed at God, but there was plenty of weeping and fist shaking. And then […]
Real
There are moments when my reality feels like an endless cycle of repetitive giving: fixing the same food, cleaning up (or, in our better moments, supervising the cleaning up) messes, washing and folding and putting away the same clothes and diapers, reading the same books until I don’t even need the words on the page […]
Beauty is. . .
. . .a robin perched on the vine-covered wire, surveying his spring kingdom . . . .the scanty, hearty patches of green in the garden: in the raised bed, a tiny, determined weed; over in the stump, the persistent thyme that weathered the brutal winter unsheltered; under glass, the vibrant lettuce coming fully to life […]
Hope
If our garden was not fenced in, it would be impossible to tell where it was. Our raised beds are now a half foot below the snow, the stump where our herbs grow lies buried so deep it no longer makes a bump on the white surface, and it’s quite a chore to dig out […]
The greatest gift you can give a young mama
I know I am not alone when I say that I could fully fund my children’s college educations if I had a quarter for every time someone told me, “You’ve got your hands full, don’t you?” Sometimes this baffles me because I have two kids. Two. One for each hand. We’re no Brady bunch here […]
Day 31: Forever Home
Today our friends the Mekuses celebrated three years as a forever family, three years of their kids not having to ask, “How long will you be my mom?” It is a joy to be around those four kids who are so generous with their love and exuberance and snuggles. In their confidence, their security, and […]
Day 30: When the picturesque pales in the face of protests
Today I was going to be writing about finding my place here in small-town America as mommy to two small but boisterous people. There was going to be a picture of Isaac romping through leaves and one of a sweet moment of the siblings sharing a batter-covered beater. Several anecdotes about Isaac’s forays into suspender […]
Day 29: Mourning Home
When I think back on the last decade, I am full. The beautiful diversity of people, quirky apartments, cultures and subcultures, food, experiences, and encounters with God are more than I bargained for. We have been cared for and amazed by this beautiful diversity, finding in it time and again a joy in times of […]
Flickering Mind 