Many of my favorite moments are spent immersed in nature. Our parsonage property is surrounded on three sides by woods and I have loved getting to know this piece of creation through the seasons. I find myself learning and frequently making new discoveries in our little patch of nature. One plant I have become familiar… Continue reading Spring Into Life
I have been walking through Holy Week with scars on the palms of my hands this year. It’s nothing serious – just an incident involving a morning run and a crack in the sidewalk and hands scraped along concrete. It has not been pretty, but there is something meaningful about walking through Holy week with… Continue reading Scarred Hands
Today was a day of breaking things in our house – some days are just like that around here. First, a dish hit our sink the wrong way during washing. Then, a carton of eggs pummeled to the floor while someone was making cookies. It feels significant that things would break on Ash Wednesday and… Continue reading Brokenness
During an afternoon walk this week, I found the trees to be absolutely breathtaking. The top branches were coated in ice and as the sun shone through, it appeared as though diamonds or crystals were sparkling on each limb. I instinctively grabbed my camera, but even as I did, I knew there was no way… Continue reading A Poor Reflection
We had a science project fail this week and it reminded me of one year in middle school when my experiment failed right before the school science fair. I scrambled to do a new project at the last minute and while I managed to put together a decent substitute, it was definitely not my best… Continue reading How to Be a Failure
Our recent celebration of Toby’s 12th birthday caused me to reflect on his earliest days. On the morning Toby was born, I looked out the window to find large excavation equipment in our backyard. We lived right behind the church where Ian was pastoring, and that was the day they broke ground on a new… Continue reading He Knows the Plans…
I followed Ian into the church yesterday to look at some items for a few upcoming projects. The piano came into view as soon as I walked into the building. Since I find the temptation of an open hymn book on a piano impossible to resist, I sat down and played through a hymn. As… Continue reading Some Things Never Change
Growing up, it nearly always rained when we went camping. It was truly uncanny and I am pretty sure we ended some seasons of drought by choosing to take a camping trip. Despite this bad luck, we loved camping and being in the woods as a family and went camping fairly often. Due to this,… Continue reading Camping Weather
“Look at my picture, Mommy. It’s really good for a five-year-old!” Those words were from Hannah a few minutes after she and I finished examining a magazine page filled with kid drawings. We had used the same phrase over and over again as we admired the artwork of the talented young artists featured. I couldn’t… Continue reading An Offering of Grace
“The spring flowers are so brave.” Those were the reflective words of Clara as she admired the green shoots just beginning to emerge a couple of weeks ago. With the exception of a few more moments of daylight, there hadn’t been much to welcome these hardy plants as the sun neglected to shine throughout days… Continue reading Being Brave
