“Oofy saved my life.” It took a few repetitions before we understood what our almost-three-year-old was telling us. Oofy the cat (named, like all our felines, for a P.G. Wodehouse character)had saved her life. “How did Oofy save your life?” “He ate the gopher.” At this point we all burst into laughter because as far…
We have so much more than enough. I sort the outgrown clothes into overflowing bins. I stack the boxes of books for upcoming school years. We can the extra tomatoes so we’ll still have enough this winter. We are blessed in abundance. We have oh so much more than enough for the five of us….
There’s something about a visit from my grandparents that puts my life back into perspective. When they look at my young daughter, they see me at that age. When my husband talks to my grandma, he hears me. My son, just learning to walk, is delighted to try out great grandpa’s cane. And sitting there…
I see the back end of a lot of WordPress installations. It’s always with shock that I see the pending updates, and with a bit of conern that I hear their answer to the question, “Have you backed your site up lately?” I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people are using the…
On the farm, the fourth of July means farmer’s market and baling the grass hay. It means chopping up cabbage for pico de gallo salsa while listening to YouTube playlists of patriotic Country music (since the radio wasn’t playing enough of the good ones). It means a bring-your-own-beef barbecue with a few friends after the…
There are so many parenting books available today, with seemingly conflicting ideas about how to train your children up in the way they should go. So sometimes, it’s nice to just go back to the basics and remember that God has given us everything we need in the Bible, which is “useful for teaching, rebuking,…
Dearest, Ten years ago today, we walked down the aisle together for the first time. I’ll never forget the way you looked at me, standing there across the stage at your sister’s wedding. Thick as the emotions were, there was no way I could help that big smile from flooding my face as we walked…
Sometimes, writing our story is the best way to focus on the good memories. Other times, writing out our story is the only way to process the hard times. Sometimes, our own story hurts so much to write that we need to lose ourselves in another’s story for a while. Sometimes, reading another’s story brings…
Dear Ruth and Mary, You may be farmer’s daughters, but you’re still little girls. And when the rain came yesterday afternoon, you shouted, “Yay! Rain for Daddy’s fields!” You are always ready to welcome everything as a gift. Even if it’s rain on Daddy’s hay that was almost dry enough to bale. I stopped your…
I can hear them from my spot at the kitchen sink. All three girls piled on the bed, the oldest telling a story to her cousins, my girls. Eager to join the party of giggles and laughter, the only boy of the party toddles and crawls to the bedroom. My own oldest has been playing…
If I had all afternoon, I’d get that box of letters down and find it. The alfalfa would probably fall out of the envelope, just as it did that first time I opened it. And I’d get lost in re-reading his letters… I think it was the spring before we got married. My farmer sent…
Dearest, We always said we’d learn to dance when we got married. But first there was a broken leg to prevent it, then there was always a baby belly or a baby in the way. We keep saying we’ll take dancing lessons when they’re older, laughing that by the time we get around to it…
The End.
The End.
