My mother lives 900 miles away. My daughter only had a long weekend off for the Easter holiday. It was expensive and exhausting for all of us to fly so that her one year old could meet her great grandmother, but so, so worth it! The baby was as good as could be and watching her work the dining room in my mother's assisted living center, waving and blowing kisses, made me smile through tears.
An online community of gospel sisters, praying for each other, lifting up, encouraging and holding space for each other this week, there are thousands of us praying together this week as we prepare our hearts to receiving in a televised Conference within our church - sisters that are mostly only connected on-line from all over the world. I will add YOU sweet Sarah your cares and worries, and your heart to my prayers this week also. Thank you for sharing your humanness and inviting us to own our own. Thanks for the invitations to gather up beauty
My oldest foster granddaughter sat in our pew at church Easter morning, and pointed it all the flowers on the altar. “Look,” she said, it’s beautiful now!” And it was, an interesting variation on previous years that sprinkled pastels and off whites into every shade of green.
So glad this four-year-old made me look at it with fresh eyes and understand the Resurrection as a truly new day.
I am with you. Bone weary. Today was a doozy. We feel like we are in a pressure cooker right now and it’s relentless.
AND, I got back from a walk with the kids and the baby was giving her best baby giggles in the swing — she was so happy! And her little flowery sweater and yellow vest 😍😍😍.
But she doesn’t sleep at night, and if she weren’t so cute I’m not sure what I’d do.
And then the 5 year old comes in as I’m nursing her to sleep, sobbing unintelligibly…finally coming out with “I just don’t really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches” and I’m so tired and we’ve had so many meltdowns about all the peanut butter jelly sandwiches on the tip of the “we are moving in six weeks and people are losing their minds” iceberg that all I can do is shake my head and laugh and say, “Gosh, being a person is just so hard.”
From where I stand at this very moment, I can see the mountain top fire lookout tower, a tiny black speck atop a brilliant white peak, that my husband and I hiked to, a year and a half ago.
It was a hard climb, one I never in my wildest dreams thought we would be able to make together. We are in our 50s, but he had two bad hips that needed fixing, plus he was carrying way too much extra weight.
Two surgeries and a dedicated weight loss journey later, we packed a picnic lunch and climbed up to the lookout tower to enjoy it from up there.
Now, I am standing in the sunshine, on the first sixty-degree day in a very long time, looking up at that tower and remembering.
We did that.
Together.
So grateful.
Hang in there, friend. Every once in a while, you get to climb above it all, to a place you never thought you'd be.
Jesus is risen, and in my best moments, knowing that and feeling that Truth that is all I need. He knows that I don’t know it and feel it most of the time, so it is a great, great comfort that HE IS RISEN is actually all I need, and He helps me through the rest. Sometimes soon, sometimes later. But He fixed the worst, and the rest will follow.
*Everything* in my flower gardens is blooming right now. The cheerful yellow irises, the huge pale pink roses and the climbing burgundy roses, too. It is glorious!
My daughter Kate isn't supposed to be able to have children. They tried for 6 years, even fostering to adopt 2 kiddos in lieu of biological kids. When she got pregnant last summer, her doctors told her to be careful how invested she got in the pregnancy, because she had a high chance of miscarriage.
But that sweet baby girl was born a couple of weeks ago, and she's just perfect. The adoption should be finalized soon for the older kids, so she will have a 2 yr old, a 3 yr old, and an infant. Full, busy, beautiful life!
We’ve been talking a lot about the Easter story these last few weeks. Here is my almost 3-year-old’s version. “Jesus was in the tomb. Then he went to the door and said, ‘I’m outta here!’”
Ahh, everyday beauty, in the flush of birds at the just filled feeder, the burst of joy when you find ramps in the bush, the laughter you hear, as neighbour kids are walking to school.
I work with a young adult girl with special needs. We were out shopping at five below. The woman in front of us turns around and gives my client a pop it fidget toy that she had bought for her l. So kind!
My great-aunt is a real treasure of a lady, funny and wise, and she now lives far away in Florida. I will probably never see her again. BUT the beautiful thing is that her daughter, who she lives with, shared today that she was able to get a work-from-home job so that her mom can continue to be there rather than in a nursing home. That was a blessing in itself, that my aunt gets to stay home, that her daughter wants to be there for her, that the job was provided. But an added beautiful thing was all the people who commented about how my aunt had cared for her own mother and many others in their decline.
Our 5 year old daughter telling us “mommy & daddy - I’m the luckiest girl in the whole world!!!” at getting a birthday party invitation from a classmate 💕🤗
We took my small people to a public working farm last week on spring break, There is so much joy to be had at farms in springtime: So. Many. Babies. Everywhere! Baby piglets wrestling over the best sleeping spot and newborn baby sheep snuggling in they hay, and baby humans figuring out how to see everything. It was exactly as chaotic as it sounds, and equally joyful.
This is a way to defeat fascism and haters of America! JOY!
For what it's worth, I want to hear your woes.
My mother lives 900 miles away. My daughter only had a long weekend off for the Easter holiday. It was expensive and exhausting for all of us to fly so that her one year old could meet her great grandmother, but so, so worth it! The baby was as good as could be and watching her work the dining room in my mother's assisted living center, waving and blowing kisses, made me smile through tears.
An online community of gospel sisters, praying for each other, lifting up, encouraging and holding space for each other this week, there are thousands of us praying together this week as we prepare our hearts to receiving in a televised Conference within our church - sisters that are mostly only connected on-line from all over the world. I will add YOU sweet Sarah your cares and worries, and your heart to my prayers this week also. Thank you for sharing your humanness and inviting us to own our own. Thanks for the invitations to gather up beauty
My oldest foster granddaughter sat in our pew at church Easter morning, and pointed it all the flowers on the altar. “Look,” she said, it’s beautiful now!” And it was, an interesting variation on previous years that sprinkled pastels and off whites into every shade of green.
So glad this four-year-old made me look at it with fresh eyes and understand the Resurrection as a truly new day.
A small moment but I will take it.
I am with you. Bone weary. Today was a doozy. We feel like we are in a pressure cooker right now and it’s relentless.
AND, I got back from a walk with the kids and the baby was giving her best baby giggles in the swing — she was so happy! And her little flowery sweater and yellow vest 😍😍😍.
But she doesn’t sleep at night, and if she weren’t so cute I’m not sure what I’d do.
And then the 5 year old comes in as I’m nursing her to sleep, sobbing unintelligibly…finally coming out with “I just don’t really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches” and I’m so tired and we’ve had so many meltdowns about all the peanut butter jelly sandwiches on the tip of the “we are moving in six weeks and people are losing their minds” iceberg that all I can do is shake my head and laugh and say, “Gosh, being a person is just so hard.”
From where I stand at this very moment, I can see the mountain top fire lookout tower, a tiny black speck atop a brilliant white peak, that my husband and I hiked to, a year and a half ago.
It was a hard climb, one I never in my wildest dreams thought we would be able to make together. We are in our 50s, but he had two bad hips that needed fixing, plus he was carrying way too much extra weight.
Two surgeries and a dedicated weight loss journey later, we packed a picnic lunch and climbed up to the lookout tower to enjoy it from up there.
Now, I am standing in the sunshine, on the first sixty-degree day in a very long time, looking up at that tower and remembering.
We did that.
Together.
So grateful.
Hang in there, friend. Every once in a while, you get to climb above it all, to a place you never thought you'd be.
Jesus is risen, and in my best moments, knowing that and feeling that Truth that is all I need. He knows that I don’t know it and feel it most of the time, so it is a great, great comfort that HE IS RISEN is actually all I need, and He helps me through the rest. Sometimes soon, sometimes later. But He fixed the worst, and the rest will follow.
*Everything* in my flower gardens is blooming right now. The cheerful yellow irises, the huge pale pink roses and the climbing burgundy roses, too. It is glorious!
My daughter Kate isn't supposed to be able to have children. They tried for 6 years, even fostering to adopt 2 kiddos in lieu of biological kids. When she got pregnant last summer, her doctors told her to be careful how invested she got in the pregnancy, because she had a high chance of miscarriage.
But that sweet baby girl was born a couple of weeks ago, and she's just perfect. The adoption should be finalized soon for the older kids, so she will have a 2 yr old, a 3 yr old, and an infant. Full, busy, beautiful life!
We’ve been talking a lot about the Easter story these last few weeks. Here is my almost 3-year-old’s version. “Jesus was in the tomb. Then he went to the door and said, ‘I’m outta here!’”
Ahh, everyday beauty, in the flush of birds at the just filled feeder, the burst of joy when you find ramps in the bush, the laughter you hear, as neighbour kids are walking to school.
I work with a young adult girl with special needs. We were out shopping at five below. The woman in front of us turns around and gives my client a pop it fidget toy that she had bought for her l. So kind!
My great-aunt is a real treasure of a lady, funny and wise, and she now lives far away in Florida. I will probably never see her again. BUT the beautiful thing is that her daughter, who she lives with, shared today that she was able to get a work-from-home job so that her mom can continue to be there rather than in a nursing home. That was a blessing in itself, that my aunt gets to stay home, that her daughter wants to be there for her, that the job was provided. But an added beautiful thing was all the people who commented about how my aunt had cared for her own mother and many others in their decline.
Our 5 year old daughter telling us “mommy & daddy - I’m the luckiest girl in the whole world!!!” at getting a birthday party invitation from a classmate 💕🤗
We took my small people to a public working farm last week on spring break, There is so much joy to be had at farms in springtime: So. Many. Babies. Everywhere! Baby piglets wrestling over the best sleeping spot and newborn baby sheep snuggling in they hay, and baby humans figuring out how to see everything. It was exactly as chaotic as it sounds, and equally joyful.