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flowers and rust

May 2, 2013

The days spent at my in-laws are always so peaceful. I could sit on their front porch swing for hours, sipping iced tea and listening to the sputtering stream and the laugh of my children as they wade in the water and fish with bacon for crawfish.

Last week we made the trek out to the northeastern part of the state to work on my latest project. I’ve been dreaming and scheming, planning and preparing for this project for months now. So thankful the weather cooperated and the grass greened and my friends said, “yes” to my adventurous experiment. Dreaming of Kayla, running through grass, chasing butterflies, picking her banjo… I’ve made lists and lost sleep. And I’m finally editing my work with love and sweet memories of a day spent in galoshes and dirty jeans with music floating across the meadows, and a little big girl I adore at the center of it all.

laundry and friendship

April 11, 2013

I feel like I do laundry 24 hours a day. I wake up, start my coffee and start my laundry. Load #1 done before breakfast and moved to dryer. Load #4 goes in right before bed so delicates can lay flat to dry overnight and I don’t have to look at them all day hanging around in doorways and on furniture.

And I can’t tell you the number of random things I pull out of the washing machine. Looking back I should have made a list, but let’s just say I check pockets now for the forgotten treasures. This week I’ve found sand, 2 snail shells (hope they went in empty), 2 nails, lip gloss, 2 peppermints, a sonic gift card, bobby pins, and a shoe…

But I also found a real treasure.

I have this friend. We’ve been friends for 20 years. I’ve known her longer than I’ve not and that’s what’s amazing. She knows so much about me, so much ugly beautiful. We’ve argued, we’ve cried, we’ve hurt each other’s feelings, we’ve forgiven and forgotten. We’ve laughed until we wet our pants, we’ve skipped school to roller blade and been stranded in bikinis. We’ve been there for babies and for loss, we’ve complained and encouraged. And we’ve prayed more prayers for each other than we can count.

And today I was struck by this treasure. She prays for my children, kids she rarely sees and hardly talks to, but she’s watching them grow up from the other side of the world because I pour my life out to her on a regular basis. She walked through potty training and tooth fairy forgetfulness, and she knows my ultimate fails, when I lose my mind and my temper and mean mommy shows up. I love this friend. I wish we were neighbors who could sit on front porches and drink coffee and tea and have enough time together that we could sit in silence.

But I’m stuck in Oklahoma and she’s in Scotland.

So she writes letters and remembers birthdays and her Christmas presents always arrive early.

And my kids love Aunt Rachael.

Just like I do.

F Family

April 4, 2013

I loved hanging out with this family. Their three boys were precious- so well mannered and respectful. Mom and dad are doing a wonderful job raising these guys and I kinda wish I could drop my little Jack off a few days a week to be indoctrinated! Baby boy couldn’t be more sweet and suspicious all at once and it was fun trying to get his sweet smiles- he LOVES his brothers and his brothers LOVE him!

day after day

March 13, 2013

I’m coming out of a soul winter season. I’ve felt cold, dark, kinda shriveled up, and very lonely. As I sit at the table near my front windows, I can see the light greens of plants pushing their way determinedly out of the packed winter soil and up into the shining sunlight. Finally Spring feels here, both inside and out.

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…
“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Kanes

March 4, 2013

Be Still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

March 4, 2013

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 16, 2013

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in partand we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when completeness comes,what is in part disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.