Robert and I are somewhere in southeast Texas right now, a middle-of-nowhere sort of place equidistant from Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. It’s really beautiful here. Not the majestic-fall-foliage beauty of New England that we’ve grown so accustomed to, but the back-road, brushy, barbed-wire beauty that is still very familiar to us. We walked a… Read More The Gift of Home
Just after I turned 40, I memorized parts of Psalm 71 as part of a Scripture Memory Challenge hosted by Beth Moore. I chose these particular verses, because they so specifically outline who God has been and what He has done in my life. Though they feel like they were written just for me, I… Read More Birthdays, Brides, and NC Bound
This secret has been so hard to keep! Not that I really kept it all that well, but one advantage of living 2000 miles away is that I could tell almost anyone living here in New England knowing that it wouldn’t really get back to anyone in Texas. So, now I can tell you –… Read More She Said Yes!
“We’re expecting a cold front here tomorrow,” is what my dad told me over the phone and from the heart of Texas on Friday night. On Saturday morning, I heard it again from another Texas friend. It was Kelly’s (a.k.a. Miss Riggs) birthday, and when I texted her to wish her a happy day, she… Read More Cold Fronts and Cool Retreats
It was such a lovely weekend. About twenty-five of us gathered in what can only be described as a log mansion. The oversized stone fireplaces surrounded by the coziest of furniture on every level disqualified it from being a mere cabin. Built long ago as a luxurious hunting lodge, it now serves as the retirement home… Read More Prince of Peace, Come and Reign
In 22 years I don’t think I’ve ever been as homesick as I have been this week. 22 years. That’s how many years I’ve lived outside of Texas, and you’d think I’d be over it by now, but I suppose that’s the kind of affect a place can have. I didn’t even know I was affected… Read More Heartbroken for Houston
A couple of years ago, I experienced what felt like an all-out betrayal (which is an exile of sorts) by someone close to me. I was hurt, and I grieved the loss of relationship through tears for weeks. When I would recount the experience, listing off all of the felt injustices to my husband, he… Read More Bloom Where You Are Planted/Exiled: Part 4
The following July when Kayla turned one (the sun came out, the morning sickness ended, and I found a wonderful OB/GYN and hospital), I looked around my dining room table at the people I’d been able to gather to celebrate her birthday and watch her eat her first cake ~ a teapot cake I’d carefully… Read More Bloom Where You Are Planted/Exiled: Part 3
Okay, so the hostas I reluctantly planted must’ve put down some roots, because they are looking great this year. Healthy, happy, full, and green. And all of this in spite of being uprooted from the foreign land of Betsy’s front yard and exiled to my house a mile away. Evidently, plants can do that sort… Read More Bloom Where You Are Planted/Exiled: Part 2
I did not sleep well at all last night. It was cool outside but warm in the house, and the window unit in our room doesn’t think it should cool our room in that situation. I was hot and achy and tossed around all night long. I’m telling you this, because what follows might just… Read More Dress Alterations and “All Those Republicans…”