Last weekend my five siblings and I gathered on the home place to clear the barns out from years of collecting. Our Dad grew up during the Great Depression and he believed that an item should be kept “just in case I may need it”. There were boxes of wheels of various sizes and types, engine parts, piles of metal pieces, stacks of lumber, a group of used doors, drawers full of tools, and ump-jillion coffee cans and jars of sorted nails and bolts. I could go on and on. [Read more…]
Our son, Ben, and his family are in transition and while they move they have been here for chunks of time over the past three weeks or so. His sister, Bethanie, and her two children joined us for a weekend for some “cousin heaven” as we like to call it. So we’ve had grandchildren in and out of our home and noticed something fun as a result. [Read more…]
Ever been caught up in a project and time just melts away? Without being conscious of a ticking clock, the mind is free to drift to various ideas that have been tucked away in a corner until there is space for them to stretch their legs. Once given space the thoughts run here and there and sometimes pick up a trail right to the heart.
Such is the case in a project this summer, a project of making a set of banners for our church.
While sitting in the sanctuary over the past couple of years (listening intently to the sermons of course) I’ve been imagining making banners that would be painted pictures of, you guessed it, wildflowers. [Read more…]
A number of years ago our family was studying the medieval time period while home educating our children. One of the reasons beautiful cathedrals were built then was to bring people in to worship God and to help them find hope and comfort in the difficult circumstances of the times.
The kids and I could almost imagine how it felt to stand in a beautiful cathedral and lift our eyes to the huge stained glass windows depicting Bible stories. [Read more…]
One of my favorite things about where I live are the wildflowers that spring up across the pasture that surrounds our home. Starting in early spring when I walk out to hang up laundry on the line or to help my husband with something in the shop, I am always surprised at the spots of color that have appeared among the prairie grasses. The colors and flower types change over the course of the summer and are a constant delight to my soul.
The blossoms almost always inspire me to go running in to get my camera and spend the next half hour or so walking around in search of what is blooming and snapping endless pictures. [Read more…]