Uncategorized – Page 44 – everything He gives

settling into winter

November 13, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

We’ve been happily busy with lots of THIS lately. My older brother + his sweet family have been in town, and we’re so enjoying having the opportunity to be with them. I’m loving the chance to get to know my nephew a bit and it is precious to me to see all the cousins play together and build little bonds. I know from my own childhood years how special cousin relationships can be! It’s like having extra siblings. And I’m thankful for more time getting to know my sister-in-law and reconnecting. Our hearts are full!

The leaves are mostly off the trees, a cold front moved in with a wild gust last night, and we’re settling into winter slowly. Things can begin to look dark + barren, like the black-eyed susan stalks, shooting their bald heads into iron sky. All can seem lost, empty. Yet hidden within that flower’s cone are all the seeds for next year’s flower, each cone containing dozens of potentially viable seeds. All this glory and beauty and light bottled up in that dark little bumpy-looking ball, just waiting for the right conditions in which to burst forth. The same stalks that wave cheery yellow wildflowers in the summer, we pass by, or even trample underfoot in these winter months, assuming it’s all dead anyway. Winter is full of promise and waiting and hope in small, hidden places. There is all manner of beauty in those barren places, if we’ll look. There is all manner of potential.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope.” (Psalm 130:5)

thankful tree

November 9, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

The holiday season is so busy for us, with Philippa’s birthday the week of Thanksgiving, and Noah + Phoebe’s birthdays the week of Christmas, along with all the other usual holiday hectic! We press in hard to some intentional habits during this busy season to keep our hearts tuned to God’s grace and to keep ourselves rooted in the soil of our simple everyday lives. We started the habit of intentional thanks during the whole month of November a couple of years ago. Our children love doing this! When they saw that I had turned a corner of our living room into a little corner of praise + thanksgiving, they were literally squealing and jumping with joy. I grab a branch from the yard (or in this case from one of our favorite picnic spots) but you can also just tape cut-out branches to your wall or draw a tree on a chalkboard (as I did last year, see pictures below) and tape your leaves to it.

I fill a bowl with cut-outs of colorful leaves (though you can print free thankful tags here) tied with baker’s twine, put a footstool nearby so little feet can clamber up anytime to bring their thanks. I make it a point to let them interrupt whatever I’m doing to come over and help them add a leaf to the tree when praise strikes their hearts. Yes, child, come boldly to the throne of grace! Ordinary footstools become altars of praise.

We started this a couple of years ago after reading beloved One Thousand Gifts author Ann Voskamp’s posts (look here + here for lots of ideas + free printables!) about making a thanksgiving tree a sweet family tradition, a way to focus our hearts toward Thanksgiving and to remember that this is how He tells us to enter His presence: enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Ps. 100:4).

We carve out a space right in our living room, the gathering room, the room where most of our life happens: the reading of books, the cuddling around the fire, the sibling fights, the teaching + disciplining, the laundry-folding + the vacuuming. Right in the mix of it all, we plant our own little tree and as the leaves are daily all falling outside our windows, this little tree is gaining leaves day by day, until the end of the month when it will be full of color + singing of all His goodness.

Don’t get me wrong. We are not a super-holy family over here. We fail a lot, daily. We argue too much. We worry about money. We lose our tempers. We are too harsh with one another. Our selfishness comes out in a million little ways. Isn’t this the strangest miracle of all, the most beautiful of all? That He beckons us, even us, to come to His table? To feast on His goodness? His mercy + forgiveness for us in Christ Jesus? This little altar isn’t for the self-righteous. It isn’t for the Sunday-best. It’s for the meek. The ones who know they are unworthy, dirty. Undeserving. The ones who know that the good things alone aren’t grace, but that all is grace. It’s for the penitent. It’s for the failing + flailing families, just like ours.

And that’s reason for the highest praise of all. God giving us the greatest gift when we are least deserving!

Our challenge for each other this year is to find new things every day to praise Him for (last year most of our tags said “cars” + “lights”), and thus teaching our kids + ourselves to hunt for His manifold grace.

It’s not too late to start your own Thanksgiving tree. It’s never too late to give thanks! Here are some pics from our “tree” last year.

Even in the midst of hard weeks, even in spite of our unholy moments, we want to remember we can come + give thanks.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess. 5:18)

Listening For His Voice

November 8, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

Colossians 1:9-12 MSG

Listening for His Voice

November 1, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Isreal sought for rest,
the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!”

(Jeremiah 31:2-4)

What I learned in October

October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 MarthaKimball2 Comments

I’m linking up this month with Emily Freeman to share what I’ve learned in the past 30-ish days, whether silly or profound. I love this link up because a) I love Emily and b) I firmly believe we all should be lifelong learners. It’s time to start paying closer attention to what we are learning as we go, and so here’s a few things I learned in October:

1. Making your own Almond Milk is actually super easy (and makes you feel really cool.)

With my sweet 4-year-old daughter’s recent Celiacs diagnosis, our relatively healthy eating habits have had to improve and change pretty drastically. Although we haven’t gone completely dairy-free, we are trying to drink less dairy in general and I’m cooking/baking more with nut milks to hopefully aid in Phoebe’s gut health + healing (dairy is known to cause gut inflammation). I’ve been using a few different grain-free/gluten-free cookbooks to help us make diet changes, and all of them have homemade nut milk recipes, which I finally gave a try. You guys, it seems so intimidating but honestly it’s so easy!

All you need is a blender of any sort and a cheesecloth (or you can buy a nut milk bag for under $10 or less. I use this one). Soak one cup of raw almonds or cashews in a bowl of water overnight (almonds 8-12 hrs, cashews 4 hrs.) In the morning drain + rinse the nuts thoroughly (soaking help the nuts to release phytic acid which makes them much more digestible for sensitive tummies), then put them in your blender with 4 c. of water (or coconut water for a twist!) and blend for about a minute. Strain through cheesecloth or milk bag into container and drink. So easy, no additives and tastes a hundred times better than store bought. If you want a sweeter milk or vanilla flavored, add 2-3 pitted medjool dates, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla before you blend. Seriously tastes like dessert. Lasts for about a week in your fridge. Next best part is that you can take the nutty pulp that you strained out of the water, spread it out on a parchment lined baking sheet and dehydrate it in the oven on like 200 degrees for 4 hrs or so and have essentially almond flour, or toss the dried clusters into your granola. So fun!

(Also, because someone asked when I posted this pic to instagram, I bought the vintage glass milk bottle here.)

2. The blower is my favorite tool.

Is it considered a tool? I don’t know. I guess it was probably in my genes to love the Blower because I have countless pictures of my mom with a blower in hand during our growing up years. It’s so easy to use, and when I’ve finished, I sort of feel like I vacuumed the driveway. No leaves on the pavement is the equivalent of those clean vacuum lines on the carpet. Yes. And, it takes me like 10 minutes.

3. I learned how to knit!

I’ve probably attempted learning a couple of times, but this month an old friend of mine from high school days came over + spent the morning with me working on it and I’ve been practicing and I think it’s clicked! I started to get in the swing of it and find myself wanting to take it with me everywhere and get a few more rows in! I’m working on a hat for Philippa with a pretty easy beginner pattern that my friend Jennifer recommended. I’ve had to learn to fix dropped stitches and unknitting when I was doing the wrong stitch, and it’s super satisfying to figure it out and see progress! I’m loving it! Teach me all the knitting things! Next up will be learning cables + knitting in the round, hopefully!

4. Taking high doses of Vitamin B1 may repel mosquitoes.

As a person who is well-loved by any mosquito within range, this is huge news. I know summer is over, folks, but tuck this piece of ifo in your pocket for next year! I love being outside but can’t stand being covered in bites, and I’m not a huge fan of using bug spray. So next year, I am for sure trying this! Taking extra Vitamin B1 essentially causes your body to secrete it through your skin, which causes an odor that mosquitoes don’t like. Eating more garlic can also help.

5. There really is a safe place to ask the question: Am I Beautiful?

I learned that all the old painful wounds from the past really can be ripe ground for sowing lessons in our kids’ hearts. God wastes nothing, and if we will allow Him, He can pull up an old hurt any old time and tend to it. He may even gently show us that He entrusted to us a number of experiences in our past that taught us something, whether for good or ill, that we can redeem, in part, by passing on the lesson. I shared this month about one time in my early teens when I tried out for a modeling agency and I wrote a letter for my daughter about it here. If you’ve ever struggled with the question of beauty, or ever been told you don’t make the cut, I hope these words might encourage you, too.

6. Placing a teal pumpkin on your porch alerts trick-or-treaters that you are giving away allergen-free treats!

Disclaimer: we are not huge Halloween fans. But we really aren’t horribly against it either. For us, it’s fun to let the kids dress up and to take them out and meet some of our neighbors who otherwise would never open their doors to us. However, with Phoebe’s recent diagnosis, trick-or-treating is basically no longer an option. Right now, in the early phases of her diagnosis, every new thing she realizes she can no longer do is like another wound. That’s why hearing this on the news made me really happy! With allergies as rampant as they are today, this makes a lot of sense. And it can go a long way in making someone feel included who normally can’t participate. Even if you don’t have kids with allergies or food sensitivities, what an awesome way to bless those who do! Paint a pumpkin teal + set it on your porch + make a kid’s day!

7. Jewel dated Sean Penn before she was famous.

Now, I am probably the last person to ever know any “pop” trivia. I really am clueless. But reading Jewel’s recently published memoir this month, I was surprised to learn she dated Sean Penn in her early days before she was “discovered.” I was a huge Jewel fan in my middle school/high school days, I read everything she wrote + yet I actually learned a ton about her in reading this book. I shared a little more about that here.

What about you? What lessons, big or small, have you learned this past month?

**I use some affiliate links in this post, which helps support our family + this blog, at no extra cost to you! I never recommend products that my family doesn’t love + wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend anyway!

Where to go with your Question

October 21, 2015October 22, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

“You see, every little girl–and every little boy–is asking one fundamental question. But they are different questions, depending on whether you are a little boy or a little girl…Little girls want to know, Am I lovely? The twirling skirts, the dress up, the longing to be pretty and to be seen–that is what that’s all about. We are seeking an answer to our Question.”
(Stasi Eldredge, Captivating)

You are beautiful, my girl. Beautiful. You take my breath away.

I watch you dance in the sun, twirling in the twirliest dress you can find, usually with a few tutus layered underneath to make it more poofy. I delight in you, my girl. I delight in the fact that right now, you are unashamed in your asking of the question: am I beautiful? Do you delight in me?

And, oh, yes I do. You are stunningly beautiful in my eyes, but you are a world of other things too. You are the kindest and most sweet-hearted girl I have ever met. You literally bubble over with love, always so happy to see others, taking time to talk with each person you see. You love people, love to play with others, love to make others feel welcome. You can’t stand to see someone cry without running to hug and comfort them. You are incredibly creative and imaginative. You are so strong physically, especially for being so much smaller than other girls your age. You love to read more than any other person I know, and I treasure each time you ask me to sit and read with you. (I hope this never changes!) You forgive easily. You tell the truth. You love to help.

All these things are surely part of the reason I look at you and see such beauty, because we are not just our physical bodies, and we are not just our souls. For some reason, in His wisdom God saw fit to enclose our beautiful souls in a physical form. We don’t get to choose so many things about ourselves, physically, spiritually, emotionally. We only get to choose whether we will accept who God has made us to be, or deny it and suppress it and fight it.

My dear sweet girl, today I wanted to tell you a little story. A story from my growing up years, the painful, hard and awkward years transitioning from being a little girl to a woman. I think I was in middle school at the time, 8th or 9th grade. My older sister was everything to me. Four years older than me, she was so cool, beautiful, creative, everything I wanted to be. I always compared myself to her. What was more difficult was when others compared me to her. She was more outgoing, funny, likeable. I was quieter, shy, never knew what to say when put on the spot. I hated the spotlight (still do). Often I craved the attention she recieved, or the love really, because that’s how I translated it. She was so beautiful and I felt so plain. Ordinary.

I was in 8th or 9th grade. My older sister had heard some big modeling agency was holding a model search in our town, and she wanted to go try out. I don’t remember all the details, but I remember that my mom was going to take her, and I went to tag along. I don’t remember if I wanted to go or if mom just suggested I come along. I wasn’t planning on trying out, of course. You see, I already believed deep down that I was plain. In my eyes, my sister was beautiful, but next to her I was just plain, ordinary, common. There wasn’t even a thought in my heart to ever try out for a modeling career. But then we were there, and my mom was like, “why don’t you go, too?” Who knows what her reasoning was, but I know she was only doing what she could to be the best mom she knew to be. Hope dies slowly in the human heart, and for some reason, even after we’ve convinced ourselves we don’t care about that thing anymore, something comes along that wakes our desire up again…

(The rest of this post is over on my new friend Lauren‘s blog today! Hop over there to read the rest of it.)

Quiet

October 11, 2015October 11, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

Hey faithful readers!

This little blog has been and will be a bit quiet this week due to some unexpected computer problems (always the best, right?!). I’ll be posting beach pics and a contribution to a friend’s blog as soon as we get our desktop back from the apple shop! As always, thanks so much for reading along here + for your patience! Happy weekending!

Deeply Rooted

September 2, 2015September 2, 2015 MarthaKimball4 Comments

I’m a book person. If you’ve read here for very long at all, you already know this. I’m also a mail person. I’m pretty sure I was the (self) designated “mail-retriever” for my family when I was growing up, but even today, I look forward to checking the mailbox daily. I review books monthly and love the surprise of finding some fun mail!

Somewhere through the tangled web of Instagram I discovered Deeply Rooted Magazine. I emailed the editor and asked if they would be open to sending me a free copy of the magazine in exchange for a review. She responded quickly and kindly with a code for a free digital download of the latest issue, Light. I settled in with a cup of tea + honey from my Grandpa’s bees in Ontario.

As I initially checked it out, being the resource dweeb that I am, it deeply resonated with me. There is a lot of fluff being produced in the Christian market, a lot of mediocre art. Sometimes it seems things are being produced simply for the profit that will be generated. Sometimes it seems like plain old materialism with a shiny Christian veneer. This magazine stands out as something different, a beautiful marriage between the heart, the soul + the mind.

Is there a needful place for such a work, you might ask? I love good, helpful resources as much as the next girl. I love beautiful art. I love things that have meaning. I think we need these “helps,” things that echo Eden to us: haunting photography, words that help us digest the Scriptures and see how God’s Word speaks to our present every-day lives. Recipes that encourage creativity and exploration and great enjoyment in food. I don’t believe the Christian life was meant to be drab and stark and void. I don’t believe our God is like we often assume or fear Him to be, asking us to empty ourselves of all desires. I don’t believe our God is so small. Instead, I think He gave us desire, He gave us hunger, that we might grope, that we might reach, that we might seek, that we might find Him, the satisfaction of all desire. While our desires can serve to stumble us, can lead us to all manner of idols, our desires can also point us toward Home, toward the One we were made for and all the ways He intends to fulfill us. I think of these words by Jonathon Edwards:

“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.”

And these words by Augustine:

“This is how our souls climb out of their weariness toward You and cease to lean on those things which You have created. We pass through them to You, Lord God, who created them in a marvelous way.”

God has given us richly all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 4:4) but we are not to enjoy them as ends to themselves. I think as Christians we have often erred greatly on the side of safety here, being so careful to not overmuch enjoy the pleasures of earth and human life out of fear of idolatry or “loving the world.” What could be lost, though, when we stay safe + kill desire? Could it be possible that if we avert out eyes from all the “scattered beams” we miss the brilliance of the Sun? To be sure, we must be diligent to delicately protect our hearts and souls from entanglement in the things of the world, to keep our hearts from the subtle shift from enjoyment to worship. As much as we are able to enjoy a thing and find that thing pointing us to a greater and deeper enjoyment of God, that thing is serving its purpose as a scattered beam. It is a ray of glorious heavenly light, echoing of a far country, a Kingdom we were meant for, a life that awaits us, a Savior who alone satisfies us.

This is what I love about the Deeply Rooted Magazine, “a visually appealing Christian women’s magazine with deep, theological content.” A celebration of all of life. Piercing theological truth to exult your soul. Photography that moves. Color and mood and hand-drawn art as well as DIY projects. Seasonal recipes. A magazine focusing on all the aspects of biblical womanhood ranging from singleness to marriage, motherhood, child-rearing, career + vocation, and our individual place before God. Contributions from artists, pastors, and real women operating in various roles.

Their mission?

“To encourage, educate, and inspire Christ-following women into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ so they may become deeply rooted in their faith.”

Here are some snapshots of the magazine via my screen (so, sorry the quality is not the best) and you can preview this issue in full HERE.

Deeply Rooted Magazine is a quarterly, 136 page* publication printed on high-quality, paper. The magazine is aesthetically different than other Christian publications on the market. Due to its clean design, high standards for presentation, and sheer amount of carefully curated content, Deeply Rooted Magazine transitions from coffee table centerpiece to devotional companion to go-to recipe and DIY resource.

Each magazine is divided into six categories expressing several of the different roles of womanhood:

CHRIST-FOLLOWER:Christian Living (The role of a Christ-follower is woven throughout all categories. These are relationship with God-specific articles)
HELPMATE:Marriage and Preparation for Marriage
KEEPER OF THE HOME:Homemaking and Recipes
MOTHER:Parenting
CREATOR:Artist Interviews, DIY’s, and Creative Living
INDIVIDUAL:Career, Health & Beauty, Hobbies, Service, Etc.

(This quote taken from their website.)

Each printed magazine is $20 and each digital issue is $4, and subscribers save $2 off each printed issue. This magazine is most likely appealing to the younger generation of Christ-following women, and to all who are young in heart. A beautiful work and one I hope to be reading more of very soon!

Simply Tuesday Party!!!

August 26, 2015 MarthaKimball9 Comments

So, this past weekend, this happened:

Yes, that’s right. For those of you who don’t know, that’s The Nester‘s white barn!!! I’m glad I took pictures because otherwise I might be tempted to believe this was just a beautiful dream. I won two tickets (for me + 1 friend) to this party at Myquillyn’s house/barn to celebrate the release of Emily Freeman‘s 4th book, Simply Tuesday. What an incredible and surreal experience this was! I wanted to take a hundred pictures but I also wanted to a.) not be weird and b.) savor this experience to the full.

My friend, Katie, and I relished the chance to pull away from our kiddos and make the drive from the mountains of Asheville, NC to… well, IKEA first + foremost. I mean, if you have to drive anywhere near Charlotte, NC you had best get yourself to Ikea! It was so much fun shopping with my friend and having time to talk and catch up without six little children running wild around us. We drove on from Charlotte to Midland, NC, driving farther and farther from the bustle and hustle of the noisy city + big interstates to the quiet and small country roads. Already we were feeling a welcome to “celebrate our smallness.” We pulled onto the property, marked only by a small wooden arrow with a breath of flowers and white letters spelling, “Barn.” Giggly and giddy we were joking about how actually sort of crazy strange this was and maybe we should just turn around and head home. We parked on the lawn in front of the Nester’s house, quietly freaking out in the car (especially when I saw Annie Downs just hanging out by the parking sign), directed to our spot by the Nester’s husband and sons.

It took a lot of brave to step out of the car into this evening. As much as I have been impacted and literally changed by Emily Freeman’s words in her last book, A Million Little Ways, as eager as I was to celebrate this new release and engage in the content, it is scary for an introvert to go to this kind of thing. Right away walking up to the Barn, Emily was there, chatting with guests. Her kiddos and husband were walking around. I think Myquillyn was the first to greet us and welcome us, pointing out bathrooms to us. We told her we couldn’t believe how brave she is to open her home to total strangers like this, and she happily told us how everyone they’ve met off of the internet has been wonderful. (You guys, they are the real deal. Just exactly how they seem to be on the internet. Isn’t that the best?!)

This is the moment when I started to feel my nerves melt away: when Emily greeted us with such exuberant and real joy, told us what to expect for the evening, and prayed over the meal we would share together, praying because “we all love Jesus here.” A breath of relief.. yes, we are all family here. There is already this “knowing” between us, this love of words, this love of our Savior. This desire for His kingdom come.

The Nester’s farmhouse.. dreamy and just like she shows it to be in her pictures (I don’t know why that always surprises us).

Dinner provided by this food truck, Small Potatoes, because of course. Small.

I’m thankful the photographer friend of Emily’s floating around that evening offered to snap this shot of Katie and I!

We gathered outside amongst cicadas and lightning bugs and strings of lights. Then Emily picked up her book and began to read about the Kingdom, about sitting in the presence of Christ in our smallness. This was the moment when I felt at home, when my soul began to smile and sing. Somehow in the odd peculiarity of it all, these are my people, this is my place.

Music fell over us from fingers strumming guitars, voices singing out about ordinary Tuesdays and the collision of the Kingdom of God with earth.

Then we lined up to meet Emily + have her sign our books as the light faded and night settled upon us. This was such a sweet moment, just a quiet and simple moment and yet heavy with meaning for me. Emily’s words were the ones that really set me free to dream and to live more artfully in all that I do. I told her this as we met and as she signed my book. Just a brief moment in time when you want to fill 30 seconds with a million words of thanks.

Then the awkward moment when Emily asked if we wanted to get our picture with her and I said “No, it’s okay.” I mean, really?! What is wrong with me?!! (Laughing) If you’re reading this Emily, YES I wanted a picture but I for some reason didn’t think anyone was nearby to take it and I thought it might be too dark? Sorry for the awkward moment.

(Yes, I asked her to sign AMLW because my copy of Simply Tuesday hadn’t arrived yet.)

For more info about Emily’s latest book (I am reading it currently and you won’t be disappointed!) click here for some videos and more info: http://emilypfreeman.com/simply-tuesday/

Also if you’re on Instagram, check out the happiest hashtag on the internet #itssimplytuesday, where fellow journeyers celebrate the small moments of our Tuesdays.

Thank you to Emily Freeman + Myquillyn for giving us such a wonderful evening, for sharing your gifts so generously with us! It was truly incredible to meet you both.

Hanging on

August 18, 2015 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

Last week around this time I was scurrying to pack up for a quick little two day-ish visit to one my long-time best college girlfriend’s house in Tennessee. To my shame, I haven’t made the trek to visit her in probably 3 or so years, though she has graciously come to visit me or meet up somewhere multiple times since then. The busyness of these days, the super tight budget that makes a few hours drive a costly luxury–these are the things that have kept me away. Then one day you realize you hardly talk anymore, and it’s okay because you know you have a long stretch of history to draw from and that you will pick up again where you left off. Even still, life is whirring by, some of our children are school-aged, and the easy on-a-whim hang outs are becoming harder. I think as I’ve gotten into these years of parenting a handful of little ones I’ve come to realize how difficult it seems to be to make new friends. I’m not giving up on it, but the challenge has certainly made me treasure my old friendships more and long to do a better job keeping up with them. I’m sure it’s the introvert in me, but I’d rather have a few friendships that go deep than to have my arms stretched full wide with a bunch of shallow ones. Anyway, these days are often lonely and can leave you bewildered wondering who are the friends who are really in the trenches with you? Who you can call or text and ask for prayer in a moment of weakness, desperation, darkness, or celebration? Who are the friends who will stand by you when you are at your worst and gently call you back to the truth? Who are the ones who will be brave and faithful enough to speak words that feel a whole lot like wounds that later prove to be kisses? These are the friends I want to hold on to. The ones I want to make space in the budget for. These are the ones I hope to be roomies with again one day, when we are old widows clinging to rickety walkers, after we’ve buried husbands and kissed great-grandchildren’s newborn skin. These years with young ones will stretch our friendships to the max, but I hope we can always pick up again and find our way back to each other. It was a true gift to spend this time with my sweet friend and her three girls. What a profound wonder to see our little ones all playing together, to share hearts late into the night as we barely hold our eyes open. She sent me off on Thursday with a travel mug full of fresh hot coffee, and in every way I felt full. Hang on to your friends, girls. It’s so worthwhile.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: