friends,
here is a summery sunflower.
i have been sick and my days have been full.
tomorrow is a new day.
there will be coffee and hopefully a less stuffy nose and eyes that don’t run and time for more words.
for now, go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful.
love, e
i have more than one note in my journal referencing the "seventeen people" that "were praying" for us.
i don't want to forget. i want to bear witness.
on the morning of the kids' first day of school here in mid-january, i was telling them that i hoped it would be a great day.
"it will be, mom," maddie told me with great assurance.
"how do you know it will be?" i asked her.
"because," she said, "like seventeen people are praying for us."
i smiled. so did my heart.
and i said, "oh, i think there are more than seventeen."
so. if you are one of our seventeen people, if you have prayed for us through our move and our new starts and getting settled and started and finding our niches, thank you. you are so very dear to us. and your prayers are felt and noticed and have availed much.
continue to go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful, dear ones.
love, e
my husband has been a wildland firefighter for many years. his job has always fascinated me.
this summer, i got the chance to take the basic wildland firefighting classes.
last week, i got to work on an Rx burn {prescribed burn} in an area of the forest that i live next to and work on.
{a little information about prescribed fire :: Rx burns refresh habitats, get rid of invasive species (plants that aren't native to the area - sometimes known as weeds), and make the forest (or grassland) more healthy, ecologically sound, and clean up dead and downed timber and thick duff and understory so there isn't as much to burn if lightning causes a fire. an Rx burn actually saves the native species of plants and animals from an unplanned fire that could burn far too hot and kill everything.}
:: gratitudes ::
learning something new
watching fire and its behavior relative to the ignition pattern, the weather, and the fuel
the pungent {but certainly not acrid} smell of burning sage
the sweet smell of burning ponderosa sap
cleaned up dead and downed
a healthier and safer forest
working with my husband
working hard in the sometimes fresh, sometimes smokey air
all of the interesting people i got to work with
cool, fresh water
the taste of pb&j after some steady walking with a pack and a firefighting tool
riding home at dusk with ben in 2603
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
find other gratitude listers in the comments on michelle's blog
on instagram at #gratitudeweek_2016 and #htfgratitude
at hello there, friend, hosted by beth and Lindsay
and more gratitude from me, here, tomorrow
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful, my friends.
love, e
hello friends,
i just read this.
and now i'm giving myself a little pep talk.
write
write
write
every single bless-ed day, e. every bless-ed day.
and find a place to get the writing published.
write the first few words. and then a few more. followed by a few more. and then get them published, acknowledged.
write. letters. and sometimes a poem. and sometimes a blog post. and words on instagram.
start pulling the poems together . . . putting some of them with some of the pictures i capture. words and pictures together are wonderful. powerful.
edit the essays that i are started. and write the others that are just a few jotted notes.
join all the writing and thoughts about being married to a wildland firefighter.
help people see the beauty through the darkness, through the heart-wrenching, soul-grating harshness that exists in this world. there is a way to share this with more than the wonderful handful of people who read my blog and follow my instagram. seek out the ways.
and you, my friends, what is it that you are passionate about? do a bit of it. every day.
go fiercely and be wonderful.
love, e
these pictures are from the first three weeks of this merry month of may. and i, well, i am writing to you from the other side of a very interesting year, my friends.
wow.
i didn't write for my blog very much during this school year. because. well. because a lot of reasons, i guess. i did collect many, many moments. some moments to treasure and others to ponder in my heart.
i just clicked back and read my post about being hired to teach for this 2015-2016 school year. i was so enthusiastic! i wrote things like we will be getting our awesome on and thirty years of playing school - and counting. i don't think it could get much better! and you know, this year really did go well. over all. even though this year had some very hard parts, i am really glad i had this opportunity. my kiddos and i learned a lot. we learned a lot about our school district. we met a lot of people in our community. we learned a lot about this phenomenon called country school. the hardest parts truly were the best learning experiences.
and my early enthusiasm was rewarded. it carried me through a school year for which i had no prep time, a school year where i pulled all four of my grades together as we went along. when i was really on top of things, i could go week by week. when the time filled up, i worked day by day. and when situations out of my control arose, i hung in there moment by moment. and through it all, we did some pretty stellar projects and programs. all of my students had poetry published this year, my two older students took projects to regional history day and on to state history day. my students and all made new friends through collaborative projects and programs we attended. we did outdoor journals, we read and read, we taught each other, we worked through personality clashes and just plain bad attitudes. we smiled, we laughed, we chewed gum, we listened to music, we drew pictures, we made collages, we combined math, science, history and writing. we celebrated birthdays and we ate cupcakes. there were a lot of moments of getting our awesome on.
and now, on to a new chapter. tomorrow is check-out day for me. and then my growing-up girl and i will celebrate together. then saturday and sunday, our little family will weekend together: that will be fabulous.
monday will be the beginning of a new week. a summertime week. the first week of the rest of may.
go get your awesome on, my friends!
love, e
on friday afternoon, we went up into the the long pines, looking for pasque flowers.
we found blue sky, singing birds, rattling grasshoppers, blooming pasque flowers, smiles, and laughter.
1. morning glories {because a couple weeks ago, i noticed a vine growing in my flower pot, and i almost pulled it out. but i didn't, and now, every morning for more than a week, there is at least one bloom, sometimes two, sometimes blue, sometimes purple, sometimes pink - all from the same vine.}
2. coffee {because i accidentally did an experiment where i didn't drink any coffee for three days and the first two days i had little headaches and the third day i had the most wildly hideously awful headache i had every had. so, obviously i need coffee. also, coffee tastes really, really good.}
3. these friends
{for stopping awhile with us.}
4. our first gratitude board
{because who knew what kinds of things my class would write on the board.}
5. this sunset
{because wow. because ben was home when i took this picture. because we had been on a long drive-about with some mini-hikes mixed in. because the sky out here is forever putting on lovely garments provided by her Creator and showing them off for us.}
ben says we live in a rainforest
the last few days have certainly felt that way
everything stays wet
it rains, the dew is heavy, it is humid
the sky was so heavy and grey today
my eyes told me to put on a comfy sweater and sit on the porch drinking coffee
nope
too warm for that
but shorts and a t
nope
too cool for that
the temperature is unsettling
it's not really warm enough to need airconditioning
but when it is off, the house gets so stuffy
when i turn it on, the house quickly cools down to too cold
in spite of the miserable weather
the flowers that maddie and i planted are vibrant
all four of us are home together
ben and i stocked up on groceries
i got to take a nap while the kids played with friends
we made the most tasty chicken fajitas for supper
the kiddos did the dishes and got to have icecream for a treat
i have almost all my school work done for the week (everything is due by sunday night)
ben found a swimming spot that he is taking us to tomorrow (the sun is forecast to shine!)
and some friends gave us vouchers for tickets to a red hawks game!
we'll be enjoying baseball on monday afternoon
i hope that your weekend has some vibrant and tasty and beautiful moments
be wonderful, my friends ~e
i wish i had a picture of her valentine shopping list . . . she wanted to get special things for each of us. dark chocolate for ben, a funny drinking cup for isaac, and flowers for me. of course, she didn't have enough money in her wallet for all her gifts. and i almost said "no" to the flowers. i don't often spend money on myself. but she was so earnest about her little shopping basket and what she was putting in to it that i couldn't say it. and she said, "look, mom, there are the most flowers in this bunch and they are only 4.98. the other bunch is smaller and it is almost 7 dollars. these are the ones i'll get for you." and here we are, a week to the day later and they are still just as vibrant and cheerful. we have enjoyed them all week. i'm so glad i let her "buy" me a valentine.
First, thank you for the Maddie-love a few days ago. It just feels good to share my thoughts with other moms, gals, ladies, friends . . . And good to know that my six-year-old is in good company, and so am I.
In January I posted some goals for the year. I posted a picture of some dried flowers in the snow with my list.
A week or so later, the mail lady delivered a box from a dear friend of mine, and inside were some "little trees" all framed up on her handmade paper. They are now hanging on my living room wall, where I see them daily and remember to pray for my friend and her husband, and am reminded of my list of goals, and I enjoy the beauty and thoughtfulness in this little piece of art.
I revisited my list in
February.
And here goes another revisit . . .
:: slow down i'm figuring out how to make this work for me :: write at least two short stories :: attempt a collaboration with a friend on a children's book story is written, illustrations are in progress!:: listen to more music we are, all sorts, and it's good :: take more pictures of my children - at least one a week i think i'm doing this :: read through my Bible (i'm in Leviticus) i have read 15 chapters in the past 6 days (i'm in Numbers) :: share something from my reading here each week i need to do this, for me :: finish Maddie's quilt :: finish Ben's quilt (it's still almost done) it's more almost done :: do learning/school work with my children at least 4 days a week (we are off to a really good start!) i'd say we're at a consistent 3 - 4 :: share some tips and tidbits about our learning here :: stay home all day most days maybe this isn't realistic for me . . . and i think that's o.k. :: really utilize my etsy shop ummmmmm . . . :: use less natural gas (keep my fire stoked!) it's warm enough to not worry about this now! :: go on more dates with my husband i'll have fun news about this in a week or two! :: finish going through all those boxes of papers that have followed us for 9 moves in the past 8 years . . . 3 down, 5? to go :: stay in this house! well . . . we'll see about this one . . . :: go on at least 3 camping/backpacking sorts of trips we have 5 penciled in on our calendar :: help Ben loose 40 pounds we are on the way, and it's hard, but good :: organize my blog - so you and I can find things in my old posts i've been working on this, too, slowly, but surely :: write at least one handwritten letter per week i'd say i'm at every other week :: be an encouragement this is an on-going, never-ending goal :: find the bits of sunshine in every day even on those days, even then, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! ::