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my boy turns eight.
Today we are celebrating Bergen Hawkeye Norton. A boy whose life has changed ours. A boy who has introduced our entire family to bird watching and helped encourage us to continue our good food journey. A passionate little man whose feelings are more sensitive than his knees. A fellow with a tendency to follow. A cuddler and a grinner. I love him. Every baby changes the face of a family. But when I met Bergen Hawkeye, a baby whose name was chosen before we had even officially decided we wanted to have children, I knew immediately my heart was tied to his in a way I couldn’t explain. I felt…
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spring.
“Let us lie in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see.”
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when I need to remember
Sometimes I re-read my all own stuff. Because I forget. I forget and then I forget some more. I’m riduclous like that. I forget that I’ve struggled through the same problems. That I didn’t die. I forget that God was sufficient. That the worst case scenario didn’t happen. That I’m still here. Or that the worst case scenario did happen. And I’m still here. And this post comes to my mind most frequently. The one that helps me focus on The Right Now and The Forever.
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in pictures …
I think everyone in our home is finally feeling better. (Mostly. Thank goodness. It’s been rough.) Friday we headed out on our first group hike of the season. Moore’s Cove Falls in the Pisgah National Forest. London and Mosely stayed behind – they were better but not well enough to hike. It was an easy trail, a beautiful day, a lovely waterfall and great hiking companions. Except one. This guy kind of had a bad attitude. (That’s a kind of nice way to say it.) But trying out a new-to-us ice cream place on the way out helped his spirits a little. (That is, until he dropped his ice cream…
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My Pinterest Test Kitchen. Cook This: Quinoa Cakes
We have been making this recipe since I first stumbled (was pulled along) into the world of Pinterest. In fact, I figured I had written a post about it, but my extensive (read: two and a half minute) search of my blog reveals that I have not. Quinoa Cakes. Growing up I only knew a couple of side dishes – white rice, instant mashed potatoes. Um. Yep. That’s all I really remember eating from the plate beside our standard beef offering and peas or corn. I can’t remember when I first tried quinoa. But I know it’s changed our family’s diet completely. I think it’s our go-to grain. (We’ve tried…
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Dear Wendell Berry. I hope you read this.
Dear Wendell Berry, If my eyes are blood-shot tomorrow morning and I’m unable to stay awake during breakfast with my six children, it is your fault. If I sell all I possess in order to purchase back the farm on which I grow up, I hold you responsible. I don’t like to make extreme statements, but I have just finished what might become my favorite book of all time, beating out long-standing favorites Fair and Tender Ladies and To Kill A Mockingbird. I also could be delusional. Perhaps I’ll be thinking more clearly in the morning. The later morning, I should clarify, as it is currently 1:51 a.m. and I…
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Go Ahead and Instagram Your “Perfect” Life
There’s a very popular article making its way around the Internet lately. It’s called Stop Instagramming Your Perfect Life. Of course, if you’re my dad – you don’t even know what Instagram is so that article (and probably this post) are completely irrelevant. And that’s okay. Maybe they should both be irrelevant anyway. I think the writer made some valid points. In fact, maybe we would even agree on a lot of this if we were chatting face to face. If you haven’t read it – feel free to do that now. Shauna Niequist, the author, declares us to be negatively influenced by the practice of most Facebook and Instagram…
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last weekend I was sick. and I thought about this.
When I’m really sick I think about my momma. When I’m really happy I think about her too. Isn’t that sort of funny? Who doesn’t think about their momma during the highs and the lows of every day existence? People whose mommas live down the street. Human nature is a curious state. Rich people don’t usually spend their days thinking about money. And poor people think about it all the time. Healthy people aren’t spending afternoons pondering illness but sick people think obsessively about getting better. When I was sick recently here’s what I was thinking about my mother. She suffered. Oh, goodness. How she suffered. I was lying in…
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is this summer?
an ode to not making time to write: and it’s not okay
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After: 5 Minute Friday
I’ve been reading this blog by Lisa-Jo for a handful of years. And for at least the past year every Friday she has offered an invitation to write a five minute blog post from a specific prompt. I’ve never participated before. I don’t know why. Or why not. But I feel like joining this week. The prompt is “after” and the challenge is to write with no editing or correcting for five minutes only. And when five minutes is reached, stop typing. (Sounds so deceptively simple.) After. After September she will be gone. Her room will be empty. Her bed will be made. And she won’t be sleeping in it.…
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These Is My Words: A Book Review
five finds friday
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questions and answers.
Some of my favorite posts in the past have been the interviews with my children. It is possible that the interviews are primarily adorable to me and me alone. And I’m okay with that. I like hearing their answers to my questions and listening as they really ponder how they feel and what they think about anything I ask. And it’s been a reaalllly long time since I’ve lured a kid in by my writing side and asked them a handful of questions. Too long, in fact. Welcome to ….. the return of The Interview. The interview with the child who has been interviewed most frequently, because she adores an…
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Keigley CAMPaign: Central, South Carolina
If you stay at one campsite long enough without day hikes planned and you aren’t propped up beside a stream or a lake and all you have is earth and sun and grass and one another and time, sweet time, something lovely happens. You get silly. You get relaxed. You play games and you make up somethings out of nothings. Those are absolutely some of my favorite moments. Such as this. Nightfall. Chairs pulled up around the blazing fire and quiet talk. Littlest sitting in big sister’s lap and the kids having conversations with the sparks from the fire. Chatting to the tiny red blazes drifting into space. Congratulating the…
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I Can’t Believe I Had To Say This
“Son, I don’t actually mind if you pee in the yard. But – please – don’t pee on the house.”
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40. a list. call me copycat.
This summer I will be forced to say farewell to my thirties. It’s been a mixed bag really. That decade. But I don’t feel nostalgic or reminiscent tonight. (We all know I’ll feel that way in spades later. I’ll wait til then to write that junk. I need all the light hearted I can get for now.) Anywho. Forty is a’knocking at the door and I’m stealing an idea or two to make it seem a little more palatable for me. My friend hannaH just celebrated twenty-nine and she rang in her new number by challenging herself to complete twenty-nine tasks prior to her birthday. I helped her make the…
