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Gleaning With The Society of St. Andrew
We have spent past seasons of our lives sustained by the support of generous friends and family. We are currently in a season of community care and absolute dependence on God for our daily bread. Certain types of suffering bring particular scripture closer and more vividly to mind. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable…
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On the Road: George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Back in July we had the privilege of scooting up to Washington DC after our annual July Fourth pilgrimage. Mainly we wanted to visit my brother and his family. One day there, however, we grabbed my sister-in-law and we all hopped right off to Mount Vernon, home place of the first president. (And conveniently close to my brother’s home.) I had the privilege of reviewing the visit for Kidding Around Greenville and they recently shared the post on their website. I thought about just linking up that post only, but frankly, I wanted to share lots more pictures than they had space for so I am going to include the…
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The Adventure Center of Asheville
Last week the kids and I took the kind of adventure you just want to share with everyone you know. (You guys – it is just so fun to have big kids!) This adventure involved helmets and heights and wires and harnesses and conquering fears and pulling together as a team. And it was pretty close to home too. The Adventure Center of Asheville is just a couple of minutes from downtown Asheville, NC. As soon as I heard about their brand new KidZip, the first zip line in the country to be built especially for kids ages 4 to 10, I wanted to try it with my kiddos. (Our family…
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the forty-secondth one.
Last week (maybe the week before – who is keeping track of the days anyway?) was my birthday. I decided if there was ever a year for me to take matters into my own hands for my birthday celebrating, this was the year. When the kids asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday my answer was immediate. “I want to go find that Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and see some giant trees. And. I want all of your guys to go with me and be happy about it.” And so we did. And so they were. Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is a spot I have held in my imagination…
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bewildered in the best sort of way.
Daniel Boone is quoted as saying, I have never been lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. I hear you Dan’l. I hear you. Virginia. She’s a beauty. But she’ll rip a hole in your schedule and shift your plans and change your days. And all you’ll do is ride the wave and adjust accordingly. (And not even feel that she’s a burden. You’ll sing her praises and start looking at your calendar for days when you can return to the Motherland.)
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Gray Mountain Farm
You guys. We are at the farm. The beautiful lovely Virginia farm. Where the mountains ensconce you and the framily embraces you and the mosquitoes bite you and the wireless signal evades you and the Internet still doesn’t trespass onto the property. So I just can’t easily share the good life we are living on these gorgeous acres across the wires on this blog. And that is alright. Just picture us all tubing down a muddy river. Working on endless food prep in a continual prep-cook-serve-eat-clean cycle all the day long. Going on little hikes and gator rides. Feasting on different people’s specialty meals and desserts. Sharing long held, over…
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a night out
I think it was high school. And it was because of my older brother Danny. I heard this band called the Indigo Girls. I have loved, admired, respected their music ever since. Two women who sing with such incredibly beautiful harmony. And their lyrics. My word – their lyrics have been defining bits and pieces of my life for more than two decades. When I saw that these women, still writing and singing songs together after all these years, were coming to Asheville’s Orange Peel for a show, I just had to drive up to see them. Concerts aren’t too much fun alone. I was so glad that I was able…
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The Texas Tally
Sometimes when we get together we end up counting things that happen – and we can barely keep up. $20.26 spent on candy at Mom and Pop’s Candy Store. 4,321 times that 8 children asked, “Can we have another piece of candy?” 13,241 steps Emma took today according to her FitBit. 6 times Emma told the kids, “Just one more picture.” 1 batch of delicious cake-like brownies Mosely made from scratch. 4 nights in a row that Jurassic Park has been on television. 18 times that Miller said, “No – you may not kiss me.” 13 door bell rings from neighbors wanting to play. 9 meatballs consumed by Bergen at…
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Texas ya’ll.
Texas is hot. It’s also in a different time zone. (But of course everyone knows that – right?) And it’s home to one of my favorite families and my favorite Emma. We have eight kids all together here and we are enjoying the high volume chattering and the endless snack consumption and the book reading and good times. We’ve been using incentives to encourage them to clean up – like offering them tokens that they can later exchange to buy popcorn with toppings for movie night. The boys ended their baseball seasons this weekend and we were able to watch a couple of games and see Colton wear his official…
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a big day. a little post.
Today the kids and I flew to Texas. We flew to Texas, you guys. The kids were incredible. I am so very tired. All I’ve got for you tonight are some photos. I hope that’s enough.
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the blue ghost fairies
Last week I got a text from Hannah telling us what we needed to do on Sunday night. So, you know, we did what Hannah said. And what Hannah said to do was this: Get in your car and drive to DuPont Forest in North Carolina. Get out of your car and walk in the woods. Stand in awe at what you see. We did what Hannah said. We took some friends with us. We drove to DuPont Forest and arrived at 8:30 p.m. We parked at the High Falls parking lot. We wandered to the covered bridge to wait until darkness fell. Hannah went…
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The Dolphin Tour (you should know I was tempted to title this “the dolphin’s tale” but I deemed it too silly)
Everyone agrees about dolphins – right? They’re kind of magical and other worldly. I don’t know exactly why. No trip to the coast ever feels truly complete to me if that trip doesn’t involve at least one dolphin sighting. And when you see that one sleek dolphin rising and falling right in the gigantic ocean, you feel a little amazed. And when you see – like fifty of them – you feel like a lottery winner. On our recent raccoon-filled camping adventure to Edisto Island our family and our friends loaded a boat on a super windy afternoon and tried to follow the rivers and the inlets to catch some…
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The Story of The Hike.
Remember our family camping campaign? Well, ever since we had the idea to camp monthly and to specifically visit South Carolina state parks, Edisto Beach State Park has been high on our list of must-visits. Somehow, though, it never happened. Mainly because it’s a super popular campground, apparently. It is frequently booked and reserving a campsite has been a challenge. Which is why we were extra excited to check Edisto off our list this past weekend. One of the many reasons we had been drawn to Edisto was the description on the state park’s website about the abundance of shells and fossils on the island, as well as one particular…
