For such a time as this

Oh Lord,

Help me to do exactly that, Live. My. Faith.

With Your power, with joy, with love.

For so long, I have wanted a place like this, to be a blessing for those searching for peace, to share Jesus, who loved us so much that He gave himself to save us.

Let me shine brightly for fellow travelers ❤️ I pray they find You, the giver of life…

Happy April Fools Day Blessings 🙏🏻

Today we are celebrating our anniversary; yes, married on April Fools Day, God truly has a sense of humor! He brought together two of the most unlikely people on the planet and blessed us with so many years (I’m not telling how many, suffice to say, I was a child bride lol!) of friendship, love, laughter, and more than a few tears.

Oh, but He is faithful and I am exceedingly grateful that I fell in love, truly at first sight, with the most wonderful man in the world, my beloved John Cross. Thank heavens, he’s a dog lover too 💜

Happy Easter 🙏🏻

I hope the sun was shining on your day, that He filled your heart with love and the blessings of Spring 🌹

Winter's Slow Departure

The moon rises high.  Snow-lit silver against the early evening midnight blue of an Ohio sky.

The air is still frosted with a biting cold edge, though the calendar says it's late April.  A sweetness I can almost taste is in the slight wind that sweeps up from the lake below. Chilly sounding little frogs fill the air with a hopeful springtime chorus.  "Peep Peep Peep Peep" they echo one another, brave cold little creatures. Poor small things woke from their long winter sleep expecting spring and instead were greeted with freezing cold nights and fitful snowy days, not the warmth they must have hoped for.

Far across the valley, I hear the traffic headed north on the interstate.  When I was a little girl I would lay in my bed, listening to that same traffic and long to be able to hurry along with them.  To go far far away from the sorrows that seemed to fill my small world. I'd listen to the lonely sounds of the big trucks headed north to Canada, past vast storm-tossed Lake Erie, impossibly deep and uncrossable. I've finally come full circle.  After traveling that very interstate southward many years and miles ago, I did find that escape, that new life and went to live on a sea island off the coast of South Carolina for two long sun-filled decades.

But the longing for home never leaves us does it?  Even homes that were often filled with sadness had their measure of love and yes, their need for forgiveness and the mending of deep wounds.  The healing of old scars. And so I came back, fiercely reluctant at first.  Back to the aching cold winters and vibrant green springs.  To the valley where I was raised.  Back to the very home-place and acres that I left long years ago, vowing it the last place on earth I would ever want to live again. 

My parent's old farm, which was large enough to divide me my own spot to build a life, or perhaps rebuild one. I had almost stopped writing this sort of missive. The intricacies of WordPress had almost defeated me and for long months I refused to enter this jungle of technology and instead puttered happily with my peppermint cleaners and sweet puppy's breath. But, I found myself missing my kindest of readers and their sweet words, many of those words full of another kind of healing balm and friendship.  Missing this place to write about the beauty of life and the laughter and yes, the pain. 

The gift of being able to share this country life with the readers I had come to love.  I found myself on nights like this one, thinking about words and writing sentences in my head.  Sentences that would float insistently through my thoughts like forlorn children pleading to be given their own place to soar.

Pondering how to make the scene live for those of you who might also need a breath of sweet spring air to blow away the dust of a long winter past. And so God had a plan, though I fought long with Him about it and declared I knew best. (and not He who knoweth all things)

He had a plan for a new home we would call Foxglove Farm, a new life which has brought more peace and joy than I could have imagined. He had a plan which included the healing that my soul so badly needed, the writing and the friends far and near it has given me and work that brings great joy with the dogs that are part of the fabric of my life. 

Home to the place that I had forgotten I loved with the dearest of all husbands to share it with.

And yes, thankfully too, His plan included one very special small dog named Agatha.

How grateful I am that He led and knew the way and eventually I trusted Him enough to follow.

Keeping Christmas

Sweet puppy breath drifts up and I breathe in amazed at the fragrance, surely one of the most delightful I know.  A puppy tongue reminiscent of softest pink flannel reaches up to give me an adoring kiss.  Looking into the tiny face I fall head over heels in love all over again.

It's a good thing. Being "in dogs" means that for more years than I care to count, Christmas has been an exceedingly busy (dare I say stressful?) time of year. One that I try to treasure but often find myself rushing through, missing the little things that are scattered like small treasures in my path.

The Lord whispers softly to see, really see the gifts all around me.  It's been a difficult year that included the loss of dear friends and then of my mother.  She who finally is free of that worn weary body of hers and is in a place of joy so complete that it defies our ability to comprehend it. I was sorting through things getting ready to decorate for Christmas and these cheery little snowmen stopped me in my tracks.

She would have loved them, with glitter sprinkled liberally and sweet old-fashioned faces.  I sort them gently out of their scattered packages and one of the puppies gives a small whine, ever sensitive and most sympathetic little souls, they are indeed little comfort spaniels and soon a kindly small face is peering worriedly up at me to make sure that all is well.

I breathe a prayer of thanks that mother is safe home in that place where I believe all of those she loved were waiting patiently to welcome her in.  Another prayer of gratitude that I have something worthwhile to set my hands to.

I pray to be a blessing, to bring a measure of beauty and joy to those who need it. One more special thanks for the little creatures I have the privilege to care for and send on their own small journeys of bringing a bit of beauty and love into a world that so badly needs it.

Help me Lord to remember to celebrate your gift of Jesus given to us that first Christmas long long ago. 

Autumn Pansies Shine

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The pansies are making a last brave stand, little faces all bright and full of hope.  I can’t bear to tell them that it’s high time I got the Christmas greens up, that the pumpkins (who they coordinated beautifully with by the way), are long gone to the compost bin where all good pumpkins should go.  And though we’ve had a few hard frosts & the weekend forecast is calling for snow, the pansies bloom on.  

And so, while I’ve brought a few things out to begin to celebrate the season of His birth, I wait patiently for the cycle of the year to unfold, to wake one morning and find my little friends all laid low by the cold that must surely come because even small beauties are important and must be applauded no matter how inconvenient I consider their timing.

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Even the puppies know that the season is changing, they turn little noses up while out playing, for all the world like they are scenting the air, sensing that winter will soon keep them bundled inside, and these lovely long afternoons to play in the sunshine had best be enjoyed to the fullest.

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But for now, the pansies shine bravely on and I applaud their cheery welcome every time I step out the kitchen door, for I will surely miss the little things after winter’s snow has put them in their beds until the spring, yes, I will miss them when they are gone.