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Showing posts from 2014

Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 12, Light My Candle

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There are many things in life that, given the choice, I would much rather not know too much about, intimately. Miscarriage is one of them. And yet, it is not always ours to choose every fork in the road, and when suffering or loss lies in our path, we choose not our circumstances, but our responses... In the grief and emptiness that followed on the heals of my second miscarriage, I did a lot of crying out against the pain of my loss. I asked "Why?" I felt sure that God had all the babies He needed in Heaven and that mine belonged with me. It was during that time that I bought a book on the subject of miscarriage at our little local bookstore that became a very special source of healing for me. The book was,  Light My Candle , Prayers in the Darkness of Miscarriage , by Stephanie J. Leinbach , and the poetry within it's pages gave voice to my grief in a way that I was unable to. Stephanie wrote these heartfelt prayers as her own personal response ...

Remembering...

December is no longer just a time of celebration and song for me. For three years now, it has also been a time when a shadow falls across my heart... And I remember. I remember losing the baby I would never know or name or love more than in thought. I remember it's older sibling gone before. I remember the ache of an empty womb only so recently full of dreams. Miscarriage is no respecter of persons or dates on the calendar. In that December three years ago, I was the mother of two, had already experienced one miscarriage between my healthy pregnancies, and was hoping, praying for life for the child I carried. It was not to be. On Christmas Eve my suspicions were confirmed. All was not well, and my child would not know life on this side of Heaven. I opened a brand-new manger scene from Wesley and watched the children unwrap packages while the knowledge settled in, bitter and consuming. Our sorrow was not in-season. It  was not in-tune with the joyous Christmas song...

A Merry Christmas To All

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Many merry Christmases, Many happy New Years. Unbroken friendships,  Great accumulations of cheerful recollections  And affections on earth, And heaven for us all. (Charles Dickens) Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. Blessings from, Wesley, Joanna, Elasa, Gavin and Parker

Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 11, Shepherds Abiding

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The rain began punctually at 5 o'clock, though few were awake to hear it. It was a gentle rain, rather like a summer shower that had escaped the grip of time or season and wandered into Mitford several months late. By six o'clock, when much of the population of 1,074 was leaving for work in Wesley or Holding or across the Tennessee line, the drops had grown large and heavy, as if weighted with Mercury, and those running to their cars or trucks without umbrellas could feel the distinct smack of each drop. And thus begins Shepherds Abiding , by Jan Karon, which happens to be a favorite Christmas novel written by a favorite author!!! We have the whole cast of characters: Father Tim & Cynthia, Mule Skinner, Dooley, Fred, Emma, Uncle Billy, Sissy and Sassy, J. C. Hogan, Andrew and other favorites. We have Father Tim trying out a new skill so that his wife gets a new creche for Christmas. We have The Grill closing it's doors for keeps on Christmas Eve, leaving...

Certifiable Ways To Save Your Sanity In December

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First of all, if you wish to be sane, don't do as I did! In other words, don't get married on December 9, have baby number one on December 22 and baby number 3 on January 2!!! Those three events on a pile would be a lot without cookie bakes and gift exchanges and Christmas caroling and family gatherings and family letters (oh, wait, that didn't happen this year!) and lot's of extra food and Christmas programs and pork and sauerkraut! With them, it's exciting at best...stressful at worst!!! I don't think we're extravagant with our giving, but we have chosen to celebrate birthdays and Christmas with a few gifts. So...right about now I am trying to organize and buy birthday gifts for two and Christmas gifts for many!!! It can get a little confusing, as in " wait a minute...did I get this for Parker's Christmas or am I saving it for his birthday?"  It can also get a little expensive, although a few of the gifts this year did come from thrif...