The Streetpoet

The day has finally come. Why does it feel so normal? It shouldn’t. My Daddy’s been gone for ten years today. I thought it would feel different somehow, but it doesn’t. The night he died I remember a few of the swirling thoughts and fears racing through my head, and one of them was about today. “What will life look like ten years from now?”It was an impossible thought, the future looked so dark, so bleak, and terribly scary that night my world finally shattered. It had been threateningly cracked before, but the tinkling sound of falling, shattered hope startled me into the arms of my Heavenly Father. It was there that I found new hope, true comfort, and a peace for the future. “He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul. “He is FAITHFUL!

Today Peter and I have been married for seven years! My husband has been an instrument of healing in my life, gently helping me put the pieces back together, and making something much, much better than it was. I never doubted God’s plan for brokenness in my life because Daddy showed me the purpose and the joy in it.  But my vision was blurred by tears and I could not see the beautiful design coming together. A wife and a mother is all I ever wanted to be when I was little, and that is exactly the life God has given me. In marriage I have found the safety in which to heal and grow, and in motherhood I have found what Donna so well described as “accelerated sanctification”. I am not the same person as I was seven years ago when I became Peter’s wife. God is still teaching me to trust Him in all things, and the journey continues!

I love you, Peter! Happy Anniversary!

Click here to listen to a song that speaks my heart today. (It runs a little too long and the last part is freaky, please ignore.)

I love cool weather. I love the Autumn. We have a few fruit trees that actually turn colors and lose their leaves and that makes it feel more like Fall for me. The rainy season has it’s joys and challenges for me. Today we enjoyed a pot of bean and barley soup with biscuits for dinner, we stood outside and just BREATHED in the perfume of the clean earth and crisp air, and got to snuggle up together with warm blankets and tea. Then there’s the mud coming in, not only on three boys but the dog, too. 🙂

We have been in need of some updated pics of our precious Rebekah Noel, so her mommy brought her over Friday for a mini shoot. What a fun challenge it is to photograph infants! Jerome was the ticket to the biggest smiles on her face that I have seen! She just kept cooing and smiling at him and we got some great photos. Thanks for making the effort to come over, Noel! Love you, girls!

I don’t take my boys to other people’s houses very often, not because they don’t play well, it’s just that they know their boundaries here and there is plenty of room to play!

I’m so blessed to have friends who are willing to come to us and spend an afternoon visiting and getting dirty. 🙂 Laura brought Sienna on Thursday with a change of clothes and she played with the boys literally all afternoon and absolutely made our day! It was so nice to have some time catching up with my friend! Thank you, Laura and Sienna, for spending your day with us!

Laura has a sweet blog post about her afternoon with pictures here. 

It was Tuesday morning and we were at Jerome’s first Taekwondo lesson with his homeschooling buddies when my phone rang and I saw it was my Katy friend calling me. I was very excited because I knew this wasn’t a phone call to chat, she was in California for a few short days, and I was going to get to see her!!! But I had to wait to call her because I had to hold Ian through the whole lesson, otherwise there would have been a one year old baby playing on the sacred mat and putting hand prints all over the crystal clear mirrors. Ugh, my shoulders still hurt! And keeping him quiet is almost impossible. So I called her as soon as we got home and could hardly contain myself for excitement because she was on her way to see us! She stayed the whole day and it seriously felt like she had never moved away to Washington. She’s so good about calling me and keeping in touch that we had no catch up to do, just a day to spend together!

Thank you so much, Katy, for your friendship, your love, and for driving down to see us!