medial // caesura

  Sometimes you have to wait & see what it is going to do, but with time you learn the weeds from the flowers.  --Mama Judah I have enjoyed gardening at our new home; the soil is crazy fertile, and the climate is conducive to both flowers and vegetables.  Our corn and green beans shot up with little effort, and I've had jars brimming with zinnias brightening my kitchen all summer long.  Since the gardens were filled with beauty before we moved in, I've had to wait a bit between growing seasons to find out if some perennial planted before my time is sprouting or if the leafy seedlings I'm witnessing with anticipation are just weeds. The news is filled with various perspectives, mostly disturbing with often alarming predictions.  Each news outlet has its own bias about who is to blame for what.  With so much going on right now,  in Iraq and Syria, mysterious plane crashes, escalating tension/violence in Russia and Ukraine, what does one make of i...

Psalm 131:2 "But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." "Mommy, I would say these are the best cookies that you ever made, but every time they get better, so your next ones will be even better than these."  Ben, age 6 What an encourager our youngest son is and so kind-hearted.  I love being around children.  I see why my teacher friends do what they do despite all the red tape, the testing, the headaches.  I see, too, why Jesus said, "Let the children come to me for to such belongs the kingdom of God." This week of Vacation Bible School has been so much fun.  Watching the children enjoy praising God has fed my soul.   As we watched the video of Yancy, the performer, on our VBS DVD, one of the little girls said, "She really loves God, you can tell."  I wonder if that can be said about me by those observing me when I'm not on "display" leading t...

Day 1 is 3 gifts I love :  water, adventure, my boys Knox is petting a brown-banded bamboo shark Day 2 is 3 gifts I've read:       1.  the power of language and beauty from Crow by Ted Hughes the poem  "Crow Goes Hunting" Crow Decided to try words. He imagined some words for the job, a lovely pack-- Clear-eyed, resounding, well-trained, With strong teeth. You could not find a better bred lot. He pointed out the hare and away went the words Resounding. Crow is Crow without fail, but what is a hare? It converted itself to a concrete bunker. The words circled protesting, resounding, Crow turned the words into bombs--they blasted the bunker. The bits of bunker flew up--a flock of starlings Crow turned the words into shotguns, they shot down the starlings. The falling starlings turned to a cloudburst. Crow turned the words into a reservoir, collecting the water. The water turned into an earthquak...

Joy Dare Day 23:  3 gifts found around the table Today as D and I sat around the table at breakfast, we planned our week alone.  Knox and Ben are at Camp Mawmaw-Daddyghee's, where they will have at least one fun activity daily.  So gift #1 is D's excitement over our relatively mundane plans:   playing the guitar, giving him a daily piano lesson, painting furniture, cleaning out the attic, swimming, and shopping.  Not very exciting and certainly not expensive especially since shopping is just the regular grocery trip, but he was happy to hear what we would do together.  To be fair, I had really not considered the painting to be a "together" activity.  I had thought I would paint, and he would watch.  Well, that's not exactly how it happened.  When I was on the phone with Mawmaw to say, "No, Knox and Ben are right.  They are not allowed to have Coca-Cola yet."  D took to painting on his own. I added a little to what he had s...

I know--it's not a word, unless you count the poorly written entries in the online urban dictionary.  But that's what this weekend has been about.  Having 160+ relatives in one place, seeing old pictures, hearing letters written nearly 100 years ago, witnessing how much my third/fourth cousins' children have grown:  such fun! It was amazing to see my Great Aunt "Lig" who is as elegant and ladylike as I remember her 20 years ago.  Not only is she perfectly lucid, she is also witty.  Oh and the food--my uncle and cousin, official grill masters, treated the Martin family to excellent BBQ, and everyone else brought fresh veggies and delicious desserts. What a blessing it was to be there!  Having 11 children certainly has its perks. Friday the 13th was the first time I had driven with the boys by myself from NC to AL which brings me to my Joy Dare Day #14:  three things unexpected, unwanted and unlikely.  Unexpected:  a peaceful ride to AL and a...

“Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there." --A.W. Tozer The decor I enjoy most in the Ellerbe manse kitchen, next to my children's artwork, are the antique magazine grocery ads that my parents acquired from a dealer in Wichita Falls, Texas, many years ago.  There's one Coca-Cola ad that stands out, calling Coke, "The Pause that Refreshes." This weekly blogging is just that for me, a refreshing pause in the week's busy-ness.  This past week, I joined a few friends in Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare--we find three things each day in June for which we are grateful.  Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts was what inspired this blog in the first place .  I've been sharing June's list on Facebook as a way to testify to the things around me and the wonderful Creator responsible for my joy.  After all, it is in the little things that we often find the most joy. Like when we mentioned gardening and where we would put ou...

Our middle son Knox is a voracious reader.  He reminds me of myself when I was a few years older than he is now, but with one major difference.  After he reads a few pages of a new book to ensure that he will like it, he reads the last few pages.  That is something I would never do.  I don't even want to finish reading a good book; knowing how it ends would spoil the whole delightful process. This habit of his makes me think of that moment in the movie When Harry Met Sally by the director Nora Ephron who died today at age 71, (I am not recommending this movie by including it here, but this scene is apropros.  :) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gow9u1ol8a8   Afraid our 8 year old might have a dark side, I ask why he reads the ending first.  Knox replies that he didn't want to waste time reading a book if he didn't like how it would end. I discovered this habit when he had stopped reading The Summer of Riley about a boy and a dog because it was too...