Home is where the heart is: the two become one


* This is the first post of a new four-part series.
Essentially, a reader suggested years ago that I might write my birth stories. I thought that was a cool, if not slightly intimidating idea, but I wasn’t sure quite how to go about it. In the end, I’ve settled on writing each story as a letter to each child, which, I hope (!) they might enjoy reading when they are older.

However, it then then it occurred to me that it seemed strange to write birth stories without writing something about the main event that preceded these birth stories and made them possible in the first place. And so I’ve added a short reflection on the day of our marriage. All in all, in writing these posts, I wanted to honour the events of my life that have in essence created a new family.

** Just a reminder – these are birth stories, so consider yourself fairly warned!!

Continue reading Home is where the heart is: the two become one

Memoir of a time in a town: Belonging


(The final post in a six part series about our time in the country)

October 2019

I feel like a child and I feel like I’m home. I feel like I belong.

As much as anyone can feel they belong in a town that isn’t truly theirs.

I suppose I don’t actually belong in the traditional sense in that I wasn’t born here and worse yet – having moved here and put down some roots – we abruptly left to answer other callings.

Continue reading Memoir of a time in a town: Belonging

Memoir of a time in a town: Blue, yellow, red


March 2018

My heart is breaking.

I am going to miss this place so very much.

These big blue skies. A massive happy expanse stretched out high above, day by day. Bright, brilliant and blue. So very blue.

Continue reading Memoir of a time in a town: Blue, yellow, red

Memoir of a time in a town: A parched land


September 2017

The winter here seems so long; the ground so dry and bleached.
I am not used staring at yellowed grass and dormant plants for so many months on end.

I suppose it is no coincidence that, in this harsher landscape, I have first seen and felt the harsher side of life.

Continue reading Memoir of a time in a town: A parched land

Memoir of a time in a town: Flourishing



(A six part series on our recent time in the country)

February 2017

This town has been a refuge: a place to stop and be; a place to grow and gain bearings; to be reconciled to God and to each other; paving the way for new beginnings.

It hasn’t looked like that: day-to-day it’s just been a long, hard slog. Sickness, injury, infertility, isolation.

And yet, here, in this strange hideaway, here we have not diminished but truly, we have grown.

Though it feels as if we have failed – again and again – there is an undeniable prevailing and potential perhaps for flourishing here, yes, even flourishing. For, God’s Holy Spirit is remarkable, to be sure!