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!

Staying at home: week 3

School term is done! The relief is real.

The week was a bit of a blur – ups and downs as usual, very busy, still exhausting. But tiny buds of green as we all appear to be beginning to recover from the shock of all the changes.

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Staying at home: week 2

Wildflowers in our local bush track.

Hello! How are you all going out there? I trust that you are managing day to day to adjust to your variation of “the new normal”!

For us, overall, I’d say this week was a slight improvement on last week. Not a huge achievement as last week was pretty chaotic! For most of the week It seemed as though at least one member of the household was crying, tantrum-ing or silently cursing. Thankfully, there were definitely more moments of calm this week.

I thought I’d go with a summary of things that worked for us this week and things that didn’t.

Continue reading Staying at home: week 2