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Exploring the Wild & Beautiful Places of Faith

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She owned our house for fifty years and raised five babes within these walls. One day, Ms. Gerry drops by to meet the young family who moved in. . Because when you spend your life turning four walls and a roof into a home full of love and life, you want to know that someone else is doing the same. That Greatest Generation, they built the homes that shaped this country and yet I wonder many of them are living alone, forgotten in corners of cities and nursing homes? . So I call up Ms. Gerry, checking in to see how she is and if there’s anything we can do for her. Does she need a grocery run? Does she have a place to go for Thanksgiving? . She’s fine, thank you, just a little cut on the leg that won’t heal. Your skin gets thin when you get older, she tells me. The slightest bump and it busts wide open. . Kind of like the heart, I think. And maybe especially during this time of year. The heart can get a bit thin from all the expectations and old hurt and hidden loneliness and pretty soon you’re busted wide open. . Ms. Gerry has a whole gaggle of family waiting to celebrate this Thanksgiving so she’s all set there. But maybe a cup of tea in the next week to see the new babe? Sure, of course, we’ll set a time. . I hang up and wonder if there’s anyone else in our little corner of the world that might be looking down the end of this week with dread. Someone without the family eager to embrace or an open door to a home bursting with love and warmth. Someone who could use a call and the simple question, “How are you? How can I help?” . Maybe the most helpful thing we can do is just to make room at the table for one more. To say, here, you are welcomed and loved. And we are thankful for you, in this place, right now. . . #terriblewritingclub #wildandbeautifulplaces #thanksgiving #thefamilytable #faith #writersofinstagram #lonely

I’ve just finished putting the three year old back to bed for the third time when the baby starts crying. It’s the middle of the night and I’m holding down the fort alone while Husband travels. The frayed edges of my patience are showing and I’m trying hard to keep from turning into Mr. Hyde. . Come morning there will be a full blown ear ache that means two hours spent pulling kids in and out of car seats and dragging them up elevators and down aisles to see the doctore, grab the meds and of course, pick up hot chocolate. . And then there will be the poop smeared everywhere when the meds make the body run faster than little hands can undress and another child screaming at me like I’ve ruined her whole life for reasons she can’t remember. If this is five, sixteen should be a real scream. . Two thirds of the babes finally go down and I’m sitting here plumb worn out yet strangely peaceful. Because during that tantrum, I only yelled a little. And I don’t *think* anyone ended up with foot-and-mouth disease even as they all insisted on crowding in while I cloroxed the bathroom. . And hopefully the last thing they heard as I turned off the light was how much I loved them, and not how tired I was. . S**t hit the wall today, literally, and while I might have gagged a little bit, I didn’t implode. Which is more than I can say for yesterday. And may not be the case tomorrow. But no one ever said raising souls and painting a masterpiece with your life was clean and easy. . So how am I? Feeling exhausted but content, wondering in awe at how single parents survive this war zone every day, all day, all year on their own. To all of you I raise my lukewarm half finished drink because #momlife. Cheers. . . #terriblewritingclub #itsnotswearingreally #wildandbeautifulplaces #parenting #letsdoitagaintomorrow #faith #writersofinstagram

The sun hasn’t yet peaked over the horizon as I’m sitting down with a cup of coffee and the open Word. . My eyes can barely focus on the page but this jumps out at me: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” . In a world gone mad, where the ground is always shifting and truth seems elusive, those words cry out like a life line to any soul adrift. . For those of us who are People of the Cross, we can be certain of this one thing: that Jesus died but he didn’t stay dead. That his resurrection means that all things can and will be made new. That there is no one greater in Heaven and Earth. . My days are long and the years short and it’s tempting to get bogged down in the chaos and the noise and to lose focus of the thing that matters. . But where discouragement, despair and general exhaustion threaten, remember that we have this hope, anchoring our soul to the One who goes before us. . If you’re not sure you have this hope, I would love the chance to answer your questions and tell you more about how this truth changes all my days. And the days of thousands of others. . . #wildandbeautifulplaces #faith #hope #yourenotalone #1000gifts

This rainbow baby of mine, this sun breaking through the clouds after the long dark night, yeah, she made me wait just a little longer. . Made me wait through the early morning hours until the sun was fully up, hanging over head, and then she came rushing in in a matter of seconds. . Elora: “God gives the Victory,” Fae: “Confidence, Trust, Belief.” . Over the nine swelling months and over those 11 hours, that’s just what happened. And more than that, didn’t God give us victory over the grief, the death, the despair and discouragement? . Not every battle fought on our knees is going to result in the kind of victory we imagine. Our fight is not against flesh and blood after all. So sometimes we’re going to have to wait until we cross to that other side before we see where our faith brought the victory. . But sometimes, sometimes you get to hold the victory in your hands and your full heart leaks out your eyes and you know that all of life is a GIFT. Undeserved, unexplained and oh so precious. . Elora Fae Hyatt, 5lb 14 oz of pure bliss, born Aug 19. . #wildandbeautifulplaces #faith #1000gifts #thatsdarling #rainbowbaby #miscarriage #daughters #prolife

We’re sitting in the backyard, waiting in time suspended before Baby Girl Three arrives. We’re soaking up the sun but more than that, getting our hearts fill of the moments suspended in time. Moments that would probably seem mundane and nothing to write home about to anyone else. . Except these are the moments that leave me heart-aching with the beauty, the simplicity, the goodness. Like Heaven is kissing Earth for this brief instant and the glory of it all is too much to bear. . No wonder every time an angel appeared in that Old Book, someone was usually so overwhelmed they nearly fainted. Or cried. It’s all a little too much for these earthen vessels of clay and blood and bone to take. . Here on this muggy summer afternoon I shake my head in wonder at where a year can take you. How many of us, how many times, have wished we could fast forward to a moment ahead in the belief that it will be better than where we’re standing today? . There are two pictures on my phone, and but for one extra child, they look nearly the same. Yeah, we’re a little older but the location, the clothes, the pose, it’s all nearly there. . But what you miss is the three years between those pictures and all the laughs, the tears, the unexpected, the simplistic and the downright boring moments that passed. . You miss that there should be another babe standing there in the flesh, or that the first time we took that picture, we were on welfare and calling that place home. . What if Abba let us pick random days to see in advance? Would that make us braver for the knowing or despairing certain defeat? . . Rest of post at link in profile “Why a Picture Still Falls Short After a Thousand Words.” . #wildandbeautifulplaces #change #faith #pregnancy

Just like that, she’s five!! And I’m wondering where the time went and how it could simultaneously creep by and yet be gone in a blink. She has my whole heart ❤️

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