May Twenty-Fifteen

"What I know now is that almost every woman mothers, in one way or another. I guess I used to think it was an all-at-once thing, that you go to the hospital a woman and come out a mother, like going through a car wash with a dirty car and coming out with a clean one.  But now that I am a mother, what is very clear to me is that I’ve been mothered by a whole tribe of women, some who had children of their own, and some who didn’t.  I thank God for each one of them, and thank them for mothering me when I needed it, and for giving me such a rich variety of images for what it means to be a mother. And also now that I am a mother, I understand what Mother’s Day is about: it’s about looking through our lives and recognizing the act of mothering everywhere we see it, and more than that, recognizing that when any of us mother- when we listen, nurture, nourish, protect- we’re doing sacred work." 

-Shauna Niequist

"This is the work of a mother — this strange and peculiar joy in letting go of self to make the joy of another large." –Ann Voskamp

"These are our few life seasons. Let us live them as purely as we can, in the present."

–Annie Dillard

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start." –Mother Teresa

celebrating double digits for Taylor!! Happy 10!! 

"How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed. An ability to appreciate the positives in our life, and a commitment to action. Every day, it’s important to ask and answer these questions: ‘What’s good in my life?’ and ‘What needs to be done to make it better?’ " Nathaniel Brandon

As my Uncle Sam said so beautifully in his toast at my cousin's rehearsal dinner, "every day leads to this day...." (quoting Jerry Garcia back in the day). Giving thanks! 

       "To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow - this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.”  -Elizabeth Gilbert 

soaking up some early summer.... 

"Using the same old materials of earth, air, fire, water, every twenty-four hours God creates something new out of them. If you think you're seeing the same show all over again seven times a week, you're crazy.  Every morning you wake up to something that in all eternity never was before and never will be again. And the you that wakes up was never the same before and will never be the same again either."

-Frederick Buechner