Land of the free
Please remember Memorial Day and it's true purpose today. I enjoy freedom thanks to my Grandpa Al, my great-uncles Bob, Don, Hunny, my dear friends Caleb and Kristy. Take the time to hug or thank a veteran today! (Source: Turquoise Gates)
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 27, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: thanks veterans memory freedom Source Type: blogs
In the garden 2013
Who could ever walk away from these faces??And look how much they've grown in a year! (Source: Turquoise Gates)
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 25, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: photography motherhood family children Source Type: blogs
In the garden 2013
Who could ever walk away from these faces?? (Source: Turquoise Gates)
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 25, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: photography motherhood family children Source Type: blogs
You must go through it
The wild cherries shiver with anticipation of summer in the cold spring wind, their blossoms a white shock above their dark trunks. Bluebirds fly back and forth between the wild long grass in the field and the sanctuary of the blossoming trees. Their song drifts up to my porch swing, and I smile, closing my eyes and tilting face to receive the warmth of the sun.There is no perfect day, just like there's no perfect life. Clouds roll in and the cherries falter in the darkness of the coming storm. The mist touches the hills on the other side of the valley, and I am suddenly too cold on the porch, a shiver running down my spin...
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 24, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: thoughts emotions depression weathering storms faith boost God's faithfulness Source Type: blogs
I admit it...I'm not supermom!
{what if people think my beautiful kids are nerds like me??}Sometimes you run headlong into a barrier in your own mind, a belief so old and so fundamental to your value system that it seems impossible to move. I'm up against a wall like this right now. We are facing some decisions about the children, how they are cared for and educated, and I can't hardly stand to "go there" in my head.I was homeschooled from kindergarten until college. I always regarded public school as a mysterious, sometimes alluring and sometimes frightening place. The small town that I grew up in was almost entirely made up of Norwegian Lutherans. I h...
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 23, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: God's sovereignity choices homeschool knocking education opportunity children faith Source Type: blogs
Here comes the sun
How easily we forget the past. Five months into this season of depression, I'm finally experiencing some freedom from the oppression - by practicing skills I've known for 2 years now. I brush the dust off slowly as my therapist reminds me how to bring the sunshine back. Opposite action - throwing myself into the life God has set before me, children, messes and all. Accumulating positives - a scribbled list of gratitude in my Joy Journal. Mindfulness - ignoring my constant, self-refreshing mental to-do list and entering into the present moment completely.Returning to these practices slants the sunlight back into our home. T...
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 22, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: depression count your blessings healing the earths song opposite action God's provision God's promises mindfulness Source Type: blogs
Encouraging compassion
We watch the disaster footage from Oklahoma, and my little bleeding-heart 6 year old went running for her piggy bank. I tried to convince her that our family donation through Samaritan's Purse was enough, mostly because I didn't know where to send $5 cash and a letter from a 6 year old, but she wasn't easily deterred. After a few tears and begging from her, I started to look for somewhere to send her letter and donation. I found a church on the ground helping those in need, and we sent off her little note with the instructions to give the whole envelope to a family with children if possible.It's easy to dismiss or belittle...
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 21, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: motherhood compassion money teaching childlike faith children Source Type: blogs
There is a happy ending
{please consider pressing play below prior to reading}The tree trunks are black as coal from the night rain, threading through the chartreuse of leaf buds. The heaviness of magic is in the air this spring, flowers springing up from the cold earth so recently blanketed in snow. Everything about this May feels weirdly foreign, irredescent with a touch of the unreal.Perhaps this is what comes of accepting a reality you don't feel at home in. Ever since leaving church 2 years ago, reality has slanted toward pain. Two years have seen a definite decrease in the number of those we can joyfully live life with. Two years have inclu...
Source: Turquoise Gates - May 20, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: joy suffering 1000 gifts seasons happy ending walking in the light eternity Source Type: blogs
