Five Things

I've been quiet here for so long... now I'm overthinking what to say as I tiptoe back into this space. Today, I'll take some recent writing advice and simply write five things. Here goes.

ONE.

I finished the first draft of my book a few weeks ago. I feel so many emotions about it.... happy and nervous with a deep undercurrent of relief. When I gave it to my friend to read, I told her it felt like letting someone watch my baby for the very first time. I know I need to detach myself from my words. Soon, it will be time to release them and let them fly. I will stay back and write more words. But for now, these are still tucked in awful close to my heart. 

TWO.

I've been paying attention to the places I feel hope and one of them has surprised me. This is the third year I'm helping with a local girl's Bible study. I'm enjoying it more than I ever have before. I get weary of the narrative that young people are going to the dogs.* When I sit around that table and look into their faces, I see so much promise. And I walk away filled with hope. 

THREE.

I planted more things in my garden than I ever have before. I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I might just be growing produce for the coons and crows. But the girls and I are having so much fun and that's worth something.

FOUR.

I've been reading some thought provoking books about slowing living and intentionality. 

• When Less Becomes More: Making Space for Slow, Simple, and Good by Emily Ley
• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World by John Mark Comer
• The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction by Justin Whitmel Earley
• Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World by Emily P. Freeman

After seeing that list, I find it humorous that all these books about simplicity have long, complicated subtitles. 

FIVE.

Vienna has one more week of school and I'm so excited for summer. The girls are at such a fun age. After simply surviving the baby years, I'm so grateful to be thriving in these "medium kid" years. I told an older mom that I kind of want to freeze this age. She had just watched her son get married and she smiled and said, "But having youth is so fun too!" And right there, between the church pews, is another place I felt hope. I choose to believe, with her, that the best is yet to come!

* I googled where the phrase 'going to the dogs' comes from and this is what it said. 

"Criminals and social outcast were often expelled from cities and sent to live among the rubbish - and the dogs. Such people were said to have gone to the dogs, both literally in that that was where they were now to be found, and metaphorically in the sense that their lives had taken a distinct turn for the worse."

Interesting! Now you know.