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Your Story in 2017

I always choose a word for the new year. I pray about this word for several weeks before settling on it. Words make up stories. And stories make up the fabric of our lives. Last year my word was “Hope.” So many things I hoped for in 2016, healing. Peace. A bountiful harvest. A run of hard years had hit us. Honestly, I was dreading another tough year and needed hope so badly. On New Year’s Day 2016, I sat in our living room with tears streaming down my face. On top of all the hardships, Scott was making me […]

By Paula January 1, 2017

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours. . .

As you can see our family is growing! We added puppies this year. Just one puppy really because the other four pups went to their new homes a few weeks ago. Getting a decent Christmas picture is always a challenge. Every year I tell myself the picture isn’t THAT important. I will not freak out over taking this picture and every year something arises that annihilates my good intentions and I end up freaking out. I won’t get into the details of what went wrong this year, but let’s just say I did my best not to freak out. In […]

By Paula November 30, 2016

When the holidays make you crazy

So I told myself I would not stress out about the food, my house, or the boys running around like wild Indians this year. I would love my family and just enjoy our Thanksgiving together… Then I overslept and had a dream I forgot to cook the turkey. Stumbled out of bed, freaking out, fumbled to the kitchen, and attacked the turkey. My first turkey ever because my mom or Aunt Marolyn always cook a turkey, but this year it’s on me. I couldn’t see the instructions on the turkey wrapping, even with my reading glasses on. Could the instructions […]

By Paula November 24, 2016

Things that make us feel better

We couldn’t have planned the birth of our puppies better. I didn’t have to find a safe space to pet a puppy during the election. I got to pet a puppy every day in my own backyard. Did this lower my blood pressure? Probably. Did the election upset me? Yes, I realize this is a first world problem, but I practically had to give up Facebook. A lot of folks grew angry and ugly on Facebook during the election. I can find angry and ugly in the Walmart parking lot, I don’t need angry and ugly on my social media […]

By Paula November 18, 2016

Enough

It’s pruning time on our farm. For the past week, I’ve watched our new orchard radically change. I wish I’d taken pictures before the shears. But I’ll tell you about it. Just a few years ago, we planted baby fruit trees in front of our house. I didn’t want to do it. I love our view of the Sutter Buttes, but the land needs to provide for us. Our pluot trees grew like wildfire. In just two years you could no longer see our house from the road. Now suddenly the house is there. Our once proud pluot trees are […]

By Paula November 9, 2016

When God Answers Your Prayers

Looking at the ocean always reminds me how small I am. How big God is. How the Maker of the sea can make anything. Our trip to the ocean at the end of October has become a family tradition. Our harvest is over. We’re ready to play. But this year it was supposed to rain. Hard rain for days. “It’s going to be too stormy to do anything this weekend at the coast,” said my dad looking at the weather forecast. “Well, it’s the only weekend we can go so we’re going,” I told him. “Then pray for good weather,” […]

By Paula November 4, 2016

Stories Around the Table

This past Sunday, while preparing supper, I stabbed myself with a piece of bamboo. Not in the kitchen, out in the driveway on my way to collect tomatoes from the garden. It was a freak accident. The boys had left a bamboo lance in the road and someone ran it over, shattering the long piece of bamboo. Company was coming for Sunday dinner and I wanted everything to look nice, including the driveway. So I picked up the shredded bamboo lance and tried to toss it into our burn pile, but as I threw the bamboo, somehow a shard of […]

By Paula October 27, 2016