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The Gift of No Expectations

I never wanted to swim in the ocean, and then I saw Hawaii’s ocean. Our whole Hawaiian trip threw me for a loop. Because it wasn’t what I expected. The truth is, my expectations were very low when it came to visiting Hawaii. I know. How can a person expect the worst from these islands? Part of the problem was I didn’t want to go to Hawaii in the first place. My mom wanted to take our daughters to Hawaii, this was about ten years ago. My dad was going hunting in Argentina so Oma decided she needed to go […]

By Paula March 9, 2015

When You’re Sick and Tired

“Planes make people sick,” she says, but I don’t think I got this terrible coughing bug from the plane. Cruz was coughing when I got home and kept saying, “Momma, I sick.” Poor baby. All he wanted was to lie in my lap and drink out of my water. A few days later, I was sick, too. Really sick. Maybe the trip wore me down. Maybe coming home to all kinds of little stresses stressed me out. Maybe this sickness is God’s way of saying, “Just let it all go and rest awhile.” Come to me, all you who are […]

By Paula March 4, 2015

When God Surprises You

My trip to D.C. wasn’t what I expected. My flight going out got cancelled due to fog. People in the line in front of me were being bused to San Francisco to sit at that fogged in airport. But when I stepped to the desk, the woman looked at my ticket and said, “Do you mind if I send you to a different Washington D.C. airport?” I said “However you can get me there,” and she rerouted me through Phoenix on a completely different airline. “That never happens,” said a frequent flyer on my new flight. “You got lucky.” It […]

By Paula February 25, 2015

A Hundred Shades of Red

Yesterday I felt so accomplished because I got the toilets washed. Okay truth, I didn’t feel accomplished, I felt relieved. Like I’d just finished a midterm, or made it past the halfway point of a pregnancy, or picked the kids up from their last day of school before Christmas break. You know that crazy week before Christmas vacation when everything is happening all at once. Your kids are angels in the Christmas play and you have to make the costumes. The gingerbread house is under construction. Your church group is caroling at the nursing homes and you feel as old […]

By Paula February 17, 2015

The Blossoms Are Here

Please bear with me as something new blossoms in my life. Scott and I spent yesterday trying to redo my blog. I had to say goodbye to Barefoot and embrace Farming Faith. Hope none of you were online last night trying to read my blog, what a mess! But this morning it’s up and running– far from perfect– but running, which really fits me, the whole far from perfect but running thing. As the sun set last night, before we tackled changing my blog, Scott and I walked out into West Butte Orchards blooming trees. This picture is of the […]

By Paula February 14, 2015

The Perseverance of Planting Acorns

Every year I round up my acorns. Usually, I gather them from under large oak trees I admire, other years I bum them off my oak-tree loving friend, Jeff, and sometimes my dad brings them to me already sprouted in black plastic containers. Then, acorns in my pockets, or sprouted, or whatever, I walk out into our field, along the edge of our walnut orchard, and scrape holes. There I tuck the acorns into the wet, dark dirt about an inch deep, and pray they grow because I really want to line our land with oak trees. Ten years of […]

By Paula February 10, 2015

Above the Fog

I’m in the foothills when I snap this picture of the fog shrouding the Sacramento Valley. Above the fog, the Sutter Buttes look like a crown. This is my fog. My valley. My Sutter Buttes. The place I live and move and have my being. Born here, raised here, raising my kids here. And this picture is so much like my spiritual life right now. Days of fog. Days of valleys. And then there are the mountaintop days of grace. Days above the fog. I wish I had a better camera with me to capture these moments. To capture […]

By Paula January 26, 2015