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Christmas Birds

Growing up, I loved listening to the radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey. For years my big brother, Patrick would sometimes call me Paul Harvey because I liked telling stories too. I don’t know if Paul Harvey originally told this tale of the Christmas birds, but I think I heard it from him. I can’t remember the exact telling so I’ve recreated my own version for you. One snowy Christmas Eve, a man told his wife he would not be going to church. “I can’t listen to that preacher any longer. It makes no sense to me that God would come as […]

By Paula December 24, 2018

A Christmas letter from our family to yours…all is calm, all is bright 2018.

For the first time in nearly three decades of raising kids, taking our Christmas picture this year was relatively painless. The boys are old enough to behave themselves. Except for the seven-year-old who ran back to the house and changed his shirt because he didn’t like the black one I had him put on. Christian’s favorite shirt, The talent has arrived, about sums things up. Our youngest is fast, agile, and nearly fearless, but then so are his big brothers, so I guess that’s a wrap. These boys take after their dad. We couldn’t get all of our older kids and their […]

By Paula December 5, 2018

When Forgiveness Costs More Than A Million Bucks

Aaron Rodgers donated a million dollars to the Camp Fire survivors but did not call his mom to make sure she was okay. Perhaps while packing up to evacuate the fire, Aaron’s mom was hoping to hear from her son. She’s reached out to him numerous times in the past several years, but he’s never reached back. “It’s complicated,” Aaron’s father Ed told the New York Times in 2017. “We are all hoping for the best.” The best being reconciliation, I suppose. Family rifts are so painful. I’m sure Aaron’s parents just want him back. The boy they raised. The son […]

By Paula November 24, 2018

What I’ve Been Up To And How Not To Cook A Turkey

It’s been two months since I’ve written a blog post. Sorry about that. I’ve become a true football mom, spending all my Saturdays at Cruz, Garry and Joey’s football games. And Friday nights at John’s JV game. And Thursday nights at Scott’s freshman football games since Scott became the defensive coordinator for that team this year, along with assistant coaching Joey’s team. Today we are headed to Joey’s championship game in Red Bluff. John was given the honor of moving up to varsity for playoffs, so we are looking at football games all the way into December, which makes me […]

By Paula November 23, 2018

Dear Selfie Church

I know you. I’m with you. I took twenty-nine selfies this summer. That’s going from nearly zero halfway to sixty in three short months. I wasn’t a selfie taker until a friend said to me this past spring, “I want to see more pictures of you in the orchard. Please show us what you do on your farm.” Often I work alone, and even if I am working with someone, I don’t want to bother them with taking a picture, so here we go… While I take my selfie, Santos is up on his ladder picking apricots. Oma and I […]

By Paula September 21, 2018

I need your input… will you help me pick my next book cover?

I didn’t set out to write a love story. I was just trying to heal. Trying to make sense of a breakdown. I once believed I wrote out of a big imagination, but this year, I learned I write out of my wounds. In an attempt to heal myself, I bleed on paper. In my novels, I hide the bleeding in fiction. But the book I’m working on now isn’t fiction. It’s a memoir. When I first started writing this story five years ago I was only seeking the truth. What caused my breakdown? Why did it happen? What in the […]

By Paula September 3, 2018

When Bad Things Bring Good To Your Life

I never dreamed cancer and a breakdown would return me to farming, but that’s what happened. The month I was diagnosed with melanoma, we lost our health insurance due to the rise of Obamacare. We had to pay out of pocket for my treatment, and then just a few months later, I had a breakdown. The medical bills gutted us. For a couple of years, we paid the hospital every month. I called them our mortgage payments because it felt like we were making a living to make that payment. I have to say I learned gratitude during those years of […]

By Paula August 7, 2018