This evening, my mom invited some family over for dinner, and I got a chance to talk to my cousin Carney who is 89 through most of the evening. She has just moved into an assisted living space after being on a farm most of her life, and it has been really disorienting for her. We talked about some of her hopes and disappointments, and I told her the story that has been really meaningful to me that I came over to read to your dad and to Liam a night or so after they returned early from their bike trip. You were not there, so I wanted to share it with you here too. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I have a friend who is a textile artist. Among other things, she sews nautical flags because, besides the fact that they’re gorgeous, there’s an accidental poetry to them. According to Merritt Tierce, “There are forty flags in a complete set of international maritime signal flags--- one for each letter of the English alphabet, one for each numbe...
Dear Micah, I am not sure if you know this, but today (June 29th) marks 13 weeks until your 13th birthday!!!! I have been thinking about this for a while, and I even picked out a race that I would run in your honor almost a year ago that is coming up in August. I was going to use the time I was training to be more intentional in praying for you and taking time to journal thoughts that came to mind during that time. Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to run that race because I found out I have a stress fracture that I have to let heal over the summer. So, I am finding other ways to move my body this summer, and I will use those times to serve as reminders to pray and hold you up to God's light again and again over the next 13 weeks. Today, after a long day of work, I hopped on my bike and headed to Green Lake to swim for 30 minutes. As I was swimming, I remembered that today was my day to start your birthday countdown, and I let my thoughts wander while I wa...
I went to Green Lake to swim late this afternoon, and I swam from the swimming area near the boat rentals to the swimming area by the theater across the lake and back. The summer sun was shining bright, and it really was beautiful. As I was making my way across the lake and letting my mind wander, I began focusing on my breath and remembered someone saying that three deep breaths can solve any problem. Now, I admit that it is the worst when you are upset and someone tells you in the heat of the moment to take a deep breath because it's hard to have someone tell you what to do when you are mad. But when you are calm, it sure is a good idea to practice enough so that you do it on your own when things get tough. Swimming is a perfect chance to do this as you have to turn your head every few strokes to breathe to keep going while it's easier to take it for granted when you are not in the water since we breathe all the time without thinking anything about it. I found this o...
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