One thousand gifts in a single day

Bluest of skies, perfect temperature

My brand new clothesline, quickly revolutionizing the way I feel about laundry

The heavenly smell of fresh-crusty, sun-baked clothes

Four puffs of gray velvet, old enough now to spit fire at me from their little red mouths and big blue eyes

Two boys living outside, digging dirt, building forts, riding bikes

Hi Mom, calls my four-year-old.

Hi Hon. Whatcha doing?

I’m Samoset!

Rambling around the property, checking all our babies, loving the green bountiful crop on the blueberry bushes and the white-peppered flowers thick on wildberry vines

Lunch in the shade, freshness and fried egg sandwiches

One little girl picking dandelions into a basket

Mommy hold-you, she says, and lifts up her arms

Dreaming of growth, watering bare garden rows and transplanting tomato seedlings into larger pots

Splashing in the creek, all of us, cold water on bare toes and we are home home home

Looking for arrowheads—still my dream to find one

Chasing salamanders

Finding white violets I didn’t know we had

Strawberry shortcake for supper

Baths and popcorn, kisses, bedtime for three

Mischief-making devils tamed to precious angels as lids finally droop shut

Time for quiet, books, writing, dreaming, with a velvet night outside my open windows

Bless Jesus!