I am *crying*laughing* at the PGA guys. I've been glued to the US Open all week {yes, I need a life, but I love watching golf... it makes me feel closer to being outside} and I swear Bubba looks better as a farmer than he did in the pants he wore yesterday. they were INSANE.

my parents enjoyed sleep way too much to stay awake and check on us, but there was a strict rule in our home that when we got in from wherever we had been we had to wake them up and give them a kiss goodnight because they knew they'd never make it to our curfew. apparently they did all of their worrying in the waking hours :)

i didn't know i could cry over the love of people i've never met. but i see my parents in them... that kind of love. it's really priceless. it's one of those things i'll never have for myself, but almost feel like i have because it was so evident in them.

i am so obviously not southern as i had no idea that okra was a vegetable. when i read your title i assumed it was some sort of seafood. i'm not even kidding. i grew up on a farm in Iowa... that should be obvious right now. we ate CORN AND PIG. :)

i think you ended it perfectly. you just haven't realized it yet. because the end of every story is that we are still in process of becoming... it's why we keep starting the next one.

i think ann's book is one to be savored rather than gulped. i've given it to so many people and i always warn them... it's more like poetry than conversation. but the truth in it stays with you like lyrics of songs...

"God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve -- even in pain -- the authentic relationship." beautifully said.

how did dragonflies make it into the bad bug list? i've always thought they were so uniquely mesmerizing...

i'm so grateful your daughter has a smell of you... that her comfort, out of all the things in her life, are of you. i can only imagine the comfort your own mother feels as she watches you and sees all that you have become. btw, sun ripened raspberry was our B&BW scent all through college. that and the pear one...

i read this over at (in) and it was beautifully written, beautifully said.

that's just art. pure and simple.

i can't decide if i'm more in love with their work or their work space!

the longest i ever waited for the doctor was four hours. it was infuriating and i was in so much pain... but then i'd see the faces of those who left and realized they needed every minute. it wasn't right, my waiting, but i always tried to remember it was because someone else was in need. constant internal struggle...

beautiful, robin. i can't even imagine the feeling... it's one of those moments where you can't ever say "it's just like..." because it is so uniquely precious.

it's moments like this i wish i was a friend who could drive over to your house... because few things in the world make me happier than organizing cupboards!!! :)

oh the ache and the sigh... and the comfort that it doesn't go away but it can fade on the in between days. loving you extra hard today, sweetness.

oh, i can't wait for green grass and sunshine out my windows! i love everything about this picture, but the hope of Spring most of all :)

convicting without condemnation is the perfect description. because i'm totally convicted.

oh, friend. I had no idea this happened and it literally makes my heart ache for you. I think watching helpless is the worst feeling... and that song is never going to sound the same to me now. such a great perspective. praying for your boy and hope healing is swift and pain is fleeting.

that breaks my heart. but at least you know that whatever finally ends his life, he got to sit in the cool grass with the warm sun and feel safe for a minute. poor thing.

ok, it was so great to FINALLY hear your voice. now when we skype chat I can have your perfect accent going in my head. :)

Always better late than never :) And I think they look great!!!!

Amen, sister. I have come to realize over and over and over that circumstances are less important than my perspective. But I can't let myself stop thinking about it or it will slip away in a breath. Praying for you today... For your perspective and the circumstances.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the postcard for journaling. It looks wonderful... I'm thinking a page every Thursday should get you caught up pretty quickly ;)

I often look back at things that felt monumental, that are now smaller, non-scary things to me. Things I thought were bigger than I could manage, and now I could do them in my sleep. But that doesn't diminish their weight in my story. It doesn't diminish their importance in that time. Because without those huge, now small steps, I'd never manage the huge (someday, I'm sure to be small) steps of my future. So proud of you for all your leaps.