Mar. 31

March is bi-polar.
Maybe just polar. Because
Two more snow days. Sigh.

~ Britt

Mar. 30 - haiku #2

Grandma Jan reflecting on wedding day...

Layered emotions

Ira counts steps, up and down

Strong support from friends

~ Jan

Mar. 30 - haiku #1

   to age means to see
past memories in present
   moments repeating

~ Britt

Mar. 29

Memories engulf
Tears won't stop.  But....... we say...... JOY.
the remarriage day

~ Maria

Mar. 28

The tub is too hot
My arm hangs out, feels the cold
I sweat and listen.

~ Maria

Mar. 27

Clinging to the last

shred of patience I possess:

toddler parenting.

~ Twilla

Mar. 26

O Life-giving Breath,

breathe your Spirit upon us

and revive our souls.

~ Twilla

Mar. 25

       Estate Farm Auction
furniture, tools, tractors, chairs
   --things we leave behind

~ Britt

Mar. 24

Mitch can love again

A miracle of God's love

Boys are happy too

Lora brings us hope

Wally joins family now too

A new chapter, blessed

~ Jan

Mar. 23

     Even sitting still,
I am racing--in the midst
   of a thousand tasks.

~ Britt

Mar. 22

Pastoral team meeting with candle...

four-cornered circle
circling the light in prayer
whirl into the world

~ Heidi, Mar. 5, 2012

Mar. 21

Accounts of spring... from North Carolina to Indiana...

Three dandelions

reflect the sun shining down.

 Flies buzz in my house.

~ Britt

Second day of spring.

Robin perched on snowy fence;

seasons in limbo.

~ Twilla

Mar. 20 - haiku #3

Syrup-making becomes meditation...

           I stand, motionless
watch steam rise, billow, vanish
          concentrate the sweet

~ Maria

Mar. 20 - haiku #2

    Why should I hurry?
I will go at my own pace
     the rest of my life.

~ Britt

Mar. 20 - haiku #1

Garden free of snow

exposes my nagging fear:

will life return here?

 

~ Twilla

Mar. 19

  Peepers chirp and sing
their first evening lullaby.
  Sleep will come easy.

~ Britt

Mar. 18

A St. Patrick-inspired haiku...

Christ, encircle us.

In night and day, life and death,

surround us, hold us.

 

~ Twilla

Mar. 17

Theo growing tall

Dreaming of Bethany School

Aaron still best friend

 

Adam's eight now

Loves science and how things work

Dog Wally favored
 

Letters, numbers, shapes

Colors, Ira knows them all

Articulate child

 

~ Jan

Mar. 16

A duo of lenten laments...

 

 

the hardest truth is--

my best is not good enough--

even for myself

 

~ Britt

 

 

Hope struggles to rise

from the depths of dark and doubt.

Hear our prayers, O God.

 

~ Twilla

 

Mar. 15

 Crocus bloom through snow.

Daffodil serve cups of sleet.

 God, grant me such nerve.

 

~ Britt

Mar. 14

Folded cranes in Lent

North, south, east, west, seasons change

God's love, my compass

 

~ Jan

blue cranes and thank you

Ever since this blog began, Twilla and I had a visual idea of what it might look like.  I thought "blue" and Twilla thought "cranes." It took a third friend, Britt, to turn this vision into reality. 

Thank you, Britt!

We shall celebrate with a crane haiku...

Mar. 13 - haiku #3

Flowing, connected

Over, under, Celtic knot

Life, sorrow and joy

 

~ Jan

Mar. 13 - haiku #2

The magic of books

can set aside our bodies--

free us to heal, hope.

 

~ Britt

Mar. 13 - haiku #1

Three weeks of Sickness

hovering over our home.

It can take a hike.

 

~ Twilla

Mar. 12

It was summer and I got a phone call in the morning.  I remember sitting there by the window, morning sun streaming in, as you recounted this odd medical mystery, some type of uterine torsion.  There was a story and some strangeness with your bladder being blocked and in the end everything was going to be just fine and in the end, the truth was that you were early-pregnant.

And you were so surprised that I had not interjected sooner that, well, I was too, and here we were, and our due dates just days apart.

This was very fun for two friends and we would talk here and there and it was kind of like the twins that I had had before only this time it was our twins. Not real twins but friend twins.  And we saw each other that winter and laughed because I always did poke out so much more.  This was because of your "large cavity" you would say, gesturing to your fine, long abdomen.  The barely-showing one, while I was all belly.

Then there was the call on March 12 and this wonderful news about lovely Adam.  We chatted eagerly, one mama with babe in arms, one mama with swollen belly, and we giggled over ways and suggestions on how to get my baby in my arms, to get that labor going for the swollen belly.

Weeks later those babies would lay on the ground next to one another, in matching sleepers that we didn't know we had until we saw each other, and pictures would be taken.  We would talk late into the night which made no sense for four parents with babies and other little ones to boot but there would be no other option.  That was just how we did when we got together.

So I think of you today, my dear friend.  Just eight years ago that you brought your baby to the world just four days before mine arrived. 

It seems a lifetime too and there has been much pain in between. 

There are many things that I just don't get.

But for today... I remember you

in my dreams you sit

kitchen counter, cracking nuts

head thrown back, laughing

 

~ Maria

Mar. 11 - haiku #2

pain made hope run off
but like tender buds in March
my small prayers return

~ Maria

Mar. 11 - haiku #1

   Each of us can be
surrounded by those we love
    if only we love.

~ Britt

Mar. 10

Two lenten haiku reflections...

   Lent is about sin,
yet Grace shall have Dominion.
Come, take your free gift.
               ~

   To 'give up' in Lent
is to disrobe like our Eve
   and ponder the fruit.

~ Britt

Mar. 9

A duo of spring-celebrating haikus...

harbinger? perhaps...

jaunty cat walk on deck rail

surely spring doth come

 

~ Maria

 

 

The lengthening days

promise brighter days ahead.

A sigh of relief.

 

~ Twilla

Mar. 8

      turn, turn, turn, and yet

seasons change sooner for some

        as we linger on

 

~ Britt

Mar. 7

Reiki meditation...

from the booming depths
to the moments shallow sill
God inhabits all

~ Heidi, March 6, 2012

Mar. 6

    Winter's white too dark

to postpone joy in the spring.

     Lent is for the birds.

 

~ Britt

Ash Wednesday - haiku #2

We are dust. We know.

Aching, weary, bewildered.

Bring us back to life.

 

~ Twilla

Ash Wednesday - haiku #1

Remembering Mark, Heidi and Willa

 

Ash Wednesday, Lent comes,

Family ashes tossed on waters,

Life, death, mercy, peace.

 

~ Jan

March 4th / March forth

Remembering Mark, Heidi's dad today...

Nine years ago, then

We Marched Fourth : L.L.Bean, shore

Good night and good bye

 

~ Jan

Mar. 3

March dawns bitter cold
This lion's a cruel surprise
Spring hopes eternal

~ Maria

Mar. 2

Oscar night 2012, with IL2 treatments scheduled for the next day...

The Oscars tonight
Frothy dresses and flat jokes
Tomorrow, life/death

~ Heidi, Feb. 26, 2012

Mar. 1

Precious notes you wrote

Forgotten gems, discovered,

now timeless treasures.

 

~ Twilla