Purposeful Perusals, 21st Edition

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What Every Hard Week Needs to Know @ A Holy Experience. This is what the Lord used to salvage and restore my Monday last week, as I sat with a bedhead and morning breath at 2 in the afternoon. Disgusting? Absolutely!

Whole-Hearted Motherhood Minus the Guilt @ Passionate Homemaking. Thank you, Trina Holden! "I believe that wherever we find ourselves, whatever other passions and callings and roles He has given us, God will equip and provide grace for us to fulfill our highest calling without guilt." 

Social Media Exhaustion- Flee Discontentment @ Muthering Heights. "Is 'success' in the arena of social media our new way of “keeping up with the Jonses?...I flee discontentment; flee to a place where life is really happening anyway.  Back out to the real world; where things move more slowly, where conversations flow well past 140 characters, and where five people like me forever and always, with real thumbs pointed high."

Weekly Goals

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Last Week's Goals:

Personal

Make a chart for my daily routine and start doing it daily! I have been wandering aimlessly without routines or to do lists lately, and it is not me at my best, let me tell you! Made the chart, hopefully I'll get busy about the doing this coming week ;)!

Read for at least thirty minutes daily. I accomplished this almost every week day, just not the weekend. So I'm counting it!

Marriage

Enjoy a relaxed weekend together, catching up after Niall's trip.

Parenting

Try an activity or two from No Time for Flashcards (Moms, you have got to check out this site! It is fantastic!).  I did a variation of her sensory tub, using a giant pot, spoon, and blocks from her shape sorter. When she was bored of that, I put the blocks into my fun mini-butterfly shapes cake pan. It was a hit!

Home

Make one new meal. Nope.

Continue to organize and declutter the house, one room at a time.

Blog

Write for one hour every day, Monday-Friday. I'm ashamed to say I haven't spent more than 15 minutes writing all week. S's naps have become significantly shorter, so I'm still trying to figure out where writing fits into our new order.

This Week's Goals:

Personal

Get page protector pockets for menu planner, shopping list, and daily routine. Stick them into the pockets and start using them!

Read 7 chapters of Let's Study Ephesians, and finish Word Hero.

Marriage

Work on mutual accountability and encouragement to go to bed and get up early.

Walk together for Saturday's "Walk For Life" in Scranton, PA (sponsored by our local Crisis Pregnancy Center).

Parenting

Try yogurt finger painting. 

No computer or mobile screen time while S is awake.

Home

Implement an entire month's worth of meal planning (I usually do this on a weekly basis, but I'm thinking its way for time efficient to plan a bigger chunk at a time!), include one new meal for each week.

Organize and deep clean guest room (my in-laws are coming Thursday), back porch, and S's room.

Blog

Post the first three in my series on early Christmas preparation :). Complete the homework for it each day. 

What's on your agenda for the upcoming week?

Coming in October...

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Fall has just begun- leaves are changing, pumpkins abounding, sweaters coming out of forgotten closet corners... and I already have Christmas on my mind.

Don't hate me for bringing it to your attention so early. I know, I know. It is only September, for Pete's sake!

Last year Christmas festivities found me up to my eyeballs in stress; I waited until the last minute for almost everything, and half of my gifts and cards didn't even make it into the mail until the New Year. Very sad, I know.

That's when I determined that Christmas 2012, to the best of my ability, would be different. No more frantic frenzy of last minute cards, gifts, or baking. My goal: to have every present wrapped, every card stamped and ready to go, and all other stress-inducing preparations to be completed by Thanksgiving.

Yes, you read right. By Thanksgiving.

For the month of October I will be running a series that helps me (and all of you!) accomplish this grand feat.

Because when we have less fuss, we have more fun. When stress stops we can have just joy. No hectic last minute running around means more time sitting around the fire with family and friends, enjoying good food and all of the glorious festivities the season has to offer.

That's my "why" for getting Christmas done early. Join me?

Today I am looking for your feed back: what Holiday preparations do you usually leave to the last minute? What stresses you out the most about this time of year?

Please share in the comments, and I will try to tackle your topics of interest!

Linked with: Hearts for Home and Beautiful Thursdays.

The Difficult Matter of Discipline, Part 2

 Today's guest post was written by my good IRL friend, Abigail Zieger. Abigail blogs at The Birth Bug about all things pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and parenting related. I was very excited to see the topic of her post, as discipline is just starting to be an issue for us with S. It is so much harder than I thought it would be as a parent to discipline with wisdom and grace, and to know how to handle things! I hope you are encouraged! You can read Part 1 here. Yesterday we left Abigail on the precipice of asking the most important question of all in regards to discipline...

 What does the Bible have to say about discipline?

• Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life.
• Proverbs 13:24 He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
• Hebrews 12:6-11 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

I could go on and on with verses. The Bible makes it pretty clear that discipline is meant to be a good thing that leads to joy and righteousness over time. Just as God disciplines his children, we, as parents, are also to discipline our own and raise them up in a way that points them to godliness.

Lest we begin to see God as a towering ogre, looking down from heaven for every possible opportunity to get us in trouble, we must look at His whole character as displayed in the Scriptures. To our great joy, we also see that God is compassionate towards his children, slow to anger, and rich in mercy.

• Psalm 103:13 Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
• Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.

Interestingly enough, the Scriptures don’t seem to equate the use of discipline with being harsh or frustrating towards your children.  For example, Colossians 3:21 specifically says “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.” Similarly, Ephesians 6:4 exhorts, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

These words from Scripture helped us to swim through the sea of advice we were apparently drowning in. We began working on disciplining in a way that worked for our family and that was also in agreement with God’s Word. It’s not perfect, and believe me- our son still misbehaves often. And I definitely don’t know that I’m always doing the right thing- I’ve got a lot to learn! But we finally found a peace about the how of disciplining in our home. Would you like to know what we actually do at our house?

Too bad. I’m not going to say.

Your child is different from mine. Your personality is not my personality. Your husband is different that mine. You may have different priorities. I’m not going to tell you how to discipline your child. I’m not going to hand you a program or a formula to successful discipline. I won’t recommend any books to you, except for one: 

God’s Book.

You see, our peace comes from always coming back to Scriptures. So long as you are in line with God’s Word, there’s a lot of room for variance in the specifics of how to discipline. Always turn to the Bible first for God’s great example of how a father disciplines his children. Ask for wisdom and humility in this matter, and seek Him out diligently always.

What about you, mamas? What have you learned about discipline in your parenting journey? Please share!

All Scripture taken from the NASB version, found on Bible.org.

The Difficult Matter of Discipline, Part 1

 Today's guest post was written by my good IRL friend, Abigail Zieger. Abigail blogs at The Birth Bug about all things pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and parenting related. I was very excited to see the topic of her post, as discipline is just starting to be an issue for us with S. It is so much harder than I thought it would be as a parent to discipline with wisdom and grace, and to know how to handle things! I hope you are encouraged!

 That ominous word at which every parent inwardly shudders. The word over which many debates have started. The word on which entire parenting books have been written. The word that leaves us all grasping for a right way to raise our children.
 

What does the dictionary have to say about discipline? The definitions most pertinent to child rearing are these:

• training to act in accordance with rules; drill.
• punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
• behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control.

We’re quick to notice, however, that the dictionary isn’t the only place where discipline is discussed. Countless books have been written on the topic- from strict “spank them immediately as soon as they step out of line” authors and from “never tell them no because it might damage their psyche” authors- and everything in between! 

Our friends and families give us advice on it. Ladies at church chime in. The clerk at the grocery store is quick to offer her two cents. The waitress, the flight attendant, the neighbor, the preschool teacher. Everyone has something to say about how to handle your kid.

When our son first started demonstrating that he knew how to misbehave, we found ourselves wading through an overabundance of advice. Should we spank him? Should we ignore him? Should we distract him? Should we only use positive reinforcements of good behavior? Should we constantly correct, or only when its serious? Gentle talkings-to, or strict punishments? Battle it out? Or patience and repetition over time?

We found that our son’s passionate and strong willed personality did not respond well to certain types of discipline that were quite common among friends.  In our desire for consistency, we gave our son the same correction for every act of disobedience. In doing so, we taught him how to seek negative attention (I don’t know that every child would respond this way, but our son would repeat and repeat the same act- and we think he liked our reactions!).

We created an environment in our home in which I was always catching my son misbehaving, and he was always fighting back. We discovered that a battle of the wills could quickly become an ugly thing. Sometimes we’d both be extremely frustrated and angry. It was to the point that I was teaching my son nothing but  how to have a bad attitude.

On the other hand, we couldn’t let our son go without any discipline. He would not learn his boundaries. He would not learn right and wrong, and how to behave in different situations. He wouldn’t learn how to honor his parents. He wouldn’t learn how to obey out of love for us and love for God. And in the process, I learned that I wasn’t loving him rightly if I neglected giving him correction.

But up until this point, we hadn’t asked the most important question of all…

Tune in for Part 2 tomorrow! 

Monday's Resolution {Never Take Revenge}

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We are picking apart Jonathan Edward's 70 Resolutions, one week and one resolution at a time. Don't forget to start where he did- "Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat Him by His grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ's sake."
14. Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge. 

I've had revenge on my mind for the last week. I promise that it was not in any sinister way :)!

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of Henry James' The American. If you're unfamiliar with the story, I do not want to ruin it for you, so I won't say much. Only that it culminates with the hero seeking his revenge on would-be in-laws who've ruined his happiness. True to Henry James' typical fashion, it ends leaving the reader depressed about the hopeless and miserable circumstances which the main characters are left in.

In our day-to-day lives we are unlikely to be tempted by great schemes of revenge found in classical novels or plays (think The Count of Monte Cristo, or Hamlet). Human nature, however, does have a definite, vanilla-flavored bent for holding grudges and getting back at offending parties. 

When I read Resolution #14 I tried to think about what it looks like in my life. Perhaps I don't actively attack someone who's done me wrong, but I certainly don't jump at opportunities to be charitable to them. I may outwardly seem to move on, but I find it is oh so easy to hang onto grudges, like little pebbles in my fist, waiting to be flung.

To some degree or another, this vicious tendency lurks in everyone. Our only hope is to look to Christ, the God Man who forgave us all of our iniquities. He alone had the right to be angry and vengeful, as He was perfectly righteous and never did anything wrong to anyone. Yet instead He graciously pardons sinners, and shows loving mercy to His enemies.

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 
Romans 5:8

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 
Matthew 6:14-15.

There's a thought to sober us when we're tempted to hold a grudge. God takes our unwillingness to forgive so seriously that He withholds forgiveness from the offender. How ungrateful it would be of us to withhold forgiveness from others, when Christ has lovingly forgiven us our countless sins against Him.

At the same time we can remember that no one is getting away with anything. One day everyone will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. When you are tempted to grow bitter over grievous sins that have hurt you deeply, do not forget that “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).

Either a person's sins are forgiven by Christ, or they will be punished by Christ someday. Our lot is not to rejoice in or plan their punishment. Rather it is to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and trust our Heavenly Father with the rest.

True freedom comes when we never take revenge or harbor bitterness, but instead leave vengeance and judgment to the Lord.

What Scripture passages have helped you the most with  forgiving others?

Purposeful Perusals, 20th Edition

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The Wealthy Stay at Home Mom @ Lamp on a Stand. If you've made serious financial sacrifices to be a stay-at-home mom, I think that this will encourage you. It sure encouraged me!

Weekly Goals

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It was another busy week at the O'Neill home :). My husband was away on a business trip for most of it, but I am happy to report that he is safely home now! I tried to keep myself occupied by hanging out with friends and getting out of the house as much as possible. This made the week go fast, unfortunately it meant that I didn't accomplish as much on the home front. Here's how I did on last week's goals:

Personal

Make a chart for my daily routine and start doing it daily! I have been wandering aimlessly without routines or to do lists lately, and it is not me at my best, let me tell you!

Read for at least thirty minutes daily. Not even close :/.

Marriage

Hide love notes in his luggage (he has a little business trip this week).

Welcome him home to a clean house and a nice dinner!

Parenting

Try an activity or two from No Time for Flashcards (Moms, you have got to check out this site! It is fantastic!). 

Work on sleep training. Ugh. Develop a night time routine to ease her into it! We kind of sort of did this? For now we've given up on the "crying it out" method. We are getting into a steady routine, but it requires me laying down next to her to fall asleep. Not ideal, I know :/.

Home

Make one new meal: bean burritos for the freezer with homemade refried beans. (Not too fancy, which is perfectly okay with me). My beans are soaked and softened, I'm planning on making the refried beans and burritos tonight or tomorrow. Close!

Organize and purge everything! Haha, I am in a kick to seriously declutter, and I'm going to ride its tide as long as I have the energy :).  I was a bit ambitious with this one. I did however come up with a garbage bag full of unwanted clutter to drop off at Salvation Army :).

Blog

Write for one hour every day, Monday-Friday.

Submit a post to Preemie Prints.  If you didn't see it yet, yesterday on Preemie Prints I shared about the connection between zinc deficiency and severe diaper rash in preemies. This may or may not be of interest to you ;).


Next Weeks Goals (I will be trying to catch up on what I ought to have done this week!):

Personal

Make a chart for my daily routine and start doing it daily! I have been wandering aimlessly without routines or to do lists lately, and it is not me at my best, let me tell you!

Read for at least thirty minutes daily.

Marriage

Enjoy a relaxed weekend together, catching up after Niall's trip.

Parenting

Try an activity or two from No Time for Flashcards (Moms, you have got to check out this site! It is fantastic!).   

Home

Make one new meal.

Continue to organize and declutter the house, one room at a time.

Blog

Write for one hour every day, Monday-Friday.


What are your plans for the coming week? 

Life as an Exclusively Pumping Mom

Today I am honored to be featured on the blog of a good friend of mine (in real life!). The Birth Bug is a blog devoted to birth enthusiasts. Written by a certified doula, The Birth Bug covers a wide variety of topics, from homebirth to breastfeeding to babywearing, and everything in between.

My guest post is all about life as an exclusively pumping mom. I share a bit of my story, how pumping was not my choice, but a default under difficult circumstances.

Here's a clip:

"Maybe some women choose exclusive pumping as a means of feeding their baby.

For the most part, however, it seems that exclusive pumping is a fall back plan.

At least it was in my case.

My first choice has always been breastfeeding. I knew that it was good for both baby and me. My mom did it, my friends did it, why wouldn’t I do it?

Because my daughter came at only 27 weeks gestation, weighing just under two pounds. Oral feeds were not an option, and wouldn’t be for weeks. Breast milk was no longer an issue of preference, but of life and death."


Click on over here to read the rest!

And if pregnancy, natural birth, and other crunchy mom things appeal to you, be sure to check out this blog! Because it is wonderful, and I must take the liberty of telling you so :).

His Timing is Perfect {Especially in the Little Things!}

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven... He has made everything beautiful in its time..." Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11a

I believe that God's timing is perfect, all the time. Really, I do. It is easiest for me to see His perfection in the big things.

When my daughter came three months earlier than her due date, the timing looked pretty faulty from a human perspective. Yet her birthday was orchestrated by a loving and Sovereign God, and He made everything about her early arrival beautiful in its timing.

I've seen God line up jobs for me and my husband just when we needed them. I've seen Him come through at the last minute with unexpected checks, much needed vehicles, and even perfect apartments to live in. 

The little things are harder for me. Slow service at a restaurant, computer problems, my daughter waking up from her nap an hour early as I'm right in the middle of an important project... that's when my spirit rebels against God's perfect timing. I bubble up with impatience and spew frustration.

Have you ever thought of your impatience as rebellion against God? The concept is a new one to me, but it has been earth shattering. If I believe that every single event in my day is planned and ordained by a holy and loving God, then to get angry over what I see as an "interruption" is just that: rebellion against His goodness.

If God ordained that my computer should crash, who am I to think I know better and get angry? If it was His plan that my doctor's appointment was inconveniently cancelled, why can't I trust Him to reschedule my agenda perfectly?

Do I really believe that His timing is perfect?

If I do, than today I can be joyful, patient and content, no matter the divine interruptions and apparent inconveniences that come my way. 

I'm not being a fatalist. I certainly hope that my computer does not crash, and that my day runs in a smooth and orderly fashion.

I'm not asking for trouble. I am asking Him for perfect peace and patience to roll with whatever He brings into my life today. That He would teach me to trust Him in everything, even and especially the little things.

Do you find it harder to trust God with the little things or the big things? How have you seen God work His perfect timing out in your life?

Linked with: Growing Home, Far Above Rubies, Time Warp Wife, and A Pause on the Path.

Monday's Resolution {Be Charitable}

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We are picking apart Jonathan Edward's 70 Resolutions, one week and one resolution at a time. Don't forget to start where he did- "Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat Him by His grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ's sake."

13. Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.

My paraphrase:

13. Resolved, to be thinking of and looking for ways to be generous, and to meet the needs of others.  

The Scriptures tell us that God loves a cheerful giver. God Himself is the Giver of all good things, and when we give generously, we are imitating our Maker. Ultimately every material good or natural ability I possess comes from God.

Giving generously is simply acknowledging that everything I have belongs to Him anyway. 

Jonathan Edwards resolved to be striving, endeavoring, and seeking out opportunities for charitable and liberal giving. He wanted to give generously to "fit objects"- to meet appropriate and essential needs.

People have been so generous to me and my husband. Sometimes I feel like we are always on the receiving end, being blessed by the generosity of God through others. While I look forward to the day in which we might have greater financial resources to generously bestow upon others,

...today I realize that there are many ways that I can give generously to others, without exceeding our financial means (though we do tithe regularly and give financial gifts as we are able!).

I can generously give:

My time. Taking time to fellowship with and encourage someone who is a stranger, lonely, or going through a difficult time. Giving of my time to teach children, to pray with and for others, or to babysit free of charge for a mom in need. Our time is often the most precious gift we can give.

My hospitality. Recently we had new friends over for dinner. They remarked on how rare it is nowadays for friends to ask you into their home for a meal. When someone comes into my home I am offering to them a little piece of my life, my home and family, just as we are. It can be vulnerable, as I am not perfect, and neither is my house! It can be scary to let people in to see us as we are. Yet it is also a great opportunity to encourage- sharing a warm meal, comfortable atmosphere, and edifying conversation.

Baked goods. Baking is inexpensive and relatively easy to do (again, this just requires a little bit of time!), but it is also a lost art in our culture! Think of how much the elderly widower in your church might enjoy a few muffins, or the invalid some chocolate chip cookies, or the college student fresh brownies to fuel their studying.

High quality hand-me-downs. Let me stress the high quality- if you don't wear that pair of jeans anymore because of holes or stains, nobody else will want them either! But any items of a good quality that you no longer have use for can be generously passed along to others. Sometimes its easier to send a bag to Goodwill or try to earn an extra buck via a consignment shop- but before you go that route, ask a friend, neighbor, or church member if they could use it. Saving them money and giving something that they could really use or might desperately need is a huge way to bless them!Think home goods, kitchen supplies, decor items, clothing, toys, and baby gear.

These are a few of the ways I am learning to give generously on a tight budget. What are some ways you've found to give liberally and be charitable? Let's be like Jonathan Edwards, and reflect the generosity of our gracious God by always endeavoring after new ways of giving!

Purposeful Perusals, 19th Edition

What Women Need to Say to Each Other @ A Holy Experience. "The curve of a smile is a woman’s most perfect curve and the only tag that matters is the one that says Robed in the Righteousness of Christ."

For All the C-Section Moms @ The Birth Bug. For any woman who's been discouraged by her c-section, this will be a blessing. I also really enjoyed The Natural Cesarean video the Birth Bug posted this week.

Increasing Passion in Your Homemaking @ Passionate Homemaking. "So sister, go forth today and scrub that toilet, cuddle up with a little one and read that story, plan that special meal to show your family you care, and know with confidence that God is smiling down upon you…He cares because He’s doing it in heaven too!"

Blog of Note: No Time For Flash Cards. An excellent resource for mom's seeking creative and fun learning activities and games for their children of all ages. Definitely check this out!

Weekly Goals

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You may have noticed that I never posted my goals last Friday. Well, everybody has their weeks of lunacy I suppose :). It took me two weeks to accomplish most of these goals. Here's a refresher:

Personal

Read Chapter One of Let's Study Ephesians by Sinclair Ferguson.

Continue reading Word Hero and The Well Trained Mind.

Marriage

Dress up for dinner at least one night. Have candles and music going when Niall walks in the door (I am bound and determined to finally make this one happen!).


Have our monthly budgeting and financial accountability meeting.


Parenting

Try a special activity with S: Art (crayons, magazine cut outs, etc.)

Encourage finger foods by offering them once each day (she is so anti-solids this kid! Any advice from seasoned Mamas?) I've been doing this most days, still little to no progress.

Home

Make homemade laundry detergent.

Make one new meal: The Pioneer Woman's Patty Melts. You can follow along with the new meals I've been making, as well as my reviews of them, via Pinterest, if you are interested :).


Blog

Submit a guest post.

Write for one hour every day, Monday-Friday. This is becoming more of a daily habit, though it has taken me two weeks to get there!

This Weeks Goals:

Personal

Make a chart for my daily routine and start doing it daily! I have been wandering aimlessly without routines or to do lists lately, and it is not me at my best, let me tell you!

Read for at least thirty minutes daily.

Marriage

Hide love notes in his luggage (he has a little business trip this week).

Welcome him home to a clean house and a nice dinner!

Parenting

Try an activity or two from No Time for Flashcards (Moms, you have got to check out this site! It is fantastic!). 

Work on sleep training. Ugh. Develop a night time routine to ease her into it!

Home

Make one new meal: bean burritos for the freezer with homemade refried beans. (Not too fancy, which is perfectly okay with me).

Organize and purge everything! Haha, I am in a kick to seriously declutter, and I'm going to ride its tide as long as I have the energy :).

Blog

Write for one hour every day, Monday-Friday.

Submit a post to Preemie Prints.

What are you hoping to accomplish within the next week?

Ode to Autumn

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Yesterday was the perfect September day. We woke to a blissfully cool house: 68 degrees. It felt heavenly after months of 75-80 degrees in our non air conditioned home.

I pulled on a sweater, unvisited since early spring, and enjoyed my cozy slippers.

One cup of hot tea turned into two as the morning dwindled, then into two additional cups of coffee. It was so chilly, and as long as this doesn't become my daily habit, it seemed appropriate to indulge :).

Two pots of soup were set to simmer on the stove; one of zesty tomato, the other, rosemary white bean. Fried onions and herbs wafted spicily through the house. I breathed it in deeply, and felt the deliciousness down to my toes.

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S and I went for an early afternoon stroll. It was sunny and warm, a last serenade to our beautiful summer. We ambled along, the stroller and me, refreshed by the cool breeze. A few trees had turned, but most were still waiting to reveal their dying glories.

I love every season, and swell with excitement as each one arrives. But there is something about the Fall that  infects me more entirely with its rich splendor.

It is deep like the jewel tones of its foliage and produce; amber leaves and gourds, ruby apples, amethyst eggplants and plums.

And while all the trees around are dying, deep inside I feel breathtakingly alive.

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