Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad
That part of my parent's marriage, the part where they made promises to God as well as each other, was the foundation, glue, and strength that united our family together. No matter where each of us ha... Read More
Ghosts of the Harvest
"We gather these ghosts and scatter them through the house, October remembrances of a hopeful May, and settle in again to the season of stories."... Read More
Hallelujah of Leaves
"I love the early September leaves, dry at the tip, just beginning to brown and curl as the apples and pears bend the branches down and make it easier for small hands to grasp the treasure the leave... Read More
Western Roads
"The middle of nowhere," I say, "And the center of everything." The place I'm always heading, No matter how far I go.... Read More
The Story of $39.06
This is a short blog about high hopes. A story of education, agriculture, and how small increments of generosity can yield tremendous harvests in the lives of impoverished families a world away.... Read More
Butterfly Rain
Life flourishes, The earth expands, And heaven reaches down, In rain and dew, In response to your wings. ... Read More
“I’ll Take it, If You Will Give it to Me”
I looked at Him with the horror of my pitiful gift obvious in my face, I couldn’t put it into words but He knew my thoughts and He smiled just a little in great kindness and said again “I’ll tak... Read More
Veteran’s Day
"If there is work still undone in any of those areas then it is our work to do. On this Veteran's Day I can't help but feel that the best way to honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives, you... Read More
In the Last Moments of Father’s Day
"I wish all eulogies could be so wonderfully real. We're born in the honesty of physical nakedness, I wish we could all die in emotional nakedness, with forgiveness following us on our journeys."... Read More
Loving My Mother
Share Loving My Mother by Vernie Lynn DeMille Loving my mother with a mother’s heart I see more clearly The worries and balancing That kept her ever walking The webbed tightrope st... Read More
To the Mother of Her Who My Child Loves
Share To the Mother of Her Who My Child Loves by Vernie Lynn DeMille It was your gentle hands, In a childhood long past, That tended the heart Of the woman he loves. It was you... Read More
The Dragon Slayer Dream
"I AM you and we were slaying dragons before the world was. You NEED to remember it."... Read More
Know Where to Look
"No matter what we're experiencing it will change with the passage of time. What is of greatest importance then, in a world where both the view and vantage point are so changeable? Knowing where to... Read More
Earning My Eulogy
"Because feeling weak is just an idea, Like worry, or fear, or hope. And ideas can change The course of history, And my own mind. So while I breathe And while I stand ... Read More
Masks and Serpents
Choice, the capacity to utilize our free will, only happens when we have at least two options to choose between. Those who proclaim the all-encompassing importance of free choice, while condemning... Read More
A Lifetime Student
"We expect our leaders to be gods, all knowing and all powerful, and expect our Gods to be a fairytales; handing out gifts, favors, and wishes as a reprieve from the learning which we were given this ... Read More
Nana’s Aprons
"The name she goes by in each part of our family doesn’t seem to matter much; it is what the name has come to mean that has made all the difference. "... Read More
Father, Farmer, Philosopher
I picked up my fork and went to work beside him on the hillside, blood and sweat mingling under the Midwestern sun. He smiled at me and threw another thistle. “Farms and people need caretakers,” ... Read More
Arlington from “Walking My Father’s Fields”
Like my mother I placed my hand against the cold, dark granite, and I felt in my heart the truth that came out of my mouth that day: “Your life was not a waste; your death was not pointless. I’m... Read More
Earning My Eulogy
"I want to earn my eulogy. So someday in my children’s past, They’ll remember me as I wished I could be."... Read More
Awe: The Key to Happiness
"There's another element, a base that underpins the actions, which is proving more and more to be the secret to happiness. And it's not something you do so much as it is how you see the world."... Read More
Little Ethel: A Christmas Story of Faith and Family
ShareLittle Ethel: A Christmas Story of Faith and Family (From the book “Walking My Father’s Fields: Love Letters from a Daughter of the Land” by Vernie Lynn DeMille) Princi... Read More
Gratitude Therapy
"Gratitude doesn't change our problems, it changes our perspective on our problems. God didn't just want gratitude FROM me, He wanted gratitude FOR me, because He knew that living in gratitude is ho... Read More
Reproductive Equality
To color his barrier to success and wealth With the threat of death. To throw down his worst and call it my best. To claim equal if I Step down where he stands. Beneath me where he lives, Outside of... Read More
Dinner Guests
And reason bids me obey The law-giving Jehovah, With the exact obedience Of the law-living Christ.... Read More
Sunday Morning Musings: The Greatest of these is Charity
Share Sunday Morning Musings: I’ve seen so much anger around me this week, and I’ve felt some of it as well. I’ve seen people divided by political views, cultural expec... Read More
An Honest Life
"Give me hard truths And I will try To build from that stone An honest life. "... Read More
Cathedrals
"I turn at the latch to see her, Standing old, broken and creaking in places, The weight of faith alone To keep her still standing..."... Read More
Mosaic of Sunsets
Share... Read More
Simplicity After Complexity
"...She doesn't know yet, Not in the extremity of her discomfort, Where all the sick, all the mess, all the need Goes when it leaves her body, her mouth, Her heart. She doesn't see how it stick... Read More
Marilla, My Joy
And when you discover, As we all have done, That life is balanced between the love and fear, The hope and the despair, The questions and the faith, We will be there to hold you, lift you, Carr... Read More
Recycled Hearts
"This is what love looks like when you make room in your heart for the one you love to struggle, suffer, grow and change, and still have a place there. Middle age is the birthplace of lifelong lovers.... Read More
A Dream of Dying: Golden Ribbons
I could feel myself being pulled towards a golden horizon that opened up in my mind and I thought "I can do this one last thing. I can offer this one last gift to my friends and family. I can tell the... Read More
A Fearless Place
"A moment under the sun, together on the side of a mountain, aching from a hundred little hurts that we didn't even notice anymore. Scabbed shins, shattered bones, tired muscles and broken hearts. W... Read More
Mindful of Little Miracles
We look for the big events in our lives to label miracles. The deus ex machina events that sweep into our lives and save us from our situations. But that hasn't been my experience with miracles.... Read More
Liberty is Letting Go
We are free to be full of love no matter who is full of fear. Free to be kind no matter who has been unkind to us. Free to be compassionate no matter who has hurt our hearts. Free to chase our dreams ... Read More
On Responsibility, Bracketing and Rose Colored Glasses
I used red filters a lot in my class. I like the contrast. I love the definition of my subjects when I used the red. I loved how it made the eyes pop, the clouds become mysterious, and the rocks becom... Read More
Just a Taste of Sexual Assault
On May 10, 2019 I was sexually assaulted....... Read More
Down by the Shoreline
Down by the shoreline, Down by the sea, The sky meets the water, The sand, and me.... Read More
My TEDxRiverton Talk: Healing Through Farming
Healing Through Farming: How the Earth is Our Common Ground... Read More
Independence Day: A Song for Silent Liberty
"I sing for the women who bled enough on their crops to feed nitrogen to hungry greens. Not enough each day to die only once, but enough over years to fill a family, a posterity, a Homeland."... Read More
Fresh Strawberries
Share Fresh Strawberries By Vernie Lynn DeMille Strawberries, fresh, are a kiss from the garden. The shape alone Molds your mouth into a kiss to return the sweetness. A Str... Read More
Reading Earth
Something in the words that speak From blossom, bud, and dusty fruit Between the sky and dampened earth, Creations be of the Creator’s seed, They sing the story of ourselves, Storytellers from our v... Read More
What Gossamer Threads Enslave Us
I breathe in, breathe out. The wind moves the orb where I lie And speak of the beauty, throw sparks at the bright, Weaving a story by day and night From threads, such fine, fine threads I spin.... Read More
More Than Grief
I wait for the day when your picture inspires more than grief. When the joy comes back from six feet deep...... Read More
The Power of Small Dreams
Sometimes realizing a dream is all about having the eyes to see that it's already come true. ... Read More
It’s Still True
In that hope I felt seen, I felt understood, I felt loved, and I felt forgiven. At last, at long, long last I remembered what it felt like to have a hope in Christ. To be recognized as imperfect, but ... Read More
The Sum of a Pumpkin
"But no matter where the pumpkin rests, the farmer will always love it best As a bit of Sunshine captured in shell of Gold or orange and tended well."... Read More
Jumping Tracks: Life After Suicide
"That’s how death is. We close the casket. We fold the flag. We make that last radio call. We weep, we breathe deep, and we walk away from the dead back to those who still live. And each step kills ... Read More
Breath of the Mountain: Pine Valley
My spirit Quiet in the cacophony Of the birth, decay, and growth Of being.... Read More
If You Give a Child a Chore…
When we're helping we're happy...... Read More
A Melancholy Gold
Share A Melancholy Gold By Vernie Lynn DeMille The wind is in the grass now, Gentle fingers prodding At leaves that will not rise, Pressing them to dance Just one more waltz Along the av... Read More
The Pendulum
We don't have the luxury of proclaiming "not MY problem", "not MY President", "not MY America". Like it or not, this is OUR America and the blame for our division lies at all of our feet.... Read More
Last Mom Limping
"I had no idea how emotional existing in that “moment” would be. Everything I am was right there with me in that space. I was wrapped up in wondering whether or not I could keep going, if I coul... Read More
I Will Water Hope
You cannot make me hate.... Read More
Sex, Death, and Disenfranchised Grief
"For some inexplicable reason our culture expects that the elderly experience a different kind of grief. As if age makes the death of a spouse, and that loss of a sexual relationship, expected and the... Read More
Marking Time with a Cricket
"Then a lone cricket starts playing his tune into the dark silence. It makes me feel wonderfully small and inconsequential to mark time with a cricket..."... Read More
Sabbath Evening by the River
"I find The rushing draught has put The stillness back in me."... Read More
On the Lighter Side…Gender Confusion at the Sportsman’s Warehouse
Share In light of the ongoing (and honestly, ad nauseum) bathroom gender discussions, I thought I’d share my own gender confused bathroom story. Last fall I was visiting Sportsman’s Wareho... Read More
Grave at the Quiet Bend
"The fingers of shadow lengthen Along the quiet bend Of the road that runs from East to West Beside the grave of a friend."... Read More
Untouchable in America
The overweight. The obese. The chubby. The fat. The plump. These are the untouchables in America.... Read More
A Song for the Hopeless
"Begin again." And the hopeless soul looks over the edge, into the darkness where their dreams have gone, and wonders if the risk of beginning will be their death or a new life.... Read More
The Cowardice of Disbelief
Disbelief, by comparison, is just so blessedly easy. All it requires is our disinterest, our contempt, or our anger. Anger is easy compared to kindness.... Read More
To Grandma on Ezekiel’s Birth
ShareThis poem was written just a few days after my firstborn son was born and as my Grandma Stratton was slowly slipping away from mortality. Grandma had suffered a stroke that kept her bedridden and... Read More
The Gift of Grief
Share I have been expecting a call to tell me of my Dad’s death for several years. The powerful, larger than life man who could swing me around in his arms when I was a child has given way to the fr... Read More
Your Candidate is Not Mine
Let me pose this question to you: say I accept your assertion as truth, that my vote is "wasted" on a 3rd party candidate, are you as equally vehement that I should vote for the "other" candidate? Wil... Read More
Know Thyself
"The bedrock of our civilization rests upon the shaky sand of self-awareness and is dependent not upon how well we speak, but upon how well we listen."... Read More
The Heart of Racism
ShareThis morning I came across this image: On this blog post: https://feminewbie.wordpress.com/2016/07/10/i-just-saw-this-picture-and-im-so-disturbed-because-its-me/ This was a moving and fascinatin... Read More
Daring Greatly
A good, clean debate can strengthen understanding. An argument leaves you feeling sick inside. ... Read More
The Rice Experiment…With a Twist
Words matter.... Read More
Voices From the River Bank
ShareI woke up early yesterday morning with the strangest question running through my head: how many people in the history of mankind have died in war? I began researching and what I found had me aski... Read More
Lines in the Sand
Share Just over a week ago a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, France claimed the lives of 130 people. They were the result of hate and bigotry on the part of Islam... Read More
Sunday Mornings
With total understanding of what the gospel of Christ is really about she replied, "Church isn't for perfect people, church is for everybody."... Read More
Walking My Father’s Fields-Kindle Pre-Order
"I knew when I went home that day that I wanted to be a writer. I knew that I wanted to be the one who wove the magic into the words and reached into another person's heart to touch it with emotion."... Read More
To Be an Artist
ShareI woke up this morning to the sound of birdsong. The sun wasn’t risen yet, but the night was giving way to its advent. The shadows were beginning their long run to the west. I s... Read More
Better Times
It's good to remember, when the "right now" looks impossible or insurmountable, that there have been better days and there will be better days, and I will get through them and still have these snapsho... Read More
The War to End All Wars
I will do my part to defend the freedom I treasure because I know it is not enough to simply remember; I must act, I must do, I must serve so that the terrible price that you paid is not lost to negle... Read More
Of Hailstones and Harvest
Nothing of our hard work remained. Ezekiel and William stood side by side in front of me. I couldn’t see their faces, but I could hear the heartbreak in Ezekiel’s voice when he finally tu... Read More
Pillar of Salt
All things break. It is the law of the earth that the grandest mountains eventually come to dust and the sweetest of dreams-come-true make their way to memories. It is the law of Heaven that we ... Read More
The Price of Peace
Share I think this is probably one of the most concise speeches on what peace requires ever given. Peaceful does not mean weak, well-defended does not mean violent. Freedom absolutely DOES come at ... Read More
Vanishing Point
"...I close my eyes at journey’s end, and sit beneath the shade. The heat of travel flows from my fingertips and toes to the soil beneath me, The earth returns a cool stillness in trade. I open m... Read More
Brother Tingey’s Christmas Memory
I had forgotten Brother Tingey, his kindness, his generosity, his strength of spirit; Brother Tingey had forgotten himself, his wife, their life together, and his family; but there was someone who had... Read More
Not Everyone is Educated
ShareNot Everyone is Educated: a Response to Nathan Biberdorf I have been pondering this post for well over a month now. I read this article here: http://nathanbiberdorf.wordpress.com/2014/06... Read More
To Labor and To Wait
"I can tell you beyond any doubt that God hears our prayers and He answers them. He doesn't take away our troubles, but He gives us joy in the midst of them. He doesn't make us comfortable, but He g... Read More
Mother’s Day 2014
Share I have been pondering on Mother’s Day all week. I have been doing some reading on various blog posts, news sites, and Facebook profiles where men and women alike have bemoaned the holi... Read More
82 Children and a Choice
Share “Memorial to the executed children of Lidice” by Marie Uchytilová This sculpture moves me in a profound way. This is what art is meant to be: something that move... Read More
Resisting the Arms that Hold Us
Share The summer I turned twenty-one I was invited to be a camper companion at Camp Quality. It was a wonderful program, built entirely around the goal of giving children who deal with chronic and/o... Read More
Little Things
Share I love little things. My little girl is one of my sweetest friends. My little boy is the apple of my eye. My not so little boy brings me little flowers on a regular ba... Read More
…We Matter…
ShareDo you ever get to the end of your day, look back at the work you did, the work undone, and find yourself discouraged? It happens to me all the time. I heard a self-help success guru (I don’... Read More
…Imperfect People…
ShareI so enjoyed listening to General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last weekend. So many beautiful thoughts were shared, so many moments of inspiration and guidance... Read More
Words for Week One
Six words for week one.... Read More
Saturday Night Stories
So this is my version of free-time. “Me” time. And I’m inviting you to share it with me. I’ll be posting the 6 words every Sunday night.... Read More
Living Together in Love
ShareA friend of ours was at the Clackamas Town Center Mall yesterday when a gunman opened fire on the holiday shoppers, killing two people and then taking his own life. She and her family are all saf... Read More
Precious Things
God sees precious things in us. Sometimes our meager efforts must look just like a chipped, faux-gold painted, plaster bowl. But he takes them anyway, He loves them because he loves us... Read More