All posts filed under: Homestead

Gardening :: Life

I don’t know much about plants and gardening, but one thing I do know is that if I want more blooms I have to prune the bush. It’s the literal display of “two steps forward and three steps back.” The bush will keep growing but it won’t continuously bloom without snipping off the wilting blooms. It’s a bit of a letdown to me when I snip off the pops of color, because I know I’ll have to wait for more blossoms to flower. This seems an accurate parallel to my life… I’m easily discouraged by that phrase (two steps forward and three steps back) and its reality in my work as a potter, in my marriage, in my daily struggles as a mother. I desire more fruitful success in my life, but my toddler puts me to the test on a tiring day and my husband and I disagree again on the same issue. When I react poorly and without wisdom, I realize that my behavior is similar to a wilting bloom- it’s a decaying …

Potter :: Mama

I’ve scrounged up the time -in the business of motherhood and life itself- to throw on my wheel, which is located in a corner of my parents’ basement. They live in the suburbs of this area just six minutes from my place out in the country. Eventually, we have plans of building here on our property a studio for me, one large enough for my work but also for the kids to hang out in. Until then…. I intermittently have opportunities to work in my makeshift studio that butts up to my dad’s office (what he always dreamed of- having his married daughter come back home to work in his office space 😉 ) I’ve been thinking to myself about my work as a potter and my work a mother. I love both jobs. I have a passion for them both. I have a passion for a lot of other things as well such as public speaking, Vision Therapy, brain development, and watercolor painting. But for now, at this stage of my life, I’ve picked …

Potter :: God

At this juncture in my potential career with clay, I’m simply learning how to “feel” the clay. I’m learning how it moves and shifts and forms and swells and lengthens and expands. The process of being a potter is largely through touch, the feeling of clay in my hands. It’s a tough job. It looks way easier than it actually is! This little soap dish here- it’s nothing special. But making it was something special- the clay itself was hard and cracked and uncentered from the start (the preparation part before throwing on the wheel is important, too, but I haven’t quite mastered that either). The clay flew off the bat three different times. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t center it, that I couldn’t get it firm enough on the bat to make it into a worthwhile vessel. And that made me stop and ponder…. aren’t I like this sorry lump of clay? Cracked, dry, worn out, uncentered, and unfit for the process of being made? Yea. I totally am like that lump. But …

Steel :: Magnolias

When I first moved to this area five years ago, I knew a couple people but had no history connected to this city in the mountains. Everything was new. My husband and I slowly built friendships with folks in our church community. But then our Heidi suddenly died, and we suddenly had a flock of friends supporting us and carrying us through and knowing us more intimately than anyone ever had… Out of that came my very own Steel Magnolias. Women of a different season and of different experiences who became my safe place, my home away from home, voices of truth, steady and assuring companions. Now and then we take a retreat together or we meet for coffee or we fellowship in a living room for an afternoon. Today we sat around the dining table with lumps of clay, building and creating while sharing our lives together. What special people I’ve been given the privilege of knowing 💙 What sorts of intergenerational relationships do you have? What kinds of activities do you share with …

Picture: a day

I’m going to be trying a new thing here on my blog- Posting a picture a day with a few thoughts attached to it. I’ve used my Facebook blog-page as a “sounding board” or “launch pad” for some topics that I’d like to write more about. But I really love my little blog -it started out like a craft project for me or like a collage of pictures and artwork from my home- and I want to continue using this place for most of my writing. The reality at this stage of my life with such young children is that I rarely have time to put two thoughts together much less finish a sentence. Some of you readers know of this dilemma 😉 So I’m going to attempt sharing simple thoughts and perspective from little snapshots in my part of the world. I hope you’ll tune in next time as I journal along this journey of having a family, living with grief, learning from God, and throwing with clay… all while renovating an old farmhouse …

Safe :: Haven

I sometimes wonder what people think when they see my IG feed or my FB feed- these beautiful snapshots of our life at Bluebird Haven. Do they think we just have it made? That we’re so lucky? That our situation in life is enviable? It all looks idyllic, as someone once told me. But how we got here isn’t idyllic. Let me tell you what I see when I survey this place we call home. I see grace upon grace upon grace. God brought us to this place as though we were war-torn refugees. We had no home at the time and the place we’d been calling home held the stench of death. We had been living in a rental, a sweet little gingerbread style house, in a rather idyllic town that was much like Mayberry. But Death came like a thief in the night to our cozy home and ripped our hearts out of our chests. We were a bloody tortured mess. I remember my husband trying to literally tear apart the deck posts …

Why :: Write

I had a recent conversation with someone I love & respect, and in this conversation I was being prodded and challenged to consider why I write what I write. I was taken aback that my loved one didn’t understand the backbone of my writings. It was jarring to me and I’ve taken a backseat to think things through. Why DO I blog? What am I trying to convey to readers? What do I care about in my own life? Why do I verbalize the raw parts of my life? So, I’ll share my journal notes to myself about why I blog and then you can comment about what you think of it. How’s that? Discussion is good. Feedback is good. Sometimes I feel like I’m just blogging out into the void, but then some of you write to me privately about your own stories and your own inspirations. That means a lot to me. I think that most of the time I write for therapeutic reasons and as a form of artistic outlet, but I …

God: Gets It

Wanna see what I’ve been doing today?? I post my raw photos here on the blog but the edited ones are on Instagram, if you want to hit me up (📸bleubirdmama). I’ll give you some anecdotes for these shots… First, this is by far the strangest thing I’m doing today:  I am pregnant with our third and I’m calling this the pregnancy of infections. I’ve had a touch of something unpleasant with each of them; all women experience their immune system being compromised in at least the first trimester. With Heidi I contracted the flu twice in one month’s time; with Everley I had strep throat; with this little person I’ve had a random fungus or some kind of infection in my big toe as well as a cyst become inflamed as well as random bouts of vomiting as well as a staph infection in my thumb. Uggggg. It’s not been a fun pregnancy thus far.  I went to see a podiatrist about my toe to find out if there was a way to kill …

Home :: Remedies

I’ve had the most productive sick day. And I don’t mean productive like most days, running around with errands and emails and checkups and deadlines. I mean, productively and proactively working with my body to fight the virus. It felt so good to stop everything and focus on my body’s needs, and I admit I was quite proud of myself for researching home remedies and concocting what I needed.  Saturday morning I hit the road with the Little Person to visit some good friends of ours with the intention of attending my other friend’s surprise 30th birthday party. But on the way there I felt a head cold coming on, which I tried my best to hope & pray away. It didn’t work. By that evening, I had to ask my friends for a decongestant and put myself to bed by 8pm. The next morning I packed up and headed back home. TLP was immune to my illness and delighted to have older kids dote on her and play dollhouse.  I arrived home groggy but …

Simply :: Not

I’ve been wanting to write lately about the simple moments of my life; like this little cabin bear that’s growing up far too quickly. Soon she won’t be such a little bear, she’ll be a medium bear with a medium bowl of porridge & cushioned chair ☺️ And then share a witty moment like this when my dog finds her nook in the baby’s teepee. Sometimes Molle really is a doll (except for when she’s not…. and eaten a farm chicken for lunch). Or days like this when we had 75 degree blue skies weather the day before, but then the winter storm blew in across that mountain there, blanketing our farm in charming white. It’s the simple moments that get me…. But it’s impossible for me to not consider the other not-so-simple things of life. Like my anger issues, my relationships, my words, my parenting skills, my strength to get through another day…. Maybe you saw my post on the FB page & Instagram about my very BAD morning when my husband told me …