My friend Lindsey has started what looks to be a very fun online business called L. Tolly Floral and Home Design.
Back when Rachel had her little downtown store, La Bella Vita, Lindsey was one of her mainstays, doing flower arranging and most everything else.
Just to tempt you to go on over and see, she is offering a drawing for a cute oilcloth tote bag in this print:
We are happily spilling the beans that Nate has been given the job of writing the screenplay for The Great Divorce.
Big doings are afoot at Nana’s house today, calling for some gourmet food prep. The Janks clan is leaving for Chicago tomorrow, and the Merkle gang is headed out tomorrow for Granny’s house in Boise, from which point Ben and I will be continuing on to England for a week. Neither Rachel nor I are suitably packed yet, so Nana has all the kids careening about her house for the day. Note that I am not packing during this golden moment, I am posting pictures about it. But I’ll get to the packing soon. Promise.
Also, while I’m at the computer posting pictures, I might as well go for the gold and post some more pictures. I have a fabulous friend in England who invited me one year to “come for lunch and admire my rose.” That sounded like the sort of invitation you don’t receive everyday, so of course I came prepared to admire the rose to the fullest extent of my ability. She fed me lamb and broad bean salad, and then we went out to admire the rose. I’m not sure what I was expecting – but I’ve never before seen anything like it. It had climbed up two of her trees, and completely covered the entirety of the foliage. It looked like a thirty foot rose tree, and so my admiration for her rose was entirely genuine.
What I’m getting around to is that this blog post is a sort of internet version of her invitation. “Stop on by for a PBJ and admire the roses.” Maybe lamb will be on the menu another day, but in the meantime let me take you out into Nana’s yard and show you around. Continue reading ‘Nana’s House’
From time to time I have counseled some sweet young woman who loves her parents dearly, but is having a hard time staying on the same page with them. For example, once I visited with a young lady whose parents were requiring her to wear dresses exclusively. She had been honoring them in this for some time, but was chafing under the restriction. She asked me what she should do, and I told her it was very simple: just continue to wear a dress cheerfully and pray that God will change their hearts. Most daughters flinch at this. “Are you kidding me? But that’s what I don’t want to do.” I know. That’s what obey your parents means. The command is not followed with when you agree. Obedience is simple when you agree. No one needs help with that. But when you disagree, when you think they are being unreasonable, then it is difficult to be obedient.
This is particularly trying when it comes to courtship. Sometimes a young woman becomes emotionally attached to a young man, but her parents are saying no way, not him. When the young woman obeys her parents and Continue reading ‘Close Calls’
Back when my daughters were in school, they had what Doug and I would have described as healthy relationships with all their male teachers. We were glad and grateful for these godly male teachers, and very appreciative of their expertise and teaching skills. We were delighted to have such a well qualified batch of men (and women, too) to instruct them in many subjects over the course of their Logos career.
But if we had heard that our daughters were taking their lunch in to their (male) teacher’s room to visit over the lunch hour, or seeking out the male teachers after school hours, or writing them notes expressing their great respect, or sending them chatty emails, we would have sounded the alarm. This would have been read by us as a father failure of the first order. As it was, I can very gratefully acknowledge the teachers’ work as first rate, and thank God that our daughters always maintained a friendly Continue reading ‘Too Close for Comfort’
Doug and I got up today at 3:30 a.m. to catch a flight to Raleigh, and we made it here to our lovely hotel and a welcome basket of goodies from the ACCS crew. Very nice destination! Thanks to those of you who have been so patient waiting for your comments to clear. (My, but I had a boat load of spam to clear out.)
We had a wonderful time with our friends in Boise last week. We got to visit the Ambrose School (just wonderful), where the conference was held, and we enjoyed worshiping at King’s Congregation. We got home Sunday night, and Monday was devoted to regrouping and repacking. My roses are all getting ready to pop, and they should be in full swing when we get home Saturday. I couldn’t resist throwing (I mean planting) a few more flowers in the flower bed before we left.
So here we are now, settling in. I have urged the other Femina girls to do their duty and post up some encouraging and entertaining posts. But, just like the rest of you, they all have lives which keep them busy. We’ll see if they get a moment!
When I wasn’t sleeping on the plane, I was having a lot of fun reading Summer Moonshine by Wodehouse, of course. We must force ourselves to stay awake until at least 9 p.m. Meanwhile, hope you are all enjoying summer! It is in the 90′s here in North Carolina!
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