Great Expectation and Quiet Grief – Moving the Farm
In just over a month, we will be carrying the farm dream about 60 miles north, to our new farmstead. Still God’s Whisper farm – in name and dream – just at a new location on a quieter road with a...
View ArticleHoly and Hard – The Moving Begins
This morning, we had our first near frost, and the Great Pyr puppies were frisky – as if the cold dances in their blood. . . I completely understand. (Meander, however, is tucked under a blanket on...
View ArticleA Life of Moments
For Hilda One kernel is felt in a hogshead; one drop of water helps to swell the ocean; a spark of fire helps to give light to the world. – Hannah More In front of the farmhouse, the forsythia has...
View ArticleThe Darkness Is Heavy
I told a dear friend the other day that I wasn’t really one of those people who look for signs of the Apocalypse, but the amount of pain and suffering in the world these days makes me think I might...
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Remembering Mom at the Book Fair – The Sunday Salon
Mom and I used to go to the Green Valley Book Fair all the time. We’d drive over the mountains toward Harrisonburg, forgetting every time that we probably need to stretch before we arrived. On...
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On Turning 40 Without My Mom
A week from today, I will turn 40. I’m not sure how to BE 40, and while I haven’t really known how to be 18, or 27, or 32 either, it seems more important that I’m lost at 40. © 2008 Jo Andre Johansen,...
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Puppy Escapes on the Anniversary of Mom’s Death
4 years ago today, my mother died. My dear, beautiful, compassionate, wise mother took her last breath. I still cannot think of her absence without breaking into sobs that hurt my ribs. I suspect...
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Pieces, Puzzles, Books, and Death
Today’s puzzle. Always begin with the straight-edges . . . that’s our family way. Sort through that entire box of pieces until you find everyone. Then, you can begin to put together the rest of the...
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Writing the Hard Things – A Guest Post by Alise D. Chaffins
If you’ve followed this blog for very long, then you know that grief is a subject I wander back to again and again since my mother died 5 years ago, so when Alise Chaffins released her new book...
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The Dust of Glory
This morning, I’m writing about grief and the holidays over at Shawn Smucker’s blog as part of his Advent Letters to Those We’ve Lost series. This is my mom on our last Christmas with her. Dear Mama,...
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