Bring On Lemons

We had company for dinner last night (we often do) and I really enjoy making big meals. I should clarify: I like cooking, baking, and cleaning - AS LONG AS it's appreciated. I suppose we are all wired that way, right? No one likes to feel taken for granted. A little work seems like a small effort as long as it's enjoyed and appreciated. I was all smiles last night and for good reason. I didn't have to run to the store to provide my family and our guest with healthy food. We have been blessed with meat from our own animals and last evening was no exception to that rule. Even though we are getting to the bottom of the freezer I was able to find nine absolutely lovely pork steaks. The weather was warm all day yesterday so the garden had an abundance of tender asparagus, and I had made a fresh loaf of banana bread early in the morning before the heat set in. Of course, I couldn't forget the potatoes. I don't do anything special with the potatoes, but my husband loves ...

Good morning! It is 7:03am my time and I have a load of laundry in the washer, the dishes put away, two children dressed, fed, and out the door for school. The beds are made, the house is clean, and there's a banana bread baking in the oven. Household chores can be methodical which is relaxing for me. It's a great time to think as I am distracted by the whir of the vacuum the hum of the washing machine, or in today's case - the 80 strokes it took to turn my ingredients into a creamy smooth batter in the bread pan. As I was accomplishing things this morning I was recalling a fabulous lunch with friends yesterday. I want to share the conversation with you (it's up to Jill if she wants to share her vegetables...) I have been blessed with amazing friends from many different walks of life. Some friends travel internationally from one magical destination to another, some have given up corporate jobs to work in local coffee shops, some own large businesses, some write book...

Just a few hours ago I was nestled in bed with my broad shouldered handsome husband Mark. I was warm and cozy with one hand on my tummy feeling our baby kick. It would be a few hours until the alarm went off and I remember listening as our older children tossed and made sweet noises in their sleep. I was thinking about how the next few months would fly by and soon we would have three little people in our home. Just as I was rolling my pregnant self over, my cell phone rang. I looked at the time: 2:32am and then noticed the caller identification "unknown". I'm an only child so I couldn't just ignore the call. After all, what if my mother was in ICU or there had been a terrible accident? "Hello?" I slurred into the phone. "This is Officer McGregory from Brown County PD. Is this Crystal Bennet?" asked the gruff voice on the other end of the line. "I haven't been Crystal Bennet in over a decade, but yes - this is Crystal. What can I do f...

My mom complains about the language in some books. Then again, I'm sure she would complain about my language if we spent more time together. This post isn't actually about language at all - it just seemed like a catchy way to start things. Today's post is about real dirt ... the kind that lodges itself under your finger nails, the kind you have to dig out of your nose, and the kind that comes with all sorts of nasty smells. I could go on and on. If you've been tuned-in for quite some time, you'll know that I went from a very clean profession to a farmer/writer/mother/wife. Instead of wearing stockings and Manolo Blanhnik's to the office, I typically wear patched jeans and a pair of rubbery boots that make my feet sweat. My hands are dry and cracked and instead of finding a few bobby pins in my hair at the end of the day, I find things I can't identify that were possibly at one time part of a plant. I am not in any way complaining, but I do get asked a lo...

I guess I'll try to quickly explain what remains so confusing in my head and heart most days. I was in love with a handsome young man and we eventually got married. Somewhere between falling in love (or what we thought was love at that time) and getting married. we well ... we hopped into bed together. We were both young, successful, busy in our churches, dedicated to our families, and shocked. Why were we shocked? Because we had somehow managed to be intimate at just the right moment to create life. For weeks I was in denial and making up excuses for the obvious symptoms. I was as small as I had ever been. My husband and I worked together and the men we worked with even commented about how great I looked. I was 20, tall, thin, and yet I was terribly sick. I wen to the walk in clinic expecting to find out I had an ulcer. Not exactly...I happened to be three months pregnant. It didn't take us long to decide that we couldn't provide the type of home our child deserved. We w...