Asking for Help

 The Autumn work around home taught me a new lesson in humility this year.

When a wild wind just after soybean harvest caused a brown ground-blizzard, we ended up with up to 3-foot drifts of leaves packed in around the raspberries, flower garden, lilacs, and more. 

Dad was still very low on energy and losing muscle due to treatment at that point, and Elsa didn't need to be exposed to all these dusts and sprays as she shouldered more work during Mom's recovery from her second complete knee replacement of the year. So I raked, shoveled, and pitched the dusty leaves over a couple of days before having to admit that the job (on top of all our other autumn work on lawn, gardens, and house) was too much for us. 

Enter: the Body of Christ

Seven adults and three kids from Elsa's and my church arrived one Saturday morning and got us well over the hump in two hours! Two strong guys spent most of the time finishing off the soybean drifts while the rest of us tackled a lawn covered in little branches from one of our wild autumn winds, got the roses tucked in for winter, and more. One helped with his chainsaw, and another was comfortable helping us drive the backhoe with huge buckets full to the burn pit.

Front flower bed: Before & After  all the help covering the roses with dirt and leaves

It was not easy for us to ask for help. But even more than the work completed (which was of more value than can be calculated), we were so blessed by the fellowship and encouragement of our "family." Visiting over deep dish pizzas and homegrown apples was a great way to unwind.

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." • Galatians 6:10

Storing Memories in my Sketchbook

 My view which prompted a sketch and watercolor-play:

The results on the final page of this watercolor sketchbook:

Looking back to the first page, I shake my head over how it took 4+ years to fill a smaller book than the first one which I filled in about a year.

But then I am grateful for how many other things have come back into life which have limited my time for nature journaling. 

And no matter how many months come between pages, each one still brings back special memories. 

First Apple Pie

This was a "first."

• The first apple pie I have made in years

• The first einkorn flour crust we have tried

• And thus, the first gluten pie crust for our family in over a decade

Apple season around here includes:

• Applesauce

• Dehydrated apples with cinnamon

• Frozen apple slices for winter baking

• And more!

Harvest Time 2025

Saving Beauty from the Frost

Frost is becoming a frequent early-morning visitor once again. So it was time to make some final garden bouquets. 

And a few favorite pots are still being enjoyed by spending cold nights indoors.

Sunday Sketching in my Nature Notebook

Sunday afternoons can be a good time for me to enjoy God's creation in my nature notebook.

This process helps me notice more intricate details than when out on a walk snapping a photo like this milkweed on the prairie. 

Watercolor has gone by the wayside the past couple years, but I am choosing to enjoy the process again, despite the outcome! 

And it is fun to include details of what I noticed when outside... even when not particularly enjoyable, such as all the bugs biting me last week. Flipping through months or years later, I am brought back to good memories. 

Do you have a nature notebook or journal to help you enjoy God's creativity and learn more about His creation?! Even if not, let's keep our eyes open in wonder and awe!

Keep looking up!

~ Hannah

Seeing Beauty in Hard Places, part 3

Long hours on the road this summer were brightened by a vase of flowers from our garden!

By the way, Elsa and I trained our way into more driving over the past two months than we had been able to do in the previous decade combined! This is another part of our major "rehab" from years of chronic illness. 

Garden flowers also brightened up our hotel room for part of Dad's month at Mayo.

And the first tomatoes from our garden came along to ripen in the window.

Sunsets and a couple of ponds were another bit of beauty we looked for each day.

Did you notice my “garden” in the photo behind the orange juice*? Probably not. It’s all in one’s perspective!

That little patch of wildflowers between a highway and a hotel parking lot was a bright spot in an otherwise ugly setting. Especially when compared to our lush flowerbeds back home with rarely the sound of a vehicle on our gravel roads and fresh air blowing across the prairies… that month in an airless hotel room on the edge of a city was not a restful or healing place.

And yet God turned it into a time of healing the nervous system at deeper levels, just because it was so far from peaceful or natural. What mattered was that He had called me to these new challenges, and He was there to meet my needs. By wiring in the truth through brain rewiring (neuroplasticity) methods, my nervous system learned that even there, I was safe with Him!

*The orange juice itself was a brain rewiring win after more than a decade without! I enjoyed it most days at the hotel as well as training with some more "firsts" of a bagel, corn flakes, conventional ice-cream, and a waffle cone! Plus walking up to 3 miles at a time on the paths and sidewalks of our community.