Author: Lindsey P. Brackett

When I'm not wrangling four kids and a middle school classroom, I sit on my back porch in the mountains and write southern fiction that's short and long. I believe in Jesus, library fines, supper at the table, the Edislow life, and strong coffee. Pretty much in that order.
amelia · Christmas · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · madelynne

Here I Am (Christmas Countdown)

Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Here I am sitting and being grouchy and irritated over family drama and Madelynne crying because some girl doesn’t think she writes her name neatly and how Christmas just always feels more frustrating than it should when I read a post on facebook that a family is about to spend Christmas at Scottish Rite because their two-year-old has a tumor and suddenly there’s some perspective.

I hate that I have to get it that way.

I’ve got some fun plans for the next couple of weeks, ideas I hope will make me appreciate the Christ season more and not forget what we are celebrating.  On a “Twelve Days of Christmas” whim, I’m going to try to post about what we’ve been up to everyday between now and Christmas.

Lofty goals.  Good motivation to write everyday.

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the first twelve days of December….

Belle in “S-A-N-T-HO”  at her school’s Christmas program.

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer….

Roasting marshmallows on Madelynne’s field trip to the Christmas Tree Farm.

Choosing our own tree.  A sweet hemlock this year that’s not too full or needles but overly full of ornaments.

Coloring on the table. 

Visiting Santa at Densmore Farm.

Seeing if they all fit on the swing.

Santa’s elves hard at work cleaning Mommy’s car.

Sunday dinner homemade biscuits wrapped in joy.
Come back tomorrow to see if what the beginning of the last twelve days leading up to Christmas will hold.
faith · perfectly imperfect

(Im)Perfectly Patient

Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

I’m not a very patient person.

I can’t sit through commercials and will walk the grocery store until a register is free.

I sometimes get bored halfway through a book and read the ending.  Alright, that’s not true.  Usually I’m so into the story I can’t wait for the end.  I have to know now.

I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in one day because I refused to allow myself to be so impatient.  So I just didn’t put it down until I was finished.  Somehow I don’t think that was better because I had to go back and reread so I could appreciate the details.

I don’t usually appreciate the details like I should.

And lately I’ve been really impatient with my Lord.  It doesn’t make for a happy home.

But I want to know now and how and when and where.  I want a blueprint of my life, or at the very least the next few months, and I want to be able to see how we’re going to get through this valley to the other side.

Faith doesn’t work like that.  It’s trusting in the unknown.

I’m not so good with the unknown.

So everyday, and many times a day, I’m having to remind myself that Paul wrote a long time ago about how to combat these “fits of rage” that come with my fear of the unknown.

But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, gentleness, and self-control…..I used to think it was the self-control that would help me cultivate patience, but guess which comes first?

And then we read in our Advent devotion on Monday how God always provides.  Always there’s a ram in the thicket if we’re patient enough to trust in Him.

But sometimes he brings us to the very edge of that dark place before we see the light.

family · thanksgiving

What Thanksgiving Looks Like….

Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

….when it’s gluton-free.

I figure today was a perfect day for a Thanksgiving post even though I’m as ready to decorate a tree as anyone.  It’s still good to remember the specialness of a day for thanks-giving and a day we got to spend reconnecting with some family.

Leg #2 of our 1500 mile journey last week took us to Catawba, Virginia, which is about 45 min north of Blacksburg.   We stayed with Joshua’s brother and sister-in-law, who due to Catie’s allergies, are organic-y non-gluton folks.  Luckily, they made a few exceptions for us and still managed to stay within Catie’s best health.

So here’s a gluton-free Thanksgiving, Brackett style.

That’s right….macaroni and cheese (with broccoli), pumpkin pie, a big stuffed turkey (Catie is one of those Yankee people who do stuffing instead of dressing but we love her anyway), a heavy-laden table, and some tired folks on the day after.

Happy Thanksgiving because it’s never too late for that.