My French is rusty. It pains me to admit this, because I have a lot of pride about growing up bilingual as a missionary kid. My family moved from California to France when I was seven. We attended language school for a year, and then I was dropped into French public school for the rest […]
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Reading is my favorite thing to do, and this year I read over 75 titles! Narrowing down my favorite reads each year is torture, but I’d love to share my favorites with you here. I used the following categories to make it simpler: top fiction, top historical fiction, top Christian nonfiction, best of memoir, and […]
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When we lived in Texas, a hail storm passed through our neighborhood leaving behind baseball-sized chunks of ice and a lot of damage in its wake. We watched the hail bounce in our backyard from the safety of our house, grateful we had heeded the weather warning and brought our cars into the garage. When […]
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It’s becoming a familiar, but unwelcome feeling: my body in one place and my mind in another. Even as I grow aware of it, I struggle to return my attention to the moment—to be wholeheartedly present. Just last month, I met up with a friend for a walk. After an hour or so, we circled […]
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One bright morning, I laced up my shoes and went for a walk in the hopes of escaping our noisy household. I meandered up the hill into a neighborhood, past houses with million-dollar views of our San Diego beaches. I passed by fragrant natal plum bushes, clusters of succulents lining the sidewalks, and palm trees […]
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One day a few months ago, I had blocked out a two-hour chunk of time in which to write. My kids were at school and my husband was at work and the house was quiet and interruption-free. I sat at my writing desk with my notebook and favorite pen and waited for the words to […]
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One of my favorite parts of visiting my husband’s family farm is walking our dog along country roads. Deer scamper through the fields, the crickets sing their chorus, and birds swoop overhead. I’m always amazed when I turn the last corner to complete my loop: a bright bunch of wildflowers marks the spot. Purple, blue, […]
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I’m old enough to remember checking my email in the early days of the internet. I would sit at my parents’ computer and wait about 45 minutes for our dial-up modem to connect (with all of its’ singing beeps.) Then I would eagerly see if there were any messages for me at our Compuserve email […]
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It’s summer and the kids are out of school and the sun is shining and the smell of grilled meat is in the air. After these long years of pandemic living, we are all eager for some good ol’ fashioned summer fun: splashing in the water, picnicking with friends, making sticky ‘smores over a shared […]
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While watching a detective show with my husband, it struck me that in order to condense the story to an hour, they had to leave out a lot of parts. The show’s writers couldn’t include the ordinary, mundane scenes between the action: Including those details would not only make the show much too long, but […]
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Sarah K. Butterfield 