Blog
How Do You Ignite the Wonder Inside?
I remember when my husband and I first moved to Portland, Oregon: Lush evergreens flanked our drive; the Cascade mountains, covered in snow, surprised us at every gap in the forest and two large rivers made its bridge city nick name obvious. I remember asking him if...
How are Your Survival Skills?
I don't have excellent survival skills. Don't misunderstand, I have my emergency food, water, flashlights, and batteries ready, but true compass use, as in my only option of finding-my-way from point A to point B, is an unfamiliar skill. My GPS and I are good friends....
Do You Long for the Comfort of Home?
STABLE - Christ is Our Home The stable wasn’t their home. How helpless Joseph must have felt as his young wife, Mary, labored in the straw with cattle nearby. I'm sure Mary longed for familiar sights and comforting smells as she brought God incarnate, the prophesied...
A Season for Everything
Seasons change. Suitcases packed, sitting by the door, and ready for the car. Intimidating thoughts creep into my mind as the last bag gets zipped shut: "What am I forgetting?" "Have I taught her enough?" Much less "When will we see each other again?" The frantic...
Don’t hesitate to knock
I fall into the category of people who find it hard to ask for help, advice, input or feedback. My short list: pride, shame, fear or rejection for lack of perfection. I get so focused on what I can to do to "fix" my current situation that I loose sight of the One who...
How Patterns of Growth and Gentle Pruning Win
Like a beaver out to win a logging competition, I attacked my shrubs with a vengeance. My tool of choice, a Hedge trimmer. The two-foot bar of steel teeth whirring back and forth, open cut, open cut; devouring anything caught between the sharp blades, making quick...
Celebrated and Messy – that’s Mothers Day
Celebrated days are messy middle days–joy for one, heartache for another. Looking for the right words to express both-and. Deep love and appreciation. Humbled by grace and hardened by grief. Mixed Feelings. Raw emotions. Loss. Longing. Joy and thanksgiving. Empty in...
How to Survive the Seasonal Shift of Friendship
I didn't know “seasonal'' could describe friendship or that not all friendships last a lifetime. In my mid-twenties & struggling to understand recent friendship shifts, I observed my mother, a time-tested military wife. She had moved many times, and didn't have...
I Am Mary. I Am Barabbas. He Loves Me Still.
It was early–the sun wasn’t up. But I was ready. Styled like a first century woman, I wore a long pull over dress tied with a fabric sash, sandals and a long head covering. The retreat location, off the coast of California, resembled the Mediterranean hills...
Need to remember more? Repetition is the answer.
I sat at my new desk and the first thing he said to me was, "Take out a pen and paper. I want to see that you are taking notes. This is how I want you to do the following tasks." Intimidating? You bet. Fear of forgetting?...
How to Enter 2022 with Renewed Hope
You’ve heard the phrases: I hope I get that pay raise. I hope my kids do well in school. I hope the neighbor’s stolen car is found. I hope my team wins. I hope the surgery goes well. I hope the drive through is quick today. The word hope get applied to many...
How to be Clothed and Qualified for Service
Have you ever felt like someone could read your mind? Like they were in your head? I’m at a loss for words again today. I can’t pinpoint the whys of it, but a favorite author’s words make me think she had visited my thoughts. Michele Cushatt, in her book I AM, says,...
Does your Super-Suit need a Stitch and a Prayer?
Giggles and grins to melt your heart, as she spins on the merry-go-round “one more time”. Then over to the bars to show her muscular arms and just once on the swing. Please Gaga? Amazed at the energy level it takes to keep track of a little one. Grand parenting...
How to Create Space for Heavenly Relationship Building
It was stunning. Right out of a magazine-redone with impeccable attention to detail. Backing up to a green space and public park, the mid-century modern home had the right balance of warm wood and airy simplicity. It was a recent trip to visit our Pacific Northwest...
Don’t Judge a Life by One Chapter’s Struggle
I love a good story. Don't you? Adventure, mystery, fantasy, historic fiction, memoir - all gripping styles of storytelling. Some of my favorites drop you into the middle of the action, and the writer goes back to fill in distinct details, paint landscapes with words...
Forgotten is not in his vocabulary
A family trip, station wagon loaded. Two adults, five kids, a lightning-fast refuel and potty stop. Back in the car there was unexpected elbow room. With 5 kids, elbow room is prime real estate! In the typical mayhem of doors opening, closing, all the skooching and...
Advice I Needed in my Fantastic 20s
The late 20s are contemplative years. College, if you attended, is often behind, adulting on the daily is well underway and that next decade, the 30s is looming on the horizon. I was asked what are some things I wish I knew or understood better in my late 20s. Here...
Love Restored
Friday Golgotha, the hill of the Cross,Death and Darkness, senseless loss.Saturday’s grief, none could bear.Sunday morn came, he was not there.He had risen, no longer dead,Empty the tomb, just as He said.Hallelujah! He’s risen, indeed,The power of God sets me...
Let me introduce myself
Hi! I'm Carol Feil-pronounced “File.” I’m a yellow-boot-wearing gardener who relishes wordsmithery and photography and has a passion for the “mom bent” set in every woman’s heart. My fondest identifications are as a daughter, daughter-in-law, mom to three,...
Roses are Resilient
Specifically, they are able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.I've watched roses survive and thrive after being transplanted, poorly pruned and even broken. Resiliency? That's a character trait we've all been challenged to tap into this past...