by Ashley Larkin | Sep 18, 2014 | Grace, Gratitude, Poetry
for day on day, clouds hang heavy, blanket of wool on sticky hours, people ask, when will it rain? say, we really need rain. say, it’s getting sorta scary all these days with no rain we, the people of gore-tex and pulled up hoods (and only umbrellas if...
by Ashley Larkin | Sep 12, 2014 | Faith, Family, Five Minute Friday, Grace, Hope, Mothering, Parenting, Surrender
I don’t know that we can be truly ready for the big changes. Even those we gear up for and plan, anticipate or lay awake with in the middle of the night look different when we’ve come upon them, are able to finger their intricacies, behold them in the real...
by Ashley Larkin | Jul 8, 2014 | Childhood, Grace, Gratitude, Mothering, Poetry
I will make art whether or not I get a thing on the page and when I cannot imagine I’ll have another thing to say, because sometimes art is seeing and listening, and not fingertips producing more. I’m not just a writer when I feel like one, lines easy and...
by Ashley Larkin | Jun 8, 2014 | Faith, Family, Grace, Marriage, Mothering, Truth-telling
It’s late at night for me to think about writing, let alone do it, but when Lala tells me flat out that she doesn’t plan to sleep in tomorrow morning, and I start feeling itchy with all I haven’t written, the thoughts in my head mingling with the...
by Ashley Larkin | May 18, 2014 | Giving, Grace, Gratitude, Mothering
Down the street a chorus of chickens cluck their throaty calls. Next door the rain runs off our neighbor’s gutter from the place where there’s no downspout and splashes into a muddy puddle. Out back the horse chestnut grove looks to have grown...
by Ashley Larkin | May 2, 2014 | Faith, Grace, Hope, Mothering, Redemption, Surrender
I grabbed my keys and wallet and bounded toward the door. “Mama, my swimsuit is in the sink, and I need to spit out my toothpaste!” the five-year-old called from the top of the stairs. I stomped back into the bathroom, not making eye contact with any of...