by Ashley Larkin | Mar 7, 2014 | Five Minute Friday, Love, Mothering, Parenting, Perspective, Surrender
Gradually I’m becoming more willing. To pick up or set down. To push through or let go. To be peeled back. I know how little I know, so I have to listen closely, be willing to let layers fall. These kids with their messes and personalities, preferences and...
by Ashley Larkin | Feb 3, 2014 | Faith, Grace, Love, Mothering, Parenting
If you’d like to receive updates when I post new (usually 2-3 times a week), click here to like Draw Near on Facebook or subscribe along the sidebar. I’m so happy you’re here. ________ I’m honored today to share the blogging space of my friend...
by Ashley Larkin | Jan 28, 2014 | Childhood, Family, Favorite posts, Just Write, Mothering, One Word: Seek, Parenting, Perspective, Surrender, Tell His Story
I write in my basement where puffy cotton clouds dangle from the ceiling along with lines of raindrops cut from paint chips. Through the window, I see the backyard where buckets and rags mingle with sticks jammed into grass and a makeshift drying bench for washed and...
by Ashley Larkin | Jan 24, 2014 | Childhood, Family, Grace, Mothering, Parenting, Trust
They will come back. Often. And from not far away. Maybe from the loft, the small farm in the Gorge, the cottage just south of here. A mama can dream. She’ll be wearing her hair slightly differently than the last time. She’ll tilt her head just so to keep...
by Ashley Larkin | Dec 10, 2013 | Biblical tales, Celebration, Childhood, Faith, Family, Just Write, Mothering, Parenting
The tree shines so brightly this year. It’s amazing what 800 white bulbs can do to an evergreen. (I’ve been known to overdo the lights a smidge in the past.) Much fills our moments, hours and weeks during December, but, as my sister Lizzy and I talked...
by Ashley Larkin | Dec 4, 2013 | Community, Giving, Grace, Gratitude, Just Write, Mothering, Open endings, Parenting
I try to imagine her expression as she presses black and red markers to the paper plate. Does a faint smile turn up the corners of her mouth as she writes thanks? Does a worry line run deep between her eyebrows? Is her house filled by the roars of boys or hollers of...
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