Things I Love (August 2024 Edition)

grounding rhythms, ruby red, Y2K, and love in the bread

Dear friends,

It’s been a rich, busy month of swinging back into our family rhythms and settling into a new routine. This always makes me breathe a sigh of relief as I remember that I really do like a plan (albeit one with frequent mishaps and interuptions!), I like to order my days, and I like to see progress as the days go by. When we are back into our rhythms, we spend more time together, and this is good for our souls. It is especially good for me right now, as I find myself a little lost in sadness from time to time, in the quiet spaces of my life. I am missing my father, and since his passing, my mother all over again. (Today is her birthday, and I am remembering her grace and beauty, the way she raised nine children and made us feel we were her world… I miss my wonderful parents so much.) I also just grieve that people die, that the world is a broken place, that terrible things happen, that suffering must come into every life, even the lives of these precious children we hold so dear. It is a strange sensation to feel untethered to the ground, almost weightless, like the earth you stood on all your life has just slipped from below your feet and you are floating up into the limitless sky, while simultaneously, the weight of grief can sit heavy on your heart and make it sink like a stone. It is difficult to describe the way grief is working itself through my body and soul. I wrestle with words to try to make sense of it all. Sometimes, I just physically ache for the sorrow and sadness that has and will come.

Of course, I believe God is making it all right eventually. I believe in redemption. That we will live in a world without sorrow or pain one glorious day. But in this earthly life, trouble is a promise. As is the grace of God to bring us through it. I feel his grace most tangibly in the moments when my family gathers around the table, sharing moments, eating meals, reading aloud, scribbling, drawing, writing, etching marks of faith, hope, and love into each day. When we are back into our little rhythms, I feel that we are moving through our lives carried by his mercy and grace. And for this I am extremely grateful.

This month, these rhythms have led me to lots of things to love. I hope you can love some of them, too.

Things I Love (August 2024)

Wonder by R.J. Palacio We are reading this book aloud in our morning times. It is a brilliant story, full of heart, humor, and tenderness about a boy whose face is different and the everyday struggles he faces. The book is both moving and accessible. Even our five-year-old will hang around to listen.

Reading Aloud: Which reminds me, I love to read aloud. We do a lot of audiobooks around here, and it has been a long time since I’ve read a book with my own voice. But I really like using my own voice to read to my children.

How Right You Are, Jeeves: We have been immersed in Jeeves and Wooster this month. These hilarious (audio)books by P.G. Wodehouse are playing constantly while people are doing the dishes. The stories always involve Wooster getting himself into some kind of scrape and Jeeves, his brilliant servant (of AskJeeves fame) getting him out of them. But not until the whole thing has turned into a convoluted mess of epic proportions. This has also inspired lots of new family phrases—(“the old pot of coff,” “I am positively agog, sir,” and “what’s the po-zish…” to name a few. There is also a great tv series based on the books available on youtube. These books are light-hearted and hilarious, and have reminded me what good medicine laughter is, especially when it is shared.

Ruby Red: My father collected a set of deep-red, thickly-cut glass dishes called Avon Ruby Red. He scoured antique markets for the vintage glassware, with the goal of having enough place setting so that every one of his children and grand-children could have their own place settings at Christmastime, when we would pull them out and use them together. When he passed away, my siblings and I brought home our own set of dishes for our families. I have been pulling out our set each weekend and finding great joy in using these special things. Yes, they are glass. Yes, they will break eventually. But there is something grounding about this rhythm to me. Using the good stuff, setting the table with actual serving dishes instead of throwing pots and pans on the table, making the effort to keep hands out of the food until everyone has arrived to the table and the prayer has been prayed. It is amazing how a table set beautifully elevates a simple meal to something memorable. I am learning to do this more and more. To try to bring some simple beauty to the way I set the table, even on days of hurried lunches. A few minutes more in the way of preparation and arranging can change the atmosphere from one of hurry and chaos to an invitation to taste and see the goodness of God, to linger in the love that hovers here around this blessed table.

Y2K Stores: For the second time in my life, someone has blessed me with a huge stockpile of nitrogen sealed grains that they bought to prepare for Y2K. (I am still eating beans and grinding potato flakes for my gluten free baking from some friends who gave me buckets about six or seven years ago…) I feel rich beyond belief to have all of this amazing wheat and rice. I may not have to buy grain again for a year… (Time will tell…) Y2K is funny because Randy and I have a joke (although I really do think it is true, and not a joke) that he called me on New Year’s Eve on Y2K and asked me if he could see me again because he thought if the world was going to end, he might as well give it a shot. I mark that as the day we started falling in love. I’m trying to bake that love into all the bread that gets made around here.

Eggs in the Air Fryer: A friend with chickens has been bringing us fresh eggs. They are beautiful and delicious. I have found the absolute easiest and least messy way to make eggs—even a child can do it. Crack two eggs in a ramekin (or oven safe bowl/mug), add cheese or veggies or whatever (I love mushrooms and parmesan or jalepeno cheddar), and then bake it in the air fryer (or oven, of course). (I bake mine for about 10 minutes at 430 degrees. This makes the outside nice and firm but the yolk still a little runny—my favorite.)

Gluten Free Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day—This is a great book with awesome, simple recipes for mixing up a big batch of dough (with minimal ingredients), and keeping it in the fridge for a week so that you can pull a hunk off, let it rest an hour, and then bake it fresh. It is really easy and accessible. Really looking forward to trying out all the variations and recipes.

Also, I made these gluten free bagels for breakfast today and *almost* everyone liked them! I consistently visit the Gluten Free on a Shoestring website for new gluten free recipes and am very rarely disappointed with the outcome.

The Corner Cafe: The kids had a fun idea last week to make a restaurant in the basement. They set up small card tables with tablecloths and fresh flowers, made a menu, and three of the kids took orders and made the meals, while the rest of us sat down and enjoyed the cafe vibe. They played some instrumental music on spotify in the background, brought us yummy sandwiches, tea and chocolates. It felt like we were at a real restaurant, but way easier because we didn’t have to find everybody’s shoes to get out the door or make everyone be quiet and still while we were sipping tea reading our books. Definitely something we will be doing again.

1000 Hours Podcast: I know I mention this podcast from time to time, but this month, I have been especially inspired by the messages here. Honestly, this is my current favorite podcast. Though the basic idea for 1000 Hours outside is challenging families to spend more time outside, Ginny covers lots of topics that are related to unstructured play, giving our kids a meaningful childhood, use of screens and technology and the role that is playing in many areas of our children’s lives, creativity, homeschool, etc. She interviews all kinds of guests and is just generally on your side if you are trying to create a meaningful life for yourself and your kids. Three episodes that stood out to me this month are these:

Overcome Overthinking with Ethan Cross, author of Chatter

Change What Normal Looks Like, Matt Beaudreau (Apogee) A Homeschool Podcast

Don’t Give Your Kid’s Childhood to Big Tech, Melanie Hempee (Screen Strong)

New Projects: In case you missed last week’s post, I am starting the brave-ish effort of writing a new book. It is called Journaling Your Way to the Sacred Everyday, and is a six-week journaling course in book form. I have been wanting to do this for years, and I have finally decided to say I’m going to do it so that I will follow through. (My signature move when I feel overwhelmed about starting something that I truly want to do but feel a bit intimated to start…) I am going to be posting the first draft of the book, one chapter per month, here on Substack for my paid subscribers, along with an invitation to join me and journal along. I am also going to be hosting a couple of online meet-ups to read-aloud from our journals and share the process for anyone who wants to come. If you would like to read the first chapter, it will be available for one more week for free before going into the paid archives. And if you’d like to support my writing and go through the book with me and others in real-time, simply become a paid subscriber and you will have access to the book and prompts as I make them available.

These Pages from My Journal: An early morning scribble of my boys’ favorite toys. These special things get ruined or lost over the years. I love this little record of my boy’s favorite things. There are whole worlds of imagination surrounding their play with these beloved animals. Drawing them in my journals is a way of remembering and honoring them.

Thank you so much for being here and for reading these weekly letters. My sincere hope and prayer is that you will find something beautiful here, that you will be inspired toward hope, and that God will use these words that are shared in these posts to bless, encourage, and inspire you.

Sending love and the first cool mornings that hint at a coming autumn,

Mackenzie

From the family archive:

Gotta share this one again in case you missed it. My husband wrote this love song for me for our 21st anniversary. I think it should be heard by everyone in the world. I love it.

From the Podcast:

What does it look like to be married to a creative soul? Today, I am sharing a little bit of our story and what our life has been like these 20 years, trying to learn how to find peace in marriage while also responding to the deep call of the creative life. (Recorded December of 2022)

From the Stack:

My Book:

Thanks so much for being here. See you next week.