Things I Love (June 2025 Edition)
morning birds, family films, the brilliance of babies, mercies everywhere I turn
Morning Birds: Every morning a throw a handful of birdseed out on my back deck railing, which is in clear view of our breakfast table. While we eat, we are visited by a colorful array of our neighbor birds. The blue jay, the pair of cardinals, the tufted titmouse and dark-eyed junkos, the house sparrow and the singing wrens. The funny little nuthatches and the loving,cooing morning doves. Yesterday, our baby (14 months old) looked out the window and said, “Coe.” And to my amazement, there was the stately crow that comes morning after morning.
The brilliance of babies. Every day this child is surprising and delighting us with new things he has learned, without being taught. He is unendingly curious. I adore his funny, beautiful language, his skillful watching and repeating the things he sees his brothers and sisters doing and saying, his adorable ways of communicating without words. Babies are the ultimate picture of strength, endurance, tenacity, brilliance, and beauty. It is such a gift to have this tiny little person in our lives. He makes our hearts more tender. He makes us laugh. He shows us the way to live, fully, and with eyes full of wonder.
Amish Baked Oatmeal: The easiest breakfast to throw together. Perfect for picky kids as it is easily adaptable for different tastes and textures. It can even be made ahead the night before and baked the next morning. In a 9 x 13 in baking dish, mix 5 cups oats, 1.5 TBS baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup melted butter (or coconut oil), 3 eggs, and something sweet. (1/2 cup maple syrup, sugar, or coconut sugar.) Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until golden brown. This will make a slightly crispy baked oatmeal. If you like it more cakey, you can add 1/3 cup of milk to the pan before baking. I love this meal because it is good on its own, but it is also a blank canvas for flavors. Cut up fresh peaches or bake them right inside the dish. Add some lemon zest and blueberries, or serve with a bowl of cinnamon apples and walnuts. Add smashed bananas and mini chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless.
Kensuke’s Kingdom: This is a beautiful animated film from Wales that really surprised us. Our whole family enjoyed it (down to our four-year-old). Another quiet, understated story, this one about a boy who is thrown overboard and washed up on a deserted island. The whole movie is full of beautifully animated details, but there is one particular scene of a historical event that will stay with me forever. Incredibly moving. Recommended for the whole family (there is one British cuss word early on in the film), and I love that even though there is peril, and it touches on some very difficult themes, it does so in a way that is artistic more than graphic, so that young viewers will get a sense that something is sad or dangerous, but they will not be disturbed by graphic imagery.
The Wizard of Oz: We finally introduced our 4 and 6 year olds to this classic movie, made in 1939, this week. I waited a while because I think the witch is really scary (although they say in the documentary that she is a very nice lady…). They loved it! And I was reminded of what a magical, beautiful, artistic film it is. I love the gorgeous black and white, and then the oversaturated world of color in Oz. But my favorite is the music. What amazing songs. Over the Rainbow, If I Only Had a Brain, the song the munchkins sing. (Okay, this one is one of those I really like to watch but I do end up singing it in the middle of the night, which is annoying… The line that always pops into my head is “as mayor of the munchkin city, in the county of the land of Oz…”) But the lyrics of these songs are so tight—the rhythm, the words, the singability. They are just fun. (It really was no miracle, what happened was just this/ the wind began to switch, the house to twitch/ then suddenly the hinges started to unhitch./ Just then, the witch, to satisfy an itch/ went flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch/ and oh, what happened then was rich.) Out of the excitement for the movie, the kids did a “play” using the soundtrack. (My favorite part was where they played the tornado music and Dorothy stood on a little blanket while the tornado (her two little brothers) ran around and around her twirling little sheets while the lights flickered.) Hilarious. They were also inspired to listen to the whole unabridged audiobook in one day, and Rune, our six-year-old son, made these awesome drawings based on the story.
Silas Marner by George Eliot: The only other book I have ever read by George Eliot is Middlemarch, which is on my top ten books of all times. I knew absolutely nothing at all about Silas Marner when I picked it up, which was a great way to experience this book. It is a very quiet story, centering on the life of a man who has been hardened by betrayal and has lost all connection with his fellow men and the strange turn of events that will cause him to break his 15-year silence and walk back into society. A very understated novel with poignant insight into true riches, sacrificial love, and redemption. (Note: There is a brief, but deeply moving depiction of motherhood and addiction that is tenderly gripping.)
The Whole Family Home: It has been a month of summer camps, with two or three of my children leaving for a few days at a time. This always takes such an adjustment, and it is always a check-in point for me to realize what each child brings to our family. We are such a mixture of personalities, some to calm us down, some to energize us to action. Some to draw us deep into conversation, some to get us out the door. These are opportunities to look more closely at relationships within the family and see how we can stretch our love and friendship into new places. I think about this as I am beginning to prepare my heart that our children will not be in this home with us forever. They are growing older. I take comfort in memories of my own childhood as the youngest of nine children, that, though the hardest part of my childhood was saying goodbye to siblings (through college, or marriage, or moves, etc.), I can honestly say that each time I lost a sibling (and closest friend), I would move into a season of intimate friendship with another sibling. And by the time I was married, I had experienced a particular closeness with each one of my eight siblings. I treasure that, and I hope and believe that it will be the case for my own children.
Mercies Everywhere I Turn: Our van broke while I was driving it home from church on Sunday. The ball joint holding the wheel onto the frame of the car actually disintegrated as I was slowing for a stop light. I pulled right into an empty bank parking lot before just seconds before the van became absolutely undrivable, and waited for help, which came quickly. I could have been driving fast on the highway. I could have had nine kids in the car. It could have been bad.
I know that bad things happen in this world. But I do sense the grace and mercy of God in my life, over and over. And while there are hard things, and I know hard things will come raising this big family in an uncertain world, I believe more and more that the grace for every moment is contained within that moment. It is so easy to live in fear of what will happen. How close we are to ruin, how fragile life is, how easily we could be swept under, how terrible things can happen. And yet, here we are, and we live by faith and miracles. We walk, moment by moment in the grace and mercy of God. It is present for us, step by step. And when we need it in abundance, it will be there. So breath by breath, I want to thank God for the gift of this life. For this family that is my eternal treasure, and for the blessing of being here, alive, awake to his mercy.
Dear friends,
Thank you for being here. It means so much to me.
Sending love and the first tiger lilies of summer,
Mackenzie
From the family archives:
Randy’s amazing cover of Bob Marley songs for troubled times.
Upcoming:
Rosie’s show at Fender’s Alley: Mark your calendars for August 9 at 6:00 and come see our Rosie play her first concert. The kids are working on a few numbers together, and Rosie will be performing lots of unheard original songs. Can’t wait to see you there.
If you are still reading this, thank you! If you enjoyed this letter, could you do me a favor and click the heart button at the bottom of this post. That tells Substack that people value my writing and to share it with a wider audience.
And if you would like to support my writing and my family, please consider joining me here on Substack as a paid subscriber, supporting me on Patreon, or sending a one-time gift via Venmo at the link below. Support from readers like you puts food on my table and makes it possible for me to spend this time writing week after week. I am so grateful.
