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A November Walk
The great trees groan, their woody trunks contracting in the cold. Looking up, gray cloud cover blankets the sky. The wind tosses a dried, fallen leaf, rustling on the path before my feet. I pause and listen – pure stillness. The flakes of the first snow land tenderly on my face, lifted slightly toward toward…
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Still Packing
(Originally written in August, 2025. We are now settled into a new home – more on that soon.) It’s sticky in my parents’ garage where my daughter and I are labeling boxes, taping them shut, stacking them up. We’ve been packing, and packing, and repacking, for over three months now. “This is the last time,…
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This Could Be Good
(Originally published at ALifeOverseas.com, on May 22, 2025.) It’s our turn: our family is transitioning back to our home country in the next two months, and I find myself looking for success stories. Or at least transition stories that have threads of hope. There are a great many stories about how difficult, traumatic, and disorienting…
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Time Flies Away
“But now I am six and as clever as clever – I think I’ll stay six forever and ever!” My youngest daughter chanted at me one recent morning with a smile lighting her whole face. For a fleeting second, I wished that could be true. Could I keep her six forever and ever? For me,…
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Lent and Longing
When we anticipated Lent this year, I felt hopeful – maybe an odd emotion for the season, but we were in the throes of late summer. As for our family, we live nearly at the bottom of the African continent, and our mornings were just beginning to start later, with a chilly air, prompting my…
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Grace for the Busy Season
There’s a hint of pink in my cheeks as I write this title. Wasn’t I just writing about tuning out, and slowing down, and the quiet life? Haven’t I thought abundantly and spoken often against the hurry and busyness that we are so often drawn into? I have been challenged – continuously over the past…
bethbarthelemy.com 