“I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death… I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.”
~ C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Gardening in the sun, thunder behind me
Crickets in the trees
Tim’s annual Fourth of July party with volleyball, watermelon and burgers and beans, church families, grassy kids, variety show skits and songs, and fireworks after dark
Drawing chalk animals with Anna Joy
Summer night visits with Papa Larry, driving up over the hill on his mower
Purple moth landing on my book page
Drive into town under storm clouds, listening to Howard Shore, AC on my face
Copeland family’s annual visit
A mound of succotash served with watermelon and corn bread and blueberry pie and freshly ground coffee
Lizzie swooning over a teensy mushroom
Rachel fingering the moss and Mrs. Treva saying in her gentle way, “So magical”
Hannah kneeling to paint a tiger lily into her sketchbook
Music around the piano — Switchfoot, Colony House, Andrew Peterson, Penny & Sparrow
Sparse but sweet church service
John-sized Birkenstocks
Becca, Lizzie, and I talking about our sourdough starters
Goodbye hugs
Sunday evening walk down Fairview under a cloud that opened on us
Rain falling fast in the sunlight, running off our eyebrows
Damp clothes and a game of Clue on the floor
Marigolds in a jar
Carreen’s way with words: “to go forth from and return to a place confers a homeyness upon it that merely dwelling within it cannot.”
All-Star Game
Text from Elaina
A little lady at Aldi who was the spitting image of Ms. Twiggly from my favorite children’s book
Holding Elanor against me as a storm blew over, rustling her black hair
Showing Bennett, Huddy, and Elsie around the garden, peeking at Heather the bunny, picking green beans, and explaining how I dry herbs
Rolling down the hill like I did as a kids, getting dizzy, covered in grass, and bruised
Wiffle ball under a fierce sky
Running around in the rain, letting it soak us, Elsie laughing hysterically, her shoulders pinched up and hands out to catch it
Towels and dry clothes after dark
First concert in over a year: Skye Peterson, her voice, stories, and songs about the love of Jesus
Long Subaru drive; Joel’s playlist; night sky
Morning fog and wildflowers
Long Saturday for baking and delivering zucchini bread
“Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand” just after, “I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you” in Psalm 73:23, 22
Mercies that don’t wear thin
Tying up dried flowers to hang on the front door
Hot afternoon for watching the Olympics
A last, long Gia hug
bethanyjmelton.com 
These lists always make me happy, too! And homesick.
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