Tag: magazine (page 1 of 1)

Wildflowers in General, The Summer Issue in Specific

We recently took a vacationa proper vacation, with moving sidewalks and deep-fried Oreos and fireflies and speed boatsand when we came home, the spiders had moved in. The afternoons still felt sticky-hot, but the mornings now feel dewy and chill. We find ourselves reaching for sweaters and slow-cooking stock and we knew, that first morning, that the end was near: summer is packing her things, taking with her the zinnias and the cabbage whites, and fall is settling in for a stay.

Wildflowers Magazine, Summer 2019 | Little Book, Big Story

I am not sorry about thisI love fall. But this “foot in both seasons” moment is a sweet onesummer isn’t fully gone and fall isn’t fully hereand I am savoring it by drinking tea in the morning and eating popsicles in the afternoon. And by re-reading the summer issue of Wildflowers. But not just re-reading it: I got to review the whole magazine for Story Warren, so rather than go on at length about it here, I’ll send you there for the full review.

Wildflowers Magazine, Summer 2019 | Little Book, Big Story

I will add, however, that this summer issue came with a fun, new side project. A group of us (adults and adorable little girls) partnered with Gateway Hymns to record three of Fanny Crosby’s hymns to accompany Jennifer Harris’s biography of Fanny in this summer issue. You can listen to the hymns here and purchase the issue (biography and all) here. With its help you can hold on, just a little bit, to summer before fall settles in for good.

Wildflowers Magazine, Summer 2019 | Little Book, Big Story
My Adventures in Illustration continues! I painted the pictures on the left page to accompany Kendra O’Blenis’s lovely story “The Great Escape.”

Wildflowers, Issue 02: Summer

The summer issue of Wildflowers is here has been here for a while but I’m just now getting to reviewing it because things are crazy here (more on that soon!).

Wildflowers Magazine, Issue 02: Summer | Little Book, Big Story

But it is here, and it’s beautiful, and I get to give one of you an issue! Huzzah! If you missed my earlier post on Wildflowers magazine, here’s what you need to know: this is the second issue of a brand new magazine for girls. Wildflowers puts out a new issue each season (plus a bonus Christmas issue!) full of craft tutorials, art projects, photography, poetry, short fiction, coloring pages, book reviews (that’s where I come in), and more. I love being a part of something so beautiful and that blesses young women so much.

Wildflowers Magazine, Issue 02: Summer | Little Book, Big Story

You can enter to win a copy below, or you can skip all the hoping and waiting and crossing fingers and buy a copy right here. And stay tuned for the fall issue! It’ll be here before we know it.

Wildflowers Magazine, Issue 02: Summer | Little Book, Big Story

ENTER TO WIN A FREE COPY OF WILDFLOWERS!

To enter, fill in as many options as you like in the widget below. The giveaway closes on Friday, August 31. After that, the winner will be randomly selected and notified by email. Good luck!

 
 
 

Deeply Rooted, Issue 11: Wisdom

The newest issue of Deeply Rooted arrived at my house last week, and since then I’ve loved flipping through its pages, sampling articles and admiring artwork. I’m anticipating a nap time some day in the near future, when I may sit out on the front porch and read with my feet on the porch railing and a cat in my lap.

But that probably won’t happen. I’ll probably read this issue in the pick-up line at school or in bits and pieces throughout the day.

And that’s okay. Deeply Rooted is a magazine meant for women who want deep refreshment in small bites and for women who are able to linger over the articles, savoring them like a feast.

Deeply Rooted Magazine, Issue 11: Wisdom | Little Book, Big Story

My article for this issue, titled “The Good Gift of Feeling Left Out,” was a hard one to write:

Being a member of a church is not unlike being married. The first few years for me were like something from the end of a story, where the heroine decides that at last, after everything she’s been through, all is well. I was glad to be there with my husband, making friends and singing my heart out to old hymns and understanding new things about God with the suddenness of a light switched on in a dark room. All was well.

But a membership covenant is no more an end to things than a wedding is. Five or six years into life at our church, I found myself wondering uncomfortably if those early years were not an epilogue but a prelude to something much bigger, something I had not fully understood when I signed up.

We have been a part of our church for twelve years now (that’s much of my adult life, most of my married life, and all of my time as a mom), and in those years we have experienced a lot of joy in deep fellowship. We have also suffered some deep, deep wounds. Writing this article hurt, and I think that’s a good thing. Submitting it brought a measure of relief, and seeing it in print felt even better.

Deeply Rooted Magazine, Issue 11: Wisdom | Little Book, Big Story

But that piece is only one in a curated collection of works. Lexy Sauvé wrote a beautiful piece titled “Thoughts From a Recovering Minimalist.” Dianne Jago assembled a playlist of music by Christian artists for people who aren’t overly fond of the usual Christian music (sound familiar?). And my dear friend Jennifer Harris contributed her first piece, a rich and satisfying look at how we can sow seeds of wisdom in our children. (You can order a copy of this issue here.)

Deeply Rooted Magazine, Issue 11: Wisdom | Little Book, Big Story

Whether you read it in a leisurely manner or in bits and pieces, I hope this issue of Deeply Rooted is a blessing to you, too!


Issue 11: Wisdom
Deeply Rooted Magazine

Deeply Rooted, Issue 4: Root

I have an aversion to reading birth stories on the internet. It’s not that I don’t care about birth stories—quite the opposite, in fact. I love hearing them told in person, when I can watch a new mother gesture with her hands as she tries to wrestle those first moments into words. I love laughing with her over the things people said, the things she said, during labor, and over how far away it all seems now, as though she has crossed a great chasm and we’re standing there together, looking back at the bridge that brought her to safety.

Birth stories are personal stories, and not just because they have to do with bodily functions: their power lies not in the litany of details—minutes, centimeters, hours—but in the fact that each story is truly unique to the woman who lived it. No one else can share your story with you—not fully, anyway. And while the rest of us can enjoy your story and be moved by it, we eventually have to back away and leave the experience with you, where it is meant to stay. Telling these stories on the internet, then, feels to me like shouting from a platform what ought to be treasured among close friends.

Yes, I have an aversion to reading birth stories on the internet. And so it is fitting (and just this side of hypocritical) that my first full essay for Deeply Rooted opens on a scene from the night of Phoebe’s birth. It seemed right, as I was writing, to include that moment, and so I did. That took me down a peg.

Deeply Rooted, Issue 4: Root | Little Book, Big Story

From there the essay moves into a consideration of the birth of Christ—what we know happened that night in the stable, what might have happened, and what it might have meant to Mary. But the essay isn’t a birth story: it’s mostly about Mary. And it’s in the newest issue of Deeply Rooted. (You can purchase a copy here.)

Deeply Rooted, Issue 4: Root | Little Book, Big Story

Deeply Rooted Magazine
Issue 04, Winter: Root

Deeply Rooted, Issue 2: Plant

I hope you know by now that I’m not interested in selling things to you. The books on this blog have turned up in libraries and secondhand bookstores, on the shelves of friends and as gifts. They have deepened the flavor of life for our family and so I, of my own volition, have written about them here, not because I was asked to or paid to write about them, but because I wanted to share them with you.

I state this so plainly because today’s post might, otherwise, smell a little fishy. I am a member of the staff at Deeply Rooted, and, as it is not a children’s book (or even an actual book), it is out of keeping with my usual review fare—but not so out of keeping that I couldn’t justify sharing it today. Consider this one a post for you and, therefore, indirectly for the children you may or may not have.

Deeply Rooted Magazine | Little Book, Big Story

So, I write to you now not as a copy editor, but as a wife and mother who read Deeply Rooted‘s first issue from cover and cover and loved every bit of it. The content is rich; the photography beautiful. It reads less like a magazine and more like a 96-page anthology of carefully curated essays, interviews, recipes and DIY projects, punctuated with gorgeous photographs, as well as hand-lettered and watercolor illustrations. There are no ads, only biblical wisdom on subjects that range from love letters to natural living to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. (For more on the difference between Deeply Rooted and conventional magazines, read here.)

The magazine is released quarterly, so the summer issue just came out last week. My copy arrived on Saturday and since then, I’ve read it through once before turning back to savor certain articles, lingering over them as I do over the best sort of dessert. I can write to you as a reader, yes, but I can also write to you as a copy editor now and tell you that, ladies, this issue is good. I have bonded—really bonded—with a few of those pieces, and the care and attention that goes into every word on those pages is a lovely thing to behold. If you’d rather not curl up with Grudem’s Systematic Theology at nap time, but would like something equally rich yet served in multiple, small courses, then Deeply Rooted is for you.


Deeply Rooted Magazine
Issue 2: Plant (Spring 2014)