Dear Friends,
Two years ago I started this newsletter, and every month since I’ve shared a reflection with you and a few of my favorite things from online. It has been a joy writing, curating, and creating this newsletter and connecting with friends - both online and in real life. Each month as I think of you and where you’ll be while reading my words (at the pick up line, over morning coffee, late at night before bed, preparing your kids’ food, on the porch or at the kitchen table), I go back to the reason that guided my first newsletter:
I’m seeing, more now than ever, words matter. They move and inspire us. They give us a way to make sense of our world and how we’re to move forward. Words help us to remember this time. Words give us prayers, cheers, and the unending chorus that we’re not in this alone.
I started this newsletter because I believe deeply in the power of words to transform, inspire, and bring hope.
These words have become a sort of mission statement for my newsletter and for the ways I want to show up in my writing. I deeply believe in the power of words and in the myriad of ways we seek connection in our lives. I’m grateful for the chance to show up in your inboxes and engage in conversation: to be present to each other, to share truths, to be vulnerable, and to know that we’re not alone in this life.
Last year I celebrated with a giveaway for the year anniversary of Walk and Talk, but this year I celebrated through rest and Sabbath. To kick off a two-month sabbatical for my husband, he and I traveled to Colorado Springs, CO for a week. This coming August we both turn 40 and we’ll be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. So off we went to Colorado sans kids for a week of hiking, rest, and good food.
When we arrived at our Bed and Breakfast our eyes feasted on floor to ceiling windows looking out at Pikes Peak. Whether sitting on the coach with a book, eating breakfast, or sitting in our room, we could see the snow-peaked mountain. The B&B owner told us about her time teaching Kindergarten at a school where you could see the mountain from almost every window. She told us many people in the area take the views for granted. “At the end of the school day I’d line my Kindergarteners up and make them look for a moment at Pikes Peak.” She intentionally invited them to look up and see the beautiful gifts before them.
See what gifts are right before you.
I can’t think of a better reminder and message for this month’s newsletter. I did drive over 10 hours to gaze at the majestic mountain, but I can just as easily stare at the gifts right before me at home. I can turn my eyes to the wonders before me in my daily life: the way my son Isaac grips his marker and draws construction trucks, the curl of my daughter Charlotte’s hair and how she skips to school on our morning walk, the sunset over our neighborhood park, the morning dew on the grass, the hummingbird feeding on our flowers.
Everyday I’m grateful to put pen to paper and bring words to life. I’m grateful for you, dear reader, for showing up, sharing my words, and encouraging me along the way.
Here’s to seeing what gifts are right before us, pausing, and knowing that the world is brimming with holiness.
What gifts are right in front of you that cause you to give thanks? Hit reply and let me know, or snap a picture and share with me!
With gratitude,
Kim
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