Elizabeth Sands Wise

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BIG NEWS!

March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 / Elizabeth

book announcement

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amazon, daughters, first fifty letters, mothers, my book, this sacramental life, wisdom

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← The Sixty-Third Letter: How the Whole30 Confirms What I Know to Be True About Myself

The Sixty-Fourth Letter: All Y’all Be Perfect →

The next 50 letters! Now available as a paperback on Amazon. (Click the image to purchase.)

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You can find some free digital print downloads under the “Sharing & Freebies” tab.

A great gift idea! This collection is coauthored with my husband. (Click on the photo to purchase on Amazon.)

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She finished a Grandma Moses-inspired painting this morning & this afternoon we wept together watching the footage of Notre Dame burning. She doesn’t know the cathedral, but she knows that when her momma’s voice breaks, that it is time to draw near, to sit close, to listen. She doesn’t understand a 900-year-old building, but we can place it on our history of the world timeline, and she can see the weight of history. And maybe what’s most heartbreaking of all: she knows it’s about to be Easter. It’s Holy Week, friends. Gather your people. Draw near. Weep with those who weep. #weepwiththosewhoweep #holyweek #sacredordinarydays #surprisedbymotherhood #notredame

The last two mornings, I haven’t gotten up on time. My preference is to get out of bed at least an hour before my children do. Even if I’m grumpy, even if I’m tired, even if I’m up in the night watching FRIENDS instead of praying, it’s still my preference because I am NOT a hit-the-ground-running kind of gal. (I’m more of a slow-onramp-merge kind of gal.) And I need time to wake slowly, be quiet, drink tea, take note of my thoughts. If I get out of bed when my girls are already up, I feel like I start the day behind because I haven’t processed life yet. But rising early has not happened the last two days. In fact, yesterday I was in my pajamas and bleary-eyed at 7:20 when the roofers knocked on the door and asked us to move our car out of the driveway. The whole day was disorienting. And here is today. A new day. Again started late. Again roofers here early. But they were just finishing up a few things, so they’re gone now, and my daughter asked if we could do some school outside, and so we took our school books and our tea cups outside and had school on my grandma’s old quilt. So I guess what I mean is that maybe it was life a la Mary Poppins today after all. The day didn’t feel well-begun, at least not how I prefer it, but sometimes that’s okay. It’s still half done. It’s still more sugar than medicine. It’s still grace. #wellbegunishalfdone #spoonfulofsugar #literallyinmyteacup #handlettering #howwehomeschool

All I’m saying is, the liturgical cactus knows what the liturgical cactus knows. #lent #italsobloomedinadvent #christmascactusgoneliturgical #sundayscomin

Maybe it’s just me, but the way creation leans into spring is one of the best things about Lent. And I don’t see it as paradoxical at all. This week, the fading of the daffodils and hyacinths made space for the tulips. The coloring of the birds at our feeder is deepening. The cardinals surprise me every year with their vibrant hues. Sure, during Lent, we embody the ashes of last year’s burned-up palms as we remember our humanity. But, friends, those blooming flowers remind us of the more important truth: we can’t turn those ashes back into new life on our own. Only the one who made those tulips can do that. Only the resurrection does that. Only grace does that. It’s what the Holy One does with ash, friends. Did you not know? #handlettering #janrichardson #graceandtulips #lententhoughts

So we have two changes happening in our home life: 👉🏼 saying goodbye to the decades-old, sticky, retro green linoleum, and 👉🏼 saying goodbye to Hans, our 1998 tape-deck station wagon that you turned on by inserting a screwdriver. Other people have been sad about these changes. Poor Hans, they said. How sad! My mom even asked if I was going to save a piece of the linoleum and frame it. But when I came home today on this normal Tuesday to find the Volvo had been towed away to donate for parts, I’ll confess, I wasn’t sad. Nope. And when I stand here looking at the new fun tile creeping out of the pantry, I can’t say that I’m too sad we are finally losing the linoleum. Honestly, we thought it would be the first thing to go when we bought the house, nine years ago. Also, the floor and the car made appearances in last year’s Christmas poems. So, don’t worry, they’ll be kept alive in words. Always words. But they won’t be showing up in my little square Instagram backgrounds anymore. #andimgoodwiththat #itssimplytuesday #thisoldhouse #tapedecklife #itsallholyground

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