Come on, you know it’s coming, so just go ahead and say it with me: There’s nothing like April in north Georgia. Everything is SO GREEN!

Now that we’ve gotten that catchphrase out of the way… what did I do this month? Looking back on April, it feels like this was a really long month! One major event that happened was my friend Ari getting married. I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids, and it was such a special weekend spending time with Ari and Isaac’s friends and family as we celebrated their wedding (except for my feeding tube balloon popping 45 minutes before the wedding ceremony–that part wasn’t so fun).

In retrospect, my health was honestly pretty bad overall this month, from the feeding tube mess to migraines to odd neurological episodes and more. I enjoyed some really special days with friends and family, but they took a major toll on my body. I also felt extremely stressed and worried this month about work and about finances. There’s nothing like leaving your accountant’s office, where you just paid thousands of dollars in business taxes, and crying in the car on the way to the hospital, where you’re about to pay thousands of dollars in medical bills for a procedure! But I was really sweetly reminded that the Lord will provide. Despite feeling kind of horrible and being worried about work/money, I love spring and I was able to enjoy the good things about April, like poetry, flowers, and community. (Apparently I took a million photos this month…)

This month I’m…

Reading: Above Ground: Poems, Clint Smith. Saving Five, Amanda Nguyen. Wishtree and Odder, Katherine Applegate. The Housekeepers, Alex Hay. The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester, Barbara O’Connor. Upstream: Selected Essays, Mary Oliver. Yellowface, R.F. Kuang. Becoming Spectacular, Jennifer Jones. The Family Recipe, Carolyn Huynh. (10 total)

Listening to: My spring 2025 playlist. The Sun Is in Your Eyes – Voice Memo, Jacob Collier – Radio. Roomful of People EP, Rosie Darling.

Watching: Movies–The Wild Robot.

Writing: I had a big burst of creativity with my church job this month, and really enjoyed bulking out our content calendar and experimenting with making different types of video content. Voice and songwriting didn’t happen much in April, but I did get some work done on my book. And I was generously gifted a huge amount of name-brand, unopened stationery items (everything shown below, plus more that I passed along to friends), which kickstarted my creativity for letter-writing and card-making again (I’ve been majorly slacking on letters ever since I discovered junk journaling last fall).

Grateful for: Guava matcha. Easy sources. Producing work I’m proud of. Springtime in the valley. Doing ministry with my dad, like the old days. Trees. Sharing poems with people whom they reminded me of. Finding an old pair of jeans in my closet that fits. Laughing at a stupid TikTok literally until I cried. Finally getting my website portfolio in better shape. The scent of eucalyptus. Experiencing things alone and treasuring them in my heart. Paint pens and balloons. Apple rogaliki. The boys (meaning, my cats) discovering bubbles for the first time. My mom doing chores I’d been trying to get done for literal weeks. Finding a much better anesthesia combination so I didn’t have a reaction! How God is going to provide for me. My crocheted spring flower garland from Poland. Banana nut muffins. That Jesus holds dominion over death, dying, and decay. Stories that express what we can’t. Van Gogh washi tape. Jazz music. My bedroom. A young friend’s goofy personality. Worshiping in two different languages simultaneously. Candy-striped petunias. A practitioner who is so knowledgeable about my body as a whole. Possibility.

What did you do in April? Even with all the hard stuff this month with my health and with financial worries, April is one of my very favorite months, and I squeezed a lot of good out of it, too!