Veronica Boulden

I need a cross with Jesus on it Suspended, silent, suffering there All agency given up and over Hands and feet pierced and bound Head bowed, humble, resolute For my crucifixion is ongoing. I can’t abide the polished ones Hanging empty, sterile, lifeless. I need the pulsing, breathing, bleeding One To fix my eyes upon. I am in fellowship with Suffering! My body, too, is Center  Of some great contest  A point, the origin, uniting all opposites Arms horizontal, bearing others in Body vertical, bringing all to God The mind in Heaven The feet in Hell. Someday He’ll take me down from here; He'll give me leave to me come all the way Receive my spirit  Bury me And wrap me up into Him! Then my cross will be of gold  And very small  And altogether separate from my flesh. To my hands stretched out From His hands He gives me to hold A bright token of remembrance; He gives me to wear a glory universal To demonstrate this Particular Love  We will have now shared.

 Lord, please attend to my body. It is being overwhelmed and undone by my sins. I can't breathe; I cough all day long, even coughing on others. My skin is red, blotchy, hot, itchy.  I am weighed down by fat. In all my motions, I am undermineded by weakness in joints and acute muscle pain.  My closest friends are too distracted to notice my distress or be concerned.  I need healing, deliverance even.  Something within or without or within and without is killing me, consuming my vitality over years.  My bones waste away.  I try to keep doing the right, the good, but my hands fail, my feet tire, and less and less is possible.  I am in no condition to glorify You. But I will glorify You with what strength I have, because You are where all glory belongs.  You are altogether whole and lovely and the source of all life.  I put my hope in Your help.  You have always had compassion and mercy on those who sought You and reached out to You for aide.  Save me!  Human doctors are trying, but th

C.S. Lewis wisely says, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Humble people usually aren’t even aware that they are humble, because they aren’t taking time to think of themselves at all.  They can serve others out of the confidence they have in God’s love for them.  God’s overwhelming love allows the humble to forget themselves entirely for the sake of serving the Beloved and the ones He loves.  The proud, by contrast, can’t forget themselves.  They are trapped in self-consciousness, because they have yet to lose themselves in the love of God.  They may do service, but they think of themselves constantly as they serve, never forgetting how righteous they are for serving, never forgetting how unworthy the objects of their service are, never able to abandon themselves because they are not swept up and away from ego into the love of God.  Just as seed must be cast away and it must bury itself before it can grow up and produce any fruit, so we must cas

Dwayne got a new, unexpected work vehicle- a Jeep Rubicon! He took this picture while out on a local trail with a male friend from work.  The pictures look awesome, but I'm glad he didn't take me; I'd have been quite nervous to go along.  But I'll need to get over my nerves, because we've signed the family up for a Jeep Jamboree in September in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and the trails at the Jamboree will be like this or even more intense.  The Jamboree is a bucket-list event, something we've dreamed of doing since we owned our first Jeep, a Liberty, A.K.A. "Libby," for the first several years of my mom-life.  Libby was our one and only family car until we bought a second, commuter car for Dwayne, and we kept Libby until I just desperately needed a minivan for all the little kids and cargo we had.  And I needed better gas mileage, too.  So we sold Libby to another family.  We definitely kept her well-maintained;  They even called us on and off for

Both girls went to Hume this summer, but not on the same week! So both girls spent a week at home along with just me all day!    Adele went first with the middle school group at church.  So while Avril was the only one home, I took her out for a day of shopping, and we had Greek for lunch. The next week, Avril went to Hume with the high school kids at church. One of the days, I also took Adele out shopping, and we had Italian- her choice.  Here are some photos of Avril from Hume:  Here is a photo collage of Adele's time at Hume taken from her Smashbook page of camp photos:  

I have been blessed to attend the Circe National Conference the last several summers.  The last two years, it was in Charleston, and since my mom lives nearby, I would coordinate my summer visit to her house with the conference.  And the last two years, I also took my oldest daughter Norah along to the conference during the day, and I brought my husband along for the evening events like my Apprenticeship Graduation and the Paideia Award Banquet.  But this summer, Norah needed to stay home and work to earn money for college, so I took only Dwayne instead.  He and I looked right and left and realized we actually  had the freedom to travel together since we our oldest daughter is now an adult, so she was old enough to stay with our younger kids!  It was a great trip, and we've already purchased tickets for next summer's conference, too.  The day of our flight home, we had some time in the afternoon to go to tea at another local hotel in downtown Denver.  Since I am teaching a clas