Hello, [Substack], my old friend

I've come to talk with you again

May 21, 2025

It’s been almost a year to the day that I’ve written on Substack. If you’ve been around here long enough, you’re probably not surprised. Even back in the blogging days I would disappear for several months and then reappear with my reasons for the delay.

I am not great with consistency when it comes writing online (you know, the one thing the “experts” will tell you need to grow your audience).

I’ve mostly come to terms with this about myself.

As much as I desire to write a lot and share that writing regularly, right now I feel God is calling me to serve Him in a very particular way in my home and my community. He has been moving in more ways than I can write about here but

Where I’ve been…

Since the last time I’ve written, a lot of things changed for our family. We moved to new house within walking distance to our parish and I officially began homeschooling our oldest this past August.

My husband and I have always leaned toward the idea of homeschooling our children even back in our college years. It’s honestly a little crazy that our firstborn child is now school aged.

While challenging at times (i.e. learning to navigate teaching one child to read while her little brother tries to sit on my head), it’s been an experience that has greatly transformed our home, my motherhood, and myself as a human being. I hope to write about it more in depth soon.

Right now, we’re winding down our school year with a reading of The Secret Garden and lots of outside time, as well as what we are dubbing “Summer Sewing School” with some other little girls from our co-op.

I can’t wait to begin planning for the Fall.

A Scene from our poetry tea time. Homeschooling isn’t this idyllic all the time (minutes after this photo was taken the scene devolved quickly and violently); however, I do try hard to give my children (and myself) beautiful things.

New Business

Last summer, we decided to expand our beekeeping operation and begin a small business selling local raw honey.

We spent the winter months building hive boxes and assembling frames, and last month we welcomed TWELVE new hives of bees into our newly formed Exsultet Apiary.1

Some amazing friends from our parish invited us to expand our operation on their properties (since we still only rent our current home) and it’s been fun to share this experience with them.

We have also been trying our hand at processing wax and making beeswax products like candles and lotion. In November we handmade several batches of 100% beeswax Advent candles and had so much fun that we are planning to experiment more with candle-making this Fall.

I finally got a full bee suit for Christmas so I’ve been able to get more hands-on in the process without my fear of bee stings holding me back. I’ve already grown more in respect and awe of these little creatures.

The swarm we caught last year is already CRUSHING it and we are hopeful for a good harvest come July.

Seriously, bees are the coolest.

Bookbinding

I had a table at our parish’s Christmas Bazaar in November where I sold some of my handmade journals and rebound books.

My creative output this past year has been…low to say the least so I didn’t have as many items available as I hoped. However I still had a few pieces I was incredibly proud of, like this rebound copy of The Hobbit.

Breathing new life into books I adore is my favorite part of this hobby of mine.

If you have a book in need of a new cover or a collector of special editions, feel free to message me! I’d be happy to chat and see how I can help you.

New Life

The biggest (and most joyful) change of this past year was welcoming our fourth child into the world.

This is honestly the biggest reason for my extended break from Substack as my creativity (and ability to string two sentences together) tends to plummet during those nine months when growing a baby. I used to fight it, now I just roll with it.

Our daughter Veronica was born during Holy Week and we are all so smitten.

Fun fact: all of our children (so far) are named after people who stood witness to the Lord’s Crucifixion. Mary Magdalene, John the Beloved, Simon of Cyrene, and Veronica who wiped the face of Jesus on the way so it felt fitting that she joined the crew just days before Good Friday. Veronica will probably be the last of our children named with this theme in mind lest we get into weird territory with names like Longinus.

I’ve heard parents of larger families (7+ children) say that the transition to four kids is often the easiest—a notion I desperately held onto as truth during the hard days with our other children—and while it’s been a big change so far I can say they were right.

Is it because my other children are not all in the super-dependent toddler stages and can help themselves to the snacks in the cupboard? Or have I finally settled more deeply and comfortably into my role as mother? Probably both.

What’s next for me and Substack?

Honestly, I have no idea.

I’d like to write more about homeschooling and the way the Classical/Charlotte Mason approach to education has been changing the way I see the world and my children. Maybe I’ll finally write that series on Play that I started2 or hone in on the fiction writing I’ve been harboring in my Google docs since college.

Most of the writing I’ve been doing over the past year is for the two companies who have hired me as a freelancer, but I miss writing for its own sake—for the love of it. There’s still a few more changes on the horizon that might allow me more freedom in my set writing times, but I’m trying to work with what I have now. We’ll see how it goes.

If you’re new here, welcome! I’m glad you’re here. Feel free to introduce yourself below. You can learn more about me here.

If you’ve been around for a minute, let me know what’s been new with you—what you’ve enjoyed recently, what you’re excited about—I want to hear all about it.