Have you ever read a book that awakened something deep inside you? We are reading such a book. After today's read aloud time, I have not been able to stop thinking about wanting my own Maple Hill.
The book is called Miracles on Maple Hill. The story is about the healing powers of the family's farm located up in the Pennsylvania hill country. Dale, the father, comes home from WWII tired, broken and mentally frail. The family decides to leave the city and go to their grandmother's deserted farm. When they arrive, they find comfort in the familiar and in the dear neighbors still living near-by. Something magical starts to happen to Dale as he returns to life.
Through out the story nature is described. Adventures with cows, hermits, foxes are told. The house has been deserted, but with a little elbow grease the house returns to its former glory. Quilts, boxes of old letters, a sleigh and more are found. It truly becomes a place of healing. I won't give away the rest of the book, you need to read it yourself. What I will say is that I long for a place like Maple Hill, simple, fresh, timeless. I don't know anyone who has this. Maybe some bloggers I admire come close.
Have you ever read a book or seen a movie or read a blog and then wished you were more like them? I know this is sin. I know it is. I feel this way today and I just wanted to write it down somewhere. I often think the people in movies or even real heroes that I've read about are more special than me. And I wish that I had their gift or talent. I suppose it is good to want to improve yourself. I know that I have a great life, but I don't feel very special or unique. I feel average and ordinary! I know that I am special in God's eyes. I know that wishing for something different is wrong. I also know this feeling will go away soon enough, thankfully!
And then my mind wanders back to the wanting a small house on top of a hill. Maybe like Laura Wilder's farm in Missouri? I wonder why it appeals so much to me?  Maybe it is a mid-life crisis. I know that time is getting short. I have little time left with my babies. We don't have money to buy a little farm. I would not have the energy to manage one anyway. And the dream really is not realistic, is it?
I wonder though, what it would be like, to live on that hill...
~Jenn | 
