The bread is on to rise

So, I wanted the title of my blog to connect me somehow to Ethiopia. I searched all over for Amharic words and phrases that had something to do with me and my family. I couldn't find anything that fit. Then I tried to think up a good title. Came up blank.

I'm a poet, I should be good at this. But usually I am naming a composed work, not a blank page. And this... this is a huge book of blank pages waiting to document my family's journey into the great big scary adventure called The Future.

I wanted to emphasize my family, what's at the center of it. Because my words here will mostly be about my family life, as that is what my life is mostly about. I explored the memories of my life and happened upon a frequent scene when I was staying at home with my three kids, living out in the country, learning every day and growing up with them. One of my favorites. I baked bread each week, using my friend Susan's recipe. She was the person who introduced me to home schooling. She was my dear friend and confidante and fellow writer when I lived in Pullman. I had never baked bread. It seemed a daunting task. Everyone talked about how hard it was to do well. Susan always had a loaf of fresh-baked bread for us when we got together. She gave me the recipe. I followed it. It worked. Deliciously! So, after that, I started baking bread every week. And giving away one loaf to friends. But first, my kids and I would eat it right out of the oven. Smells so good! Butter melted on it and honey dripped off the edges. We ate and talked and laughed. The sweetness. The stickiness. That is family to me. You knead the bread, you share it, you get all caught up in the sweet and the sticky. You are warm. You are full. You are loved.

So, I named my skeleton of my blog "bread and honey." Thinking, maybe someday, I will change the name to something different, something that connects us to Ethiopia, where there are two or three children waiting for us to find them. I went looking for pictures to dress up these pages. Oh, Google, please find some bread and honey for me. One of the links took me to a page of Ethiopian recipes. Turns out Ethiopia is sometimes called the Land of Bread and Honey.

So, I guess I can trust my heart.