By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer When my husband and I set out on the rodeo circuit (with our small children) people told us we were crazy. “Wait until your kids grow up,” they said. “How can you haul your children across the country like that?” they said. “What about
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Before my husband and I were married, we endured a long-distance romance while each of us lived in a different state. Phone calls and letters were the highlight of my days. No texting or Facebook or Instagram. No instant messaging, Skype, or FaceTime. Just plain ol’
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Dandelions remind me of a cowboy from my former life as a sixth-grade teacher. He was in my Ancient World History class and lined up each morning with the rest of the students. Except he wasn’t much like the rest of the students. In
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer “How are you holding up?” an acquaintance asked the other day. The answer came without consideration: “By holding on.” The phrase “holding up” insinuates personal stamina, strength, jaw-clenching determination. But “holding on” says something else entirely. It points to solidity outside myself. I don’t
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer How many discouraging words have you heard lately? Probably more than a few. Last week as my heart strings twanged from someone’s negative feedback, I was reminded of how powerful words are to hurt or heal. Immediately a line from the chorus of an
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer God’s word has a way of reaching our soul, touching specific notes that respond to His call. Even if we don’t speak Hebrew or Greek or the King’s English. Even if we live on the other side of the world from where His scriptures
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Today is my youngest granddaughter’s birthday. It is also my mother’s. When girl-child number 3 was born, I felt an ancestral connection run through me that I’d not felt before. July 3 linked my granddaughter to my mother in a special way, with me
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Every year my little patch of prickly pear cactus blooms with the most delicate yellow flowers—a flaring contradiction to the plant’s spiny pins growing in protective clusters. Overshadowing the cactus patch on its east side stands a magnificent Colorado blue spruce with its
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Not until I had the photograph developed did I realize I’d caught the pattern. Look at the feet and legs, the arms, and the focus of attention in this father and son—my husband, Mike, and our son, Jake. At two years old, Jake
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I took a couple of days off, went to a mountain retreat, and planned to write thousands and thousands of words on my next novel. No phone (when I turned it off). No chores or cooking or other life distractions. Just writing. Plain
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I’ve often been told that the settings of my stories are almost like characters impacting the humans. That makes me smile because natural landscapes and seasonal weather situations affect how people live. Each geographic location has its unique challenges whether mountain, desert, forest,
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer If you’ve been to a rodeo, you know that the only moment of absolute silence usually follows a downed rider who fails to rise from the arena floor under his own power. Apprehension sucks the collective breath of the crowd as they wait
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Ever feel like it’s you against the world? Occupationally, relationally, or physically if it’s not one thing, it’s another – right? Just when we get our sea legs under us, a rogue wave hits, the deck rolls, and our stomachs follow. Why can’t
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer My mother taught me most of what I know, but four important lessons stand out in my memory—two don’ts and two do’s: Don’t … … push your hair behind your ears—it makes them stick out. … put your hands in your sweater pockets—it
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last summer, grasshoppers denuded a young aspen tree I had so lovingly planted in the spring. With plague-like precision, they took it down to nothing but trunk and stems. The lady at the nursery where I bought the tree told me it wasn’t