Inside: As my empty nest fills back up temporarily, I’m teaching a daughter to cook, trying out a different form of exercise, enjoying a new favorite bread recipe, missing my mom and counting many blessings. ~

And just like that, our once-empty nest has filled back up.

Daughter Lilly graduated from college and moved back home, along with younger sister Molly. Molly will return to school in the fall, but Lilly is looking for a full-time job in her degree field.

If she lands one remote position she’s in the running for, she’ll be here at least a while longer. Like so many scenarios in recent years, I’m finding in this another opportunity to hold expectations loosely and be thankful for the blessings inherent in each season.

I’m posting this on my mom’s birthday, and I sure wish I could talk to her about this transition. I can’t do that, of course, but I can emulate the hospitality and grace she offered me when I, too, lived at home for more than a year after I finished college.

Here’s the blunt truth. I wasn’t always the easiest person to be around during that time of my life. I’m not proud of this, but it does help me have empathy toward others in that situation.

Fortunately, the four of us enjoy spending time together as a family. Randy and I will be grateful for that, for however long the girls are here.

Now, without further ado, it’s time to link up with Jennifer and friends for this month’s Share Four Somethings. Starting with …

Something Loved

Here’s one way to find a new favorite recipe.

• Listen to a podcast that features an interview with someone who has written a memoir about baking bread.

• Get the book—By Bread Alone: A Baker’s Reflections on Hunger, Longing, and the Goodness of God—from the library and read it.

• Notice a recipe called “Companion Bread” that author Kendall Vanderslice describes as “sourdough on training wheels.”

• Read the recipe and find no mention of fussing around with starter.

• Try the recipe, which involves several easy steps, including an overnight resting of the dough.

• Eat the bread and love it.

• Repeat. (I think I’ve made the bread four times in the last few months.)

(Also, the podcast was “Welcome Heart: Living a Legacy Life” with Sue Donaldson.)

Something Learned

Earlier this month, I told Lilly that if she wanted me to teach her how to cook her favorite recipes, this summer would be a good time to do it. I also said I would not hound her to join me in the kitchen, but she could initiate the cooking lessons whenever she liked.

I came home from running errands one day and found my favorite cookbooks and the family recipe binder dotted with Post-it notes. Turns out, she had—with help from Molly—gone through all the recipes and found around 60 for us to make together.

So far, she’s done a few things she never wanted to do before—namely, skin and cut up raw chicken and mix ground beef and other ingredients for Salisbury Steak with her hands. She is very thankful for latex gloves, but she hasn’t complained a bit.

I’m grateful for the kitchen help, and for the chance to pass on some fun skills to my daughter.

Something New

I’ll probably write more about this in the future, but for now, I’ll just say an issue with my knee is causing me to think differently about exercise. Specifically, it’s forcing me to stop running and choose something else to keep up my cardiovascular health.

One good option seems to be biking, and this is another reason why I am grateful for Lilly’s presence at home right now. She enjoys riding bikes and is a wonderful person to have along as I get used to navigating the trail near my home in this way.

Something Realized

By this time of year, I usually have pots full of my favorite annuals scattered around my yard. A strawberry planter on the front porch full of red impatiens. Petunias in a hanging basket in the window well by the basement guest room. More impatiens and petunias in the backyard by the pool.

Usually, if the annuals haven’t been planted, they’ve at least been purchased. But not this year. I’ve been so busy with other projects and family events, not to mention distracted by the afore-mentioned knee problem, that I haven’t even been to a garden center to buy a single plant for my many pots.

The realization is that while I hope I get to this soon, I’m OK with scaling back. Maybe even significantly.

Of course, every time I say this, I end up planting all my pots anyway. So I guess we’ll see.

• • •

Now it’s your turn. What did May hold for you? Please share in the comments.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with sharefoursomethings, #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.

Grad photo courtesy of John Brown University.