Instagram story viewer> @annlowrey> Posts

Ann Lowrey Forster

@annlowrey

1.1K

followers

1764

following

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

End of summer and start of school - the hinge that renews our minds even as our bodies threaten to melt.

We have launched year 13 of Saint A! Collins was in kindergarten in year one and now is at the helm in his victory lap, Senior Class Representative for the class of 2027.

Paul William is back on the faculty - senior philosophy of science cannot just happen without him - and he keeps me in my own spot at the helm. I adore him as the Nick to my Nora.

End of summer has looked like super Mario brothers, sunset exclamations, a quick jaunt to geyser falls (we will be back), so many bedside flowers, whipped up supper for 300 with the best team ever, learning some psalms, braiding and rebraiding the prettiest niece’s hair, launching senior year for Tolly, getting the final set of braces, spending the best time with our favorite young adults, sharing meals to mark moments, and squeezing in the briarwood pool.

@easonforster had a great summer at @alpinecamp4boys and is thrilled to be back rolling tide or some such over there to the east.

@adabrookss ‘s art continues to thrill us all (@madeby_adabrooks - go get you a commission.) and she is settling in for year three in Austin.

@collins.forster senioring it up is really making us all so happy. His recent move to work at the local Ace hardware is icing on the cake - I adore his mechanical mind.

@ Elsa Gray, seventh grader, upper schooler, all of the true amazingness that that brings.

Paul William and I are so grateful for this precious life the Lord has been so kind to give.

[Whew - recorded some memories. What if I hadn’t? Would we lose them somehow? Discuss. (In real life.)] by @annlowrey

65

1

a month ago

Happiest birthday to this man who is as great as the country with whom he shares his day. He has a lot in common with her, actually. Mainly, his ideals about the equal worth and dignity of all humans, his commitment to the responsible citizenship of all, and his joy at being a bit larger, louder, and sillier than is quite dignified.

Paul Willam has had my heart for more than half his life - and his 42 years have been marked by so much loveliness. He captains boats and our world, and he wears silly sweaters. He reads and teaches and studies - all with the simple ends of wonder and delight.

I have been doing virtue ethics studies this year and living with the king of virtue while I’ve done it has surely helped. It gave me great excitement to find Aristotle and Aquinas identifying the power of wonder - the openness to the inexhaustibility of the created world - and the goodness of delight - the receiving the good as good. I was so glad to find the tradition naming that which I find so compelling in the love of my life.

We adore you, birthday boy! You’re not half-way yet, but you’re sure making progress in that direction. I am so very glad to be your co-regent. by @annlowrey

93

4

3 months ago

Twenty years of faithfulness to vows we had no idea we were making and couldn’t have kept on our very best days. Twenty years of forgiveness.

Courage was Ollie’s theme in our wedding sermon, and we smiled like we knew what he meant. He tied that stole in a tight knot around our hands, and I didn’t want him to take it off. And Christ has not - what He has joined together, He has not let the two of us put asunder, though we surely have tried. We haven’t kept our vows; they have kept us.

Marriage is absurdist - and divinely purposed. Which is such a lovely clue into the Divine Himself. Two sinners joined? What in the world? Oh? Love? I begin to see - but dimly.

Our marriage has been kept by our friends, the church, our families, these four urchins, never a day - even the darkest - without laughter, staying wed to kissing for fun, and a healthy dose of wholehearted curiosity.

We’re more than a quarter of the way on this project of ours. Fifty-five more years to go until the finish line. It’s a good thing we love hard work and each other. Twenty cheers for the team. And a few to grow on.

I love you, Paul William. You make my soul shine. by @annlowrey

147

16

5 months ago

Now is Christ risen from the dead - and become the first fruits of them that slept.

Happiest Easter from the Forsters.
We are missing @adabrookss while we make feasts and laugh at absurdity together. Resurrection glory takes nearly every form - hymns, flowers, feasts, family, lightness. Being able to rejoice - to do the laughing - even while it all remains unfixed is that which keeps us. Hope is what we call it - hope that there will be weeping no more. Hope is the thing with feathers. Hope is what Easter brings.

Hippity Hoppity and alleluias all the way. by @annlowrey

97

1

6 months ago

Nineteen years of Eason McNie. We adore you, favorite. Your eyes are as bright as your heart is full - and that’s saying something. We cannot wait to see how the Lord uses you over these next decades. Nineteen cheers for the king of exuberance. @easonforster by @annlowrey

108

2

6 months ago

Our fourth and final leg was slow days in the cradle of the Renaissance. Ada and I fell head over heels with Florence when we visited together for her senior trip, and we were so glad to show her off to the other four Forsters.

We are all so grateful for our baby grand tour, and ending with a very light schedule in this place that makes the mundane into poetry was especially sweet.

As we head back into our daily normals, we will all try to hold onto a little bit of Florence life, tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.

What a glorious adventure we’ve had! I am so grateful for @pwforste, @adabrookss, @easonforster, @collins.forster, and @ baby skates. All of us have chosen moments to die to self to make this trip more excellent for the whole family. All of us have had moments of deep joy. We know and love the world and one another more. Praise God for families - He is good to us in them. by @annlowrey

76

3

9 months ago

Leg three of four - Rome, Umbria, Tuscany - completed with much excitement! “Ridin’ in a fiat” and “sipping on red, red wine.”

We headquartered in Civita di Bagnoregio and did a day in Rome and a day adventuring out in the countryside.

Rome was so very Roman. And so much. It was so fun for me to see them trying to take it all in. Tis impossible, but everyone should try.

We got to experience Saturnia’s miraculous hot springs and spend an evening where I studied for school in Orvieto. A Michelin meal and jazz fest made it a truly special night. As did a closed funicular necessitating quite the resourcefulness.

Civita di Bagnoregio is quaint beyond quaintness, and our Airbnb made us so happy there.

We are settled into our last leg - slow days in mine and Ada’s favorite city in the world. It’s been amazing so far, and Florence is the proper crown. We are grateful! by @annlowrey

60

0

9 months ago

Leg number two was so good for our souls and bodies. Three slow Vienna days in the home of these dearest brother, sister, and brood.

Kate provided radical hospitality and kept us quite well fed - constant hot coffee, robust breakfasts, and abundant family suppers, including our first raclette.

We accompanied the Drakes to a fancy NYE party and rang in 2026 from the top of a lovely building in downtown Vienna. We taught Kate and Jonny to play spades, and they taught us to play cover your assets. The littlest girls and the biggest boys have always been dear to one another and picked up right where they left off. Some of us got to see the Vienna Historical Fine Art Museum. Many walks in the snow with Scout were had, the in-home sauna embraced, clothes were washed, and Paul, who has been sick, was nursed back to health.

The Drakes were a primary motivator in getting us to Europe; being with them is always dear and being in the home of our people when we’re halfway around the world is a precious gift.

This morning while we were getting bags loaded for the airport, we frantically refreshed reports of the rebels’ fourth quarter performance. A last few seconds sugar bowl victory is almost as sweet as a European Grand Tour.

Auf Wiedersehen, Austria! Off to Italia we go. by @annlowrey

65

1

9 months ago

We have just completed the first of our four-legged Christmas journey. Our family of six is on an adventure which has been a dream of mine for a long while.

I have so adored being the camp director for this precious crew as we have enjoyed Lucerne, Innsbruck, and Salzburg.

Innsbruck was my favorite, but the placid beauty of Lucerne and the history and culture of Salzburg make it a hard battle.

It is blessing to see the world - a blessing we do not take for granted.

Next leg: Vienna at dear friends’ home.

Happy fifth day to all - It feels like a hundred golden rings in my heart. by @annlowrey

89

4

9 months ago

Babyskates is Twelve!

Elsa Gray has served her purpose in our crew with such vigor her all of her days. Full of surprise joy, guffaws and chuckles, curiosity and analysis, and all manner of fervent accountability for us all, she embodies the family ethos even more than maybe we’d like her to.

EG really loves Jesus and words and sincerity. She adores wit and wisdom, and her piercing insights into human nature remain somewhat alarming. She can stand neither hypocrisy nor bureaucracy. If logic or taste be lacking, well, we steel ourselves. We trust that charity will grow - for it certainly cannot shrink.

Elsa Gray is a dabbler - this year’s interests have included tennis, sewing, paper mache, avocado toast, and a thousand other things. She is an encourager and a criticizer - covering us all in prayer, praise, and correction. She adores her friends and looks after them with great cheer.

We adore this girl and we are so glad God made her His from before she can remember - loving his truth from the beginning, she is a Christian in her bones. What joy that gives her parents.

Elsa Gray - keep it up, favorite. We cannot wait to obey you until we die. Lead us from the back, dear one; you always have. by @annlowrey

38

7

a year ago

October 31 has always been a deep favorite of mine.

I learned to wield a sewing machine when I was 24 for one purpose - diy’ing my kiddos’ costumes. Gourds around the house abound. Soup season descends. The hymns are great. It inaugurates the two best months of the year. And it’s the day before all saints!

I cried all the way through my prayer in Chapel yesterday, as we took before the Lord our gratitude for the doctrines of grace. Happy Reformation Day indeed!

And then we got to put together a Roman lady for the (historical) eras tour.

We missed @ada.brookss the Queen of Halloween, who bestowed her goodness on the wide state of Texas. And @collins.forster did the spookiest thing of all - pulled a Friday night shift at chick fil a.

And the teenage lovebirds came home for the night and we took them to fancy supper to celebrate @easonforster ‘s graduation (shh) and @leems_115 ‘s birthday.

And then we talked about deep things and went on to bed early.

One of my favorite things is the changingsame goodnesses - love in every season. by @annlowrey

83

2

a year ago

“When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be…. “

So begins a favorite poem by Wendell Berry. His solution is a good one - to go and lie down in the peace of the wild things.

And sometimes I take that path as well - that was the path my father and grandfather taught me. It is good, and it works. Touch grass, after all.

Other times, I look at the work I’ve been given to do - and the humans to delight in, counsel, feed, pray over, shape and be shaped by - and simply give thanks.

So, here is my highlight reel from these latest dozen or so days. A fortnight of blessings bringing their joy and peace, work and dignity, things to do to sew to eternity. Praise God.

Berry continues:

“I come into the peace of the wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water.”

Berry is a master - a wordsmith in the spirit of King David - and knows of course the allusion he is making. We have still water with our Shepherd, walking through the valley of the shadow of death, fearing no evil.

Berry ends:

“For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

If I may be so bold, friends: Please take a minute to flee to still water; to kill despair and pick up grace. To light a candle, dance with your people, gaze upon a flower, and rest in the rememberance that you are free.

If Berry and the psalms and sunsets and bees and humans and tasty food and lovely music don’t do it for you, I’ll leave you with the best of Cranmer to remind us of the truth. Notice that from which we actually need defending.

A Collect for Peace at Evening Prayer.

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed: Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen by @annlowrey

62

1

a year ago