Howard and Co.

Howard and Co. 🍂 Cozy moments & peaceful escapes
đź“š A gentle place to read, relax & unwind, where every season feels like home.

Custom, hand painted banners for all of your events. Hand painted wood signs and decor to beautify the inside and outside of your home

08/31/2026

Growth doesn’t always feel like becoming.

Sometimes it feels like losing. Sometimes growth feels like standing between who you used to be and who you’re becoming—and not quite recognizing either place as home.

That space can be uncomfortable.

You may question yourself.

You may miss what was familiar, even when you know it was no longer right for you.

You may wonder why something that is supposed to be good feels so difficult.

But growth has always required a little stretching.

A seed has to break open before it can become anything more.

A tree has to release old leaves before new ones can grow.

And sometimes we have to loosen our grip on what we’ve known before we have room to receive what comes next.

Maybe that’s what is happening in your life right now.

Perhaps the discomfort isn’t telling you to turn around.

Perhaps it’s telling you that you no longer fit inside some of the places you once did.

The conversations that once interested you feel different.

The things you once tolerated no longer feel acceptable. You’re choosing peace over approval.

You’re becoming more intentional about where you spend your time, who receives your energy, and what you allow into your heart.

And sometimes that growth feels lonely.

Because not everyone will understand the person you’re becoming.

Some people only knew how to love the version of you who never said no.

The version who always accommodated. But you are allowed to outgrow that version of yourself.

You are allowed to change.

You are allowed to choose a life that feels more aligned with the person God is shaping you to become.

Growth doesn’t mean rejecting everything you once were. But you don’t have to remain who you were simply because that version of you is familiar.

Sometimes the next chapter requires more room. Pause and ask yourself:

“Am I falling apart… or am I outgrowing something?”

Because the two can feel surprisingly similar while you’re living through them.

One day, you may look back and realize that the discomfort wasn’t life taking something from you.

It was life making room. 🤍

See you tomorrow for Day 29.

08/27/2026

We often imagine answered prayers as moments of arrival.

The door opens.

The opportunity comes.

The situation changes.

The healing happens.

The thing we have been asking God for finally becomes ours.

And sometimes, that is exactly how the answer comes.

But not always.

Sometimes you pray for the door to open…

and it stays closed.

You pray for the situation to change…

and morning comes with everything looking exactly the same.

You pray for clarity…

and still have questions.

You pray for the burden to be removed…

and instead, somehow, you find the strength to carry it for one more day.

It can be difficult to recognize those moments as answered prayers.

Because we asked God to change the road.

Instead, He gave us stronger feet.

We asked Him to calm the storm.

Instead, He taught us how to trust Him while the wind was still blowing.

We asked Him to remove the mountain.

Instead, He gave us enough strength for the next step.

We asked for an answer.

And sometimes His answer was simply:

“I will walk with you.” We sometimes miss God’s faithfulness because we’re looking only for the answer we imagined.

But perhaps the answer was the peace that arrived when nothing around you had changed.

Perhaps it was the friend who called at exactly the right moment.

The unexpected opportunity.

The courage you didn’t know you had.

The wisdom to walk away.

The patience to wait.

The strength to begin again.

The ability to keep believing when you couldn’t yet see what God was doing.

Not every answered prayer looks like receiving what we asked for.

Sometimes it looks like becoming someone stronger while we wait.

So if you’re praying for an open door today and it hasn’t opened yet, don’t assume God has forgotten you. An open door is a blessing.
But so is the strength to keep walking when the door remains closed.

Sometimes the miracle is the changed circumstance.

And sometimes the miracle is discovering that, with God beside you, you were stronger than you ever knew. 🤍

See you tomorrow for Day 25.

Meet Samuel Finch — Keeper of Stories 📚🍂Some people collect books.Samuel Finch collects the stories people leave behind....
08/22/2026

Meet Samuel Finch — Keeper of Stories 📚🍂

Some people collect books.

Samuel Finch collects the stories people leave behind.

At sixty-six, Samuel has spent nearly his entire life among the towering shelves of Finch & Lantern Books, the little bookshop his family has tended for generations.

Most mornings, you’ll find him exactly where you’d expect—

restacking books someone left in the wrong place,
warming yesterday’s coffee beside the fireplace,
or reading a novel he claims he has already read “at least a dozen times.”

He remembers which stories made you cry.

Which ones you borrowed and never returned.

And which book your mother used to read while waiting for the rain to stop.

Samuel believes every book carries two stories:

the one written inside it…

and the story of everyone who held it before you.

There are books in his shop that haven’t been opened in decades.

Letters tucked between forgotten pages.

Names written inside old covers.

Photographs no one remembers leaving behind.

And somewhere among those shelves is a story Samuel has been quietly keeping for a very long time.

One that belongs to Rose Rowan.

He recognized her the moment she returned to Maple Hollow.

But Samuel Finch has learned something after a lifetime surrounded by stories:

you should never tell someone the ending before they’re ready to discover it themselves.

So for now, he’ll simply wait.

Behind the counter.

Beside the fire.

Keeping her story safe until she finds her way to his door.

Welcome to Maple Hollow, Samuel Finch. 🤎

Keeper of Stories.

Address

Reedsburg, WI
53959

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+16083936562

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