My girls had their annual dance recital this month, and their sweet daddy bought them both a bouquet of tulips. The flowers were in water, but being in the hot car for hours caused them to wilt. By the end of the long day, I had no hope of their recovery. My husband, though—he had…
Tag: Christianity
What I Do When I Don’t Like Change
The last week of school was a dizzying whirlwind as our family had field trips, field days, dance parties, hang out parties, water parties, teacher farewells, school farewells, band concerts, thank you gifts to give, birthday gifts to give, meals to deliver, and I’m sure I’m still forgetting something. The coming of summer is a…
Jesus and His Mama: I laugh, I melt, I kneel
I don’t think too much about what kind of a son Jesus was to Mary. We hear a lot about how Jesus is the Father’s Son, how he came to be about his Father’s business, how he was sure of his identity as God-made-flesh. But I think it’s important to also remember that he was…
Moms, Mentors, and Blueberry Pie
I recently delivered a meal to a dear friend who is currently fostering a two-week-old baby. Holding said baby in my arms made me remember my own baby days, and the women in my church who delivered meals to me when I was a young mama. I’m still not a cook like they are—chicken piccata…
Why I Finally Unwrapped My Gifts
My husband and I decided to reorganize the garage. In so doing, we decided to finally unpack our wedding china. You see, we moved into this house a few years ago and unpacked the essentials. We’ve made do with our everyday dishes because they were convenient and functional. For special dinners, we’ve made do with…
The Easter Kind of Love
On Valentine’s Day, we celebrate love. But I think Easter does a better job of it. Easter celebrates the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ—the ultimate act of love and redemption in all the course of human history. And I’m thinking today about the love of Jesus, and how we’re supposed to love like that,…
Lent, Love, and Preschool
My youngest came home from preschool yesterday with a story. His class was making craft hearts with tissue paper, and he was running out of supplies. His friend across the table said, “Here’s some of my paper!” and freely gave it away. During the retelling, my son said thoughtfully, “I didn’t even ask for it,…
The Puppets in My Purse
Sunday morning at church, my children had a difficult time leaving Oink and Ducky alone. Oink and Ducky are the puppets who sometimes live in my purse. Each week, a puppet or two makes an appearance in the kindergarten Sunday School. Oink has a British accent. Ducky talks really fast. I realized that if I…
The Eternal “Oughtness”
“I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘issues’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I think there’s very little that Dr. King spoke that is not quote-worthy. His words were powerful forces that spurred people to…
Why I Love Stories
As a child, the Snow White fairy tale fascinated me beyond all the others. She had dark hair like me, which helped, probably. And I always hung on the words “hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood.” It sounded mysterious and elegant, and then there was…
My House is Super Quiet Now
For twelve years, I have had a baby or a toddler in tow with me all the day long. My youngest started preschool this year, and now I have nine hours a week to myself. Many mothers would jump and cheer about this, but as having a child on my hip is truly my sweet…
Home
I once lived in a little cabin on a piece of property where my family’s realtor lived. A house deal fell through at the last hour and we were homeless, stranded, scrambling. Our kind realtor, with a nice daughter my age, let my parents and their children stay in their two-room cabin with a kitchenette….