Archive for 2011
Mornings, Trains, and Crimson Cherry Tea
Toppling brightly-colored blocks, winding wooden train tracks, and engaging in occasional property disputes, my youngest plays happily alongside his older cousins. The next generation of kids are willowy grown up teens, who can drive away for shopping runs, and descend into the basement for music jam sessions. Guitar, piano, voice and violin meld in worship…
Read MoreA Gash Transplanted, Beauty Unfurls
“I haven’t seen them bloom yet. I don’t know what color they’ll be,” she said. Fragile velvety African violet plants were balanced in the hands of a fragile, soft-cheeked grandma from my church. “Would you like some?” Yes, please. I was honored to have two of them. After decades in a home that they built,…
Read MoreNeighborhood Memo and MOPS Sessions
I woke up this morning to discover that all neighborhood trees had gotten the same memo. Leaves fell overnight obediently, carpeting the grass in citrus yellow. Last night’s intimate MOPS session had gone wonderfully, and I was eager for this morning’s MOPS session too. What a gracious group of women they have there at…
Read MoreCow Tongue Football, Polar Bear Plunge, and Digging Deep into God’s Word
Hello, my friends! Sorry for a week of silence. Last weekend’s youth group retreat, and preparing for two MOPS sessions for this week have grabbed my time and attention. The youth retreat went wonderfully. Nerf guns through the conference center; cow tongue football, a frigid, electrifying polar bear plunge down a luge slide deep out…
Read MoreMy Sixteen Year Old Son Writes a Letter Back through Time
In cramped angular letters on blue lined notebook paper, my son wrote a letter to a young single mom. This woman received nothing but judgment and scorn from the people in her town. Alone for three years in a new frontiers town with no word from her husband, she feared he was dead. Finding friendship…
Read MoreGreen Fairy Wings and Story Tales
Witches, pirates, green dinosaurs and pink tufted ballerinas stormed the nearby shopping center yesterday. Red firemen, fluffy brown poodles, and blue Thomas the Trains hijacked the sidewalks, and commandeered the shops, trick or treating with smart parents on a warm fall afternoon. Weaving our way through the short creatures, my teen daughter and I grabbed…
Read MoreNaked Trees Scrape the Horizon
Navy blue light creeps higher in the sky, allowing naked trees to scrape the horizon. Hot coffee in morning twilight, and my three year old son’s truck noises get progressively louder. For the sake of sleepers, I shush him. Earlier this week, my peace was eroded as well. It wasn’t the noise – that I…
Read MoreIt’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
Resilient. Redeemed. Resourceful. Resplendent. Survivors from around the world are being rescued, and are rescuing others. Counseling, healing, education, training, untainted love and affection, and entrepreneurial skills are being provided for them. Made by Survivors and other organizations then sell the products made by these survivors, with 100% of the money…
Read MoreCookies, Milkshakes and Hero Truck Drivers
Hello friends, A hot crumbly chocolate chip cookie smolders beside me on the desk, waiting to be cooled enough to pop into my mouth. Quiet jazz music plays in the background and the dryer hums. Our house had a showing last night so we cleaned feverishly, loaded up random laundry baskets into the cars, and…
Read MoreCalls in the Dark
At my YMCA, down the hallway on the right, is a series of small, rectangular wallet lockers. Keys, wallets and cell phones get stashed there, as their owners exercise. Occasionally as I pass by, I hear cell phones vibrating metallically in their tiny cells, ringing in the darkness. Seventy cubical cells, stacked wide and…
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