For Christmas, we all chipped in and got Aunt Noanie a rocking chair and ottoman. The men went to work putting the chair together, even though Luke said he wouldn’t help if it required an Allen wrench, and it did. (He was all talk.) While they worked, I took the chair padding out of the…
One thing I’ve loved (and hated) about the principal I work for is that he has really pushed me to do important things in teaching that I have not wanted to do. If I had been left on my own over these last five-plus years, I never would have grown so much in confronting students…
It was a little over one year ago that we quietly started having the conversation about how we could best serve my husband’s mom and aunt. His mom is a widow, and she and her sister (who is single) have lived together in a house for a few decades now. It was getting hard for…
Did I ever tell you about the Judean hills Matt and I saw outside of Jerusalem? They came with real live bedouins leading sheep. “See those circles?” our guide said. Yes, we had noticed the spirals going around each hill and had wondered about the unique geology. “Those are paths that have been worn over…
Two things happened on Saturday, December 1st: I woke up hyperventilating about all there was TO DO and how much it was going TO COST and how many people there were TO MAKE HAPPY. Matt and I walked to the window, as the sun was just coming up. “Snow!” I said. Big flakes were softly…
You know what I was doing at 4:45 last evening? Setting the flameless candles. At 2:30 I rushed home from school, changed into work clothes, and started pulling Christmas boxes out of the crawl space. (By the way, I took two ibuprofen before going to bed, because it’s not smart to go from watching hours…
Come up with me, to a rooftop café (that I’ve fabricated in my imagination, but it really is lovely.) I’ll sip a hot mocha latte, single shot, skinny, half-chocolate, no whip. You may order whatever you would like. My treat. From this calm, slow, meditative place, let us look down on the hullabaloo that is…
Wouldn’t you say that guilt is an interesting accoutrement to the classic Christian “quiet time” of spending time reading the Bible and praying? I recently talked to some women who felt guilty because of their Bible study habits or lack thereof. Where does much of this guilt come from? I’ll tell you where –it comes…
It might have been the last day possible, in Montana terms, to get home and do a final leaf pick-up “before the snow flies,” as we say here. Everything outside has to happen before the snow flies, and then comes the six-month sabbatical from all outdoor chores that don’t involve a shovel or a snowblower…
I was listening to a podcast, in which Jamie Ivey was interviewing Priscilla Shirer. Jamie asked, “Priscilla, what would you say to your 20-year-old self?” Her response was almost lost to me, because I turned the question on myself and got the most surprising answer. What would I say to my 20-year-old self, now that…
You should see the house my son-in-law and daughter bought last year. It’s quaint and is located in an old neighborhood, with huge trees that overhang the street and drop a carpet of gold leaves on the ground about this time every year. The plan is to renovate and flip the house, and they’ve done…
We were watching a competition show on TV last night, and one of the judges tried to encourage a young contestant by telling him, “Remember: You’re enough. You’ve always been enough.” And I lit up. I’m so mad right now just thinking about it that I can feel my pulse rate going up. Do you…
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