Know God. Live Big.
“You’re taxes are done,” she said over the phone. Cue fight-or-flight reaction. I was terrified about our taxes this year (as opposed to just being afraid the other years.) Our circumstances had changed drastically, in addition to the new tax law changes. We had made adjustments to our quarterly tax payments, but in my wildest imagination, I pictured the accountant… Read More
It was the fall of 1983, when computers were still a twinkle in their mother’s eye. I was a freshman sitting in typing class, and it was my first experience putting my fingers on what we now call a keyboard. Every day we did drills: left fourth finger up to the W. Right fourth finger up to the O. Right… Read More
Sometimes I think I should rename my website, “Anxiety Girl.” Here I am again today, with my latest installment about worrying and what has been helping me overcome this lately. Let’s start with the worries and how real they are: Money and old cars and old houses and old bodies. Grown kids. Kids needing jobs. Kids and their money and… Read More
A student raised his hand and asked me a fair question yesterday. He wanted to know when I was going to teach a certain set of vocabulary. I explained to him that I don’t teach that until the third year. No big deal, except the encounter was a crocodile death roll to my sense of confidence. So easily derailed. The… Read More
My prayer list right now feels unbearable. So many in my circle have serious health issues and then the cha-ching, cha-ching of expenses that snake around each diagnosis. My heart! What I want to do is reach for my checkbook and say, “Here, at least let me pay for all of it for you.” Except, oh wait, we’re trying to… Read More
“Wednesday Hump Day,” I said to him last night before we went to sleep. He’ll go up to Glacier Bible College and be Professor Fitzwater again today, teaching students this week about the life of Christ. I’ll go stand in front of high school students and teach them sentences in Spanish about the gospel. We feel our own inadequacy. “Meanwhile… Read More
It was the end of another full day of school, and I was doing my normal self-evaluation on the drive home. It’s like taking attendance, except my question is “Are you okay?” instead of “Are you here?” I see each student and replay and critique each conversation. Did I hurt any feelings? Say or do anything harmful? Anything that needs… Read More
The fridge in our rental went out, you know, so we walked the aisles in Lowe’s to look at replacements. The property manager made it clear that we only had an obligation, as landlords, to replace the fridge. It didn’t have to be new, and it didn’t have to be fancy. There were fridges for $500.00, and that was tempting…. Read More
Here’s the scenario: We have company in town. They’ve sold their house and need to buy a new house immediately, so they’re putting in some long days with a realtor. “Let me make dinner for us tonight!” I said. At 3:00 I put on my apron, ready to enjoy the slow process of preparing vegetables for a cozy bowl of… Read More
I’m a layer-outer. When I was going to Uganda over a decade ago, I started packing two months in advance. The guest room was empty, so I set up my suitcase in there and started making neat piles of travel supplies. Every day for weeks I stood in the guest room, thought through my list, and looked at my piles,… Read More