My daughter just drove away for college (swallow big lump in throat), and two weeks until she returns for Christmas break seems long. Separation is painful. I have been suffering the same kind of separation pain from God. The long quiet times I enjoyed with him this summer, coffee in hand, have turned into a…
My guys left the house Wednesday afternoon wearing hunter’s orange and carrying three tags. But they only filled one tag, and it came home attached to an evergreen. So now we have a Christmas tree in our living room, cut from the backside of Blacktail Mountain. (I told them not to come home if it…
Hey guys, This is the day for green beans with crunchies on top, which reminds me of a story of yesteryear. (Does that sound cool if I say yesteryear?) We had stuffed ourselves on wild turkey fed to us by dear friends, and then we loaded up our leftovers and headed to the church. I…
In a moment of characteristic, impulsive passion, I said to my husband, “Goals are stupid!” He had spent a few days at a staff retreat, which included a look back at the goals he had made for the year and evaluation of how he had done. Of course, this causes a person to see everything…
My third grade teacher was a matronly grandma who sat on a stool to read us the story of Dr. Dolittle, and I will never forget the amazing way Dr. Dolittle could talk to animals. You do remember the pushmi-pullyu he encountered on his way to Africa? I’ve been thinking about that animal every day…
With a Sonicare in my mouth, I tell the Lord straight up, You’ve put me in a place where I don’t have everything I need to do what you’re asking me to do. I am the Israelite nation, waking up to make bricks again today. This time without straw provided. “The slave drivers kept pressuring…
Have you pushed past your barrier of reserve, to praise God out loud, knees bent, and unashamed?
We went 20 days “sin quejas”, which means without complaints. I even put a sign on the wall. You know, like the sign at Costco that says “120 days since the last injury”. And we added the days out loud together, until we rejoiced at 16, 17, 18, 19. So I kept my promise and…
I walked into school anxious. I’m still pretty new at this teacher thing and often feel like a kid whose a bit wobbly on brand new ice skates. I was breathing deeply, trying to think courageous thoughts. My first stop is always the teachers’ work room where the mailboxes are. My box is usually empty,…
I sat down on the stairs Monday night and had myself a good cry. (Here I pause to contemplate how many times I’ve blogged about crying. Dumb girl.) It all started the night before when I pulled Matt’s new, expensive birthday sweater out of the dryer and saw it appeared smaller than when I purchased…
I opened up my email to find a well-deserved and spot-on criticism from someone, and my first response was to stop breathing. I don’t know what was worse –that she spoke my weakness out loud or that it was true. And then I had this silly hope jump up inside of me. I have tomorrow!…
It’s Monday morning, and today the bell will ring at 12:12. I will open the door of my Spanish room to a Baskin Robbins of people. Shy, outgoing, hardworking, not-so-hardworking, cheerful, intelligent, artistic, athletic, whitty. They’ll be hungry, because they’re teenagers, and they’ll want to talk to each other much more than they’ll want to…
End of content
End of content