One year ago, I didn’t know I would be a grandmother and I had no idea I had cancer. The day before I met my daughter-in-law’s family for the first time, I had my initial screening colonoscopy recommended at age fifty. I wish I’d had one sooner. I was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer …
Baby Talk
My grandson, Thomas, found his voice this week. He’s trying out sounds that aren’t crying. He yelps and coos and contorts his face every which way to copy ours as we talk to him. He is determined to communicate, and soon. God, who came into our world as a baby, determined the course of our …
Love Letters
I met my husband over Christmas break of my freshman year of college. We met in Sunday School in the college and careers class. I knew who he was because he has younger sisters but I’m fairly certain he didn’t know me until that Christmas. We went on one date before I returned to school …
Securely Held
This morning, the chair across from me is empty. The view from where I sit is glorious on this second day of October. There’s a slight breeze provided by the fan above me and an accompaniment of birds singing. I choose this spot as often as I can to bask in the glory of the …
OH! My God…🙏🏻
Sensationalism saturates our media and marks our culture as shock value seems to be the highest ideal of journalists. Every headline meant to grab attention elevates the bar until what used to make us cringe is now merely scrolled past like old news. Cinema and entertainment only adds to this barrage with fictional content that …
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
Paul and Silas sang praise to the Lord at the midnight hour from their prison cell. I hum hymns and choruses long past midnight until the words come back, verse after verse, to soothe my newborn grandson as I did my own children. He may not yet understand the lyrics but the familiar tunes will …
Seriously Searching
Have you ever so intently looked for something that you missed it entirely? Today as I stood staring into my daughter’s pantry looking for plastic cling wrap, it may as well have been invisible. She walked up behind me and pointed and it suddenly appeared. I was reminded of my youngest every time he couldn’t …
You Finish What You Start
I’ve reached the age where my former penchant for multitasking has turned into easy distractibility. I start four or five tasks only to discover them partly completed later in the same day or week. At the same time, I am finding myself more productive in this particular season. I am motivated by time with my …
Who Does He Look Like?
My husband was enrolled in Genetics, the study of inherited characteristics, in medical school when we started making plans for a family. We spent our evenings talking about dominant and recessive traits and which we possessed and would likely be passed on to our children. No amount of imagining could have prepared us for the …
Defining Moments
Becoming a grandmother has quickly become one of those moments in life that changes everything! I’ve spent months preparing for it and thinking about it and still it seems surreal. I’ve looked forward to our grandson’s arrival since a few weeks after his conception, but until I held him in my arms, I didn’t really …
A Fitting Reply 