Our birds enjoy berry, seed, and mealworm cylinders near our front porch throughout the day. These now last a good deal longer since we installed a squirrel baffle. The squirrels still stop by, along with the doves, to glean the scattered seeds that fall from the feeder to the ground but they’re no longer eating …
Without Love
Chicks were hatching as we arrived at my parent’s house to see the new litter of puppies. It was hard for the adults, let alone the grandchildren, to decide where to look first. Little faces crowded around my dad as he lifted the lid from the incubator. Two downy chicks wobbled around one hatchling who …
It’s Your Choice
“I was thinking I’d blacken some mahi for dinner,” I told my husband. I’d spent the morning with our son’s family while he played tournament golf with our son. I hadn’t realized that their lunch was provided and had been served after their round ended, only an hour or so earlier. He certainly wouldn’t want …
Giant Prayers
Thank You, Jesus Thank You, Jesus For this day And our food And our many blessings And our many blessings Amen Amen Amelia sang my Timothy and Ezra echo blessing over our lunch today. It’s my choice for asking a blessing when kids are very small. Their little tummies are short on patience so I …
Wearing God Out
My daughter and her sons traveled to and from the beach with me. My daughter drove. I take the passenger seat unless the smaller passengers become restless. Timothy munched or dozed contentedly the majority of our return trip, but Thomas, who is nearing four, fights sleep with words. His repeated chants of I wanna get …
No Regrets
If I had only admitted how I felt sooner. If I had only walked in a moment later. If I had only had the courage to knock. If I’d made the investment, asked the question, been a little bolder or a little less stubborn, how might things have turned out differently? Movie magic is made …
Make It Stop
Hurricane Harvey arrived in Houston, Texas just before Jacob was scheduled for brain surgery that had the potential to end his seizures. Though he turned nineteen during his weeklong evaluation earlier in that year, he was to be treated as a pediatric patient. This would allow me to stay with him in the hospital as …
Preach
I’m stymied! I’m committed to memorizing Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount this year but I’m barely twenty verses in and I’ve hit a wall. Focusing on new verses interrupts my memory of the initial ones. I could use my age as an excuse or cite unrealistic expectations and simply give up but I have other …
Splish Splash
Ezra loves bath time so it figures he would also love the water table. We’ve kept the water play table out all year, just without the water. It’s been a mulch table, a sand table, a dead grass and weed table- whatever strikes Amelia’s fancy goes in. Ezra has been pulling up and cruising for …
On The Fringe
“Did you say something?” I called to my husband from the kitchen. Thinking he needed my attention, I dried my hands from rinsing dishes and walked to our bedroom where he sat in his rocker next to our Great Dane, Jake, staring disgustedly at his iPad. “Did you need something?” I asked again. “No, sorry,” …
A Fitting Reply 