In my experience, babies sleep through the night when they are ready and each child is different. Like us, they have good days and not so good days, but one thing I’ve learned and I try to encourage my girls with this truth- appreciate, even celebrate each milestone, just don’t depend on it. Even the …
Promises Long Kept
As I contemplate taking down my Christmas tree, I think of the bare spot it will leave behind. I can arrange the furniture as it was before carving out a space for the tree but the twinkling lights and aromatic greenery speckled with red and white checkered or lacework angels, snowflakes, and nativity scenes will …
Where Are You Tonight?
The shepherds were watching their flocks the night that Christ was born. The wise men were far to the east when the Christ star appeared, doing whatever wise men do. Joseph and Mary were crowded into a stable in Bethlehem for a census decreed by an emperor who was merely concerned about his tax base, …
Quickly Met Need
I have vivid memories of a night during the elementary years for my three children when I stood at the edge of the parking area behind our church, tears threatening to spill over, as a train ran its track only a few yards away. Its noise was the only thing loud enough to muffle the …
Light in the Darkness
I am simply not a morning person. I’ve tried over the years to press myself into a schedule that more closely approximates my husbands, especially when our children were small and insisted on being awake with the sun. This is my predicament once again with small grandchildren, but try as I might, I just cannot …
All I Want For Christmas
I lose track of my phone more often these days. I check my email less frequently. I scroll social media less often and more quickly, scanning for birthdays and baby pictures. I don’t have dementia (at least I don’t think so!) I have grandchildren! It’s so much easier to put a pause on my devices …
Obedient To The Call
I’m used to God living and moving freely inside my head. He has unimpeded access to my thoughts and knows my words before I speak because I surrendered my life to Him in Christ and His Holy Spirit abides in me. His work in this season of my life involves my learning to let Him …
Special Privilege
It’s officially December and Christmas is only a few weeks away. Yet December twenty-fifth would pass like any other day unless I choose to observe its significance and celebrate it. Since it falls on a Sunday, I will attend a worship service at my local church and share a meal with family, but between now …
Happy Birthday, Jesus
We’ve decided to celebrate Christmas a little differently this year with our little ones. Christmas is, after all, Jesus’s birthday and our celebrations should reflect truth more than culture, so this is the year we will start a new family tradition. Since our married children have their own families, we’ve settled on the morning of …
On Purpose
I stood in the children’s book aisle reading the latest offering of board books, three month old Amelia sleeping in her carrier next to my heart. Each time I reached to a lower shelf, she stirred restlessly. I was beginning to feel the same way, as if I was being stirred from slumber as well. …
A Fitting Reply 