Midway through her pregnancy, my daughter developed a dairy intolerance. Since my cancer surgeries, I have been eating entirely dairy free and since she is my recipe substitution expert, she hasn’t had much of a struggle adapting, with one major exception. Pizza. On a recent visit, we headed to my favorite brick oven pizza restaurant, …
Spit It Out
Dear Jesus, this day. Dear Jesus, GrannyBob’s birthday. Dear Jesus, baby puppies crying. No more crying. Dear Jesus… the list continues, interrupted by Dear Jesus again and again. If you’ve ever shared bedtime prayers with a child, you know their lists can grow long and often repeating. You want to guide them. You want to …
Indebted To Whom?
https://www.christianbook.com/loved-the-lords-prayer/sally-lloyd-jones/9780310757610/pd/757610 Da! Dada! Daddy! Every baby’s first words. Both parents and grandparents wait for it, hoping to be first, but God in His providence puts daddies first. When momma tells him that baby can say it, there’s always disbelief, but the first time those precious sounds fall on his ears, his chest puffs and a …
Repurposing Rejection
One of my favorite local restaurants is closing soon so I gave myself permission to enjoy it more than once this week. I shared a meal with my daughter and granddaughter on Wednesday while the news media was on site gathering the community’s response to the closing announcement. I invited them to join me again …
Clinging To Rags
My granddaughter and I play a game called find the paci. I’ve learned not to wait until bedtime or naptime to make the search. Each time she wakes, before I even lift her out of the crib, I make a big deal of searching for her pacifier. She has usually tossed it aside during her …
No Family History
Three photos exist capturing five generations of my family. The first was taken when I was an infant and includes my mother, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother. The second was taken only two years ago when my grandmother met my first grandson, and the third last year when she met my first granddaughter. My …
Uncomfortable Silence
Days between the grandchildren’s visits last longer than other days, I’m sure of it. The hours pass slowly and the silence is much more distracting than their chatter. I remember the early days of parenting when my husband would come home from work and make his way around to asking how I stood the constant …
Different By God’s Design
As a first time momma living in temporary housing with my husband and young son, I experienced one of the scariest feelings ever. What started overnight with a meal that disagreed with me ended with being taken by my husband to the emergency room with severe dehydration and food poisoning. The scary part was that …
Holding Onto Hope
My granddaughter is a year old and so full of life! Her parents call it energy. She’s a busy bee. She’s rarely ever still. She climbs everything and talks constantly. She and the Great Danes have an understanding. She’s the boss. She keeps up with her two year old cousin. She is so much like …
Pockets Filled With Holes
If Jacob was gifted cash for his birthday, he knew what he wanted before he ever reached the store. If he received a gift card, he was usually bargaining with his dad before the party was over, ready to trade it for cash because he already had the money spent. As my dad said of …
A Fitting Reply 