Now that my son has a son who’s a year old, it’s fun to watch for similarities between Ezra and his dad, things I remember so clearly when I see them fleshed out in his little boy. He doesn’t have his dad’s dimples as his sister does, much to his mom’s chagrin. He has one …
Finishing Strong
“Who’s first?” In my experience, the answer depends entirely on what precedes the question. I’m instantly back in my public speaking course in college. If you’re like me, you’re petrified but prepared and you just want this over and done with so you sit in the front row and your hand goes up before the …
Give and Take
My granddaughter Amelia has a love hate relationship with eggs. One day she scarfs down scrambled eggs with cheese or a cheese omelet and other days she refuses them after gagging on the first bite. She seems to prefer eggs at the bagel shop to any we’ve prepared at home. Fortunately she has a younger …
Use Your Words
Two of my grandchildren are celebrating birthdays next week. Ezra will be one and his sister Amelia turns three two days later. Ezra came home from the hospital on his sister’s second birthday. We’re experiencing a lot of firsts just this week with Ezra standing on his own and adding more words to his vocabulary. …
See the Snake
Blistering heat and palpable humidity has settled in to stay in my neck of the woods. Stepping outside is like walking into an oven, no, a sauna. I’m drenched within a minute. I’ll need to join the grandkids in the water sprinklers for the wet to actually be refreshing. The sun is shining fifteen hours …
Keep the Spirit Alive
Influencers are a new spin on an old idea. We’ve been called motivators, navigators, encouragers, drivers, activists, even instigators and aggravators. What started as an idea catches on and gains momentum. Trends and fads are sparked by such ideas but so are movements and revolutions. Christianity has its roots in Judaism but its inception was …
Ask the Animals
One of my best investments of late has been renewing our annual zoo membership and taking my girls and our grandchildren to the zoo their parents visited as children. Some of the exhibits are different. The elephant enclosure now houses rhinos, there’s a splash pad in the garden during summer, and there is an aquarium, …
Let It Pour
Rain has interrupted our evening walks for more than half of the past two weeks. A drizzle would be fine. The cooling mist mingled with the humidity of the south is refreshing, but downpours that leave shoe deep mud in our yet ungraded land, though a wonderland for our toddlers and Great Dane, Jake, requires …
We Are His Hands
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 …
A Fitting Reply 