“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 …
Pitfalls
When I have a chance to slip away to the beach with my family, we nail down the date and I begin to search for the perfect accommodations. Each time we rent, I am convinced that this will finally be the perfect fit. The only trouble is the grandchildren keep growing. None of them are …
Sinking Sand
Timothy wasn’t walking the last time we were at the beach so when we arrived at the ocean yesterday and removed his little shoes and set him on the soft sand, he sensed the shifting and immediately reached up to his momma to be held. Thinking the water would draw him in, she dangled his …
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 …
Healed From The Inside Out
The Lolly bus rolling one hundred thousand miles has caused me to recollect the places it’s been and the cargo it’s carried over the past eight years. There’s the surface memories: the trek to Houston with Jacob, many trips to the beach and the mountains of North Carolina, and Virginia, bikes in tow to ride …
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 …
Shared Stories
Amelia’s courage grew as she reached for the handholds on the rock wall. She gripped tightly to the blue and yellow holds while moving her feet onto the green and red. My husband and I built the playground to last so I had boarded off two open rail sections to keep the babies from falling. …
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 …
A Fitting Reply 