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 …
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 …
No More Ice Cream
Hot and humid was the forecast for our zoo day so I promised my grandbabies soft serve ice cream after lunch. We stood in line behind half a dozen other patrons inching our way toward the ordering window. When only two people remained ahead of us, the worst happened. We saw the lone cashier, half …
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 …
Open Doors
My pastor regularly makes use of elaborate sermon illustrations and being a visual learner, I gain a mental peg on which to hang his messages. He insures that I will think about them again during the week as I encounter the everyday articles he chose. My eldest grandson still has not forgotten the sermon where …
Lifelines
I could no more choose a favorite Bible verse than I could choose a favorite child. God’s entire Word is precious to me because it is His presence with me animated by His Spirit in me. One verse or passage may have special meaning during a particular season, come in answer to prayer, or just …
All My Days
How would you sum up your lifetime in just a few paragraphs? I am nearing the end of my fifty-fifth year and though I feel what the psalmist asserts, my life is but a breath, at the same time my years have been full and rich in both experience and emotion. My grandchildren have only …
Going Deeper
When we bundled up to go outside during the snow, Timothy’s looks clearly communicated that he was feeling very unsure of his people. The toboggans and hoods obscured the familiar faces and he was visibly shaken. Once inside, we peeled off jackets and hats and still it took a moment for him to lose the …
Get Up, Old Man
My Papa taught me many things over the course of his lifetime. I was barely writing numbers and he was explaining algebra and geometry, not by name but by practical application. He took me to work with him at Cone Mills more than once and proudly showed me how every piece of equipment worked and …
A Fitting Reply 