I watched as my younger son, Jacob, twisted an apple stem to the sing-song cadence of the alphabet. As he approached the letter of his wife’s first name, he gave an extra yank and proclaimed triumphantly, “V for Valentina!” If there’d been a clover or a daisy, he would have split the last petal to …
Faith With Feet
“Imagine a world where our beliefs weren’t just something that happened in our heads and hearts- but became something powerful we did with our hands and feet.” ~Jennifer Dukes Lee We all yearn for a life of significance. Truth be told, we want to matter. We long to leave our mark on the world, but …
Grand Entrance
Traffic circles have only recently started popping up near my home. The one that’s been here longer than me I’ve mostly managed to avoid. I was schooled in traffic loop protocol in Houston, Texas several years ago. Between the Children’s Hospital and almost anywhere else, five roads merged on a loop with 3 lanes. It …
Selling Out
It’s a seller’s market out there! When my daughter and her husband learned that his medical training would continue in North Carolina this spring, they immediately began looking for housing. A new listing would appear and before they could contact their agent, the property was under contract. With barely enough time to close before their …
A Life Changed
One year ago, I didn’t know I would be a grandmother and I had no idea I had cancer. The day before I met my daughter-in-law’s family for the first time, I had my initial screening colonoscopy recommended at age fifty. I wish I’d had one sooner. I was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer …
Baby Talk
My grandson, Thomas, found his voice this week. He’s trying out sounds that aren’t crying. He yelps and coos and contorts his face every which way to copy ours as we talk to him. He is determined to communicate, and soon. God, who came into our world as a baby, determined the course of our …
Changed By The Word
K is for “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.” (Psalm 34:13) I’ve memorized more scripture with my children than I ever have alone. The K verse comes from Susan Hunt’s “My ABC Bible Verses- Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts.” One year while my three kids were still in elementary …
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
Paul and Silas sang praise to the Lord at the midnight hour from their prison cell. I hum hymns and choruses long past midnight until the words come back, verse after verse, to soothe my newborn grandson as I did my own children. He may not yet understand the lyrics but the familiar tunes will …
Who Does He Look Like?
My husband was enrolled in Genetics, the study of inherited characteristics, in medical school when we started making plans for a family. We spent our evenings talking about dominant and recessive traits and which we possessed and would likely be passed on to our children. No amount of imagining could have prepared us for the …
Five Generations Blessed
My Granny will be ninety in October of this year, and she was able to hold her first great-great-grandchild earlier this week. I was the first grandchild of my maternal grandparents. When I was born, five generations of my mom’s family were living. Now that my daughter has a child, we have five generations again. …
A Fitting Reply 