Just a couple of days ago, our four-year-old announced it was time for her first haircut. It’s not as though we haven’t asked if she wanted a haircut. She was fiercely determined that she would not have her haircut until she her five-year-old birthday even as she tagged along to her brother’s routine haircuts. And …
I got the dreaded “mailbox is full” notification yesterday morning. Between Spring Break and Holy Week, I had let some phone messages pile up and was slowly working my way through those voicemails. In an attempt to get back on track, I scrolled through. my voicemails to see if there were any I could automatically …
This past year of ministry has been walking close to grief both personally and as I walk with so many people grieving the loss of loved ones, the loss of plans, and the loss of the way we lived before COVID. Although it may sound like a year filled with sadness, it has actually been …
In the Fall, we always go apple picking on a Friday afternoon. We go to the same apple orchard, take a picture by the same photo op with the cute measurement, and on the tractors by the barn. We get apple cider and apple donuts, a kind of salute to cooler weather and the beginning …
Last Sunday, as we celebrated All Saints Sunday, I read the name of my own dad as one of the saints to remember on this high and holy day. It was not the first time in my years of memory that I have read someone’s name who was difficult to read. It is always difficult …
All Hallow’s Eve is a time when the veil between night and day is thin. People are dressed and masked taking on personas they have encountered in books, shows, and movies. You might walk right by your neighbor and not recognize them. Pumpkins turn into faces alight with personalities and feelings that gourds don’t normally …
I heard their whisperings at the top of the stairs. We had just cleaned up from dinner and were headed to bath, just enough ahead of me to plot something. I stopped for just a minute to give them ample time to plan their surprise. I made sure my feet fell loudly on the last …
Yesterday, I dropped off both kids at the same school in one drop off and came home to an empty house. It reminded me that during the pandemic and our year of homeschooling, there was nothing I wanted more than to have some time in an empty house. Some time in the space we were …
Now that we are settling in to our new house, there has been more than once where I have looked at Sam or he has looked at me and we have asked, “How did that make the moving box?” It wasn’t something we needed or intended to move with us. It was something that was …
Recently, our two-year-old has been saying, “I give you heart,” when anyone in the family is hurt. She runs over to that person and offers a kiss and then this phrase. At first, I thought she was saying “I give you hugs,” but as I listened more closely, I realized she was making a connection …
