It shatters my slumber, the voice through the monitor. “Gramma. Gramma!” It’s still dark. Sigh. Why can’t she pull her own blanket up or reach the pillow from the floor? I scootch up high and swing legs over and around the cat. I palm the walls, slide heel-toe down narrow carpeted steps, careful not to […]
And the Beat Goes On
We sit in a parking lot near the lumber yard while the car shakes with my sobs. “Are you going to be okay?” he asks. “Do you want to go home?” Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so sensitive. I wish I could separate God pleasing from people pleasing. I wish I didn’t feel another’s pain, […]
For When the Way Grows Weary (Tease and Photo Essay)
It’s only a one-mile loop, this Dry Marsh Trail. I can handle that, even in this heat. It’s an easy hike, though, and it’s good to be away and outside, just the two of us. I lag behind, stopping to take pictures of this and that. He waits for me to catch up, reads out […]
Bath Time
It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his […]
Going Home
We should be eating free pancakes (pfannekuchen) under the pavilion. That was the plan. That’s Friday morning Alpenfest tradition. But Sissy and I instead pack hospital bags–contact lens solutions, glasses, toothbrush, deodorant, a change of clothes. We slip computers into cases and cell phone charges into purses. We don’t know what the next few days hold. […]
Drama in the Sky
I’m on the porch again, this time seated at the table with my computer. We’ve had this black wrought iron patio set forever, over thirty years. We sold our 1973 yellow Ford Explorer to the owner of a furniture store. We asked $2400. When he came to inspect the vehicle, he glanced out back and […]
For When You’re Unexpecting
I know something’s up when the usher hands me a scrap of green ribbon. It’s not like our pastor hasn’t told us to expect the unexpected. That’s the title of this month’s sermon series, after all. And he believes in fun. I’m hoping this is fun. We find a seat front and center, our […]
When Papa Comes Running
It’s the twilight hour. He’s settled across from my summer seating to catch some of the game. But he’s dozing. The Droid interrupts the outfield scramble. “Grace is in the field behind your house screaming. She’s not moving. She’s just standing there screaming, ‘Help me!’ I sent her through the field for a couple double-A […]
Spiritual Seizures, Surrender, Starvation, and Possibility
It’s an Indian taco spread, and I’ve heaped my plate. I’m munching homemade tortilla chips while I watch the birthday girl in the air-filled jump house. And one of my daughter’s friends, he says those words. “You’re a good writer, right?” I stare a minute, and mutter quiet. “Um, I write.” Mentally I smack myself […]
Spring Fling on the Farm
We load up the grand girls (and my artist child–just in case she and I don’t get away alone this week) and pay a visit to a Spring Fling on the Farm where we can bask in the fragrance of sheep urine and donkey dung. But the sheep don’t smell, and the donkey doesn’t ding. […]
