We’ve enjoyed receiving the picture cards from our friends around the country, counting blessings and finding the joy of this ______ year. This impossible, unprecedented, ridiculous, frustrating, agonizing, surprising, miraculous year. For the first time in decades, I haven’t had the mental ability to create one of our epic family collage storytelling cards for 2020. Literally it turned into a…
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It’s pretty natural for me to rationalize bad behavior; I perfected this craft in my 20’s. A lost temper, a little white lie, an extra drink, a third cookie, a nap. Wait, I never napped in my 20’s, but there may be a few more I’ve erased from memory. In my first marriage, I rationalized my angst over my flawed…
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It is my nemesis, this unwritten book. The wild story that might not sound polished and eloquent. It may upset Catholics and Evangelicals alike. My siblings might think I’m not being fair to my father, or too dramatic and I understand their point of view. My story may upset people who don’t realize the “before” me, and think I’m betraying…
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Christmas Day 2019 One Husband, one Ex-Husband, Three Millennials with a Z-er, and a Whole Bunch of Grace. “But it’s really pretty great,” I say. Many wide-eyed, sometimes horrified people react in wonder and shock as I share the story of our Christmas Day. It’s not unusual any more for my husband and my ex-husband to be sharing a [non-alcoholic] toast…
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What do you do with your critical mind? It might be a mental spectrum particular to a certain set of conditions; either innate or learned. Perhaps legalism, alcoholism, duplicity, perfectionism, (etc.) all play a role in creating this pattern in our brains. Let’s take a fun little jaunt across a potential* spectrum of our human critical mind. Trust me, I’m…
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Four weeks post-op. No cancer. No girlie parts on the inside. My tummy full of foreign objects is now a cave of emptiness (or so I imagine). I’ve had 2 follow up Doctor visits and I keep hearing how great I’m doing. I think a doctor’s point of view has a much wider contextual range than I do for my…
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If we try to hide our children from controversial content, they may not learn to think for themselves about important issues they’ll face throughout their life. If we try to force our own views on them without demonstrating openness to always-new ways of seeing people, we might miss a chance to teach and learn the mightiest of skills ourselves. If…
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How can a heart soar and cringe all at the same time? As a mom of a wide range of kids, I should know this sensation all too well by now. For Pete’s sake, my 21 year old recently sent a photograph of his body practically dangling over the far edge of a cliff along the Oregon coast. Rude and…
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Sometimes when we forge new paths, we find footprints we ourselves left decades earlier. Our family is moving back to Southern California from the serene and naturally beautiful Western edge of the mitten state. (Hold up your left hand.) I spent my childhood in Michigan, so I have a deep fondness for the lakes and the uniqueness of this state’s…
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It’s true. We’ve taken the leap and accepted great career roles in a far-away city. Our family now begins the physical and emotional relocation process that will require giant shifts in our experiences as a family, and as tiny people on a big planet. People sometimes reveal their own experiences – or fears – with their reactions to the uprooting…
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Around here, of late, I have been referred to as “Eva.” Over the years, my husband has habitually watched certain movies and announced “she’s just like YOU!” He has too-kindly compared me to Sandra Bullock’s character in The Blind Side (though I’ve never had the wherewithal or sidearm the likes of Leigh Anne Tuohy). And on a good day, I’ve…
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It all happens in a flash. Our youngest turns 8 and counts the minutes until his friends arrive for backyard maniac birthday party. My eldest turns 21 and heads to Prague with his collegiate basketball team to inspire high school students to strive for an uplifted life. Then, of course, he’s taking the dozens of dollars he’ll have left to…
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Today’s news connection: The Huffington Post reports on what men say about their ex-wives. This oughta be good. Click. The statements are contradictory and, on the surface a bit whiny. But when we consider the deeper meaning, (which might be risky) the potential truth huddled beneath the whining is quite important. The reality is magnified and their statements are true,…
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Wow I have been a really bad blogger lately. Maybe that means I ‘m not really a blogger at all, because one cannot truly be called a blogger if one does not do the blog-things consistent with those bloggers who define good blogging. So now I have also proved that using the word blog in as many forms as possible…
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As I drifted off to sleep last night, my mind was spinning with the truth that we are charging ahead in a new year filled with new pathways and excitement …and we must choose. Every day, as always, we have to make choices about how to spend every minute when so many needs call for our attention. As we launch and…
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Psychologist Barry Schwartz in his now-classic TED talk on the paradox of choices identified a slightly twisted form of Opportunity Cost as one of the downsides to the endless choices we have (indeed, we demand) in our culture today. “The imagined alternatives induce you to regret the decision you made and the regret subtracts from the satisfaction of your choice…
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The newly appointed CEO of Lockheed Martin was able to accept her new position extra-quick because the former CEO apparently couldn’t keep his affairs in order. Literally. (Note: I’m sure that Mrs. Hewson is a better choice for CEO anyway, and Lockheed’s handling seems to be highly professional.) Colonel Petraeus has succeeded in dropping the level of conversation about his…
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This week’s lesson in Jack’s Kids-N-Action church group is about arguing. Wednesday, the magnificent youth leader rallied hundreds of kids to holler in unison, “Y’ALL STOP ARGUING!” each time he shouted “what are we gonna do?!” The crammed Castle Room at our church rattled with the chorus of shortpeople yelling, presumably, at their selves. It was adorable and loud. In…
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I only left for 2 minutes. Our freshman volleyball player was ready to be fetched from practice at the high school around the corner. All was peaceful in the house, so I’d handle the retrieval. Dinner would be ready when I got back so we could serve and eat together before scattering again. I dash. Steve is entrenched in a…
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Today as I read Dr. Jim Samra’s book, God Told Me I see the direct application of living to listen. I hear a voice that sounds like God on my heart – even today. First, here’s the excerpt: Love is a tricky concept, easily perverted, so God anchors the definition of love in the cross of Christ. With the crucifixion…
