I am terrible at secrets. If there’s a surprise planned, my kids have generally learned that I should only be told what is safe to leak, which I would offer is strategically helpful for the sophisticated surprise planner. I’m an open book, unless it’s a matter of privacy or there’s an NDA somewhere. In broad terms, I’ve become a freak…
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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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When I found out I was pregnant at 41, there was an element of physical fear, for sure. After all, my girlie-parts were supposed to be winding down, weren’t they? And my husband was completely sterile from cancer treatment 10 years prior. (About which my more savvy girlfriends chided, “uh, you fell for that?”) This wasn’t supposed to be possible…
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There isn’t a precise moment when you can see it happen. Only that he has grown. It’s not an abrupt shift, and could possibly only be observed through a time lapse filming, like the BBC’s Planet Earth footage of a flower blooming or a sunrise from space. It is as dramatic and beautiful as that, too. Truly the bloom, the…
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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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Recently I had the privilege of hearing two brilliant pastors on different ends of the country speak – live – and directly to me as if they had read the whole messy complicated backstory before their talk began. First, I listened to Pastor Jim Samra’s teaching all the way from our former church in Michigan (thanks to live web streaming)…
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Time works hard. 15 years ago I heard the expression “all in God’s time,” and as a confirmed control freak, I was quite intrigued with this mystery. I was painstakingly seeking the truth of God, flip-flopping around the structures of religion and new age fads, so the notion of “God’s timing” as something beyond my control was new. I remember…
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We’re now in the middle of our move. Half of us are here in Southern California and half of us are still back in Michigan. The half of us living in LA is hanging out in a Residence Inn and managing lots of new-life, people who don’t know us, or no people at all. The two of us still in…
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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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Don’t Look Up! More than one war is waging above your head today. Yes, I am intrigued by the fierce battle between good and evil waging in the heavens for our hearts and souls. But God only knows who will win that one today. (wink) Right now I’m referring to the battle in Washington over controlling our digital screens. Our…
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Here are a few interesting dots to connect. Yesterday CNN covered loads about their own media industry. Wait, is that a circular reference? No matter. They featured a shouting panel of experts arguing whether or not we should vilify the writers of Glee who predictably leveraged the public debate of guns in schools to desperately elevate their ratings. An equal…
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Yesterday I read an article regarding actual government legislation in Florida regulating the apparently ghastly practice of dying baby chicks in celebration of Easter. Ahh.The controversial baby chick legislation. Avoiding the general debate about how our paid politicians are spending their time, I averted my eyes and moved on, in search of more meaningful news to follow. Behold. President Obama…
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We’ve never doubted for a moment that our family was meant to make this move. Four years ago when we leaped out of our highly chaotic lives in Chicago to move to West Michigan to accept a wonderful position at a fine company, we knew in our hearts and minds it was excellent. It was time to change. In that…
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It seems like a tough season. Maybe because it’s January. Many people in my life are struggling with relationships in one way or another and [spoiler alert] women often talk about relationships. No matter how we carve it up, and try to control it, all of life is about relationships. (yes, with other people) It’s like the secret to physical…
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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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After a long break with three separate marathon gatherings of fabulous family, holiday traveling and welcoming guests here, we’re hobbling toward the [welcome] regimen of school and structured work. So what did we learn during this precious season? That we are a family of connectedness. For better or worse, Mac or PC, screens are a reality of us. Everyone has…
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Be in the world Not of the world. But for heaven’s sake, be in the world. Let’s see. Politicians debate the role of their religion and their faith as it relates to their roles as governmental leaders. Bloggers pontificate (eloquently of course) about the hypocrisy of Christians celebrating Halloween and Santa. Most folks are okay with Thanksgiving being a kind-hearted…
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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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They broke into the iconic harmony of Carry On My Wayward Son, and the nostalgia-hungry crowd stood to their feet. Of all the 70’s bands touring the world right now, presumably because they are managing some equation of “need” and “want”, we find ourselves at the Kansas concert. Really? Kansas? Eldest sister saw Aerosmith in Detroit and OH! how I would have…
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Monday Morning. I couldn’t get this out yesterday. Fathers Day. In this week, I read two letters from two brothers, sons of the same man: one with joyful, gushing feelings of love and admiration for his deceased father. The other with deep hurt and life-long damage caused by “a s— of a man” that needed to be painstakingly healed as a…
