• Living Vertically,  Our Kids, Our Family

    Busses Away! Flip the Switch.

    Watch my smoke! After a summer of constant,  joyful, [hot, dry], adventurous activity, I’m sitting alone on Day One of School with …. rain! I wouldn’t have thought to ask for it, but here it is.   The buzzing frenzy of summer – sports camps, weekends Up North, city outings, and even the pressure of seizing the moment — is for…

  • Living Vertically

    It’s Time to Break the Glass … Again!

    Even though we’re all motivated, talented, focused creators of our art, sometimes we have to PUSH THROUGH RESISTANCE, don’t we? When I need a kick in the keyboard, I reach for my EMERGENCY INSPIRATION file.  I titled it READ ME FIRST and I keep the brilliance fresh by switching out quotes from authors and thinkers that are particularly helpful at…

  • Living Vertically,  The Story

    Giving Up Lent (not)

    I’ve traveled a somewhat circuitous pathway from the religious rules of my childhood, to a new understanding of the full work of Jesus-God (which is emphatically law-averse for many good reasons), to a new independent place where I know that God sees through all spiritual camouflage.  It is our hearts He wants – because only then can He free us…

  • Living Vertically,  Our Kids, Our Family

    Friday’s Word: TRIANGULATE!

    Seth Godin used it today and I knew right away I had to start a new game: The Friday Word.  (i do so love to be unexpected.) TRIANGULATING IS EVERYWHERE. Satellites triangulate global positioning and tell us which streets will get us where we want to go. Google triangulates web traffic and our clicking and also tells us where we…

  • Living Vertically,  The Mystery of Marriage

    It Could Only Be God

    Today I honor my husband. One year ago today his decision changed everything. As magnificent head of our home and pillar of strength, he pulled in. He allowed it to happen.  He allowed God to invade deeper truths. We took time.  Weeks and weeks of study and prayer and growth. Sometimes painful and always holy.

  • Living Vertically,  The Story

    Did I Miss Something?

    My reticular activator might be offline for maintenance.  Perhaps it’s “normal” for us to have what seems like obvious connections in our deeper mind and heart but we ourselves don’t intellectually see the connection until our reticular activator gets the message…. sometime much later.   Which probably isn’t technically how the RA works.  Hmmm. I know I have certain realities tucked…

  • Living Vertically,  The Mystery of Marriage,  The Story

    Keep Walking

    People often ask “how do we know what God wants for our life?” I tell the stories about how my life has transformed into new depths of peacefulness as well as more genuine excitement and NO-FAIR!-awesome opportunities. New friends nod with some assumption that it’s always been that way. “What a nice life.  You’ve done well.” Nope. I’ve been rescued. …

  • Living Vertically,  Our Kids, Our Family,  The Mystery of Marriage

    Camping Out

    PLANS WELL MADE It’s somewhere between 4 and 5am and we’re camping.  Actually we’re staging ourselves for an early arrival to the Wheatland Music festival that starts tomorrow and we’re on Take #9 of trying to beat the morning queue.  We rented the same reliable 35’  trailer we’ve used for a few years (which we now consider ours) and we…

  • Living Vertically,  Our Kids, Our Family,  The Story

    Intentional Rhythm

    We did it. All kids are all in school.  Even, presumably, the two in college; and the tallest one who’s in North Carolina. I now sit with this moment that I’ve projected tasks into for weeks.  “When school starts I will have more structured time to get done what I need to get done.”  Often said in the context of…

  • Living Vertically,  Our Kids, Our Family

    Time For Spring

    It’s August.  It must be spring. And why not!  We’re heading into a week of vacation, coming out of a season of redefining “intentional” ( how intentional are we really?).  Let’s celebrate renewal … and another opportunity to begin.  Today.  Tomorrow Eldest Son leaves for his road trip back to the U in Portland, and the excitement for the adventure,…