Good morning... As my fall schedule starts filling in, a friend sent me this quote: "You are exactly where you are meant to be." What a empowering word of encouragement. Living into my twentieth year at Northside Church, I love the cyclical nature of our ministry to women. Every year, the summer season ends and a new fall [...]
Good morning... On Saturday, I received a text from my dad in Ohio: "I received a message from Ingar (Margit's son). He said that Margit passed away this morning. She passed peacefully surrounded by family." She passed away at her home in Norway, pictured above in April of 2020. Margit spent a year with our family as a [...]
Good morning... As I took our little dog out in the middle of the night, I experienced the pitch black dark of the new moon. All was calm, all was dark, except one little light. "What is that?" I wondered. I got my phone, pointed it in the direction of the light, and took these photos. The first [...]
Good morning... Twenty-five years ago, our son Jeremiah was born on June 5th in Atlanta, Georgia. Two weeks later, our family was transplanted to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania with our youngest and his siblings ages 2, 4, and 6. Three months later, the terrorist attacks of September 11th shocked our nation. At the time, Jeremiah was the same age [...]
Good morning... In the morning, I took a walk through the fertile forest of fallen trees. I told you in yesterday's post, "New forms of life were sprouting up everywhere!" In the afternoon, we gathered for our session in The Upper Room, the amazing new building on the campus of the Ignatius House Retreat Center. Our retreat leaders [...]
Good morning... As I walked the mile long trail around the Ignatius House Retreat Center, I noticed the restorative beauty of the fallen trees. Though the keepers of the sacred grounds clear the rugged paths, they allow the decaying debris to naturally rest on the fertile forest floor. Like meandering through a mysterious museum, I marveled at the [...]
Good morning... The morning after snapping happy photos of our grandson Charlie last week, I looked down on our driveway and saw this gut-wrenching sight. A red frog had been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, innocently squished by the tire of my husband's car. By no fault of it's own, the poor fella was [...]
Good morning... On Saturday, we received this photo of our three month old grandson Charlie with our son Kyler. His text read, "First time at the pool! He's wearing his hat from aunt Adri." What a great way to celebrate Charlie's first Labor Day weekend. Not living in the same town, we realize that our life as a [...]
Good morning... "Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for our home," C.S. Lewis wrote in our post from yesterday. I have heard it said, "We are just walking each other home." Our eternal home awaits us beyond. For her junior year in high school, in [...]
Good morning... Following the past two posts about the DeShelters missing their daughter Audrey, who went to heaven ten hours before her twentieth birthday, a friend from Florida emailed me. "Good morning Sue," she wrote. "I cannot imagine what Jennifer and Ben are facing as parents. Blessedly God surrounds us with angels here on earth to comfort and [...]
