Good morning... Every spring I love the baccalaureate service hosted on the fertile soil of the Lovett School, a farewell communion ceremony for graduating seniors and their families. As head chaplain, my husband Steve invites a parent to speak who is graduating their last child. This year's meaningful message was given by Lauren Gearon, graceful mother of three [...]
Good morning... Along with a baby blue golf shirt to match the color of his eyes, I gave me father a tiny yellow birthday gift. Pictured above, I gave him a small symbol of the love I see him sharing tenderly with my mother, his wife for over sixty years. Two little ceramic birds leaning into each other. [...]
Good morning... My father is 85-years-old today. Right now, at 3:40 am, I am gently unwrapping his first birthday gift. For the first time in weeks he is asleep in their familiar bed, hopefully receiving some much needed rest. I took his place on the couch nearby my mom who is sleeping in her recliner, continuing to recover [...]
Good morning... I wake early in deep prayer for my special friend. Today I support her, as she supports her husband, as he lays his father to final rest. After weeks of facing serious health challenges, her father-in-law went to heaven at age 85. My own dad turns 85 this week, and, as many of you know, my [...]
Good morning... This baffled woman surrounded by a wide variety of delicious possibilities represents the way I feel the morning after my fun filled birthday: "I don't remember the name, but it had a taste that I liked." I couldn't possibly name all of the nuanced ways God's love pours through you to me yesterday. Just like a [...]
Good morning... If you look closely at our old weathered tree skirt, you will see that it was handmade in 2001, twenty years ago this Advent season. Red felt. Gold cording. Not sewn but glued. Glittery gold paint captured our children's names, ages, and handprints. Back then, our kids were six, four, two, and six months old. Born [...]
Good morning... "Look what popped up on my screensaver!" Kitty Crenshaw, co-author of The Hidden Life Awakened, texted me this photo from a visit we shared with Betty Skinner a few years back. "Oh, I love it!" I replied. "Such beautiful affirmation of mutual love. Betty is so present and so precious." At age ninety-five, our friend Betty [...]
Good morning... "Mom has been down with a virus," said the caringbridge message written by Betty Skinner's daughter, Betsy, on August 11th. "She was not tested for Covid, and has been in isolation for the past several weeks. The health center is again prohibiting visits to rooms, and she wants no porch visits. She says, 'I feel so [...]
Good morning... "Hey sweet and wise Sue," she wrote. "I’m catching up on my emails from yesterday and ironically saw your post “Surviving the Teen Years”....and it was as if God told you to write that for me!" "I’m in the THICK of it with my oldest daughter," she explained. "My sweet girl has faced so much rejection [...]
Good morning... Our four kids have left their grandmother's house, a modest log home beside a small lake in Pennsylvania. "It's really more like a pond," one of our daughters said this year, as we can see from one end of the lake to the other. Thirty-three of us gathered from all over the country - Washington state, [...]
