Good morning... Yesterday afternoon, we happily gathered for our first monthly class of this new semester. Amidst our great discussion, we read aloud from page 24 in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson. "...one motif occurs again and again," wrote Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. "A traveler loses his way in the forest; it it [...]
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... 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... "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 [...]
Good morning... On September 1st, Jennifer DeShetler posted the tribute above to her daughter, Audrey. I zoomed in close and read the plaque resting in the right front corner of the photo. "She is a mountain moving, giant slaying, world changing warrior. She walks with Jesus. That is her game changing strategy." What a perfect description of audacious [...]
Good morning... Two weeks ago, our Fab 5 friend group circled up with Jennifer DeShelter over lunch. Jennifer is the mother of beloved Audrey, who passed away fifteen months ago after a fifteen year battle with pediatric cancer. Then last week, Audrey's dad, Ben, posted this moving message on Facebook. ****** This week would have marked the beginning [...]
