Good morning... This week many of us went to one or both of the services celebrating the lives of two faithful men from our Atlanta community. On Thursday morning at Northside Church, we honored the life of Jim Caswell, husband of Robbie. "Jim lived a full and blessed life," reads his obituary. "He was a grateful man that [...]
Good morning... Life gets busy for all of us. Schedules fill up. Routines settle in. It is very easy for weeks to pass without spending quality time together. Distance hinders. Commitments clash. Time can evaporate without meaningful connection. For our family, last night was different. At Christmas time, we gave the gift of Mamma Mia tickets at the [...]
Good morning... On Saturday at noon, two young men from our community were laid to final rest, following two touching memorial services in two different parts of town. Josh Patrick lived twenty-three vibrant years on this earth, and Christopher Rascoe was twenty-four years old when he took his final breath. Our youngest son is twenty-three, soon turning twenty-four, so [...]
Good morning... Today, my friend will bury her son. Dying an untimely death at age 23, Josh was her only child, the love of her life. Her Josh and our Jeremiah were on the same wrestling team in high school, so the thought of burying her son today hits very close to home for me. Josh's obituary chronicles [...]
Good morning... One long day in the ER. A short night in a regular room. Two exhausting days in the ICU. Suffering seizures and diagnosed with RSV, my mom was unresponsive for three full days. We did not know what we would find when we went to the hospital on day four. We got into the ICU around [...]
Good morning... After a really happy Valentine's Day in Ohio with my parents, my siblings, our Norwegian exchange student and her young adult son, my mom's cough spiked a fever of 102. Filled with doses of cough medicine and Tylenol, we tucked her into bed. Later, from the guest room in my parents' villa, I heard the click, [...]
Happy Valentine's Day... We all love love, but love is messy. In a week that began with our niece going into early labor, from childbirth on life is filled with messy moments. In the after-school enrichment program at PAWkids, the kids collaged their response to the question, "What does love feel like to you?" We also made spin-art [...]
Good morning... Last week in our post The Setting Of A Life, I wrote about being with my friend, Martha, as her husband was in the process of dying. That visit to his memory care unit happened on a Monday afternoon. A week later, this past Monday, two of us close friends shared dinner with Martha and thoroughly [...]
Good morning... Yesterday's rain provided the perfect backdrop. Drizzly. Dreary. Grey. With gratitude for the weepy sky, I drove to be with my friend and her actively dying husband. We enjoyed a sacred visit. Our eyes bonded briefly, he and me, and loving energy was exchanged. Then his eyelids softly closed, as he drifted back to sleep. One [...]
Good morning... On Sunday, our 28 year old daughter, Tessa, ran her first marathon in Houston. What an exciting weekend! Our whole family stayed connected by texts, and the photos and text string are priceless. Tessa's alarm went off at 4:30 am, and by 5:45 am we left the hotel in windy, 31 degree weather. Tessa walked to [...]
