Good morning... I opened my inbox to discover this email. "Dear Friends, We hope this letter finds you well. We're writing to bring you up to speed on some major life events that are occurring with us. After many fulfilling years together we have come to a place where we are moving in different directions and have decided to [...]
Good morning... With some people, it feels like a sin to "ask." Asking a question is like challenging authority. Asking for clarification means you are a bother. Asking about options can complicate matters and prolong a decision. With some people, asking for anything cracks the surface of their status quo and anger oozes out, messy and mean. This weekend, [...]
Good morning... I bend my own 4:00 am rule and begin brewing my morning coffee at 2:40 today. "It's Mother's Day," I figure, "and my gift to myself will be an afternoon nap." I love savoring these quiet, creative hours in the middle of the night, when God invites me close. At 7:30 am, I will walk to and [...]
Good morning... Yesterday, three of us were talking about different types of wake up calls. One preschool mom said, "When my son wakes up each morning, he calls in a sing-songy voice, 'Hellooo... It's meee...'" The other mom of adult children said, "Whenever my daughter woke up as a little girl, she would loudly yell 'Juice!' 'Juice!' 'Juice!' or [...]
Good morning... Saturday night's gathering had been planned for a while. One friend invited me and another friend to sleepover as the final hurrah of my birthday season. When is the last time you had a pajama party with some of your best buddies? We arrived a little after 5:00 pm and started our all-nighter with some hors d'oevres, [...]
Good morning... One late afternoon, I came home from work to find a question emailed to me by a friend. She wrote, "This is the practice I find most difficult: trying to be a good 'christian' with people who drain you. I'm not talking about people who are sick or going through something difficult. It's people who thrive on [...]
Good morning... Three thoughts pop to mind as I re-watch the moving video I shared with you yesterday (if you missed it, please enjoy it today at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0). First, "What will my kids remember from their childhood years?" Will they recall my best parenting moments, my worst parenting moments, or some conglomerate of the two? Often times, photographs help [...]
Good morning... Each year for the past four years I have hosted a Bible study on Wednesday afternoons for the "moms of high school seniors" from my kids' school. Next week, I meet with a group of three moms who want to begin the special tradition at a neighboring school, and I have been asked to mentor another woman [...]
