Good morning... "I don't know if you're online with Kate Bowler's messages, so I wanted to pass this along to you," wrote my dear friend. "I saw it a few weeks ago and I thought it was so poignant, especially for those of us who are struggling with very difficult situations," [...]
Good morning... Amid this time of year with graduations, weddings, and special days dedicated to mothers and fathers, depression can creep in for some of us who feel depleted and disconnected, with high hopes and deep dreams derailed. I just read the obituary for Libby Wood, with this challenging sentence: "Sadly, she lost her battle with depression on [...]
Good morning... This Mother's Day weekend, I realize that in 112 days I will be a mother-in-law. I am excited to let down my hair and be openly receptive to all the intimate ways I will be touched by our new daughter, Chandler. Chandler works for Earl Grey Floral in Austin, Texas and has been asked by her [...]
Good morning... This Mother's Day week, I marvel at the way God is growing our youngest son. Finishing strong his junior year at the University of Georgia, Jeremiah has grown in some very significant ways. Initiative. Motivation. Expanding an idea outside the traditional box. After doing various odd jobs over the past several summers and removing Christmas trees [...]
Good morning... I wake to remnants of our oldest son's engagement party. A homemade congratulations banner. A line-up of photos from their eight months of dating. A frig full of leftover food and beverages. Remnants of a wonderful whirlwind weekend. Just now, as I sat down to blog about our one-of-a-kind Saturday, at 1:40 am came a rustle [...]
Good morning... Traveling with my husband Steve to a destination wedding he was officiating, I had no idea I would be completely unplugged. In our quaint, quiet cottage, we had no wi-fi, no internet, no cell service, no television. That meant no blog posts created for our written word community on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I was forced [...]
Good morning... "Kaitlyn passed away," read yesterday's early morning text from our 26-year-old daughter. Since Kaitlyn's car accident on New Year's Eve, we have all been praying diligently for her healing. She was put into a medically induced coma to relieve the pressure on her brain. It seems that, as the doctors tried to wean her off the [...]
Good morning... "It was often very tender and sometimes sore over the holidays," she texted about her grieving heart. "Longing. Causing plenty of tears of remembering and of grief over not enough life shared. All the family went away together and had a loving and kind respite. It was honest and a loving time. We let each other [...]
Good morning... On December 26th, I love being the first awake in a quiet home full of sleeping people. I brew a 12-cup pot of our family's favorite coffee, fill up my personal "COMFORT" mug, and nestle beneath the fuzzy blanket with our smallest furry dog. Surveying the situation, my eyes pick up the mounds of "mess" strewn [...]
Good morning... A gorgeous table was set for our fun feast of friendship. As we gathered together our hearts sat in solidarity with one friend who was away visiting with her son and her 37-year-old daughter-in-law, a young couple bravely battling Elizabeth's advanced colon cancer. From our book Simple Faith [...]
