It’s been six months since we said goodbye in the middle of a bizarre autumn cold snap. It should have been in the high 60s that day. But it wasn’t. Snow fell like grace in the late October wheat fields as we buried my momma. A strange blanket of comfort, as if God was saying, Unexpected … [Read more...] about Not What We Expected
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What Lasts Forever
She was never meant to last forever. But I didn’t know it. Growing up on our isolated farm, a door-to-door salesperson was a rare treat. So, my mother always welcomed in the Avon lady. Mom usually purchased practical items like lip balm, skin cream, or bath oil, but on a few memorable, yet … [Read more...] about What Lasts Forever
Learning to Lament
It was an ordinary Tuesday. As I made my way into the choir room, I remember seeing her older brother pacing outside the school office, waiting for her to be released from class. My childhood friend’s mother had died after a long illness when we were seniors in high school. I knew her mother … [Read more...] about Learning to Lament
Expectations and Promises: When God Disappoints
Shielding the California sun from my eyes for a glimpse as my daughter received her college diploma, I remembered something my husband said four years ago as I sat on these same crowded bleachers. I was wearing my cardiac life vest back then. My older son was graduating from the same university … [Read more...] about Expectations and Promises: When God Disappoints
Surviving the Stairs
I was petrified of those stairs. When I was in Kindergarten, my family moved into our unfinished basement while another story was added to our two-bedroom rancher. My mother took care of three children and a baby in that awkward, damp space for more than a year. We had a makeshift kitchen and … [Read more...] about Surviving the Stairs
Finding God in Soggy Cereal & Cold Coffee
As a kid, I was pretty good at math. Not to brag, but I won my fair share of chalkboard arithmetic races. So I could usually finish my homework in class or during study hall. But I chose not to. Instead, I saved my long division to work on during the nearly hour-long bus ride home or while I … [Read more...] about Finding God in Soggy Cereal & Cold Coffee