A troupe of builders was in and out of our house for much of this past fall. In the theater of our basement, they performed for a seven-week run—hammers, saws, and drills banging, humming, and buzzing in dissonant harmony, while a variety of radio stations blared out the melody of each day’s score. When they…
Two years ago this week, I drove across the country to a start a new life in an act of desperate faith that was probably more desperate than faith. My reason for moving was that it was the only door for change that God had left open, and I desperately needed a change. In the…
Tomorrow morning, I will enjoy the luxury of no alarm clock. It’s Saturday. At some sleepy point, I’ll hear one of the happiest wake-up calls in the world—the coffee maker. It will finish spewing and brewing, and my husband will head down the hall to get me a cupful of morning magic. Yes, you read…
Tomorrow I will attend my home church, as I typically do when I visit my parents for the weekend. With coffee cup in hand, I will make the rounds—hugging old (literally and metaphorically) friends and giving them the sweetened condensed version of how life presently is. Time will allow a few friends to linger longer,…
I’m on the other side of another interstate move, an exhausting practice I really need to stop: total upheaval followed by a long season of making a new life, five times over in the past fifteen years. You might think I’d be used to it by now, but, alas, uncertainty abounds every time and I…
A few weeks ago my oldest sister had the idea that we girls should help Mom sort through her sewing room. For five or six decades, Mom has saved and stored supplies left over from craft projects, intending to repurpose them Someday. The result of all this packratting was a 10x11 room, walled with shelves…
One summer I took a road trip by myself to Green Bay to see the sites of Packerland, USA. With my map in my lap, I left home and headed north on a highway that was nearly hidden in a deep fog. Road signs were covered with low clouds and were impossible to read. At…
Last week I went to a seminar on communication skills in the workplace – specifically based on understanding different personalities and then learning to interact more effectively given those differences. I’ve taken half a dozen personality tests over the years, and this one said what all the others have. Pick your test and I’ll qualify…
This blog is supposed to be about Daniel (at least, until we finish the book), and it is most of the time. But sometimes life gets in the way of “most of the time.” On this Friday night in Next-To-Nowhere, USA, I’m feeling trapped for a number of reasons I won’t bore you with. And…
I’m headed out of town for some conferences, so Daniel is on leave until I return. Meanwhile, I’m recycling a piece I wrote more than ten years ago when I was at Marah. I’ve revisited Marah over the years, but I’ve been to Elim, too. These days, I’m somewhere in between. 🙂 Maybe you’re at…
