It’s been twenty years since you undid the bobby pins from my updo, twenty years since we said a couple I Do’s to promises we couldn’t really keep yet—for worse, for poorer, in sickness, til death—all in faith that everything we had right then would last. But packaged back in our rental house on LelandContinueContinue reading “What Did and Didn’t Last”
Category Archives: love
Enter Through the Narrow Gate
“Enter through the narrow gate,” Jesus told his disciples. I’ve been thinking about this narrow gate for a long time, bewildered that God would make a small entrance into his kingdom on purpose to keep people out. Jesus says the only way to the Father is through the Son, that the Son is the Way,ContinueContinue reading “Enter Through the Narrow Gate”
This Makes Me Uncomfortable
We have two teenagers in our house right now, and there are many, many, many conversations we’d rather not have with them. It would be so much easier to just… let it be. They’ll be fine. They’ll figure it out. Maybe if we ignore it, it’ll go away. There’s a model in the Bible forContinueContinue reading “This Makes Me Uncomfortable”
This Right Here
From where I sit in our new living room back in Ashland, my Christmas tree’s lights reflect off of five surfaces. Every night after I put my kids to bed in their new bedrooms, I settle under a white afghan, my 12 pound pup snuggles in next to me on the couch, and I takeContinueContinue reading “This Right Here”
When Fear Paralyzes, Love’s Got Legs
My son is afraid I’m going to die. This fear leaks out right about the time he shuts his eyes at night. He’s worried because anything can happen. Tonight’s specific “anything” is accompanied by fear of violence and death in general. He can hardly utter the words. It makes him gasp for breath, wide-eyed and choking atContinueContinue reading “When Fear Paralyzes, Love’s Got Legs”
Advent Day 14: Fishes Kiss
At the end of the day, after my boys don’t listen when it’s time to get out of the tub and they don’t listen when I tell them to put their pajamas on and they don’t listen when I tell them to brush their teeth and they don’t listen when I tell them toContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 14: Fishes Kiss”
Held
We spent the evening with friends of ours discussing the aches and opportunities of the church we’re attending, and while our kids ran around their living room and up the stairs, and I scratched the ears of one of their pups, I said the thing I keep saying about this church community: I laugh everyContinueContinue reading “Held”
Basement After-Dinner Theater
Our kids have taken to putting on shows for us in our basement. They take turns choosing the plot, often involving a pirate queen, the Incredible Hulk, and either a cowboy or sheriff or good pirate or Star Wars character (take your pick). There is always some battle involved and there is always some mid-sceneContinueContinue reading “Basement After-Dinner Theater”
The Things We Love
I am hanging out in the bright afternoon heat. Our kids have found other kids to be this afternoon’s best friends. My husband is in a baseball uniform and catcher’s gear, waiting for his next at-bat. It’s Father’s Day, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, around this dusty diamond, squinting in the light.There’s nothingContinueContinue reading “The Things We Love”
That Time of the Month
There have been a grand total of about 36 months of my adult life (let’s say, after 17 or so) that I have not worried about, wondered if, hoped for, stressed over, prayed for or prayed against being pregnant. My reproductive history is such that I get pregnant when I don’t want to be pregnant,ContinueContinue reading “That Time of the Month”