Read: 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Life brings change. Childhood memories are just that, memories. Houses are built on that plot of land that once was bare ground. The grocery store on the corner is demolished and replaced with a casino. The one lane bridge that was a shortcut to town is closed and deemed unusable. Just …
Sunday we did something we rarely do anymore. We took a picnic to the park. Purchasing fried chicken with sides along with some lemonade and ice tea, we spread our blankets on the ground for a picnic the old fashioned way. As we laid out our lunch, Dave discarded something in the trash. As he …
Today I travel to Montana to visit my mom, siblings and a few of my nieces and nephews. It is interesting that, after 35 years, I still call Montana “home.” I grew up just a short drive from West Glacier, the gateway to Glacier National Park, pictured above. So what makes a place “home?” It’s …
Read: Isaiah 43:1-4; John 3:16-17 It is the early morning hours. The time when dawn gently taps me awake, nudging me into consciousness while my body continues to slumber. The first rays of awareness break through, exposing the heaviness that has been my companion these last few days. I do the only thing I know …
Read: Romans 12:2-3 Today we had the awesome privilege of spending the afternoon at a friend’s pool. The pool deck is surrounded by beautiful plantings of both perennials and annuals. Her flower pots overflowed with geraniums, petunias and sweet potato vines of various colors inviting a person to lay back and relax! Another friend and …
Read: Isaiah 8:11-17 You might be wondering what in the world this reading has to do with parenting. In my experience as a parent, I spent too much time thinking about what other parents were doing or thought they would do. I followed other parents patterns in an attempt to get it right. The truth …
Adult children. A whole new frontier. Read: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 No one ever said parenting adult children would be so difficult. Maybe it isn’t the children who are so difficult. I think it might be that as parents, we don’t know how to adjust. No one told us. We have grown accustomed to being a constant …
In my studies to obtain my degree, I took Adoloscent Growth and Development. It wasn’t my favorite class. The professor was very soft spoken and I always felt like I couldn’t quite hear what she was saying. She promised we wouldn’t be tested on picture captions in the chapters we studied, but the test would …
Read: 1 Corinthians 12:22-26 One of the first adjustments a parent makes is sending their children to school. (If you decide to homeschool, the issues are different but still very real. That was not my experience, so I cannot speak to those.) I sent three children to school and I experienced three different responses. Our …
You don’t know what you don’t know. I think that’s the reason we become parents. Seriously! If we knew how hard it would be, we might take a second thought. But I know why I had children in spite of how difficult it was at times. Because I believed that, in the end, it would …