The LORD bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26 I never thought about this blessing being for me. The thought of God smiling at Read more
It was a land barren, desolate, nearly without life…needing comfort. Many places that could be described as desolate are at least beautiful, colorful, or interesting. This was a waste-land: flat, sparse, featureless, dry, dull-looking. This was a place we just wanted to get through as we traveled over 4500 miles Read more
In the year since my last post, I have had my other shoulder joint replaced. It was six weeks in an immobilizer, which looks like a cross between a hockey goalie’s gear and a medieval torture device, designed to hold my arm in the appropriate position until my bones grew Read more
Wow. It’s been a minute! Since my last post I have directed a five-day vacation Bible school drama with a teen cast, thrown a cast party, traveled 3600 miles in a pickup truck (a fancy new hybrid one), sewn a bridal veil, danced at a wedding in a vintage Art Read more
Help doesn’t always come in forms we like. Last week we discovered that our unwanted rodent population had destroyed the dryer vent pipe, pumping the warm, damp air into the laundry room instead of outside. Not dangerous, but irritating, especially since we had invited friends whose washer was out of Read more
The bedbugs are dead. As far as I know… Now it is the rats. And the need to bring our 60+ year-old house up to code… Now we are looking at more demolition, reconstruction, permits, bids, furring out, filling in, reconfiguring, rewiring, inspections, more waiting, waiting, waiting… So many more Read more
The bugs are dead. My shelves are empty. Many things are washed, dried and put away. A small pickup load has been taken to a local charity. The process of letting go of things I don’t need, want, or love is going to be a long one. Most of my Read more
When we have an invasion, plague, or onslaught of (unwelcome) critters, it usually doesn’t take long for me to start asking, “Okay, God. What are You after?” (If you’ve been following me for a while, this is not unfamiliar territory. If you haven’t, this is part of following Jesus in Read more
The branch was cracking near its the main trunk. I’m amazed it survived the last big wind. It was reaching over the yard to the sidewalk almost a dozen feet away. It had borne several large crops of lemons over the last few seasons, but it was not healthy. It Read more
So…It’s kind of like crabgrass. It starts out soft and bright green. It feels good on bare feet, the chickens enjoy grazing on it and it is a welcome sight after the brown of winter. And then it happens: Seed stalks begin to grow. Not just upright, they lay down Read more