Running
We've spent a lot of time in the pool this holiday weekend. Even the two-year-old has joined in the fun, thanks to an outgrown flotation vest passed on to us by our neighbor. For some reason, I've always avoided things like vests and water wings. I imagined that those devices prevented children from learning to...
How Not Waiting Feels
No one likes to wait. Still, there is a general acknowledgement within our culture that waiting isn’t exactly a bad thing. Good things come to those who wait, we say. Christian teaching kicks it up a notch. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord. Blessed are all who wait for Him. Still, I don’t think...
Ordinary Time
I was raised in a church that didn’t have much to do with the traditional Christian liturgical calendar. I don’t think that this was inherently a good thing or a bad thing. I do think it was probably inevitable that I would grow up and move in a different direction. I began to love stories when I was tiny (my...
Book of Quotations: Waking Up
I keep a book of quotations. It looks exactly like any other journal, but it’s for a different kind of journaling. Journaling with the words of other writers, if you will. Here I scribble down quotations from all kinds of books: poetry, theology, memoir, literary theory, fiction, you name it. I write down anything I...
No Strings Attached
Yesterday, I turned 34. My son turned 5. So far, we've shared six birthdays, and I hope we share many, many more. When people discover that we have the same birthday, I tend to say that this boy "is the best birthday present I've ever been given." This is true, but it sounds silly and jokey, and I feel as if I am speaking in code. Most...
Fear and Love
I had a different post planned for today. I was going to write something cute and sweet about the parent/child date nights we have planned for our summer. Monday was the first: a date for me and my oldest boy. It started well and ended horribly. Actually, I suppose it ended well, but the middle was truly...