Our baby has a birthday today. We were living in Idaho when I delivered this 10-pound, cuddle-bug spud. He arrived after just a couple of hours in the birthing chair, which was a fairly new contraption at the time. I knew he was a boy, even though I’d never had an ultrasound. My belly was […]
Memorial Day in America – How We Can Honor the Fallen
America is in such turmoil these days. We fight about everything. We demean each other, we shout in protest, we sue each other, we shoot each other. We have become so hateful. On this Memorial day weekend, when I think of all the soldiers and airman who have died fighting for our freedom and peace, […]
30 Things I’m Thankful For – 2017
I wrote this post in 2013. I re-read it recently and realized one third of the things I was grateful for at the time no longer apply. Like walking with my good friend Cindy (she moved), my 10-bucks-a-month gym membership (I changed gyms), relatively well parents (now just partially well), my favorite restaurant (this has […]
Walmart
Walmart gets a bad rap sometimes. There are online videos of people shopping in their underwear and curlers. Shoppers with ripped Spandex and pink hair, kids whining and generally out of control. I resist going to Walmart because our Super store is too big. I wander around and get lost and forget what I came […]
The Best Gift Dad Ever Gave Me
I’ve often heard that earthly fathers are our first impression of what God is like. If we have a devoted, loving dad, it’s easier to accept a benevolent, personal, divine creator. If our father is aloof, abusive, or absent, it’s more difficult to believe in a loving heavenly Father. In my life, I’ve seen that this […]
WHO’S ON FIRST (a birthday)
Today is our firstborn’s birthday. Every new baby ignites in his parents an enormous passion and a fierce sense of protection and provision. It just wells up, usually accompanied by tears. The first time that happens, however….your defenses are stripped away, your heart is laid bare, and you realize, maybe for the first […]
No Christmas Tree, No Christmas Tree
(This post was featured on CatholicIcing.com in December 2011. It is still true today. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ My husband and I are done with paying for, hauling […]
8 Rules for a Lifetime Marriage
Look who had their 69th anniversary this month. These two continue to amaze me. Dad fights chronic UTIs, and Mom moves slower than molasses, but they are hardy stock from Indiana, and they have more energy than me these days. People ask them all the time, what is the secret to marriage? How have you […]