Following a pretty rotten day, the universe will sometimes throw you a nearly perfect one. Or maybe it's just that, for me, two consecutive rotten days are unacceptable. In any case, yesterday= pretty dang crummy. Today, however, rolled something like this: Day started, per usual, with a small girl crawling into bed with me and firmly wedging herself in my back to snooze for a few more minutes. Then it was up and around for breakfast with the fam at our favorite pancake place. Unseasonably … [Read more...]
Immediately
May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It was a beautiful day in north Phoenix. In MAY. That’s saying something. Sometimes, May can melt your socks. But this particular late morning was mid-80′s, sunny and breezy. My husband was setting up lounge chairs and misters, and I was trying to get the kids set up with snacks and toys, content, and playing together happily, so that dad and i could chill and enjoy the weather. If you’ve ever spent time with small children, you are laughing right now. I got the snack, they … [Read more...]
A Moving Picture
May 8, 2012 By 1 Comment
My 3-year-old has a new catch phrase response for when you ask her a question and she doesn't know the answer. Or at least, doesn't have the words handy. She says, "I don't know. I haven't seen the movie yet." Now, somewhere in her quickly-developing brain, there is a very literal connection in there, something that has to do with an actual movie. Not that she's seen many movies--she does well to sit through a 20-minute cartoon--but she thinks there is a movie that goes with everything. … [Read more...]
The Mercy Instinct
May 1, 2012 By 2 Comments
As a pastor, I see it time and time and time again: a person has been deeply wounded by a loved-one. They struggle to process the world through this new lens of heartbreak. It doesn't matter if it is a sibling, a spouse, a friend, or a parent/child relationship --we are hurt most profoundly by those we love. It is, in fact, the cost of loving, and perhaps the most painful cost of being a person. What I notice, time (and time) again, is the impulse of grace that comes into most relationships at … [Read more...]
Good Stuff
April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How do we develop a taste for good things? Is it an acquired taste, cultivated by careful nurture? Or are some of us just born with a hunger for life that drives us through every transition, challenge and heartache with the promise of good news on the other side? I ask my 3-year-old, "What are your favorite things?" I see wheels turning, and finally she says, "I don't know." (Translation:"I do know, but I don't quite have the words in my 3-year-old sense of self...") So I start … [Read more...]
Spinach
April 19, 2012 By 1 Comment
When I was pregnant, I could not eat green vegetables. I couldn't stomach the tastes and textures, plus the heartburn that ensued was unbearable. (I often think that nature uses pregnancy to prepare women for motherhood in many ways. Including, perhaps, making us empathetic to a picky toddler's eating habits). So, I ate lots of fruit and took my vitamins, and hoped that God would work out the math on all the fingers and toes that were knitting themselves together inside me. Well, God (and … [Read more...]
Why “Stay-Home-Dad” and “Mr Mom” are Not the Same Thing
February 2, 2012 By 4 Comments
Well. If I thought that telling people I was a minister could elicit a "does-not-compute" expression, imagine the gazes that accompany the latest addendum to the conversation: "...and what does your husband do?" "well, he recently quit his job to stay home with the kids." buzzing, clicking, whirring noises. Still processing the chick-preacher component... "Oh, that's wonderful!" And you know, most people really, truly mean it. Once they get over the initial shock, that is. Most … [Read more...]
Showing Up
February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I can think of many movies that i love, but my all-time favorite has to be Forrest Gump. Call me a conformist (because that's everybody's favorite movie) but really, what's not to love? A hero you can root for; a tragic heroine; the backdrop of Americana; an epic journey; a satisfying, full-circle kind of ending; and a fabulous soundtrack to accent the whole of it. One of my favorite parts of that movie is where Forrest and Leiutenant Dan are on the shrimping boat, and the nets are, shall … [Read more...]
Abundance: Week 3, day 2
December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Me, to the 3-year-old, as I toss some things in a box: "We are going to get rid of some of your toys, before you get new stuff for Christmas." The kid: "And we'll give it to some other children?" me: "Exactly! Who taught you about that, somebody at church?" Kid: "No, you did!" The joy for the day: that sometimes they listen. That sometimes, the good stuff sinks in. That "home" and "church" are not utterly separate places. And that we have more than enough to share. … [Read more...]
Smell: Week 2, Day 3
December 8, 2011 By 4 Comments
My kid's got a nose on her. I don't mean a glaring, unfortunate feature. I mean, she has a sensitive olefactory device. She has been known to tell her daddy that he smells like "beard." (Translation: something involving hops). Or to tell her brother, "Baby brother, you smell like waffles!" No man or child in her life will ever be able to sneak a cigarette, that's for sure. She will never be able to walk by a bakery un-tempted. She will never be able to live in a place that has a damp carpet … [Read more...]
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