January 25, 2024

::: all hyperlinks contain secret messages :::  PEW, PEW, PEW The old wooden pews in the Nazarene church I grew up in required a sort of sidewinding to maneuver one’s way out. But it wasn’t just Nazarene pews that demanded this certain sort of leg-bumping-hymnal-rack-dodging-side-shuffle to reach the aisles. The pews in other churches worked much the same way – regardless of padding or denominational affiliation. This led many of us children to slide-scoot on our bottoms, down the pew... Read more

January 13, 2024

SINGLE  FILE LINES Welcome to my new sub-feature,  Single File Lines (by Kelly)  That’s me.  A Christian divorcee’ and single (again) mom to four fantastic children and a wonderful bonus son.  I’ve added this “file”  to my regular  column,  “The Pretty Good Report” @ Patheos to share my SWF (single, with family) adventure.  When I married, over two decades ago,  I never pictured someday I’d be learning the ropes of modern  dating alongside my own children, and yet, here we all... Read more

October 31, 2023

Sugar Rush Weekend  For a little over a decade now, I’ve referred to the days surrounding Halloween as “Sugar Rush Weekend” not only for the inevitable  *plastic pumpkins overflowing with fun-sized candy, but also for the two regulation birthday cakes due after the last car trunk or house has been visited. Today is Halloween. All Saints Eve Twenty-one years ago, my son was born on All Saints Day. (Tomorrow) Thirteen years ago, my daughter was born on All Souls’ Day.... Read more

October 18, 2023

New Vision  In Part 1, “Was Blind: The Gift of Cataracts”  I had just been handed an application for financing double cataract surgery. Rather than pretending to build up suspense (because most of my readers are related to me and already know what happened) I’ll skip directly to the end: I was approved for the financing. I had both surgeries. And they worked!  I can see clearly now.  Almost too clearly.  Let me explain.  After surgery, everything was brand new.... Read more

August 24, 2023

Doctor, My Eyes…  “You are only a few numbers from losing your driver’s license  ”  My ophthalmologist was addressing my concerns about having  surgery.  “I’m worried I’ll have this surgery but find cataracts aren’t the cause. I’ll be making a lifelong choice for glasses.”  I explained.  He gently took the reins of the conversation. His answer, both figurative and literal, was resolved: “Oh, it is the cataracts. We’ll take them out and you’ll see.  “I respect your expertise… “ I... Read more

August 11, 2023

What God Hates   God hates divorce, not divorced people.  God loves people. Let’s pause right here because that is the entirety of what I have to say, but my word count is supposed to be a bit higher. As words multiply, truth grows muffled. So please, if I may, I’d just like to remind you today:  God hates divorce, not divorced people. God loves people. Statements like this tend to provoke argumentative replies from certain camps.  To follow  “God hates... Read more

July 25, 2023

Best Laid Plans  When I first talked with the editors here @Patheos about what I hoped to say from this little cubby hole, I imagined a place where, despite the anxious climate of Earth, we would, to cite the Deep Magic, focus on “what-so-ever things are lovely, good and true, whatever is noble and of a good report…” while connecting friends who find themselves navigating similar waters.  I imagined bringing hope to someone knee-deep in divorce proceedings, or  comforting the... Read more

July 8, 2023

::click links for an immersive simulation of real-time conversation with somewhat distractible me. You may want to read straight through one time first:: Little Is Much In one of my favorite childhood books, “McBroom Tells A Lie,” by Sid Fleischman  protagonist Josh McBroom is swindled into buying an eighty acre farm only to find all eighty acres run vertically– that is, one on top of the other.  This bad break leaves McBroom, his wife and their eleven children living and... Read more

June 28, 2023

HELLO!  Welcome to Pretty Good Report, a recent addition to the Patheos sphere.  I’m your lowly columnist, KB.  If the world is a shadowy, cobwebbed corner, I am the little girl in time-out, befriending a talking spider.  And if Patheos is the Neighborhood of Make-Me-Believe, then I am the new kid on the blogs, donning a zippy red sweater.  When offered the opportunity to share from this platform, I considered whether the things I say on loop in my intimate... Read more


Browse Our Archives