Mud Pits & Walls
Nursing my baby like clockwork at four a.m., I rested my head back against the glider and groggily thought how wonderful it would be to have a child born at two years old, so she could sleep twelve hours and
“I Miss You!”
Our eldest daughter is, hands down, the most affectionate child I’ve ever known. If my husband and I are cuddling on the couch, she is not content until she’s dropped everything and sprawled herself across the pile. If we’re hugging
Monitoring My Heart
You will always believe you’re free from fear until something crops up to try to change your mind. This week, I was about to dish up supper when I realized the barbecue chicken legs were still bloody inside. It was already
The Story’s in the Growth
This week, I went for my daily walk and saw my husband had pulled a chair over to our creek. It moved me to picture my better half, of almost nine years, sitting there and being still. With my three-month-old
Walking Into The Light
“Aw! How old is she?!” I didn’t look up, but continued unzipping my infant daughter’s ladybug sleeper and unsnapping her onesie, both of which were soaked through with urine. My husband turned toward the curious women and smiled. “Three days old.” I
God’s Eye Is on the Sparrow…and on the Pups
My hubby and I are on puppy duty, since my in-laws are doing missionary work in India. One of their cocker spaniel females, Emma, was scheduled to give birth this week, so we started watching her for any signs of
Sometimes, You Just Have to Flip a Switch
I don’t have a good track record with coops. In Wisconsin, I locked myself in the chicken coop three or four times before I wised up and set a bucket in front of the door, so the door wouldn’t close
God’s Perspective on Pain
After I received the email, I walked outside in the pulsing dark. I went halfway down the driveway and lay on the asphalt. I could feel the warmth, from the day’s relentless sun, radiating against my back. The night sky
Setting Our Broken World Right
This afternoon, as we waited for the results of my husband’s MRI and CAT scan, I looked around at the light flooding through Mayo Clinic’s wall of windows, at the pigeons pecking the flat roof of the building below, at
The Ring
My sister-in-law, for my twenty-ninth birthday, mailed me a tiny gold ring inset with a freshwater pearl. Her cards are always the best—each square inch of paper filled with words of encouragement—and in that card she told me I was