The Birth of Our First Child {day 4} 31 Moments of Still
And at the end of that time a beautiful rainbow bridge stretched from heaven to earth and on it came the child as a tiny baby and slid into her mother’s waiting arms.
The Wheels On The Bus {day 3} 31 Days of Still
I spent my early elementary years living in a small Illinois farming town where I took the bus to and from school each day. It was a long trek down the lane where I walked each morning to catch the bus. The schedule even varied from week to week. If it was the...
Love You to the Moon and Back {day 2} 31 Moments of Still
I was an honest to goodness worrywart when I was a child. I fretted about everything from having cancer to returning my books to the library past the due date. So when my parents traveled to Hawaii for a vacation, I was beside myself with negative thoughts. A plane...
Earliest Memory {day 1} 31 Moments of Still
A trip down memory lane. That's what this challenge is turning out to be for me. It's a fitting time for such a trip. In the autumn season, I often find myself turning inward. As the leaves change, so does the direction of my thoughts. I find that I'm more...
31 Moments of Still
Several bloggers I admire have joined a challenge to write a post each day during the month of October for 31 Days of {Change}. There are over one thousand interesting topics that women are writing about this month. I am late to the party. I did not have a topic...
Enough: Five Minute Friday
This is my Five Minute Friday on Monday! Rolling up to a stoplight I see her. A woman in dark winter clothes in the noontime heat of a 105 degree day. HOMELESS her cardboard sign says. I start to switch lanes to her side of the road, but the light...
The “Art” of Living
Creating breathes art. Letting lose on a blank page completes me as nothing else. Strange how the act of creating, doing, can bring so much stillness to life. Writing sets me free, letting the thoughts out, so life can fill in. What is art to...
Letting Go
Let it go. Three little words that seem so simple, yet they hold a conflict that rests deep within me. I seek the still because my life is anything but still. My thoughts are in a constant state of flurry, my worries threaten to do me in, and the activities of life...
Summer Possibilities
Summer is a delicate balance of exuberant energy and decadent downtime. Every year I look forward to summer with childlike glee in my heart, especially as I experience it through the eyes of my children. In all my planning glory, I try every year to design that...
From The Mouths of Babes – 1st Edition
I have learned some of life's greatest lessons from my children. Their innocence and refreshing perspective have blessed me in so many ways. As I continue to seek the still, I thought it only appropriate to share some of the inspiration I receive from these little...
Getting On The Bus
Have you ever been unsure of your current circumstances? Feeling like God has a plan for you, yet not sure what it is or how you will get there? If so, this story is for you... In Uganda this past summer I met a little girl named Sharon who never...
Barely Breathing – Seeking a Writer’s Assistant
My deepest apologies, loyal readers, for leaving you hanging the past few months. I returned from Africa exhausted physically and mentally, but full of ideas for sharing the stories of my journey. Somehow I let life get in the way. My "real jobs" have required a...
Part 3: A Day in Their Life
Note to Reader: The following narrative is based on information I learned through informal interviews and witnessed with my own eyes while visiting several villages in Uganda in June 2011. It does not describe a particular woman or family, rather it is my attempt to...
Part 2: When Two Worlds Collide
Imagine that you wake up one day in a place very different from all that is familiar to you. Everywhere you look there is something new to see and experience. You stare in awe at the unfamiliar sights and sounds, trying to take it all in, but sensing that you can...
Part 1: Leaving On a Jet Plane
Planning is fun. Leaving is hard. Over the past few months I have managed to compartmentalize this trip into a neat box sitting on the shelf. Every day I knew it was getting one step closer, but still it remained an adventure yet to be fully realized. About a week...
Heart of Dependence (Week 9)
It was early afternoon, four years ago, when I slid to the kitchen floor sobbing hysterically with an infant in my arms as my 2-year-old stubbornly refused me, yet again. I look back and know that I was at the end of my rope. Yet I never let anyone know, not...
Heeding the Whispers: My Journey to Africa (Week 8)
This is a story of how whispers become action. How God works in, around, and through us to open our hearts to things we never could have imagined. This is the story of how last week I was looking forward to a relaxing summer, and this week I am looking forward to a...
When the Truth Hurts – Week 7
It was evaluation time, again. That wonderful time of year when I get to see exactly what my students think of me, no holds barred. 24 feedback surveys from last semester's class. Fabulous results. Great scores. With the exception of 2 forms with hastily scrawled...