I love words. Long before I became a writer, I was an avid reader. I had fallen so in love with story that I knew I wanted to write my own. So my love of words has deep roots. Words have power. Words impact lives—the words we speak, the words we write, and the words...
During this Advent season, how are you shining your light? At the end of December 2020, I wrote “One Word 2021: What Does it Mean to Shine Your Light?” I had chosen Light for my One Word and Matthew 5:16 NIV as my One Verse. In the same way, let your light shine...
When I was growing up, my cousins and I loved to camp next to the creek that ran through my grandparents' property. We'd haul our sleeping bags through the cornfield, over the barbed wire fence, and across the pasture to set up camp. We’d make a fire, roast...
When I was seven years old, I had a nightmare there was a snake in my bed. I rushed into the living room where my parents had been watching TV. My dad took a flashlight into my bedroom, pulled back the covers, and shined his light to prove the snake was not there. It...
After a busy week, I like to relax by watching a favorite movie. One of those is Shall We Dance, an older movie starring Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. It’s about a married man who is blessed in many ways but longs for happiness in the routine and drudgery of his...
My grandparents owned a dairy farm. When my siblings and I were younger, we’d play in the barn with our large extended family. My cousin, who was a year older and my closest friend at the time, used to convince me to follow her across the barn beams suspended above...
The other day, I watched a short video of a little girl running down the hallway at her early learning center to meet her father at the other end. The joy on her face could be seen even though she was far from the camera. She toddled on her chubby little legs, and one...
Over the weekend, I spent quality time with a group of friends for belated birthday celebrations. Due to our busy schedules and the pandemic, we haven’t been able to get together as often as we'd like. Also, we live about ninety minutes apart. Between those...
What if God answers your prayers more than you expect? As I've blogged previously, we lost our precious Penny at the beginning of July. As I mentioned in other previous posts, July was a very hard month for our family. Grieving stressed my body and threw me into an RA...
After brewing my tea and fixing my morning oatmeal, I sat in my comfy leather chair to embrace my quiet time. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, July was a tough month for our family. In my state of grief, some of my daily practices had fallen to the wayside,...
