My favorite word in all of language is Emmanuel. It means God with us. With us. With is a tiny little four-word preposition meaning "accompanied by, accompanying, in relation to (especially implying interaction, company, association, conjunction, or connection), in proximity to." You can't be with someone that you're not with. Yes, you can be with … Continue reading My Christmas Wish: “WITH!”

I don’t know what any of these say - except “the beach”, which is a place I always want to go. Perhaps now more than ever. Our good family friend Gerri Thomas used to say that kids’ personalities followed their birth order, and that, generally speaking, it went tiger - lamb - tiger. Which meant … Continue reading What Do You Get When You Cross A Tiger And A Lamb?

This blog post has brewing for months. Maybe even a year. To think that tomorrow marks three years since Corey slipped from this life into the next is almost incomprehensible. It seems like three minutes and three decades all at the same time. Jayden is now the same height as me - exactly - and … Continue reading I’m Walkin’ Too…

In January of 2003 I was in Lomé, Togo, a small country in West Africa, sandwiched between Ghana and Benin on the Gulf of Guinea. I'd been to South Africa a couple years earlier but the experiences on this trip were very different. We were in a large church our first Sunday there and I … Continue reading But, then…

We're two months into this national shutdown (I think. To tell you the truth, I've lost track of time) and I go back and forth between feeling like it's been two weeks and two years. Whatever the case, I'm tired. And that's the general consensus I get from the people around me. My thoughts on … Continue reading All The Camps & An Oasis

I've been playing with the draft of this post for several days. At first it was humorous and had a funny meme about how completely exhaustingly long March seemed, but tonight I'm fired up and not feeling very funny. It was two years ago today that Corey was admitted to the hospital. Here's a quick … Continue reading Look for the Helpers

Well as of Saturday I am officially the parent of a teenager. These past 13 years have flown by at light speed and I can't believe I have only 6 summers left until my first-born heads off to college. Like with so many of us, I suppose, this journey has been filled with highs and … Continue reading Jayden’s Rite of Passage

My kids have grown up getting to spend a couple weeks each summer with their grandparents. I never did anything like that growing up, but both of my parents did and I know those are some of their most cherished childhood memories, so it's been special getting to watch my kids make those same kinds … Continue reading Joshua 2.0

27 years after walking onto a college campus for the first time, I am, once again, a student.    When I started college: The top song was "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. One of the top box office movies was Aladdin - the first one. Sales of CDs exceeded total sales of cassette … Continue reading So… I did a thing.

Almost half a year has passed since my last post. In some ways it seems like just a week has passed, and in other ways it seems like the last few months have flown by at light speed. We wrapped up a really great summer and the kids have started back to school and fall … Continue reading Storm Surges and Making It