the strength of her 15-year-old heart

The pain is back. It never really went away, but today it has come more to the surface. Her face shows it in the tightness of her lips as she comes in for tea and pills. The pills. Little circles and ovals of  promise that don’t really deliver. But we are thankful when they take off [...]

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a journey back to canvas

“It is so fine yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.”  Cezanne So here I stand. After years of continental drift, I have returned to a part of me that is home and foreign soil in the same footprint. I am not sure what I have lost or gained or grown [...]

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I need a drink.

I am deeply asleep. the kind of sleep that comes after a week of being  a taxi/secretary/counsellor/singer/decorator/cook/maid/nurse/teacher to all who need these services. I am so asleep that the alarm clock couldn’t reach me if it were my pillow. I am gone. Somewhere in the house, a little girl has woken up from that same [...]

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A no-thank-you helping of God, please. Hold the dressing.

I am sitting at the dining room table. It is enormous from a child’s-eye perspective. My feet dangle off the edge of the chair as I try not to slip from the pile of cushions holding me up to my place. It is dinner time at Grandmomma’s house. The grown-ups are talking and laughing and passing the [...]

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A sky full of Love

I ache with a wound self-inflicted.  In one fiery glance  He silences my accuser  and extends His hand of grace  to cover my exposure.        Under His wings I will hide ~    until  Shame is dissolved in forgiveness.   until  Healing fills the cracks of my soul.   until  Love tilts my chin toward the dawn.         There is [...]

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Psalm 23 – Unseen Treasure – part 7

So many miles you have travelled together. The pace has slowed in part, yet you seem to cover far more ground with every stride. Your friendship with the Shepherd has deepened almost beyond words. His heartbeat is the cadence by which you keep your step. The path has changed. It has become a more solitary [...]

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Blogging with a three year old on your head…(take 2)

“Take 1″ escaped me. The publish button was inadvertently pushed. ( you’ll know why in a minute ) Here is my finished train of thoughts – after a good night’s sleep and WITHOUT my assistant. He’s too busy with “Brefas” to notice! ~~~ Here I sit, behind a closed door, typing as quietly as I can. [...]

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Onion ring art – a three year old’s perspective

Dinner was almost ready. And at our house that starts a chain reaction of shouting, running, chair grabbing, air sniffing and the ritual line of questioning: What’s for dinner? What’s that smell? What’s for dessert? Do I like that? I don’t like that. You love this. I did last week but I don’t think my [...]

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tears unwept – an evening with Dad

I press my hand to his forehead. For love, for a temperature check, for a prayer. And he willingly allows me the honor, his daughter-in-law checking him over. This is Grace. And I pray silently, quietly as I kneel beside the couch where he lays shifting with pain and disease. His wife stretches out her [...]

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Christmas Countdown from a Household with Five Kids

It must be Christmas. I found a magazine on the floor of my bathroom last week. Now, that doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary. But it was a LEGO catalog, opened to a specific page and  positioned – how shall I say this – where I could NOT miss seeing it. The kid’s a [...]

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