Years of teaching leaves me with traditions that promote the creativity in the young ones. It's Saint Patrick's Day Eve. There are traps to make. Catching a Leprechaun takes over all their senses. There is pure delight. I have relished every year of watching the traps being built. Such ingenuity. Some more glamorous than others. Those silly creatures turn over the chairs and tear the room apart. And always leave a Pot O' Gold. The milk turns green. Last year the resident redhead discovered even the toilet ... View Post
In The Fields I Choose To Remember
The peaceful and quiet, I seek. Stilling the rush of the urgent. Finding the space in the hush. Echoes of memories threaten the peace. I reach deeper for the still. Psalm 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. In the fields I choose to remember. The memories run free. The pain unleashed among the grasses green. My soul filled with ache, knows no boundaries. The sky meets the earth The presence ... View Post
Are You Overwhelmed By All The Christmas To Do’s? Why Don’t You Lay It All Down. . .Just For A Moment?
I sit on his bed. It's been 20 weeks since God called Elijah's name. I breathe in, hoping for a change in circumstances. Hoping to catch a scent. But there's nothing. He is not here and what remains is fading. It's been 20 weeks since I have seen his face or touched the child I bore down to bring life. Longer than he would have been gone to boot camp; and it's only the beginning of the "longer thans". Each time the girls remember something about him. I ask them to tell me more. Describe to me in detail what they saw or were feeling. I don't ... View Post
Treasuring Those Memories, When They Are All You Have Left
This is the first time I have been to my parents since Elijah met Jesus. This first time since we have needed to provide full time care for our father. Now it is time to go. Leaving is always hard. I miss home. Yet I will miss here. I have had so much fun with my dad. I always have. He has always, next to Jesus, been my hero. My farmer ranks right up there too. 2 Men who are so vastly different. Both have my heart. I wish dad would come with me to Vermont. But he won't. And really, it's not ... View Post
Oh, How He Loves Us. . . Day # 22 of Thankfulness
How can you be gone? I look at your picture, I want to see you so badly. I want to turn back time, change anything I can. I yearn for this to not be. I long to hear you call me mom. I walk into your room. I just stand there looking around. I remember your crib and then your big boy bed. I remember when Cedric needed to share the room and how angry you were. I think back to the time Caleb gave you your first Lacrosse stick. I want to hear how things are and chat. You're my first born. My boy, my Lijy. It's just so not fair. My heart just can't take it ... View Post