My Dear Jud Bud, I’m sitting on the beach where I used to play as a child.  It is beautiful.  I recall those days when I had not a care in the world…running, laughing, and playing, a time in life when my only concern was the chaffing sand in my bathing suit.  You and I

God’s Word is powerful, and it is especially profound when a specific passage is brought to your attention that directly speaks to your heart and current circumstances authoritatively. On Monday, after writing Weight of a Piano, I was acutely feeling the heaviness of my pain.  Weary.  That afternoon I was sitting in a meeting where

Dear family and friends… Today marks 2 ½ years of living without our Jud Bud.  Within just a few short months Judson will have been gone longer than he was alive.  The tears over losing him remain perched in the corners of our eyes, apt to fall upon every remembrance of our boy.  But we

1.  My friends Kelly and Sarah stand out as my greatest gift this week.  We shared dinner on Monday and the bulk of our time turned out to be the two of them listening to me, crying with me, and hoping with me.  Meanwhile, we were also able to go to Disneyland the next day,

I woke up this morning and whimpered to Drake, “I’m just not doing well,” a phrase that often escapes my lips. “I get it.  I know,” he sensitively replied as he usually does. “But I’ve been saying that for almost three years now,” I sighed. “I know.  I get it,” he reaffirmed. Very few now

Recent conversations with friends who have very different philosophies and worldviews from me, have reminded me how, at the core of most human experience is this longing to be accepted, to be received for who we are, to be embraced in all our grit and glory. And yet, dissimilarities in perspective can easily be so

1.  I never imagined adopting a little kitty who would wind up being such a blessing from the moment she set foot in our home.  Adorable new life moved in on Tuesday and it was as though my recent frustrations and disappointments seemed to suddenly fade away and my level of stress decreased a notch. 

Jessie exclaimed in the car today, “I can’t believe this is the day that we are actually bringing our kitty home!” Sure enough. We adopted a little lady kitten tonight that has already stolen our hearts.  Beyond her incredibly sweet face, she has quickly taken to being with our family –nuzzling, purring, kneading her paws,