A crown of silver and decades on this earth give a grandparent the right to say what they want whenever they want to say it. The older you get, the less of a filter you have. This is a terribly wonderful thing. Folks who were once inhibited and rarely spoke their mind, now have no reason to hold back. My husband’s grandma was like that. We never knew what to expect.
Read MoreDo you have old paneling in your life?
I hate paneling. I've always hated it. Funny thing is, my husband for years has loved a variety of paneling - from the station wagon he drove in the 90's with paneling down the side to the real wood paneling in our kitchen. He has a fine appreciation for the stuff. Not me, no variety of paneling has made it to my A-list. I don't differentiate or value any one paneling. I hate them all.
Read MoreWe have a long history of living with my husband’s grandma. Over a quarter of our marriage was spent on the farm with Grandma. Some of our kids’ most formative moments happened with her. Actually, some of my most formative moments happened with her too. She’s been gone for over 5 years now. I was with her when she breathed her last breath. That was hard. And it’s a story for another time.
Read MoreLast year, for the first time, I remember reading about the history of Mother’s Day in America. It surprised me. The official holiday all seemed to start with a woman named, Ann Reeves Jarvis. She was determined to honor her own mother’s legacy and the sacrifices women make for their children. After accomplishing her dream to get an official US holiday, she later denounced it because of the commercialism that now surrounded it. If you want to see more of that history, it can be found at history.com.
Read MoreThe past two weeks have been messy. Every moment has been filled. Even this moment as I stop studying and preparing a sermon for Sunday to write this introduction. As we head into Mother’s Day, I thought it might give us great perspective to hear a man’s thoughts on the subject. So, here he is uncensored! My husband, Bryce…
Read MoreHave you lost your community? That place of shared knowledge and understanding. A place of collaboration and challenges. A space where you understand others and they understand you. A setting where you serve others and grow yourself.
Go back to being 5. It was easier then. It usually went something like this.
Read MoreThat was frozen for how long?!? Did you ever pull something out of the freezer and ask yourself, “How old is this?” Then find yourself answering, “It can’t be that old, right? I’ll just eat it anyway.” I have. Freezing things makes time stand still. Think about Han Solo in Star Wars. He was frozen and came out just fine. Ok, maybe that’s a bad example since that was science fiction and carbonite freezing, but freezing clearly preserves food.
Read MoreAs a follower of Jesus headed into Palm Sunday, my family and I reflect on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The crowd claimed Him as king even through they didn’t fully understand what that meant. They anticipated Him coming to Jerusalem and were surprised to see their definition of king redefined.
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