I’m so grateful for the flood! Not the Noah’s Ark flood - though I should be grateful God chose to save mankind and the animals He created. But that’s not the flood I’m referring to. I’m grateful for the flood we had for about four straight years in the house where I grew up. Specifically, in my bedroom, my sister’s bedroom and our shared bathroom. Now that I think about it, the boys’ rooms never flooded and they never had their rooms torn up. Wait, that’s probably an issue to discuss with a Keep Reading...
I Went to Jail
Because some of you asked... She cried when we sang happy birthday to her. I never cry when people sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Usually, I smile and soak it in. But this was not a normal birthday celebration. This was a song sung by some well-dressed women who had just attended a nice ladies luncheon - and some women in orange jail garb. Let me back up a minute. A few months ago, I agreed to speak to some women in Oklahoma for their monthly ladies luncheon. When I agreed, they invited Keep Reading...
Hail and Hope
Okay, my last blog post was a bit whiny but this one is not! I’m jumping on here to celebrate. The last time I entered this space, I was upset about losing the bid on a house we were trying to buy. Two days later, another house came on the market. I feared even getting my hopes up. So, I didn’t. I’ll save you the “trying to buy a house in this crazy market” woes and will just say we bought a house! A great house. An almost brand new house surrounded by woods full of deer and other Keep Reading...
This Too Shall Pass
I was sitting in a meeting last week and others gathered around the conference table kept looking at their phones. After a few minutes someone said, “We should wrap this up because hail and very strong winds are heading our way. We have 20 minutes to get home to safety.” People started gathering their belongings and packing up their bags. Before I could say, “Meeting adjourned,” chairs were being pushed in and lights shut off as people started dashing for their cars. In Texas, when you hear Keep Reading...
I’m Rooted and Planted – or Am I?
“Bloom where you are planted” was cross-stitched into a picture and hung in my Gram’s kitchen. My family laughed about it because she wasn’t planted anywhere long enough to bloom. She flipped houses before flipping houses was cool. My grandfather was a true traveling salesman and more than once he returned home on a Friday evening to find a For Salesign in his yard. I thought it was fun to visit a new home nearly every time I visited her and though I have many of her characteristics that is Keep Reading...
Coconut on the Beach and…Thoughts
Late one night. I recently walked on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Just me and my thoughts. And a waterlogged coconut. I stared at the coconut being pushed back and forth by the ebb and flow of the waves as they crashed on the beach and for some reason, I felt the need to throw the coconut back out to sea. I’m not sure why I thought the coconut needed to go “back out to sea” because coconuts don’t come from the sea. Maybe I just wanted it to be free to bob in the ocean and not rot on the Keep Reading...
Searching for Sand Dollars
I can’t believe I haven’t told him before now. I’ve known him for 37 years and haven’t told him a very pivotal story in my life. A turning point. A tipping point. I’ve shared a bed with him for nearly 35 years but I never told him the story until this week. If you haven’t guessed, who “he” is, it’s my hubby. And this week he heard the story. This week we were sitting on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean enjoying some pre work trip together time when I decided to take a nighttime stroll along Keep Reading...
Is the Best Really Yet to Come?
I heard it again this weekend. “The best is yet to come!” Is it? Is “the best” really on the horizon? “The best is yet to come” has become a popular saying from the pulpit, a meme, a catchy catch phrase. It's meant to encourage. And maybe even to sell books. I'm all about encouraging people. I want people to look forward and not behind. I want them to look on the positive side of things. I like the flower - not the thorns. I like the half full glass - not the half empty glass. I like Keep Reading...
Is God Really Good?
Is God really good? Last week our family said good-bye to my sister-in-love and friend. Since my husband’s mother died when he was just two years old, his sisters became mother figures to him so he lost his sister, mother and friend. My sister-in-love was an aunt and a grandparent to my three girls. She will be greatly missed and I don’t have adequate words to convey the depths of the sorrowful hole she leaves in our hearts and family. At her funeral service, there was a message touching Keep Reading...
The Hill
Last week I took advantage of the beautiful, warm Texas weather to go cycling while visiting two of my daughters in Dallas. As I was pedaling on the spacious bike paths, I realized I was not focusing on the beauty around me. I was only focusing on the hill I knew I would have to climb on the way back. I kept telling myself to enjoy the journey but it was futile. All I could think about was that blasted hill. I had ridden this path more than once and I knew the hill could be a beast. So Keep Reading...