……….is that blog entries so often need to be, or tend to be, past-tense or obscure sounding things so that others won’t think you’re writing about them. It’s truly a balancing act to not offend, to not reveal, to not be too secretive or too open or too candid or so vague that too much is read into what’s posted. Another thing is that, so often, when someone’s telling a story, there’s this vulnerability or fear that others might be all too ready to critique it on whatever merits they happen to be personally concerned with. Say… a grammarian: always…

A month and a half ago we were oblivious to the intruder that would dominate our home. This weekend we have our final two victims chickenpockeybabies. I hadn’t any idea that I would be over and over again trying to recollect where we’d been, who we’d been with, how much contact there might have been, etc., etc. O, it’s not actually been such a difficult thing (easy for me to say, sans pocks), or such a hardship on anyone. Here. But what I wasn’t ready for was the constant mantra I’ve now been repeating: To every visitor: “We have chicken…

Gout was once call the “rich man’s disease” or “the disease of kings” as it was attributed to the consumption of rare delicacies and rich foods. Well… it may still be… for, after all, I am a queen and am very, very rich. And, I do eat meals fit for a queen when Kathryn cooks dinner for me! So, gout. What?!?! Isn’t that an old person’s disease? Yesterday I hoped thought I was going to pass out from the pain in my foot which had actually awoken me in the middle of the night. I can’t recall experiencing that sort…

You don’t have to step out your door very far to see from your porch situations, but for the grace of God, you’d be facing today — and may well face tomorrow. Well, such was the case today… though we were far from our own porch… we had the privilege of spending time with many friends at a special gathering to honour a home-schooled young lady who’s just completed high-school — and her baby brother who just completed treatment for Leukemia. The Pomerantz family was so gracious to have the gathering in honour of those two children in their family.…

I have a number of significant stones in my garden—stones that represent milestones, significant dates, achievements, answers to prayer, the names and birthdates of each of our children and grandchildren. There are stones that reflect ways the LORD has worked a special situation and there are a few larger stones—rocks, really, that represent some of the more difficult times or seasons. So, in addition to all the roses and some smaller flowering plants and bulbs, the garden is a collection of faith markers… stones that we’ve passed over. The stones tell stories—or at least they represent stories, for each event,…

and we are so grateful to the LORD for His wonderful provision, protection and care for her over the last several months she’s been gone working at an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda. I had intended to write about this last week when she first arrived home, but time didn’t permit much computer use and I was actually so wonderfully overwhelmed with her being home that I didn’t take the time to write about it.  I can now look at her homecoming a bit more objectively and probably say more than the words: praise, praise, praise the LORD she’s home! She…

Yesterday the new seat belt regulations went into effect for Washington State.  The laws for use of Blackberry and other handheld’s takes effect in 6 months and cellphone use restrictions, in 1 year.  I share all this bcz I’m sort of generally a generation or two behind in understanding/acknowledging/complying with state laws.  Well, or so it seems.  Yesterday I had the children bring me the scale… (No! not for *me!*) bcz I wasn’t exactly sure who was in compliance and who wasn’t – in regards to the seatbelt *law.* Yesterday, the revised law went into effect… as I was thinking…

Significant to me are the milestones in my life that were either turning points or celebrations or decisions. Some of the turning points were simply changes in a direction of thought or action—simple things like: from this day forward, I will________. I have marked many of the “I will’s” in my Bible and/or on stones in my garden outside or in journals I’ve kept over the years. Sometimes I didn’t realize that specific decisions would have such strong or lasting implications—nor, did I realize that God would use decisions as springboards for others. But I do now. Only looking back…