It was two weeks after my second Pfizer shot. So, to honor the end of the I-must-isolate-from-everyone and my-mask-is-my-only-defense phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, I did a thing. I did a thing with friends and my husband who were also just two weeks out from their second shot. First, we hugged. I’ve had millions of hugs from those who live…
Some people have emotions that are steady and manageable. Some people are never knocked over by their emotions. NOT ME. I’ve always had BIG emotions. And not in a bad way—I love a lot, so that brings BIG pain. Sometimes the pain comes when I lose someone, and sometimes it’s just because they are in pain. I feel things. Patriarchy…
Many of you know that for the first 8.5 weeks of the pandemic, my husband and I were separated. We lost his dad and he went to Syria to grieve. No one could have predicted border and airport closures. He returned to us one month ago. . The challenges of those weeks were innumerable. I focused on my job and…
“No one who walks down the aisle hopes to divorce in the future. But statistically many American marriages end in divorce. While divorce may be a relief, it is also filled with pain and questions. We need to pastor divorced people in a way that ensures they find peace with God and other Christians. Besides counsel and other help, we…
It is 1995. I board my first international flight to teach elementary school in Paraguay. There, I fall in love. It is NOT with someone tall dark and handsome. I fall in love with the Paraguayan people, international ministry, and myself in a foreign context. I gustily sing Marcos Witt with the worship team, preach once or twice in Spanish,…
I miss you. I really do. And I’m not ignoring you. I’m really not. We used to hang out. . . A LOT. We used to get coffee and dinner and hike and go to concerts and. . . I miss that! I realize that you wanted to give me privacy those first couple of months of marriage, but it’s…
Though some might look at my life’s journey and consider it great, I am unfortunately more attuned to what I do not have than to what I have. Many times I would have traded my years of single adventures for a family, and my drivenness for a more relaxed life. Certain events I wish had never occurred, and other hoped-for…
I did it again. I compared myself to her, and I lost. I lost big, and now I feel crappy. I innocently opened up a copy of the academic journal and saw that she just published another article. Rather than “Wow—I should read that,” my response was “She just had a baby, too—how did she have time to do another…
She told me of a sexual action she took that she knew was probably not the smartest decision. “But YOLO,” she said. I was reminded of ROLOs, that yummy caramel center wrapped with milk chocolate. I didn’t get how ROLOs helped her to come to this unwise decision. Suddenly needing chocolate and caramel, I asked, “YOLO?” “Yeah. . . You…
I’m standing in my yard, trying to figure out where to put a fire pit. I’ve walked the perimeter, surveyed the land, and I think I want it over by the fence, just beyond the shade of the pine tree. We probably won’t camp this summer, but if we can eat outside and cook some marshmallows over a fire, it…