One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the advent calendar. We had one growing up that had little pockets for each day, which my mom filled with candy. We kids took turns with the candy. When the pockets were empty, it was Christmas!
This year we have two advent calendars. The first is this classy […]

C is currently a Pukey Person. Poor little dear. She was considerate enough to confine the mess mainly to her sheets and blanket. We’ll see how Bunny survives the washing machine.
Everyone keep your fingers crossed that this was a one-time thing, because we’re supposed to leave Saturday for a week. Oh, and please let […]

My daughter is obsessed with the car wash. Mind you, we haven’t been to the car wash in weeks, although we pass one every morning on the way to day care. It came up in conversation out of the blue the other day, and now it’s All Car Wash, All the Time. Somewhere in her […]

God, beyond our dreams, you have stirred in us a memory,
you have placed your powerful spirit in the hearts of humankind.
All around us, we have known you; all creation lives to hold you,
In our living and our dying we are bringing you to birth.
God, beyond all names, you have made us in your image,
we are […]

There’s an ornament hanging on my tree, a frosted glass ball with blue and silver beads and leaves draped over it around the top. I received it from “Zinny,” whom I’ve never met. At the same time, “annef,” whom I’ve also never met, has hanging on her tree this ornament, which I sent to her […]

C’mon, it’s fun! And it’s a short one, not like those 90-question monstrosities.
1. Egg nog - yum or yuck?
I want to like egg nog, but I just don’t. Too much nutmeg or something.
2. Stay up until midnight on New Years?
Meh. I can take it or leave it. We usually stay up but don’t do much. […]

- - - -
i wish i could tell you,
in a way you would get,
the way the sky declared winter
last night:
silver dusted the twilight blue
soft, like a baby blanket in nightlight glow,
until an arrow of geese
pierced the heavens, split them open,
and icy air rushed in:
and do their eyes sting with the cold?
and do they feel my […]

I’m going to the doctor tomorrow. I’m nervous about it. The last time I went to the doctor regularly was for a series of blissfully normal prenatal checkups. 12 weeks, normal… 20 weeks, it’s a girl! oh, placenta’s a little low… 28 weeks, the placenta’s in fine position… 40 weeks, any day now.
Now I have […]

C turns 22 months on Sunday, which doesn’t mean anything except that we’re two months away from measuring her age in years, not months. Of course, there will be half-years, and maybe even quarter-years, once she gets in on the game.
Here are some C tidbits for the grandparents, aunties, and so on.
1. Yesterday was G-mommy’s […]

So what did you do today, reverendmother?
Let’s see, this morning we had a staff meeting, and towards the end of it, a member of the church called with an urgent matter. My senior pastor ended up going home sick, so I had to take care of the crisis. Boy howdy.
Oh?
I don’t want to say too […]

What was going on in your life two years ago? Two years ago this weekend, I saw my father for the last time.
He and my stepmother had gone to North Carolina to visit some friends, and Dad decided to drive down to Atlanta and spend the night with my husband and me. I was […]

My friend Martha preached a great sermon today (read it here) about the so-called peaceable kingdom, the vision from Isaiah of a world beyond war. I wonder how people heard it there. At our place, the senior pastor preached to this largely military congregation some strong words against the war in Iraq. A couple at […]

I’m having a great week at the biblical storytelling workshop. The premise is that scripture emerged out of an oral culture, and as such, the stories should be told and not read. That means learning them by heart whenever possible. The workshop leader does not use the m-word, memorizing. It is not about rote memory, […]