The divine miss m has RSV, a respiratory virus that is very common in childhood but can be serious in children under a year.
This is the cherry on the sundae of two months of illness in our house!
She woke up inconsolable this morning at 5:15. Her temp went up to 101.5 even with Motrin. So […]

This is just a note to thank you for providing us with nonstop Christmas music during this month—and half of last month too!!!! More than the shopkeepers, cashiers, stockers, Wal-Mart greeters, more even than the Salvation Army bell-ringers who provide a convenient place for me to put loose change and gum wrappers—in this season of […]

the heavenly music floats high, high enough
to catch sunlight,
its pure white patches—
distant through naked trees—
puffed and fat with trumpets,
or combed into pianissimo wisps.
and it came to pass
that the weary world reached up,
snagged the misty amens,
clutched them close
until puffs of angel song
pooled in the valleys of chill,
got tangled in gnarled branches
making the weary wonderful,
a suburb sublime.
you […]

1) Do you observe Advent in your church?
Yes. Advent wreath, advent dinner, advent hymns–although by Advent 3 we’re holding people off with a whip and a chair, so a few carols creep in.
2) How about at home?
We light the candles on the advent wreath
3) Do you have a favorite Advent text or hymn?
Oh, I’m full […]

they looked up, and saw a star shining
in the east
beyond them
far—
it hung fat in the sky
and taunted them for days.
when they moved, it slid alongside,
when they stopped and turned, it halted too
and winked like an idiot.
no-
eloquence
in its message: approach.
no-
elegance
in their response: buzz off,
swatting it;
but a few sighed:
all right.
we’ll go that way,
just to get you
off our […]