Where are you most happy? Is there a special chair in your house? A swing in the back yard? A window seat? You know. That place where you can find solace? A spot where you stop to think? Somewhere you ponder? My happy place is my patio, working among my flowers. My husband has expanded […]
Faith Matters
Happy Mother’s Day
With thoughts of mothers and a special day to celebrate them this week, today I re-post an adaptation I created in 2015 from a song dedicated to the real reason women are mothers—their children. Using the acronym we are all familiar with—M-O-T-H-E-R—with a nod to the original writer who gave us the song based on […]
Birthday Bash
This week I entered a new decade of life. To celebrate I invited several close friends to join me for a Mad Hatter High Tea at the castle on the hill in Eugene, Oregon, otherwise known as the Shelton-McMurphy-Johnson house. My guests came dressed for a party. Many of us wore our favorite hats. […]
Ants Do March!
We’ve never had ants inside our home. We’ve seen them outside and had them exterminated by a professional, but never experienced any trouble with them inside. Until earlier this month. My husband, in anticipation of the coming spring weather, power washed our patio and removed the winter growth of moss and other unsightly debris. A […]
Honoring Easter
Jerusalem would become his last crusade. Jesus knew he wouldn’t leave alive before he entered the city. But He went anyway. After his triumphal procession the previous Sunday, Jesus spent the next three days teaching in the temple, giving final words of wisdom about God’ s kingdom to those who swarmed around him. The Pharisees […]
Celebrate
In our culture we celebrate numerous events—holidays, parades, political rallies, concerts—in many ways. These occasions take on various forms, dependent upon the theme of the event they are commemorating. St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas, and Thanksgiving are among the most popular. Often participants, as well as onlookers, identify themselves with memorabilia like a hat, a sign, […]
God’s RSVP
I am sending invitations for an event I’ve planned for the end of next month. Each one contains an RSVP because the venue I reserved requires a head count and a guarantee of a minimum number of guests in attendance. As the yays, nays, and maybes trickle in, I am amazed at the complicated, busy […]
Let the Sun Shine
This week the sun came out and, like an exclamation point on the end of a sentence, celebrated the first day of Spring. Temperatures soared near the seventy mark, a rare occurrence for Oregon weather in March. A mere three weeks before much of my home town had been buried in almost two feet of […]
The Simple Shamrock
God’s Gift to a pagan people Did you remember to tuck your shamrock in your pocket this morning? Do you know the three-leafed clover was once used to teach the concept of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? If your memory hasn’t been nudged by these clues, it’s St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, March 17, 2019, […]
Gaining Perspective
This week, being the klutz that I am, I managed to dislocate my hip. Fortunately, I’m on good terms with my chiropractor and he saw me right away. Recovery, though, would take time. Standing often proved too painful, so I borrowed my wheeled office chair to give me mobility around the house. While I meandered […]