There are languages in the world in which the word for “hello” most closely translates as “I see you.” The ancient Hebrews in particular were a people who could not embrace anything so abstract as “Hi.” For them, a promise wasn’t something that existed only as sound waves, spoken and heard by two people. The…
It is not easy to teach children the reverence of sanctuaries or funerals. They recognize the absurdity of nylon tights, buckle shoes that pinch, and powdered people (be they sitting upright in pews or lying in their caskets). They wriggle at shushings, and readings, and ties – silly, choking things – for in those first…
If you are like me, you tend to think that screen time is the enemy of reading. After all, digital media can be pretty addicting, for adults as well as kids. It can be hard for books to compete with lights and sounds and moving pictures. However, I think there can be room in most…
My husband can tell that my annual bout of parenting fatigue has arrived when I lock myself in our bedroom with the laptop and a half-pint of Starbucks Java Chip ice cream. I’ll sit on the bed crying into a soft old t-shirt from college, rattle around YouTube, and occasionally whimper, “I can’t do this…
My wife stood at the kitchen table the other day separating coins for a lesson she was preparing for her kindergarten students. She divided the change into piles, separating the great silver discs of quarters from the dimes and nickels, finding a space in the corner for that midget of a copper afterthought, the penny….
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” –Luke 2:52 I remember the first time I really heard that verse, the first time the word “increased” leaped off the page and slapped me in the face. At that time I believe I pictured Jesus as something more than…
Don’t believe the rumors. Teenagers are remarkable people. We are currently parenting teenagers numbered three, four and five. It’s an honor and a privilege to watch a child transition into an adult. Messy at times, yes. In a thousand different ways. But the change that takes place is no less a miracle than the butterfly…
We have a new Tolkien fanatic in our house. Her name is Bethan and she is a 5-year-old sparkplug with freckles and curly hair. Every single day, she peppers me with requests to read from our Tolkien storybook. I’m thrilled about this, of course. The works of JRR Tolkien are favorites of mine and I…
Most of us know her – our creative friend. She is the one who takes beautiful pictures, writes poetry, sews her own curtains and her children’s clothes (or sews their clothes out of the curtains!). She is the creative type, we tell ourselves, and look around at our own drapes bought at Target, and we…
Evening comes on quickly in Oxford in November. The dark creeps in around 4 in the afternoon. When David and I closed out our afternoons there, we sought out a little respite in a place pointed out to us by our friend Sarah: Turl Street Kitchen. Turl Street is one of the cross streets that…
I taught high school before I had my children. During the course of a day, I saw maybe 150 students, some of them studying World History, others American Lit, and some singing in choirs and ensembles. At the end of my third year of teaching, I got it into my head to write a letter…
I grew up in an orange grove in central Florida, in the little nowhere town of Fort Lonesome. For fun, my brother and I searched the sandy rows between orange trees for used shotgun shells and shards of colored glass. We lived a good forty-five minutes from town. There were no neighbors, not really. There…
