Do you have a spot? A special place that brings warmth to your heart and calms your soul? I have a few. That fun green chair that fits my butt just right at LaGrange Coffee Roasters. The view of the birds from my dining room window. The sun rising on my downtown Louisville work place’s old architecture. It’s beauty and comfort that is consistently there. Even if I’ve been away from it for a while, it’s there waiting on me. I wrote last year about my annual Camping Buddies trip. This special group of people gathered for the 25th year in a row over this past Memorial Day weekend. And…
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Thirty Seven Years Strong: The Makings Of A Strong Marriage
“Happy 37th Anniversary My Only One, Janet! 37 years is far too short a time to spend together, so we’ll just keep going for ‘always’!” This sweet Facebook post showed up on my scrolling recently, bringing a smile to my heart. In a world where divorce is increasingly more common and life long marriages few and far between, it always gives me hope to see such public declarations of love. Especially after 37 years. But this particular one is more special to me because Janet is my mother, and the author of the post is Ray- my father. I know that all 37 years of my parents’ marriage haven’t been sunshine…
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Quiet Summer Moments: Slowing Down In The Mundane
Summer. It’s the sound of freedom to students, as they look forward to pitching the books, jumping in the pool, and hanging with friends. To me, it’s just downright stressful. I don’t get a break from work, and all of the sudden schedules are all over the place. I’m a routine based person, and all the changes summer bring throw me a curve ball- especially in our blended family situation. That ‘summer calendar meeting’ that we have with the girls’ mom stresses out my control loving heart so much. But I’m learning to stress less and enjoy the girls and all their adventures. One such adventure began Memorial Day weekend,…
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A Crazy Man And A Saving God, Part 1
If you’ve read some of my past articles, you may recall what a revelation is was to me when the Holy Spirit forced me to camp out in a passage of Scripture way longer than I felt was necessary. It was as if I had a pace for reading that I felt was “acceptable”. But it turns out I miss a lot when I push that pace. It’s like in basketball. Some of the biggest upsets come when the underdog team takes control of the pace of the game. They are able to take down their opponent by either speeding up or slowing down the pace, pushing the stronger team…
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A Lesson In Persistence From The Squeaker Toy
We recently added a fifth member to our little family- a doggie! Lyla Mae is a cute little Yorkie mix who came to us from a local shelter. She was taken to the shelter as a stray, so we don’t know a lot about her, except what we’re learning along the way. She’s had some kind of training- potty training and a handful of commands. She’s not crazy about many treats, but loves some cheese and rawhides. One of her favorite household duties is helping pre-clean the dirty dishes as I put them in the dishwasher. And she does NOT like to be disturbed when she is snoozing, which is…
