My niece looked around our “girl dinner” table one evening and delightedly reported that we were eating “just like on TV, so people can tune in and see all of us!”. True enough. The large kitchen table had cookbooks, baskets of bread and fruit and platters of food arranged along one side so we were all arranged in a semi-circle around the other ( Read more... )

There have been, and are, people in my life that I am very glad to have pray for me. In my earthly way, and this started in the magical thinking of childhood, I believe God hears some of my best prayer people more than He hears others. With that statement I wouldn’t want to give anyone the impression that I don’t think God hears everyone when ( Read more... )

We often hurry through the rain. Despite the smart alecks who wonder, "Are you sugar? Are you gonna melt?" we hurry to come in from the wet and windy. I'm sure the smart alecks wonder about me. "Does it look like she walks slower?" and "Where's her umbrella?" and "Didn't her mother teach her to come in out of the rain?" But when you have just ( Read more... )

Sometimes you have a strong suspicion you are on the wrong track - "this doesn't look right". Sometimes you get a glimmer you're on the right track - "Welllll, I think I'll just keep going and see." And sometimes, you feel like you were lucky enough to see a signpost that says, "Yep - this way ( Read more... )

There is a phrase "silent communion" that has run through the day like a song ( Read more... )

I can't believe I have not made one post in 2012. Is that possible? How is that possible? I have no idea. LJ certainly didn't lose any sleep over it though, making sure to automatically renew me for another year : < ) And I did manage to make a backup of all journal entries thus far (except for the pictures darn!) from when I first got here to ( Read more... )

The end of this year called for a burrowing into a much lighter world than the one I was currently inhabiting ( Read more... )

Though I have not been feeling very Merry I am not down in the depths. My faith will not allow it. In spite of recent events it is the events of more ancient times that bring meaning to now. In snippets of song, laughter of children, kindness of strangers I am reminded of the gift of Christmas - God's abiding love ( Read more... )

54. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. Yes, amnesia, one of my favorite plot devices. I say this with a smile because it does sound silly and yet, in the right hands, they can be quite good stories. I was happy to see this handled with a deft hand by this author. Imagine forgetting the birth of your children and the death of a marriage ( Read more... )

53. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. NOT for vegetarians - let me just say that right here and now. (And the Bill Buford book was soooo not for the faint of heart either - lots of carnivore gore in that one too). OK, but how I LOVED Gabrielle's memoir for so many more reasons than the food, which really was secondary to the story ( Read more... )