The original plan was to take a restorative, reflective New Year’s Day walk alone. I am almost never alone now: there’s always a kid with me. But even though Erik had offered to make the original plan happen, by the time I was about to leave, Zora was antsy. I gave her the option, and [...]
I started packing the books this afternoon. There are (probably quite literally, but I am afraid to count) hundreds of other things on my to-do list, and with a week left, I wonder if I have no business squandering time when my brain is functional to pack books. I should probably wait until next week [...]
Let’s just say: June was off the charts crazy around here. And by “here” I mean: Chicago, where I now live; Geneva, Il, where I still work; Michigan, where I went to a conference with my worship grant team; North Carolina, where I took my youth group on a mission trip; Wisconsin, where we went [...]
The scene: I’m sitting in my favorite chair, near the gracious windows of the front room of my new home in a Chicago two-flat. This is about 4 square feet that are unpacked enough to be comfortable…but I can reach out and touch stacks of boxes on either side of me. Boxes which will have [...]
I just spent three days on the campus of my seminary (Calvin) and its attached college, shepherding eight teens (plus my own two little kiddos) through a conference for recipients of the worship grant that we were gifted with this year. That was the main event, for me, of those three days. Meanwhile, the campus [...]
Conversation while unpacking the kitchen this afternoon. Erica: How many wine glasses do we HAVE? Erik: As many as we registered for when we got married. Erica: Why in earth did we register for do many? When have we ever served that many people wine? What were we thinking? Erik: Apparently we thought we were [...]
Hello, blog, it’s been awhile. So, a few things to keep it interesting. 1. Abram is a ridiculously strong child. I will not be shocked at all if he’s crawling early, let alone walking. This kid’s favorite activity, at 3 1/2 months, is to stand while holding your thumbs. He thinks it’s hilarious. 2. Teenagers [...]
How do I reconcile the events of this day? I believe that his baptism today is the single most important event in Abram’s life. Not his life so far, but his whole life. And now that day has ended with an historic death and celebration in the streets. And, in many cases, it seems, sentiments [...]
Zora idioms we don’t want to forget (her language skills keep getting better and better, so these are slowly going away): “I want to speaker something in your ear.” (I want to whisper in your ear.) Use of “what” in place of “that” as in: “I like the monkey toy what has stripes.” “lellow” for [...]