The Key to Peace and Joy
I took my Arabian-Paint mare for a ride the other day. One of those close-to-perfect summer Wisconsin mornings called me out to join my neighbor to the north and my neighbor to the south on our trails winding through wildflowers and prairie grasses, by ponds and through forest. Shania saddled up fine, as usual. She’s […]
A Stone’s Throw
She sat crying softly, forehead scrunched in pain. Her pain was of one being stoned without stones. Defensive words cast and accusing words tore her soul doing damage far beyond what sharp rock edges can do to flesh. Soul wounds are invisible wounds but they bleed and they don’t heal without help. Help is what […]
Journey of Faith, Final
Todd’s brother met us at Chicago International Airport and drove us to his home where we had kept our car for the duration of our trip to Russia. Strapping our new children into car seats with safety belts was uneventful for Anna but traumatizing for Zachary. For some reason we never discovered, Zach was terrified […]
Journey of Faith, Part 4
Eight hours later, our train pulled into the Moscow station and our driver was there to meet us. First stop—the airport where we pleaded our case and asked for grace in order to rebook our missed flights. The woman at the ticket counter was so touched by our story of adoption that she issued us […]
Life Interrupted
Today, I am interrupting my series, Journey of Faith, to write real about yesterday and the grappling we all must do . . . I sat in a pew on an exquisite summer day watching friends and family come down the aisle. It’s hard to know whether to smile or cry when you see people […]
Journey of Faith, Part 3
We were driven from Lomonosov, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg along the Bay of Finland, to our rented apartment which our Russian aid, Ilya, excitedly told us was on one of the more upscale streets in the heart of St. Petersburg. Indeed, the outside looked beautiful. But once we entered the building’s foyer, we […]
Journey of Faith, Part 2
On our way out, we toured the rest of the orphanage. The first room we passed was lined with cribs and toddlers standing, swaying back and forth to self-soothe because there were not enough arms to hold and rock a child’s basic need for touch. My heart hurt. And then we came to a playroom, […]
Journey of Faith
They stood at the entrance to the room where floor was covered in a red-toned, worn, Oriental rug and light through windows was filtered by white sheer fabric sprinkled with red roses. She held the hand of the orphanage director and he held the hand of his caregiver. And they looked straight at us, sitting […]
What’s Black and White with Grace All Over?
So some of our kid volunteers had never been around African-American kids before and they were nervous, I could tell. But I was thrilled at their willingness to venture out of their comfort zone and experience kids much like themselves with hopes and dreams and talents and smiles. Kids with energy and God-love and a […]
Storing Up
We raced against the rain on Sunday, baling and pulling and lifting and heaving and stacking and storing hay. Hearts pumping, whole bodies sweating, muscles burning, the heavens began trickling and I prayed for just a few more minutes of grace so our harvest would not get soaked. Because wet hay is hazardous hay. Not […]
Full. Filled.
We hugged after church and I saw the touch of wet in her eye. More, I saw the longing. Longing to be heard, to be understood, to be held in friendship where hearts touch deeper places. We two have traveled similar paths through life of brokenness, adoption, special needs. She’s smart, pretty, effervescent, articulate, and […]
Hay!
Farmers have been frenzied all week. The first week of July is our first week of warm with no rain forecast. So the equipment buzzes in the fields all around cutting hay. Swaths of grass lay on the ground, waiting, turning tan. They wait for sun to dry so farmers can bale. Hay wagons wait […]