Once Upon a Time on December 9
The sun shone across the gravel parking lot of my parents office that Friday afternoon. A few months earlier I moved home from college. Just a week earlier I started a new job in my hometown. I ate lunch with my parents most of the week. My dad stood on the other side of the car. If only I could remember the whole conversation. The most important words he said still stick with me. “Don’t let not having somewhere to live stop you from getting married. You can live in your gran
The Day God Mailed Us a Check
We once received a check from God. More than once really, but the once stands out in my mind. In the early years of our marriage, we tried to hide the fact that we were broke. We both worked but Josh was still in school and we were paying college tuition and bills and trying to set up house. I budgeted $25 a week for our grocery shopping which meant coffee creamer was a luxury we could not afford. We could eat for 2 days on $2 thanks to coupons for Tuna Helper. And my mama wo
The Sky Is Falling
Psalm 46 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song. 1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.[c] 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not f
Ode to the First Fruits
This year I talked my parents into having a garden in their backyard. I really wanted to have one in my backyard but since my yard is barely the size of a postage stamp and my husband won't let me mess up his sod, I moved on to convincing my parents to let me use part of their land for a garden. As I walked through the rows of tomatoes, peas and zucchini at the end of the summer, gathering up the final harvests and making plans for freezing and canning the excess, I began to
