School is almost out! Which means I see exhaustion and I’m-so-ready-for-this-year-to-end on the face of every student and teacher in the classroom or hallway. But in the midst of being oh-so-ready-to-be-done, I have much to be thankful for from this year. Not least of which are my seven 10th grade homeroom boys—my smallest […]
International School, prayer, Teaching
Well, it’s the last day of February—the month we take to especially honor and celebrate the heritage and history of African Americans. In the past I’ve written about why to celebrate Black History Month, and some ideas for how. My favorite article for this month remains one written a few years ago by my dear […]
Black History Month, Hidden Figures, Sandra Barnes
When I saw The Greatest Showman with my husband and father-in-law the week after Christmas, I sat in the movie theater and cried. It was probably partly the state of my heart right then, and lingering emotion from our own theatrical production of The Promise a few weeks earlier. But the story just captured me […]
Allen Arnold, Storytelling, The Greatest Showman
Last week, I sat in a darkened church and saw a story live and breathe on stage…the story of Immanuel. I saw a young girl, unsure about being betrothed to a man she knew little, have her world turned upside down when one of God’s heavenly warriors showed up in her little home in Nazareth, […]
Christmas musical, Michael Card, The Promise
It’s almost Christmastime. In many ways, the season has already begun—Christmas music on the radio, Christmas movies on Netflix. We even got our Christmas tree this past Sunday, much to our kittens’ amazement and delight—and some scolding as we learn the Christmas tree is for looking at, lying under, and gently playing with the lower […]
Christmas, marriage, Michael Card, Nativity story, The Promise, theater
My great-uncle Glenn passed away last Friday. He truly was a GREAT uncle in every sense of the word—over six feet tall, an encyclopedia of knowledge on everything from science to literature to history to woodworking to plants, and always ready with a wisecrack, a story, or a hug. This past Easter, the last […]
animals, grieving, kittens
If you become a teacher, says Anna Leonowens in the classic musical The King and I, your pupils will end up teaching you. (That’s not exactly how the line goes, but I can’t quote songs on a blog without infringing copyright.) But you get the idea. 🙂 And it’s true. We’re into our […]
Lord Jesus, We need you right now. I know we always do, but I’m very aware of our desperate need at this moment in our country. There’s so much hurt, Lord…so much hate. How we must be grieving Your heart. Yet I have to believe that You can bring good, even from this. Use […]
Charlottesville, prayer, racial reconciliation
Sometimes my students ask me if I always wanted to be a teacher. “I think I did,” I say. “But I didn’t realize it.” Many times in my six years of working in the Writing Center at our local community college as a tutor and TA, different English professors would ask me if I […]
Getting to Know You, Little House on the Prairie, Teaching
My newest favorite BBC TV show is the cozy mystery series Father Brown, based on the character created by author G.K. Chesterton. He reminds me of a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Father Tim of the Mitford books, this balding, kindly priest with equally incorrigible compassion for lost sheep and taste for a good mystery. […]
BBC TV, Father Brown, grief
