Hello, friends! It’s summertime…a special time of year. Does it feel like it where you live? After a June mostly in the 80s—sometimes even 70s—summer came with a vengeance for us, with one day reaching around 117 in our area. We survived thanks to our three window unit air conditioners (which kept the […]
ACFW, Genesis Contest, Summer
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
England has been on my mind a lot lately—partly because my husband and I love British TV shows (really, I do like Downton Abbey and Dr. Who and Call the Midwife and Sherlock way better than most American shows I’ve seen!). And partly because my sister is going to get to study abroad at […]
Kyrie Eleison, Trisagion
In case you didn’t know, I got married about six weeks ago. (See photos!) My beloved and wonderful husband, Anthony, and I have been busy settling, and you may see some changes coming to my website (and name) in the weeks and months to come. But don’t worry, we’ll make sure things don’t get too […]
Fiddler on the Roof, Sunrise Sunset, Weddings
The sermon series at church lately has been on, “How do we love?” Each week, the speakers have focused on loving a different group of people. When the focus has been on marriage and singleness, a couple of points especially stuck out to me. Marriage is good. Singleness is also good. Marriage […]
Enough by Jeremy Camp
A broken heart is a very tender thing. I was at college. Amid being a new transfer student at my university, and all the other adjustments and homesickness of new people and new classes and being away from home, I had just discovered Facebook evidence that the guy-friend I’d been building castles in the […]
Held by Natalie Grant
A few weeks ago, I mentioned how I’ve really enjoyed the international aspect of the high school where I’m the newly-minted English teacher. This week, I thought I share with you a few more reasons why this environment of missionary kids and students from all over the world is pretty awesome. Intercultural friendships happen […]
I just finished my first week of teaching high school English. This job came about quite suddenly and unexpectedly—it really did seem a “God-thing.” I learned about the opening at a small private Christian international school near us only days after I realized I needed to find a new job—not because I didn’t like […]
When I started getting ideas for how to honor Black History Month on this blog, I sent them to my friend and critique partner Sandra Barnes for her feedback. She responded with her usually gracious insight, but then she said: “Also, IF you really want to go deep, get the conversation started, demonstrate […]
Last week I wrote of some reasons why I think Black History Month is worth celebrating, whatever our color. But how can we celebrate it? Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with—please feel free add your own in the comments below! 1. Learn Read biographies, slave narratives, historical fiction, and original writings […]
