The waiting seemed a small price that dayFor what the King had promised to repayHis faithful servant, his duty doneWhen homeward he his horse had spunWith jewels dancing, a gold crown hungThe great King’s beauties on his tongueFound at the gate he once had leftA little family no more bereft The waiting doneA Glorious welcome…
To Enrich the Soul
I went for many years without hardly enriching my own soul. They were years full of babies and sleep deprivation, endless meals and therefore dishes, exhaustion upon exhaustion. In my old blog of 10 years ago, I vividly recall a post entitled "The Mush of Motherhood" where I related the story of reading Hop on…
The Story of 7 Women
Precisely four days ago was September 4th. Back in 2003, 19 years ago, that was a Thursday. It was also a cool fall morning, my backpack heavy on my shoulders, my sins alarmingly less heavy than ever before. That's the only reason I remember that morning on the school bus––I've generally attempted to erase any…
It Would Have Been Enough
The Jews sing Dayenu each year at Passover. It would have been enough. It would have been enough if God had delivered them from Egypt and not destroyed their enemies. It would have been enough if He had given them the Torah but not the temple. Messianic Jews add one more verse: It all would…
Scorpions, Birthday and the Gospel
My day started with the second scorpion in two days hanging out in our bedroom. Whapping poisonous creatures is always a fun and invigorating way to start the day. The weird thing is how one sighting ignites automatic, learned responses. Shake out the towel before enveloping your dripping post shower self. Flip pillows around before…
News Updates are Boring
But people, sometimes they're the only way to just get the info out there. So, the second week of February we were in Oaxaca. I wrote about that here. The week or so after we got back, I began having bimonthly get-togethers with the sisters. We meet and eat cake and exchange burdens and ask…
My Noisy Neighbors
I'm here in my Mayan granny rocking chair, enjoying the eye candy that is a tropical backyard. I'm also staring unashamedly at my very noisy neighbors. They don't seem to mind. There are four of them, sitting in a row on a swaying maculí branch having brazenly decided our trees are a nice place to…
The Beach
This post was written last week with the intention of posting within a few days. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and it just felt wrong to plough ahead like everything was okay. This world is not okay and as the years go by, I find myself more and more disenchanted with this side of eternity. May…
Wah-HA-ka
As soon as we open the doors of the van, step out and stretch our weary muscles, we know we're in Oaxaca again. Maybe it's the dryness, the dust or the mountains, maybe a distant whiff of tasajo and string cheese. Or maybe it's just the kids tickling the baby and saying "oooh Gali, are…
in Him is light
Every year I have this weird block when it comes to my first post. Like maybe I’m supposed to be coming up with some great inspiring saga to set us all aglow with renewed spiritual fervor. But I have no fantastic stories, no slideshow worthy presentation. So maybe it’s better to just give you what…
penelope alves 