I Love a Good Love Story
I must start this beautiful month of God’s great love with a love story. I admit it. I’m a hopeless romantic so I love hearing people’s love stories. In fact, that’s one of my “asks”, not just for table-talk, but I sincerely love hearing how couples met, fell in love and got married. Maybe I’m…
Remembering While Living in the Land of the Living
It is the 16th of November, but, this day, it is the year 2010. A gentle breeze comes in our bedroom window. The melodious sounds of Oklahoma’s many bird varieties capture our attention. They are singing with Louis Armstrong “And I think to myself, ‘what a wonderful world’”. In the near distance, we see the…
The Greatest Advice I’ve Ever Received
I was delighted to say “yes” to being on a panel of four women from various backgrounds for the “SHE — Girls Night Out” on Friday night at City Reach Church here in Austin. What a great opportunity to speak from my vantage point about life and the way I have navigated many unchartered…
A Little Encouragement Goes a Long Way
I often see visitors coming into our complex for a tour of the property. Sometimes I strike up a conversation with them to let them know how wonderful it is to live here. I was speaking to a visitor and her daughter and I asked the mother if she was married or single. She immediately…
The Older I Get – the more Thankful I Become
These photos say it all. The first one: 2010 – 6 days after my sweetheart was promoted to heaven. We flew to Cabo San Lucas for Thanksgiving. (Papa was supposed to have been with us – but God had such a better plan for him.) Is this a photo of a grieving widow and sad…
The Joys Outweigh the Jitters
Yesterday, I blogged about “counting even the toughest times as joy” – because in the middle of those times, we’ll find joy, if we look for it. Joy certainly has outweighed the jitters over this humongous move I just made. Since December, I was on a quest to sell my home, which meant getting the…
Little Ways Pay Off in Big Dividends
After months of what seems to be “little” accomplishments, part of me longs to hear about some of God’s BIG ways – BIG wins – BIG worthwhile news – BIG discoveries like a cure for Covid. But, from so many biblical indicators – God seems to work best in the “littles”. Just think about the…
So Long, Farewell, Adios, Goodbye
In the “Sound of Music”, when the Von Trapp family sang that song (with Auf Wiedersehen instead of Adios) as their final number at the German festival, they escaped to freedom in Switzerland. This morning, I, too, am singing that song, but it’s not because I’m escaping a negative situation to find freedom. It’s because…
I Found My Superpower
A friend of mine, also a blogger and widow, shared a line in her blog that I told her “I’m going to own it!” She said: “When my husband went to heaven, I learned to lean into God even more. He transformed my pitiful into powerful. Widowhood is my superpower to invest more time into…
Choose Life
What helps me pass the time when I’m traveling or on a treadmill or elliptical equipment, is listening to audio books. Since I’m a “romantic” at heart, I enjoy listening to Karen Kingsbury’s Christian inspirational books of intrigue, a tinge of romance and happy endings. The story-line of a recent one I listened to, included…