Solidarity

Our family is pretty big on doing things together. We’ve been known to gather twenty family members in the waiting room when a new baby is born. In the last few years, though, geography has limited some of those interactions. (Baby Violet was sadly lacking in a...

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours

This isn’t our house. But, we rented this place for a few glorious days in August and reveled in having all our clan under one roof. We swam, played, laughed, and prayed. We stayed up way too late and had lots of conversations like the one pictured above. These days...

Still the Same

We got a Christmas letter this week that started out, “We’re still here, living in the same house, doing pretty much the same thing.” I think my friend was making a disclaimer right up front that this wouldn’t be one of those end-of-the-year...

The Kindness of Strangers

Penny plates amaze me. I’m talking about those receptacles we find at every store, cafe, gas station, and post office out here in the country. People routinely drop in spare change to help their fellow man. Then, at the gas station, if you miscalculate the final...

Money I Don’t Regret Spending

My husband and I are celebrating this month in a big way. We are out of debt for the first time in our 36-year marriage. Out, baby. All the way. We don’t owe a cent on our cars, our kids, our credit cards or anything else. It isn’t because we are smart and...