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Year 10

To my sweet boy,      Year 10.  Ooph.  Double digits.  It feels like just yesterday I was waiting for your dad to get home to take me to the hospital to deliver you.  I was in awe of you.  I had already studied you from inside the womb.  I felt I knew you.  I knew how you loved to push boundaries (right against my ribs) and I joke how I was teaching you to obey from the womb.  You made me crave peanut butter which is still one of your favorite foods.        Fast forward. I think the last letter I wrote to you on the eve of your birthday was in 2020.  Anyone reading this will chuckle at the mention of that year.  Lord have mercy.  My word for that year was “new” and boy did it bring a lot of “new”.   Here’s a direct quote from my last letter to you, “I’m excited to see the “New” things He will do this year.  Part of my “New” I promise to you is an investment in you.  Addie takes a lot of my attention and energy.  I feel like you often get the short end of the stick.  But we will discove
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Piles of Leaves

  The kids wake up.   I get them breakfast.   I let them watch a show (don’t judge).   I set out on a morning walk.   This isn’t a strolling walk- or I would make the kids come with me.   This is a brisk, huffing and puffing walk.   I listen to a podcast- something for me.   I breathe the brisk, morning air.   As my body stretches and aches with each uphill step, my brain awakens.   My eyes are drawn to changes in nature.   I hear God’s still, small voice.     Every day, God meets me on these walks.   I’ve grown to cherish these moments in the morning.   This morning was dreary.   Cloudy.   Foggy.   There was a stickiness in the air as humidity has set in.     As I set out, I noticed the leaves that had fallen with our rain storm last night.   I observed that instead of leaves being all over the ground as one would have expected from a heavy rain, they were clumped in piles along the road.     It looked like someone had taken the time to rake hundreds of little piles only big enough
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The Many Roles of my Mama

Child of God        Wife          Mother           Pastor’s Wife         Friend           Piano Teacher My parents moved to Georgia, from Michigan, last September.   It has been a blast.   I have loved spending so much time with them.   The kids love going to their apartment.   We often go whenever we’re bored.   Head over to their apartment and let the kids play with their toys reserved for Grammy and Pop Pop’s house while mom and I have a cup of coffee.   We venture out to the library or the local playground- all within walking distance.   There are trails to walk in the woods- which is a blessing in the Georgia heat.   However, if we go now, we can’t go in Grammy and Pop Pop’s apartment.   Non-essential people are not allowed in the building.   If we walk to the park, we will find the playground temporarily (Lord willing) fenced off.   We have to keep our distance from Grammy and Pop Pop- no hugs or horseplay.   These are strange times.   This is my mom’s first Mother’s
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This. This right here...

I’m the only coffee drinker in the house.   My coffee maker is AMAZING.   I spent far too much money on something that only serves one person in this house.   The coffee is best when you make an entire pot.   But an entire pot to one person is a lot.   So I make an entire pot and I reheat on the stove as needed.   This morning I discovered that I needed to make another pot.   So I got everything ready- tossed the old coffee grounds, put in a new filter, measured out 7 scoops of coffee grounds, cleaned up spilled coffee grounds (ugh- every time), turned on the coffee maker.   I grabbed a cup of water and dug in to my quiet time.   An hour later I go back to my coffee maker and grab the carafe--- IT’S EMPTY!   WHAT?!   Momentary panic!   Water.   I forgot to add water to the coffee maker.   My immediate thought was “and this is the indication of how my day will go…”   Whoops!   That’s the kind of thinking that will get me in trouble.   God ganged up on me yesterday.   I say that
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All The Marches

My mom is a journaler.   I have boxes and boxes of journals notating her faith journey.   I love the legacy it reveals.   The ups and downs of true faith.   I love that she has allowed me to read them- that takes humility!   I have become a journaler.   I want my kids to see my faith up close and personal like I see my mom’s.   Through journaling, we see patterns come to light.   Some patterns are good and some are not.   But we get to see what our faith does with those patterns.   Does our faith March forward, or does it get stuck in the mud?   March 2014- I awoke one night to the sound of a seal barking coming from my son’s monitor.   Trey was one year old at that time.   I ran to his room and found him wheezing, coughing and struggling to breathe.   In my panic I called his father, who was in California on a business trip.   We quickly strategized a game plan.   I called the pediatrician’s emergency line.   They gave me instructions of how to help him but even doing those thi
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What's the Word?

Corona.   That word sends a shutter down each of our spines.   So many words flood our minds after the word “corona” is uttered.   Sickness.   Contagious.   Hospital.   Ventilator.   Death.   Unknown.   Isolation.   Quarantine.   Social Distancing.   Alright… that’s enough.   Words have power.   Read those words again.   What do you feel when you read them?   Tightness in your chest?   Teeth clenched.?   Shoulders rising?   Your breathing becoming shallow?   No- you don’t have Corona.   That’s anxiety.   I’ve spent the last year studying my anxiety and how it presents itself in my life.   I joked with a friend the other day that “anxiety has become my bestie. Bonnie and Clyde.   Burt and Ernie.   Thelma and Louise.”   Words have the power to allow my little bestie to inch closer and closer.   If I don’t keep an eye on it, its familiar hug becomes a noose around my neck.   (note: as soon as I typed that I winced and thought “that’s a little strong, meg.”   But again- the power of wor
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Year 3

My dear sweet Addie, Whew!   Another year older.   Whew!   I can’t help but say that again because it has been quite a year. You are quite the personality.   Watching your sassiness bloom this year was equally frustrating and amusing.   You have been known to make me lose my temper and make me laugh all in the same moment.   I just never know what is going to happen next with you.   You keep me on my toes- and on my knees in prayer. I love you with every ounce of my being.   This year your big growth area is with your verbal skills.   The things that come out of your mouth constantly surprise us.   You pick up on everything but most of the time repeat them out of context.   The other day I was trying to get you to eat dinner.   I said “take another bite, please”.   To which you responded, “Don’t worry ‘bout it.   Jesus take care of it.”   Too precious for words.   Here’s a few of our favorite Addie-isms: ·          What doin’?- this one drove me nuts for a long time becau
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