Today is the birthday of my tenth grandchild, my seventh granddaughter. But we are waiting for the party to begin and have not met little Lani yet. She is already deeply loved here on Earth by doting parents, a brother and sister, grandparents on both sides and many other friends and family. She has been woven in secret mystery inside her mother, my own eldest daughter, by a God who loves her deeply too. We […]
My husband is a pastor, and on Mother’s Day this year, he kindly asked me to finish his sermon with a short talk on mothering. Looking over this now, it’s interesting to see that I write differently when I am going to speak the words than when the words will just sit on the paper and be read in the heart and mind. Even so, I like how it came out, as did others, so wanted […]
In my work with mothers of newborns, sleep and the lack of it is a critical factor. These women are so tired: bone-weary, lid drooping, mind wandering tired. And yet somehow they go on. Mothers keep doing what needs to be done past what feels like human capacity. I see it regularly, and I remember it well. The intensity of it never completely leaves you. As they talk to me, as I watch their faces […]
A handful of quietness 