• Heritage

    My Parents on Vacation: an Interview

    On Friday evening when my parents were visiting, we sat out on the front porch to visit. I asked if I could interview them for my blog again. This was the result… July 7, 2017 Me: What have you been doing on your vacation? Dad: Well, yesterday we went to the Young Living lavender farm, only they didn’t have much…

  • Heritage

    Decoration Day

    My mother tells me that when she was a little girl on “Decoration Day” it was the tradition for families in their community to go to the local cemetery to freshen up the graves of their loved ones. I have always been fascinated by cemeteries, especially old ones. It is interesting to me to read the memorial stones and think…

  • Heritage

    Mother’s Day is Not About Me

    As a preacher’s kid, it seems like the focus of Mother’s Day when I was growing up had to do with the Sunday morning service. I don’t remember specifically doing anything for my own mother, though I’m sure we did. Rather, my memories are of Dad having all the mothers assemble at the front of the sanctuary to be presented…

  • Heritage

    Secrets to a Happy Marriage

    My parents celebrated their anniversary this past Sunday. I decided it would be fun to interview them about marriage. They live in Arkansas, in the Central time zone, which is two hours later than it is here, so I allowed them time to have their Sunday afternoon naps before I called them. It went something like this… March 5. 2:30…

  • Heritage

    Winter Road Trip: In Arkansas

    After two-and-a-half days on the road, we arrived at my parents’ home in northwestern Arkansas early in the afternoon on December 28. We only got to be there two-and-a-half days before heading home again, but we sure packed a lot in. My parents live in the house my grandparents and their younger children built some 40-odd years ago, way back…

  • Heritage

    Guest Post: His Star

    My guest today is my dad, whose birthday happens to be today. He told me this morning when I called him that he figured this was his 55th birthday. Later in the conversation he allowed that he was “past 59.” Since I recently told you that I just turned 51, you can know that he’s a good bit “past 59.”…

  • Pecan Pie
    Heritage

    Uncle Lawton’s Pecan Pie

    My dad has an unusual hobby. If it’s a good year for pecans, he likes to buy a 50-pound bag or two of them in the shell, and then he sits and shells them by the hour. You might wonder what he does with all the pecans he shells. Why, he gives them to his kids, of course! Seriously. How…

  • Heritage

    My Thanksgiving Birthday

    A number of years ago this happy little family “enjoyed” Thanksgiving dinner in the hospital… because the dimpled little darlin’ had just been born the day before. (The day before Thanksgiving, that is. Not the day before this picture was taken!) Thanksgiving doesn’t always fall on November 24. You might think it would happen every 7 years, but no. With…

  • Psalm 100
    Heritage

    Thankful Sheep

    I’ve been thinking about sheep this week. Not that I know very much about them, but I’ve been dwelling on Psalm 100. “Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.“ It’s a pretty basic concept. God made us. He knows…

  • Heritage

    An Indiana Story

    Day 14 of our virtual road trip takes us south from Michigan to Indiana. Some of my earliest memories take place in Indiana, where we moved the summer I was two-and-a-half. There are a couple of memories I have from that fall that tie in with pictures we have. I think I actually do remember the incidents but probably having…