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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.”…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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A Michigan Story
Day 13 of our virtual road trip takes us west from New York to Michigan. We lived in Lansing, Michigan from 1969-1972. In the spring of 1970 the congregation Dad pastored bought a church building that had an apartment in the back of it. And so our family moved in. I can’t visualize the apartment part of the building, but…
