How many does it take?
How many boxes WIll it take to pack my stuff? How many hugs will it take to say I’ve missed you? How many times do I need to really learn my lesson? How many Bible Studies does it take until we get the main point? And by “getting it” there is the requirement of appropriation.…
The File Cabinet
So this weekend I continued to pack and purge in preparation for the move from Downey at the beginning of March. I purged at least 25 board games, which was tough for this game playing mom. I got rid of mugs, dishes, books and other “treasures”, but the toughest thing I have gotten rid of…
Family Friday #7 – Our First Christmas
Our first Christmas together was 1979 when Jim stayed with us and asked my dad if he could marry me. That is another story documented somewhere else in this blog. But, Christmas 1980 was our first as husband and wife. There are many things I remember about that specific Christmas but also about our intentionality…
Big Brother is Watching you!
George Orwell coined the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” in his classic novel 1984. The concept is that we are being surveilled constantly by some distant authority figure. It is a creepy idea to consider that some person or government would be invading the privacy of its citizens and controlling others, even passively just…
Family Friday #6 Friends along the way
We asked several people to be in our wedding and most said yes although some said no for a variety of reasons. Some of the people who stood up for us in our wedding party are not part of my (our) life anymore and some are. Of course we never would have imagined how those…
So what about widows?
The biblical position on widows does not come up with specific solutions for those who are modern day widows because the culture of the day is so different. And yet, the theological perspective seems clear that widows are on God’s radar. His love and care goes beyond family and making sure they have enough to…
Family Friday #5 There’s no place like home!
When Jim and I got married we first lived in a quonset hut in Bellflower. Our church had bought some property that was dubbed the promised land and we were to move into a small house on that property once the escrow closed. So we lived in the place Jim had lived in prior to…
Family Friday #4 Uncoupling
A number of years ago Gweneth Paltrow and Chris Martin uncoupled. Maybe it was a fancy new term for divorce and maybe it was something more. But they decided to stop being a couple still partnering in their role as parents. I need to uncouple with my place of residence and some of the items…
Newton’s Law of Motion is in Motion
I don’t know why I have such a difficult time processing this, but it is what it is. I have known that I would have to move soon but my tendency is to ignore such things and go about the regular routines and busy-ness of the day. I have not wanted to live in Downey…
Family Friday #3 Boyfriend and Girlfriend
Not everyone was happy we were dating. Some of our good band friends, Steve, who I had gone out with and Debbie, who Jim had gone out with, were not thrilled to hear we had gone on a date. In all fairness, it was a blind date that jim had set up and I happened…