It’s Festival time again, and the road trip from Pennsylvania to Michigan is behind us. (Whew!) My friend Renee and I are settled into our hotel room, enjoying the free wireless connection and listening to Nightline‘s coverage of the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama debate in Philadelphia earlier tonight and the Pope’s U.S. visit. This will be…

Last night, I joined several fellow members of my church community for an evening of prayer. We spent a couple of hours praying for our world, for our nation, our state, our city, our neighborhoods, our church family and each other. We sang and we prayed — silently, out loud, in a chorus (all praying…

Holy Saturday. The day between Good Friday, the darkest day of the year, and Easter, the celebration of Ultimate Hope. It seems a good time to share my latest newsletter. Easter blessings, friends. In June, I will celebrate 19 years of working with the CCO. That’s almost half my life. In close to two decades…

Today marks the three-month anniversary of my mom’s passing. I suspect the 17th of every month will hold this new significance for me from now on…and with an intensity through this first year. It’s good to know, in the midst of grief, that while mine is certainly unique to me, it is not unique to…

I’m wrapping up my work day and preparing to head out to meet my dad, brother and niece for dinner. Today is Katy’s 12th birthday. She’s 12. How did that happen already? The first family birthday celebration since Katy’s Grandma passed away will be a bittersweet one, I expect. But it’s a day to celebrate,…

As I ramp up to fulfill my resolution to blog more frequently this year (don’t you love the verb “to blog”?), I thought I’d go for two consecutive days. It’s a start. My friend Renee gave me a page-a-day calendar for my birthday, and its theme is friendship. The January 2 quotation is so apropos…

Welcome 2007! It would be an understatement to say that 2006 was a challenging year for me. In fact, I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to declare that these past few months have been among the most painful of my life. They have also been full of signs of God’s grace and love….

My mother passed away today. At 12:20pm, with my dad by her side, her labored breathing ceased, and God spared her yet another second of pain. I had been by her side, in her bedroom, only minutes earlier, stroking her arm, pressing a cold, wet wash cloth to her forehead, telling her how much I…

Today is my 40th birthday. I tried to keep a daily journal for the last month of my 30s (which, arguably, would also be the last month of my 40th year, but I digress). It didn’t work out so well, at least not as a daily exercise. It did get me to write more than…

I realize that it’s been a while since my last post, so I thought I’d add to my long-neglected blog the latest update I sent to family members this morning about progress with my mom’s health. It’s been a roller-coaster summer, but I guess that’s to be expected, given the circumstances. I’m on vacation this…