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…

“Sometimes in small ordinary ways we experience the presence of God, as in the ability to get out of bed in the morning and keep our children alive. Other times we know for certain in the way a particular thing has fallen out, by its timing and our lack of control over it, that we’ve…

Now that those of you who read my blog and also are on my mailing list have likely received my April newsletter, I guess it’s safe to post it here. I’ve hinted a bit in previous blog entries about difficult things happening. This explains further. A blessed Easter to all! —alm When I attended Ash…

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” —Psalm 139:13-14 It was a dark and stormy Wednesday afternoon. The date was January the eleventh. The time was 2:30. I was…

The more I tune in to the source of my own being…, the more anger, sorrow, and fear seem confined to the shallows of my personality, while my true self — and yours, and that of every being — is like a sea whose depths are always tranquil, however troubled the surface may become. Pain…

It’s 10:30 (MST) on Thanksgiving evening, and Lana and I just returned from seeing the new movie, I Walk the Line, a biopic of Johnny Cash. We aren’t sure exactly when this movie opened—last weekend, maybe?—but it was packed. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who thought a Thanksgiving movie night was a good idea….

My mom celebrated her 64th birthday yesterday (Monday, October 24), the same day my friends Sarah and Jeff welcomed their third child into the world. Little Jack joins two sisters, Alison (who turned four in August) and Taylor (who turns two on Christmas day). Welcome, baby Jack! And happy birthday, Mom!