(I realize this is very lengthy so I have strategically placed pictures of smiling animals throughout the piece so that you can mark your place if you need to take a break and come back to it. At my sister’s suggestion, I’ve also made an audio version of this blog. You can download/stream it by … Continue reading
I grew up in West Texas- land of wide-open spaces, sky high teen pregnancy rates, and a colorblind racial ideology that masks racism instead of confronting it. In colorblind ideology, it is impolite to talk about someone’s race. I remember hearing a story about a friend who was trying to tell her son which store … Continue reading
(Welderbeth here: A friend has written an anonymous guest post for today. I think the post is great. She is great. This is all great.) I was around third or fourth grade when my friend Cindy’s grandmother looked at me and said, “It’s about time you covered those with a bra!” If I had any … Continue reading
I once went to a movie with a boy that I liked. It wasn’t a date, exactly. I don’t remember him paying- it was just more like two friends going to a movie, with one of them being a nervous weirdo. After the movie, he opened the door of his truck for me (this wasn’t … Continue reading
Nadia Bolz-Weber did the final sermon at the Why Christian? Conference in April. If you haven’t heard of her, you need to go check her out. I told someone recently that she seems to be the most Jesus-like person I know right now. Not because she’s particularly holy (she’ll tell you she’s not) but because … Continue reading
Before kids, Alex and I once went to San Antonio for our wedding anniversary. Coincidentally, it was the same weekend that a Comicon was happening so the people watching was excellent. On our last day, we decided to go off the beaten path and walk away from all the touristy parts of the River Walk. We took … Continue reading
Last week, I finished my second year of teaching ESL to adults. I shepherded a group of 23 Spanish-speaking women through our green textbook. Together, we lamented that the English language has 42 exceptions to every grammar rule. Together, we braved the cruel, cruel world of the past tense and prepositions of time. One of … Continue reading
The Kid recently went to a church lock-in. He loved it, of course. I’m fairly certain that he didn’t sleep at all and ate shit and probably played too many videogames. He informed me that they played a game called Sardines and I was hit with a flashback of epic proportions from my own youth … Continue reading
If you’ve ever been in a choir, you’ve had the experience where the choir stop singing perhaps for a pregnant pause, and you belt a note out in the silence. Usually you realize it pretty quickly, and you stop before many people can realize it. That feels a little bit like faith deconstruction. I had … Continue reading
We just moved. Same city, just a little further South. We added a fourth bedroom and it got The Kid into the schools that he wanted to be in (i.e. more POC kids). By just moved, I mean that our garage is filled to the gills with furniture and boxes. There’s nothing new about that, … Continue reading
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