When we first moved to Dallas, we made some colorful friends who were actors at Scarborough Renaissance Festival- King Henry and a Contessa, to be exact. During October, the Scarborough Fair grounds become a spooky maze of haunted houses, Scary-oke, expensive food vendors, and a throng of tweens looking to snuggle up to their crush …
Tuesday, 7/11/2023, Nashville Airport 2:08 pm I wasn’t anxious about this until we popped open the back of my sister’s van. It’s not the actual flying that concerns me. The Baby is almost chronically un-anxious, as in, he is not anxious even when he probably should be, like when he tries to drown himself by …
January 23, 2023 Dear Mr. Sedaris, My son, {The Baby}, came screeching into the world via an emergency c-section at 26 weeks- a two-pound potato whose vital organs needed lots of assistance to keep him alive. I met him for the first time four months later, when his birthmother invited me to visit the Neonatal …
I remember talking about atheism and agnosticism in my world religions class in high school. In my little conservative corner of West Texas, we didn’t spend much time talking about the godless heathens, but I remember the description of Clockmaker god, who designed the world, perfectly calibrated all of it’s gears and dials, and then …
Let me preface the beginning of this series with a few things: I’m gonna take weekends off for my “writing every day” goal in November. I can do this because I’m a grown ass woman and I want to. I want to explicitly acknowledge that I have AMAZING parents who did the best with what …
Last August, my little family met my parents in Estes Park. We have done this trip every couple of years since I was a kid. We stay in cabins and hike and explore and breathe in the fresh mountain air. COVID made things a little different, but we were just happy to escape Dallas for …
Well, today the Wise family said hello to a new bed and goodbye to two of The Baby’s teeth. A few months ago, we started the laborious process of getting a SleepSafe bed approved through The Baby’s insurance because his crib had become unsafe. He was able to stand up in it and when he …
The Baby turned five this week. It’s crazy. All of those five years tend to blur together. After all, time flies when you’re drowning in medical chaos (just kidding…kind of). On the night of his birthday, our dinner conversation centered around remembering all of his firsts- the first time he sat up, the first solid …
(You can listen to an audio version of this post here.) I went to David’s Bridal today to purchase a bridesmaid’s dress for a friend’s wedding next summer. She had a dress already picked out in the system so they pulled her profile up and I followed the very nice saleslady to the racks laden …
(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 …
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 …
I just got back from San Francisco. I went to (hides face) a Christian conference. I found myself hesitant to tell people that it was a Christian conference because of the connotations of that. My sense is that many Christian conferences are lame attempts at pep rallies for God, the adult version of church camp, …
“What was I thinking?” I thought as I stared forlornly into the mirror. I should have known better than to impulsively stop at the hair salon directly adjacent to the Tom Thumb, still clutching my bag of avocados. I was hoping for a cute haircut before I left on my 10th anniversary weekend trip. Instead, …
I was a mere 21 years old when I got married. My uncle officiated our wedding. Before the wedding, my then-fiancee, now-husband, Alex, and I drove down to Corpus to do some premarital counseling sessions and stay with my aunt and uncle. After one of these sessions, Alex and I got ready to leave and …
I went to a vigil in Balch Springs for Jordan Edwards last week. It was everything you would want a vigil to be- beautiful and sad and moving and comforting. Like most, I was horrified by Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice’s deaths. I have been deeply affected before by deaths caused by police brutality, but …
For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick Lord, I am overwelmed by your passion for the imperfect and the … Continue reading
Oh yeah, I’m unengaged too. But don’t worry, God’s totally using it already. Continue reading
Perhaps this is preaching to the choir, but I thought the article was poignant… July 30, 2006 Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for an Evangelical Pastor By LAURIE GOODSTEIN MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Like most pastors who lead thriving evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd was asked frequently to give his blessing — and the … Continue reading
Hello all. I’m sitting here on my butterfly chair on my porch waiting for it to rain and I feel the need for a heart to heart. I went on one of my philosophical run/walks so I have alot to say. I am at an awkward transition phase in my life. College itself is awkward … Continue reading
Working 30 hours a week at an almost minimum wage job that I love with people that ROCK My fiance More when I can upload more…. In other news, I used to try to be optimistic about my apartment complex. But honestly, the water is doing this weird milky white, rust brown alternating thing, i have … Continue reading
Freedom: The Introduction What the heck is freedom? Here in good ole’ ‘Merica, we tend to think that freedom means we can vote and write about politics in newspapers and we can go to church. Sadly, I think we’ve so closely associated freedom with politics that when we think about spiritual freedom, we only think … Continue reading
Yesterday, the conveyor broke at work. In case you didn’t know, that means sudden death at a dry cleaner’s (you can’t get peoples’ clothes). After that, a coworker hit the wrong breaker and we lost electricity up front, which means sudden death with no access to a cash register or credit card machine. I kept … Continue reading
Today…. I ate pizza with a fork. I had a lizard in my bathtub. I kicked a cell phone and bled. I watched as a customer simultaneously demanded that we pay for her ruined 250 dollar scarves and that we sew elastic into her stretched out underpants. I said, “Oh, look at that cute baby. … Continue reading
I went to Louisiana this weekend for a Wills family reunion. We took Josh’s year-and-a-half old niece, Alyssa, without her mom. Therefore, I was the surrogate mom. It was fun to meet everyone there but it was poorly organized. We waited around for about six hours and then we would go do one thing and … Continue reading
welderbeth 