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 …
So I just got back from Road Rules. We went to Mission Waco and participated in Church Under a Bridge, which is exactly what it sounds like. I only cried twice. Once when I stepped on a freshly killed bird’s liver and almost threw up. Again when the homeless woman next to me sung “Let everything … Continue reading
Well, last night I was insane. This week has been very stressful (running around from activity to activity) and thus, I have been exhausted. For those of you who don’t know me, my filter from my brain to my mouth disappears if I don’t get enough sleep. Josh and I were reading 2 Samuel 13. … Continue reading
So I got to ride in the passenger seat with my cousin for the first time and I liked to mess with her alot. At one point we had the windows down so that I could talk to people walking by us in the mall parking lot, and the wind was so strong that it … Continue reading
Ode to the future wife of Abishag I know that you see your life crumbling before you. Everything you’ve ever taken for granted or held dear is disappearing before your very eyes. I know that you feel hopeless. I know that you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But, although you … Continue reading
I bought a purse at Old Navy that says, “Kiss me I’m Irish.” It was only 97 cents. I’m really only an eighth Irish but for 97 cents, I can pretend. Continue reading
Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to … Continue reading
For some reason, yesterday was the worst day that I’ve had in a long time. At church, our pastor gave an excellent sermon on something that is hard for me to grasp so I was frustrated. Then we had the king of awkwardness in our prayer group for Sunday school and I was embarassed/awkward the … Continue reading
Things that I’ve learned over my Spring Break: 1. Del Rio is only four hours away from Abilene. 2. Anyone can skin a rattlesnake, all you need is a white jacket and an iron stomach (we went to the Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater. Don’t worry. I didn’t skin it.) 3. I look like a freshman … Continue reading
I put apple cider vineagar in my hair last night. To cleanse it, you know? It smells so it must be working. I’ve been banned from Leah’s room until I smell less like a salad but she’s not here right now so that’s where I am of course. Hehe. Continue reading
Well, college has ruined me. I was going to sleep in this morning. You know, like I used to, til 11 or later even. No. My constant getting up at 7 or 8 woke me up at 8:45. Grrrrrr. I can’t sleep in ever now. And, I had to wait for three hours for Josh … Continue reading
welderbeth 