This is one of THOSE holiday weekends—way too much to do in way too little time. It’s my last weekend with my third book, so it’s now or never to make any big changes. We have the only dark house in a cluster of festive ones, all lit up for... Continue reading

I guess this big football weekend has me thinking back to my time on The Plains. As an only child who had never been anywhere, I had a rough adjustment to college. But once I got over that hump, my Auburn years were some of the happiest of my life—final... Continue reading

Mama’s always said I’m not very good at doing nothing. For the past week, however, I haven’t had a choice. I got walloped by what I would describe as gastro-intestinal mayhem of epic proportions, enhanced by the occasional fever and chills. It introduced itself, as these things do, right at... Continue reading

One of my “baby” cousins joined the Army recently—farther away from home than he has ever been and sharing close quarters with young men from all over the place and all kinds of circumstances. He'll be graduating soon. The only thing I have to compare with his experience is my... Continue reading

I come from a very patriotic family. Daddy and most of my uncles are, or were, veterans. The latest soldier in the family is about to graduate basic training in Oklahoma, and his parents are counting the days (make that minutes) till they can see him again. So many times,... Continue reading

[Image by Chance Agrella @ Freerangestock.com] Nothing’s more welcome than shelter when we need it. Think of every time you ever ran inside just as it started to rain or warmed your hands in front of a warm fire on a cold, windy day. It’s a relief and a comfort... Continue reading

Today is Harvest Day at our church, which means a big fellowship after the service. (It starts at 10:30 a.m. if you’d like to come for worship and fried chicken.) Sisters of the faith, you know how my brain is working this morning: Church starts at 10:30 so I probably... Continue reading

I’ve been thinking a lot about names. It started when I was trying to name a character for a book set in Louisiana, worried that I wouldn't know who he was until I named him. That conjured all kinds of memories and mental leaps. In the late 1980s, on my... Continue reading

Dave and I are heading home today after a much-needed vacation, and I’m enjoying my last beach sunrise for a while. I’m also wishing all the drivers with loud cars would have slept in, but that’s okay. Now that the show has started in the sky, I’ll forget all about... Continue reading

It’s a question we’ve probably all asked at one time or another: Why do bad things happen to good people? But did you ever stop to think about all the bad things that could have happened and didn’t? It’s not healthy to dwell on the what if’s in your life,... Continue reading

Normally, it’s short-term memory I struggle with: Did I wear this outfit to work yesterday? Where did I leave my coffee? Why did I come into this room? But where blessings are concerned, my long-term tends to fail me. As in I’m stressing because I have a book deadline. Seriously?... Continue reading

This week I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I wrote actual notes/letters on actual paper, put a stamp on them, and mailed them. I sent not a text, not an email, but penned (or at least typed because my handwriting is atrocious) correspondence. And it brought... Continue reading

Do you ever want to take a broom to the whole wide world, or at least your corner of it? Sort of like that evil politician in O Brother, Where Art Thou?—he was going to sweep out corruption from the state of Mississippi (but ended up getting ridden out of... Continue reading

I should probably call this post “I Can See Clearly Now.” Or has that been done? After much debating as to what we should do with a dining table and chairs we no longer use, Dave and I took the advice of my much younger (and tech savvier) friend Kaitlyn... Continue reading

Sometimes I'm a cat up a tree, trying to climb down the wrong limb. But something in me just has to see what the world looks like from up there, no matter how many times I land upside down. Yes, Cheeto has inspired me this morning. That's the Orange One... Continue reading

I don’t have any kids, but I’ve been one, so I feel that makes me an expert on child rearing. (Please, parent friends, stop holding back. Feel free to come to me for advice because I have ALL the answers. You’re welcome.) What amazes me about my own parents, now... Continue reading

Shalom. That’s what I’m thinking about this morning. Maybe it’s because I have friends and family who have experienced painful separation recently. Some have a child going off to college or joining the service. Others are mourning the death of someone they loved dearly. All are longing for shalom. So... Continue reading

Illustration by Stuart Miles at Freerangestock.com This is a story about introverts and birds-of-a-feather and books and the human community and all sorts of stuff. I’m a little overwhelmed (and, you might justifiably suggest, incoherent) this morning. I just got back from the Fiction Readers Summit in Grand Rapids, Michigan,... Continue reading

That's my baby cousin Adam, playing in a backyard swimming pool at a long-ago family Fourth of July celebration. He's past 20 now but still "Aunt Val's" baby cousin. I’m thinking of him this morning because our church is having a special lunch in his honor today. Since he was... Continue reading