Stocking stuffers. Pajamas all day. Candy canes. Breakfast casseroles. Squealing children waking groggy parents long before dawn. Coffee–LOTS of coffee. Long-awaited dreams fulfilled. Joyful surprises. Food, food and more food. Christmas movies and snuggles. People, stop reading this post and get to celebrating! But–if by...
I love it that the classic tale, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, is still being revamped and retold since it was first published in 1957–sixty-three years ago! Why? Probably because its message still has relevance to us today, especially during a year like this, when a big Grinch named COVID-19 has been stealing so much …...
I have some friends who are much better at being good friends than I am. You know the type: They text regularly just to let you know they’re thinking of you; they remember things about what’s going on in your life and ask you how those things are going; they’re the first to call when … Continue reading Advent Day 23: Love Keeps...
Amazing factoid about me: My husband and I have been married for (drumroll, please) almost 35 years! I know–we’re rockstars, right? We’ve beaten some HUGE odds, and we’re pretty darn proud of ourselves. And even better–we are still madly, sickeningly in love with each other, more and more each day. Yes, really. We often get...
I live in the most beautiful state in the union: Washington. I bet you thought I was going to say Hawaii, didn’t you? Or maybe Florida, California, or somewhere else where it’s warm most of the year? Well, all I have to say is that Washington rivals every one of those states in so many … Continue reading Advent Day 22: The...
Ok, you can relate to this, all you Amazon shoppers–oh, wait, that’s everyone, isn’t it? Picture this: You order something on Amazon, you’re super stoked to get it, you check the driveway every five seconds for the truck, it seems like it’s taking FOREVER (even though it’s coming next day via Prime), and then the …...
Warning: I’m going to give you an ear worm right now: “We all need somebody to le-e-ean on.” These words, so soulfully recorded by Bill Withers many decades ago, are well known all around the world–and still true today. Who is your go-to person (or people), the one(s) you lean on, count on, confide your … Continue reading...
I was once a pretty good strutter. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but in high school I dragged myself out of bed at 4:30 in the morning, not because I was taking a special class before school started, not because I was doing chores, not because I was praying for my family or my classmates, … Continue reading Advent Day 19: Love...
I speak some Spanish, and I’ll jump at the chance to practice with native Spanish speakers. Usually these conversations involve awkward pauses for think time, a few confused looks when I say something completely ridiculous, and a bit of miming when words fail me. Language barriers are hard to bridge, but there is a universal...
One of the things I love most about teaching first graders is how excitable they are. I discovered very quickly that if I get excited–or make them think I’m really excited–about what I want to teach them, they jump right on board and instantly engage. And everything is a big deal to them, whether it’s … Continue...
Truth: Someone mistook me for Jesus once. And I emphasize: ONCE. One dark, chilly spring morning I woke up early to get my bearings before the day started. At the time, my husband, Dan, and I were running an inner city ministry in Portland, OR, and not long after the rooster crowed, our revolving door … Continue reading Advent...
Love can drive us to do some crazy things sometimes. I eat up delicious stories about outrageous marriage proposals, people risking their lives to save loved ones, and regular Joes stepping in to help perfect strangers in an emergency. What makes us do these things? I would suggest that people who express this kind of … Continue...
My husband and I start every Christmas season by watching the 1971 musical version of Scrooge, starring Albert Finney. Even though neither of us really likes musicals most of the time, this particular version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is so powerfully done that it sucked us in, and it’s become a yearly...
As I start every new school year, I try very hard to not discuss my class list with other teachers who are familiar with my individual students. It’s tempting to want to have a little inside information in order to mentally prepare and strategize, but I have the eternally optimistic view that kids who have … Continue...
A toddler in a diaper taught me one the greatest–yet simplest–lessons about God’s tender love for us. No joke. One sweltering summer day, my husband and I were sipping ice water with friends as we tried to have a conversation above the roaring fans set up in our front room. This was during our ghetto … Continue...
Confession: Sometimes when I get really upset and can’t understand why terrible things are happening to me, I rant at God. I figure that if He knows everything, He already knows my thoughts, so I may as well say them out loud. I’m not saying I think it’s the right thing to do, I’m just … Continue reading...
I first met Jesus because I love chocolate. Yup. I was playing contentedly on a friend’s jungle gym one day when a couple of neighborhood kids suddenly accosted me, saying, “Kelli! You gotta come to this lady’s house ’cause she’ll give you an M & M! And then she’ll give us an M & M …...
Even if you’re not really a “churchy” person, you’ve probably heard the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible. You know, the story of the kid who demands his inheritance long before his dad is even close to being dead, leaves town, spends everything he has on partying and women, then has to settle …...
I teach first graders, and I love, love LOVE what I do! Besides being a very rewarding job, I have multiple opportunities every day to get closer to God as I navigate the complexities of being Christ-like in all situations, helping every individual student grow, and all the while feeling like I’m playing a rousing …...
As a child of the 60’s, I grew up sans modern technology and everything that comes with it. I remember pretending to talk to my friends on imaginary interstellar walkie-talkie-ish devices like the ones we saw on Star Trek, the closest things to cell phones we’d seen. When I got older and attended the UW … Continue...
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