I had just rolled out of bed and shuffled to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. My son wanted an omelet with cheese and salsa for his breakfast, so after filling my mug, I went to the fridge for a dollop of coffee creamer for me and eggs for my boy. And I stepped in a puddle of water. […]

It was the summer of 2016. I’d just returned from a trip to visit my aunt and uncle in Florida with my mom and my sister. The trip was a small rest between coaching middle and high school track and field and the start of wheat harvest. I was grateful for time at the beach, but aching to get back […]

On May 12, our second-born turned 10. Her birthday was the third quarantine party we’ve had in our family since March. To help make the day special, I had an idea to put a birthday box on our porch for people to put cards and other well-wishes inside. It felt like a risky move because for the last four years, […]

It took me years to realize I had been duped. While I’m fairly confident it wasn’t on purpose, this catchy Christian cliche, “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” had butted against my reality for seemingly my whole life. But professing Christians said it, so it must be true. Right? It wasn’t until I started studying scripture on […]

On April 16, 2009, we celebrated our daughter’s first birthday with a ladybug cake. A few days later, her pediatrician called, explaining that her hemoglobin levels came back “dangerously low” from a routine well-child check. He told us to pack a bag and head to Wichita to the hospital. By the time we were dismissed from that first stay, our […]

On Feb. 12 it snowed. And not just a wimpy snow. An actual good snow. A snow where you could go outside and play. Make a snowman. Make a snow fort. Have a snowball fight. Fall on your belly and not break your teeth. I love snow and have been impatiently waiting all winter for decent accumulation. I know there […]

Things I’ve learned from my adoption “What do I have to be thankful for? My own dad didn’t want me.” Thanksgiving was creeping closer, and I had just unleashed that question on a group of high school freshmen I thought to be my friends. If I recall correctly, it was the first time I voiced that inner turmoil. My biological […]

It was a dark, early morning. The sun remained asleep and yet people streamed quietly from the warmth of vehicles into the crisp winter air, up a set of stairs and into church. The flood of light accompanying the swing of the doors teased the yet-night sky. Though pulled from my bed before the normal hour, my eyes were bright […]

“Healing is not the absence of pain,” writes Lora Jones in her book “Song of a Wounded Heart.” While her book wasn’t the first time I’d heard this concept, reading it recently helped me gain a focus for this month’s column. Lately I’ve been thinking about grief. I actually just finished writing a series on my blog focused on church […]

A few weeks ago at a Bible study I attend, the leader gave us a series of ice breaker questions to answer as a kick-off to our fall study. One particular section of the questionnaire asked us to describe something we were afraid of and something we were not afraid of. I got a little hung up on the answers. […]