The story of the shepherds is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story.  The fact that this group of ordinary people were the first recipients of the greatest message of all time is just one piece of evidence that God’s gift of salvation is not reserved for the great, the powerful or the socially elite.  Salvation through Jesus is a gift that is available to all who believe.  And I think what strikes me the most about the shepherds is their belief.   And in the same region there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them,…

    I recently made a list of things that spark joy in my life.  I tried not to overthink it and as I wrote them down I found myself smiling and feeling grateful.  Life holds a lot of simple pleasures that contribute to our joy:  good food, good sleep, good conversations, helping others, obedient children–these were a few of the items on my list.  Next I made a list of the things that spark joy for me during the holidays:  decorating the tree, baking cookies, having people into our home, finding and giving the perfect gift, wrapping presents, and sitting by the tree listening to Christmas music.   There…

I remember well coming home from the hospital with our son Mason.  We had been told he might have Down syndrome, but we were waiting for the blood test results to confirm the Doctor’s suspicions.  What I had expected for my third child’s life was in question and I was struggling with all of the possibilities that were before us.   My parents had come to help care for us as we adjusted to a new baby, and I didn’t need to cook or clean.  Yet, I desperately wanted to be in the kitchen.  I remember saying to my family a couple of days after we got home, “I just…

  People at church on Sunday asked about Mason starting school, and how things were going. I had replied that he was beginning on Monday, like it was days or weeks away.  No big deal.  We’re good.  It’s not tomorrow or anything.  Um, hello.  Somehow I didn’t realize that Monday was the very next day, until I was on my way home from church.  Immediately, my stomach got all knotted up and I felt unprepared and nervous for what the first day of school might hold.     Life with Mason began with a lot of unknowns.  We had more questions than answers and more feelings of inadequacy than confidence.  Over…

  “So, we’re all in agreement here?”   Nods all around the table.     “Ok, Mom, then can you sign here that you agree to the fact that your son has a disability?  And then we’ll move forward with this process and you can come back in two weeks to discuss Mason’s IEP.”   I took the paper from his hand, signed my name, and checked a little box and agreed to labeling my child disabled.     This was not news; I already knew he had a disability.  The blood tests 4.5 years ago confirmed his extra chromosome.  And I’ve watched him struggle to learn how to do things…

My expectations for the summer were fairly realistic and simple: enjoy my kids, do some fun things, get together with people.  We had two vacations planned and I knew Bradley would be traveling for work a couple of times.  I was optimistic about the fact that seeing friends would happen regularly and often.     It was during our vacation at the beginning of August when I felt familiar pains of loneliness creeping in.  Up to that point I had seen some of my friends once or twice, and the deep conversations I had hoped for had not happened.  A ladies’ night was coming up–with no children–and I was looking…

We moved into our home here in Virginia during the middle of winter.  And it was cold.  We had spent the previous six months on the coast in Florida, so trading flip-flops and shorts for winter coats and gloves was quite a shock.  I have always preferred being barefoot, but that winter I wore slippers everyday for the first time in my life. We experienced several days of snow–an exciting gift for our southern raised children.  Nothing was blooming, the ground seemed dead, and every tree had bare branches. Except one. There’s this one tree in our backyard, tucked into a corner near the back gate. The leaves are always…