The popular Christmas story "The Gift of the Magi" tells the tale of Jim and Della, a couple who love each other deeply but don't have any extra money to buy each other Christmas gifts. Secretly, each decides to sell their most prized possession in...
This Christmas, your house or yard may be decked out with Santa and his reindeer, but do you know the "man behind the myth?" Whether or not you "do Santa" in your house, Saint Nicholas himself is a guy worth getting to know! St. Nicholas or "Santa"...
I’ve lost two babes at two different times in the days before Christmas. And so I revel in the humanity of the players. I empathize with young Mary, of course. I keep thinking of her physical feelings, her emotions at being a first-time mother. Closing my eyes...
It's the time of year where heavy foods and sweets abound. I'm also freezing. It's a bit embarrassing for this born and raised Western NY girl to admit that she's cold living in San Diego but I am just freezing, OK? During this busy season I...
A few years ago, my husband and I were headed to Italy to celebrate our 10th anniversary when our flight out of JFK airport was delayed overnight due to weather. At midnight, we found ourselves in need of a hotel room and a cab ride across...
I grew up with a desire for marriage and children. I had names for four future children by the age of ten. But our expectations and realities do not always match--particularly in the area of fertility. My community is comprised of women with more children than...
Mimi offered to babysit on Saturday. When Mimi offers to babysit, we say, “Yes, please!” and high tail it out of the house. For years I’ve had this fantasy that once we moved home, we would go back to all the places I loved as a...
There once lived a man named Horatio Spafford. He is best known for his famous hymn, "It is Well with my Soul." Most of us have sung the hymn repeatedly, enjoying the beauty and spiritual depth of the lyrics without knowing the gut-wrenching pain through which...
Last time I blogged, I shared about Inner Beauty. I’ve been thinking over the last few weeks about how difficult it was for me over my 10 years of motherhood to have an ebb and flow figuring out how to take care of myself. I...