Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track. Proverbs 3:5-6 The Message
“How low can you go?”
I can almost hear my Heavenly Father’s deep voice say this while signaling his two smiling angel helpers (we’ll call them Gabe & Mike) to lower the limbo bar as I shimmy under for another round. I’ve never been very good at the limbo, not being very limber or skilled at bending my body completely backwards while continuing to walk. You know, my knees and spine just don’t like it. I marvel at the people who can practically lay back on an invisible board, gliding underneath the bar that’s inches from the floor. That definitely won’t be me. I’m trusting God knows how low I can go. Of course, He has a record of showing me I can go farther or lower than I thought I could!
We’ve played the limbo at the girls’ birthday parties with their friends. I much prefer the job of holding the limbo bar. Continue reading
In an email conversation with my dad this morning, he reminded me of a time that was tough in my mom’s life (physically at least). She had all three of us by C-section and shortly after my little brother was born she had to have her gall bladder removed! This was back when they didn’t do the tiny little belly button incisions. She was hurting. My grandmother, her mother-in-law, told her during that time, “When you’re hurting, somebody needs you.” This took my mom aback. Someone needs me? I’m hurting here! I’m the one who just had two surgeries almost back to back. Nonetheless, during my mom’s hospital stay she encountered another patient, a lady who was hurting in her heart, not just her body. God used Mom to encourage and bless that lady. It may not have happened if Mom’s heart hadn’t been opened to the possibility by grandma’s wise words.
There’s someone in our family who over the last few years has drifted away and become very quiet, going through some tough times. I admit, we didn’t try hard enough to stay in touch, to care, to reach out during those times. I’m ashamed of that. I’ve asked forgiveness for that from this person but am not making much headway. In the last year or so we’ve tried harder to get in touch, send emails, call, reach out, getting no response. I’ve had dreams in which our family and this person are reunited and reconcile all the differences. I’m hoping that’s one of those dreams that becomes a “deja vu” moment later in life. You know when you have a deja vu moment and think “I swear I’ve dreamed this before.” Does that happen to you?
He drove by the McDonald’s. What? Jodi, Jon and I looked at each other again and asked him, “Dad, where are you going?”
The day finally arrived for Kimmi and she is now moved in at AU and ready for her first year of college! She had her car loaded up and ready to go and after running some last-minute errands in the morning we headed to Anderson in the early afternoon. Driving over, I kept glancing in the side rear-view mirror to see her following behind. The words in the mirror were a strange comfort: “objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.” John wondered aloud if Kimmi had butterflies. “I do,” I replied as he chuckled.
We arrived at Rice Hall, where I lived my sophomore year and John lived for four years. A friendly student started to lead us upstairs to her room and as we rounded the 2nd floor set of stairs we were greeted by a bunch of smiling, colorful, upper-class art students (the dreadlocks kind of gave it away). They guessed Kimmi’s name until they got it right, then told her they were ready to help her move in! The moment they began their enthusiastic welcome to a much-delighted Kimmi, I could almost feel John and I becoming invisible and fading farther back in the stairwell. This is what’s supposed to happen, though. 
We drove out to Crawfordsville to the home of a sweet older couple selling a used Geo Tracker, the car of my middle daughter’s dreams. Did I mention that she was hoping for a teal-colored Geo Tracker, to be specific? We had heard that the car was blue with a white roof but were happily surprised to drive around the corner, arriving at the couple’s house, to see that the car is actually teal! Kaitlin practically jumped out of the van before I could park. 
Along the Narrow Path 