Last week, I shared a story and a lesson on how to begin sheltering friendships in my blog. This blog post is a lesson on how to continue doing so. Throughout my years of homeschooling and serving in leadership roles within churches and nonprofit organizations, I’ve had the opportunity to run many events. One spring, I was leading a two-day tournament where students spent their time delivering speeches—again and again, in multiple rooms, to multiple audiences.…
Leave a CommentCategory: Communication
While February is known as the month of love, I think less about romance and more about the love of friends. If anything, it has been the love of my friends that has supported my nearly 40 years of love with my husband, Gary. We live in an age of increasing isolation, losing the deep social capital that once wove our communities together. I count it a privilege in 2025 to live in the same…
4 CommentsIn the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen Light a candle – Creative Co-op has some fun candle shapes. Lectio 365 NUUN – Martin Luther King Day – A book recommendation for children. The Story of Ruby Bridges – I love this book and how it elevates Ruby Bridges’ faith in God.
Leave a CommentI’m getting to that age when I find myself scanning obituaries and realizing that the list of people I know is longer than those I don’t. But, as it turns out, the obituary column isn’t the only place I become keenly aware of the absence of familiar faces. My regular visits to the military grocery store—the commissary—seem to bring people’s absence into sharper focus. I’ve been shopping at the Annapolis Navy Commissary for over 60 years.…
3 CommentsDecluttering for the Upgrade When my phone nudges me with a “Software Update Available,” I swipe it away without much thought. Those alerts feel more like a pesky sales pitch than a necessity. Honestly, I don’t want to deal with the interruption—or risk a glitch—by starting an update. But eventually, those persistent notifications, dressed in their clever little red badges, wear me down. I start poking around, checking reviews to see if the upgrade is…
2 CommentsIt must have been during my first year at the Naval Academy. I don’t recall my specific offenses—perhaps I had failed to carry my weight, or maybe I’d dared to speak out. What I do remember was bemoaning the rough treatment of women, especially as it concerned me, to my father. He listened, of course. My father, a proud graduate of the Naval Academy Class of ’42, had been forged in a very different fire.…
1 Comment