I’ve always had a God-given gift and desire to create beautiful things out of nothing. It’s something I was born with. I remember when I was about eight-years old my parents had some friends over and while they were visiting, I found an old tuna fish can, covered it with scraps of felt, glitter, and […]
Trust me. I tried. Before I was married, I did my best to be a good girl. But with every relationship, I caved in to the temptation to have sex. I thought my convictions were strong, but the temptation was more than my flesh could handle. But so was the disappointment. Disappointment not only in […]
Who would guess that selling Christmas cheer would drive out fear? I pulled into the driveway just before the December dusk spread its blanket over the Oklahoma sky. As I opened my car door, I gasped. A mangled mess of tree branches were strewn all over my yard. What in the world? As my eyes […]
Christmastime is supposed to be The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. For many of us, however, it’s actually the most difficult time of the year. Expectations run high with stories on Instagram and posts on Facebook and Pinterest. And if we happen to be among those who still get what my friend Julia calls […]
Winning the Guideposts contest has been a dream of mine for at least a decade. I’ve made several submissions and have always anticipated the contest deadline for months prior. This year. Not so much. The deadline blindsided me. It snuck up on me like this week in Oklahoma when Old Man Winter showed up in […]
My father was a photographer in WWII and after he and my mother were married, he built a small photography business on the side. Nuptials and newborns were his venues of choice, but even at family functions, if my dad didn’t have a cigar in his hand, he was setting up his tripod. He’d position […]
The most well-known love junkie in the Bible is the woman who met Jesus at the well. I wish I knew her name, but the book of John only refers to her as the “woman at the well.” I always thought it’d be easier to give her a name instead of a label, so I […]
June 12, 1998 The lingering rays of the afternoon sun shone through my kitchen window accentuating the cobalt blue mosaic tile on the backsplash as I washed Jacob’s sippy cup. I listened as my two sons, five-year-old Garrett and two-year-old Jacob played in the backyard under the limbs of our pecan trees. Their laughter sent […]
Did your parents ever tell you to watch your mouth? As a young girl, whenever I complained, cried or criticized my mother’s voice rose a few octaves as she warned, “Christine, don’t give me any lip! You better watch your mouth!” I knew it was time to shape up when she used my full name. […]
When I was young my mother took my little brother and I to the library every two weeks. I loved the distinctive smell of paper married with ink. Fascinated by the endless collection of shelves packed with dreams and dictionaries, histories and fantasies, I wondered how thoughts made the journey from someone’s mind to the […]