...a word from Kathy

T HIS is the time of the Christmas season that as a young girl I begin to moan..."Can we open our presents?  Please, just one?"  My parents denied this request over and over again until Christmas Eve. Their rule was that we could open only one gift on Christmas Eve; and unfortunately Mama got to decide which gift!!  As I child I hated this rule as I wanted to decide which gift I would open!  I think my children felt the same way as we continued the same tradition...and still do! Over 35 years ago, on Christmas Eve I was cooking special bread for friends.  I had been cooking all day long.  I was making cream cheese braids and it was a process of mixing, rising, filling, baking, waiting and then drizzling icing.  I was bone tired as we had prepared over 30 loaves of bread that day.   I had on my soiled apron, my face was flour-tinged, my hair was falling out of my pony tail, I had no makeup on and was ready to collapse.  It was around 6 p.m....

Mary and Joseph entered a tiny village with no where to bed; She was very pregnant and perhaps he was filled with dread. For where would they stay? This blessed couple on whom the Christ child lay. They were rejected by hotel and inn;  but had knowledge that new life was about to begin. Surrounded by the cold, the hay, the animals, the smell;  But grateful the day had ended; e're not so well. The stirrings began and soon came the One; Who knew what had truly now begun? Miles away the rough shepherds, like me and you;  Looked to the sky and were startled anew. But once they saw, once they heard; There was no question that life would forever be altered. They followed the love, they followed the call, they followed what their hearts could see. He had come.  Finally, finally He had come.  No more hollow hearts, no more tears, no more striving to be more, finally freedom to be, to be who He created me to be. Where do I find my...

We  are a people who like to know what's coming next!  As a young girl, I loved going to the State Fair in Jackson, Mississippi.  Foolishly, my girlfriends and I always wanted to visit the palm reader.  We were in middle school wanting to know what was coming next.  Will I find a boyfriend who will like an overweight girl with freckles?  Will I go to college? Will I marry?  Will I have kids?  The palm reader would read our palms and all the answers seemed amazingly similar for each of us but we somehow didn't notice.  For she was telling us what we wanted to hear.  So, we happily paid our few coins and anticipated our futures! Much more significantly, God also fore told some great news about our lives.  The Christmas season offers us a joyful type of fore telling....Christmas is coming!  Get ready!  Only 17 shopping days left!  Children are anticipating, excited for Christmas morning.  We know what's coming a...

S ome dear friends of ours are expecting.  They're expecting their first puppy!  This pup will be the first "baby" for these friends.  One of these friends has been hoping and praying for this gift, while the other was initially more hesitant but has now come to fully embrace the idea.  Their joy is palpable.  We've seen pictures of the family, heard stories about the naming, learned about house preparation.  And what we see in their faces is pure, delightful JOY. A new world is about to open to them.  And for those of us who have walked this road ahead of them we know puppy-life is so very sweet...and so very, well..."puppilicious".  It's a world filled with exuberance, excitement, confusion, difficulties, crying (only from the pup) but forever love.  The shoes you love...gone.  Grandmother's hand-made quilt...in tatters.  Newly planted flowers...goodbye. And yes, we'd all have a puppy again and again.  For there is nothi...

Y ears ago, Ray and I relocated to Corpus Christi, Texas as he accepted a new job.  We were meeting many new people and a common question was, "What do you do?"  Ray could easily answer this question.  I, however stumbled on the question as I wasn't working yet and it seemed the only appropriate answer was to give a job title.  I longed to have a defined role, an answer to this simple question.  It was awkward and unsettling to not have a quick answer. This question, "What do you do?", is a common and oft repeated life question.  When I worked, I identified myself with my job title.  As a mom with young kids, I was "Mom".  Once I retired from my professional career, my answer would change with Ray's job.  It's interesting to me that in some worlds, I am Nick and Sarah's mom, in other situations I was an employee of a pediatric hospital.  And in a few others, I am a teacher, a volunteer, a wife.  Depending on who you ask, I am d...

R ecently, while walking through a crowded store I heard a voice call out, "Mom!"  I stopped and turned toward the voice but quickly resumed my walk and laughed at myself.  My goodness, my children are adults and live several states away from me, yet I still stopped at the sound of 'Mom'. I heard the familiar call and stopped to answer. Those calls used to drive me crazy as they came frequently and more often than I wanted.  I was a working mom and pretty exhausted in the evenings but the calls continued.  Now years later, I LOVE the call of 'Mom'.  It's a dear call, a reminder of relationship, of love, of life lived together through thick and thin!!  I especially love the call of "Kaki" when it echoes through the house.  Kaki is my grandma name and one I treasure. My ears are full of sounds and calls in any given day.  This weekend we had a brief cool spell and I spent the morning outside.  Doing nothing.  It was quite an experience...

B efore smart phones, movies-on-command and video games, we entertained ourselves outside.  We played games like Kick-the-Can, Hide and Seek, Simon Says, Red Rover and Follow-the-Leader. Those games were simple but fun.  They required cooperation by the entire neighborhood gang and they required that we played by the same rules.  In Follow-the-Leader, the steps of the follower had to exactly match the leader.  We looked down at our feet a lot to make sure we were stepping in the right places.  There wasn't too much talk or chatter about where we were going.  The chatter and giggling was about where to step...one step at a time. Ray and I were on the beach recently.  We go to the sugar sands of 30A in Florida as often as possible.  It's our refuge.  And as much as we relax and read, we also walk.  Walk for exercise and walk to think and explore.  And last week as we walked along the shore, where one creation meets another, the p...

J une 2019, six months into the year and here we are living the hot, humid life of the deep south.  The crickets and cicadas speak loud and clear every evening.  BBQ grills, baseball and beach trips make summer days alive.  Schedules seem less important and activities seem more important.  I remember as a young girl, I would leave my house on summer days and return just in time for dinner.  We rode bikes, played outdoor games, got hot and sweaty, went bare-footed and had nary a care in the world.  We relished our purpose on those summer days.  Our purpose was to enjoy each other and summertime. Can or should that be our purpose today...to enjoy our summer days?  I realize we all have responsibilities, work, people relying on us.  Some would add, we have God's purpose for our lives too.  We have the responsibility to use our hands and feet.  You know what?  I agree with all the above.  We DO have the responsibility to c...

St. James Episcopal Church, Florence Italy " M ama, do you love me more or Nick more?  Oh, honey I love you both the same!  Yes, but Nick gets in trouble, disobeys you, acts out and doesn't play with me!  Surely you love me more." Have you had a similar conversation in your house?  Have your children ever asked you to choose?  Surely I'm not the only parent who has experienced this inquisition by a youngster. Maybe we search our whole lives to be the 'chosen one', the child loved most in the family.  We all desire that special spot. With Jesus, was it Mary he loved the most?  Was it Peter?  Or was it Judas? This Easter we attended St. James Episcopal Church in Florence, Italy.  We were enthralled by the space and then by the people who attended.  Multiple countries were represented: Switzerland, Nigeria, England, South Africa, Italy and the US.   During worship we heard behind us the most amazing voice loudly singing, ...

A s I sit in the Piazza della Repubblica,  I am distracted.  We're visiting Florence, Italy this week which is endless in its beauty.  This place is also endless in grand masterpieces and grand cathedrals that point to the Glory of God.  Centuries old architecture, frescos, paintings and sculptures all celebrating the news of God's nearness to us.  But even in this enormous center of Christian culture, I'm distracted. At this very moment, this is what I see: a woman taking selfies; a couple kissing in the middle of the piazza; a guy riding his bike home from work; tourists congregating; a mom and daughter, holding hands and scurrying; a couple an infant and with a baby stroller; a horse drawn carriage tour; and on and on... I wondered to myself about this distraction and why I couldn't get my mind together to write. So, I thought about what Jesus was doing on the week before the first Easter.  Do you know?  I didn't! We know about Palm ...

M ary and Martha knew their brother was dying.  They were in shock, dismay, fear and probably felt helpless.  They sent word to their friend, Jesus.  But their brother died.  And then, Jesus arrived in his time.  He wept for his friend, Lazarus.  He loved the sisters, Mary and Martha.  And he taught us about death and life through Lazarus.  For Jesus restored life to Lazarus and he unbound him. My last weeks have involved loss, tears, and anguish as my sister lost her best friend, her husband of 41 years, the love of her life.  Richard L. Lovelace was sick for only two weeks and then he was gone.  The process of losing a loved one is extreme in every sense of the word and is also forever. I've thought a lot about life and death in the last few weeks as death came so close.  Here are a few things I've learned from Richard and Lazarus...and Jesus. 1.  Life happens and death happens... 2.  ...And they occur without...

T he last remnants of Christmas in my house are the dying poinsettia plants.  You must admit they look bedraggled at best.  It's time to toss them, so I guess Christmas is officially over.  I know what you're thinking....uh...yes, Christmas has BEEN over as it's the middle of January!!  But in my defense, you have to admit that there is quite the build-up to Christmas so can't I have a month on the back side to keep celebrating?  So what, that my poinsettias are dying! There are stories of post-Christmas celebrations.  Let's look at Simeon from the book of Luke. In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law,   Simeo...