Life right now

At the beginning of the summer I woke from a dream in which I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Being a dream, the pregnancy test involved neon lights and a flashing plus sign. And when I woke and took a test in real life, it was positive too. All summer I carried…

Happy Father’s Day

There is this thing our society does where we treat fathers like fools. You see it on television - in sitcoms, especially - you see it in advertising, in common attitudes, or references to dads "babysitting" their own kids. It can be easy to slip into among the moms at the playground. As if it's…

He Is Risen Indeed

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:19 If Easter means nothing - if this is a day about only rabbits and chocolate and coloured eggs - then Christianity means nothing, our lives are momentary, a breath of air and gone.…

Beyond the Fire

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Two years ago, I wrote this post to mark Ash Wednesday. It was a time of great personal sorrow in my life. When I was really struggling with the question of, Why would God allow this to happen? Lent isn't exactly the answer to…

All the Many Parts

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free - and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Even…

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving weekend in my part of the world. I know I have so much to be thankful for. This has been a big year. Last night, Peter and I went out for dinner with friends to celebrate his 30th birthday. I'm unspeakably thankful for this guy and that we get to share life together…

A Pearl Health Update

It's been six months since we brought Pearl home. It has been six months of smiles, laughter, naptimes, a few sleepless nights, and some tears. Pearl can roll over, coos and chatters, and drools like crazy. Our guess is that she is moments away from crawling. She loves to cuddle, loves to put anything and…

This Time Last Year

In the centre of our town there is a beautiful open air pavilion, shaded by trees. Every spring, at the beginning of June, our church meets there to hold a Sunday morning service. It's a normal service in a special location. A year ago, standing in that pavilion, singing along with the worship band and…

Pearl’s Story – Part Two

It was about half past nine on Monday night when Peter and I got to the hospital. We were sent to an assessment room (a curtained-off corner) where I was hooked up to a fetal monitoring system while I waited for a doctor to see me. The curtains weren't soundproof and so we couldn't help…

Pearl’s Story – Part One

At 3:19 in the morning on February 24th, Pearl Isobel joined us in the world. At the end of January, following a routine ultrasound in week 34 of my pregnancy, I received a phone call from my doctor. The ultrasound results were slightly abnormal - there was fluid gathered around one of the baby's kidneys.…