My Favorite Thanksgiving

Dad and my nephew Craig, Thanksgiving, 2007 Grateful Lives In November of 2007, Rich and I were newlyweds of not quite three months. We’d been evacuated from our beloved home a month earlier due to a massive wildfire. Our home, and our entire neighborhood, had been spared, thanks to God’s grace and some hard, hard […]


My Favorite Thanksgiving

Dad and my nephew Craig, Thanksgiving, 2007 Grateful Lives In November of 2007, Rich and I were newlyweds of not quite three months. We’d been evacuated from our beloved home a month earlier due to a massive wildfire. Our home, and our entire neighborhood, had been spared, thanks to God’s grace and some hard, hard […]


Little Miracles

Sawyer Anton Matoushek, 13 Hours Old Bundles of Joy! That expression used to sound trite to me. Not so much anymore. Wednesday my son-in-law phoned me at 2:45 in the afternoon. “We’re being admitted and they’re going to induce Elaine,” Rob reported. “Everything’s fine…it’s just time.” Sawyer’s due date had come and gone eight days earlier. […]


Seasons

Pumpkins and Sunflowers Ripenings and Sproutings Autumn has landed in Southern California. My neighbor’s pumpkins are ripening on the vine as the sunflowers of summer stand a brown watch over the pumpkin patch. The shorter-and-shorter days are still bright and warm but the evening air brings a chill. Leaves color and fall, destined to rot on the […]


Just so Thankful

Cadence Contagious Gratitude Sunday, we attended an intensive workshop in gratitude: a birthday party for our grandson Cadence, who turns four on Thursday. The formula was simple: 1. People gave Cadence gifts. 2. Cadence delighted in the gifts. In true four-year-old style, his excitement could not be dampened. A modest stack of books, $20 in spending money, […]