Returned to Sender

This letter arrived in my mail box recently. I remember writing it, as an eight-year-old, seated at the kitchen table. Crafting the letter, and printing it in my best handwriting, seemed like a lot of hard work. Boyd, the best playmate ever, waited at my elbow, so that we could play as soon as I [...]

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“What is REAL?”

“What is dross?” Hannah whispered during yesterday’s worship service. She was referring to a stanza of “How Firm a Foundation” that we had just finished singing. When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, [...]

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Gotta Have Snopes

Snopes.com is fifteen years old. Snopes became a household word at our home a decade ago when a co-worker warned me against allowing my children to play in the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese’s. She insisted that a boy had been bitten by a rattlesnake while playing in the plastic balls, and had DIED. [...]

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Haliaeetus leucocephalus x 2

These remarkable pictures and commentary arrived via email. Various Internet sites have identified the professional photographer as Gary Wheeler of Lake Tapps, Washington, and the “duck” as an American Coot. Thanks, Mr. Wheeler, for the incredible story-telling photographs! “I was walking along the shore of Lake Tapps on Monday, and noticed a big commotion a [...]

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Bufo valliceps

I love toads.  Tonight I saw my first Gulf Coast Toad in Harris County.   Their North American range stretches from along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana into Mexico.   In Texas, they’re found in South and Central Texas, and the southern part of East Texas. It’s a lot of fun teaching young children the difference between toads and [...]

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Yakult

Twenty-five million people world-wide drink Yakult daily. The fermented milk drink contains billions of friendly bacteria, and since populating my intestines with good bacteria sounded like a good thing, I joined ‘em. Yakult is probably the most widely consumed probiotic drink in the world. In the 1920s, Dr. Minoru Shirota, a young Japanese scientist, focused [...]

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Book Review: Prepare for Rain

Prepare for Rain: The Story of a Church that Believed God for the Impossible by Michael Catt After watching Fireproof, I was curious how Sherwood Baptist Church of Albany, Georgia, came to be in the movie-making business. The book Prepare for Rain, authored by Dr. Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, satisfied my [...]

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Movie Review: Fireproof

I watched the movie Fireproof with Hannah and her best friend during Spring Break. Not once did we pause the movie for a snack or a drink. That’s because the story is a compelling one about a firefighter who is neglecting his wife. Married seven years and on the verge of divorce, neither the firefighter [...]

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Legendary Cake

Today Hannah and her best friend celebrated their last day of Spring Break together by baking a Waldorf Astoria or Red Velvet Cake. When we were growing up, Mom allowed us children to choose our birthday meal. Although we occasionally chose this mildly chocolate cake, I was impressed that it was the only birthday cake [...]

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A Good Night’s Sleep

Mark puts this on my pillow sometimes. He found it on his pillow at a Westin Hotel. I think I sleep better after I’ve read it.

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