Moving Forward

Today marks the beginning of advent for Christians, a theme of Hope. I was reminded today how important that message is as it brings themes of patience, love, understanding, and faith. We were reminded by our leader this morning about the story of Zacharias (name meaning “Yahweh remembers”)  and Elisabeth (meaning “God's oath”), both characters in the introduction to the Christmas story and strong examples of this message. It is a story of light appearing in a dark circumstance as Zacharias and Elisabeth were seen as leaders without child, and that was seen, and sometimes still viewed by some, as being a punishment from God.  Late in life they were blessed, prayers answered as they had a child, John, who became a blessing to many people. The message of Christmas begins as a story of hope. As a 42 year old mother of two teenage boys whose parents are divorced, I often feel my family is broken and look around to see so many teenagers from broken homes.  Divo...

Bitter sweet... is saying goodbye to elementary years as a parent forever soon. Both sons will be in junior high next year! Wonderful to have a year of healing with my sons. Anyone that knows me and knew my life with Uel knows that we visited the Wichita Mountains often and have camped in over 33 states, Canada, and Europe with the kids.   Nolan was assigned a teacher that was a little "old school" but has a heart of gold and is so dedicated. Without even knowing our background,  she led my kids to places that have significant meanings to our past. She doesn't know this, but my friends, former students and family in Dublin and Stephenville do. I literally found myself at Camp Grady Spruce (Dublin friends will smile about that), the Wichita Mountains (Uel and my old friends will smile), and the JFK museum(many of my former students and people who know me know I collect JFK memorabilia). We couldn't attend her campouts at Sid Richardson (I have 3 br...