bsmiles and sunny days

Let me introduce you to one of the most expressive little boys I’ve ever met. He’s my sweet nephew. If I tell him anything that I’m excited about, this is usually his immediate response. I adore him!! I have decided to publish my book here. It occurred to me that the email list of readers is growing, and in the event that I do pursue brick and mortar publishing, I would hope to produce this blog as a sort of copyright.  My intention is for the paper trail mostly. But, also, because I never know what God is going to do, and I'd like to leave all the doors open. It feels awkward and a little self-serving, but I hope you know me well enough to trust my motives.  In other news, we're awaiting the results of covid tests. Nearly everyone in our family has contracted a similar cold, and each case moderately resembles the sickness that several members of our extended family had just last week. We haven't been terribly ill, but we were vaccinated. The optimist in me says that it'

FOR THE JOY CHAPTER 2 Beware of the drift For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard so that we will not drift away. Hebrews 2:1 The house I grew up in was five blocks from the community recreation building where there was an indoor pool. They didn’t charge membership fees like a standard YMCA, so you paid for each activity. The fee to swim was $.50 per person, which was cheap entertainment for us. My two older brothers and I were allowed to walk down the street to go swimming, as long as the boys kept an eye on me, and we were home before dark. I was a fearful kid and didn’t like to take risks, so I spent most of my time hanging out in the shallow end of the pool, jumping off the side and watching people dive off the diving board. Sometimes they dove right out of their suits, which was hysterical to me! Truth be told, that was the main reason I brought along my goggles. One particular day, I was feeling brave. Against my oldest brother’s comman

  FOR THE JOY   CHAPTER 1 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Hebrews 2:18   Gimme one reason to stay here, and I’ll turn right back around. Tracy Chapman   At 3am I woke up to a text from a long-lost friend whose story is too sacred to spill here. She has been living dead inside, exhausted from stuffing the weighty truth of her existence, and it’s all coming up now, in middle age. We have had a loose connection for most of our lives, though we were soul-tied from a young age. A battle cry sounded in my heart as I read a gut-wrenching story that resulted from the emotional scars being sliced open by a wise and careful surgeon of the heart.   I had set my alarm to get up in time to make double coffee for my early route. As I drove in the darkness, the sadness, the heaviness, the anxiety of the release felt like a heart-bleed. As if I had a supernatural pipeline to what was happening ins