When my dad died a couple of years ago, I began to get the home he and Mama had built for their retirement ready for another family to enjoy. My sweet mother had a green thumb, not a trait she passed on to me, and their yard was full of spring flowers, and snowball bushes, and peonies. Really, all she had to do was push a seed into dirt and something would flourish. I had reverence for their home which they had so thoroughly loved and didn't want to rob her yard of all her

I was asked in a recent interview about the messages I receive from readers of “Hey, God? Yes, Charles.” These messages have been nothing short of wonderful and I’m grateful for every single one. But I had to be honest when the host asked about folks who were clearly suffering a loss and who wanted to talk with me. My reply was honest, “I know I never fail to disappoint. Because someone in that place of pain wants a magic answer – I certainly did – and of course, there is

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to the jungles on the mainland side of Belize for a mission trip. We were helping to build a school, but the additional assignment for our group was to visit the different villages and invite the residents to attend a meeting in each village to talk about books for their children. Our goal was to kick start a program so that preschool children in these deprived areas could have one book a month, every month, given to t

Of all the conversations I had with folks while trying to understand my life after Charles, I still remember two distinct ones – one with a man and one with a woman. At different times, I asked each of them the same question – “what do I do with my life that I had with Charles?” The man was a friend of ours who had been twice widowed. He pointed to his head and said, you will learn to compartmentalize, you will find a place to tuck away the old memories while making new one

A recent trip to Utah had two great benefits. I was invited to talk about "Hey, God? Yes, Charles." and it was a wonderful opportunity to visit our baby daughter ❤️. Turned out there was an interesting side note to this trip as well. Charles and I had visited this area before and, one of those times, we made a special effort to see The Great Salt Lake. He pulled our rental car into the parking lot and we hopped out, walking expectantly to the edge of the water and... I wis

I recently found myself in the front seat of a helicopter. I was visiting the beautiful island of Kauai and had asked a local resident if you could only do ONE thing here, what should it be? A helicopter tour was the immediate, unequivocal response. So it was booked. The loading up was benign enough (except for that theygottaknowhowmuchyouweighpart!). Miles was a great pilot and we had thorough safety procedures before take off, or "up up and away," as he put it. It felt l

It crossed my mind that snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef might be a tad aggressive for an old lady, by herself. I haven't snorkeled in a long time but these bucket list items can be pretty unrelenting and this was one. I was in the neighborhood already so a mere two hour boat ride took me and a bunch of people I didn't know to the outer reef. I figured I'd just be alone, on my own, all day. First, after being in the wrong line (does that sound familiar?), I met a couple from

Can you see these stacked stones? We came around the corner of this ocean highway road recently and literally stopped in our tracks. What in the world? Even our Australian host was astonished and clueless. We bailed out of the car to hike down to the beach for a closer look. As far as the eye could see inside this cove were stacks of stones, many small and short, but some quite large and tall. Questioning other visitors as they were hiking back up yielded no definitive a

My cousin and I have been visiting family in Australia. I've discovered this country is full of things I love. Family first, of course, in their brand new Melbourne home. But then, spectacular beaches and sunsets and beautiful harbors; a striking downtown straddling the gorgeous Yarra River, teeming with vibrant life on both the south and north banks as well as in the river itself; interesting architecture and old bridges; a hilly wine country out of the city with thousands

We hear all the negatives about social media and they certainly exist but I love the positive aspects of this communication - the ability to post immediately if a child or anyone is in danger - the network to advertise lost or found animals for quick recovery - the platform to share things to just think about. Today, one of those shared food for thought ideas was characterized as "the unrushed yes." I've never been naturally good at unrushed anything so I read this careful