[Disclaimer:  I get soooooo frustrated by the way Xanga takes pictures with brilliant colors and dumbs them down into faded, cataracted, and depthless shots.  I promise you these pictures are much more vivid in real life!] I went on an excursion last weekend, accompanied by my ever-lovely, fun and fascinating buddy Mari Ellen.  The destination […]

Nope–you didn’t read it wrong.  Most people have birthday wishes, not fishes…you know, a sweet list of things they’d like to see happen in the year ahead.  Get rich.  Inherit a house.  Win a Porsche.  Make Oprah’s Book Club. But not me.  Noooo, that would be way too close to “normal”, and the young people […]

There have always been students in my life who have been—how shall I put this?  Challenging.  That’s a polite word for it.  These students have been blessedly few, mind you, but the occasional thorn-in-the-flesh has been God’s instrument to remind me of how very human I really am. Few students have performed this duty better […]

Ah, the sadness…  Today, at precisely 2:12 pm, the nine students of “Creative Writing: Prose” exited JB 21 for the last time as a class.  The first semester ends today, and starting Monday, Prose will be replaced by Poetry–which should make me happy except for the fact that some of the Prose writers will be […]

Change is not a terminal condition.      And Christmas will come again…right? Sigh…

Lessons I’ve learned since January 9, 2005 Heaven is often the best answer to prayers for healing. Reconciliation sometimes is wordless. Love is unfathomable. Frailty can lead to God. Death is one of the spices that heighten the savor of life. My dad used to love a poem that was as trite as it was […]

School starts again in just a few days, and I’ve been trying to fill my time with the stuff vacations are made of.  Tonight, that “stuff” came in the form of three juniors. Collin wrote a few days ago and said he and a couple friends wanted to come over for dinner.  Of course, he’d […]

Nearly six years ago, I cast Andrea Peck and Ian MacLurg as boyfriend and girlfriend in “You Can’t Take It with You”. They were awkward and combative, quibbled frequently and just couldn’t seem to get the romantic scenes right…and today they got married.  And yes, I do take full credit for the miracle I witnessed […]

MERRY CHRISTMAS! So…in the tradition of my “what does a missionary do on…” series, what does a missionary do on Christmas Eve??  To answer the question that has been torturing the minds of Rudolph, Mrs. Claus and an assortment of other imaginary Christmas personas, this missionary has been eating.  And the beauty of being alone […]

WHAT DO A MISSIOANARY AND TWO MKs DO ON THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK? Why, they watch Star Academy, of course!  (It’s a French reality show in the tradition of American Idol, but with a lot less talent and a lot more glamour.)  And they bundle up with two stuffed dogs (Muffin and Zidane) and […]