Picket Fences

This last week was quite an emotional adventure. I spent a lot of time getting things together for my daughter to go out on her first campout without ME! Without her Dad! All on her own! We are not a camping family. My daughter, however, wants to experience camping. So, we actually bought a tent and plan to attempt it as a family this summer. This is how I planned our first time out as a family. We would find a campsite, with showers, bathrooms, and the place would be very clean, for our first venture out there in the camping world. So when I found out her scout troop, American Heritage Girls, was doing a camp for the weekend, I signed her up for DAY camp ONLY. Last Monday, she informed me she wanted to do the overnight camp, not just day camp. As the week went on with the (clear my throat here) “guidance” of my parents, family, etc…my no...Then my maybe...was turned into an "OKAY" with a groan. My daughter was super excited. Many hands went i...

Author’s disclaimer – This is a fiction story. I just happen to think about what this soldier might have experienced and wrote a completely fictional story about it. I am not a Bible historian or any other thing like that, just a fiction writer. Letters From A Soldier To the followers of the man Jesus, I am writing this letter in the hopes it will be kept in the upmost confidence. I am certainly under the belief, none of you owe me that respect, and completely understand if you were to turn this letter over to m,y commanding officer. With that in mind, I have been under such dire duress since the day the man named Jesus was crucified I am willing to face any consequences to come, if only I may make clear to you what I discovered on that day. I can still see his eyes. After his scourging, in which he should have died from. We stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. Then we came up with the idea of making him a crown. It was a crown of thorns and we shoved it into his s...

The other day, dark scary looking clouds rolled in and we had a rainstorm with hail and loud thunder. I am not a lover of thunderstorms. The following morning though, I opened my front door to go outside, it was quite a change from the day before. The birds were singing, skies were blue and it smelled nice and fresh out. A person never knows what a new day will bring. Like the day I answered the phone and the doctor’s office informed me they were sending me to a specialist due to some question on the report they had received from a test I had taken.  Alarm bells rang loud for me. I looked up the reason they had given me on the internet and couldn’t find anything. So I had to wait. Waiting can be hard. Controlling my imagination during the waiting time can be harder. A few days later, I received the report in the mail with a note from the doctor again explaining I would need to be referred on to a specialist. My eyes got wide with fear and my heart p...

Sometimes my friends surprise me. I will think I know them and suddenly they reveal something about themselves that will shock me because…I thought I knew them. My friend who always wears high heels, shared a story while we were on a walk one day, about the time she rock climbed up the side of a mountain. It was a very treacherous climb. I was shocked considering she always wears heels, and her hair is curled just so, basically she looks like a model. I have a quiet friend who can turn into the life of the party. I also have a very talkative friend who can suddenly act quite shy. Or then there is that moment where a friend will “step up” in a way they never have before, or would be expected to, and it is a really incredible surprise. I found myself thinking about this quite a bit this last week and since this is Holy week, I’ve been contemplating how I used to have some ideas about God and faith that are quite different now. Last night was Good Friday. The sto...