2020

Paying medical bills when you have no insurance is no fun. Hopefully you will never need to use it. You will never get hurt and never get sick. But just in case... EMBRACE INSURANCE .

Whether you are color coding crayons or alphabetizing your collection of classic novels, there is something calming, liberating even, about organizing. And yes, I did both of the above this week. A few years ago, when my life was completely discombobulated and I couldn't even focus enough to eat dinner on a daily basis, I started my climb out of disarray by sorting nails. You'd be surprised at how many random nails you can find in your house and by the end of it I had three jelly jars full of small, medium, and large nails, and a fourth jar full of brown nails. I celebrated by making dinner. Sometimes I organize things -- nails, books, my closet -- because my life is so disorganized. Sometimes I organize because it is less burdensome to find things when you need them. Sometimes I organize because I'm a strategic thinker who finds joy in making patterns where others see no patterns. Sometimes I organize because it helps me see what is actually clutter and needs to be gi...

Tessa wishing for new things on her birthday. February 25, 2013. Tessa: "Aunt Katie, do you want to come over tomorrow to watch a new Lalaloopsy ?" Me: "No." Tessa: "But don't you like to try new things?" I've done all kinds of new things lately. Halo (salt) therapy. Gardening. Triathlon training. Drinking hemp milk. Not second guessing my decisions. Watching a new season of The Bachelorette. Going with the flow. Hanging pictures on my walls. Some of these new things are more challenging than others. Some stretch me more. Some require more courage initially. And others are a no brainer. But I've also encountered the possibility of new things that I have not yet embraced. Actually competing in a triathlon. Cleaning out my closets. Writing a novel. Not getting my feelings hurt so easily. Watching a new episode of Lalaloopsy. Hot yoga. While I was not enticed by Tessa's request to watch a new cartoon with her, I do applaud ...

Tomato plants We always had a garden growing up. I used to love eating green beans right off the plant. My dad continues to plant a garden every year, and I love it when he plucks a cherry tomato off the vine, ceremoniously dusting it off on his shirt and handing it to me to pop in my mouth. But I've never really been interested in gardening myself. I like the idea of it. Of growing your own food. Of getting dirty. Of being so close to nature. But loving the idea and loving to garden are two very different things. One thing I do love, however, is spending time with my dad. So when he showed up outside my house with a truck load of gardening tools, seeds, and plants on Sunday, I grabbed my tennis shoes and joined him. "Are you going to help?" he asked, curious. "If you tell me what to do," I replied. "I've never planted a garden before." "Your first garden," he said with a touch of awe. He showed me how to use a garden...

Memorial Day is a difficult holiday for me to understand. It is parades and picnics and parties. Yet, as we celebrate all that the men and women of the armed forces have done for us, we also mourn that they are no longer with us. That they had to die for us to have the freedoms that we enjoy, that we continue to fight for, that we often take for granted. As I've been thinking about Memorial Day, and celebrations in general, I have begun to see that they always come with some sort of loss.   Many students are celebrating graduation right now. Looking forward to what is next, proud in their accomplishments, joyous over meeting this goal. Yet I remember my friend Ryan having to coax me down the aisle for our high school graduation because I didn't want it to be over. I didn't want to see my friends, who I'd been in class with since I was 4 years old, head in so many different directions. I didn't know what college would be like. I didn't know what was next. L...

To my nephew Kasen, on your 7th birthday, Kasen Matthew. November 2012. I pray this year will be full of laughter for you. Adventure and discovering new things that you love. I pray you will get in to more trouble this year, as you grow and push and learn to stand as the fine young man you are becoming. I hope you will eat more and hurt less. I pray you will come to know the Lord more deeply as someone you can always go to and always trust. I pray you will always be amazed. I hope we get to spend lots of time together and that I will teach you as much as you teach me. Happy Birthday Kasen. May you always dream big. May you always play hard. May you always know you are loved.

Grandma Jan and Grandpa Lowell with all the grandkids: Susie, Katie, Betsy, Timothy, and Matthew. Hubbard, Iowa, 1980s. My grandfather died in Oklahoma 16 years ago. He and my grandma were driving from Texas, where they spent Christmas with my uncle and his family, home to Arkansas. Grandpa's shoulder had been bothering him for a couple of weeks, which turned out not to be signs of too much golf in his newly embraced retirement, but of a massive heart attack which ended his life six hours into the 10 hour drive home. Even in his final moments my grandpa never would have let anything happen to my grandma. He knew enough to pull over. To tell her he loved her. And to do it in a town filled with angels. One of those angels took my grandma home with her. Fed her, comforted her, gave her a place to stay and rest and pray until my uncle could meet up with her and drive the rest of the way to Arkansas with her. Some might call it a stranger's kindness. But my grandma has ne...

Glamming it up with my mom. Summer 1999. When was the last time you spent one-on-one time with your mom? I did yesterday. I drove her to and from a doctor's appointment over an hour away and we talked the entire 2+ hours as if we hadn't seen each other in months (we live half a mile away from each other and had dinner together the night before). That's the beauty of relationships with the people who have been in your life forever. You can go months or years or days or half a day without seeing each other and be able to pick right up where you left off, enjoying one another's company, embracing the relationship and the time and the fact that you just get each other, because you are family. EMBRACE MOTHER-DAUGHTER TIME . If you are lucky enough to have your mom, or a mother figure in your life, cherish all the time you have together. Listening to We Need Each Other by Sanctus Real . 

Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. As I was preparing my heart to read Malachi over the weekend I thought, There has to be something incredibly significant about this book . After all, it is the last thing we read before we meet Jesus. And yet I could not bring to mind anything about this book and its mere four chapters. It turns out that Malachi is about those ordinary, normal, humdrum times in our lives when we start to think that we are in control and God doesn't have anything to do with it. We might even complain about God (Do I really have to tithe 10 percent?), start judging what He is doing for others (Can you believe SHE won the lottery? Did you see what he just bought with his food stamps?), or just go through the motions of one hour on Sunday mornings as if we can check God off our to-do list for the week until Sunday rolls around again. Malachi tells us that it is precisely in these moments – the normal, ordinary days when we think WE are in contro...

A few months back I re-read Robert Frost's poem "The Road Less Traveled," which is actually called " The Road Not Taken ." It's not at all about forging new paths and being adventurous like I fondly remember it. In fact the poem says the paths were worn "about the same." So there was no road less traveled, only the road not taken, because when there are two paths we can only take one. In the end he is looking back "with a sigh", implying he was not satisfied with the chosen path because he was left wondering what had become of that other path and what his life would have been like if he had taken it. I thought about this yesterday as I wandered the trails at Caesar's Creek Lake, in search of the "falls" that a sign early on claimed were down one of these paths. The problem was there were few signs, many forks, and numerous paths all equally trodden. I never did find the falls. But I found scenic vistas. And good company....

On Tuesday I picked up a rental car and drove the 231 miles from Corpus Christi to the Houston airport. Though a mere four hour drive, it reminded me how much I love road trips. Road trips are carefree, full of untold adventures. Yet I've found that there are certain "rules" to making the most of the journey. These are my top 10: 1. If you have a final destination point, or a schedule to keep, allow for twice as much time as it would take were you to drive direct from point A to point B. For example, my flight was scheduled to leave at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, so I made sure to leave the house by 8 a.m. 2. Drive with your windows down . Regardless of how hot or cold, windy or rainy, sunny or snowy it is, you can't get the full experience of your surroundings if you aren't breathing in all of it. The only exception to this rule I have ever made was driving through a blizzard in New Mexico. And truth be told, if I had to do it all over again, I probably would have ...

Traveling alone or together, for business or pleasure, airports are a melting pot of thousands of different people going thousands of different places for thousands of different reasons.  And yet I love that I can sit down at a restaurant in the Houston airport and have a drink with a man who works for a company in New York, and later that day board a plane in Baltimore and sit next to a woman who works for the very same company.  And I love that the Corpus Christi airport is so small all the car rental companies share the same valet who meets you at baggage claim with the keys to your Beetle or BMW or Expedition.  Airports ensure that you don't miss life's most important moments, even if you live 1,336 miles away. I love that Indianapolis has a food court you can eat at without having a plane ticket. I love that Minneapolis sells tie-dyed blankets in case the plane is too cold. I love that the Cincinnati airport is in Kentucky. I love that flights in and o...

Corpus Christi Bay. May 13, 2013. There is something about walking on the beach barefoot and putting my feet in a large body of water that makes life feel perfect again. Like I'm 10 years old, on a family vacation at Myrtle Beach. Before my mom got sick and my grandparents died and my heart got broken. Before responsibilities and life-altering choices. Any time you have a moment like that, one that is filled with so much peace that it takes away any hardship you've ever experienced, you have to embrace it. Even if it only lasts a moment. A day. Or a week's vacation. EMBRACE BEACHES . Or deserts or mountains or sailboats or whatever it is that gives you peace.

When you hang out with a one-year-old you celebrate everything.  Riley Claire on her first birthday. May 12, 2013. She takes one step or five and the entire room bursts in to "Yay!"  She pushes a button on one of her toys and it starts to sing, so she bursts in to applause, delighted with her achievement and that of the toy.  She uses sign language to tell you she wants a drink. "Good girl," you praise. When she signs "more" followed by "drink" you are over the top amazed that she has just put together a phrase.  She jabbers nonstop and you love the sounds that she creates.  She says "uh oh" and you start dropping things on purpose just so she'll say it.  She waves "hi" and "bye" and it is the cutest thing you have ever seen.  Her parents go to a movie and leave you home alone with her for two hours and you are thrilled to have her all to yourself.  When do we stop embracing eve...

"I wish I was as brave as you," Nicole said as she took the first whack at my hair. A good four inches landed at my feet. Every time I cut my hair off I get the same reaction. "I wish I was so brave." Why does getting a haircut require bravery? Why are we so attached to our hair? Why do men like women with long hair? Why does short hair on a woman make you think she is a lesbian or recovering from cancer? Why do men get so insecure about going bald? After all, it's just hair. This morning when I got up to run I didn't have to fuss with my hair. It took 15 seconds to wash it after my run and even less time to dry. It's convenient and cute. And six months from now I'll probably decide to grow it back out. And a year after that I'll cut it again. Why? Because it is just hair. EMBRACE HAIRCUTS . God called way more people to be barbers and hairdressers than He did to be Samsons (the one guy in the Bible whose strength was found in not cu...

Tessa's necessities. In preparation for an all-day outing on Monday, Tessa packed six purses full of "necessities." One purse had three tubes of chapstick in assorted flavors. Another was full of blocks (I'm trying to think if I've ever even seen her play with blocks). A third purse contained a baby doll's juice and milk bottles (the baby doll was obviously carrying this purse). A fourth purse had a tiny giraffe and a lego man who appeared to be attached to a balance beam with silly putty. The fifth held even more essentials for a day out: rulers, jewelry, a fork, and a rubber ball. The sixth purse was empty. It was large enough to hold the other five purses or fill with whatever treasures her day out revealed. As I packed my own suitcase for a long weekend in Texas, I too filled it with "necessities." At least two outfit options per day. Three pairs of shoes. Makeup (because I've worn that once this year). Assorted gifts from one group of ...

My nieces love to count how many people are around the dinner table, particularly on Sunday nights when we have family dinner night and a dozen of us are gathered around. This usually happens in English and Spanish (thank you Dora the Explorer!), but occasionally the adults will chime in with Japanese, French, and German too. I love when this happens because languages are so beautiful.  Preparing for my trip to Texas... It's also amazing to listen as the kids' vocabulary grows.  Kasen asked last week what "adopted" meant.  Tessa has learned the phrases "I can't believe my eyes" and "Isn't it amazing" and she includes them in all of the stories she weaves.   Kaylee's definition of work means "leaving home." (She told me Grandpa's job was to make pancakes and chocolate milk, presumably because she once went to a Lion's Club breakfast where he was cooking. She has visited him on the farm too and se...

Why is it that we have such a hard time accepting the generosity of others? Why is it that we are suspicious of their "ulterior motives"? Is it possible that they merely want to give a gift in order to be a blessing? Or because the Bible says to freely give what you have been freely given? Or because your friendship has meant so much to them that they want to do something for you in return? I haven't always been good at receiving the generosity of others. I have never forgotten the time my college best friend and I had lunch at the Olive Garden and an older couple offered to pay for our meal, "Because we remember what it was like when we were in college." We were particularly grubby this day, as I recall. I'm sure we were wearing bandanas, gray t-shirts, and holy jeans as was our official college wardrobe. Not because it was all we had but because we wanted to. We refused to let the couple pay for us because, even though we looked it, we weren't y...

A bonus to my new hobby: the need for shoe shopping! Last week I mentioned that my brother and I were going to start training for a triathlon. What I didn't mention is that I'm not a runner, cyclist, or swimmer. Running, in particular, is something that I've always wanted to do but my body does not seem to naturally do well. When I was in junior high one of my "friends" told me I didn't run well because my hips are too big. In high school, after spending a week on crutches due to tendinitis, an orthopedist told me the real problem was that my kneecaps are crooked. After breaking a couple bones in my feet  in college and rolling a 4-wheeler over my right ankle just a few years ago, a full body scan showed flames of arthritis in both feet and all the way up my right leg. (It seems I also fractured my right tibia at some unknown point in my life.) This makes everyday walking -- rain or shine -- a painful process, so running seems out of the question....

On Saturday, as I drove to Cleveland to watch the Indians play the Minnesota Twins, I thought, "This is a day of restoration." The last time I attended a major league baseball game, a mere month ago, the day didn't turn out quite as planned . I missed the game that I had been looking forward to for months when I succumbed to the flu in the second inning. But the Bible says that after Job lost everything, God restored it all back to him . In fact, God gave Job twice what he had before. So I was determined Saturday that positive memories, enjoyment, and the spirit of the game would be restored to me, in full, or even greater. Progressive Field. Cleveland, Ohio. May 4, 2013. I was expecting overcast skies and mid 60s temps. I got 78 degrees and full sun. I was expecting crowded seats and having to climb over people every time I had to go to the bathroom or get a drink. I got a patio set all to myself with lots of friendly neighbors who also had lots of leg ...

Kaylee and Kenzi show some love. A recent survey by the Barna Group sought to discover whether Christians today are more like Jesus or more like the Pharisees. I think the account in John 8 of the woman caught in adultery shows the distinction between Jesus and the Pharisees quite well. The Pharisees judged the woman for her sin, shamed her by pointing out her adultery to the crowd, and condemned her to be stoned. They were also hoping to prove that Jesus didn't know the "rules" of how to be a good Christian. Jesus told them to go ahead and stone her -- and let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone. Because none of them were without sin, they all walked away. Jesus told the woman she was free to go as well, requesting that she "sin no more." He didn't judge her, shame her, or condemn her. He loved her and set her free, knowing that God's love and forgiveness is what makes us want to "sin no more," not rules and jud...

My brothers are my favorite partners in adventure. We've conquered canyons and caves. Road trips and rock walls. Sky and sea. So obviously I said yes when my brother asked me this week if I wanted to be his triathlon buddy. I can't think of a better way to spend my summer! EMBRACE ADVENTURE . "There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." -  Jawaharlal Nehru Listening to Adventure Club & Krewella sing Rise & Fall . 

The weather this week has been amazing. I love being able to open my doors and let the breeze blow through the house. The fresh air, birds chirping, and occasional traffic are a nice addition to the regular background music of my day -- the running of the refrigerator, hum of the computer, and tumbling of the clothes dryer. As I was embracing all of this, a prayer suddenly came to my heart: Lord, I pray for open doors.  I wasn't sure exactly what I was praying for, which is always a scary thought, but the prayer felt right. I thought of the phrase "open door policy." Professors often have such a policy, which invites students to stop by any time to ask for help or discuss the subject being taught. God also has an open door policy. I can go to Him any time for any reason -- for help, to say "thanks," or just to hang out. I'm also grateful to have a few close friends whose doors are always open. I think I could work harder at adopting an open door pol...

The view from my front door. April 30, 2013. I love to mow. Mowing is a great activity for introverts. Years ago after an all-day conference about interpersonal communication, one guy and I were left alone at a table while everyone else in the room socialized. "I can't wait to go home and mow," I shared, breaking the silence we were enjoying. "Me too!" he said. "My wife thinks I'm nuts. But people exhaust me and mowing is just the thing to get me going again." Mowing is a great way to relax. Yesterday after two hours of mowing in the sun I came inside and took a nap. Not an "I'm exhausted" nap, but an "I'm so happy I just want to shut my eyes for 20 minutes and relish it" nap. Kind of like being in the tanning bed and just giving yourself over to the warmth and gentle hum of contentedness. Mowing is good stewardship. I'm grateful to live in the country and have a big yard, so my gratitude just spills over ...