If you follow me anywhere on social media, you know I love sunrises and sunsets. I #hashtag all my sunset photos with #chasing the sunset. For me a sunset is God’s signature to the end of a day. There is something calming and soothing to the last rays of sunlight creating splashes of color through the clouds. The photo above is the sunset from March 30, 2015…the day my dad passed away. He took his last breath at 6:30 p.m.. …
My desire was to record picture stories for my own children and grandchildren to one day hold in their hands and journey through as I was doing in that moment. I had my entire life history piled around me. I laughed and I cried. As the hours passed I came to realize there was a gentle, quiet healing happening in my heart and soul………. My writing sister, Michele Oleary, graciously invited me to be a guest contributor on her…
It’s Father’s Day. It will be the third one I have celebrated without my dad. He’s the one who taught me how to skip rocks on water…how to shoot a firearm…how to fish….how to drive a car….how to ride a horse. The most important lesson he taught me was how to live in grace. He was one of the Father God’s prodigal sons. You see, for a good portion of my dad’s adult life he was an alcoholic, which led…
Nope, not the latest “Die Hard” movie title… or Vin Diesel…or Sandra Bullock in a runaway bus. The word “hijacked” makes my gut clench…how about you? It conjures up images in my mind of jet planes, cars with babies in the back seat, and tragic endings. Rather than the drama of a 5 o’clock news reel, I’ve been pondering the silent, lurking, stealthy, stalking kind of hijacking. You know, the kind that sneaks up on you…such as a serious medical…
The photo of my dad, Jerry, and my oldest granddaughter, Phoebe Hope, was taken on my birthday in 2009. I’m a memory maker….I love making birthdays, holidays and special occasions memorable and fun. (I want my friends and family to have all the sweet memories their hearts can hold!) That birthday became a three generation memory. We enjoyed lunch together and embarked on a nature adventure at a nearby reservoir. There was rock skipping and up close investigation of the…
In recent weeks, our rural corner of the world was one of several locations across the country that experienced devastating fires. What could have been a quick containment of flames, became a nightmare due to high, gale force winds. And who would have ever thought, that wildlife fleeing for their lives, would have spread the fire? Rabbits, pheasants, and other animals, literally ablaze, carried flames across ground that had been plowed to stop the fire, into the adjoining dry fields…
“He accepted the challenges no matter how difficult and severe they were. He moved on with his life. He fought the fight and kept on keeping on. When things go wrong in your lives, remember him and the example he lived out. That is his lasting gift and legacy to all of you.” Sweet words written to me and my family about my dad after his death in 2015. When I came across them again a few weeks ago they…
“Hello…my name is, Jeri, and I’m a recovering finger pointer. Finger pointing in one form or another seems to be the current social media obsession. I have opinions. You have opinions. Expressing those opinions is a God-given and blood bought right for those of us who call ourselves Americans. It is a gift. Men and women died on battlefields and continue to die to protect that freedom. Sadly, the gift of free speech has…
Grab your coffee… sit a spell… put your feet up… and let me tell you a little story about a woman who is gathering her life around her and embracing the gift of learning to take care of herself. Yep! That’s me and my honey on our wedding day. Cute, aren’t we? We were cute and clueless about life, marriage, and what the blending of our families would bring across our path as a married couple. Life happened. Babies…
“The blessing is that we had our dads, as ornery as they could be, and we were still their little girls.” This was part of a Thanksgiving text from a precious friend who knew I was missing my dad at our table again this year. Her “dad story” and mine run parallel with so many similarities. Her journey as daughter-caregiver until her dad’s death was a few years ahead of mine. She had already navigated the heartaches and frustrations. Time…
The condensed version of this post is on the “Compassion That Compels” blog. Please visit and encourage my sweet friend, Kristianne Stewart, in her mission to bring hope to women battling cancer. You can give the gift of prayer, donate a Compassion Bag, shop with Dayspring and Altar’D State from the website, and follow her and her BEAUTIFUL ONES on social media. You can also designate “Compassion that Compels”as your charity of choice through AmazonSmile. “Be cheerful no matter what;…