Ordinary Life

::: all hyperlinks contain secret messages :::  PEW, PEW, PEW The * old wooden pews in the Nazarene church I grew up in required a sort of sidewinding to maneuver one’s way out. But it wasn't just Nazarene pews that demanded this certain sort of leg-bumping-hymnal-rack-dodging-side-shuffle to reach the aisles. The pews in other churches worked much the same way - regardless of padding or denominational affiliation. This led many of us children to slide-scoot on our bottoms, down the pew towards the ornate end pieces that led to wide-stanced freedom. Sometimes, when long-winded adults stood like talking roadblocks in our way, one might high-step a hasty trot down the pew seats themselves, clearing stacks of hard-back hymnals and leather bound pages of the Good Book like so many hurdles in a race.  Joyful or no - it was a bad idea to make the horsey sounds out loud.  Other times,  we could escape by army-crawling  under the length of pews until we reached ** Wh...

Today was a Fantastic Fours Day  1.) Potato People by James   2.) Mashed Potato People 3.) The Carnage  4.) Also, Tater Tots  Was it wrong that we fed the Potato People mashed potatoes before mashing them ?  Through a series of conversations, we ended up listening to Johnny Cash, too. But I’m not *judging me harshly because there was dancing, too!   *when a child shares their joys with you, let them* We did spiritualize it a little, and segued smoothly into our actual lesson about Noah and having patience (TopsyTurvy on @Right Now Media)  😊 Fulsom Prison Blues = shooting someone just to watch them die is the kind of behavior that led to The Flood Cry,Cry,Cry = clearly about a rooster going away after the sun goes down, crying(x3) because Peter denied Jesus 3 times  I Walk The Line = is there any more spiritual practice than keeping an eye on one’s heart, staying alert and walking the line ?  We didn’t listen to Ring of Fire but it has s...

SINGLE  FILE LINES Welcome to my new sub-feature,  Single File Lines (by Kelly)  That’s me.  A Christian divorcee’ and single (again) mom to four fantastic children and a wonderful bonus son.  I’ve added this  "file"  to my regular  column,   “ The Pretty Good Report ” @ Patheos to share my SWF (single, with family) adventure.  When I married, over two decades ago,  I never pictured someday I’d be learning the ropes of modern  dating alongside my own children, and yet, here we all are,  mo’ awkward than a mohawk, monitoring each other's behavior online.  The truth is, I wasn’t single for any significant stretch of time the first go round. Fresh out of high school, working as a K4 teacher in the same small Christian school I had just graduated from, I married the father of a student in the neighboring K3  class. All before a year from graduation had passed.  Think back with me for just ...

All Hallow: Everything Belongs To Him / Article and Photo by Kelly Brewer[/caption] Sugar Rush Weekend  For a little over a decade now, I’ve referred to the days surrounding Halloween as “Sugar Rush Weekend” not only for the inevitable  * plastic pumpkins overflowing with fun-sized cand y, but also for the two regulation birthday cakes due after the last car trunk or house has been visited. Today is Halloween. All Saints Eve Twenty-one years ago, my son was born on All Saints Day . (Tomorrow) Thirteen years ago, my daughter was born on All Souls’ Day . (Two days from now)  This holiday season has long been on our family radar for more than costume parties and pumpkins. I named my children with purpose and the significance of the days they were born are of special  interest to me, too.  Somewhere along the line, I had a fuzzy misconception that All Saints and All Souls days, as well as  Dia de los Muertos  must serve primarily for ancestor worship....

    New Vision  In Part 1 , " Was Blind: The Gift of Cataracts "  I had just been handed an application for financing double cataract surgery. Rather than pretending to build up suspense (because most of my readers are related to me and already know what happened) I’ll skip directly to the end: I was approved for the financing. I had both surgeries. And they worked!  I can see clearly now .  Almost too clearly.  Let me explain.  After surgery, everything was brand new . I was suddenly more aware of how bad my vision had become. Or, maybe, now that the threat was behind me, I could allow myself to admit I had been going blind.   Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between suppressing what we fear is true and waiting for more evidence to surface. More often,  they’re comorbid conditions requiring both patience and courage.  After the first surgery, a large, shamrock-shaped cataract was removed from my left eye. :: ...

  Doctor, My Eyes…   “ You are only a few numbers from losing your driver’s license  ”  My ophthalmologist was addressing my concerns about having  surgery.  “ I’m worried I’ll have this surgery but find cataracts aren’t the cause. I’ll be making a lifelong choice for glasses. ”  I explained.  He gently took the reins of the conversation. His answer, both figurative and literal, was resolved: “Oh, it is the cataracts. We’ll take them out and you’ll see .  “ I respect your expertise… “ I meant it “I just don’t understand why the cataract specialist didn’t operate at the beginning of all this .”  “ Because you’re young and there’s a bigger chance of retinal detachment when you’re young. But, it’s still a very small likelihood” he was completely convinced  “you’ll need readers, yes, but how are you seeing without using glasses now? “   His smile elicited a mental touche’ from my place in the oversized exam chair.  I s...