A young man was killed in our neighborhood last week. He was a USC film student who had some sort of altercation on the street while walking with friends late at night near campus. There was a fight, he was stabbed, and he died. Everything about the situation is tragic, and while USC can feel… Continue reading What a life is worth
Author: erika
Fun times after church
Sunday after church we headed to a nearby restaurant to grab lunch with our good friends. As we arrived and found street parking, I sent Doug and the baby and Mercy to go in and grab us a table while I changed Aaron’s drinking-fountain-soaked shirt in the back of the van. I had barely finished… Continue reading Fun times after church
Quotation of the Week
Then it hit me that stewardship is like sobriety: it’s a day-by-day decision to trust God. The alcoholic lets the conditions around him/her determine drinking: got fired? drink. Got a raise? drink. Feeling blue? drink. Feeling happy? drink. Bored? Yes, drink. Exhausted? drink. Sobriety is a choice a person makes for right now and today.… Continue reading Quotation of the Week
The end
I came across a post on a friend’s blog this week that I deeply appreciated. It reminded me a teaching series I did once where I shared the experience of having my assumptions, based on scripture of course, challenged by someone who suggested that maybe Jesus’ return would not match my expectations and imagination, in… Continue reading The end
School mom
I have a blogging friend I really appreciate who posts periodically about her mishaps in negotiating parenting kids in school: things like forgetting picture day or failing to order the needed school supplies. I have always read these posts and smiled but not related, until now. Mercy started preschool two weeks ago, and I feel… Continue reading School mom
Change
Transition is in the air. Mercy started preschool this past week at a little Catholic school a few blocks away. The nuns are delightful and Mercy seems to be enjoying her experience very much. Elijah has started walking and talking. And at his physical yesterday, he weighed in at a not-so-modest twenty-seven pounds. My mom… Continue reading Change
Quotation of the Week
We focus a lot on the adjectives. We want to be special, unique…We take those markers of specialization and turn them into entirely different entities. Grammatically speaking, we take adjectives and turn them into nouns. In politics, conservative and liberal used to describe a person’s beliefs, but now these terms stand for the person themselves.… Continue reading Quotation of the Week
School
Mercy started preschool this week to her great delight. It is a Catholic school in our neighborhood run by resident nuns, and today I was telling Mercy about a conversation I had with one of her teachers. When I was done I asked Mercy if she liked Sister Zina and she said that she did.… Continue reading School
Our little Ophelias
A few weeks back, my friend Christine posted an excerpt from an L.A. Times article that included a bunch of statistics released by the YWCA concerning women and girls and issues of image, beauty and societal pressure. I remember reading it and being sobered by the pervasive acceptance of plastic surgery as well as by… Continue reading Our little Ophelias
You know you are in the Pacific Northwest when…
-having a Thule top on your minivan is NOT helpful in finding your vehicle in a crowded parking lot -you overhear your friends swapping composting tips they learned in the composting class they recently attended -you are not disappointed, EVER, when you ask what is on tap -every third car is a Subaru -every fourth… Continue reading You know you are in the Pacific Northwest when…