- Bubble baths at Daboo\'s- Happy 15th to you, Bran. So grateful we get to be your parents. All the time. - Branson\'s 15th birthday dinner ~ loved celebrating with special friends and family.All four grandparents ~ indescribable giftNickMo, Mitchell, Bran and Coach...
- Hud\'s 7th grade basketball season. Other than missing a few weeks because of a snowboarding injury, he played great and loved the season. Fantastic teammates and families to sit in the bleachers with. - Essie working with me at the McLean concession stand. She...
- A new start. The new year, and with it, new patterns and a new beginning.- Nikki sharing this quote ~ lovely thought to starting a new year. - Corbin feeling better after bronchitis and ear infections. Medicine is amazing!- Me on the road to recovery... we\'ve all...
I gave this book to three important men in my life last month ~ my father, Corbin's father, and our pastor. I was hoping at least one of the dads would pass it back for me to read, but no luck. My father has turned it into a stylistic reference guide for his own...
Wowzers - read this. Quick. Need a great read for a few wintry evenings? Or a birthday gift for your mom or sister? Or simply a pick-me-up for a friend? Put this little gem in their hands... but do make sure to get a copy of your own. Even for the non-reader, the...
Smoke from the fire pit streamed into the cool morning air as Marshall and I warmed our hands around the low fire. Along the river's edge, bright yellow and orange trees reflected in the glass-like surface below, spreading the brilliant autumn colors above and below...
My dear friend Krista put this book in my hand as I headed out on a trip several weeks ago. She’d read The Butterfly and the Violin last summer and told me right away I needed to read it. She was taken with the story and the writing, and couldn’t believe it was a...
Every spring my college girlfriends and I get away to some remote lake house or home to spend a few days together. Invariably, the conversation revolves around our kids and parenting. Last Spring, gathered around Cammi’s kitchen island, we were stumped with an issue...
- Total GIFT of having Shawn and Heidi in our home for a few days. What bright lights for God\'s kingdom. They\'ve been serving with CRU for 12 years now in San Diego, and getting some time with them was a complete joy for our family. In their short time with us, both...
- A few days in Austin with Corbin - thanks to amazing grandparents keeping kids - what a gift to not worry a bit, knowing they\'re having more fun than if we were there. - Time with heart friends in Austin: visting with Carlos and Kelly in their home; Kirsten,...
We've shared monthly dinners now for more than fourteen years. One gal spearheaded this dinner club all those years ago, realizing that as our lives began splintering apart with attending different churches, the influx of babies, moving into different communities and...
Gladys Pearl James ~ not just anyone can wear the name Gladys Pearl. Or in my opinion, James. This fall marks eighteen years that Gladys Pearl, my Granny, has been delighting crowds in heaven - and delighting herself in the Lord in the process. Even though she\'s been...
- These friends (and some others not pictured) on our back porch for dinner. Lovely evening, lovely friendships. So grateful for these foundational friends. Also thankful for the privilege of extending hospitality.- Our Christmas in Cowtown tradition ~ missing half a...
- Watching Hudda play football. Great boys, great team. Great fun for us in the stands. #22- How Basden entertains herself during games - Essie on the soccer field. Still figuring it out, but she\'s lost the mega bow. This in response to her biggest brother on the...
- Our neighborhood and neighbors. And that our front lawn often looks like this. - \"Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,...
- That love ~ truly ~ covers a multitude of sin.- Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful...
- That we don’t own an xbox.- Basden\'s sensitivity to Corbin\'s stress / disappointment with work.- Thicker skin for me.- SKYLAR!! About to be \"3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Skylar.\" - A resolve to be united with those who sometimes prove frustrating or difficult.- Our...
James Foley’s murder, Obama said, was “an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world." Yesterday I refrained from calling Corbin at work - twice - when I felt truly nauseated with the news of Foley's death. I didn't know what to do with my shock,...
“Listen, if you need to go home, y’all go.” That from Mama as Corbin and I were discussing the football coach’s text that popped up on Corbin's phone Saturday evening during dinner. Bottom line, he wanted Branson home for practice Monday morning. We’d just arrived in...
I was a little worried Bran might have talked KIVU up too much for Hudson over the past year. But even with the week at camp flying by for them, and even with several favorite activities rained out, I’m realizing that it’s just not possible to over-build...
Essie looked up at me, her big brown eyes bloodshot and face pale, "Mommy, you know I\'m not faking feeling bad, right? " "Oh Essie, I can tell, sweetie. You look miserable. Let's get some food and water in you." This took place last Thursday afternoon in our hotel...
The road to Sectionals, that is, including both our boys' teams. If you're looking for a place for your boy to play baseball, it doesn't get better than Fort Worth's University Little League. And I would say that even if we didn't win District in ALL FIVE age groups...
- Boys trying out Bran\'s their new toy. Delayed gratification ~ Bran has been waiting for this fishing kayak since he turned 13. Now we just need some rain for the lake!Training Ruby to be a fisher-pup. She looks a little freaked-out to me.- Our backyard full of...
The past couple of weeks I've been itching to write a review of Unbroken. We have some avid readers on Bran's baseball team (the parents, not the players), and earlier this summer a friend suggested I read Unbroken. Actually, she said I needed to read Unbroken....
- Hud\'s big grin (the braces are new ~ his round 2 began a couple of weeks ago). Snapped by Kevin, our middle school pastor after lunch at Chipotle. - Coffee on the back porch looking out over a rainy summer Sunday morning- That Essie still gets in Basden\'s bed to...
- Summer baseball... especially fun when the games end in our favor. Gearing up for District play next week for both teams. Bran getting to play 3rd base ~ a treat- Coach\'s effort towards clear communication, and what a difference that makes.- Cute boys. Especially...
- Summer has ARRIVED- Not making four lunches every night before bed- No homework- Sleeping late ~ at least we\'ll get to next week after kids camp!- Being home more, and our kids with each other off and on during the day. As grateful as I am for school, I love the...
Mama and Daboo took Basden and Nettie May on a "10-year-old Adventure" to New York, and I got to tag along. It was a fantastic handful of days ~ a few highlights we want to remember: - Flying in felt like we were traveling to a foreign country - Daboo's extensive...
- Time with Paige and her new family. We wouldn\'t have guessed 22 years ago (!) sitting around in our Kanakuk (Kanakomo) cabin that we\'d be getting our families together all these years later for a Memorial Day breakfast. Or maybe we would have. - An afternoon with...
By 9:30 Monday mornings I'm almost always ready. Coffee percolating, music playing, prayer sheets printed and ready on the ottoman tray along with extra pens. I'm always touched by the women taking time on a Monday morning to attend our Moms in Prayer meetings -...
We took a rebellious family vacation last weekend. Rebellious in that we struggled against the tyranny of school, baseball, field trips, Stanford testing, etc. to take a couple of days at the beach for our family. In the aftermath of a full April and May, and then...
Last Saturday we celebrated the dedication of the new "Stephanie Woodard Family Pavilion" at our home away from home, University Little League. The celebration opened with Don Bescher sharing a few thoughts and thanking donors, and Tom Hill closing with a lovely...
- Walking downstairs on a Sunday morning to find her like this- A cold, rainy April Sunday. As in, rained all day. Everything cancelled except one indoor practice, and the coach was kind enough to taxi Hud back and forth. Other than church in the morning, we didn\'t...
Corbin and I got to meet author Paul Batura last fall while attending a Focus on the Family Couples' Retreat with our friends Steve and Lisa. As we landed in Colorado Springs and headed to lunch, Steve announced that he had already made an appointment for us to go...
- Men of my life- Getting to host YL adult committee dinner and meeting ~ grateful for lovely weather, lovely people. Sweet Basden helping me peel and slice 24 apples for apple crisp for dessert ~ Pioneer Woman\'s recipe phenomenal- Crazy blessed by Bridgett\'s...
"Because when Clyde died, there wasn't much of me left." Written by Dar, my sweet friend Jessica's grandmother, in the letter I received just two weeks ago. I thought of Dar's love and appreciation for her late husband, her connection to him, and how lonely she must...
- A very happy 14th to Bran...- Essie\'s non-stop love for playing school. Usually by herself, as she\'s got the entire sun room organized as her classroom. She is, of course, \"teacher\" to Daboo and Basden here. - Making the most of a rainy day. Love that they...
I spent a few hours (yes - hours) last week trying to put our Spring Break trip into words, but Corbin summed it up nicely in this email to my brother - Trey - Don’t know if you had talked to your mom/dad about our trip, but we planned a Spring Break cruise out of New...
I watched intently from the stands as that blonde head went up for rebound after rebound, arms extended, jumping high under the net to grab the basketball and pass to a sprinting teammate. As the players swarmed in and out under the net, Bran spent most of the game...
James Gang - 24 (really 25!) and counting... All of my brothers and their families gathered from their far-flung homes in Tulsa, Alpharetta and Bozeman for a Fort Worth family Christmas. So far our little group weighs in with 24 members, and it'll be 25 this summer...
My brother Trey's name appeared on caller ID a couple of months ago, but when I put the phone to my ear it was six-year-old Marshall's sweet voice on the other end. And he got right to the point. "Aunt Tonya, Jesus is in my heart." "Whoa, whaaat? Marshall ~ I'm...
"You will never believe my afternoon," I told Corbin one evening a couple of weeks ago. He raised an eyebrow and continued making lunches as I cleaned the dinner dishes and ushered kids upstairs for bed. It had been a looonnnng day, and even with the bizarre proposal...
Yesterday I witnessed a miracle. A real, live, medical miracle. I wrote about my mother-in-love's bravery a month ago as she endured Biometric neurostimulator brain implant surgery for a familial tremor. For the past month as Jamie has been resting and healing from...
"Basden Joy, would you rather do gymnastics or horse lessons this fall? Or volleyball?" She looked thoughtful as she helped me pull her duvet cover and sheets to the top of her bed, aligning the pillows as we straightened her bed that morning. "Well, do they have...
A cascade of red roses flowed across his casket, deer antlers and pheasant feathers framing the bouquet. As the octogenarian Baptist minister described Brett, “He was all man. He was 12 inches of a foot, 36 inches of a yard, and 16 ounces of a pound.” Mom, dad and I...
It started with the Tanglewood Carnival cakewalk. Esther assured me she would win. Only one winner, with about twenty-five kids marching in a circle to the music. And she won. "I told you so," she smirked at me, exiting the room with a white, scalloped-edged,...
Coach Tim Bostick and Coach Marty McCutchen The 6th grade Panther football team concluded our four-year run last Tuesday night. The team celebrated Sunday evening with the Paschal High School alumni field presentation, then moved the party to Pop's Garage for...
- That our pastor teaches this - firmly - from the pulpit.- Taking (making) the time to write. And how it feeds my soul. - Praying each week alongside school moms. - The pool house - clean and cozy - such a gift.- Her new habit. How do kids intuitively know how to do...
Mama - You are Brave. It's a little unsettling when the one who takes care of everyone becomes the one who needs to be cared for. For the past two decades, my mother-in-love has helped us move homes, clean out garages, paint rooms, and play-play-PLAY with our kiddos....
On what turned out to be a windy, chilly, rainy, and evidently very busy evening, we celebrated Fort Worth Young Life with our Fund Raising Banquet last night. I've had the privilege of working alongside the Young Life committee with banquets off and on over the...