On New Year's Day, as our family was driving home in the evening from Los Angeles, we watched an incandescent full moon rising over the silhouette of mountains. She moved in a slow waltz to the center of the midnight blue sky like it was her dance floor. My girls were squealing in the back seat, "I want to see! I want to see!" I tried to take a [...] Keep Reading
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Behold the Savior: Remembering Heaven as part of Christmas
The other night we piled in the car with our jammies on and took the kids on a drive down Christmas Tree Lane. This iconic Christmas light show has been operating for 95 years in our city of Fresno. As we were inching down the two-mile-long lane, my 6-year-old Zayla squealed with delight. “Mama, mama, look!” I heard her say. “It’s the Activity [...] Keep Reading
Podcast: A conversation about “Chasing Rest”
One of my favorite places to go on a late summer night is Moravia Winery – just a short drive from our home in Fresno, California. Somehow even when it’s scorching outside, it’s a few degrees cooler out at the winery. My kids love to play wild and free with their friends on the pirate ship play structure. Some of the daddies play bocce ball. We [...] Keep Reading
Transitions: Leaving space for the grief and the glory
On Sunday evening, we rolled into town after a glorious day relaxing at the lake with family and friends. This was the grand finale to our 12 weeks of summer fun. We packed these weeks with Track & Field camp, travel to San Diego and Haiti, sleepovers with Grandma, staying up late if we felt like it, days for lounging and days for chasing [...] Keep Reading
The Hard Work of Building Bridges
The original version of this essay was published on May 16, 2016 in Self Talk the Gospel. I’m fascinated by bridges. I live in California so you can imagine the first bridge that comes to mind is the Golden Gate Bridge. Regal. Majestic. Glorious. Poppy red-by-day and glowing-with-lights by night. Iconic to the San Francisco skyline. The [...] Keep Reading
Haitian stuffed chayote squash: It ain't easy being cheesy
Ingredients: -5 chayote squash -1/2 teaspoon salt plus 1/4 teaspoon salt -1 small onion -1 small green pepper -1/2 cup flour -1 cup milk -1/4 cup butter plus 2 tablespoons cut into small chunks -3 sprigs parsley -1 stalk green onion -2 drops Tabasco sauce -1 bouillon cube -1/4 cup parmesan cheese Directions: 1. Cut 5 chayote in half. Remove center [...] Keep Reading
