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I tasted the blood from my lip before I realized I had bitten through my skin. I forced the ends of my lips upward and mentally prayed for patience and grace. Taking a deep breath, I explained — yet again — why I travel all the way to the U.S.

“Only a boy named David, only a little sling,/ … And the giant came tumbling down.” My kids sang that song, written by Arthur Arnott, during their early years. For many of us, the story of David fighting Goliath served as our first introduction to the slingshot. It’s…

“Amen.” The prayer and request for a blessing before our meal ended and we unclasped hands. The cooked hamburger with a tomato topping, aka “meatloaf,” caused my mouth to water as my husband, Mike, started serving the plates. I was searching for a topic to write about. Afin, our oldest…

“Mike,” I asked my husband, “how many kids are in this class?” I fidgeted impatiently while the movie droned relentlessly on screen. It was all about an eighth grade student’s life from birth until this celebration at the end of this school year. Next year, the student would be a…

“Wear your old clothes tomorrow, something you can get dirty,” I instructed my sixth graders. We were studying a unit on archeology and planned to enter a cave to see what was there. One of the pleasures of living in Papua, Indonesia, is that a lot of World War II history…

Poor, pitiful Pokey. On the night of April 22, my dog had a traumatic experience. The evening started well enough. Pokey was guarding me from under the bed as I caught up on current events. My husband had gone off to the store, and the boys were outside on…

I’m making a list and checking it twice. And then twice more after that. I mustn’t forget what I want to discuss. I have an annual exam at the doctor’s office coming up in mid-June. Big sigh! I’m a little anxious about the appointment. I have cold agglutinin disease…

“We’ve been together since way back when/ Sometimes I never want to see you again/ But I want you to know, after all these years/ You’re still the one I want whisperin’ in my ear.” — From “Still the One,” written by John and Johanna Hall and recorded by…

Shielding my eyes from the bright sun, I set the laundry basket on the ground and select a few shirts. I sling them over my left shoulder and get started on my task. I have always hung my laundry out in the sunlight and fresh air to dry. To be…

“It rained and it rained and it rained. Piglet told himself that never in all his life, and he was goodness knows how old—three, was it, or four?—never had he seen so much rain.” — A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh“ This was a perfect description of the rain coming down. Before,…