
As the days grow shorter and darkness descends earlier, it’s good to revisit the story of the Jack-o’-lantern, reposted below. Until a year and a half ago, my family had our very own brightly lit human Jack-o’-lantern. A Halloween baby, Mom was our sweetest treat every day of the year.
Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom. We love you and miss you. Continue reading

**Congratulations to the 150th rootedandgrowing.com follower, Laura R., from Waterford, VA! Laura will receive a few of my favorite things!** (written by Kathy and posted earlier on the MomsHooPray website) Bleary eyed from just waking up, I trudged to the kitchen to make my morning Darjeeling, a strong black tea. I like it black—just plain […]

I have barely slept these past 6 nights; I gave up my OTC sleep aids last week after hearing from my Physicians Assistant that the active ingredient, the same as what’s in a common allergy pill, may be linked with dementia. I’m not usually over-reactive to such news, after all, those studies are often unreliable. Then I had a very senior moment and my decision was made. Continue reading

“I like to have fun and a lot of Christians seem like duds.”
I could have written that quote. As a high school freshman, I wanted nothing more than to have fun. 45 years ago, when I boarded the bus headed to Young Life‘s Saranac Village, I was hung over from the night before. And like the headline, I loved beer! But I most certainly did not love Jesus. Continue reading

Do you have fond memories of 7th grade? Maybe you were one of the cool kids or you had at least one loyal friendship to see you through those tumultuous, often cringe-worthy days, so the memories evoked by The Wonder Years—or similar coming of age shows—were not too painful. But the scene pictured above hit […]

My husband appropriately calls himself “The Spotter.” Wherever we travel, he looks around, helpfully pointing out the *unusual, whimsical, interesting or sweet — then I point my camera and record it. He endures vacations and local outings which often consist of hours of wandering on foot, my camera at the ready. I shuffle a few steps forward, then come to a sudden halt. I point, shoot and start up again; by his count, the most consecutive steps I take — before I inevitably stop again — is five.