tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203302622010-03-18T05:37:08.881-05:00Robnoreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-37307831343840854672009-07-30T00:34:00.002-05:002009-07-30T00:44:37.474-05:00

Parker J. Palmer (who I just quoted on my FB page) wrote this poem as "a token of hope to anyone who may be enduring" a difficult season. Parker wrote this poem as he walked past a field as it was being harvested; the dominant metaphor of the poem is hopeful--although there is destruction in the plowing process, there is also room for healing and new life.HARROWINGThe plow has savaged this sweet

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-21974297546882478412009-06-27T01:11:00.003-05:002009-06-27T01:23:22.008-05:00

I haven't blogged in a very long time, and the posting date of my last entry is proof. I suspect that there are currently no readers!I came back to this blog because I've been (finally) catching up on blogs of some of my favorite writers/bloggers. Trisha and her family (Ben Wall's blog--see side link) are enjoying a TV-free summer and have the pictures (and a future book) to prove it. Sarah

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-74307076369903555902009-04-19T20:33:00.003-05:002009-04-19T20:36:53.569-05:00

I just left the academic awards banquet at LCU, and needed to pop into my office for some "housekeeping" with colleagues before going home. While here, I wanted to record two quick observations:1. There are inspiring students on our campus.2. I pray that my own children are applauded in heaven someday for their integrity, humility, compassion, work ethic, passion, and mostly, for their love of

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-5661369891406146282009-04-14T12:31:00.001-05:002009-04-14T12:31:57.569-05:00

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, andnot to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only thereflection of ourselves we find in them."-Thomas Merton

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-28331571921415554142009-04-06T11:17:00.002-05:002009-04-06T11:27:30.500-05:00

I recently finished Kimberly Willis Holt's When Zachary Beaver Came to Town; it is a delight.Set in the fictional tiny Texas town of Antler (somewhere between Amarillo and Wichita Falls), this coming-of-age story of 13 year old Toby Wilson's heart-breaking summer will make you pause. Faced with a mother who has left to pursue a singing career, the teenage beauty who doesn't know he exists, and "

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-68897970871404013232009-03-31T07:53:00.002-05:002009-03-31T07:57:25.447-05:00

Happy Birthday, Dad.As you enter this next year, may God's blessings wash over you, wave after wave, refreshing your soul and inspiring you in new and creative ways.You are a person with more energy, more creativity, more courage, and more humility than most people I've ever met. You can run circles around me, and you have so much charm that even the ducks are drawn to you. (Dear blog readers,

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-15392670274474686002009-03-27T14:05:00.003-05:002009-03-27T14:08:34.275-05:00

I think I've posted a part of this poem here before, but I came across it again today and decided it deserved a repeat performance. (By the way, Ina Hughes writes for the Chidren's Defense fund)."We Pray for Children" by Ina Hughes We pray for children Who put chocolate fingers everywhere, Who like to be tickled, Who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, Who sneak Popsicles before supper,

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-30032356180490923732009-03-26T08:06:00.003-05:002009-03-26T08:24:49.711-05:00

I have had the pleasure this semester of reading books from one of my favorite genres--young adult literature. I have had the opportunity to re-read some old favorites (ricocheting me quite pleasantly into my own upper elementary/junior high days) and to be introduced to some new favorites.If you haven't read Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff (and if you like this genre), put this

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-56196089720592063592009-03-22T16:10:00.002-05:002009-03-22T16:23:33.035-05:00

This poor blog. I've been treating it like a housplant--giving it a few drops of water occasionally under the mistaken notion that it will stay alive (and stand upright and put out blossoms!) with just this littlest bit of attention.But I'm back, and boy howdy, I'm ready to blog.Part of this is due to my Abilene friend, Sarah Stirman. She has been passionately pursuing her writing dream, and

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-46772346089209078282009-03-09T19:24:00.002-05:002009-03-09T19:33:00.080-05:00

Betty Sue Flowers, who is the Director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, is one smart cookie. She was the keynote speaker at the recent conference I attended, and among other things, she spoke about the power of the stories that live around us--that we shape our personal story to the larger life stories that emerge around us.She suggested (my paraphrase here) that we give ourselves a choice--we

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-5188143540625011772009-02-26T21:58:00.003-06:002009-02-26T22:11:43.982-06:00

Hello, two readers. Thank you for checking back in. As of late, this blog has fallen on hard times. You can thank facebook for that, surprisingly. I get my writing fix over there in bite-size portions. It may not be very meaningful, and the posts are necessarily short, but I can dash off a line or two between classes and feel that I have contributed something to the world.I am currently

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-46172673258564404212009-02-17T09:36:00.002-06:002009-02-17T09:40:47.696-06:00

Billy Collins is one of my new favorite poets; he served as the poet laureate of the U.S. from 2001-2003, and he is the plenary speaker at the Christian Scholars Conference in Nashville this summer. This poem recognizes the irony that exists between the gifts we give our mothers and the gifts our mothers have given to us. I don't know if my mom will like this poem, but this I do know: she will

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-87661201990351524662009-02-11T23:23:00.002-06:002009-02-11T23:43:26.433-06:00

I've been thinking about birthdays, especially those of my kiddos. Their birthdays are milestones and moments that cause me to measure, sift, and count the days. I think about the way God put our family together--how longing and prayer met two gifts of mercy and grace. I think about the fact that they weren't chosen by us--but how God chose them for us, bringing us together in moments that

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-28156341634809770602009-02-09T19:20:00.001-06:002009-02-09T19:22:53.906-06:00

I appreciate the poet Wendell Berry, who is a believer who is now making a name for himself, even in very secular anthologies. Here is one of my favorites:The Peace of Wild Things (Wendell Berry)When despair grows in meand I wake in the middle of the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,I go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-14500363655944268782009-02-04T16:50:00.003-06:002009-02-04T16:54:24.219-06:00

I saw on someone's blog a while back a quote attributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Life is made up of marble and mud."Isn't that the truth?The mud is SOOOOO easy to identify. It's cakey presence covers up so many good, beautiful objects of God's glory. If one does not look carefully, she will see only the mud.Even the mud has its purpose.But . . . don't forget to look for the marble.

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-77872612783717736932009-02-02T15:29:00.003-06:002009-02-02T15:35:32.945-06:00

Thanks to the process of "deferred adjudication," I did not have to pay my DEcember speeding ticket until today--the state apparently has a sense of humor and had the Christmas spirit, giving all the December outlaws a break. Thank you!I hope I'll remember this day vividly the next time my foot gets a little heavy. This was also a good lesson for my children, who had the pleasure of standing in

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-40257715379529381902009-01-24T18:14:00.003-06:002009-01-24T18:26:58.152-06:00

A year or two ago, a Saturday morning tradition evolved: around 9:30 or 10:00 a.m., the family (sometimes 2,sometimes 3, and sometimes all of us) would load up for a trip to our local doughnut store, Rise 'N' Shine. The order is always basically the same: 1/2 dozen kolaches, a pink glazed doughnut (Grace), and something in the cinnamon family for Rob.The people at Rise 'N' Shine over the last

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-31930812092094944592009-01-18T16:22:00.002-06:002009-01-18T16:34:34.042-06:00

I received an email from an old friend who, in writing about his fears, mentioned his life-long fear of horses.I started thinking.I, personally, am not afraid of horses. I don't mind patting one, brushing one, feeding one a carrot.I am afraid of what happens when I'm on board a horse--that moment when I use super-human strength to fling myself atop.Take as proof my last horse-riding experience.

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-2342203426089170662009-01-17T19:39:00.001-06:002009-01-17T19:41:05.067-06:00

The assistant provost at LCU is also a foster mother and a clinical psychologist who travels ALL OVER the country teaching and ministering to teens and families. She is also my friend, except I never get to see her because she is traveling ALL OVER the country! She posted this today, and I just had to share. We could all use an extra dose of perspective:"Occasionally I have the privilege of

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-18089714511938197862009-01-17T09:50:00.001-06:002009-01-17T09:53:06.255-06:00

"Joy is the result of our choices . . . we always have a choice to live the moment as a cause of resentment or as a cause of joy" (27-28).Henri Nouwen, Here and Now

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-27655462892705113382009-01-16T20:28:00.002-06:002009-01-16T20:40:24.994-06:00

I've mentioned about a trillion time before how much I love the blog antiquemommy.com. I still haven't taken the time to figure out how to create a hypertext link (yes, I'm sure it's easy, and yes, I'm just too lazy right now to do it), so I've copied and pasted a post directly here. She's not against the Wii, by the way, or anything else technological. She is opposed to not taking every

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-77985523339122390232009-01-14T22:26:00.000-06:002009-01-14T22:26:33.227-06:00

My friend Susan teaches this really interesting film course every semester; the class always fills up quickly with folks hanging out on the waiting list long after the semester begins, hoping someone will drop. Someone never does.She was giving me a mini-lecture on films, then sent me a list of the "25 movies to see before Oscar night" that is published by Entertainment Weekly every year.. The

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-61452176192597633562009-01-12T22:01:00.002-06:002009-01-12T22:04:50.092-06:00

"Jesus is called Emmanuel, which means 'God-with-us' (Matt. 1:22-23). The great paradox of Jesus' life is that he, whose words and actions are in no way influenced by human blame or praise but are completely dependent on God's will, is more "with" us than any other human being.Jesus' compassion, his deep feeling-with-us, is possible because his life is guided not by human respect but only by the

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-78249369459466781522009-01-10T15:45:00.002-06:002009-01-10T15:53:52.637-06:00

We all survived the first full week back to school. It was hard to get back into the old routine, when we had adopted a much more appealing routine: going to bed late and sleeping late. We missed the alarm on two mornings, but by some miracle of fast movement and quick showers, we all made it to school/work on time. MIRACLE.I had two "first" this week:1. I taught "Literature for Children and

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20330262.post-28492855508881959742009-01-04T00:42:00.002-06:002009-01-04T00:44:58.355-06:00

"Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way.Say nothing and listen as heaven whispers,'Did you like it? I did it just for you'."--The Great House of God, Max Lucado

Janahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12194121714368617993noreply@blogger.com0