Loud cracking sounds startle me from my sleep. With the wars in the middle east, I roll my head over as thoughts already consume me, “What was that?” I ask sleeping husband. “Thunder and lightening”, he whispers. And with Israel having no peace, and Russia domineering Ukraine, it can be hard not to think the wars […]
I am all alone. It’s a miracle. You too would “get it”, if you had four kids and a husbands whose lives never stop. Church calls me, and I cannot stay calm…inside four walls, with Jesus fading. The corporate body, like a current in me, calling me to come and praise Him. “Still” seeps in the […]
I blogged for years. Anonymous. No name. No blog tied to my Facebook. Just words, bubbling forth. Deep from the soul. Uncoated. Untamed. Fearless. Real. And now, there is a name, Jen Avellaneda. The name I’d always hidden from. Run from. Unowned, because I never wanted to be seen or known….by anyone… Let alone the millions […]
Faith is the assurance of things unseen… I had been feeling the tugging at the core of my being. Seen it on the horizon. Had dreams that the crib we leave open for foster children wasn’t going to be empty for too long. My mind saw no name, or age, or date…but my spirit saw a […]
Ever feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, caught up in a whirlwind of business? I step on the soil in Dominic Republic. Off the grid; no running water, only a short time each day on a generator with electricity; dust and dirt everywhere. Still, somehow I settle into a peace I have desperately needed. […]
We gather around table, bowing heads. No pews. No holy cross staring at us from some sanctuary. No spiritual music calling us deeper. Just ladies. All ages. Weak. Vulnerable. Trying to gain faith and strength in our weariness. And we recognize, sometimes “having faith” can be tough, in a day where children die, lives get ripped […]