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Watch Me Grow

by Shannon on January 20, 2012

How does it happen so quickly? Just a few short memories ago, Andy was a big-eyed four-year old showing me his favorite red truck. In an hour, he’ll arrive with a new show-and-tell: a fiance named Nichelle. I don’t remember watching him cross the line from child to adult …

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Meatball Surprise

by Shannon on January 18, 2012

So … I’m not supposed to do anything. Anything. At least that’s what it sounded like when my doctor said, “I want you inactive until I see you again next week.” Apparently I will jeopardize my healing if I lick a stamp, or comb my hair, or make a batch

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Cowboy Courtin’

by Shannon on January 16, 2012

I was seven that summer morning between first and second grade when I had my first taste of wooing. Danny was a quiet classmate, someone I’d smiled at once or twice and shared my reading book with on a half-dozen occasions when he couldn’t find his own. Sometimes that’s all

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Scars

by Shannon on January 13, 2012

In anticipation of the surgery I had this week (to remove a spot of cancer on my cheek) — and the scar to come — my dear friend, Cathy Rich, wrote to encourage me. One of things she said was, “I love scars.” Just as simple as that. But when

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Dutch Babies

by Shannon on January 10, 2012

Look at that. See those tiny, frothy butter bubbles? Hot out of the oven. And the hardest part of this recipe is pushing the “on” button on the blender … that’s always so exhausting. You just can’t go wrong with this recipe. It’s my go-to whenever we have overnight guests,

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Poor Soup

by Shannon on January 8, 2012

Like the title? That’s what my grandmother, Micky, used to call this soup. The only thing is, the little package of smoked ham hocks I bought for this put me back $7.00, so I’m not so sure it applies any more. Maybe we should call it “Doing Okay if I Can Afford $7 for Ham Hocks” Soup.

I had a hankering for this yesterday. And yes, that’s something else Grandma taught me.

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And When He Is Old …

by Shannon on January 6, 2012

“Hi, Mom,” I hear. A man’s voice, and not my son’s, comes crackling through the phone.

I scooch up higher in bed, hoping the extra few inches will land me in that elusive current of “Yes, I can hear you now.” It works.

We’d spoken earlier in the day, when his father and I had walked together down a long gray strip in a tunnel of sun-flecked firs. He’d sounded cranky then. Bible college has its moments.

“Sorry about earlier,” he tells me now. “There’s a lot of warfare down here. I didn’t mean to be so crabby.”

Warfare. Like migrating birds and winds and well-wishes, warfare honors no borders. Its arms are long and unhindered, its claws hungry for flesh.

We swap war stories for a minute. And then my boy begins ministering to me …

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Pecan Tassies

by Shannon on January 4, 2012

A long time ago — long before I’d begun acquiring my people — I acquired this fancy little gadget, which my friend ordered from a man in Philadelphia who was handy at carving fancy little gadgets. I think she ordered one for me so I would stop badgering her into baking me batches and batches of my at-the-time most favorite dessert: Pecan Tassies. Lois looked relieved when she shoved her gift across the table toward me. “And here’s the recipe,” she added. Despite the period at the end of her sentence, I couldn’t help but hear the unspoken, “Now, quit bugging me.” We’re still friends. But I’ve had to make my own Pecan Tassies ever since.

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Hungry

by Shannon on January 1, 2012

In those early days, when I came to the realization that the God of Sunday actually lived and breathed and beckoned for me all the other days of the week as well, and I fell into those warm arms and whispered, “Not just my Savior, but now my Lord,” I reached for His love letter and began to read. I read as though the pages were bread, and I, a starving woman …

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Chocolate-Oatmeal Snackin’ Cake

by Shannon on December 31, 2011

Well … what follows is the post I started on Thursday morning, just a few hours before a ridiculous flu bug hit our house. I got it first, followed by Dave, and now Tera has it. Not sure if any of the three of us will make tonight’s New Year’s

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Family

by Shannon on December 28, 2011

Katie is six. Her hair is white-blonde, and she’s missing four front teeth. I barely know the child; after all, I’ve only been in the house three minutes, and this is only the second time I’ve seen my cousin’s daughter. But I know already that I’m about to be delighted.

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