A year after Jacob’s near drowning he found his voice again. Then, over a course of many months, he rediscovered the vast cache of vocabulary and language patterns that had miraculously remained stored in his oxygen deprived brain. As far as I can tell, Jacob’s understanding of language is normal for an adult. He can […]
Amy Carmichael spent most of her adult life as a missionary in India rescuing young girls from temple prostitution and providing a home for them. I first heard of her in college, and she remains one of my heroes in the faith. She was also a gifted writer and poet. You don’t casually read Amy
A Lamp Unto His Face. Chapter Three: Ask and you shall receive Read More »
I’m not a name-it, claim-it girl. To be honest, the thought of having that sort of power scares me. Who am I to tell God what to do? The way I see it, He’s been calling the shots since eternity past, and He really doesn’t need my advice on how to do His job. But
A Lamp Unto His Face. Chapter Two. Read More »
Yeah, you read that right. When Rusty brought Jacob home Thursday he pointed out a small abrasion on his nose and a purplish spot on his lip. Apparently in the middle of the night, Jacob insulted the lamp on his bedside table and it in turn attacked his face. The injuries didn’t look too serious,
A Lamp Unto His Face Read More »
Scene 1. Yesterday afternoon a photographer from the local paper came over to take some shots of me, George, and Jacob, because we’re going to be featured in an insert magazine called Family Matters. The reporter comes next week to interview us. All of that is awesome, and we’re honored to be featured, but I’ll
Yesterday. Or, Why We Will Never Be the Subject of a Reality Show Read More »
If you’ve read Parting the Waters, you will probably remember the account of my cleaning Jacob’s room a couple months after his near-drowning and finding the slogan taped above his bedroom door: "Today is the greatest day, and I am in it." At the time he was lying in a coma at the nursing home.
Today I received an amazing note from Trey Sandlin. Trey and our younger son, Luke, were in the same class growing up. We haven’t kept in touch through the years, but his grandmother gave him a copy of Parting the Waters for Christmas, and he wrote to express his thoughts. In the opening paragraphs he
My Dinner with Jacob Action Figures, Flashback Read More »
When we have red wine with dinner, George usually pours an inch or so in a wine glass for Jacob, then adds as much or more cranberry-grape juice to make a wine cooler. Jacob has always just assumed it was wine, which actually made for quite a funny incident once when someone served Jacob straight
My Dinner with Jacob Action Figures, Act IV Read More »
A couple of months ago I received a call from my friend, Jana, asking if I’d be willing to read a children’s train story for an event today at the Marshall Depot. She wanted to schedule “local personalities” to read a story every hour on the hour in an effort to encourage families to visit
Reading at the Railroad and other adventures Read More »
When the phone rang this afternoon, I let the machine answer it. A woman’s voice stated her name and then why she was calling. Her twenty-five-year-old daughter had been in a car accident, she explained, and had suffered severe brain injury . . . That’s as far as she got before I picked up the