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Baby’s leaving on a jet plane
We had one last hurrah Wednesday night before his trip. The bishop had invited all the altar servers of our diocese out for a hot-dog picnic and to watch the Red Hawks, our city’s baseball team, take...
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The threat of the pink blankie
When the little girl first arrived with her mama on the sidewalk where we were praying, she was clutching a bag of fruit snacks. She stopped to eat them, grabbing them with her chubby fingers, her...
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Lions and babies and ice cream, oh my!
Anybody else needing some ice cream about now? morguefile.com The other day, the kids found the ice-maker my grandma had given us a while back. It had gotten as close to the kitchen as a shelf in the...
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Banquet in a field 2015: Celebrating abundance
When I was young, I used to beg my mother to drag out our card table and eat our evening meal in our backyard, with the trees and birds and sunshine as ambiance. She wasn’t always keen on the idea. Of...
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Dolls from Dad: A gift from heaven
Our mother had told us the packages would be coming soon, so we weren’t completely surprised. But the timing of it all, not to mention the beauty of the gesture, made it seem like these gifts had come...
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Family vacation at Duck Lake
Our family vacation this year was a gift, given by my father’s cousin, Kay, and her husband, Denny. While I’ve known about Kay for years now, it’s only been recently that we’ve really had a chance to...
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Fessing up on my 47th: I will disappoint you
From my own count, I have about 37 candles on the cake pictured above. Give or take a few I suppose. Either way, I’m thinking that was the last year anyone tried to actually find enough candles and...
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Waiting for the pope: no big whoop?
Remember Saturday Night Live’s “Coffee Talk” with Mike Meyers? “No big whoop!” I couldn’t help but think of it as I was pondering titles for this post. But the coffee talk lady really isn’t my focus...
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Unpacking Philly: From the bubble in the belly of the city
[The following represents the first installment in a series of blog posts that will flow from my recent trip to Philadelphia, where I experienced the 8th World Meeting of Families as a reporter for the...
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What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?
My hubby has been in his hometown this week. His Grandma has been ill, and his sister and husband from Mississippi have made a rare and welcomed visit. So he decided to hang out with them for a few...
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Glitz, glamour and an empty manger: Cecile Richards visits Fargo
The idea to carol had come in what seemed to me a Holy Spirit tap to my friend Sally. We’d just learned that Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards would be visiting Fargo for a fundraising gala in our...
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Faith Conversations: Lazarus ‘arises,’ bringing Christmas miracle
Patrick and Annette Schultz stand with their Christmas tree Friday, Dec. 18, 2015, in their Fargo home. The tree was ordered the same day Patrick suffered his cardiac arrest.Michael Vosburg / Forum...
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To Bury the Dead
It was my youngest son’s teacher who reminded me of it. I’d shared with her in an email what my son had been up to during break; how his Christmas vacation turned out a little different than we’d...
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Living Faith: Best Christmas gifts still being unwrapped
Each passing year, I find the Christmas season more packed with meaning and emotion of every kind. This was no less true this year as I savored the anticipatory days leading up to Christmas, desiring...
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Remembering the depth of my love for Grandma
Earlier today, a package came in the mail from Mom. It contained some forgotten Christmas-stocking items of the boys, and an envelope with “Rox” written in pen on the top. Mom had given me a hint that...
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The purity of kids’ reactions to a new sibling
I don’t have her permission to use the little video clip, so I’ll just have to describe it. It came from a mother of six who’d just learned of a seventh child on the way. The clip was her husband...
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Living Faith: Despite longevity, Grandma’s death deeply felt
Elizabeth Foster Byrne, age 20, 1935 About a month after she was born, World War I broke out. She’d lived through 17 presidents and 10 popes, and outlived most of the people she’d known in her long...
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Faith Conversations: Christian mission pilot to return with family to Papua...
Jaeden, 9, Jace, 5, Levi, 7, Adie and Jon Leedahl will be moving back to Papau New Guinea, where Jon is a pilot for the mission organization New Tribes Mission. He lost a leg after being involved in an...
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‘You’re forgiving’
It was a simple project, led by our youngest son working on a requirement for a Cub Scouts Webelos activity. The instructions: to create paper “treasure chests” for the whole family, write something on...
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When death is a friend
This has been a month heavy with funerals. The one bit of solace I can share is that in all cases – at least those that were very close and personal to us — the deaths had been a friend. Yes, you read...
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