Shade Tree Stories

musings and memories rooted in faith and family

Latest stories from Under the shade trees

  • We’re Not Going Away
    I can’t believe that it’s been 4 years this month since I had the honor and privilege of speaking at our nation’s capitol on behalf of nursing home residents in…
  • Where the Gospel Slows Down
    On my last visit to the nursing home, I had two separate encounters that spoke to my heart about how we use our most valuable resource: time. The first experience…
  • Wave Watcher
    I just got back from the beach. It was a quick, five day trip to Florida. As usual, I went prepared with a book, my journal, and my laptop. I…
  • Comparison; Thief of Joy…Sometimes
    “Comparison is the thief of joy.” I had to look that up to see who is credited with saying that. Apparently, President Theodore Roosevelt was a smart guy. He said…
  • Connecting The Dots and A Happy Breakthrough
    I’ve been doing a lot of work lately. Hard work. And I don’t mean manual labor. I mean the difficult work of sitting with your feelings, examining them, and processing…
  • Hailstones in Battle
    A few weeks ago, on a Friday night, we were sleeping in our basement because the weather forecast was predicting strong storms for our area overnight. Around 5am, I was…
Yep, that’s me with my grandfather.
Marla and Pa, 1978

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Woman Telling Story to Two Children in Bed

Telling Stories

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“Tell me a story! Tell me a story!” When I was a little girl visiting my Granny, I often asked her to tell me a story, particularly at night after…
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I Wonder

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There are many things I wonder about at this time of year. I wonder about silly things like what it would be like to go “a wassailing” or what the…
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