© Copyright Carol Walker and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence The last 72 hours have been an emotional roller coaster for my family. My daughter, who celebrated her first anniversary July 10th, had a positive pregnancy test Wednesday morning. We were thrilled for her and our son-in-law. Today, she miscarried. Shortly after leaving the...

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Imagine yourself at your ABSOLUTE worst. Stressed, angry, teetering on that narrow gauge rail between tears and rage. You're depressed, frustrated, frazzled, exhausted, and ready to quit and/or run away from home. You might be a mom or a student, a small-business owner, a minister, or a volunteer. Nothing has turned out the way you expected. The answers...

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It's been pretty warm around here. Not nearly as hot as the East coast this summer, but western Colorado's semi-arid climate literally sucks you dry. Forget to drink enough water and dehydration sets in fast. During certain seasons of life it's easy to get spiritually dehydrated. Periods of intense stress (an ailing parent or child, marital problems, health...

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Unless you're the parent of a toddler or the caretaker of a senior citizen, constipation is not a socially acceptable topic of conversation. For some reason, discussing the bowel movements of people who wear diapers is perfectly all right, while everyone else suffers along in silence. So what happens when writers (or artists, or musicians, or dancers, or...

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Do you believe in magic? (Stop singing the song.) I don't mean eye of newt, toe of frog concoctions, or witches and warlocks sorcery-type magic. Not "saw the beautiful assistant in half," abracadabra, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo magic. Not "this cleaning solution will remove every kind of stain" kind of magic you saw on the infomercial at 3 o'clock in the...

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 Turn the ship, cap'n! Turn the ship!  I'm over at  Inkwell Inspirations today with a post about the power of the tongue.Have flapping lips, a sharp tongue, or other mouth malfunctions ever gotten you in trouble? We're going to be talking about language all week at Inkwell Inspirations. Don't miss a post!  Turn the ship, cap'n! Turn the ship! ...

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At 6:04 p.m. today I will have attained two-score years. I like the way the French language expresses age...  j'ai 40 ans ... I have 40 years. As if it were an accomplishment! As someone who was once told by a doctor I needed to give myself permission to take a nap, I think the following list I...

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Are you a Francophile? A lover of all things French? I had a French alphabet book as a child, and I clearly recall poring over those pages, trying to pronounce the words. In 6th grade I began taking French lessons from Madame Anne Vogt. She was Swiss, and spoke fluent French, German, Italian, Romansch (the fourth official language...

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 A Book Review God is continually at work in our individual lives, and He'll use every method possible to demonstrate His love and mercy and grace. That truth provides a framework for Marlo Schalesky's latest release, Shades of Morning. I was alternately convicted by Marnie Wittier's habit of storing her sorrows, hurts, wounds, and regrets in a box...

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A couple weeks ago my 12-year-old asked me how old I would be on my upcoming birthday. When I reminded him I will be 40 this year, he looked at me seriously and said, "Have you made your bucket list yet?" I haven't been able to get that innocuous comment out of my mind. With every major milestone...

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The world's crustaceans are on drugs. Excreted antidepressants which have entered the oceans via the sewage system are affecting the behavior of certain crustacean populations, shrimp, in particular. British researchers have determined that shrimp exposed to fluoxetine (aka Prozac) are five times more likely to swim toward the light rather than away from it. This sparks several questions...

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I love carnivals, with their subtle aura of danger and "sleight-of-hand" atmosphere. I'd rather go to a carnival than one of our fancy new theme parks with their perfectly manicured flower beds. Carnivals have, for lack of a better word, character. The word carnival is taken from the Spanish word for meat - carne. In Greek, the word...

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Sixteen years ago today I was enormous. My third baby was due July 10. It was the hottest summer Colorado had experienced in 30 years. It hadn't rained in weeks, and everyone was parched, edgy, and irritable. On the evening of July 2, I lumbered my small cottage-sized body off to bed, only to be awakened by thunder...

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