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It is Finished
And just like that…We are finished!One of our 2021 New Year’s Resolutions, starting on January 1st of this year, was to read through the entire Bible in a year as a family. And as of today, we did it! Well, half of us did. 😉 Why am I posting about it? Not just for bragging rights, although we are certainly proud of our accomplishment. Most of all, I want to let you know that it is totally doable and hopefully inspire, encourage, and challenge you to do the same thing in 2022. I posted in my stories the other day that we were in the home stretch, and since then,…
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It’s Been a Year
Dear Lauren, It’s been a year since you left this world, and we miss you still the same. Our hearts ache when we long to pick up the phone and hear your voice on the other end. It’s been a year of holidays, birthdays, and special days without you to celebrate them. Life has proven that it does indeed go on for those of us still on this temporal soil, but it sure would be much better with you in it. So much happens in one year; we hustle about in a maniacal flurry of activity. And yet it feels like just yesterday that we found out your health took…
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Growing Up Maltese: The Football Edition
My father is Maltese. Yes, Maltese like the cross. Yes, like the dog. And no, it is NOT where malt beverages were invented. I get asked that more than you would believe. My dad was born in Hamrun, Malta on June 18th, 1950. He immigrated with his family, to Ellis Island, on December 5th, 1952, which coincidentally also happened to be my mother’s first birthday. His family settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he later met and married my mother. I was born in Wyandotte, just south of Detroit but still in the same county. It is similar to someone being “from Atlanta” but living in Sandy Springs or Roswell, both…
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The Kind Gentleman
My husband’s father, Lauren Oliver Buckland, Sr., passed away on July 28th, 2014. There was a memorial service held yesterday in Atlanta at Church of the Apostles, a church they attended for many years. It was a beautiful service and a wonderful tribute to a man we loved dearly and who will be greatly missed. I had the great honor and privilege of speaking during the time of reflections from friends and family. It is a great honor that I could call myself both. This is what I wrote for him. It is difficult for me to wrap my mind around the fact that Lauren is gone. There is a…
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Disappointing Your Kids
Parents today have too many pressures heaped upon them. We are bombarded with “expert” opinions and unrealistic expectations on how to raise perfect, well-adjusted, brilliant, beautiful, talented, morally immaculate children. It’s more than even our Bible heroes could achieve! Formulas abound. Plug in these variables and presto! Get perfect kids! As if raising children was as simple as following a recipe; baking the perfect kidcake with all the best organic ingredients. On top of all that, I see parents who will go to great lengths, moving heaven and earth in order not to disappoint their kids. They somehow, along with caring for their kids, feel responsible for their total and…
