Articles

OUR NEIGHBOR WAS YELLING OBSCENITIES as he roared his pickup truck back and forth across our half of the strip of land that separated his driveway from ours. My husband and I had not realized how strongly he felt about the ground cover we had planted on our half.

While contributing editor Lois Rae Carlson was working on her article "Life is safe" (p. 38), she was reassured by the following news reports: Detonators were foiled on a second bombing attempt in London, all the passengers escaped from a plane that crashed in Toronto, the crew of a stranded Russian submarine was rescued, and the space shuttle Discovery returned home safely.

I ALWAYS GOT GOOD GRADES —until my ninth-grade geometry class. When I started high school a year ago, I was accepted into a unique program called the Academy of Science and Technology.

WHENEVER I'M IN THE THICK OF PARENTING, STUCK IN AN ENDLESS circle of obsessing about circumstances I can't seem to control, a Winnie-the-Pooh story comes to mind. One snowy winter's day, Pooh is walking around a small stand of trees in circles, tracking the mysterious and never seen Woozle.

All I Wanted was to be the image of God. Not such a tall order when you learn, even as a kid, that that's who God made you to be.

THE THOUGHT of failure terrified me. I was often anxious about making mistakes, falling short of people's expectations, and even getting into trouble.

I HAD ALWAYS been a perfectionist. I just thought it was who I was.

IF I HAD my way, my husband would always put the cereal away, take his shoes off when he came into the house, ask directions, and say, "I'm sorry" with ease. But this is not the case.

IT'S HARD to imagine a man less qualified to speak the word of God. To begin with, he didn't want the job and tried every excuse to get out of it.

AFTER WORLD WAR II, I returned to my boyhood home. There had been a death in the family that drastically changed the atmosphere of the home.