Tea was standing in the kitchen, the very image of a droopy sister. Effie practically materialized next to her, the very image of concern. “What do you need? Water? Food? Sleep? How can I help?” Tea turned around, revealing the empty pitcher in her hand. Effie sighed. “I can loan you some tea?” Tea perked …
Tea was rushing into the office, arms loaded down with all her work-related detritus, murmuring to-dos with all the hither-thither jibber-jabber of the proverbial Alice in Wonderland’s white rabbit. “Pens, pens,” continued the litany. “I need more pens!” Effie poked her head in to better view this particular spectacle. “Don’t you have a million?” “You …
“Daddy!” Noah blinked awake, startled. A tiny bony elbow dug into his side and a small hand patted his face. “Let’s play Legos!” He groaned and looked toward the clock, then his wife. Two o’clock in the morning. His wife Emily was reasonably and sensibly asleep. Noah reached for the spare pillow. “I’m going to …
“Han, I need you to understand something.” Jess stood in the middle of the kitchen as she began her declaration. “Yes, dear?” Han asked as he threw open the windows and moved to turn on the ceiling fan in the dining room, then the vent fan over the stove. “I was born with a silver …
The cottage was even cozier inside than out: white wainscot, stone fireplace with broad hearth and mantle, built-in bookcases, low-hanging eaves. Sunlight dappled the wooden floors through the sheltering oak and maple branches at the windows. This was a far cry from the warzone Mark Trindale had been living in for the past four …
“They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” — Revelation 22:4 “You must stop and smell the delightful flowers growing along the path and taste the goodness in each fresh morning…” Abiri had a tendency to wax poetic when he got onto a topic he liked. “Abiri.” Renee laughed …
“We love Him because He first loved us.” — I John 4:19 On steely cold streets, a nameless orphan, dirty-faced with cast-off clothes, stares toward the Gate. She is already hardened from mere survival, but still has that wistful childhood longing. She’s heard stories about the Prince’s city beyond the Gate. Some passerby drops …
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” — I Corinthians 1:27 When Renee was barely more than a newborn, her parents abandoned her to the streets. She grew up scrambling …
There was nothing Kaliri loved more than sitting up on the cliff wall at sunrise. Hard rock dropped off sheer into a grand vista of desert to her right, lush mountain valleys to her left, and the mountain range dividing them. A wind blew at her back, and she thought she could taste in …
It was difficult walking around with a cloudy sky in one’s heart and storms in one’s mind. The feeling of everything going on in the world was heavy, too heavy for any one person to carry. That’s what Mama Ruth would say, Cassie thought to herself, pulling down a mug with one hand and pouring …