hope
Our Adoption Story
By Victoria Utman Four years ago, I learned that a quickening is the feeling an expecting mother has when their child moves beneath their breast- a stretch felt through the very muscle, sinew, and core of the woman as her baby develops inside of her. It’s a beautiful, active word and was brought up in a writing workshop I attended. Around this time, my husband and I had just begun our first serious conversations about beginning a family together and I instantly fell in love with the concept. “Quick” meaning alive or lively; the emotional made physical…
Read MoreLeaning into the Lord
By Trinda Jocelyn I find myself at a time in my life when things are really good. I mean it. I have a husband who loves me, and not the bare minimum kind of love. We live in a beautiful home, and we are surrounded by loads of fabulous family and friends who are there for us, and we are there for them. I have a good job, and freelancing has picked up, showing promise as a full-time gig working from home; a dream I hold onto as I brave up to leap into the entrepreneurial unknown. My husband has a good, stable…
Read MoreSisterhood
By Lisa Gillies Sisterhood, what a beautiful word: connecting, bonding, sharing, encouraging, and so much more. This past February was my first time at the Sister Triangle Retreat; what an honour it was. We learned or were reminded that we might not be okay, and that is, okay. We are enough. To be a light wherever we go, and we may never know what others may be going through, but we can stand together. I was amazed when listening to others share, yes, I understood, I have been there. And the songs that were chosen, how they ministered to so…
Read MoreIn Training
By Jen Wallace For the past year, I have been working towards getting my black belt in judo; I am not quite there. I have had my brown belt for 14 years and I thought it was time. I needed to start training with a black belt goal as my focus. I have to schedule my practicing and I cannot do it alone. My head sensei, the club instructor, also needs to see that I am ready. One of our instructors quotes Bobby Robson, an athlete who said, “Practice makes permanent.” Being in training is not easy and neither is…
Read MoreHello/Goodbye
By Jennifer Wallace “Hello/ Goodbye” is a show that airs on CBC that grips my heart; it taps into emotions that are so quick to surface. The interviewer is good at what he does. Without being obtrusive, he asks questions and strangers open up their lives to him in these beautiful reunions and departures at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. There is something intensely attractive and universal about hellos and goodbyes. They are the moments we remember. It was summer. John and I and the kids were driving out to Ontario. We were excited for the road trip, excited to see…
Read MoreFreezing Rain
By Mira Krahn I was looking forward to this winter. My winter a year ago in South East Asia was cold, but lacking the clean, fresh look of piled snow. I love the silence in the air when flakes fall at night. I love the crisp crunch beneath my boots. I miss the winter walking I did as a university student, parking far away to get a free spot. I love feeling hardy once I escape the cold, mascara smudged and hair frosted. This week hit a windchill low of -40*C. The next day had freezing rain. On that day,…
Read MoreForgotten Words
by Sheena Koops I am singing “As Long as the Grass Grows: A Treaty Song from Saskatchewan” at the front of a wooden-pewed, domed assembly hall on a Sunday morning in Regina, Saskatchewan, Treaty Four Territory. I have sung the first verse: They are living documents, First Peoples’ and the Crowns’ Building blocks of Canada, to which we are bound Sacred agreements, the Pipe and the Pen Brother to Brother, Peace Good Order to Men I am singing the chorus a second time, and I begin to feel anxious. I can’t remember the beginning line to the next verse. I…
Read MoreYour Body is Mine
Jennifer Wallace “Your body is mine! Your body is mine!” I hear my son singing a song that sounds…well inappropriate for a five-year-old or anyone to be singing. I ask him about it and he tells me he made it up. “And where did you hear this? Where did you get the idea?” I ask concerned about what I might hear for an answer. “You, mom!” “What?!” I respond. “…‘Member when you told us that everyone in the family thinks your body is theirs?” I do remember and it is all making sense now. I was laughing and slightly exasperated…
Read MoreLines in the Sand
Sheena Koops Imagine. You have made a mistake. Maybe you’ve made this mistake over and over, but this time, you’ve been caught. You are being escorted into a public space, a circle of those who hold the most power and the most respect in your community. They are listening to an outsider, a newcomer, and you recognize this guy. He’s the one making a buzz from coffee row to the hair salon. Many people don’t know what to make of him. Some really get what he’s serving up. Others think he’s the devil himself. Well, here you are. Tossed into…
Read MoreGrammar Girl
Andrea Muirhead If there was a super hero called Grammar Girl, it would not be me. Grammar is one of those things I take for granted. I don’t pay much attention to it, but I work with many international people who are learning the English language and they pay close attention to grammar and all its ins and outs. A few Sundays ago, I was listening to a speaker who read a very familiar passage, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have…
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