Now, I'd love to tell you all about this Hallmark tradition of riding a horse-drawn sleigh into a remote little woods with nostalgic music in the background as we all lock eyes on the same beautiful fir tree which my husband Terry proceeds to chop down and then we carry it off into the sunset… But no.

After the shepherds came from afar to worship this baby she had just given birth to, it says in verse 19, "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." In other passages it simply says she treasured things in her heart, which likely implies that she pondered those as well. But what does it mean to ponder? I've been pondering that. :)

The picture is not me getting ready to clobber someone. It's just my pie baking day. But I'm taking a few minutes to share a sweet memory and thought with you all.

My husband and I married over 21 years ago, each of us bringing three wonderful children into a blended family of eight. Terry had been living in a small apartment and I was in a small three bedroom rambler at the time of our union. We obviously opted for my rambler, but when all the kids were with us it was definitely close quarters. So we began a house search. We wanted to be closer to our church, which unfortunately took us to a less affordable part of town. The houses for which we could qualify were not much bigger than the one we were in, so it became a…

A new Dollar Tree store just opened up dangerously close to my house. I get a little giddy about saving money, so I’m sure I’ll be a frequent shopper. Many of my friends know what a fan I am of Aldi–another place to save money. There’s that one aisle where you never know what you’ll find. I’ve purchased everything from a wall clock to an electric fireplace to lawn chairs to my very soft and cozy pajamas you see pictured. (I made the wise decision to not pose in them for the picture.) Believe me, none of those things were on my grocery list, but what a deal! Most of…

I glanced around to see how everyone was coming along and my eyes were drawn in shock to a little girl standing stark naked in the middle of the room. She apparently thought she needed to take everything off in order to put the costume on.

I have admittedly been feeling a little lost for a few months now. I retired from 31 years of teaching (mostly first graders) this past spring. It felt like the right timing. So many things have frustrated me in recent years–expectations put on teachers, teaching practices and curriculums that fall short, sometimes difficult parents and unruly students, never ending data documentation and emails, unrealistic expectations, over-assessing, social agendas that don’t always resonate with me, NEVER ENOUGH TIME, and the list goes on. I’ve felt such conflict in my spirit, wanting to be available for family and friends but unable to be there for them because of the busyness of school…

Why “Cleft Dweller”? As I mentioned in my initial post, the name popped into my head rather unexpectedly, so I believe it was straight from the Holy Spirit. It makes me chuckle a little because it sounds a bit like “cave dweller”, which I of course am not. Caves are cool, though, so if you’ve never been in one you should try it. If you look up the word “cleft”, it is defined as an opening, break or split. It is sort of like a cave, I guess. In Exodus 33 of the Old Testament, Moses is pleading with God to allow him to see His glory. God tells him…

Welcome to my first blog entry! Wow–this has been a dream of mine for so many years. It used to just cross my mind that maybe I could dabble with a blog because I do enjoy writing. But it was always a fleeting thought. I was entertaining that thought during a morning run about ten years ago and started pondering what I would call said blog. Almost immediately the title “Cleft Dweller” came to mind. The name has never left me. (My second post will further explain the name.) In 2019 I began working very part time as a ministry assistant for the small congregation where I worshiped and served.…