Because I am the youngest of eight, my parents and siblings have referred to me as the baby ever since I can remember.  

I have ten kids.  I have changed thousands of diapers, spent over a hundred hours in labor and been pregnant for approximately seven years of my life.  But no matter what I do, to them I will always be the baby.  I have never understood it.  Until Hope came along.  

It could be because I had her when I was closer to 50 than 40.  Or maybe it's…

My church friends from our Vermont years called me last month and asked me if I could come speak at their next women's breakfast.  I said I think I can arrange that.  

I remember in 2004 how unsure I was that a southerner could transplant from Tennessee to Vermont, but I learned very quickly that it can be done with ease.  

As I prepare to return this…

When March 1st came, I breathed a sigh of relief that we had had such a well winter.  

On March 2, Hope got a stomach virus. We had company coming--friends from Vermont.  Our friend Karl Swanke (#67--look him up) played for Green Bay in the 80's and his visit was perfectly timed with our church's March Madness sports theme.  He planned to say a few…

I wanted to ride my bike to the mall with my BFF when I was about 12.  My mother said no.  

I told her everybody rode their bikes to the mall. 

"And if everybody jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?" she asked.  

Why do all my friends' mothers say that?  I thought. 

When I was 17, a guy who was well over 21 asked me on a date.  My mother said I had to wait until I was 18 to go out with him.  So I…