For Lilia, my children, and the many others around the world who ache for a different beginning... This is what really happened... You slip into the world raw and trembling, aching for tender touch. But instead, the one you most long for walks away. You huddle there, vulnerable in an abandoned building, or a slum…Read more Always Held
Adoption
Open Adoption – a Photo Essay
Everleigh entered this world on August 14, 2016, welcomed by birth mother, Delaney; birth father, Kenny; and birth grandmother, Karen. On August 17, Everleigh went home in the arms of adoptive parents, Casey and Michael. Nine months later.... with special thanks to Hope's Promise (Adoption Agency) of Castle Rock, CO. (303) 660-0277.
Soul on Fire
The darkness comes for us all sooner or later. Terror not of our own making magnetizes us like a black hole into unendurable pain. It often starts with an ember, a spark we try to control. But it develops a life of its own, swelling into blinding heat, into raging fire from which there is…Read more Soul on Fire
Joy Hunt
Sr. Fidence was like a beautiful rose in my hand, but her fragrance drifted just beyond my grasp as she stood there barefoot, her white-draped physical being unable to contain an other-worldly joy. I didn't understand her at all. I wanted to, desperately. How, in the midst of despair and hardship, hunger and lack, did…Read more Joy Hunt
The Miracle of Family
For many of us in America, November fills us with profound gratitude for family, whether those we received at birth, or those we choose, or those who choose us. The loved ones with whom we gather on Thanksgiving Day are a gift beyond measure. And so I want to take this opportunity to share a…Read more The Miracle of Family
Huruma Means Mercy, Part 1
A few months ago, international news reported the collapse of buildings in an obscure place called Huruma. At least seven people died and 121 people were injured, buried in shoddily constructed dwellings that rose much higher than should ever have been allowed. There was no mercy for these impoverished slum dwellers, victims of corruption. Ironically,…Read more Huruma Means Mercy, Part 1
A Heart Overflowing
As friends know and readers have probably guessed from recent posts, I traveled to Kenya last month. From start to finish, it was a journey of overflowing joy. When I left Kenya in 2012, I felt I heard clearly from the Lord,"Stay." Stay in the US, don't travel to Kenya. So I felt I needed a…Read more A Heart Overflowing
Hold Each Other
No, we won't allow him to get a tattoo or ear piercing. We are constantly nagging him if he sags his pants. It isn't about appearance. He's not a rebellious or defiant kid. He's just an ordinary American teenager, trying to figure out who he is. He's watching rappers and sports heroes, paying close attention…Read more Hold Each Other
For the Ragged and Beautiful
https://www.facebook.com/fragmentsoflight/videos/1283437661683835/ In 2002, my dear friend Nicole Gillin and I volunteered together with a small team serving at Mother Teresa's Home for Abandoned Children in Nairobi. We've never been the same. Last week we collaborated to create this dance to share our changed hearts at the Flourish 2016 Recital. Blessed Are the Peacemakers Blessed…Read more For the Ragged and Beautiful
The Power of a Single Flame (Part 2)
When she picked up that first dying man from the gutter, there was no possible way she could foresee the masses across the globe whose lives would be saved. She only knew the fire in her bones could be alleviated no other way. And so she started rescuing, one-by-one, the last and least of the…Read more The Power of a Single Flame (Part 2)
Colleen Briggs Art & Writing 