My children blur fantasy and reality. Right now, they are yipping from the other room, pretending they’re puppies. Later, they’ll be ninjas, superheroes, or bunnies. They stack cardboard boxes on overturned chairs, drape them with blankets, prop pillows all around, and create cozy puppy rooms for one another. They scavenge for ordinary objects, using them […]
About Leslie Verner
Leslie Verner is a goer learning how to stay. Other cultures, spicy food, deep conversations, running, and sunshine feed her soul. She lives in Colorado with her husband and three kids. Leslie writes about faith, justice, family, and cross-cultural issues at Scraping Raisins and elsewhere on the web. Her first book Invited: The Power of Hospitality in an Age of Loneliness
releases August 2019. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Who Will Pluck My Chin Hairs?
by on April 11, 2019 Leave a Comment
My mom and I once made a solemn vow: If either of us is ever in a coma, we promise to pluck one another’s chin hairs. My petite, five-foot-tall mom once grew out a single hair to see how long it would get. The coarse black hair spiraled below her chin until my brother and […]
I’m Done With Distracted Living
by on January 10, 2019 Leave a Comment
How can I become a student of silence when my husband and I can’t communicate until the three children splay out in strange formations in their beds at night? When my brain turns to mush at 8pm and all I want to do is read or watch TV? Thudding feet find me before 6am, though […]
Ragamuffin Glory
by on December 20, 2018 Leave a Comment
My husband and I wove through the sleepy streets of Denver at 6am, heading to the airport for an early flight after staying in a hotel overnight. He drove, I sipped home roasted coffee from a ceramic travel mug, and stared out at the skyscrapers, the pink sky, the lights. I noticed small mounds of […]
Letting Ourselves Be Loved
by on November 8, 2018 14 Comments
I nearly didn’t go to the women’s retreat. But when your husband urges you to leave behind the dishes, the looming deadlines, and the “to do” lists to escape to the mountains for the weekend, you listen. I signed up two days before the trip, wondering what I was getting myself into. Women’s retreats are […]
