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 […]
About Leslie Verner
I am a goer who is learning how to stay. I’ve traveled all over the world and lived in northwest China for five years before God U-turned my life and brought me back to the U.S. to get married to an actor in Chicago. I’m a former middle school teacher, mama to three little ones and like American cuisine the least. I currently live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and write regularly about faith, justice, family and cross-cultural issues at Scraping Raisins.
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 […]
Our Nude Bodies: How Do I Protect My Daughter?
by on October 11, 2018 10 Comments
“If anyone ever touches your private parts, you hit them,” I told her. I’m sure she wondered why her mama was reversing the usual “do not hit” rule. My daughter’s cheeks are still soft with baby chub, though her body has lengthened. I stare at her four-year-old arms and legs sprawled out on the bottom […]
