Celebrate Today

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Keeping the Celebration Going

cheers to 83 years!

more extended birthday cheer with the sunrise in Anacortes

Monday, February 2, 2026

Celebrating 50!

Nalline sure makes fifty look fabulous!

Grateful for her birthday party over the weekend to mark her special day...

Bobbie (my wonderful new friend I got to know this fall at SPU)

Sunday, February 1, 2026

Mailbox Peak- PNW Climate Week Edition

such a treat to hike to Mailbox Peak on Saturday with some wonderful folks Jason has gotten to know through PNW Climate week.

(left to right: Emily, Joscha, Rowan, Kristen, Jason Vid)

Love you to the moon and back sticker brought up for Anna and Taylor

Jason, Joscha, and Vid with PNW Climate Week Stickers

sunshine on the way down

62 heart rocks!

Saturday, January 31, 2026

help us enter the New Year quietly,
thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others,
mindful that our steps make an impact
and our words carry power.
May we walk gently.
May we speak only after we have listened well.
Creator of all life,
help us enter the New Year reverently,
aware that you have endowed
every creature and plant, every person and habitat
with beauty and purpose.
May we regard the world with tenderness.
May we honor rather than destroy.
Lover of all souls,
help us enter the New Year joyfully,
willing to laugh and dance and dream,
remembering our many gifts with thanks
and looking forward to blessings yet to come.
May we welcome your lavish love.
May we cast off the small,
vindictive god our fears have made.
May the grace and peace of Christ bless you now and in the days ahead. Amen.
-Vanita Hampton Wright

Friday, January 30, 2026

Harry's Baptism

Last night in my class on designing and leading congregational worship, my professor, Dr. Sigler, asked us to bring a baby doll so we could practice holding a child for baptism. It only seemed right to bring my beloved bear, Harry, who has been with me through thick and thin.

Dr. Sigler began by offering theological background on baptism and its many layered meanings as both sign and seal: a gift given by God, new birth, forgiveness of sin, the reception of the Holy Spirit, incorporation into the church, and our belonging to God. He then invited us to choose one of these dimensions and let the richness of the sign itself communicate that aspect as we practiced officiating the sacrament.

I cradled Harry in my arms and looked into his little eyes. Of course, I knew he was just a stuffed animal, and yet, in that moment, something more seemed to be going on. He was my very own velveteen bear—loved, held, and named.

I pretended to pour water over his head, traced a cross on his furry forehead, and imagined saying the words: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Behold the One beholding you and smiling, little one.” The gesture did not change Harry’s substance, but it changed the meaning of the moment. Like all sacraments, it did not work by magic or merit, but by promise—by God’s extraordinary love on display through ordinary means.

You cannot convince me that mystery is not afoot in the sacraments—even when we are only practicing. Baptism does not make us beloved; it names us as such. It renders visible what is already true: that we belong to God before we can respond, believe, or behave correctly. Holding Harry, I was reminded that becoming “real” in God’s economy has less to do with animation or agency and everything to do with being seen, delighted in, and claimed.

In that moment, I found myself unexpectedly teary, giving thanks for this wonderful old bear who reminded me that we belong to God and are called God’s own—made real not by our striving, but by love.