Hi Friends,

I hope you and yours had a lovely Thanksgiving. We mixed it up this year and celebrated Thanksgiving in Florida’s Panhandle. This meant fewer flights and less stressful travel. Plus, it left open the possibility of getting to the Iron Bowl, which only one of us ended up following through on.

At one point I was relaxing by the pool watching a dad throw the ball for a group of boys playing 500. The magic of this simple game has delighted young boys for generations. It made me so nostalgic. My sons still love throwing a football on the beach, as evidenced above, but the utter delight of childhood 500 is a thing of the past.

It made me think about how babies and young kids make holidays all the more enjoyable. We had many laughs this past week, and we played lots and lots of games, but I miss the sweet innocent days of little ones. Children have such simple faith and enjoy such simple pleasures, and of course, nothing is better than holding a baby. I love just watching babies take in the world around them, smiling and laughing so easily. Grandchildren are not in our near future, but I hope to do a better job of seeing relatives or including young families in our celebrations.

Simone Weil said, “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” The magic of boys playing 500 and children at holiday events then are not mere traditions, they are experiences that joyfully root us. As my own family is now full of adults who have moved a lot, the lack of rootedness is apparent to me in odd moments. One of my goals for 2026 is to do a better job of growing roots, and thankfully, I have a marriage to look forward to next summer. What’s more rooting than that?

Still, even though I agree with Simone Weil, our most basic need is to know Jesus and to be rooted in His love.

These words from the Apostle Paul form a beautiful prayer:

Praying tonight that You ” being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:17b-18).

With Love,

Kristie