By Mommy Emily I’ve been meditating on the sacred holding places. The places which held Jesus on earth. Mary’s womb, which first made space for the holding of the divine conception. The manger, a rough-hewn wooden cradle, holding the King’s infant skin; the wilderness, holding Jesus’ stomach hollowed by 40 days of hunger; the stone…
Post by Joanne Viola, treasurer of The Lulu Tree The photos come in on my phone of men and women – my brothers and sisters – in South Sudan. They labor so hard to construct churches, sanctuaries for the people to come and worship, and hear God’s Word. They are simple structures consisting of open…
Post by Erica Hale, VP of The Lulu Tree It’s hard sometimes, living in two worlds. Here, in the United States, a skiff of snow dusts the ground and the frozen grass pokes stiffly through. In the waning light, Christmas lights start to blink on one house at a time–the furnace kicks in with a…
by Joanne Viola, The Lulu Tree Treasurer When you follow The Lulu Tree for years, since the beginning of its formation, a mystery takes place in your spirit. The people, the faces, the growth all become personal as the mystery of an attachment begins to root deeply in your heart. A sense of family begins…
By Mommy Emily Outside the church building, morning glories rise, white petals lifted like pale faces to receive the sun. We pile out of Pastor Sonnel’s van on our visit of 14 villages and the churches we partner with through the microloan program here in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Our necks and feet are red…
By Mommy Emily I’m doing dishes at the kitchen sink, autumn leaves skipping like giggling children across the yard. I’ve been home for five days now — having led a team of four (three board members and a social media director) to Sierra Leone, West Africa — and my three-year-old daughter’s making pretend alphabet soup…