December 21, 2025 This morning was our Christmas sacrament meeting. I sat in the audience next to Elise instead of in the choir seats, where I usually sit for our annual Christmas worship service. To clarify: I am not much of a vocalist, a disappointment to my teenage self who longed for a show-stopping singing voice. I am, instead, the…
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December 19, 2025 This has been a week of well-deserved celebration. On Tuesday, we celebrated our daughter-in-law, who graduated from Arizona State with a degree in secondary math education. Perhaps, had she been my math teacher in high school, I would have been better prepared for college calculus. (I may or may not have failed every single calculus test I…
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December 17, 2025 December at the Sheppard home has one main theme: Christmas lights. Greg loves Christmas lights more than just about anything else. He plans his holiday display year-round, with the goal of adding something new each year. By “something new,” I mean animated figures he makes himself from sheets of plywood and various motors. Things that one can…
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December 15, 2025 I started this day with a pre-dawn hike with a dear friend. I much prefer hiking in daylight, but spending time with this friend, who must hike early to make it to work on time, is worth the sleep sacrifice. She and I have hiked together at least twice a week for several years, often exploring the…
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December 14, 2025 Now that we have the events leading up to the great breakdown of 2025 on the table, and that historic day behind us (insert noticeable sign of relief), I believe it is time to lay a different kind of groundwork. Recent events notwithstanding, what do you need to know about me, Lynnette I. Sheppard? First, I never…
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December 13, 2025 Yesterday morning, I awoke before the sun, eyes still bleary from sleep, trying unsuccessfully to push the events of the night before from my mind. I wasn’t myself then – the stress and uncertainty that had been building for months finally made its way to the surface, resulting in a scene I did not want to relive….
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