The cover photos

Three photos grace the home page, and that verb is not chosen lightly: They are all photos I took with a Nikon Coolpix, all places I have visited receiving not only a feast for the eyes but something totally unexpected: grace.

The Cliffs of Moher on the western coast of Ireland; the Grand Tetons from a roadside picnic stand on the the banks of Jackson Lake in Wyoming; a view of the Wyoming landscape just west of the town of Cody, Wy. Places hundreds of miles — and half a world away — from my Midwestern home and places I never dreamed I’d visit in my lifetime. Places that moved me spiritually as much as any church ever has

The Cliffs of Moher, June, 2008: Stretching 700 feet up from the Atlantic Ocean, the cliffs are bigger than St. Louis’ own Gateway Arch. I took the picture June 12, 2008, near the end of a 10-day tour I was fortunate enough to go on compliments of my aunt, Peggy Foley. With the blessing of my husband and boys, I traveled with the a group from St. Louis sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and it was a trip that quite literally changed my life. By this point, we were winding down and had one more town to visit before catching our flight back. But the cliffs were nothing short of spectacular, and you can inch as close to the edge as you care to get. I didn’t get that close. At that point in my life, I wanted my feet firmly planted on the ground. I had a lot to get back to.

Grand Tetons, July 2010: We had a family reunion in Cody, Wy., in the summer of 2010, about 90 miles east of Yellowstone. Three of the six days, we dragged our teen-aged sons out of bed at the crack of dawn and made the excursion to Yellowstone. On the third of those days, we drove through the park then down into Grand Teton National Park just to get a glimpse of what a friend told me were the most beautiful mountains she had ever seen. We didn’t get too far into the park — that’s a trip for another time. But we stopped for lunch at a roadside picnic area and ate in the shadow of these mountains alongside the lake. Best picnic lunch ever.

Cody, Wyoming, July 2010: Same trip; one morning Tom and I got up for a walk around the “Bull Moose Retreat,” the house we rented west of Cody for the Gibson Family Reunion. The view is from behind the house looking west toward the Absaroka Mountain Range. Wide open spaces. My heart was full.