Because it’s therapeutic just to journal about the day. Because in the thinking back, we can let go and find the beauty in our mundane. Because, in an effort to find significance where I am right now. It’s that place where kids are small and messes are big and none of us know what we’re doing. This morning, I woke up to a seven-year-old who had to go the bathroom and was eager to read The Boxcar Children. He said…
I could tell you that we bought a house, but unless you have been standing next to us, you wouldn’t understand the victory wrapped up in these walls. It’s just a house, a residence, a thing made from wood and nails. You might have one too. Maybe when you think about a house, you just think about to-do lists and Saturdays filled. Maybe you think about the decorating and the furnishing. I have. Exciting colors or monochromatic schemes to soothe…
This morning, I woke up with a headache. Even before my head left my pillow, my eyes were having a harder than usual time. It was the opening they couldn’t do. Now, as I sit wide-crosslegged on my carpet, typing away at the coffee table in my living room, I think my early morning experience is kind of funny. My eyes were having a harder than usual time. Lately, it’s everything else that has been having a hard time. I have…
Most recently, in our home school, we are doing a tiny course on nutrition. This has been in my mind for a long time, but then I found Usborne’s “Why do we Eat?” at a consignment shop for $0.75 and decided it was time. My kids and I read that book a few times, then I printed this nutrition book from The First Grade Sweet Life. We worked on filling it out, then today we went grocery shopping. I let…
I was really comfortable sitting in my van. I was outside of Lowe’s, texting a friend, sitting on a heated seat. Then someone appeared at my window. “Excuse me,” she said. I looked. She was a stranger, and I know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers. But there’s a compassion in me for the destitute that I can’t shake. Besides, I’ve been reading Jen Hatmaker’s Interrupted, a book that chronicles the Hatmaker’s journey toward compassion for the homeless. There’s…
Thanksgiving is over. Are you still full? We made a turkey, cranberry chutney, two loaves of bread, and four pies. We asked our boys what pies they wanted, and one boy said “Mince Meat Pie.” After some questioning, we deciphered his actual wish. Mint Pie. We searched for recipes. We crushed up Oreo’s. We purchased cool whip and Andes. The result was delicious. Like thin mints. In a pie. We called it “Mint Meets Pie.” We were with our wider…
Last week, I was on vacation with my family. We were visiting family and lifelong friends, staying near the beach, and celebrating an anniversary. It was a refreshing and beautiful time. But while we were out of town, we missed some events that happened at home. Events that all my very best friends are still talking about. I know we can’t be everywhere all the time. Sometimes we miss out on things because of prior commitments. Yet, since I’ve been home I’ve been hit with…
I have this deep desire to do amazing things with my kids. Things like build a Habitat for Humanity house and go pick up trash on the highway. But you can’t take preschoolers to the side of a highway. I mean, I can barely take them grocery shopping. But I try anyway, then I get frustrated and wonder why life isn’t going well. I have these thoughts, these grand plans which hardly ever work out because right on the surface of…
This is the last day of vacation. A day of immensity, sentiment, expectation. I can’t recall the past week, but I know it has been here. Each day has run into all the others like the colors in Van Gogh’s skies. So today I am looking closer. Vacation: An extended period of recreation Vacation: The action of leaving something one previously occupied This is where moments have come and gone. Now, I am sentimental for them. A vacation’s moments blow like…
I have three drafts of posts dealing with stars… 1.) A Review of The Little Prince movie, 2.) When Your Child Reaches for Stars (inspired by a conversation I had with my 5 year-old in which he told me he wants to be an astronaut. This one may not ever make it up here because it’s getting pretty long. It might be something to submit elsewhere.), 3.) This one. There’s apparently something in the stars besides lots of beauty. Stay tuned! 🙂…