Okay, so yesterday I woke up early, groggily whipped out a “Wednesday in the Word” post (which is a terrible name, by the way, but shows just how uncreative I am when it comes to the pressure of titles) while fielding the complaints of two fever-ridden kids and watching Daniel Tiger. That was oh, 6:30 […]
This Is What Remains (real life is now)
The past several days have been difficult – not in their entirety, but overall. When I started this series, I had a sense of some things that might come our way mid-month and they did. Other unexpected things piggy backed on those, and so for five days we seemed to weather one crisis or challenge […]
Grace Applied (More Thoughts on Boundaries): Real Life is Now
(post #5) see list of all posts here I’m combing through my draft folder tonight, and am surprised to find this post from two years ago that is in keeping with the theme already swimming in my mind: boundaries, perimeters. Here you go: It is a rainy 2 o’clock appointment, when the counselor and I crash against the concept […]
Boundaries in Parenting: Sacred Smallness, Real Life Is Now.
(post #3) see list of all posts here When our first son was about 18 months old, freshly weaned and newly a big brother, he started testing his autonomy. As a highly verbal child, he’d been counting to 10 and saying ABCs since his first birthday, adding simple sums such as “ one bus and […]
The Gift Is In These Walls
The gift is in these walls, a bit musty from food frying and a bit dirty from child-hands running across old white paint. The gift is in this air, fresh morning air chilled, sucking in through windows with wood smoke and sandalwood oil, afternoon air warming through window-plates of glass and through the steam of […]
Seven Short Thoughts and a Download
First off: My homeschool weekly schedule charts are available as downloads! The number one source of traffic I receive on this site is to my AO-inspired weekly schedules (thank you, Pinterest). I’ve emailed off so many of these things and FINALLY have them on the website as simple downloads. I’m a slow duck, but may this […]
Bind This Parent’s Heart
Put On 80 lbs of strawberries and a sister who makes me get things done. “Tomorrow’s the day,” Heather said in a message. “It will be over 100 degrees all weekend and the last of the berries will be gone. Be ready by 8:30. We’ll pick tomorrow and jam on Thursday.” For as long as […]
Grace, Grace and Parenting Fails
My crowning parenting moment did not happen when I dropped the futon on all ten of my toes. Sometimes I’m pretty certain they learn all their worst behavior from me. “Oh grace, grace, God’s grace…” I sat there on their beds after the catastrophe of an evening was through, after all the “I’ve had enough” […]
A Brave Thing vs. A Great Thing
It is a brave thing to die for one’s fellow-men; it is also brave, and often far harder, to live for them. Livingstone did both. Indeed, the humble Blantyre mill-boy had done the noblest and highest thing that man can do; he had given his whole life to help God’s less happy creatures. And this […]
Dear Mama (Remix)
These words play over the speakers at the coffee shop this morning, and tears choke in my throat. This is a culture to which I cannot relate. But these are universal feelings I think we can all comprehend. Oh, you sin-stricken, pain-filled world. No matter the age, the place, the culture, our primary relationships remain the same. We […]