Category: Family

That Awkward Stage of Motherhood

You know that stage of motherhood when your children are too old for mommy and me playdates, but you’re not quite ready to throw your lot in with the Empty Nesters Knitting Needles Group? When you catch yourself pointing out cows as you drive to an empty back seat, routinely pulling out grey hairs, and contemplating bangs to hide your wrinkles? That stage. The one when you send all your children off to school every morning and are so ready to spread your wings of independence, but are afraid to fly.

Ahh, the middle school years of motherhood. Minus the pimples… unless you eat an entire tray of brownies because you don’t have any children around to remind you that you’re supposed to be the adult. Please tell me this awkward stage passes quickly.

Stop the Hate

It breaks my heart that our most vulnerable, our most innocent are being drug into this ugly fight. That they are being used as pawns in a political game is so sad. We love to talk about the dangers of bullying, how it’s totally unacceptable. No one wants their kid to be the bully. But if we were to look at our own actions over the past weeks and months, are we not doing the very thing that we persistently preach to our children about?

Be kind. Please, just be kind.

Autograph

What if, as adults, we all saw these young, budding athletes, entrepreneurs, negotiators, builders, gardeners, jokesters, dancers, and dreamers as destined for greatness? What if all they needed was someone to believe in them, to encourage them, to smile at them, to give them a chance? The world has enough doubters, disagreers, haters, and just down-right grumps. Enough people find ways to tear kids down. I wonder what would happen if every child, just once in their life, could be asked for their autograph by an adoring fan. What kind of a difference could that simple thing make in their little world—and maybe even in ours?

Life Is A…Rerouting, Take a U-Turn Here

…Maybe life is less like a highway and more like a series of one-way streets, wrong turns, u-turns, side roads, traffic jams, pot holes, missed exits, and detours. Maybe life was never meant to follow a GPS. Maybe concrete plans were meant to be broken. Maybe we were meant to scream from time to time, “Crap! I didn’t want to exit here!” Because that’s when life, with all the good, the bad, and even the seriously ugly, really happens.

The Many Utilizations of “MOM”

My kids have been obsessed with palindromes lately. In case 7th grade English class is as far back in your memory as it is for me, a palindrome is a word that is spelled the same forward as it is backward, like race car,… Continue Reading “The Many Utilizations of “MOM””

One-In-A-Million

Answers to prayers often come in unexpected ways, and often with timing different than what we had hoped. But it does come exactly how we need it. Sometimes it comes in the form of a stomach bug leaving you puking your guts out in the bathroom at 2 am. Sometimes it comes in the form of a life-changing diagnosis and a reminder that He’s in control. He answers our prayers, no matter how or when or where, because we are all one-in-a-million to Him.

Unsung Heroes

Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing dads out there who do so much. We love and appreciate you!

Best of Times, Worst of Times

Quarentine Day 44: …And then caught grasshoppers and ate them.

A New Normal

It’s been a month since life, for most of us, was normal. That’s meant less trips to the grocery store, less birthday parties to run to, less playing with friends, no sitting in a pew for church. It’s meant no baseball, no after school sports…no actual school. It’s been a lot of less and even more or none.

But, for us, it’s also meant more time as a family, more connecting with others in deeper ways, more patience, more gratitude, more faith, more awareness. For us, it’s been an abundance of more.

When life is normal again, I hope we don’t loose all that we’ve gained. New Post!

Our Moment

With all the uncertainty right now around the world, I’ve been thinking about an experience my family had a couple months ago and how there really is so much good out there. This is our moment. Let’s exemplify humanity at its finest. Let’s add our voices to those that are struggling to finish the song. Let’s make this our finest hour.