Family
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Christmas is Always
“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. Christmas is ALWAYS!” Dale Evans Rogers Two weeks. That’s when I last wrote. There has been a lot of head spinning life decisions in the in between. Needless to say, we may agree or disagree, like or dislike the leaders that won the elections, but most importantly we must respect the good work all presidents have done. Every president has done at least one thing to better our country, and this is something we must focus on in this transition. We can be excited or disappointed/discouraged at the outcome, but we are still…
- "Life" Books, Adoption, Aunt-ing, Children, Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Grief, Memories, Mommy, Siblings, Single Parenting
Savoring the Memories
“Give me the WILD children with their BARE feet and SPARKLING eyes! The RESTLESS, churning climbers. The wild ones using their outside voices, singing ALL THE WAY HOME. Give me the WONDER-FILLED glorious mess makers DREAMING of mountains and mud, and aching to RUN through the field of stars.” Nicolette Sowder Just this week my mom and I were talking about how much we miss children. Where I grew up there was plenty of space for children to play and explore, it was a child’s dream come true. I can say this because that’s exactly how I felt there. If children were not at our house, we were still close…
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Crisis of Truth
A few reasons I share this today: The excitement of guiding children to learn to open themselves up to a vast array of experiences, however that may look or sound or feel, is overwhelming to me. To get to know them, the way they learn, and then engage them – whether it be through books, or pictures, or music, or items from a certain place to explore with our senses – these moments are untouchable, irreplaceable. For me as a kid magazines kept my attention. Both sets of grandparents gave me a subscription to a magazine every year – Highlights and American Girl – were the two I chose. And…
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Storm Warning!
Let me start off by saying, I love a good rainstorm! Some of my favorite days and best memories are days with my parents, grandparents, brother, kids I kept, my little girl, my niece and nephew and cousins, just dancing in the rain or simply watching the rain and clouds pass over. Sweet front porch sitting, one of Lucy’s and my niece and nephew’s favorite activities when they were little 😊 Tornados… Hurricanes… these come with the wonderful place I call home. I have watched and lived through many. Loss is always a part of storms and the news coverage and stories afterwards. In 2018, there were two hurricanes that hit,…
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A Resting Place.
How do you release your grip on something that is so close to your heart, soul, and holds years of memories? Letting go of the Physical, Holding on to the Memorable. Loosening our grip on material things, especially when there are memories attached, I find is an extremely difficult thing to do. It is bigger than the place or the object, it’s the things and the people we remember that are connected. This summer is the first summer in my entire life that I have not visited the lake house pictured above. For many reasons my parents decided to sell this lake home this year, and as hard as it…
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Learning Alongside
I’m Back! Today, I have some statistics and some general ideas that I have gathered in my love of history and longings for my generation and the generations to come. I’m not one to dwell on the past or look to far into the future, I tend to focus on the present or near future, simply because life has dealt me experiences to remember this is all we are guaranteed. That’s a fact and a discipline that doesn’t come naturally to my body or brain. However, I do love seeing where we have come from and the hope of where we can go and the impact we can have. Disclaimer:…
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High Five for the Mundane!
Give people high fives for getting out of bed. Being a person is hard sometimes. Kid President Getting out of bed. Being human. For some people that’s it. They have no second thought, no hesitation, no shaking. They are up and going with seemingly no effort. For some, getting out of bed and facing being a human, in a human body, in a human world, takes great effort. There are lots of reasons and circumstances – health, relationships, home environment, financial, loss, etc. I tend to have more days that require great effort. It’s how I am wired, woven together, and it’s my story. Health, loss, and life events have…
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Life Markers
“You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneventful nice days.” Alain de Botton Oh how I love this quote I discovered recently! Not until life is interrupted do we slow down to appreciate the lilies of the field and the birds of the air… I have mentioned in previous posts that by nature I am an avid documenter, on the edge of being an information hoarder! 😂 Truly! I love to keep articles on news, places I’d like to visit or places I have gone and want to go back to- it’s a issue I am learning to…
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Wacky and Wild Mail
13 ounces or less. The wonderfully wacky things you can mail! Last week I wrote about my love of good ole fashion snail mail, and included that I would write about when I did a “out of the box” mail camp with my niece. Well, I can usually pat myself on the back for documenting things with photos. However, I remember sweating and being stared down by a postal worker while I attempted this fun adventure with my then four year old niece, who by the way was and is an excellent child! I believe the worker was perturbed that my mom and I would engage in such silly business.…
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Smiles Delivered
“When I see a mailbox, I see a friend. I see something that can connect me to the people I love. I see an entity that can take my words and send them, in reliable snail speed, across the planet. Sure, email and social media are faster, but they’ve got nothing on the magic of a physical object arriving in my hands from thousands of miles away.” The Year I became Snail Mail Superstar by Sara McNally Oh what joy it is to find happy mail among the bills and advertisements, can I get an Amen? I can remember vividly as a child receiving mail. We had a post office…
