Family
- "Life" Books, Aunt-ing, Children, Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Let's be Real, Pass it On..., Siblings
Do You Like Me?
But he was in his room, wasn’t he? We thought he was safe, didn’t we? What harm can he do in there? Exchange of questions between Jamie’s Parents in the 4-part miniseries, Adolescence You have probably heard of this miniseries, and you may be tired of hearing about it. I ask you, please give me a few sentences and then you can choose to close your browser if you would like to stop reading. Along with most of the world, I have been shook by this miniseries. Not necessarily by the truth it exposes, but by the guts it took to actual put real life in the homes of families…
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Co-Learners in Lifelong Learning
My soul has grown deep like the rivers. Langston Hughes What do you think Langston Hughes was thinking of when he wrote “grown deep like the rivers?” What do you think made his soul grow deep? Longing, pain, suffering, enduring, what he had witnessed, the circumstances that were his life? And what about the visual of rivers becoming deep? I did not pay attention well in science, but I do believe the speed of the water flowing, the tides, the waves crashing all have something to do with the different depths you find in the rivers. The application of this quote, of many favorites by Langston Hughes, is this: we…
- "Life" Books, Consider This..., Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Let's be Real, Pass it On...
Meet Them Where They Are
Every once in a while my Mom will leave me encouraging notes, or something she has read, or sometimes a comic strip. This week she left me a story from Guideposts. And the story was about an older man, who had made an impact on this family’s life, in many different ways. The adult children of the writer remembered that when they were little, “he always bent low.” What a legacy! The opportunity he saw in a child, to simply take the time to get on their level, which was probably increasingly difficult, but he saw this as something of great worth. I also can say I have had those…
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Simple Christmas
Simple: not complicated; not demanding; manageable. I can say, with a grateful heart, that my Christmas this year was simple. Simple in the ways listed above. On this side of heaven it will never be “simple” in the way of easy; painless; or absent of grief. I will always long for that first Christmas morning with my own little girl. And all the other times I will continue to grieve this side of heaven. However, her name, Lucy, was spoken. Her name was written on packages, in the “From” and “To” spots along with mine. Her ornaments were hung along with all the others. She was remembered and held close.…
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Christmas Babies
For me there is nothing that can touch the feeling of watching the watching the wonder of Christmas in a little child’s eyes! They embody the joy we are to embrace, the excitement of anticipation, the awe of the simplicity and humbleness of the true meaning of Christmas. I may be a little bias to “Christmas babies,” or December babies, because I am one and so is my nephew. But there is something so special about a newborn baby at Christmas. Holding a Miracle. Embracing and studying their tiny attributes. I believe is holy. And of course, as the picture today shows, every year there is more and more twinkle…
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Music… one of my favorite things
“We teach our children how to behave by: 1. What we allow. 2. What we stop. 3. What we ignore. 4. What we reinforce.” Take a minute to think about this quote. It is really an indicator of what habits and boundaries we allow and don’t allow in our daily lives, also. But today, let’s talk discuss music and videos/dvds that are exciting gifts! I will give you a disclaimer, when kids are exploring and discovering music, this is one of those kid sounds that doesn’t phase me. Now a car thumping past my window or obnoxiously loud and vibrating my insides, I can lose my cool. So we all…
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Paints, Pens, and Paper…
“Sometimes the best learning environment for students isn’t a bunch of devices powered by wi-fi. Sometimes it’s a huge pile of cardboard powered by PURE IMAGINATION.” Krissy Venosdale Oh the smell of new play-doh or a fresh box of crayons! These make my heart smile. A little fact about something that I have a hard time resisting, any craft supply on sale! Hobby Lobby is literally a money pit for me, but of course supporting a great store 😂 I could place the blame on my grandparents who always liked taking us to five and dime stores, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I just love having craft supplies ready…
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Some May Call it Hullabaloo
As the gathering season is approaching, there is a lot of talk about how to avoid certain topics of conversations with family and friends. Allow me to make another suggestion, that has nothing to do with those adult talking topics… rather something, hopefully, light hearted. Unless you get too competitive and need to dial back some relatives. Which can happen, so be prepared to have a cool down spot for children as well as adults who get too competitive 😂 Games. Now, I was the kid and now the adult that does not have the patience for monopoly or any game like it, to those who can play these games-…
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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…
