Family
- "Life" Books, Children, Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Let's be Real, Mommy, My Little, Pass it On...
Be Human. Be Real.
Babies. I know not everyone shares my overjoy and love of the tiniest humans among us, but allow me to share some perspective from what makes my heart come alive. First, my Lucy would have been eight this year, so I would still be in the midst of raising my girl and loving to learn about whatever she was loving at the moment. But she is with Jesus and He still has me on this side of Heaven, so he has more work to be done in me, for sure! In the past few years I have been able to watch quite a few of the children I kept get…
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Family Moments
“Family moments are the best souvenirs.” Moments. Maybe a split second decision. A window of time that surprised you, and allowed you to spend time with family. A car ride conversation. A road trip. A stay-cation. It’s the moments within in these times that we remember, that children remember. There is a five year gap between my brother and I, which to some seems like a lot, but honestly, I love it and always have. It’s one of those things, as a kid, you didn’t really think about unless somebody pointed it out. We have always been best friends, partners in sneakiness, and have always loved family. Family trips and…
- "Life" Books, Children, Children Come, Consider This..., Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Grief, Let's be Real, My Little, Pass it On...
Children Grieve Too
“There’s a stillness about grief. A process. An overwhelming hush. Some days it screams about the one I miss. Some days it’s a peace that there is more. Some days it’s a silent mending as tiny broken pieces are put back together. In any form, I don’t mind the quiet — it’s a sign of an endless love, a richness, an undying hope. I’m learning that the quiet is part of the sacred mess of grief, of aching, of mending, of becoming whole when part of you is gone. It’s sacred and holy, and because of that it makes me feel just an inch closer to him. I don’t want…
- "Life" Books, Aunt-ing, Children, Chronic Illness, Consider This..., Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Let's be Real, Memories, Pass it On...
When “Showing Up” Looks Different
“I’m learning to love the pauses, the quiet stretches, where nothing much is happening, but everything feels okay.” -Unknown The man in the picture above, my Paw-Paw, is the closest thing to being a “show up” legend for his grandchildren and even other children he loved! He wasn’t perfect, and he wouldn’t want to be seen as such. But when he started to get to weak to make his two a day visits to my grandma in the nursing home, it was a huge sign that he was extremely tired and his body was giving out. He worked in human resources for quite a while at the end of his…
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Heart and Mind
What is your thoughts on comments like these: “Kids will be kids.” “They are just in the terrible twos phase.” “He/She is quite the handful.” “You have your hands full!” My thoughts, can you guess? I’m not a fan. Indeed, I am the first to advocate for kids to be kids! Let them play! Good golly, adults need to chill and join in playing more often. However, this comment is very rarely ever used for this reason. Instead it’s used as an excuse for inappropriate behavior. So is the terrible twos, and all the age related undercutting comments about tweens, teens, and all in between. The latter two comments are…
- "Life" Books, Adoption, Aunt-ing, Being "Single", Chronic Illness, Family, Friends & Neighbors, Grief, Jesus, Let's be Real, Migraines, Mommy, My Little, Single Parenting
Worth Fighting For
“Fighting Words” by Ellie Holcomb Fear is like a broken recordSame old songs of accusation playLike “Who are you to speak the truth”“Just look at all your failures and mistakes”“And if they really knew you”“There’s no way they could love you anyway” The enemy keeps talkingTelling me to hide my face in shameWhispering that everything I’ve done will drive the Father’s Love awaySaying, “It’s too late for hoping”“That something in your heart could ever change.” My debt is paid, oh, I’ve been set freeAnd You gave Your life up to rescue meYou say that I am worth fighting forAnd Grace is like waves that keep crashing on the shore Fight…
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Keep It Boring!
Please excuse my absence last week. Life caught up with me and just had one of those weeks. If you know me, you know how true this quote above is! 😂 I began writing this post this past Sunday, just to put some of the wording in perspective 😉. And I will be wrapping it up with today’s thoughts. I just finished an hour of making med bags for 14 days. I’ve gone through every possible way of trying to attempt to make taking medicine easier on a daily basis, so I ask that you hold back you opinion on how many baggies this takes in a year or how…
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Discovery through Children Book Collecting
“Expand the definition of ‘reading’ to include non-fiction, humor, graphic novels, magazines, action adventure, and, yes, even websites. It’s the pleasure of reading that counts; the focus will naturally broaden. A boy won’t read shark books forever.” –Jon Scieszka “I believe we should spend less time worrying about the quantity of books children read and more time introducing them to quality books that will turn them on to the joy of reading and turn them into lifelong readers.”–James Patterson If you don’t know that I am borderline obsessed with children’s books, well, today you will know for sure. The picture today is only a glimpse of my first attempt at “downsizing”…
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Stand Beside Them
"May God bless you withdiscomfort at easy answers,half truths, and superficialrelationships, so that youmay live deep within your heart.May God bless you with angerat injustice, oppression,and exploration of people,so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.Many God bless you with tearsto shed for those who sufferfrom pain, rejection, starvation and war, so thatyou may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turntheir pain to joy.May God bless you with enoughfoolishness to believe thatyou can make a difference inthis world, so that you cando what others claim cannot be done.Amen." - A Franciscan Blessing I encourage you to read this blessing a couple of times, and really…
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NaNa Brings Me Marshmallows
“People say I’m ‘good with kids.’ But really I’m just a grown-up who vividly remembers how positively and deeply it affects a child to be treated with kindness and respect. I just make sure to offer the same to every child I know.” – Nancy Kopman School days. There are not many days that I can remember that I wasn’t eagerly waiting for the day to be over, and the time had arrived for me to line up for “car riders.” I can still feel this overwhelming deep breath. The sight of a gold mini van, or wood panel mini van, or green volvo station wagon, or white Nissan, or…
