Friends & Neighbors
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You Say… I Say…
Everyone has some sort of accent, a way of speaking. We emphasize certain letters, and draw out parts of words, or even shorten words. It comes with the life we live. It makes up part of who we are. There is another category all together, which I’m not sure how you would define it other than genius new versions of words. Let me explain. The majority of the words I am about to present to you, are words that children have used. It’s how their ears hear the word, and how their mind interprets the word, and then how their mouth translates, or attempts to translate the word. I don’t…
- "Life" Books, Chronic Illness, Consider This..., Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Jesus, Mommy, My Little, Single Parenting
What the Sprinkles!?!?!
Oh dear, aww shucks, what the heck…. We do our best to avoid those sneaky four letter words that are so rampant in culture. We quickly try to think of a substitute… That’s what happened with my mom and I when one of us just blurted out, “What the sprinkles!” We were shocked, I don’t even remember what it was about, and sprinkles were in eyesight and so that became the substitute and now is a common phrase around the house. “Potty mouth,” as it was called in the 1990s, was a no-no in our house growing up, but as I have become an adult I have found there are…
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Make a Move!
Today, I am going to share a post that one of my friends shared on Instagram this past week. I met Derrica (pictures of her in High School at YL camps above😊) through Young Life in high school, twenty something years ago, which explains the good ole’ flip phone in the picture (that was some top tech there to all you younger folks!). Derrica, a.k.a. “Mama D,” is one of those friends that you can just say her name and the warmth of her friendship and countenance just fills your soul with an abundance of joy! She was the homecoming queen, the student body president, everybody loves Derrica! But she…
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Influence.
Influence: noun; 1. the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways. 2. The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. 3. According to Babbel, “In 2025, influence is the ability to inspire action, shape opinions, and drive trends.” (impact; leadership; guidance; direction; hold; control; power.) Influencers. Time 100. World leaders. New Pope. All these people are human beings and definitely deserve the right to speak and hold a place in this world, as well as all of God’s creation has the right too. Today, though, I’m thinking about the ones who never get the trophy or attempt…
- "Life" Books, Children, Chronic Illness, Consider This..., Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents
They’ve Chosen the Wrong Battle
You’re now in a secret world. You’ll see things you never imagined; ignorance, rudeness, and discrimination. But you’ll also witness so many everyday miracles, and you’ll know it. You won’t think a milestone is just a milestone, you’ll know it’s a miracle and be present in that moment. You’ll treasure things most wouldn’t think twice about. You’ll become an advocate, an educator, a specialist and a therapist, but most of all, you’ll be a mom to the most wonderful child. Geraldine Renton “They have no clue who they are messing with!” I have said this over and over in the past few weeks. Medical research funding cuts were enough to…
- "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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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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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-…
