Friends & Neighbors
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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…
- "Life" Books, Aunt-ing, Children, Consider This..., Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Mommy, Pass it On..., Siblings
Stealing Boredom.
“I find myself worrying most that when we hand our children phones, we steal their boredom from them. As a result, we are raising a generation of writers who never start writing, artists who will never start doodling, chefs who will never make a mess of the kitchen, athletes who will never kick a ball against a wall, musicians who will never pick up their aunt’s guitar and start strumming.” Glennon Doyle I came across this quote this past week and instantly I felt heard, somehow. Quotes do this for me sometimes, well most of the time. I finished up writing mine and Lucy’s forever and always family story last…
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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…
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- "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…
