"Life" Books
- "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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Age to Age
Have you ever heard of Demas in the Bible? Let me just take you down memory lane for a moment. Back to my eighth grade retreat, while attending a Christian school. I’ve established myself as a homebody, so it would be safe for you to assume that camps, retreats, group trips, most field trips… these were not times of excitement in abundance as it was for most of my peers. However, eighth grade retreat was going to be different. The speaker was going to be our Young Life area director and I was at least excited for what he had to teach us! The whole other camp experience I could…
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Passion: Curiosity
I have no special talents – I am only passionately curious! – Albert Einstein Asking questions… Searching for the answers, or waiting for the response… Truly listening, and genuinely soaking in the answer… I admit I tend to be more of a thinker than a verbalizer, kind of surprise with all the words I type, but these words are my thoughts, most of the time, fresh and new to even me as I type them! My conversation style tends to be more in the form of questions than statements (unless I’m in a quick-witted mood- and even then I tend to ask sarcastic questions 😏). I am reading a book…
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There Is No Choice
Warning: *It is August and there are already children having to be hospitalized for RSV, pneumonia, and other respiratory illness. This is not their fault, rather it is the wider community that surrounds them that needs to be held accountable! Yes, I am slightly perturbed at the “adults” in this world at the moment.* Personally, I know two children who have been hospitalized with pneumonia in the past month. Their stays were short compared to some, because of their parents being acutely aware of their health and taking quick action. Never hesitate when a child is involved! As the above quote hits the nail on the head for people who…
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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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All is Grace.
Hi, I am Anna. A sinner saved by the amazing grace of my Heavenly Father. I share the above excerpt from Frederick Buechner’s book for a couple reasons: 1. I believe AA does some incredible work. (There are some things that must be set aside to see the GREATER work being done!) 2. Alcoholism is real, very real. Alcohol is very real also, we don’t get alcoholism or alcoholics without alcohol. 3. I want to make clear that today’s post is going to be me pouring out the intentions of where my heart, mind, and soul lands with the subject of alcohol. By no means am I passing judgement, or…
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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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Unity! Where?
“NaNa, let’s hold hands like a family.” One of my greatest delights is when a child feels safe enough to just grab my hand without another thought. We ask them to hold ours a lot, out of caution when cars are near or when in a crowd. When they unconsciously or consciously seek out a hand to hold, most likely they are in need of a little bit of reassurance that someone is close and they are safe. In my opinion, there is no better feeling than a tiny hand sliding into mine and wrapping there little fingers around my hand. Pure Joy! When my niece was little (little-little, like…
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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:…
