My feelings about Atticus were complicated before he was born. We hadn’t met, so even though I cared about and for him, it was difficult having a stranger living inside me. Not to mention that he was (and is) an active boy. When I was pregnant, this meant that he constantly kicked me. It was [...]
Categories: Family,Intentional Parenting,Music
I have never been on any kind of mission trip, but I have followed the discussions about “poverty tourism” with interest. What are the lasting effects of a youth group traveling overseas to run a VBS for orphans? What about those trips where bloggers write through their experiences? Should churches build wells and orphanages? What [...]
Categories: Books
When you are a little girl, your older cousin seems impossibly cool. He has cable at his house, and he has two older brothers and an older sister. They have cats. He teaches you about different things throughout the years: The Hobbit, REM, They Might Be Giants. You use your Fisher Price tape recorder to [...]
Categories: Family,How to save a life
We are having a lovely summer. (Especially compared to last year. Mostly because we are all getting some sleep.) But this has been a week of sad news. I have been reading poetry, and I thought I would post one of my favorites. Please enjoy this poem by Jane Kenyon, who tells the truth in [...]
Categories: How to save a life,Poetry
“Back Yard” by Carl Sandburg Shine on, O moon of summer. Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak, All silver under your rain to-night. An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion. A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month; to-night they are throwing [...]
Categories: General
Dear Atticus, You are eighteen months old! One of my students constantly asks how old you are and then says, “Why do you say it in months?” I don’t know. That’s just what you do. Around fifteen or sixteen months, I lost track of how many months I was supposed to say. And what does [...]
Categories: Dear Atticus,Family,Marriage
I tuck in tight during the winter, folded in on myself. We are busy and I hate the cold. In the summer, our rhythms slow. Other people are busy with trips and camps, but our conversations are like this: What are we going to do today? Maybe go to the pool? Sure. There is time [...]
Categories: How to save a life
This is a conversation we are having a lot lately in our house: MAMA: Atticus, what color is this? ATTICUS: Yellow. MAMA: No. It’s green. ATTICUS: Yellow! MAMA: No. Green. ATTICUS: YELLOW! MAMA: No! ATTICUS: YELLLLLLLOW! He seems to be able to identify some colors and knows some of their names, but whenever I ask [...]
Categories: Funny Stuff
When Mike and I had been married for about a month, there was a huge thunderstorm in our neighborhood. The sound, right outside our bedroom window, frightened me awake, and Mike had to pin me down until I realized that everything was okay. I was embarrassed for the truth to come out: I do not [...]
Categories: Intentional Parenting
It amused me, at my brother’s wedding, to be reminded of how different he and I are. Mike and I had our ceremony and readings set early, and one of the things I cared most about was having nice bulletins. At my brother’s wedding, they didn’t set the ceremony until the week of the wedding, [...]
On my flights back from the Glen, I flipped through my notepad from the week and made a list of books that I needed to read. A few days later, I went to our excellent used book store and attempted to find many of those books. I left the store with seventeen books. Four from [...]
Categories: How to save a life
For the first time in years, we didn’t drag our chairs into a field and spread out a blanket and ooh and ahh over fireworks with friends. Mike and I watched the fireworks on TV from the comfort of our own home, first the DC set and then the New York City display. It was [...]
Categories: Intentional Parenting