Confession: All you need to mother a teenage boy is a shooting range, nerves of steel, and about a ton of provender. We adopted my kid brother for half a week while my parents toured Ireland. Based on this extensive experience, I compiled a list—Traits of Adolescent Boys. They are starving an hour after lunch. […]
Observations on a 13-year-old boy Read More »
Confession: I don’t call myself a fearful person, but I’m always surprised to find that the deeper I go, the more anxieties I unearth. Then I have to figure out what to do with them. I would enjoy covering them back up, but they don’t hide well. Did you know that you can undercut a
Redemption by preemption Read More »
Confession: I’ve read many stories about farmers with crop damage, and wondered how it would feel. Owwwww…!! I thought I would mind the loss of money, but in our miniscule case it’s – miniscule. I thought I would mind the loss of time, but I don’t begrudge the few minutes it took to drop seeds
Look at Mother Nature on the run… Read More »
Confession: Most of my best ideas come straight from someone else. Here’s one from my friend Shaunda, who does not follow her own advice. (There’s a reason–In her kitchen, the drawers are bigger than she is. And they number exactly three. So she cheerfully hauls them around by the scruff of the neck, and passes
Confession: I wonder if I should even be here. I am a creature of weakness and sin, so much flesh mixed in with new born spirit. I come to this table ashamed, uncertain. All is mixed, the singing about blood and love and the passing of picture books back and forth between squirmy children and the
Confession: There’s nothing like looking at old pictures for awakening pain. Today my heart hurts for things that have passed beyond my reach. The Maple Street days, my house clean and organized My three babies—the bright eyes and faces, the velvet skin Cuddles with nieces and nephews far away My sister with hair
He looks so precious sitting in the cart, and he eats his graham crackers with a bib, and total strangers tell you how cute and well-behaved he is.
The gospel according to Richard Scarry Read More »
Confession: I have played one game unceasingly for the last 9 ½ years. And I’m boss for the month! [insert celebratory jig] Here’s how it works. Because today is the first of the month, I crushed my husband’s expectations in one fell swoop at midnight, with these simple words: “Happy August!” Now I get boss
The night owl gets the worm Read More »
Confession: The most important thing I’ve learned in the last three years of my life— (are you ready?) … is… to… ASK! ***beep, beep, beep—this is me backing up to begin at the beginning*** For most of us, the Biblical command for older women to teach the younger women is familiar; old hat. The aged women
On aged women and a hundred objections Read More »
