Those children? Those beautiful, laughing children? They are now five years older. Two of them are taller than me. Their baby sister, who was just a month or two old when they climbed the tree, can now climb trees all on her own. I look at this picture, a snapshot of how I want them…
Are the troubles of this world really as bad as we think they are? Is too Pollyanna to think otherwise? A few weeks ago I found myself getting a little introspective. FishBoy13’s birthday always does that to me. For those who don’t know, he’s the baby we prayed and hoped and cried over. He was…
Suffering from a little mom guilt, that you’re not quite up to par. Think again. Each of us moms probably falls short of her expectations or dreams for parenting. I know I do. I can think of some ideal or some activity that would bless my kids and then one thing or another happens to…
I lived a pretty over-confident childhood. For the most part, I had few self-esteem problems. (Read: I typically thought of myself more highly than I ought to have.) It wasn’t until the year of the miscarriages that I truly realized the world didn’t revolve around me. It was a hard realization. One of my take-aways was…
There’s a lot riding on our job as mothers. Each of us, gifted with different abilities and strengths; each of us, faced with unique personalities and challenges; each of us, no matter the circumstances, is called to get up and fight the good fight each morning. It might be managing a child’s disability and the…
How we wield our words has a huge impact on those around us. As they say, words are mightier than a sword. The Bible is full of cautions about how we use our tongue. One that I quote often at my house is this: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but…
I’m blessed with some amazing friends, both real and virtual. Some I’ve known forever; others I’ve never met outside of the computer keyboard. Either way, they are amazing people. My cup of friendship is definitely on the full side. I count you among them as well. Your responses to my struggles last week were so…
This weekend we celebrated our miracle baby’s 12th birthday. Every year it gives me pause to see how much time has passed and how our family has grown — in size and maturity — since the evil year of 1999. For those of you just tuning in, here’s the short version of my miscarriage story….
Happy people are fun to be with. How can I be one of them? We have this interesting dynamic going on at our house. Some of my kids are really into laughing, clapping, humming, dancing. Others? Not so much. Recently, an older sibling was shushing a younger one for expressing that joie de vivre. I…
The point of a story is never about the ending….It’s about your character getting molded in the hard work of the middle. — Donald Miller Hubs and I have been reading and discussing this book over the last few weeks. Yes, I’m cheating. It’s on the Booking It reading list for March. But, FishPapa grabbed…