My friend Abby says “Dress for the day you want to have, not the day that’s trying to have you.” Her words echo what my mom used to tell us when we were children. We were home-schooled, but she never let us stay in pajamas for school. We had to get dressed, and not sweatpants…

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He squatted and jumped and waved his arms as he tried to remember the words to the song. “I’m in-right outright upright downright …” he paused, confused. I recognized it immediately. “Happy all the time,” I sang, and he joined me, grinning. Then he dashed away, leaving me to finish the song in my head.…

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I was a wreck in August and much of September, and I couldn’t understand why. I remember a conversation in which friends were comparing notes on mental health and medications and they described themselves with official-sounding labels. All I know is the med I’m taking. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I cried in…

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“If you don’t stop picking on your brother, I’m going to… Uh…. You’re going to lose… something.” A few months ago, I would not have fumbled that line. I would have threatened the child with a spanking. The words flew from my mouth like a reflex:“If you don’t stop that, I’ll spank you.” “Do what…

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Last week I tried something I’ve never done before – I wrote out the story of my daughter’s first three weeks in a series of two posts a day. The result was 11 posts and over 8000 words in 6 days. Then on Tuesday, I wrote for A Deeper Story. It was a sermon, let’s…

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