Posts by writingjoy
Dispatches from Life Skills Bootcamp – Week One
We survived our first week of Life Skills Bootcamp. The expectations this week were simple: make your bed and pick everything up off the floor by 9am or you lose a dollar. Here’s the highlights, and a few low lights too. (Not sure what this is? Start here.) How I’m Doing I keep telling myself…
Read MoreA Story Unfinished
When one person who has lost a child encounters another who has lost a child, they connect immediately. Finding another who has walked that valley of the shadow of death is both wonderful and terrible; wonderful because here is someone who understands and has been there, terrible because here is another who has lost a…
Read MoreTales from Life Skills Summer Kids Bootcamp: Day One
It’s Day Two of our Life Skills bootcamp, and I’m happy to report that everyone’s room passed inspection yesterday. Today, we’re having an all-day It’s-Summer-Vacation movie fest, and I suspected that I was the only one who remembered to make my bed. I decided to remind them that I’ll be doing a room inspection around…
Read MoreBuilding Life Skills: A Summer Bootcamp for Kids (FREE printable!)
I have known for years that as a parent, my job isn’t to make my kids happy. As my friend Missy wrote, I don’t want my kids to be happy. My job, as their mom, is to prepare them to be decent hard-working independent adults. That means teaching them things they don’t want to learn,…
Read MoreTo My Midwife, from Your Plus-Size Patient
A friend of mine sent me this letter awhile back, asking for editing and proofreading help. Reading it was like being punched in the gut. When I wrote her back, I asked if I could publish it here. All of us need to hear her message, not just those in the healthcare industry. *** Dear…
Read MoreLessons from a Fundamental Baptist on Memorial Day
Today, I have a post up on A Deeper Story. This particular story has gestated for quite a few years. I have some deep church-wounds, significant trust issues, and major baggage related to organized religion. So to actually experience this, and then see what I saw, and then write about it? This is all grace. In…
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