Multitudes on Mondays
The One Time I’m Happy About My Husband’s Business Trip (Plus Me in *Front* of the Camera)
My husband took a business trip last week, which normally would propel me into manic-single-parent mode. But not this time! My fabulous in-laws agreed to take the kids for us (#500), so I launched into manic parents-leaving-kids-behind-during-the-school-year mode. It was totally worth it when my husband loaded up the car and threw my bags in…
Read MoreLife: unmasked (a new writing project) and more every-day gifts
Snippets of the day flash across my mind’s eye as I lay in bed, trying to sleep. The pictures and memories play over and over with this song as the soundtrack. “This is the stuff that drives me crazy….This is the stuff You use.” …Tears for Ellie again in the worship service at church, and…
Read MoreGratitude Can’t Stay Silent
(if you receive this post in an email reader, please click over to my blog to view the video.) I sent my kids to school this morning. The older two, that is. The youngest has decided I make a great jungle gym as I try to peck out a few words before we start the…
Read MoreHow the Other Half Lives (except it’s actually “The Other 95%”)
Do you ever wonder how the other half lives? I have, but I had no idea just how hard it was until I saw it two weeks ago in Bolivia. And then I discovered here that this isn’t the way half the world lives — it’s actually how 95% of the world lives. This is…
Read MoreSeeing Life Through Their Eyes
This week I’m trying to see and hear and experience the way my children do. As usual, with such a resolution comes resistance. My disgruntled self gets even more grumpy at having to set aside the to-do list, the writing, the daily motherly work. It chafes at the incessant responding to inane comments like “Mom?…
Read MoreWhen Fear and Heat Pile On
It’s a dry irritated cough, racking his little body until tears drip and stomach inverts. He pulls desperate at the straw, trying to wash the cough away with cold water. I hold him as I page through my mental book of mom-tricks for anything that might soothe. Cold air. Where to find cold air in…
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