Small Moments
on Nov 14, 2009 in Family Gifts God Home Kids Motherhood/Mommy Duties gratitude Children darkness little boys morning shadows sleeping small moments My oldest often comes home from school with catch phrases that describe what he’s learning.  Last year his teacher helped him work on “grabber-hooks and gotcha’s” to make the beginning and end of a story more interesting.  T...

“Amana” Bar Revolt
on Nov 12, 2009 in CRAZY kids Discipline Issues Family Growing Pains Home Kids Kitchen/Culinary Woes Marriage Motherhood/Mommy Duties Amana Banana Bars Battle of Little Bighorn Cheerios Jo Frost Pasta Bolognese sharks Every once in a while you have those special moments of realization as a mom.  Glimpses of glory.  Morning has broken, the sky is caught in the rapture of sunrise, and children sit singing happily over their Cheerios in a perfectly clean kitchen. ...

Nothing to Say
on Nov 11, 2009 in CRAZY kids Chores/Duties/Jobs Family Home Illness Kids Motherhood/Mommy Duties blogging Chicago Coke facebook mountains Santa seminars twitter/tweeting Washington writer's conference Last spring I went to a writer’s conference in Chicago that was packed with all kinds of wonderful seminars, advice from published authors, and meetings with editors.  For me it was a fantastic learning experience and a handy excuse to visit o...

Sick House
on Nov 6, 2009 in Family Food Gifts God Heartbreak Home Illness Kids Marriage Social Justice gratitude Africa cold Flowers In The Attic homeschool Sequence sick VC Andrews Our two boys came home with some kind of bug this week, leading to a couple days home from school and confined to our sick house.   A visit to the doctor yielded a “deep chest cold” diagnosis, for which we were grateful [no H1N1], but it...

Things I Don’t Understand Thursday: Toy Packaging
on Nov 5, 2009 in Chores/Duties/Jobs Family Gifts Holidays Kids Rants Things I Don't Understand Thursday Things that are STUPID Costco girls American Girl Christmas toy packaging thief ridiculous toys Last week my daughter decided to use her long-saved-up birthday money to buy a new doll at Costco.  Maybe you’ve seen them?  They’re adorable American Girl look-alikes at about a quarter of the cost…which only makes them more ador...

Last Thoughts: The Year of Living Like Jesus
on Nov 4, 2009 in Faith Following Jesus God Holidays Literature/Books Uncategorized gratitude Family Coke Christmas Ed Dobson The Year of Living Like Jesus chimichangas sour cream budget gift-giving November December birthdays Seder Dinner Judaism Dayenu Adoni Passover Tonight, over sour cream-laden chimichangas and icy Cokes, my husband and I had our annual gift-giving budget conversation.  At our house, November and December are packed with several family birthdays and, of course, the simultaneously beloved and...

More Thoughts From “The Year of Living Like Jesus”
on Nov 3, 2009 in Faith Following Jesus God Growing Pains Kids Literature/Books gratitude crippled Ed Dobson Fishers of men forgiveness High Holy Days holiness Jewish prayers kosher lame lobster Mark 1:17-18 new year nonkosher October repentance shrimp The Year of Living Like Jesus Tom Colicchio Top Chef wholeness Top Chef is one of my favorite TV shows.  On it, a group of amazing chefs compete in ridiculously hard challenges under pressures of time and budget, all to win the title of “Top Chef.”  One thing that these cooks have sometimes been cr...

The Year of Living Like Jesus, by Ed Dobson
on Nov 2, 2009 in Faith God Literature/Books Bible Zondervan Publishers Ed Dobson The Year of Living Like Jesus Book review Jewish Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Orthodox prayer rope rosary "Living like Jesus" baptized Preface: These last several nights I’ve had a hard time sleeping.  I lie in bed thinking and invariably I find myself staring into the darkness, praying the prayer that Ed prayed countless times in his book:  “Lord Jesus Christ, son of...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
on Oct 31, 2009 in Family Holidays Kids Play Random Fun Seasons of Life 1980's music Boo cozy Cyndi Lauper Halloween harvest pumpkins punk Reformation Day BOO! I know, these pictures are scary, but I wanted to share in the festivities tonight by going 80’s punk: my own tribute to Cyndi Lauper. ‘Cause, haven’t you heard? Moms in the ‘burbs just wanna have fun! fishnets + fushi...

Two Joys
on Oct 30, 2009 in Chores/Duties/Jobs Discipline Issues Family Food Gifts Home Kids Kitchen/Culinary Woes Motherhood/Mommy Duties gratitude Cedar Point county fair dinner Etsy garlic meatloaf rosemary potatoes sparrows 1.  I found these adorable earrings right after I wrote “Little Sparrows” and fell in love with them immediately.  Being a girl with short hair, earrings are an essential to getting dressed.  Without them, I feel totally boyish and nak...