Truly Thankful
Truly Thankful There are Thanksgivings when we rattle off things we are thankful for without too much thought. . . family, friends, shelter, food, , , this will not be one of them. My son Brock had elective surgery on his belly button on the Monday before the week of Thanksgiving; as a result he ended up with a collapsed lung. My poor boy has asthma so between that and the sore belly from the surgery we went 4 days before figuring out what the problem was. By Friday I knew I needed to get him...
Read MoreAn Apology Letter to My First Born:
An Apology Letter to My Firstborn Child: I recently read an apology letter another parent had written to their second born child, apologizing that he didn’t have a nice baby book or look as put together as the first born (“An Apology Letter to My Second Child” by Jennifer DeMattia). It reminded me of a conversation we had when you were lamenting the fact that you are the first born, recalling the pit falls to your place in our family. It got me thinking from your perspective and you are right....
Read MoreBoys Are Gross
Boys Are Gross! I know this sounds like a sexist, elementary school playground thing to say but, boys are gross! I have raised five boys and one girl and let me tell you, they are not the same. Maybe it’s just my girl and my boys. Maybe this generalization is unfounded. I will give you my first hand observations and let you decide. My girl is picky. She doesn’t like to try new foods and has actually made herself vomit over the texture of certain foods. We have had our food battles over...
Read MoreTeach Me
In our playroom, hang these words. My amazingly talented sister made them. They are a reminder to me of my primary job, to teach. Yes, I clean and cook and wash and wipe. Some days it seems that is all I do, but underlying everything, my job is to teach: to teach my children to obey, to listen, to respect; to teach them their ABC’s and 123’s; to teach them how to dance and sing and laugh; to teach them to clean up after themselves and say, “I’m sorry.”; to teach them the Word of God and...
Read MoreFull Hands
Full Hands Somewhere between two and three children the comments changed from smiles and gushing to, “Oh my, you have your hands full”. I have to agree. I do indeed have my hands full, as I did when I had one child, and two children. When my first was born, my whole world was transformed. I was responsible for the well-being and training of another human being. My hands were completely full. When our second was born and I had to adjust to mothering two, my hands were full. I can...
Read MoreGood Intentions
Good Intentions My husband says that I am great at coming up with systems, but not great at implementing them. I hate to admit it, but he’s right. Being naturally creative, I love to come up with a plan to solve any problem. Storage systems, disciplinary systems, organizational systems, I love them all! However, I often lack the discipline to carry through on implementing them, rendering them useless. My intentions are good, but my focus or effort is lacking. I found this great map idea last...
Read More