As I pen words, it is a dreary, soaking-wet, rain-drenched evening outside my sitting room window. We are all drying ourselves out after a torrential down-pour just moments ago, occurring just as we made a run for it from the van to the front steps. This onslaught also occurring after we all had walked through …
My Jumping Jellybean settled in for the evening inside her bedroom, I lie down on the double bed that serves as center piece, for evening stories and prayers. Tonight’s Bible verse is this: “…always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else (I Thess. 5:18b).” That pretty much sums it up. At …
Happy Hour at the Gard residence is officially beginning. It is that time of the night when mama bear can let her hair down, exhale a whole lot of hot air and cut loose on the computer while the little cubs hibernate in their little dens. There are no thankfully no audible sounds coming from …
I am procrastinating tonight. It has taken me all night to sit down here to this open page and just write. Proving how far I have to go to become a blogging superstar. It is amazing how one can find so many reasons to delay that which is inevitable. That is, to delay writing when …
Library day for Kindergarten A. I, for one, am stoked. Library day is every third Monday, and it is a twenty minute interlude from the hectic pace of life in the zoo. It is the gift that keeps on giving. When library day comes, we all get to escape the confines of the classroom, head …
Reminded today that our children love us as we are: unconditionally, uninhibited, unequivocally. Children see in us beauty, strength, patience and understanding, things we often do not give ourselves credit for. They make us the hero- champions of all things wise and wonderful: beautiful princesses, brave knights, diverse and varied role models and mythic magicians. …
My students are all colouring pictures of teddy bears which they have all coincidentally named after themselves. I am standing in front of them trying to re-cap a lesson we have just finished on healthy living. A visit by two public health nurses, one teddy bear clinic and seven booklets of information later, we are …
Not long ago, a friend mailed me a letter that contained two sheets of paper. On one sheet, was an article titled The Meanest Mother in the World, and on the other was the letter writer’s note to me which can be summarized with this one sentence: “Nice to know that being ‘mean’ is not …
Funny stuff kids said to me today (at school and at home): Me: “Little girl, I love your long hair. Did you ever cut it before? Little girl: “yeah, my mom cuts it with a knife (illustrates with a whiplash effect with her hand) And another… Me: “What does your Dad do?” Little Boy: …
Sometimes I wonder if I am sending faulty messages about me and the subject matter of this blog. As in, when you end up finding a blog about the pursuit of a joyful life, amidst the other blogs out there in the blogosphere, one might think it is written by a very positive, happy-go-lucky, Type …
The dog is jumping excitedly around my oldest daughter’s feet. She is trying to teach Lucky, our four and a half month old Mini Australian Shepherd, how to shake a paw. Although, I think at present the lesson has disintegrated into a jumble of paws, feet and hands going every which direction. The four-year old …