Sometimes all the patience is sucked out, like a Hoover that tirelessly lives up to its brand. Or perhaps like my new LG- promising that life will be good when you use the label. But when air is emptied from within, like a sucker punch to the gut, and all patience, understanding, joy and hope …
My children have been gifted. Gifted with family who value faith, honesty, respect, education and co-operative learning; hard work, effort, diversity, honor and humor. Among other positive qualities. All which serve to instil within our offspring an appreciation for integrity and a value for a high standard of living. We work hard as parents to …
As a mom, I feel pressure to capture and preserve every waking moment of my four children’s lives. To photograph, video-tape, blog, anecdote; to keep a baby calendar, baby-record book, family scrapbook, and personal diary; to Facebook, Pinterest, Tweet and Instagram for the love of my children; and to do things the old-fashioned way: write …
As a secondary piece to that last post, I thought I would follow up with what happened next…after the E/N/T specialist appointment. As I had been given the information that there was a problem, somewhere in THERE- just not necessarily with my voice box and vocal chords primarily, I left thinking that I might need …
The journey to peace comes by way of blessings. Counting blessings. Those little and big reminders given to us so that we can remember this: life is good. That life is more than good- it is stellar. Even in the moments we oft would erase. For those moments build character and endurance. They make us …
I sometimes think about alternatives. What is it that makes one conversation interesting and another one not so much? Why is it that one minute I am happy and another minute, sad? Why are lions not tame and puppies wild? Why is dessert last and veggies first? Why am I so consumed with alternatives and …
My baby lies feverish on the couch, her little eyes flickering open momentarily when I walk past her. She woke with a headache this morning, and those pains led to lethargy and burning hot skin by early evening. In light of the week we’ve had, with a young girl in our circle of friendship with …
I peek in the room, and she is propped up on pillows, reading by lamplight left on from the evening before. I come in, bend low to her head and kiss her. It is 7:00 a.m. We have a busy day ahead. I have two presentations before lunch, and my mind is on this. I …
Life, that act of living out one’s days: it is mysteriously hard to define. Life by its very nature has a chameleon aspect to it. Adapting to its surroundings, changing with the ebb and flow. Mirroring shadows. On good days, life is a bed of roses. Life is a year full of sunny summer days, …
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 …
A half year ago, we bought tickets to attend the Prince County Exhibition. As part of the tour of the grounds, our family went inside the small animal’s barn. We all looked into each pen, yelling with shrieks of delight over each new exhibit. The kids called out excited exclamations to each other when a …
Another day, another inner struggle to find joy amidst the rubble of the stuff from which we build our stories . Stories that tell of who we are. What we are. What we want to become. My story: I want to find joy, and oft I have tried to claim it. I have even chosen …