Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. ~Dallas Willard, as quoted in The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith, 183 Sometimes I feel like a horrible mother. These are the days when I truly realize the power of grace, and these are the days when my thanksgiving for it is most earnest. Sometimes I feel […]

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good teacher. ~Temple Grandin Mrs. Nesbitt used to throw gum at me during class, her lips curling up in a wide smile that erupted with laughter that sounded half-crazy.  I was always the third child in my family to sit under my teachers’ tutelage, and Mrs. Nesbitt […]

This morning, I’ve been baking, and the house smells like rich chocolate.  Chocolate Curious George cake, to be exact. Adam will be 9 years old tomorrow, and the cake was a request.  I shared this with some of my sisters a few nights ago, asking them to thank God along with me for the gift […]

This afternoon, when I picked the kids up from school, Zoe ran over to the van.  Weeping. I opened the door and pulled her into my lap, and the words came tumbling out with her tears. “Mom, Emily said she hated me.  And then, when we were leaving school, and I was telling Roxanna what […]

Ah, it feels so good to be back here. All week I’ve been itching to write, but it’s not just the wordsmithing that I love (and I LOVE the wordsmithing), it’s the knowledge that some of you out there really hear me.  And I need to tell you something:  I’m not the only one in […]

Sometimes the ironies of my life amuse me. Every day after school, before I’ll let Adam get in the van, he has to have a short conversation with me–an appropriate greeting and the answer to at least one question.  Adam is usually anxious to get in, having left his favorite treasures—George, his calculator, his mp3 […]

Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, […]

Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ~Galatians 6:9 Sometimes I feel so weary.  These are the days when I feel the truth of my inadequacy, and also the best days for acknowledging the reality of God’s tremendous […]

1. Give your dragon your full attention at least once a day.  Dragons get bigger when they are ignored. 2. Really get to know your dragon.  Give it a name.  What sort of dragon is it?  Look at it hard, then draw a picture of it. 3. If you make your dragon laugh, it might […]

Adam’s voice is the best sound in my day. This week, I had the longest sustained conversation I’ve ever had with my son in the (nearly) nine years of his life.  And it was about supper. Early in the morning, I thawed some chicken and mixed up the ingredients for some aptly named “chicken delicious.”  […]