For me, digging in the dirt is breathing deeply. It is a hundred different things at once, and among them freedom, imagination, fragrance, heat. This time of year, I’d rather be outside than in.  The hours out there run away on the breeze, and it returns bringing me peace and joy and conversations with God.  […]

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 […]

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.”  […]

Get your snapping fingers ready:)~ Adam has never liked costumes.  When he was younger, I actually tried getting him to select things he wanted to wear for Halloween, but it was an exercise in futility, one of those efforts that just left me frustrated with his limited ability to communicate.  It’s often the little things […]

It is my blessing to watch Adam change every day.  He is so funny.  Every time someone calls me on the phone and he thinks that I am not paying attention, he sneaks away and tries to find some trouble.  One day last week, I hung up the phone and found him throwing a stuffed […]

Saturday morning, Mom and Dad headed back home to Edisto with Riley in tow. Once a year, each of our children is blessed with the opportunity to spend their own solo week at Mom and Dad’s house. The December-January track out is always “Riley’s turn” to be on her own with Grandma and Papa. She […]

On Christmas Eve, we have always opened one gift before bedtime—just a little something to whet the appetite for Christmas Day. Growing up, this delicious paper-tearing kept me awake for an hour or more after Dad tucked me into bed. Mom always had just the right gift in mind, something in the middle of the […]

There was a time in American history when extended families commonly lived close (even shared the same land) and children were raised not just by their parents but under the daily influences of grandparents and aunts and uncles. What a relief it must have been for weary and emotional moms to pour out their frustrations […]

Recently, Riley’s mainstream first grade class had a substitute. The kids were… being kids with a substitute. They were going nuts.   Now, I have to ask: Do you remember what it was like when your class had a substitute teacher? Do you remember what your most frequent sub was like? I remember that there […]

My little girl is growing up, and I love seeing it happen!  I now have a personal assistant.  I had heard about this happening in other families as children start to grow up and mature, but honestly, I wondered when and if it would happen in mine. First, I should tell you that Riley has […]