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Give Me A New Law
While helping Bergen get dressed one recent morning, I experienced a momentary lack of sanity. I asked this four year old boy, “What do you want to wear?” Well, Hawkeye wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to wear, but he had a pretty good handle on what he did not want to wear. The conversation went almost just like this . . . “How about this shirt, son?” “Ummm, too many buttons. “ “What about this one?” “Too big.” We finally picked a shirt that was neither too big nor featuring too many buttons. On to the shorts. (I was already in this deep, I just kept right on digging…
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Read This Book
Turn My Mourning Into Dancing by Henri Nouwen I’m thinking about buying this book in bulk and handing it on the street corners. Seriously. It’s that good. (At least, it’s that good to me right now. And I know books are like that. They seem like miniature miracles when the words hit you when you most need them. ) This book is about suffering. And hope. It is about pain. And grief. And grace. And it is about seeing God in the suffering. Nouwen says, “We do not nurse the illusion that we can hopscotch our way through difficulties. For by trying to hide parts of our story from God’s…
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Wee Little Finnian Facts
Tonight, even as I type this, Piper Finnian is sleeping in her big girl bed. A bed without walls. A bed that does not mandate containment, but merely suggests containment. Wait, did I type “sleeping”? She is not sleeping. At last check, her lights were on. I have corrected that situation and now we will proceed to see how the night breaks down. In other Piper news, she learned a trick from her friends Mandy and Jody. And it’s really cute. She lies down somewhere, anywhere, puts her hands behind her head and says in an exaggerated sigh, “Lax”. (Which means “relax” you know.) Oh and she can also drink…
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What You Want
One morning recently London approached me and out of the blue stated, “Mom, God just doesn’t do what you want.” What? “What do you mean?” I asked. “Well, last night I prayed for God to shut the door and I waited and He just never did it.” I didn’t laugh. Because I didn’t think it was funny. I thought she was right. Sometimes God just doesn’t do what we want. Period. I didn’t try to convince London that God does do just what we ask. Because I don’t think that’s true. And she is young, not dumb. I didn’t try to explain that her demand was illogical. Because to her,…
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She Said
A few years ago our family discovered a little product known as a buff. Since the buff’s introduction into our household, there has probably not been a day that has passed that some Keigley head has not donned one of these head wear miracles. (If you have any questions concerning buffs, ask any of us. Except Wilder. He can’t talk yet.) We should be spokespeople for this product. Really. In fact, in a way, we are. I mean, there’s the whole word of mouth thing, of course. Truly, strangers have frequently stopped me to ask about my head attire and then have actually written the website down. There’s also the…
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The Day For Fathers
First. My Father. When I was a kid I thought my dad had the same super powers that every kid thinks their dad possesses. You know, eyes forever roaming the world that can quickly pinpoint ME hitting my brother across the back with my Cabbage Patch Kid. The Long Arm that could reach all the way into the backseat of the station wagon while driving the death-defying curves of the back roads up the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Disappointed Look when my report card comments revealed the classroom sins I thought I had kept hidden. The Ability to Magically Produce Money out of the air when I really wanted…
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Four Weeks
My Littlest Son, When I discovered that I was pregnant with you, I was . . . . surprised. Not entirely excited. Worried. In shock. I didn’t tell anyone for a long while. Your daddy and I really thought that your big sister Piper was the last little Keigley we would bring forth into this messy world. We were clearly wrong. And then I was so sick. The doctor and Daddy and I thought you wouldn’t survive. Oh, but small one, you are a survivor. And more than that, you decided to thrive. (God decided.) Let me be honest, my little Wilde Fox. Times at our house were not exactly…
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This Boy
This boy was shopping with his family at Hobby Lobby, searching for great Father’s Day gifts for an artistic dad. His sweet, calm, beautiful mother was patiently waiting for several pieces of art work to be framed. This little boy really needed to use the bathroom. Accompanied by his older sister, this young gentleman approached the public restroom facilities. At this particular art and hobby store, the bathroom door was located directly beside the emergency exit door. The little fellow anxiously reached for a door handle. A shockingly loud noise reverberated throughout the entire store. Apparently, this little guy had accidentally tried to open the emergency exit instead of the…
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Mudlicious
Funny story. It had been raining all day and the sun didn’t come out until after dinner. With both mom and kids anxious for some time spent outdoors, I went against my better judgement and answered in the affirmative when four small faces requested permission to play outside. Yes, four. I even let the little Willow join her siblings for some big time play time. What with all the torrential downpours all day, it wasn’t exactly their fault that the most exciting adventures awaiting outside were discovered at the bottom of a mud puddle. I mean, they are children after all. I let the play go on as long as…
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Maybe
So maybe I just didn’t keep up with laundry as well as I should have this week. And so maybe Piper Finnian is wearing the pajamas that she wore last night, because they were conveniently lying beside her bed where I conveniently dropped them (I mean wisely placed them) this morning. And so maybe Bergen just went to bed wearing swim trunks and a t-shirt. And maybe Mosely went to bed wearing Bergen’s Batman underoos, Bergen’s almost-too-small-for-her running pants and Bergen’s little boy white undershirt. And so maybe London is sporting a more classic pair of Bergen’s underwear – the whitey-tighties. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do some laundry. Or maybe not.…
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Tears, Glorious Tears
At this house, it seems as if someone is always crying. Little Mister Wilder cries when he is hungry. And he cries when he can’t manage to flip his thumb in the correct direction and maintain its position in his own minuscule mouth. He cries at four a.m. and he cries around seven thirty as well. If his diaper change is taking too long, tears ensue. When the food that should stay in his stomach flows out of his mouth and around his head, he cries about that as well. For Piper the tears are born of genuine frustration with her current lot in life. She wants to go outside…
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Tricked!
Doesn’t this maple syrup look like a healthier, better for you, version of syrup? I mean, look – there are woods in the drawing on the label and maple syrup comes from trees – right? And this company has been making this sticky stuff since 1889. Shouldn’t that imply quality? Yeah, at least that’s what I thought when I saw it on the shelf at my local grocery store. At breakfast I was reading the back label, something I should have done at the store I guess, and realized that it was just normal old-full-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup syrup. Shucks! I was tricked by a nice label.
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Lacey-isms
We all have those phrases . . . those pithy sayings that we always fall back on. Some are ridiculous, some are funny and some we just cannot believe we are saying, even as we hear them spewing from our lips. Lately, it seems as if I hear them from my children’s lips as well. After giving the kids a short to-do list, London and Mosely came to me, complaining of the current working conditions. “Mom,” London began, “Mosely wants me to carry the dishes over from the table but I told her she has to do it because I am already in the middle of trying to do two…
