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You Know What This Means
Piper Finnian is finally being allowed to climb into the loft bed in her bedroom. Do you know what this means? It means this little baby girl of mine is less of a baby girl today than she was yesterday.
Keep Reading . . .
holiday links.
This Age.
Five Finds Friday (Saylor’s reading and Ryder got a haircut)
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Fear
I have allowed fear to rule my heart for most of my life. I don’t mean that “most of my life” in a cliche way. Or even in a “most of my adult life” way. I mean most of my life. As in since I was eight years old. Around the time I was eight I developed some hyper-fear that my mother was going to die. I became obsessed. Obsessed. As in every night I crept down to my parent’s bedroom. I hovered beside my mother’s bed. And I watched her. Two sleepy eight-year-old eyes peering just over the bed covers at my resting mother. I just stared at her.…
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Next Subject – Science
You’ve already read about the routine. You know we eat scrambled eggs every Wednesday morning and that on Fridays we bake together. Pretty soon any number of you could run my household – more smoothly and efficiently than I myself can. (Ahhh, Master Plan is progressing nicely. Cue sinister soundtrack.) During my few years of homeschooling I have discovered that I really have to diligently schedule the subjects that I would gloss right over. (You know, I never have to remind myself to read to the kids or to listen to great music with them or to draw a daffodil or to paint a picture.) So around here –…
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The View From Here
Most days, this is what it looks like when I look down.
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The 3 R’s
It’s elementary, right? My favorite three r’s are not reading, writing or arithmetic. (Besides, I think it says something about American education that we ever even used the phrase “the three r’s” to describe three words of which only one correctly begins with an “r”. But maybe I’ll blog about that later.) And, despite my green efforts, I’m not even talking about reduce, reuse and recycle. Nah. There are three other r’s that have been changing and shaping and altering the life I know. Redemption. Reconciliation Restoration. Those are my favorite “r” words. I love them. And every day I feel as if my life is more defined by them…
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Stride
I’m not a runner. But I try to get outside and pretend to be one every now and again. If you’ve had the misfortune of seeing me out there, you know I don’t exactly look like a runner. (More like a sweaty-toothed madman.) But today I actually had a moment. While I was running. Not my standard why-am-I-doing-this type of moment. Like an epiphany kind of moment. I reached a hill. (What felt like a crazy-steep, insurmountable hill that seemed to want to claim my very life.) And so I started to walk. And for the first time in my limited running experience walking felt slow. It was weird. I…
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Letter Number Four (4)
Dear Otto’s Nursery Worker, I don’t know why I do not know your name. I am sorry for that. But I do know something about you. You make me happy. Every. Single. Tuesday. You are a blessing – and here’s what funny. You are a stranger to me. To my ten-month-old son. But every week when you see me enter that nursery room with a grinning baby in my arms, you get excited. Genuinely excited. As if you love my baby too. As if taking care of my son is actually a gift to you. Which made me think. Maybe it is. Sort of. See, I know there will be…
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This Weekend
When you turn sixteen at our house the day might begin normally with a gift or two. But the day picks up momentum quickly. Add a dozen or more friends. An unfortunate parking job. (NOT to the right guys. Not to the right!) Throw in a summer staffer or two (or six or so), who are there specifically for the purpose of livening things up a bit, and things might get a little messy. This was one game (thanks Ben, Chris and Lauren) where the girls made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. With their bare feet. And then the boys? They ate them. Other games may or may not have…
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You Say It’s Your Birthday?
Sixteen. Pretty sure that number must be wrong. Seriously. There is no way that our oldest daughter could be turning sixteen (16) today. Is it possible to just ban a birthday altogether? Oh Riley. Beautiful. Affectionate. Optimistic. Dramatic. Master of Hyperbole. Friendly. Extroverted. Lover of Laughter, Cell Phones and Music. A Diligent Student. A Capable Chef. A Positive Spirit. What I want to say to you is this . . . Slow down. Slow down. Don’t act like how you think the world says a sixteen-year-old should act. Act like you. Dream a dream bigger than your weekend plans, your next paycheck or your first kiss. Oh Riley. Live child.…
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Baking Day
I’ve been pursuing schedule around here – you know? Chasing shalom and striving for order. Conquering chaos and choosing structure. (I have to keep working so hard at it because I keep struggling so mightily.) I made a list of topics/ideas/subjects that I want to teach the kids and I divided those ideas up and picked one or two to focus on each day of the week. (I really had to break this down into its simplest form for me to finally take action. I’m a Big Ideas person. I love The Dream. The Ideal. And I like to write it all down in impossibly tidy rows and schedule the…
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Dear Control: You Have Never Really Belonged To Me
It is possible that the experiences of the past several years of my life have been occurring primarily to lead me to one conclusion – to point me to one truth. I’m not in control. (I don’t think I ever really thought I was. But I have been infatuated with pretending as if I was.) It’s like this is the conversation that has been happening above, around, near me for a few years . . . You like the way your parents make you feel secure? You have a growing reliance on your mom and her role in your life? Got that all figured out – how that should look…
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Virtual
I never really thought you could develop community without meeting someone in person. I didn’t think you could share your life with people virtually. I was wrong. It’s never a replacement for living life with the real people surrounding me, but I have been amazed and honored to begin experiencing a taste of online community through reading and commenting and virtual “meeting” of several women through their raw, tender and beautiful blogs. One blog I stumbled upon one evening last fall brought me to tears. I stayed up late crying while reading Sarah Markley’s incredible story of redemption and grace. And then I did something I rarely do – I…
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Receiving Good Gifts: Part II
Rain. It’s not that I really mind it. But some days, when I have to run errands in it, tote kids in and out of cars in it and drive sloshing around town in it, well . . . I like it a little less then. And some days, when I am already on a slope down, sitting on that edge, I think I let the rain just come right on inside and settle on my soul. I had one such day like that recently. Fox had a doctor’s appointment – just a routine well-child visit. But we have been struggling with locating a family doctor that we love, like,…
