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charity:water
It’s so simple that it’s easy to ignore. Water. My kids pour it on the ground from their Sigg bottles. They flop it across their face after a soccer game. The turn on the hose in the driveway to make streams for their match box cars. It flows down our drains and we leave it running to soak our filthy dishes. Last year I was able to team up with thirty other bloggers to raise money for an organization called charity:water. This October charity:water is launching a campaign to raise enough money to construct a well drilling rig in Ethiopia. 80 wells can be dug in one year with a…
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art.
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. ~Pablo Picasso I adore the works of her not-quite-so-small-any-longer hands. I hope she never stops creating. Never stops imagining. Never stops putting pencil to paper. I want her to remember that she is always an artist.
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focus
Oh, the struggle. It never seems to cease. Those demons from the past. The ones that pop up unexpectedly at perfectly innocuous moments. Dragons and deserts and memory of famine. It hurts. And I wonder who to trust and what is truth and where my heart is safe. And when I am reminded of all the bad, I find myself asking – does it weigh more than the good? And I have to push repeat on the mantra that is being drowned out by the demons marching to their own beat. I don’t know how to redeem the past. (Although I’m struggling toward that ideal every day.) I don’t know…
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is it not this?
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (James 4:1) Dude! (I need a new phrase. How outdated and non-adult-female is that one? Any suggestions? What are all the cool thirty-somethings saying these days as way of an exclamation?) Well. Until I (and by that, I mean you) come up with something better . . . Dude! This verse in James is sort of wrecking some comfortable places in my life right now. At church Peter has been preaching through James and that book is so full of conviction and revelation right now for me. I don’t…
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Field Trip Friday: Happy Cow Creamery
Field Trip Fridays are quickly becoming my favorite part of this school year. First we have math class and then we pack our lunches, load up and head out. (We listen to our composer – Mozart – on the drive, plus an audio book.) We’ve been to the apple orchard, the zoo and to DuPont Forest for a fishing class so far. Sometimes we go alone, sometimes with friends. This past Friday, our field trip was far from alone. We visited Happy Cow Creamery with over one hundred other home schoolers. (Yeah – over a hundred. What in the world?) (This picture makes me laugh. The nose-holding, the closed eyes,…
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Henry Huggins: A Book Review
Aren’t there just a few authors from back in the day that just seem to stick? A few names that everyone was reading in fourth grade? I don’t know who your names were, but a few of mine were Judy Blume, Cynthia Voigt and Beverly Cleary. Beverly Cleary created that pesky little icon Ramona. The kids and I have listened to loads of tales from Ramona while traveling in the car. For school Bergen Hawkeye and I read out loud to one another from various books. We take turns reading each paragraph. (I love hearing his inflection and watching him laugh when he gets a written joke. Plus, I am…
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so here it is.
The future rarely looks like the past. And change is the only constant. In some ways it seems as if our family has been rising and falling with the ebb and the flow of change for the last decade. Yes. Decade. Adoption. Vocational changes. Pastoring at a start-up church. Birth of baby. Quit teaching high school. Bi-vocational ministry. Adoption. Parents move far and far away. Birth of baby. Leave church and pastoring job. Mother passes away. Grieving. Birth of baby. New job. Relocation to another state. Kevin’s mom passes away. Marital crisis. Birth of baby. Recovery. Healing. It makes me weary just to type that insufficient collection that says…
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I’m Sure I’ll Make Time.
“Mom, when can I go running with you?” Hawkeye asked me this week. For the thirteenth time. “I don’t know. Maybe this weekend.” I replied. “So. Why do you want to run with me so much son?” “Because I want to hold your hand while we run.”
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Does Sunday Look Like This To Anyone Else?
I think our church is only missing one thing. And, to be honest, I’ve never seen this one thing in any church where I have ever attended. I’m not even sure what it should be called. But I know what its purpose will be. What every church needs is a detox room. A space between the nursery and the sanctuary. A Something In Between. A space to help you move from Chaos to Calm. Some passage to buffer the dichotomy of the two extremes. Seriously, if I was a nursery worker I wouldn’t want to see me enter the yellow two-year-old room. The passing off of Wilde Otto Fox alone…
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second annual.
Last year, same weekend actually, Emma and Julie and Mandy and our families all enjoyed a bit of a fall adventure together. We decided it was too good of a time to not repeat. Mandy couldn’t join us this year but Kate could. Five of our children joined us. Julie brought four of her five. Emma has two. Kate brought five of her six. 5 + 4 + 2 + 5 = 16. 16 kids + 3 adults = barely organized chaos. Actually, the truth is – it wasn’t as crazy as it appears. The kids played together beautifully. And we filled our weekend to the hilt with non-stop activity.…
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the soccer experiment
Soccer season is playing out quite differently this year. Last year three kids were on the same team and Kevin and Riley coached them. Talk about a family event. And we normally just play soccer in the spring. But this fall, all that changes. It’s a bit of an experiment, actually. (But isn’t all parenting, at some level?) This season it’s a Mosely-only soccer show. Mosely only has practice every Tuesday. Mosely only has a game every Thursday. Mosely only. And all the little fans sit on the sidelines and cheer for Mosely only. And of course by cheer I mean – Hawkeye throws his stuffed rabbit into the air…
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know.
Sometimes I struggle with how much to share on this little space. And I’ve been pretty distracted the last few weeks. Some rather large changes are knocking at our door. (The theoretical door, mind you – not the literal brown metal one that allows us entrance to our home. That door, however, was broken last week. Just broken. So broken that we couldn’t go in or out. It’s fixed now, however, in case you’re planning a visit.) I’m excited to share some of those impending changes but most of that sharing is sitting on a shelf for a little longer. This is a public blog, after all, not a diary.…
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wednesday.
Today I am sleepy. Walking about two steps behind myself. A bit buried under the demands of homeschooling four children, maintaining clean laundry for eight people, preparing meals for those same eight people. I like my job/life. In fact, I love it. I just wish I slept more last night. (And the many nights preceding last night.) Which means today, I have no real inspiration for writing. Nothing to share, really, except I wish someone would come to my house and clean the kitchen counters for me. But my sweet husband did take over the breakfast and math routine this morning so I could lounge in bed for a bit…
