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writing without a plan. (rambling, in other words)
I had a web hosting snafu this week and the blog was down and out for a while. But I’m all back now and I think I have a plan. (It was actually very comforting to receive the texts and messages alerting me that my blog was unavailable. Made me feel loved by you guys, knowing that you read the…
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Hiking With Kids: John Rock Trail
Last week there was a funk permeating our home. The reasons were multiple and included but were not limited to strep throat for one, an infection for another, a handful of extra editing deadlines for me and a schedule with a bit too much Go and not enough Stay. Midweek we had a little Family Meeting (complete with The Rolling…
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Five Finds Friday (fourteen)
I think the weeks are passing by too quickly. It keeps being Friday before I am ready. This week it’s all about the photos. I just scrolled right through my recent photos and let them be my guide to this week’s Five Finds Friday. FUNNY This girl is funny. She’s been adding in clever accents and witty banter and good…
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just a tad too raw for comfort
When the encouraging words aren’t there, sometimes I just type all the bad ones. (and there are so many bad ones, you guys.) At the end of the day, when I am sitting under my yellow blanket and staring at the screen, there are times that I just see a lot of empty. And I write blog posts that will…
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How to Create Family Nature Notes
Yearly traditions are fun. They are a kind of glue for a family. The holiday traditions — Christmas Eve pajamas and Books on the Bed. The quirky traditions — The Wildwood Snow Day Policy and Pizza & Red Kool-Aid Night. (This was a recent repeated celebration. It’s our family’s celebration of the first day Riley ever lived with us. And…
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telling it again and again
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen this idea pop up many times. The idea that it is in the retelling of a painful story that some of the pain can be eased. The idea that with more and more tellings of one’s darkest stories that the distance between the experience deepens and the hurt lessens. On our last visit,…
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Five Finds Friday (thirteen)
I kind of cannot believe I’ve been doing these little Friday features for this long. I’m pretty sure I still like doing them. Are you guys pretty sure you still like reading them? FUNNY Otto still has his blanket friend. You know – Baby Timmy. Uncle Douglas created a new way for Otto Fox to keep Baby Timmy close by.…
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people. loving other people. (and a Grizzly Adams reference)
I think sometimes about disappearing. Moving away into the mountains and going all Grizzly Adams and Sign of the Beaver. Little House on the Prairie and back to the land. You know. And giant and huge parts of me think that sounds so fabulously incredible and dreamy and fantastic and all things wonderful. But goodness – we need community. (And…
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why i wasn’t planning to write tonight
Last night I slept about four hours. I mean, it was the perfect combination to sleeplessness. Piper was not feeling well. She was quarantined to the living room just in case and there was no way that little blondie would have made it through the long night flying solo in the living room. We just have the one sofa. The one…
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sleep education
I love how when you are teaching homeschool and you are studying one topic in particular, you hear references to it throughout everything else you are reading. (It’s sort of like when you buy a new car or get a new pair of shoes and you think you’ve never seen them anywhere before and suddenly they are showing up everywhere.…
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a little weekend whatnot and such
Some seasons of life feel like they are rolling through via slow motion. Some do not. Right now everything feels a bit like Fast Forward with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up really loudly. It’s not bad. That’s not what I’m saying. It’s busy. That’s what I am saying. (And. I know it can change faster than…
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five finds friday (twelve)
FUNNY I hope that funny kids grow into funny adults. I think they will. We have such an amusing and varied group of friends young and old that I don’t really have a heavy dread of raising a gaggle of teenagers simultaneously – in fact, I think it could actually be (gasp) interesting and fun. Talented and creative young family…
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For the Love: A(n audio) Book Review
So all of my friends are going to stop talking to me soon because I say the name “Jen Hatmaker” too often in conversation lately. For years I’ve told myself that I don’t have time to listen to audio books just for me or to listen to podcasts just for grown ups. And for years that’s kind of been true.…
