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when they asked . . .
It was a simple request. “Come dance with us.” But we were so comfortable. The grown ups all lounging on the patio, fire crackling far more for ambience and effigy burning than for warmth or need, relaxing from the overdose of tacos and chocolate cake. And what none of us wanted to do was to get up, to dance. Sitting…
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Ice Pop Makers: A Review & A Giveaway
Ah summer. I know we think of summer as ending when the yellow buses start driving the roads and altering our schedules. But the calendar says summer isn’t over until mid September and the day time temperatures haven’t dipped into the 70’s yet so I think we can still treat these days like summer days in a couple of ways.…
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Jane Tells Our Story of Family
You guys know my friend Jane – right? She is the photographer who had our children all spray one another – and us – with colored dye from squirt guns. We walked around for weeks with pink or green hair. She snapped this sweet shot last summer of me and my girls. Well, Jane is still snapping photos and she’s working…
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not as you’d think
It seems there should be a time when sorrow ends. When a door can close and an official Time of Death can be stamped. Mirrors hung with black fabric and all the clocks stopped. The End. All announced and definitive. Relationships don’t end that way though, do they? All trimmed up and tidy. Containable and compartmentalized. I’ve never been witness…
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A Book List: Grades 5 to 8
My friend Greta was asking me the other day which books I thought she should be certain her daughters read. I started making a list right there in my head for her. At first it was a girls only kind of list, since we were at our Girls Book Club and all. And I guess you can still call…
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in defense of female friendships . . .
So there’s this part of me that’s afraid of friendships with women. You guys, I have been so burned before. Stack one time on top of another, on top of that, and I’m telling you – I know what the pain of betrayal and broken relationship feels like. Oh – it’s the bitterest of pills to swallow. It stings. It…
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On the Road: George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Back in July we had the privilege of scooting up to Washington DC after our annual July Fourth pilgrimage. Mainly we wanted to visit my brother and his family. One day there, however, we grabbed my sister-in-law and we all hopped right off to Mount Vernon, home place of the first president. (And conveniently close to my brother’s home.) I…
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use our school plans. seriously.
I’ve decided to try the whole “balanced schedule” “year round school” adventure this go round. We started a few weeks ago, actually. (The kids and I called the first days our soft launch. Just a little testing of the waters.) As I was prepping for the year I kept running into the same problem I have run into in previous…
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Sound Block: A Review
First Jo had one. Then Hilary. And, like a follower, I knew I wanted one too. Cool little wireless speakers. Just turn on the music on your phone and then, like a special kind of air magic, that same song would suddenly be playing at a louder volume through your little speaker. A speaker that you can carry anywhere. The…
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the night watch
It is two something in the a.m. There is nothing sleepy about me. I make a quick walk through the house to find two boys asleep in the living room. How do they sneak down the steps so stealthily? I check all the others – the drifters and the non-drifters. And these slumbering heads and hearts are full and innocent…
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songs and sundays
Sunday we sang lyrics that found tears streaking down my face. (Which isn’t entirely unusual, of course.) You’re my one defense, my righteousness. O Lord – how I need you. And I was reminded as the pastor prayed – Jesus IS the plan. Like – he’s not the back up plan. In fact, I guess I don’t have a back…
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The Adventure Center of Asheville
Last week the kids and I took the kind of adventure you just want to share with everyone you know. (You guys – it is just so fun to have big kids!) This adventure involved helmets and heights and wires and harnesses and conquering fears and pulling together as a team. And it was pretty close to home too. The Adventure…
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that peach crepes recipe
I told you I would share our family’s peach crepes recipe. And being as it is peach season all over the south, I think now is a good time. When Riley was in elementary school, she attended a cooking class. (The instructor held the class at her home and I honestly thought it was a model home that no one…
