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Community
I am taking a crash course in community right now. Call it Community 101. Or something like that. And it’s beautiful. I don’t mean virtual community. (Although I think that’s pretty fun and actually, more helpful than I imagined it could be.) But I mean – flesh and bones, hands and feet, I will meet your needs – community. It might just be the first time in my life I am seeing what it looks like to let someone other than my family (or framily) rally around me and carry me when my legs are broken. (Not literally, alright guys?) And there’s a power in that weakness. And a peace…
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O Boy!
And he’s up . . . belly off the ground legs pumping into a genuine crawl. Plus . . . Wilder has discovered how to stand up in his crib but he doesn’t know how to get back down. O boy!
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She Will Surprise You
Oh. This One. Sometimes she is such a mystery. Last week at the entrance to my least favorite store a lady representing the Salvation Army was ringing her little holiday bell. I gave all of the kids whatever change I had and they all trotted off to dump their coins in the red kettle. Much later, inside the store, I heard loose change hit the floor near my feet. And there was Mosely, scrambling after it. I knew right away where that little kid had gotten her quarter. Instead of dropping her money into the kettle, Mosely had dropped her quarter into her pocket. (Yes, I made her go back…
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Otto Fox Wilder
If you want to see how absolutely gorgeous this little Mr. Fox is ….. please check out my ultra talented friend Emma’s website – Odd Dog Design & Photography. It’s linked on my sidebar. I cannot even believe my gene pool helped create this guy!
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Life Is Wonderful
We took a little hike around the lake today. I heard Bergen singing this … “life is wonderful”. It is. Kevin is back in America. Fall seems to be loafing nearby. We’re all healthy. There is food in our refrigerator. Our kids are laughing. And walking on trails holding hands without being prompted. Ice cube trays and reusable ice cubes are written on my weekly grocery list. Wilder has learned how to chuckle and to grin in response to your grin. We enjoyed a delicious Mexican meal last night at a new-to-us restaurant. Life is wonderful. And I think it is probably all the more wonderful because it hasn’t always…
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Divine
We all have long days and lonely moments and scary dreams and busy lives and self-absorbed episodes and exhausting schedules, right? And we sometimes feel as if we give and give and give and these people (in my case, very short people) to whom we are giving and giving and giving just never seem to notice anything except their desire to take more. But then sometimes we get to experience these little moments where we are lifted from our circumstances. We are pulled up, supported, loved in some unexpected, extraordinary in its simplicity kind of moment. God uses people to meet these unspoken needs so often. And I just love…
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Bang Up Job
Guess who cut her own hair? And did a remarkably decent job. (With only a few minor adjustments by our in-house hair stylist Kevin.) This is the same five year old who recently approached her nickname-loving father and respectfully inquired, “Daddy, I don’t care for being called Mo-Town any longer. Will you please only call me Mosely?”
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This Body
Some days I survey my own body and I am not exactly pleased with what I see. I begin to play the ultra-damaging Compare Game. Particularly when I find myself on a sandy beach surrounded by bodies. Barely clothed, flesh-in-excess bodies. So I find myself playing The Game. I pick apart body parts, compare my untanned self to the perfectly tanned supermodel splashing near me. I realize I am too short and too flabby. I think I am not toned enough, my hair is the wrong color. Are my ears even aligned correctly? Why can’t I have a little more here and a little less there? When I surrender to…
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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…
