The Black Friday Tradition What will Black Friday be this year? Many of us grew up with a tradition of Black Friday shopping on an actual day after Thanksgiving. Some people woke up early, some meandered out around 10 a.m., but many enjoyed it in their own way. I remember snippets of this tradition. WeContinue reading “Take Back the Culture One Shopping Trip at a Time”
Lessons from Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day There is something about raising children that broadens and sharpens my focus on celebration and tradition. It may be their exuberance. It may be their curiosity. Whatever it is, I can safely say my understanding and appreciation of Thanksgiving has grown. For most of my life, I carried withContinue reading “Lessons from Thanksgiving”
Are You Up For the Challenge?
The Journey We drove six hours to Southern California, then another hour east, driving up, up, up along the rim of the world in the San Bernardino Mountains to Thousand Pines, a Baptist Retreat Center, to stay in a one-bedroom cabin packed with seven bunk beds. Outside the cabin, down the hill, a little toContinue reading “Are You Up For the Challenge?”
One Weird Thing about Suffering
There are things we will miss One day I will miss the shoes on the floor, the tiny pair, a miniature version of his father’s shoes. There are piles of clothes around the house as I attempt the annual sorting of four outgrown children’s clothes, discerning what to donate, what to save, and what toContinue reading “One Weird Thing about Suffering”
Get Real
When I was young I grew up in that age of development when the internet began to spread its web around the wide world. In 6th grade, I spent hours online at my aunt’s house reading poetry from the earliest forms of blogs. In 7th grade, I entered chatrooms. In 8th grade, we had theContinue reading “Get Real”
Moments of Wonder – Better than Clicks
Our moments matter. I look out the window to check on the garden and anticipate its blooms for the day, making a plan for the early hours of the day. Opening the window, I think of the potential cross breeze now that our bed is pulled away from the window on the adjacent wall. AsContinue reading “Moments of Wonder – Better than Clicks”
How to take the next crisis in stride
The world reopened but then it shut down again. The smoke cleared but then came another hazy day. The heat dissipated but then came another high-temperature, red flag warning wave. Are you in the camp who continues to think, “It will pass. It will pass”? When it passes, do you breathe a sigh of reliefContinue reading “How to take the next crisis in stride”
Lessons from The Hospital
What a long week it was. It was alarming but not life-altering for my family when the shutdown began in March. When the smoke billowed into the San Joaquin/Central Valley, that changed our lives for the time being. We had just bunked the four older children in one room to create a nursery for theContinue reading “Lessons from The Hospital”
Sick of 2020? Take this Medicine
It is September. Online I observe sighs of relief as decor and craft enthusiasts bring out the pumpkins, the harvest colors, and scents of the season. Like Christmas time, autumn is filled with sensory triggers that invite us to take a moment just to be. How does this work? Our bodies are wired for habituation.Continue reading “Sick of 2020? Take this Medicine”
Is HomeSchooling the Right Path?
For me it is, right now. How do I know? This week, the baby decided nighttime sleep was overrated. As a result, my mental capacity for homeschool management waned. In this limited state, I called upon one of the overlooked benefits of schooling multiple children at home – making use of readers. In high schoolContinue reading “Is HomeSchooling the Right Path?”