For those of us that live our lives at least somewhat by the liturgical calendar, we are in the second week of the New Year, the second week of Advent. In the Christian tradition, Advent is the time that immediately precedes the celebration of the birth of Christ—Christmas. Thus, it is a season of waiting – waiting for the baby to be born. It should be a time for us to slow down and contemplate all that there is to…
Anyone who has raised children knows that parenting is not for the weak hearted. Worrying starts from . . .well, the day of conception. Am I eating right? Am I getting enough sleep? Am I gaining too much weight? Am I gaining enough weight? Should I listen to Bach or Wagner? And so on. Every decision you make now affects someone in addition to yourself. Needless to say, pregnancy is a stressful time. And, it doesn’t get any better once…
I know it looks like I can’t make a plan and stick to it since, despite my promise to write more regularly, it has been so long since I last posted. This time, it really is not my fault. Sometimes the circumstances of life intervene and the plans and ideals that we strive to live by just aren’t what is happening. So it has been the last few weeks. Weber, Erin, And I travelled to the coast of Delaware to…
Back in March of 2007 I posted a list of things that suggest that your child might be a nerd. Two years later, there is no question that I have raised not one but two nerds. Below is confirmation that Offspring No. 2 is definitely a nerd. Nerdy Friend at 8:20pm January 10Hahaha…I miss being a nerd. Offspring No. 2 at 8:21pm January 10Have you STOPPED being a nerd in the past two hours? Nerdy Friend at 8:22pm January 10Yes!…
For seventeen years, every morning of the academic year has involved taking children to school. This time would have been cut short if Brooke had chosen to get her driver’s license when she turned sixteen. She didn’t – and at age nineteen still hasn’t. Fortunately, she lives in Chicago where mass transit negates the need for a car, a license, insurance, snow tires . . .Erin, on the other hand, has been ready to drive since . . .well, Brooke…
In this world where we seem to be going paperless – email instead of handwritten notes, online bank and credit card statements, even virtual checks – why do we all still get so much junk mail? Most of the cleaning I do when I attempt to straighten things up around here is the removal of junk mail from every horizontal surface in the house. There is a lot of it. I often wonder what the success rate for junk mail…
It is September 11th, again. Seven years after the attack on America, we as a nation are still attempting to heal from the deep wounds inflicted in each of us on that day. Talking heads around the country have expounded on how we should acknowledge this day each year, what the permanent memorial should and shouldn’t be, and how best to go forward as a nation. All of this chatter comes from raw emotions still unresolved seven years after that…
Every parent has experienced at least one of those moments when their child says something that makes you think what the heck is wrong with that kid. Did I do something to damage this kid’s psyche so badly that she feels that these things are normal? The bizarreness of such things is multiplied logarithmically when the kid is a math nerd masquerading as a drama queen. Or is it a drama queen masquerading as a math nerd? Honestly, this really…
The comings and goings around here this weekend have made this place feel more like a hotel with a revolving door that is in constant motion than like a country home in the midst of the lazy days of summer. I left Friday afternoon to spend the weekend in Austin. Though the weekend’s agenda went through many scenarios before all was said and done, it was a great weekend that involved discovering a new knit shop, buying a few books,…
School is almost over for Erin and she has been working on ways to occupy her summer days. She will go on two mission trips with the youth group from church – one to Abbyville, LA, a community still dealing with devastation from hurricane Katrina and then to Mexico on an environmental trip (at least that is their story and they’re stickin’ to it!). Lat Saturday evening the youth group sponsored an auction to help raise money for these trips….