I have been focusing my Bible reading on joy this past month. See, I have every reason to have joy, but I also have just enough daily life aggravations to sometimes forget to experience joy. And that left me wondering, “People are always saying to choose joy. How do you do that? Is it a choice?” Sometimes it is a choice, and you can focus your mind in such a way, and pray, and be doing right things so that […]
» Read moreSo the move has been highly successful, though it was…a hectic nail-biter. You don’t move a family of six across the country without a boogoodles of planning and elbow grease. Tonight is the most special part. After 2 weeks of being all split up, we are finally all sleeping under one roof! We are in our new house, and everyone is in their own bed. It feels so good to be together as a family again, even if the two little […]
» Read moreYES, I KNOW. It’s just too much cuteness. So today Daniel graduated from Pre-school. We are a low-drama family, I think. Okay, well, we are 5/6ths low drama, plus me. I bring the emotions, for sure. They started out the ceremony with this video of painting the nursery and the baby gradually getting bigger and bigger, and yes, I was crying. Daniel came strutting out like a rooster when they called his name. It was pretty hilarious, but then he […]
» Read moreRight now Daniel is washing his hands after his hour-long worm hunt. All he found was a slug, which he tried to bring into my house. Joshua put a hard stop to that. What would I do without Joshua? JD is upstairs NOT napping. Caleb and Joshua are outside playing with a friend. I’m chugging coffee in a last ditch effort to hold on to wakefulness. A friend of mine is out walking, trying to coax her labor pains into a […]
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Many people develop heart problems while they are still young, but trust me, I’ve sat in the cardiology waiting room enough to know that I am nowhere near the average age. Most people in there have a walker and an accompanying nurse. In fact, the receptionists sometimes assume that I’m there with an elderly patient that I walked in after. “Wait. Are you with Mrs. Hammerstein?” “No, no, I have a 3:00 appointment.” Wednesday is my heart MRI. I’ve had […]
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Have you ever tried to be gluten-free? Before you roll your eyes, let me assure you that I’m not about to try to convince you to join me on this. I’m trying this, at the recommendation of my cardiologist, in order to feel better. Can I get a tee-shirt that contains that explanation because I feel like such a trendy hippie or diet-nut at parties now. “Are these gluten-free?” I don’t want to be that guy. Maybe I should just […]
» Read moreAlan and the boys were getting ready to leave. Caleb was sitting at the table writing something on a napkin. Alan said, “Caleb, what’re you doing? Are you writing the tooth fairy a letter?” “Huh? Did she miss a tooth??” I asked, possibly panicking a little bit. Oh no! Had I messed that up again? Alan explained, “He lost his tooth, so she had no idea because he didn’t put a tooth or a letter under his pillow,” halfway talking […]
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I am excited about the holidays! So excited! Mostly because it means I don’t have to teach as much. Is that wrong? I was at the chiropractor’s office today, when lo and behold, Daniel’s new preschool teacher walked in. I admitted to her that her job was much too hard on the back for me. Just the one day of volunteering had me running home to my hot pack. But you know what? She loves teaching. It’s her calling! I’m […]
» Read moreAlan, Caleb, and JD were in the kitchen eating cookies. I don’t know what JD said, but Caleb looked up at Alan and said, “Doesn’t JD make your heart smile?” We all definitely smiled. Caleb has also recently taken up saying, “ain’t.” He uses it correctly (if there is such a thing), but it took me by surprise. We don’t say ‘ain’t,’ nor does anyone that he knows in California. My suspicions lie with Granddaddy, but that’s okay. Caleb has […]
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JD is obsessed with three things: dirt, Lightning McQueen, and Mom. After all, he’s two. He inherited at least one Lightning McQueen car from his big bros, but he has also been given several as gifts. He got at least one for Christmas, he got three or more for his birthday, plus he got one when Nonna visited. All total, I’m thinking there should be a pile of 10 Lightning McQueens somewhere in this house, yet we can never find […]
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