Friends are Friends Forever part 2 of 3 A year into our time on Oahu, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I was also 16 weeks pregnant with our seventh child. I was grateful then that I had a year to make friends and weave our family into the Navy community before I had to make a “withdrawal” from those friend-accounts. Looking back I can see now that, I hadn’t yet learned what Henri Nouwen…
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When my children were young, we had a very generous neighbor who gave each of our NINE children bookstore gift cards at Christmas. We were booklovers, and the gift was a generous $25 per person. This was pre-Amazon. Shopping for the selection and purchase meant going in-person to the bookstore. I don’t recall why I felt the rush to go while the Christmas holidays were still in full swing. Likely I knew that the longer…
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My oldest just moved the day after Christmas. With my own Navy moves under my belt, I knew that sometimes moving across an ocean is a lot easier than moving houses 20 minutes down the street. When you move across an ocean, you know you need help. When you move locally, it’s easy to think you can get by with some help from family. When I showed up at Maggie’s front door, I had to…
4 CommentsOne of the easiest things I know to do to celebrate anything is to consider how to engage as many of my senses as I can. It’s why I ask my children what they want for their birthday dinner. Often it is a meal that in taste and aroma recall something happy and familiar to them. I may not get the gift right but the meal is always a win. This Christmas season I hope…
Leave a CommentWhat does it take to get to happy? To content? To enough? Sitting on Sunday reviewing the Thanksgiving break I had this uneasy sense that I had wasted the four day weekend. I had made big plans for the work I’d get done. The books I would read. The family projects accomplished by the willing volunteers at home. You see I wake up with thoughts flooding my mind of action items. I only recently discovered…
2 CommentsAt a wedding reception, Gary and I were sitting with several couples who had completed their journeys with their children’s home education. As we were talking at the table, one of the women said, “I loved every bit of homeschooling. I’d do it all over again and this time I’d know what I’m doing!” I had to tilt my head and reply, “I think the whole point of the journey is the not knowing, not…
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