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Thoughts on Having My Last Child–For the Fifth Time
My youngest child turned two this week. I’m pretty certain he’s the last one, but I’ve said that before. I am reprinting this post now, two years after it first ran in the newspaper column I used to...
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On Adoption, Big Families, and My Chicken Soup for the Soul Debut
Adoption Inspiration Many (!) years ago, I read a story about Helen Doss, who had written a book called “The Family Nobody Wanted.” She was a mom of 12 kids, all adopted. I cut out that article and...
View ArticleTraveling with Children | Are We There Yet?
I have been going back through my files, recreating and reposting some of the pieces I inadvertently deleted a while back. I came across this today, and felt it was appropriate for today. Yesterday, we...
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On Being a Writer | How Making One Decision Changed My Life
I decided in 2004 that I was going to become a freelance writer. It seems, looking back, that it was a just-like-that sort of decision, but I suppose it had been moldering around inside of me for...
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Reflections on Memorial Day
In May of 2012, I had the opportunity to stand and be a part of a funeral procession that stretched for miles. We were there together, honoring Army Spc. Chase Marta, a hometown hero who had paid the...
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Mothers Day and the Matroyshka
Someone once told me that being a mother can be like having open heart surgery without anesthetic. Never having had heart surgery, I can’t say if it is true, but it did feel like a piece of my heart...
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Our Introduction to Little League was a Home Run
Memories from a couple years back when we lived in California…. The sun is setting over the field as a cool breeze blows across the bleachers. We sit with friends alternately talking and cheering. I...
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Defining Who We Are By the Objects We Hold Dear
I first wrote this back in 2006 when we were on a cross-country family trip. After a friend told me it was her very favorite thing that I’d written, I had to go looking for it so I could drag it out...
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Motherhood Not All Smiles and Flowers
The story of Max and the soccer ball has become part of our family legend. This was first posted a short while before we left California on our journey across the US. If you take a look at the...
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The Plastic Problem | Finding a Lid That Fits
Two full-time jobs may be the norm for many families, but it is pretty difficult to raise a large brood and educate them at home while two parents are out punching a time clock. We have taken turns in...
View ArticleLocal Businesses are Learning Opportunities
We choose to educate our children at home for many reasons. One of those reasons is that we want to provide experiences that can’t be found in the mass-market public education environment. This...
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Sometimes There’s No Audience | Redux
Growing up, I used to enjoy reading Erma Bombeck’s columns and books. While I didn’t fully appreciate her commentary on parenting until I was older, even in my teens I found Erma’s writing...
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Success Follows Failure & Persistence
Years ago, suffering through another early evening graduation ceremony in the hot sun, I swore I’d never attend another high school graduation in all my life. Of course, one should never swear such...
View ArticlePutting an End to my Summer Love Affair
Sometime back around May, I renewed a relationship with an old friend. I’d heard he would be coming to town, and my eagerness for his arrival was evident to all. Our first reunion was exciting. I see...
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