“The doctor will just take this itty-bitty part,” my finger taps my daughter’s birthmark. I wear an intentional mask of cheerful confidence. “It won’t take long and it will be all over,” I say with a nod of assurance. My six-year-old Heidi’s eyes are fixed, worried on that brown blotch. Her outstretched arm holds still […]
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“Hi Beautiful,” he says from the doorway of her hospital room. He is slightly out of breath from hurrying, from untangling little arms squeezed around his neck, and giving the baby a bottle. He unslings the computer bag from around his shoulder, hoists it over his head and drops it onto a chair pulled up […]
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[I’m excited to introduce my guest contributor today. Eryn Lynum is a friend and author of 936 Pennies, Discovering the Joy of Intentional Parenting. Her book available today is engaging, honest and full of encouragement for every mom in the trenches. -Sylvia] We were three weeks into a month-long road trip with our three young […]
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A fistful of trousers yanks in my grandson’s little hand. “Dadda,” he urges. His little face is upturned. Longing and hope fix his expression. My grandson expects response. After all, this is his personal father, the one that belongs only to him, apart from all the other fathers in the room. My son looks down […]
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I’ve never been one to jump with two feet into a new year. I don’t even take giant steps boldly into the future. Let me tip toe into it with baby steps, slightly fearful and hopeful not to awaken a giant of bad luck. And, I don’t even believe in luck. But, as confident as […]
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Sometimes I’m Leah and sometimes I’m Rachel. Sometimes I soar confidently, secure in my position and exhilarated by life. Sometimes I sink in a mire of insecurity and doubt. Sometimes I feel wrapped in layers of love, but other times I chase love like a never-ending marathon. Sometimes I am content, other times never satisfied. […]
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They called it the 50 yard dash. I was introduced to it at recess in first grade. I knew I was bad before anyone told me, in fact maybe that’s why I was so pitiful. I knew when we lined our toes up against the chalk edge on brown Kansas soil I’d be last. From […]
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I trace my finger over the outline of her baby portrait. Dated and a bit color-bleached, I gaze at my daughter’s sweetness staring at me from behind the glassed frame. I mark her wide eyes, button nose, and tendrils of hair. I follow the curve of her smile and caress her face. A tear drops […]
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The richness of Handel’s Messiah rolled over me in crescendoes. It filled my house with its heavenly music. Christmas isn’t Christmas without it. “Mom, we lost baby Jesus again!” my frustrated daughter shouted from the living room. The words were weighty in a house decorated with glittering candles, lighted tree and music in the background. […]
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