Author: Violeta
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Women together
We simplified the decor and the drama of booking a guest speaker and focused on getting to know each other, building community sharing and listening, while learning something new in the process. We sometimes get lost on the artificial meeting focus, but hospitality is about helping women feel welcomed and safe, not through gifts or…
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New challenges. New boundaries.
We have experienced first hand how addictive the iPhone can become. When we watched from the sideline the other families, how easily they gave in to kids’ demand of iPads and iPhones, we decided to have a proactive approach and implement boundaries for ourselves first. Conrad has an app limit which he abides by most often. …
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Reflecting
In the heat of the moment I may be witty, and have lots to say. It may be cathartic to dump my thought, to air them out. Alas, there is purpose in writing. I hope to look m back and glean the truth, have an authentic perspective over how things were, and how it happened.…
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Social engagement for two introverts
Today Conrad talked about writing books to a class of 11 year old kids. They were engaged, asked great questions, and the hour flew by. It all started with his #Exolegacy book. The teacher bought the book, read it, loved it, and during science fiction week, she told the kids about it. That was last…
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Equals
The summer I met my lifetime American friends I was 14. They were from California and they asked us all to call them by their first names. We ever called any adults in such a direct way. This invitation created a type of closeness that we delighted in. We felt seen. Adults liked us and…
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Time
We can’t say we don’t have time for connection, for conversations and to read worthwhile literature. We have conversations. We have connection. We pray at meal time and at bedtime. But we never read the Bible together. I take the kids to church to Sunday school to Christian school and to Christian camps. I take…
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40 % battery
Adjusting expectations is a safe bet. I have an old Mac book air. Top of the line when I was working at Apple. But it’s now 10 years old. It still has a usb port that I need to connect to the timeless printer. Jackie writes some of her school projects on it. It’s slow…
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Seasons
I was reading a post I wrote less than a year ago, about how difficult my relationship with my older daughter was. https://dordeacasa.altmann.haus/cerul-sigurantei-si-preadolescentii/ I entered into an apparent regression of cooperation, of organizational skills, of following several steps without the work of persuasion or reminding him. A persistent state of dissatisfaction triggers all kinds of…
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Valentine’s note from my 10 year old daughter
I love youYou make me talkI distinguish you asBeing very beautifulBecause you help mewith homework I love you.You’re magic. Not tragic.I’m glad you are magical Thank you.You make me be funnyYou are a heavenly gift,Mommy! Mama, you intuitively knowWhen fear grips meI love you, mama! Jaky
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About our beginning
I picked up another book to read. Ann voskamp’s last book. She starts with her beginning. And she is honest, and veiled and poetic, but brutally honest. And it inspires me. It’s marriage week and this reading and reflection is serendipitous. We also started naive, faithful, hopeful. Innocence is priceless. What we don’t know (a…
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On loan for a while
In a strange political context, where children belonged to the state, and the state took over the care and education (kids still benefit from free education and health insurance till they become adults no matter their familiar circumstances) from early stages. To gain double the workforce and educate the children according to its values, my…
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Naming that small fox
This weekend I got to read and be encouraged by a blog post and it made me reflect further on my own life. A wise woman builds her house, does not destroy it with her own hands. A seed of doubt was planted many seasons ago in my heart. In darkness and humidity, it sprouted…