Category: Parenting
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Birthdays
Slaves to fitting in, to the routine of birthdays, to one-up the year before. Simplifying takes a lot of energy. Definitely, I grew up with family birthdays, where the nicest thing was getting a cake from the cake store. I also remember birthdays being emotionally charged, as spirits were tense, and things came up. I…
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Raw
This last month, cleaning away the dirt, the dust, the unnecessary crud, I felt light, and present, and clear. But this nakedness of mind and of soul brings on a raw sensitivity to light, to pain, to hope and reality. I have a vivid imagination when it comes to danger. I always did. But I’ve…
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Conversation about sweets
Bye! I’m going to Bunica downstairs. Don’t come after me. I’ll return home at the perfect hour for lunch. Jackie, I have one request. No sweets today. Not even one bite. Yesterday you had chocolate and candy. Not one taste today. Ok. If Bunica offers, I’ll say “I’m not eating nothing!” Off she goes and…
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Conversation with a 5 year old while hiking
Jackie, there are consequences to your defiance and disrespect. You are old enough to reason with, so [for disobedience, lying or disrespect] we start taking away privileges: like the occasional cartoons or games, shopping sprees, sleepovers, sweets, independent play outside. I’m trying to teach you what’s good, and how to distinguish it from the bad. …
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Screens and addiction
That awkwardness when someone pulls out their phone and you sit like a dumb next to them. Resisting. A decade and a half ago I was that person. An introvert. I had bought an iPod nano after my summer in Silicon Valley, and as I came back to college, I would listen to music a…
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What is my Theology?
One day, my daughters may look back at my life, and be strengthened in their faith. Yesterday Jackie joined me in my quest to stir things up, to inquire, to move stones out of the less traveled path. What do I have to give to these girls? Not much by the standards of this world.…
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Letter to my youngest
My sweet younger daughter, Whom I haven’t met yet, but my heart knows you. My prayers are not in vain. Your heart is precious. Your life matters. I pray with passion For our reunion And in the same breath I submit my dream to God; May His perfect will be done In His perfect timing.…
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The power of words.
What example do we set for the vulnerable, set to imitate, easily impressionable ones? Do we pray for wisdom in our old age? Or we feel we lived enough to humble ourselves and open ourselves to correction and guidance from Above? Kids play. And they use in their play bits and pieces of words they…
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After ROM
I’ve lost steam in the past. I got discouraged as things didn’t change or people didn’t respond as I had hoped they would. Aware of the difference in my enthusiasm and vision as I return from a couple of inspiring conferences, and the outcome of my attempts to do something, I started small and I…
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Pine cones and pastries
The forest is my fatherWhere we walkAnd he taught meOf his FatherThe peace and the beautyReflected for usAs His cathedralWe pray as we walkTogether and aloneBut not really alone Like him I come to communeWith the world and with GodTo give up my problems To focus on the detailsAnd the big picture The distractions of life fadedThrough…
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Ohrid
The tall mountains of Macedonia are rolling stubbornly in the clouds. There’s a blue haze of heat and humidity layering the peaks, in darker and lighter shades. We left Ohrid. Jackie is sleeping, dreaming of hugs and laughter. She has adopted an army of aunts and uncles. She has had memorable connections and conversations, has…
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About mom
Studying Jacob’s life this last week, we first looked at the father perspective. The next day, we studied then introspected about our own mothers. We were asked with clever insight, to name the first three words that describe our dad, or mom, and three words that describe our relationship with them. These words were our…