Each new year, I choose a spiritual goal. Anne Simpson told me that her church’s staff would choose and share their spiritual goals with each other, and I thought that was a fantastic idea. Ever since, I have done the same. The first year, I worked on humility; the next year, (since I…
Read MoreThe Ascent to Mount Carmel (for those of you who do not know, the ascent to Mt. Carmel is a description of the spiritual journey of the mystics from the discalced Carmelite tradition of the 17th century)
Read MoreOne of the things that keeps me riveted is how a little flour and a rolling pin makes little people’s spirits open up like no other time. It is “peace on earth” and good will to EVERYONE when a tiny tike is playing with dough. We have the Hayeses here for…
Read MoreMary, Clare, Leigh and I were walking into the facility where they were about to do a ballet performance. The woman directing us to the dressing room was a midget. My girls responded to her direction saying sweetly, “Merry Christmas!” and I was so proud that they did not embarrass the lady. But just as…
Read MoreTen years ago, I taught myself to cook from scratch, and now I am learning all over again how to cook without wheat, chicken, milk, or refined sugar. (Yikes!) This “from scratch” thing seems to be theme with me. Somehow, my parenting, my being a wife, my having a home, and what I…
Read More1. Clare baking Leigh birthday cupcakes in Clare’s new cooking set. 2. “Silent Night” at Midnight Mass. Cried. So beautiful. 3. Old Maw Maw telling me that I had baked the turkey “to perfection.” She was only being nice. The turkey was actually a disaster–I had taken it out of the oven when the thermometer…
Read MoreOne main goal of my life is to have a peaceful, joyful home in which all the people belonging to it become their best selves (including me). That means, in part, constantly turning conflict into something else with creative, up-side-down thinking. Of course, that usually is applied to two little girls who want…
Read MoreSo what is this all about anyway? It’s about me. It’s about my personal discoveries of how I do home (and how I do NOT do home, based on my mistakes!), how I do kids (and how I do NOT do kids), how I do happy marriage (and how I do NOT do marriage), and…
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