#7 It’s still Friday, like it was this morning. Unbelievable, how long days last when the Ogre is gone. We still have all of tonight, plus two whole entire days to get through before he comes home. #6 The worst part is that he’s actually enjoying the conference. I mean, he enjoyed the conference in Poland once he got his luggage and could attend the presentations in something other than the clothes he had been wearing for 72 hours, which... Read more

You wonderful, bearded Ogre, Usually you don’t travel for work, but you’ve been gone for a whole week twice this month. Last time my mom was here, and we missed you but we were too busy for it to sink in. This week it’s just us. Last night I rocked the baby to sleep, and when he was finally down I realized that you weren’t around to turn on the tea kettle and pour my tea for me, so I... Read more

Yesterday, the Anchoress and I were talking about how astounding the shift has been in the positive media response to Pope Francis after the overwhelmingly negative response to Pope Benedict. I said it seems that the secular world is pitting these popes against each other on imaginary pedestals, with the pope they hate embodying all they hate of Christianity (sin, mostly, seen as rules, doctrine, authoritarianism, hate, etc) and the pope they love embodying all they love of Christianity (love... Read more

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else—God is in this person’s life. You can, you must try to seek God in every human life. Although the life of a person is a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can... Read more

This is everything you need to know about how to catch a guy, get a ring, and keep him happy your whole life long. Promise.   Read more

It’s going to take me many hours and lots of prayer to read this properly. This is the kind of interview that can be so easily read in service of my own agenda(s), but if I do that I won’t hear anything Pope Francis is saying. In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the paragraph that stopped me in my tracks and a link. “I see clearly,” the pope continues, “that the thing the church needs most today is the... Read more

Yesterday, I did something completely unexpected. Something I had never planned to do, never even really considered doing, until I stumbled across this post earlier this week. Just 2 days earlier I had spent half the day cleaning their room & re-organizing their toys and closet, which is something I do fairly regularly.   I wasn’t asking them to clean some giant out-of-control mess, just to pick up a few items off the floor and put them away in the... Read more

So lately I’ve been reading self-help books. Yeah, for real. I hate self-help books. I’m notorious for wanting to burn them all, and then write an anti-self-help book. But Lincoln is almost a year old, and as I find myself emerging into the bright light of reality, things in my life look a little…neglected. So I’ve decided that I would But I didn’t know how. So I’m reading these books about it. Let me tell you how much I hate... Read more

The Ogre is home at last! I don’t want to take time away from our reunited little family for long, but I wanted to link to a post and then get your opinion on something. First, read the post from the Matt Walsh Blog: A kid going berserk at a grocery store doesn’t indicate the quality of his parents, anymore than a guy getting pneumonia after he spends six hours naked in the snow indicates the quality of his doctor.... Read more

I don’t mean to be MIA, but the Ogre is on another continent entirely (literally) and even though he’s only home for a few hours during the day anyway, still his absence is like a black hole, negating all reason and rhyme and hope in our lives. My mom came to visit, thank the Lord, so that helped. But I can’t blog when my thoughts are mostly focused on a bearded fellow in Gdansk who, bereft of his luggage thanks... Read more