The Aquinas Institute at Princeton–through which most of us Builders discovered or enlivened our Catholic faith during college–has an updated website. Check it out. And the “alumni” section features some of our dearest friends! Inspiring folks they are–babies and vocations galore. Bravo. Read more
On Saturday I gave a talk at the CHAPLET Homeschooling Conference on The Circuit. It went really well, and, I was rather shocked at the positive feedback and the large number of questions I received. Most of those questions were from moms just getting their feet wet with homeschooling, but other questions were from more experienced moms with practical difficulties in their morning routine. The Q and A turned into a wonderful dialogue, and I left with a lot of... Read more
All Christians are called to hospitality–we never know when we’re entertaining angels right? My husband and I also really enjoy having dinner guests and houseguests, most of the time, assuming we’re not in pre- or post-baby survival mode. But I’ve been startled a few times at how my patience and generosity begin to run very, very thin when guests stay for more than a couple of nights. Even the dearest friends. I start measuring what I’m giving; I start resenting... Read more
I just had the most unsettling exchange with a woman at the gym. She was rude. She was confrontational (even about topics on which we agreed!) She started my day on such a negative note. She was a “joy stealer”, as my mom likes to call them. Joy stealers are those people, interactions, situations that just sap the joy out of one’s life. They take it and hoard it. They are the bushels that hide the light in the “This... Read more
My beloved Valco double all terrain stroller will be 8 years old in September. I cried with joy when I got it, because with the booster seat and skateboard attached, I could leave the house for the first time as a mother of 4 under 3. Just after I got mine, custom from Australia, Julia Roberts announced that she was having twins and ordered one. See how I roll? That stroller got me to the playground, the grocery store and... Read more
One sweet neighbor of ours “C” is a never-married single mom, 29 years old, raising four-year-old and seven-year-old boys. She has a boyfriend, a never-married single dad of one daughter. We have noticed that her boyfriend is over more and more. “C” and I have a nice friendship. I recently asked her about getting married and reminded her that they could even be reconciled and married in the Church since they have no prior marriages (both are cradle Catholics). She... Read more
For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed taking standardized tests. I know that this makes me somewhat of an anomaly, but it’s true. When we were without internet for a few weeks after Hurricane Ike hit in 2008, I went to the library and got some GRE prep books. I had already taken the GRE – I just wanted to take the practice tests, for fun. Part of the fun of it, for me, is in the... Read more
I am going to operate on the assumption that I do not need to defend, to this particular crowd, the value of Ann Romney’s life’s work in raising her children, being an attentive and available spouse to her husband, contributing to her church, local schools and community. All of us here know that this is hard, and valuable work. Other people have said enough to defend this work in the last several hours to fill a book, or more. I... Read more
Our washing machine just broke. It is not a huge surprise given our heavy use with all boys and cloth diapers and the strange noises and stopping in the middle of cycles it has been doing. But I am ~40 weeks pregnant. If I am not in hard labor tonight, I will be at Sears. Or maybe I’ll just labor at Sears. I’ve been trying to read through some thoughts online, between contractions, with respect to washers and cloth diapering.... Read more
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