June 2, 2014

SIx months ago today, Charlie and Mary Cate were born. This was not our first rodeo, since sweet Maggie G came crashing into our lives over three years ago. But twins. Man, twins a whole other ball game, bag of apples, insert cliche here. Twins is so hard its literally absurd. Twins is so amazing you still look at these babies sometimes and think, “Oh my goodness…we have two babies.” It’s still that miraculous. Twins is so much more than... Read more

May 28, 2014

I love this Five Favorites series so very much. Hallie is a genius (and a wonderful lady!). Once upon a time, many moons ago, I participated in a Living Your Strengths program through my parish. If you’ve never taken the strengths finder and read the book, I highly recommend. So my top strength is context, which basically means I see themes and patterns everywhere. Its true. Take a look at my bookshelf, my grocery list, even my makeup bag. Everything... Read more

May 26, 2014

I’m back in the saddle at Ignitum Today this week, posting some reflections on Memorial Day and my family. He hated tattoos. My paternal grandfather, the other Charles Joseph. He died when I was 11, but I remember a conversation, one of many had during summer visits to their home, when he told me of his aversion of tattoos. You see, here was there. At Buchenwald. He walked into that stinking pit of hell, wearing Army fatigues and the face... Read more

May 20, 2014

Getting to know more about you….. It’s been a while since I’ve asked questions to get to know all you wonderful readers a little better. I’m coming up with some ideas for summer posts and what better way to help the juices flow than to learn more about you. If we were having coffee (make mine a latte please), these are some questions I’d love to ask. Feel free to answer one, some, or all in the comments section. You... Read more

May 14, 2014

For today’s Five Favs, I’m really eager to talk about my favorite summer stuff. Maybe its not quite here completely just yet, but like Pavlov’s dog, I come running at the sound of the ice cream truck. So here we go, my five favorite things for summer 2014. 1. Summer Skin One thing I love about summer is that with all the extra moisture in the air, I don’t need to put as much on my face. I trade my... Read more

May 9, 2014

I tucked her in, the covers up under her little chin, her increasingly curly hair sprawled on the pillow. Kissing her forehead I whispered over her, “sweet dreams, my lovely, I love you”. Our nightly ritual. The smoothing of her blankets, her hair, the smoothing out of a days worth of verbal sparring and litany of no’s. As I sat down with my tea later that night, I thought of my mother. My mother. She flitters around the edges of... Read more

May 2, 2014

7. My copy of Something Other Than God is on its way. Every time the UPS truck comes down the street, I press my nose against the window, eagerly hoping it will stop and drop that Amazon box filled with Jen’s brilliance at my door. 6. Today was my day off. A wonderful girl from church comes on Fridays to help with babysitting. Today, after a long week, I decided to take part of the day off. I went to... Read more

April 30, 2014

  I stood outside the building on a “killing day”. We were there to pray. For deliverance. For mercy for all those lost souls. For someone, anyone to listen and stop the violence. Begging God to forgive us for covering ourselves in so much blood. Cold hands holding rosaries on a snowy December night. Honking and rude gestures in the middle of a sunny, summer day. On one day, death row. On another, an abortion facility. Can you tell which... Read more

April 22, 2014

When people see me now, all they see are the “hands full” so many feel the absurd need to point out to me. All they see are three children under the age of four. And if they didn’t know me “before” they don’t know the painful journey of these children coming to us. They don’t know about the miscarriage. They don’t know about the 14 cycles of trying again, hoping against hope for those two pink lines. And after, the... Read more

February 26, 2014

It’s time for five favorites again. I had dreams of participating in Jen’s blog post a day for the whole week challenge. Those dreams collapsed, dear reader. They collapsed into my stomach flu and three days of twins with the shits, and then blew away on the arctic winds of polar vortex #3. So, I’ll jump in here and share my five favorites as of late. 5. Hoosier Poems I love poetry and I love living in Indiana. My mother... Read more


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