There are phrases that have become mantras in my home. There are phrases that are said over and over, every time one of my boys hurts his brother. Your brother will be your best friend your whole life. Are you treating him like a friend? There are phrases I say because I need to remember. We all need to remember. We use our words to love each other.* We use our hands to love each other. There are secrets I... Read more
(We traveled to Texas, Philadelphia, and made a little hop up to Connecticut. You know, keeping it simple.) Christmas morning snow… in Texas Time with my grandmothers. (Ages 88 and 91) A night of hanging out in my brother’s kitchen with both brothers, both sisters in law, and my husband! This is a feat very difficult to pull off and I’m grateful for my husband who made that gathering happen How Brooksie has learned to make this face My sweet... Read more
I’ve never been much of a resolution kind of girl. I’m not so good with “goals.” They require too much planning and I’d rather not make plans just in case there’s something more fun that comes along. I know. I’m a terrible person. Also, I’m not particularly fond of “improving” myself. (It hurts.) But, I’ve been learning that if I challenge myself in ways that mean something important to me, it actually is possible to find a lot of joy... Read more
I wish I were a mom with constant craft supplies. I wish I had every kind of glitter available and fresh scented play-dough always waiting for little fingers to mash. I wish I were a mom who filled hours with learning, a mom who sent thank-you notes on time. I wish I had real, practical goals in my mothering life. I wish I weren’t just standing at the kitchen sink while my son begs me to play cars with him... Read more
I interrupt my regularly scheduled blog silence to send you over to A Deeper Church on this fine New Year’s Eve. I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday. Enjoy your New Year, eat your black eyed peas, and I’ll see you later on this week… I’ve been reading the same novel for way too many months. Kristin Lavransdatter is a sweeping epic of a novel: one woman’s life in 14th century Norway, from girlhood to death. Ultimately it’s the story of how the main character’s... Read more
A Christmas Eve Reflection: Light Your Candle Quietly August made his own menorah this year. I’ve mentioned before how, quite by accident, we ended up at an Orthodox Jewish Preschool. The presence of Hanukkah in our lives has made for a lot of interesting conversations. It’s also meant that August wanted to light his handmade menorah all through the eight days of Hanukkah. So we did (at least I tried to…it didn’t happen every night). I don’t know much about... Read more
Christ’s Mother Reflects: His Childhood “…and for him to see me mended / I must see him torn.” -Luci Shaw “Mary’s Song” He stood at the door, wet-faced and panting. in his hands three baby birds. They’re hungry, he sniffed, nested them in a bowl with grass, fed them worms until they died. After, I held him for an hour, his soul too much for this world. Who doesn’t want normal for her son? Yet he chose the lonely of the... Read more
I’ll be taking all of next week off, following my final Advent poem tomorrow and Advent post on Christmas Eve. I’ll be back in action after the new year, but I thought now might be a good moment to review this past year. Thanks for sharing it with me… In January, I made some resolutions. I’ll let you know how that went sometime soon. Also, in January, I celebrated Brooksie turning 10 months old with some poetry. In February, I... Read more
When I get the text from Melynn, it’s 8:30 on Saturday morning and we’ve just finished our cinnamon buns and read the story of St. Nicholas. We’re in the middle of a new family tradition, gathering the toys we’ll be giving away that day. The boys are on the carpet in the hallway vrooming cars: Chris and August and Brooksie, all on their bellies in their jammies. Melynn sends me a text to say Carey is gone. She died at... Read more
Children singing “Away in a Manger” and sharing the stage with one of the best double bass players in San Francisco this past Sunday. I love my church. I’m thankful that we got to come back to a community here in SF that welcomes and loves us and confounds me with its teaching. I’m thankful for Christ Church in Austin and that I can simultaneously ache for its post-service bagel time while loving the post-service donut time at City... Read more
Micha Boyett
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