I’ve always thought of the devil of the Garden of Eden as a snake like I could see today – small, cunning, wheedling. Adam and Eve I imagined to be beguiled, talked into eating that apple the same way a used car salesman talks you into buying a lemon. Then this morning I read a post by Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, and all of that got turned on its head. There are traditions, he noted, in which the serpent in the... Read more
It was barely the crack of 6:00 this morning when I heard my eldest son whisper, “Mom? Are you awake?” I rolled over, pulling the blankets tighter around me and croaked out, “No.” He reached out and gently shook me. “Mom? Will you pray with me?” That’s all it took for me to be instantly awake. “Sure. What’s going on?” I sat up and yawned. (Okay, maybe not all the way awake.) “I just wanted to know if you’d pray... Read more
I overslept my morning CrossFit class this morning, and thought I’d slip out for a quick run before the kids were up, but I walked out of my room to fine 5-year-old Peter waiting for me. “Are you going to the box? Can I come too?” He asked. “No, baby, I’m going on a run instead.” “Oh….can I come run?” I looked at the eager you’ve-been-busy-and-I-miss-you look on his face and said, “If you put on your shoes.” He beat... Read more
We saw the psychiatrist today for a three month follow-up. He talked to Ella for an hour and said, “She’s a happy, bright, well-adjusted girl. You’re doing a wonderful job with her.” I nervously asked him the dreaded question, “Conversion?” He said, “Absolutely not.” So there ya go. Read more
Last week, a guy arrived from the office in Turkey to work with my husband for the next month. As many of his countrymen do, he came with gifts! This gift. I don’t know what it’s called or how to even begin to pronounce it because the label is in Turkish. The best description I have is that it look like a marshmallow, tastes almond-y like marzipan, but it the consistency of cotton candy pressed into a tight ball. The... Read more
The strains of the Alleluia! sounded in Mass and the faithful slowly rose to their feet. The choir, only 8 people in a church filled with over 700 in the pews, struggled to be heard above the shuffling and coughing congregation. Maybe one in ten people even attempted to sing along, the rest stood silently or yawned. As the Deacon proclaimed the Gospel, the people shifted on their feet and read quietly along or fanned themselves with the print... Read more
Last week I read a review of the Dragon Box app and was skeptical. I admit it, I doubted. It’s an app that “secretly teaches Algebra to your children!” and lets you “share the joy of learning Algebra!” I’m a math nerd and like Algebra, but this sounded like quite a stretch. I’ve bought math apps for my phone and tablet in the past, and they are rarely played. It’s hard to take learning things like math facts and... Read more
**I originally wrote this post in 2012, but needed the reminder yesterday. I thought you might too.** Trey’s (formerly #3) ADHD and sensory issues combined this past week in a spectacular meltdown. The noise and commotion of 6 siblings, an out of town house guest, and scores of shrieking friends in the playroom triggered a reaction we haven’t seen in some time. He lashed out at the people he loves, calling them nasty names and locking himself away in... Read more
I’ve been reading and watching all of the opinions flying back and forth on the weddings at the Vatican last week, and trying to put my thoughts on it into something that sounded charitable. Today, I opened Facebook and saw that my brilliant friend, Kara Allen, had already said exactly what I wanted to say, and much more charitably than I was inclined to put it. I think the point might be that we are all forgetting the lessons... Read more
I’m just going to jump right on into the update, and say that we saw the geneticist yesterday. It wasn’t as horrible as I had feared. We also didn’t get any closer to an answer, really. He was kind, listened to us, and took us seriously. He also said we had been sent to see him too soon. As far as he could see, there was no sign of a genetic abnormality in either our family history or her medical... Read more
Shoved to Them
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