After months of maternal ambiguity, she certainly knows that word now, and walks around constantly saying it in different ways.
Mommy–declarative (there’s my mommy)
Mommy–imperative (be my mommy!)
Mommy–possessive (be MY mommy!)
Mommy–interrogative (where’s my mommy?)
Mommy–interjection (mommy is a force of nature!)
Mommy–so much more than a proper name

Lessons I Learned from My Toddler
-If you fall down, say uh-oh and get back up.
-If you fall down and it hurts, cry.
-Eat what seems appealing to you and you?ll probably get balanced nutrition that way.
-Bubbles are fun, and you can?t catch them in your fingers, but you have to try anyway.
New words:
“shoe”
“two” and “six” (inserted […]

Just finished meeting with the small group leaders for the conference. Managed to give them an overview of the week without too much anxiety spilling out–my mood while writing can be plotted on a zig-zagging graph, and right now I’m in the valley of “hating this! this sucks! I want this to be over!” The […]

We are neck-deep in pre-planning for the conference I’m helping lead. I finally have the prayers and liturgy written for the three days I was responsible for. It was a relief to turn those in; now everyone else can do their work and I don’t feel like they’re waiting on me. The sermons, on the […]

“Holy are the cicadas, who will return when your little girl graduates from high school.” –B.J.J.
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OK, one more thing. I think I’ve shared my personal goal of being present enough in my life to respond emotionally to things AS they’re happening, rather than going through something and thinking later, “Oh my gosh, that was really happy/sad/frustrating what happened back there.” I think it’s about being integrated. Anyway, at the wedding […]

I was ordained one year ago today. It was quite a day–like a wedding, in terms of lots of family in town, and all that who-needs-to-be-where-and-when kind of stuff… weddings are easier though because there are two of you at the center of those details, and also, people know what to do at weddings. “What’s […]