Burt’s Bees Coconut Foot Creme. It’s been a long dry winter for the old dogs.
Wii Fit. How adorable is the design of the hula hoop game? How motivating are the Miis cheering me on as I do step aerobics? How cheesy are the personal trainers, who gesture earnestly even when saying “Let’s get started”? […]

R’s brother was in town this weekend prior to a work conference, and it was fun to hang out. R got inspired and made some spectacular coq au vin for Saturday dinner. And as the Facebook crowd knows, because it garnered 20 or so comments, I made congo bars on Friday night. Honestly, why would […]

Mmm, bagel bite.
Here are some tidbits about sweet baby j that are better seen than read about… ah well. Maybe if we’re really on the ball we’ll get some video.
1. J is not rockin’ on the words so much, but he does have a few sounds that he makes consistently for certain things. “Huzzat” is […]

So I am feeling torn about something.
Several weeks from now I’ll be heading to Hip and Hilly, Texas for a week (Sunday through Friday) with a clergy group. We get together yearly, bringing with us papers we’ve written on the scripture texts. We present and discuss them, which gives weekly preachers a huge jump on […]

Three things for Tuesday:
—————-
Someone shared with me yesterday a story about a friend who had a conversation some years back with a pastor, in which the person shared a fairly liberal view of one of the doctrines of the church. The pastor got a very pinched, pained expression, not saying anything, but making clear that […]

Spring is finally here… on the calendar, anyway. This afternoon the kids enjoyed getting outside, even though it was still pretty cool.
C has been counting down the days. Several weeks ago she made a whole string of boxes with numbers in them and has patiently been erasing one each day. The “20″ has been getting […]

We love the book Owl Babies, and not just because our college mascot is the owl. It’s about three little snowy owls who wake up to find their mother gone, hunting for food—well, they’re pretty sure that’s what she’s doing, but things are a little spooky without Mommy in the middle of the night.
We […]

My mental health seems to require a blog post each Sunday night in order to offload the stuff from the weekend.
I found my sermon rather boring this week, but I know that sometimes profound things happen in people’s lives in spite of me… praise be.
SBJ got his first haircut yesterday. Was sitting on my lap, […]

A review for MotherTalk
Out of the Mouths of Babes: Parenting from a Child’s Perspective
by Dyan Eybergen
This is a rather sweet book, with a very home-grown quality, that draws on the author’s clinical background as well as her experience raising three boys with very different temperaments. She comes from an attachment parenting perspective; it’s not likely […]

for R

one far off day,
his perfect hands

that clutch
the toothpaste, or the baby’s
cortisone cream,
Just So, in the abundant middle,
molding them
expertly to his tightening fist

will cease to be—
along with the rest of him—
and perhaps i will miss those
shriveled up reminders
littering the bathroom,
and wish i had not sighed
as i smashed them all
flat.

C is really at a delightful age.
(How many times have I written variations on that sentence?)
She will spontaneously harmonize with songs as we sing them.
She read her first book the other day from start to finish (Green Eggs and Ham).
I started reading Little House in the Big Woods to her and she’s riveted. She […]

sublime

We had a very nice weekend. We took advantage of the weather and had a great trip to the zoo on Saturday. It was one of those (almost) effortless days. The animals were out in their yards and frolicking—we saw a panda roll pell-mell down the hill and then climb the tree and hang upside-down! […]

Tonight, reading The Snowy Day:
Me: Then he went into his warm house. He told his mother all about his adventures while she took off his wet socks. [next page] And he thought and thought and thought about them.
C: He’s thinking about his wet socks.
M: No, C! He’s thinking about his ‘ventures!

Image: from the lovely book […]

Got to talking to some clergy-writers today about the dual vocation. Some of us are pastors who happen to write. Others of us are writers who happen to be pastors.
I am trying to figure out which one I am. It may seem like a distinction without a difference but it’s an important thing for me […]

So one of my churchy pet peeves is that when we talk about using one’s gifts and talents, we are almost always talking about filling a church volunteer position. We used to use time and talent forms here at Suburban Pres, which consisted of dozens of jobs large and small and tiny little boxes for […]

Yesterday the girls insisted on putting on their bathing suits. They then took turns jumping into a blue blanket “pool” spread out on the floor. Sick of winter much?
Then today we had a snow day. The girls had a ball, but J wanted nothing to do with the snow. Unfortunately I did not discover this […]