Nine Cousins, Whitney Loibner Photography

cousins

my sister has been in town this week with her kids, which makes nine cousins at my parent’s house when you add four chinos and peter and whitney’s two.  we have crammed a lot into nine days with nine kids.  and i am tired.  but i love the whole family all together.  i love to …

heart work

while sitting in church on sunday morning, i played a game with myself to try to get the pit in my stomach to settle down. i had already cried through our pastor’s prayer for a family who lost their 19 year old daughter in a car accident on saturday, and i was driven to distraction …

breakfast crepes with berries and cream

Breakfast Crepes With Berries And Cream

Taido is the star breakfast cook at our house, and his breakfast crepes are the favorite for sure! His waffles and pancakes make weekly appearances on our table, but the crepes on an occasional Saturday morning are a special treat. Incidentally, my favorite breakfast growing up was crepes. My mom made them on Saturday mornings …

Memphis Zoo

We went to the Memphis Zoo on for the day on Monday. I am telling you. This zoo is worth the drive from Little Rock. We belonged to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle when we lived there and what I loved about joining was that once I joined, the zoo became a completely free …

boys swimming

Overheard

Middle schoolers. Pre-adolescents. Jr. highers. Whatever you want to call them. They are a rare breed. The crazy thing about middle schoolers (well, of course we all know there is more than one crazy thing) is that the range of heights and developmental stages is so wide among them. The group Taido works with ranges …

homemade pesto recipe

Fresh Pesto Recipe

Here is my fresh pesto recipe in honor of the bunch of basil in this month’s basket from the farm. I use my food processor to make this, but i’m sure you could use a blender too. You can serve this on pasta or on sandwiches made with homemade bread. Fresh Pesto Recipe (for about …

Solomon, A Kindred Spirit

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. ecclesiastes 1:18 i think that in heaven, solomon and i will be great friends. i feel him when he writes these words. so often i will read something or hear something and immediately think, “i wish i didn’t know about that…” because …

A Story About A Science Fair Project

A Story About A Science Fair Project   Oh my goodness I’m so glad we’re out of school! I have always loved summer.  We are having a pool break today because it’s rainy and my kids are slightly sunburned, but we have had several glorious days of pretty much changing from our pajamas to our …

Seniors

last night we honored the graduating senior class at our wednesday night church service. we do this at church every may and i always look forward to it. the students lead the service with their own brand of worship, which is a taste of the world they inhabit…a world that despite being married to a …

Strawberry Breakfast Muffins

The best moment of the day was when these strawberry breakfast muffins came out of the oven this morning. I had them hot with a cup of coffee. I should have just stopped right there. Stayed home. Had another muffin. Brewed another pot. Read another chapter. But alas, we must occasionally venture out of the …

BSF, Bible Study Fellowship, BSF rules

Introducing BSF With A Warning

I have gone to a Bible study every week since I moved back to Arkansas called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), and I really love it. I’ve studied the Bible a lot of different ways with different groups and different materials…with just women, with men and women, with children…with books studies, with topical studies, with discussions …

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

I finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls yesterday and I have been sort of haunted by it. (I’m obsessed with memoir lately…I think they make me grateful for my childhood and conscious of the one i’m creating for my own kids.) I have decided that this particular memoir stands out to me because the author …