All posts tagged: #parenting

Home-Grown Liturgy

[Published on The Mudroom on 3/7/17] It all started when the priest’s wife hugged me under the tall trees in my front yard and gave me her secret recipe to make Church of the Great Shepherd’s communion bread. Even though I wasn’t ordained, didn’t have a fancy robe, and didn’t own a Book of Common Prayer, I was invited to be a part of the sacrament and splendor of our young Episcopal church. Unshowered in yesterday’s workout clothes I whisked warm milk and honey together, rolled dough on my floured kitchen table, cut circles with a biscuit cutter, and marked crosses on each round with a serrated knife.   My bed-headed twins followed me to the oven in their footie pajamas. “Mama, is that bread?” “Yep. Bread for Jesus. For communion. We remember Jesus loves us when we eat communion bread.” “Mama, can we have that bread today?” “This bread is for church tomorrow, bunnies.” When the timer went off I held my toddlers back with one hand and opened the oven with the other. …

I Stopped Praying for My Kids

Some people pray like a troubadour. Beaming about all the great things the Lover of their Soul has done. Their love is mutual and glorious. It’s dramatic and flowery, stomach flips and sighs. I’ve prayed like that, when my chubby baby smiled up me, and when I caught my husband looking at me from across the room. Some people pray like a tenant, leaving post-its on the landlord’s door. They roll their eyes whenever something breaks, knowing that whenever the scruffy, absent ex-con gets to it, it’ll be too late. They wait for him to come over smelling like cigarettes with a roll of duct tape, but normally end up fixing it themselves. Which is what the landlord was hoping for anyway. I’ve prayed like that, when my friend’s cancer didn’t get healed, and when my friend’s divorce was finalized. Some people pray like a child, asking for big things with big innocent eyes. They ask from the safe place on their daddy’s shoulders. Daddy is always patient and trustworthy. He can fix anything, and he …

Welcome, New Friends!

Many of you are visiting here today because you heard me on Ali Eastburn’s Heroes of Generosity podcast. It posted on Tuesday, 10/20/15, and I’m humbled to be a part of it. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can hear the podcast directly on Ali’ Eastburn’s website. (It will be on iTunes, soon, too.) We talk about family, generosity, compassion, and the crazy things we do for love. We laughed a lot during the interview and I hope you’ll laugh along with us as you run errands, commute to work, do the dishes, or work out. Ali Eastburn is World Changer. Eight years ago she heard God asking if she might be willing to sell her wedding ring to give an entire village clean water. That radical generosity birthed a movement and the organization With This Ring. Over a hundred water wells have been built around the world because people sold their wedding rings, heirloom jewelry, and chose not to have fancy weddings so others might have their first taste of clean water. Please listen to Ali’s …

I’m Not a Player

Today I decided to play. My kids were caught off guard. Daddy is Mr. Fun Time, he’s strong, spontaneous, quick to laugh, and agreeable. He wears costumes on a regular Thursday and makes up words almost every meal. He serves pancakes on Saturday mornings, plays video games, board games, and ping pong, and is always up for wrestling. I do none of these things. Well, Daddy had to leave for a business trip at 6:30am on a Sunday. So here we go. When we got home from church I heard many hands pawing through lego bins. I wandered in the room and sat on the floor. Kids: Mom, what are you doing? Me: I’m playing legos. Kids: What?! Me: Yep. Kids: Tell us what pieces you want! What are you making? Have you seen the robot chickens I’m making? Can you build Minecraft stuff? I made a house for robot ninja dogs. They were kind and encouraging.   After legos I asked, “Do you want to eat cheese balls and watch The Amazing Race?” We all ran downstairs, snuggled …

Kintsukuroi – I Guess We Have to be Broken

A few years ago my son and I had a very bad day. As I tucked him in, I hugged him, and prayed out loud, “Oh Lord, I put a hole in this dear kid’s heart today. With my mean face and impatient, harsh words. Please forgive me. Would you fill in that hole I made? Will your light and love chase away the yucky darkness?” Enough time had passed since my outburst, so Caleb was in the place to hug me tightly back and I say, “I forgive you, Mom. I know you love me.” I laid there holding him in silence a long time. I hate that I hurt his heart. I struggled to believe God would really fix it. We’ve all been broken. Sometimes we are jerks, and we toss someone’s heart on the floor. Sometimes other people are jerks and our hearts get shattered. My kids have had pieces chipped off by peers, teachers, their own choices, pain, and me. God and I had a conversation a long time ago, when I felt too …