We’ve just moved after 31 years in one home.  Mike and I built that home when we were 29 years old.  We raised both of our children in that home, and honestly, we feel like we grew up there as… Continue reading

At my age and in this time of life, social media just does NOT hold much of an appeal to me.    I got off of FB quite a while back and never established any other kind of social media presence. … Continue reading

Most of us took a foreign language in high school and probably even college.  Many of us need practice and reminders in that foreign language now.   My father is from New Jersey and my mother is Cuban, as is her… Continue reading

We’re feeling a bit anxious right now due to world events.  We may try to shelter our little ones from the war, tragedies in our own country, and the crazy cost of basic necessities.  But they sense our stress. They… Continue reading

This title may sound contradictory to what I’m trying to do with this post!  But it’s very connected. Twenty years ago, we took our kids to the canyon lands.  It was one of our favorite family trips.  We rented an… Continue reading

Just Five Minutes In this modern era of life, WE ARE BUSY.   Life has become much too complicated.   This world of technology and passwords and endless steps to do every single thing can literally drive us crazy. Our brains have… Continue reading

If there is both a book and a movie, read the book first.  Why?  Because that’s where the story came from!  The thought, the characters, the plot, and the desire to create a story for either entertainment or for a… Continue reading

When Jesus wanted to teach us about God, His love, and His purpose, He used stories!  When He wanted to teach us about how to treat others, He used stories.   When He wanted to show us how to live, He… Continue reading

When we think back upon the first stories that we start reading to our little ones, many of them are fiction.  Clifford, the adorable, big red dog isn’t real, Barney the purple dinosaur doesn’t exist, and the cat in the… Continue reading

There’s this little time period in the lives of our little ones when we get to mold their entire worlds.   It’s this tiny piece of time where parents or caregivers have complete control, control over what our kids eat, their… Continue reading

Most of us “adults” understand how important reading with and to our young children is.  We can imagine and explore worlds beyond our little neighborhoods, and we can help lay a foundation that will cultivate successes in the classroom.  But,… Continue reading

The answer to this question became too long to write about using paragraphs in a blog!  I’m confident that there are many other reasons that didn’t even make the list.   Here are SOME of the convincing arguments for us as… Continue reading

I’ve had a hard time coming up with a blog idea this week.  Ideas typically spiral through my mind and I have to hone in on one, but today it has been a struggle to select a book to write… Continue reading

If you have a young child who is starting to create their first friendships, sleepovers may become a challenge.  They can become an issue for so many different reasons.  One of our kids (I won’t say which!) really had trouble… Continue reading

What Book Takes You Back? You could answer this question in so many ways. What book takes you back to your own childhood? What book takes you back to elementary school or middle school or high school? What book takes… Continue reading

Problems and worries can be too much to bear alone.   It seems as if this is affecting our kids as much as us. There’s an author of children’s books that I only discovered as a middle school teacher, Kobi… Continue reading

What The Giving Tree Gives Us The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein moved me the first time I read it and then it spoke to me every single time thereafter.  Shel Silverstein was a brilliant author and poet, but he… Continue reading

ArkEncounter.com AnswersinGenesis.org Here it is, the reason I am feeling called to enter into this uncomfortable and foreign process.  I am trying to be obedient to the “call to create” in order to honor the Creator. The guided Hope*Circle I… Continue reading

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.   Philippians 4:8 Let’s just face it.  There is a battle for our… Continue reading

A few months ago, I joined a writing group called Hope*Writers.   I can’t even explain what a blessing this group and its teachings have been to me.  One of the many benefits of this (large and professional) writing group are… Continue reading

One of our kids liked to read more than the other.  Curt would sit and read book after book, and then he would reenact scenes from the story.  He would imagine he was part of the story. Gina liked to… Continue reading