Am I busy? You bet. I’m a wife, author, blogger, and homeschooling mom to four girls. Yep, you read that right … four girls. It’s a sibling quartet that elicits unsolicited remarks everywhere I go. Sometimes about teen angst, other times on the increasing expense of weddings, and I even get my share of Little Women comparisons. If you’d …
Some brides and grooms faithfully plan for their first dance as husband and wife. Song choices are carefully considered and dance lessons taken. Not my husband Ted and me. Instead, we unintentionally adopted a drastically different approach. You see, in all of our wedding preparation, we forgot to think about our first dance. So we winged it. …
“So what do your friends think of your engagement?” This is a question my husband, Ted, and I ask often as we mentor engaged couples. It may seem trivial, but we’ve found that this question can be very telling of the overall health of the couple’s relationship. Most often, the answer is, “Oh, they’re thrilled. …
It was during a Wednesday night episode of “American Idol” that our fourth daughter, Dorothy Jane, took her first glimpse of this world. This inaugural look was filled with the sights and sounds of a hospital delivery room nestled in the chilly suburbs of Chicago. Our home away from home that March day in 2011. …
I wasn’t there. So I’m not really sure how old the boy was that pivotal day so many years ago. He was old enough to have passed that seventh-grade year when his parents separated and then divorced. The year first spent at a difficult new school in a new town. Old enough to have marked …
“But I want to ride it!” came the cries of our disappointed child. Out of our four daughters, she was the one who struggled with anger the most. And, at this moment, her words were bitter with the outrage and injustice of the situation. You see, of all the rides at this Orlando theme park, this …
“Are you having twins?” he asked, innocently enough. Little did he know, he wasn’t the first person to ask me this particular question. And, eight months into my fourth full-term pregnancy, kindness was not my default response. “No,” I curtly replied. “Are you sure?” he questioned. We were at the Museum of Science and Industry …
“You’ve said that exact same thing three times already,” my husband Ted responded, frustration in his voice. “I heard you the first time.” It was clear that he and I faced a case of “when your spouse annoys you” … and, much to my dismay, I was that spouse. I hadn’t intended to annoy Ted. …
“Is this the local train or the express?” Ted asked. We’d just boarded a crowded Manhattan subway car, and his face was etched with urgency and concern. “It’s the blue A line,” I responded, not sure what the issue was. The two maps I’d consulted hadn’t noted that there was more than one A train. …
She was an angry child. There was no doubt about it. Her words, “You stupid egghead,” made it clear … even if they proved to be an oxymoron. After all, it’s common knowledge that eggheads are smart, right? Well … at least to all of us over the age of five. I swiftly placed her …
