As promised, here is the story I tell the kids (when not falling asleep). The Legend of Little Billy Tickle Not long ago, in a place far off from here, there was a small family that wanted peace and quiet. The Tickle family lived in a wilderness far from the glow of city lights and…
Read MoreEmotional Pain
Emotional pain can go undetected by onlookers when the person with the pain has lived with it for so long. Everyone has seen some sort of pain in their lives; not too many are strangers of it; it can help us to be shaped and to grow and to lean on God in desperate ways,…
Read MoreTales of embarrassing parent moments
I’m not even sure I should be telling this story, but for the sake of free information and a great tale, I must share this. Only moments ago Sonya and I were in the kitchen talking and sharing as is usual on our Saturdays. Abigail was outside in the snow, playing and walking and being…
Read MoreOh yes I did.
My best attempt of recreating Led Zeppelin IV album cover.
Read MoreDid I just say that out loud?
The bedtime ritual can be either incredibly easy and effortless or a battle with a relentless, excuse-laden and twisting foe (involving wrestling holds and a rock-solid exit policy). Last night Elliott asked me to tell him a story, one I made up, but that helps him settle down and sleep – “The (Imaginary) Legend of…
Read MoreLots of small and dusty reasons
Since I threw Abigail under the bus a few days ago it seems only fair that I throw Elliott too. Now with Elliott there is the common quirkiness of boyish pleasure in bodily noises (which I fully encourage and I can only hope, inspire) and the extreme desire for violence (throwing, punching, screaming). This seems…
Read MoreI love the world and all it’s problems
The world is saturated with self-diagnosis. I’m not a fan of all the marketing driven “emotional issue” products that seems to introduce a new neurosis every month (Attention Overload Disorder, Multiple Bowel Syndrome, Overexposed Thumb Cramping, or whatever). Often it seems a convenient label to absolve people from being reasonable and self-controlled. But when things…
Read MoreLost: Recap (S2, E9)
What we are learning: Sun and Jin are happy and smiling. I like that (and Jin finally got those cuffs off; ’bout freaking time) Kate killed her father (Wayne), who she thought was her step-father because he was abusive (most likely in many ways). So, she blows up the house, her mom turns her in,…
Read MoreA nice way to end a vacation
How was Thanksgiving you ask? Good. Overall good. It’s never a vacation as a parent, though as the kids get older there is less to fuss over. Though, our kids are weird – they wanted to go NO WHERE. Absolutely no where. “Hey, let’s go to the aquarium in Baltimore!” — “I don’t want to”,…
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