Minor Inspirations

When Being Offended Isn’t Helpful

I have seen a lot of controversy brewing over the past several months, over many things. Discrimination, racism, patriotism, freedom, protests, family values, management of donated funds, equal rights, media narratives, support in natural disasters…did I miss anything?? It seems that our culture has mastered the art of skimming a headline and deciding to be offended by something relating (or not…

What Happens When You Don’t Want to Go Back?

There’s something interesting that happens to the way people respond to situations after we go through stuff. You know, the kind of stuff that no one asks for, but that of which everyone has some version. Stuff that shapes who we are and how we relate to the world around us. If I am talking about all the craziness our family has gone through with Zoey, September is that month for me in a…

This morning was Zoey’s first Tumbling class for the Fall. She was literally leaping with excitement as soon as we got there. It’s funny because it seems to be the cool thing for students to complain about how teachers make them work so hard, and how they can’t do what is being asked of them. Yet there was Zoey, a good head shorter than the rest despite the similarities in ages, and she was…

Lessons of Motherhood in 5 Years

Almost five years ago, I posted 5 lessons I had learned about motherhood in 5 months. Looking back, they were pretty simple lessons and not all that profound. I had a steep learning curve in a child like Zoey. But even then there is only so much about parenthood one can glean within the first 5 months. But these lessons were initial stepping stones in our journey together. I was so grateful for…

5 New Things Zoey Has Been Hearing

We have been hearing a lot of new things in our home lately. Many of these are in direct response to Zoey’s most recent appointment about her hearing. A little over a week ago, Michael and I took Zoey to pick up her hearing aids for the first time. We had a few quick lessons in cleaning, caring, and placing them. The audiologist then handed me a ringing, bright pink bundle of tubing and casing to…

Stories that Celebrate Dads

Let’s talk about our perspective on dads. It has come to my attention (over and over and over again) that too often dads are left out of the limelight when we talk about families and parenting in the home. Moreover, most media coverage continues to trend toward painting fathers as clumsy and backward characters in the best of light. It only spirals downward from there, with very few diamonds…

It’s funny how time and experiences change our perspectives. I remember the times when I used to post about every doctor’s appointment for Zoey. I posted about our questions, every medical procedure, many of the tests and treatments, and every so often, a few solid answers. My way of processing this sudden upheaval of Cranio to my organized and planned little world was to document all of it. List…

Fighting So We All Win

The Ugly Truth

I love being a mom, but I have found that motherhood too often brings out the worst in me. Can you relate? In these worst of times, sleep-deprived emotions run high. I spew out an endless stream of directions toward the general abyss of The Offspring, like random spit-wads toward a chalkboard. If I just keep fighting, eventually something’s got to stick, right? But it doesn’t. My…

Home Garden Preparation: Seedlings and Tilling

I am excited to report that we are in the midst of preparing for our home garden again this year! You may remember that last weekend we broke down the raised border from last year’s garden. This weekend we planted our seed starters and tilled the soil over the new garden space.

On Saturday morning, we sat down together as a family in our living room to plant our vegetable and flower seedlings for…