NaBloPoMo Here I Come

Wish me luck!

I am about to start National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) in which I have committed to posting a blog for every day in November.  I've started a new blog in order to do this.  It's called

Quiet Mom-ents

and it's all about my goal of sitting in peace and quiet for 30 minutes each morning. I’ll write about my progress and the results.

So I might not be posting here everyday, but please join me at Quiet Mom-ents – every day starting tomorrow.

My Quest for Quiet: Update

A Book, A Princess Costume and A Skein of Yarn

I’ve learned two things from my morning quiet time routine.

1.  Creative expression is a powerful tool for fostering peace in our home.

2.  When I’m looking for something, I just need to listen to that voice inside of me telling me where to find it.

A Call to Arm(chair): One Mother's Quest for Quiet

The Noise Of Parenting

Our little family has been quite restless lately. One recent night after I had put my 3½ year old bed, I heard her stirring several times. I went into her room, sat on her bed and watched her as she tried to get back into a deep sleep, but she continued to toss fitfully. I put my finger in her hand, thinking that she’d curl her fingers around mine, but she pushed my hand away, while she was asleep. The next morning, we all got up late and the morning rush to work and preschool began.  My husband’s feeling sick, Cricket is anxious about her new school, and I’m just plain old tired.

After my husband and Cricket left, I sat down to continue my new goal of studying one Psalm a day. I was on Psalm 3, and I had to read it several times because I just couldn’t concentrate. Then my eyes stopped on Verse 4: I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I just shook my head and thought (blasphemously) The way my mind is cluttered right now, I couldn’t hear God answering me if he were right next to me, never mind on a distant mountain.

True Grit: Talking About Death With Children

Talking to a preschooler about death is like a Halloween party gift bag: You never know what will come out or how your child will react.

My family has had three deaths in as many months, the most recent being my 39-year-old cousin who died of a heart attack. With the first death, an elderly aunt, we didn’t tell Cricket anything.  I thought that 3 ½ was a little too young to explain anything, and I really didn’t know what to say. But with the second death, another older aunt, I had to say something.  Cricket knew something was up.  As with most explanations of weighty matters, I just winged it and followed her lead: