We'd hoped for another trip to D.C. for spring break this year.  But, because our clothes washer had been smelling like a boy's locker room for several years and the drier now needed three rounds to get towels done, we decided we needed to do something grown up.  We bought appliances with our would-be-plane ticket money.  But, because I have friends who home school, I'd found out about this awesome thing called the "Every Kid in a Park" pass.  If you haven't heard of this, it's the coolest thing ever!  The park service grants every kid a f ..read more

Dearest Friends and Family, It's that time of year again when we gather around advent wreaths and decorated trees and retell the most beautiful story ever told.  When we get to drink peppermint mochas religiously and quote Buddy the Elf.  It's also that time of year when Christmas parties dominate the schedule and we trade homemade meals for Children's Christmas program practice.  We buy a fridge full of groceries and then realize there's nothing to eat because we're saving all those crackers and marshmallow fluff for our Christmas eve celebration. But this year's a little diffe ..read more

  I haven't written in awhile.  I thought of lots of posts about Thirty-One conference, the anniversary of Mo's last interferon treatment, our trip to Green Bay in remembrance of Grandma Scott and my brand new job as the Director of Children's Ministry at my church.  But I was too busy living those stories to write them down I guess.  This story, however, needed to be written while it was still raw or not at all.  Forgive me if it's wordy and dark.  But I want the point to be what God has done through it in me. We lived a little nightmare again this past month ..read more

 I know about stories.  Stories have dynamic characters, conflict and villains, whether extrinsic or intrinsic.  A good story shows something.  A good story is about something.    For too many years I thought the stories of the civil rights movement were an interesting side plot in the story of our nation.  It wasn't until I marched along the national mall and placed my feet into the foot prints of Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln memorial that I realized that the civil rights movement is not an interesting side-story.  The civil ..read more

 I don't enjoy baseball that much.  I enjoy the privilege of going to Dbacks games with friends and family so I can catch up on gossip, eat over-priced ice cream and people watch.  I don't, however, love baseball.  Or didn't until a month ago.  But I do, however, love a good baseball story.  Stories about Babe Ruth's "called shot", Lou Gehrig's heroic battle and Jackie Robinson's historical break through.  And, this year's Little League season for Daniel and the Twins was an epic baseball story.   The first practice day arrived and, honestly, I kind o ..read more

  Our MOPS coordinator Melissa asked me if I might have a few stories I might like to share about my years as a member of Mothers of Preschoolers at Trinity Baptist Church.  THAT, I assured her would be no problem.  Finding just a FEW things to share might be the bigger problem.   I started MOPS seven years ago as one of the founding members.  That very first year three of us mommies, plus two steering team members and two mentor moms usually fit around just one table.  I know how discouraging that must have felt at times for those in leadership, putting all those ..read more

  The trip was over.  We'd swam with a dolphin.  We'd swam with a shark.  Moses ate four cups of Hawaiian shaved ice and learned to play a ukelailai.  There we sat with our loaded bags, damp swimsuits, two boxes of shortbread from Honolulu cookie company and a well-worn itinerary book from Make-a-Wish.  I flipped through the pages, looking for the last-day instruction page, and there below the wrap-up information were the words, "May your life always be filled with magic."    I had this feeling of something ending.  A happy ending but an ending. &nb ..read more

Hill Day arrived and we dressed and headed down for a breakfast-time briefing from our melanoma advocate.  He gave us tips on speaking with our legislators.  Don't talk about Trump.  Don't do anything illegal like mention having given to their campaign.  Be patient, polite and positive.  We put the finishing touches on our story and then received our schedules.     We learned that rarely did anyone meet with the legislators themselves, especially on a Monday.  But, as we soon learned the young staffers were like the labor and delivery nurses of the go ..read more

   The second part of our trip started on Saturday when we checked into our hotel and immediately ran into some of our fellow melanoma warriors and caregivers. They reminded us that though we each felt small in this big city we are loud when we're together.  Literally quite loud.  As in we may have scared everyone else away from the hotel restaurant that night.  But as one post's commenter pointed out, MELANOMA was also scared of that table.     We spent much of our day Saturday before dinner knocking items off our bucket list, just in case we only m ..read more

   "Do you know what Lincoln meant when he said our government is 'Of the people, for the people, by the people'?" I asked Daniel.     He shrugged and shook his head.  Daniel shrugs a lot.  Because he's the oldest and because he's eight and because he's Daniel.  It doesn't mean he's not thinking.      "What's so radical about our country is that it has always been ruled by the people themselves.  We control the government instead of the government controlling us."    I know it's more complicated than that.  Majority, biparti ..read more