My mom had them. Your mom had them. Mom-isms. They are those things you begin to say over and over (and over) to your kids that you hope they’ll take to heart. They’re those “I’m totally stealing that!” things you hear your friends say to their kids. My kids currently range from 11 to 3. The older they get, and…
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My iced latte this afternoon is creamy and delicious. The hum of conversations, soft jazz, and the tapping of my laptop keys is a special kind of music to my ears. I’m at one of my favorite local coffee shops, where I’ve spent many happy hours of my life over the past 12 years blogging my heart out. My plate…
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I felt the front of my linen apron grow warm and heavy against my skin as my two year old poured a bath toy filled with soapy water down my front. The almost-four-year-old laughed hysterically. I reeled back into the present moment. I was kneeling on the hard tile floor at the side of a bathtub containing my two youngest…
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I’ve lost count of how many friends, family and acquaintances will be venturing into homeschooling this fall. Families have every reason under the sun for choosing homeschooling, but the pandemic has definitely added many new ones. This post isn’t a manifesto on why homeschooling is the best thing you can do (it’s not), or how to make the perfect schedule…
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Even though I haven’t released a new episode of The Right Heart Podcast since 2016, I still get emails regularly asking if I am going to ever podcast again, or where the episodes are (they’re all right here!) Just so you know: I’d love to podcast again someday. It’s always in the back of my mind in discernment. I’ll keep…
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It’s been a few days weeks now since the glow of All the Lovely Family Time has worn off a bit for Michael and me. How about you? But honestly, we’ve had a lot going on over here. A few weeks before quarantine hit our area, Michael broke his arm in a freak accident at home. He ended up having to have…
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“So Erin,” said a Catholic radio morning show host last week, “You’re a homeschooling mom of five, so you’re a pro at having everyone home with you all the time. What tips can you give all the listeners out there in quarantine suddenly spending all day long with their kids and struggling to get things done in the chaos?” For…
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Plunk. Plunk. Plunk. There are sounds you come to know as a mom, sounds made by particular children in particular situations. I sighed. I estimated that in the 15 seconds it had taken me to walk out the bathroom and down the hall to the linen closet for clean towels, Aidan and Roman had thrown most of the little plastic…
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We had been squeezing our loud, messy, homeless family of five into my parents’ modest four bedroom house for several months, and I hoped to God that my parents hadn’t noticed the palpable tension between Michael and me; I hadn’t spoken more than three words to or even looked my husband straight in the eye for the past week. It…
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