I was at our neighborhood park one evening by myself last spring, with then four-month-old Aidan in a carrier on my chest and my older four children running (and swinging, and jumping) wild and free. While we were there, a beautiful young family pulled up with three children in tow, all under four, I guessed. Eventually, the sweet other momma…
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One Monday night a few months ago, I lay curled on top of my bed, still dressed, at 9 o’clock in the evening. I was done, done, done with the world for the day. A copy of Mansfield Park lay beside me where I’d tossed it onto the bed, more like a favorite teddy bear in function rather than something I really…
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I almost burst into tears as Faith and I walked in the door of my friend Wendy’s house last week. Breaking up with wonderful, understanding piano teachers is hard. I had to tell Wendy that we weren’t going to put Faith back in piano with her in the fall. “It’s not you, it’s me!” I tried to explain. The weekly drive…
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When I lived in Houston years ago, I often carpooled to monthly Opus Dei Women’s Evenings of Reflection with my friend Kathy, a mother of nine. I’ll never forget one night when Kathy and I met in the church parking lot to head downtown. As I slid into Kathy’s SUV–five minutes late–I chirped nervously, “Thanks for driving this month, Kathy!…
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When we bought our first house, the owners were a nice young family with four children. The father was an engineer, and the mother stayed home and homeschooled the kids. The interior walls were covered with fingerprints and crayon scribbles. There were plenty of dents and dings and holes in the walls. When we finally got the keys to the…
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I don’t remember who told me I needed to invite Colleen Duggan onto my podcast back in 2015 (waaaay back two babies ago when I podcasted…nuff said), but I’m so glad I did. The interview I did with Colleen on The Right Heart is one of my favorites. Her brand of honesty about what real Catholic marriage and parenthood looks like,…
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Did you know that I used to ride horses? (Check out this sweet and really old post I wrote). Growing up, I competed in hunter jumper, cross country, Pony Club, and eventually dressage. I haven’t ridden in years, but I still love horses, and I really treasure my memories of my days as a horse-crazy teen mucking out stalls, taking care of…
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During one of my monthly phone calls last fall with my homeschooling program counselor, Debbie, she said something about flashcards (of all things) that spoke some extra peace into the rest of my life. In math, I was supposed to be having my oldest two students drill one addition fact family per day for five minutes, three to four days…
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Aside from a frequent prayer to Jesus during the day, there’s something else I’ve been trying to be intentional about telling myself lately: Lighten up. I’ve been trying to be really intentional about noticing the gifts and pleasures of my motherhood, and not letting the lots of little frustrations build up so quickly. Yes, there are lots of little messes. Yes,…
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