“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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I was lying on my couch recently, sort of stress-paralyzed. (Maybe you’re familiar with that feeling?) And as I lay there, I felt like the laundry and the dishes and my lesson plans and my to-do list and my bickering children were sort of swirling around me, untamed, leaving me further behind by the minute. It was one of those…
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This year was a year when God spoke deep healing and peace into my life. He reached me many times through books. It’s funny how in some seasons, I can barely find time and energy to shower, let alone read a book! But then the seasons come when there’s a little of God making the time and little me making…
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I always imagined that being an introvert was something I’d grow out of. As a kid, I always wished I were more fun and outgoing. In general, I was happier to curl up in my room with a good book or spend hours alone with my horse at the barn than go to a sleepover with my friends. However, in…
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I will not regret leaving the laundry and the dishes and the schoolwork undone on this beautiful, cool afternoon. I’ve lived here in the Deep South all my life, and these precious first few afternoons of breezy fall weather have filled me with a special joy ever since I was a little girl. This is no day for routine, no…
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So much of this motherhood gig seems to be learning to live from one now-THATS-what-I-dreamed-this-would-be-like Happily Ever Moment to the next, and not letting the incredibly messy, hard work in between make me forget them. So much of this life of mine seems to be about choosing thankfulness and contentment with what is before me. (That and asking for, needing,…
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Everybody was in a bad mood. Five hangry children milled in and around my kitchen, bumping into each other occasionally, sparking fireworks of tears and bickering. We had been quarantined in the house for the past few days with a mild stomach bug that had been oh-so-slowly moving through our family. So, add “stir-crazy” and “bored” to “hangry” and you’ll…
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