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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I think I’ve read more books more over the past six months than I’ve read in the past four years combined. A little fiction, a little nonfiction, and a healthy dose of self-care and spiritual reading. It’s been lovely. I credit a lot of this newfound time spent reading to staying mostly away from social media (nope-you won’t find me on…
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Michael and I have two particular married couple friends who have struggled for years with infertility. This year, one of the couples adopted a beautiful baby girl, and the other couple finally conceived and gave birth to a baby girl as well. Both of these couples have waited the majority of their marriage so far to meet their first child,…
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Here’s a little prayer that has made all the difference for me. When the baby needs to eat…Jesus, I’m coming. When my four-year-old comes in with a bloody knee and the fifth complaint that day against an older sibling who woke up on the wrong side of the bed…Jesus, I’m coming. When I have to wake up too early because…
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