Amazing Moments

Shoulders sagging she averts her face As she imparts on her son one last embrace The fate of the family is in his hands As he boards the ship for a foreign land She mournfully watches his ship disappear And steels herself to heartache and fear Three sons she lost to the hideous war She now mourns the loss of even one more The young German man sails weeks to the dock Where Lady Liberty welcomes him to the flock A stoic man meets him and they journey by train Across the vast land and the wide open plain Laboring on a farm in the hot Kansas sun He toils by day stacking bales one by one Ornery farm boys toss the bales out the doors But he rises above and continues his chores Day after day the mother scans the sea Hoping that God hears her soulful plea But as fate would have it the winter months came The man sleeps in the barn and warms his hands in the grain The years turned to decades, money remains tight As the Great Depression adds to his plight. His meager...

A mother is our first teacher.  They teach us all kinds of things from walking and talking to how to share and be kind.  Out of all the lessons my mom has taught me over the years, one of the best is “being a presence.” “Being a presence” is simply that, being present. Sounds simple, but it is a skill to learn and develop, just like any other. I got my first chance to learn and practice this skill when my dad was hospitalized for a week following colon surgery.  I opened his hospital room door with his favorite movies and cribbage board in hand, only to find him hooked up to lots of machines, IV’s, and sound asleep.  It was shocking and a bit intimidating to see all the equipment.  He was in no shape to watch TV, let alone visit with anyone.  I found my mom in rumpled clothes  and bleary eyes from a sleepless night in the chair next to his bed, like a sentinel keeping watch.  My mom was eager to have me take a shift with him so she could run ...

Ever want to learn something new?  Ever had the chance to teach something you love to someone else?  When do you shift from the learner to the teacher, the follower to the leader, the player to the coach? Today it happened for my youngest son.  It was SO fun to watch him run into open gym with his older brother this afternoon.  He confidently entered the gym and for the first time, was able to teach his big brother all kinds of things he knew how to do that his big brother had never experienced. First, they sprinted to the rings that are hung so high, you must climb stairs to reach them.  He skillfully grabbed the rings and did his swings, then fell into the fluffy ball pit, as his brother soaked up the moves.   As his brother took his turn, he coached him from the mat. Both of them were beaming when he was able to swing correctly!  Success! Next up, the trampoline.  This is a monster trampoline. It is as long as the length of the building. I...

Don't drink and drive.  That was it. The main worry of parents when I started driving in the 80's.  Now the dangers on the road are much worse with all the distracted, inexperienced folks driving about.  It is all over the radio to not text and drive and how 1 in 6 fatalities are now blamed on texting. Two close friends have actually been in small accidents texting and driving.  One hit a mailbox on her way to work and the other rear ended someone at a stop sign while she checked a text on her way home.  They were expensive messages, but thankfully not deadly. Both of their experiences raised my awareness of the dangers of texting and driving, but I admit, that didn't stop me from being tempted to text and drive. The event that changed my behavior involved my daughter. She was recently given a ride home. "How was the ride." "Ok, but the mom was on her phone most of the ride.  She was really into her conversation and it was kind of ...

I was sitting at gymnastics in the upper observation room packed with parents last Saturday watching my youngest son.  The dad sitting next to me got a phone call. This is how it went. "Yeah, got her signed up for the meet." "Yeah, softball practice is this afternoon." "She may have to miss girl scouts, but that is just the way it goes." "Keeping an eye on our two year old is hard, she is running around everywhere here." "Don't know if we can fit the zoo or Lauritzen gardens in." "I know it's a beautiful day, but the kids have so much on the calendar." "Be home in a little bit" That's when it hit me, these are the "generation all-signed up" kids and parents like me have the "generation all-signed up" disease.  The "all signed up generation" have parents split up driving kids to different activities in different corners of town, younger siblings who know a...

No time for dinner?  Wonder what to cook? Stuck in a rut? You need Deal a Meal!! What is deal a meal, you ask?  It is my favorite way to plan out the menu and the grocery list for the week.   Here is what you do: 1.  Write your family's favorite meals on one side of an index card. 2.  Write the ingredients on the other side. 3.  Shuffle the cards and deal out seven, one for each day of the week. 4. Take the cards with you to the store since the ingredients are on the back (no more grocery lists to write). 5.  Keep the cards handy all week (I have mine in my cub scout recipe holder). Deal a meal makes meal planning simple, random, and stress free.  Meal making is simplified since all the ingredients are in the house. The family is happy to have healthy, nutritious, home cooked dinners! Tip:  Add a new card to the deck each month so your deck of meals keeps growing.

What is a sacrifice?  I posed that question to my family, and here is the response. “Doing something you don’t want to do so that someone else benefits.” “Denying yourself something so someone else can have something.”  “Thinking of another person and going out of your ordinary way to make a change.” “Giving up your wants or needs for someone else’s.” “A sacrifice looks like how you choose to spend your time, your money, and your things.” I took a moment to reflect on the sacrifices I have made as a mother and a wife over the past few years.  I have sacrificed nights out with my husband to stay home with sick kids, watched Sponge Bob instead of Ellen, made breakfast instead of sleeping in, read books to kids instead of taking a hot bath and reading a novel, drove kids around to activities instead of resting on the couch with the stomach flu, and sacrificed time as a couple by working opposite shifts to avoid day care. But these sacrifices are so minusc...