Easter Sunday was yesterday. This year, Easter was a huge relief. Yes because we got to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. But not only that. This year Easter also marked the end of a really hard Lent. Lent wasn’t hard in the penitential, sacrificial sense. Lent was hard because the last six weeks have...Continue Reading
When other shoppers see our huge Target cart of blonde kids coming down the aisle, about half of them grin and tell me how wonderful big families are. The other half just kind of stare. And count. And check me out to see if I might be pregnant again. Or wearing an Amish hair...Continue Reading
This is a story about the patio our family and some friends have been building in our backyard. It’s a story about hardscaping the marshy wetlands behind our pool, but it’s also the lesson of what our family has learned about community. The story begins with the muddy dead space that’s been behind our pool for...Continue Reading
Great news! It seems to be Hurt Feelings Week over at the Hergenrader House. Everyone in our family (well, except Mike, who never gets his feelings hurt) is living in the land of Why Does Everyone Hate Me? and How Come I Don’t Fit In? and Do I Only Know Mean People? and I Feel...Continue Reading
Our Frozen acting troupe is available for all your birthday parties, all your plays, all your Ren Fests, all your street performances, and all your family gatherings. Actually, family gatherings are their absolute specialty. This group of ENTHUSIASTIC SINGERS is fantastic at crooning out every word of the Disney songs at the top of their...Continue Reading
So, this is really brilliant. I am a Bible study writer, who keeps forgetting about the Bible. How does this happen? How am I so selfish and forgetful and lazy that I want to write inspirational ideas about Jesus, but I can never remember to START WITH THE BIBLE? The really fantastic pattern goes something...Continue Reading
Can I get an AMEN on how hard it is to get the family to church on Sunday morning? For real, y’all. It’s no picnic on school mornings either, but the difference there is that the grown-ups aren’t sticking around at school. As soon as the kids are settled, we’re free to get breakfast or...Continue Reading
No, of course the best advice is not that you should sleep when your baby sleeps. This is actually terrible advice. If you do this, you will be spending every single one of your waking hours with a moody, grouchy roommate who is prone to violent temper tantrums and insists you fulfill every one of...Continue Reading
During Spring Break, the kids and I spent the day at a friend’s house. And by house I mean farm with horses, zebras, peacocks, longhorns, and chickens. Like the roles farm-visitors have played for centuries, our family fit the city kids stereotype perfectly. Our hosts (the farm kids) were patient when my kids complained their...Continue Reading
In my 20s and 30s face masks were a skin boon. Look how my skin can glow! This tourmaline mask promises to make my skin dewey–and it does! Will you look at the difference just a bit of effort makes? I need the face masks now. No big payoff, but I do look 39 when...Continue Reading
