Teaching Children to Love Thy Neighbor

Today Ryan is nine years old! My serious, shy, bright, silly little one is growing up! Nine seems to me an odd mix of grown-up and little boy. Over the past year, I’ve watched with pride as Ryan demonstrated greater ease in group situations, as he gained the confidence to set out on adventures on…
Today is Grandparents’ Day. I gave my parents, my boy’s grandparents, the best gift I could think of: I picked up the boys and brought them home, providing my parents with the first quiet night alone at their home in over three weeks. Happy Grandparents’ Day, Mom & Dad! The boys had a wonderful time…
Tonight at dinner, Patrick and I were playing 20 Questions with the boys. It was my turn to answer questions posited by Patrick and the boys as they tried to guess what was on my mind: Dick Dastardly (the villain from the Wacky Races cartoons; a favorite of a young Patrick and now of the…
I did it! I logged on to type my Gratituesday post, but before I did, I happened to read Amy’s Gratituesday post and I knew it was written to encourage me, to speak to my heart, to move me into action… and it did! Perhaps her post was not written only for me, but her…
Growing up, I lived at least a five hours’ drive from my grandparents and extended family. I have fond memories of visits to Grandma and Grandpa’s home at the holidays and during summer breaks, but I remember being envious of cousins who lived nearer to my grandparents and were able to visit for a…
Summer is here. School is out and families are beginning to plan vacations: trips to the beach, an amusement park, a museum… all wonderful places, full of fun, unless you and your child are separated, and then they become places of sheer panic: crowds of people coming and going and large areas of ground…