Category: kids

  • “God bless”es

    “God bless”es

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    by

    Jocelyn
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    Sometimes when it is time to pray around our dinner table, we take turns “blessing” the people who were involved in the meal we’re eating. In some instances, “God bless” may be clichĂ©, but it doesn’t have to be. For me and my co-travelers at the mealtime table, “God bless” is a dual way of…

  • Code for “Mom, I’m more important than your phone.”

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    by

    Jocelyn
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    I have an iPhone. It is mostly a very good and useful thing. Overall, our family has good boundaries with screens of all kinds. But sometimes, my phone will latch itself onto my eyes and brain and unsuspectingly absorb them entirely into its magical screen to the detriment of the actual humans around me who…

  • I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)

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    Jocelyn
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    Do you know any hymns? In my growing-up years, my dad would sing us to sleep with the hymns. I’ve done the same with my boys, committing more and more to memory over the years. Admittedly, a few of the hymns have some wonky theology, but overall they are a rich genre of Scripture set…

  • This morning was a normal morning at my house.

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    Jocelyn
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    I woke up to a quiet house, save for the whir of dueling white-noise fans. I drank a cup of coffee and read a chapter in a book about Jesus, feeling in my stomach the tension at not knowing at what moment the silence would turn abruptly to mayhem. This morning I had just about 20 minutes. Oh, those blessed…

  • 12 Simple Christmas Traditions: Unique Ideas to Bring Your Family Together this Season

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    Jocelyn
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    A short word before the list: It’s never too late to start a tradition! There are several beloved traditions among my adult siblings and I that weren’t begun until we were in high school or college, and that have since ceased to be. Perhaps we will revive them when our children are older. I guess some…

  • How many kids should we have?

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    Jocelyn
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    The whole issue of choosing whether or not to have children, when to have children, and how many children to have is extremely multi-faceted. It is an issue that has preoccupied recent generations far more than the generations preceding us simply due to the sponsorship of its patron saint: birth controls.* I know you know…

  • Ritual

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    Jocelyn
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    2boys and I have established a little ritual that we do on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings right before we leave our church. They made it up all on their own. On our way out, we go to the hallway that connects the main office hallway with the chapel and the lounge. It is a…

  • A bow & arrows. Oh, and a quiver.

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    Jocelyn
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    Howard spent his birthday gift card on something he’d wanted for a really long time: a bow and arrow set. And, so, of course, during this very slow, not-much-to-do-anyway month of December, I dropped everything that afternoon and made him a monogrammed quiver out of felt to hold his arrows. Actually, I really didn’t have…

  • From Barren to Happy

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    Jocelyn
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      This morning I read:   “He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.” Psalm 113:9   I’ve never been barren in the infertile sense. But I look back on my life before I had children and can easily see how barren I was — barren…

  • I found a new friend today.

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    by

    Jocelyn
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    I took today off from my new little job (at church). I gave today entirely to my main huge job (parenting 2boys). We all needed it. We walked / strollered to the park – a park that is one mile from our home that has very recently acquired a playground after being without for quite…