My Life

On Joe Paterno, Loyalty, and Humanity

I’ve tried to write about Joe Paterno several times since I learned that he was dying on Saturday afternoon. I’ve started and stopped four separate times. I wrote about being a tutor for student athletes and encounters on the sidewalk and football games, but each time, my feelings got the best of me. My words [...]

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Teaching Reading Using Sight Words Go Fish

Today, Grace had to take a fluency assessment. It was the first of two required to finish up her cyber school pre-k curriculum. Each fluency assessment is made up of five sections in which Grace reads off a series of numbers, letters, colors, or sight words in a 60-second time period. Even though she normally [...]

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Overwhelmed By Cute

Every year, I make calendars for my and Joe’s grandparents, parents, and siblings for Christmas. Every year, I think I’ve made the best calendars yet. This year was no different. Maybe it’s because my kids get cuter every year. I can’t be sure. I am overwhelmed by cute children. I have been so blessed.

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A Disaster in the Dining Room

It started like any other day. A teen from our church came over to take care of my girls while I worked with a coaching client. Around noon, I returned upstairs and made lunch. The girls and I ate together, as we always do. Allie finished eating before Grace and I, also normal. I extricated [...]

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The Pennsylvania Farm Show

I used to complain about the Pennsylvania Farm Show. When I was in high school, I was so above all that country nonsense. It was stupid, and it cramped my interesting teenage life (although I can’t remember just how). I ignored the Farm Show for many years, ambivalent but not longer inconvenienced. And then I [...]

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Matching Haircuts and Dealing with Childhood Fears

One day last week, Grace and I sat down to brush her hair. Hair brushing is not an easy task around here. Grace’s hair was down to the middle of her back, and it is fine and smooth and tangles like Silly String. It’s a real headache. Literally. Like all kids, Grace hates having her [...]

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First Birthdays

For Grace’s first birthday, I planned a theme. I designed and sent invitations, hung decorations, blew up helium balloons, and made two cakes – one for the party guests and one for Grace. I left no detail to chance. Elmo the cake was red inside. When I cut the cake, he looked like he was [...]

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My Goal for 2012 – No More Excuses

Two years ago today, I shared some lofty goals here on Feels Like Home. I said I was going to read through the Bible in 90 days, lose 100 pounds in 12 months, and pay off at least 50% of our family’s debt. I wrote: I have chosen this week to make some changes in [...]

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On Allie’s First Birthday

2011 may well have been the longest year of my entire life. It began with depression and a traumatic birth experience, then progressed to taking care of a very needy newborn with colic. Then breastfeeding struggles and constant crying that led quickly to postpartum depression. Then Allie was hospitalized with RSV. I quit my teaching [...]

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Santa Brought Drums

Months and months ago, Joe and I stumbled upon a practically brand new drum set during our first ever visit to a Goodwill store. We paid $10 for it, and we covered it up with towels from our pool bag so that Grace wouldn’t see it when we picked her up on the way home. [...]