Yesterday I woke up in tears and it really never got better. I think I totally panicked Jen Lemen (does anyone else out there still miss her blog like I do?). I called her machine with that shaky “I’m really trying not to cry” voice. Nice way to freak out a friend, eh. ‘Though I couldn’t reach Jen, my housemate Sharon was home, so I cried on her shoulder for awhile.

You see, this is my sixth straight week of daily migraine pain and I’m not winning the emotional battle. I’m starting to get glimpse of a possible reality: this might be it for the rest of my life.

All I want to do is work. Is that … {read more…}

You know, I was going to write this great post about being a priest and a prophet in the post-modern reformation, complete with quotes from Peterson, scripture references from Jeremiah, and some back up from the lessons of history. But you know what? I don’t want to spend the next two days debating my point.

Instead, I think I’ll just celebrate actual stuff that happened in kingdom today…at least in the tiny part I live in. ‘Cuz all that theory, sure, it’s important, but it’s where the rubber meets the road that it really matters. So here’s what happened today in the kingdom that lies on the edge of Fremont and Wallingford…

…a friend stood in her own power and made … {read more…}

Tonya meme’d me yesterday. I have no idea what that word means, but I get that I’m supposed to answer questions. So here they go:

Seven Things to Do Before I Die:

1. learn to surf
2. write a book
3. be with someone at their passing
4. be that mentor-y type person who changed someone’s life
5. prep my girls for a successful relationship-and-sex life
6. live in another country temporarily
7. do right by the people I love

Seven Things I Cannot Do:

1. anything requiring precision
2. percentages
3. stuff involving computer snafus
4. learn new technical processes quickly
5. focus on one passion at a time
6. keep a clean house
7. sew

Seven Things that Attract Me to My Husband [romantic interest, best friend, whomever]:
1. political and theological ballsyness
2. … {read more…}

Cate and Eden happily played Barbie’s all morning on Saturday. Eventually I called them downstairs for lunch, and as they sat down Catie (5yrs) said:

“When I grow up I’m going to have SEX!”

And Eden (7yrs) replied:

“Yeah. And our Barbies are upstairs having sex right now!”

Everyone in the room was considerably shocked, but I managed to play it cool.

Me: Yep. You’ll probably have sex when you group up.

Eden: When?

Paul (immediately): When you are THIRTY SIX!

By this point, Souren (15yrs) is on the floor laughing.

Me: What do you mean “when,” Eden?

Eden: You know…like when I’m ten I get to have my ears pierced, when I’m 13 I’ll be a teenager…

Me: Well Eden, there’s a time and a place for every thing … {read more…}

I haven’t posted for awhile. Every other week I have the draft of a chapter due at my writers group. That means I write like mad about four days before my submission is due. I’m finding that I don’t have enough writing energy to do a chapter and blog posts in the same week. This makes for spotting posting, but I guess it is what it is.

“How do you know it’s someone’s first time to the Chapman’s house?”
“They pet the cat.”

Shelby as a purr addict. Pet her once and she’s purring (and drooling) by your side forever. She wasn’t an especially lovely cat. In fact her coat was usually a mess, she shed all over the place, and she had … {read more…}

At the Abbey last night:

Paul: “I’m gonna put Catie in the soup….ready Catie here you go!”

Rebecca: “Oh! Don’t put Catie in the soup or I can’t eat it! I’m a vegetarian.”

Catie: “I know whats a vegetarian is. That means you don’t eat meat.”

Rebecca: “That’s right Catie. One of the children at my preschool said, ‘I’m not a vegetarian, I’m a Christian.”

Catie: “What’s a Christian?”

Later I told Catie a Christian was someone who wanted to follow Christ, who wanted to be a “Christiani,” a “little Christ.” She said, “Who’s Christ?” I finally realized that we’ve only refered to Jesus as “Jesus,” when we read Bible stories and such. Which led to this addition funny bit:

Rachelle: “Maybe I should just tell … {read more…}

…When you get your nose pierced, your seven year old daughter might walk through the door, take one look at you, and burst into tears. She might then cry,: “Why did you have to get your nose pierced? Whhhhhhy? It looks awful! You don’t even LOOK like MY mama anymore! I don’t know you! You aren’t even my Mama!” She might then proceed to cry for a half hour and refuse to kiss you “EVER AGAIN!”

On the other hand, your six year old might say, “Cool. …’An you know what mama? I just burped my ABC’s!”

I have a wonderful new friend, named Souren. Souren is fifteen years old and lives on the corner of my street. I have to wait by his house to pick up the kids from the school bus. All the women in my family have rapidly fallen in love with Souren, and now he’ll sometimes stand in the doorway at 3:15 and just wait for two little blondes to come running up to him for a giant elementary-aged tackle hug.

Souren teaches me lots of things. What high school is like these days. How to get to level six in German video games involving trolls. What it means to be kind to little girls who pester you all day long. … {read more…}

This Sunday I decided I better get back on the wagon re: teaching my kids about the Bible. I’d given up on our Sunday morning “Bible Story Club” routine when I got disenchanted with the gimmicky curriculum I had bought on line. The girls got a few Bible stories over the Summer, and lots of lessons in gratitude (see our Summer book). But we didn’t do anything formal as far as religious education goes.

This Sunday morning we all sat on the window seat in our jammies. The girls wanted to read the story of Jesus calming the sea, so we did that. Then we tried to make a storm-in-the-bottle thing that came with the aforementioned dorky curriculum. That … {read more…}

It’s the last day of Summer, I’m sorry to say. Usually by now I’m ready for turtlenecks and season premieres. But we had such a great Summer with the girls this year that I’m not quite ready to let it go.

This was the first Summer that Cate didn’t have to take a mid-day nap. She still needs them sometimes (don’t we all!) but she can skip them at will as well. So we went on a lot of adventures this Summer: exploring parks we’d never been to, swimming in salt water, picking blackberries in back alleys. On a lark I started an art journal called “One Day This Summer…” … {read more…}