One Word At A Time: Emptiness

By MAD21

This time of year brings mixed emotions for me. I love the warmer weather and as I wrote about on Friday, all the fresh fruits and veggies. I love all the time I get to have with my kids and family and the fun things we get to do together. But underneath the joy I feel this time of year, there is also an emptiness. A deep sadness that lingers like the residue in a cool glass of tea. It's not bad enough to ruin the day, but you know it's there.

My dad and I were fairly close all my life. Like my oldest is my "mini-me," I was my dad's. We had a lot in common. We both loved cars, traveling, people watching and a good hard days work. I looked just like him and his family. In fact, if you compare my baby pictures to my aunt's (his sister), you can barely tell any difference. Aside from the age of the picture itself giving it away, you would think it was the same child.

Growing up, summer time always meant a trip to visit my dad's family. They lived in a town a long five hours away from us. But it was worth the drive because I loved my aunt and her family. We had a bond that miles couldn't break. I have so many memories as a child going camping with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Going fishing on my uncle's boat and being the only one that ever caught anything. My aunt wearing jeans, sneakers, and my uncle's shirts and cooking something over the fire (and telling my dad what to do!).

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Life Is Funny: Plight Of The Mommies

By MAD21

I hope everyone is enjoying Memorial Day weekend. My friend Sarah sent this video to me last week and I nearly fell off my chair laughing. I have seen several videos of people making up their own words to this song, but never this one. I nearly fell off of my chair I was laughing so hard. I thought I would share it with you. Thanks Sarah for sending it to me! It made my week.

Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

 My friend and fellow blogger Wendy at Weight..What? has a fun carnival at her blog called "Life is Funny." Every Monday we talk about something in life that we find funny. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.

Eating Out

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

We ate outside on the back patio last week. I didn't want to, but the kids love to eat outdoors when the weather gets warm. They beg and plead, and when I say no, they react like I’ve just announced that they'll never again eat ice cream for the rest of their lives.

I wanted to say no to supper on the patio. But I said yes instead.

Before you go thinking I'm the most boring, curmudgeonly mother in the world (which, frankly, I am), and wonder why in the world I wouldn't just have supper outside for crying out loud, let me explain.

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See The Lite

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

I had expectations all right...they just didn't turn out as I expected.

When my pastor first suggested I give up social media for Lent, I balked. "I can't do that," I thought to myself, sitting across from him in the cafe. "It's too risky. There's too much at stake. I can't sacrifice everything I've worked so hard to gain."

I feared the loss. Loss of control, primarily. Fear that readership would plummet, that my itsy-bitsy platform would crumble. But also fear of a deeper loss -- loss of self.

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Fingerprint Friday: Time With My Children

By MAD21

I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my kids. I love every minute of it. Yes, we have bad days just like everyone else, but I'm glad to have those, too. I'm glad that I am the one who gets to see most of the "firsts," go to the playground whenever we can get it into the schedule, and I get to be a major influence in their little lives and not another caregiver (not sure if that's always a good thing for them!).

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