Today begins my 20th year homeschooling my children.This post is not self-congratulatory, a flex, nor a how-to. I have no hacks, no shortcuts, or magic bullets. What I have are 20 years of loving my children through striving to form their minds and hearts. In doing so, I’ve formed my own soul. I’ve participated a …
“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You; I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.” (Prayer given to the children of Fatima from the Angel of Peace) Have you ever been confronted with something so painful …
It’s almost Mother’s Day. And you know what that means: well meaning posts, reels, and AP articles will start popping up with calculations of the financial worth of a mother. The hypothetical “If you had to pay for these services how much are they worth?” These imaginary salaries are based on a stay-at-home parent being …
I was recently sitting at a party attended by mostly homeschooling moms and their children–a delightful and smart group of women who talked about everything from the best pedagogy to teach children ancient languages to politics and the economy. Most in the group, like myself, own older homes in rural Maine, which means the list …
When this child was born, in my bed, in the bleak midwinter in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, my midwife from New Zealand stood over me, watching me give. I received him into my own hands and I laughed. She said, “I’ve never seen anything like it. If everyone had a birth like this, they would wonder what …
I’ve always made a point to eat with my kids. Three meals a day, pretty much, give or take. Yes, there are plenty of days I do not feel like cooking and days when it would be so much easier to just say, “Everyone fends for themselves.” But nine times out of ten, we eat …
I loved my grandmother’s hands. Her nails were always beautifully shaped, just naturally. My daughter has the same hands. They are lovely and I like to look at them. As my grandmother got older I used to pinch the loose skin during church and feel the softness of the aging. She was so tactile. She …
I didn’t use to believe in it. But, I did it anyway. Now I believe in it and do it even more. I am speaking of praying for the dead. There is something about it we cannot help. Even people who claim to not believe in Purgation will say things such as, “May they Rest …
I do not have adequate words to capture what it meant to me to Enthrone the Sacred Heart in our home and to Consecrate our family. The adoration of the Sacred Heart is a devotion we have been increasingly cultivating in our family over the last two years. This year, on the fifth day of …
It has been 8 years since we have taken a family vacation. That was a simply magical month of road tripping with only 8 kids. And we have had a lot of miles as a family since then. Surviving and somehow coming out thriving after the last couple years has been nothing short of miraculous. …
reconciling things 