After dropping Leah off at DePauw a month ago, I (like any parent of a new college student) have been asked numerous times, "How is she doing?" Naturally, friends and family are curious if she made "the right choice," if she's homesick, and if she is getting along with her roommate. Some may also wonder how she's managing with Type One Diabetes at college.
Read MoreWith one week of school under our belts, and my summer vacation officially over, I feel it's time to talk frankly about some of the not-so-great moments of Summer, 2015. True, we've had one big blessing after another...
Read MoreThis Saturday is our baby's sweet 16th birthday and we'll be celebrating with a day of shopping and adventure in Chicago with her friends. Chloe's been anticipating this milestone for some time, and I must agree...that number 16 is quite magical.
Read MoreI'm not always the "cool mom," but sometimes I hear I am. Cool...like when I TRY to be cool but don't quite get it. Like that morning when Chloe told me her friend complimented her hair, so when I saw her by her locker at school, I tried to do the same, in that same teenage lingo: "Chloe...your hair is 'point on' today." Bwahahahaha!
Read MoreThe second mission of our New York City trip, and the one that inspired the trip initially, was to pay a visit to our friends. For a little background, Marv and Linda lived in South Bend and were church friends of ours for many years. Their son Morgan is age-wise right between our two boys…
Read MoreOn the morning of January 1st, Tom and I hopped in the car (because with gas prices below $2/gallon, who could resist?), and after about 12 hours on the road, we arrived in New York City! The purpose of our trip was twofold. One: we wanted to have a good time and check some things off the bucket list. Two: we planned to visit our friends who have been half-transplanted to NYC for their son's cancer treatment.
Read MoreAs I write this, our son Jared is attempting to run his first marathon. The reason? It's on his bucket list. He's the type of kid that probably had a bucket list before the term came into vogue. He is always off on some new passion, adventure or quest.
Read MoreFall is in the air, and one sure sign is our church's Chili Cook-off. At Church of the Savior (formerly SBCRC), the cook-off is one of the most highly anticipated meals of the year. We sample wonderful mini-bowls of chili with every conceivable combination of beans, meat and spices.
Read MoreFalling. It starts as soon as we take those first steps in life. Step, step, bump, plop. Goose-eggs from coffee table corners and bruised knees bring comforting hugs from mama. Not long after our first falls, most of us learn pretty well how to avoid them.
Read MoreSeasons have a funny way of bringing back memories and then repeating themselves in a similar, but new and different way. Now that summer has arrived, I catch myself reliving memories of past summers. Working in my garden makes me recall the summers I toiled and sweated to put in the plants that are now fully grown. It motivates me to keep planting new ones for the future.
Read MoreI confess: I didn't come up with this title on my own. I kinda' maybe stole it from my daughters' new t-shirts. But it just seemed appropriate. We're in the middle of what you might call "music week." In this household, for nearly 20 years now a couple weeks before Christmas, and a couple weeks before the end of the school year in May, "music is who we are."
Read MoreSpring is coming. It really is. After all, it's May now, and all the signs of spring are here. Never mind the fact that Friday night my hands were so cold from standing outside taking pictures in the drizzly, 45 degree weather, that I had Tom build me a real live, crackling fire!
Read MoreWriter's block. I guess it was bound to happen.
I've spent the past six weeks feeling guilty about not writing, "thinking" about what to write, mulling ideas around in my head, discounting my ideas as uninteresting, feeling like I'm "forcing" a topic just for the sake of the blog...
Read MoreThe roads have been extremely treacherous this winter, and a couple of weeks ago on our way to school they were at their worst. The highway between here and school was snow-covered with icy patches, and several drifts were sneaking out into the driving lanes…
Read MoreI went shopping with Seth three weeks ago. Leah was enjoying her first college visit (at Calvin), and I was able to sneak away in the afternoon, pick up Seth, and head to Jared. And I'm not talking about his brother Jared here. We're talking the jewelry store...yes, we "went to Jared."
Let me tell you, it's really, really fun to help your son pick out the engagement ring for his intended.
Read MoreA recent visit to Madison made me keenly aware that my role of "mom" is slowly being transformed. While Tom and I have both feet deeply planted in parenting, I can sense movement toward something new.
Read MoreToday, thanks to another blast of winter, I'm enjoying a fourth day in a row of stress-free, non-scheduled, simply delightful freedom. Last Thursday however, the day before this lovely polar vortex lull, I was experiencing the polar opposite. In this crazy family of ours…
Read MoreSo for those who may have missed the last two blog posts, we have been researching, and debating, and trying out insulin pumps. We narrowed the playing field to our top two contenders: the Insulet OmniPod and the Tandem t:slim.
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