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Dads & Dudes: Father’s Day Gifts That Aren’t Lame
It’s not a secret–most dads don’t want a tie. Or a jar of spicy salsa. Or a hammer. If the man in your life is getting harder to shop for, you are in good company. Some of my friends are shopping for way more than one dad. Even if you have four dads, three sons, two uncles, and a grandpa, I gotcha covered. I scoured the sites, in search of anything but mundane, and came up with this list of funness. * New Dads Starting with the guys who are new to the game… With five other books in the series, the sleep-deprived dad is bound to stay awake reading…
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The Hungry Games
(Shared with permission) Age: nine Child: mine Attitude: fine Until it wasn’t. When one of our kids got in trouble for a garden-variety no-no, I figured the next steps would resemble the rest. Too tall to spank and not naughty enough to ground, I sent him to the back room where his timeout minutes matched his age. He knew the rule: any yelling or screaming made the time start over. Normally, regret bubbled and his demeanor recovered before I returned. But this time it elevated from mad to angry to ballistic in way less than nine minutes. In a house on a foundation, the muffled sounds of fists beating floors…
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Reclaiming Minutes & Health: 5 Things I Stopped Doing & 5 Things I Started
Skimmers appreciate writers getting to the point sooner than later. And since I’m a reader, a writer and a skimmer, I feel ya. Scrolling through a recipe blog and passing 14 photos of different angles of quinoa makes me crazy. Yes, I see the bran and germ and appreciate the endosperm. Just give me the dang recipe! You’re most likely busy and tired, so I’ll skip the details of why I wrote this or how it’s changed my life. It’s just a free list from me to you. My 5 Most Annoying Time Wasters 1. Corporate Emails But I can’t be inundated by your email announcements because you keep sending…
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What the What? Didn’t See THAT Comin’
I cooked in my kitchen when the house phone rang. “Sharri has cancer.” I sat in his Jeep when he told me we were done. “I’m loving you more than I’m loving Jesus.” I stood on my college campus when I read, “You have not been selected for the position.” I walked through a Costco parking lot when he called. “Carrie? He’s gone.” I soaked in a jacuzzi when I realized I was the only one not invited to a party. I rode in a van when her voice shook through my cell. “She’s probably not going to make it through the evening.” You didn’t see life comin’ either? It’s…
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Trading Sorry for Thank You
“Sorry I’m late.” “Sorry I didn’t call.” “Sorry about the mess.” “Oh, sorry!” “Oops–sorry.” Enough already. Of course, sometimes a genuine sorry is exactly what’s needed. But I’m referring to all the times when sorry becomes excessive… unwarranted… over the top. What in the world would a public bus be sorry for? That it’s winter? That’s you have to step out onto slush? Have you ever wished someone would stop saying sorry so much? Maybe (like I did) you realize you’re the one constantly saying it. Whether it’s intentional or not, if we’re consistently spewing the word, it tends to lose its effectiveness. It can also make us look guilty,…
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Working Moms: Killin’ It or Barely Makin’ It?
Almost a month into my new job and I’ve collected just enough data to tell you what I’ve learned about being a working mom in the States. It’s complicated. Being a working mom in Baja looked super different for many reasons, most of which revolved around flexible hours and not having to tell anyone when I went to the restroom. Now I’m on the clock for very specific hours and learning to resist checking my cell every 12 minutes for fear someone needs me. No one’s gotten sick or impaled lately, but I assured my youngest he could still reach me. “Buddy… if there’s an emergency, call my office. I’m…
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Praying for Closed Doors
“I don’t know which college to pick. I got into these two schools and I like them equally, but I’m afraid to pick the wrong one.” When we ran a GAP-year program in Baja, MX, each class of students lived with us from August to June. They were all recent high school graduates and no one had lived away from home yet. Tied in knots between quality universities, we watched them makes lists of pros and cons and worry for weeks, sometimes months. Cal Baptist or Moody? Point Loma or Liberty? Baylor or Westmont? Azusa or Biola? If you attended one of those schools, you most likely have a gut…
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Donate This, Not That: Tips to Donate with Dignity
I know… I’ve had good intentions that went awry too. I’ve donated things I probably should’ve thrown in the trash. I felt guilty about the blatant waste though, so I passed it on for someone else to hopefully benefit from. Trouble is, if an item falls into that category, it’s probably going to end up costing the recipient more time than it’s worth. I never truly understood this principle till I moved to a 3rd-world country. Pretty sure the ministries in Mexico get more donations from the U.S. than any other nation, but after living there for 12 years, I’m not confident the helpful handouts outweighed the inconvenient/annoying ones. For…
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My 2018 Favorite Christmas Gift Ideas
I couldn’t find a “Favorite Things” list for normal people with normal money, so I made my own. Unlike Oprah, my favorite gifts for Christmas don’t cost the same as a car payment or mortgage. Grouped from the five-dollar range to a fifty-dollar max, I did all the scouring so all you have to do is the clicking! To ring in the season, here are my faves…. Gimme $5! 1. Ginsco 7-pc Succulent Transplanting Minature Fairy Garde Planting Gardening Hand Tools Set The tiny tools with the giant name, perfect for the succulent addict. I gave these to my sister last year and they’re so stinkin’ cute. Don’t…
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Trust, but Verify
Dude #1: “I am so glad I checked.” Dude #2: “I would do anything to be able to go back and check.” Where do you fall when it comes to verifying information that could tip the scales toward relief or disaster? As a mom, it’s my job, my right, and my responsibility to ask my kids questions about their outings, friends, whereabouts, etc. Sometimes (ahem—like this morning) I get major pushback, but I press on. Why? Because regrets carry weight and guilt, and teens actually want boundaries. Prudence: Careful, wise discernment; the good management of talents and resources and the showing of tact and wisdom in relationships with other…
