And the Boo Platter Continues
Back in 2015, I posted my last Boo Platter delivery to the elementary school. But this end of an era never stopped me. So today, I build another one: I know it’s not my best work, but over the years, I’ve become more authentic and less worried about perfection. Here’s a look at some of […]
Pennsylvania Golden Autumn
Some New Verbs: Stultify and Promulgate
As you know, I love verbs. I love precise verbs that sound like what they mean. Two students use two new verbs in their essays that I love: stultify and promulgate. One writes that the repetitive and restrictive practice of standardized testing in elementary school stultifies and exhausts students. Stultify means to stifle, bore, suppress, […]
Book Love
This morning in church, my older friend–the one who gives me books she believes I must read for my own development–hands me a gift.
The Lemon Tree Grows
As you know, I love watching things grow from seed. On this rainy and cold Saturday morning, I see the Lemon Tree growing, and it brings a bit of spring sunshine into the room. Those little leaves that stretch upward to the light remind me that, even in the brittle autumn season, I shall still […]
Little By Little: Incorporating New, Healthier Foods
At times in my life, I’ve insisted my family immediately change everything about the way we eat, and it creates too much stress. People have actually protested, like the time I switched all the meat to tofu and my husband said, “If this keeps happening, I’m going to call my mama.” And my changes never […]
Asking Students What They’ve Been Thinking About
I loved the Name Game today. We went around the classroom to answer this question: “What have you been thinking about lately?” I talked about watching the Parenthood television series and how these characters have captured my imagination. I think about them during the day. That’s what I’ve been thinking about. Students shared the most […]
A Devotional on the YouVersion Bible App
Good news! A Chosen for Christ devotional now appears in your Bible app (if you have one!) You can find the 7 day devotional here: Chosen for Christ Devotional. Enjoy!!
Opening Wide Your Heart
This afternoon, I think of the curious phrase in scripture to “open wide [our] hearts” (2 Corinthians 6:12-14). I think, too, of the expression throughout Deuteronomy in particular that we are to love God “with all [our] heart.” Open wide my heart? All of my heart? Might I turn from a closed, half-hearted life? Might […]
Coming Right Along
This year, our girls didn’t want to take the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. They’d rather grab a pumpkin near the warm building and be on with their lives. Still, I wanted the picture. In a moment, I remembered that, long before these girls came into my life, my husband and I enjoyed a life […]