Learning to Leap

The other day my daughters were introduced to "The Sound of Music". You know the one. Julie Andrews twirling around without a care in the world as she sings at the top of her voice about the hills being alive and how her heart wants to sing. One of their favorite parts was the scene where all the children are in Maria's room thanks to a very loud thunderstorm outside. The younger kids especially are scared to pieces when the bright flashes of lightning strike and the thunder claps beyond the safety of that little bedroom. To make the kids feel better and help them forget their anxious feelings about the storm outside, Maria teaches them that famous song called, "My Favorite Things". Before you know it, the kids are singing and dancing with smiles on their faces just at the thought of some of their favorite things such as snowflakes and kittens. It's true. Thinking about the best things in our lives brings joy, no matter how big or small tha...

I've been thinking about this girl a lot lately.  Meet little girl Sharon, age 8. The year was 1986 and although this picture may not look like anything special to you, it was a big deal to me at the time.  You see, I've never been an especially spirited or adventurous kind of gal. I like to play it safe. You won't find me on an extreme snow boarding show or extreme makeover shows or extreme...well, anything.  Nope. Not this girl. I like to keep my feet on the ground and my path straight ahead. No twists, no turns, no unexpected risks or uncertain outcomes. The safer, the better, actually.  So that brings me back to this picture and why it caught my eye the other day.  I had been trying for a while to get up the courage to hang upside down on our little metal swingset in my backyard. I remember marching myself out there with determination and courage, grasping tightly the metal bar while lifting one leg and then the other up and over tha...

Y'all, I'm failing at this parenting thing.  Really. The story I am about to tell you is 100% true, not embellished in any way, and ironically is a story about 100% lies.  I had to look up the official diagnosis for someone who is a compulsive liar just to see how many of the characteristics lined up. This is what I found: " Pathological lying can be described as a habituation of lying. It is when an individual consistently lies for no personal gain. The lies are commonly transparent and often seem rather pointless." Now I'm just downright frightened. But read for yourself what transpired and you be the judge.  The girls and I attend an awesome church. We've been there about a year and a half and I could not be happier. The people are warm, the teaching solid, the music exactly my preference, and heart of the church to be outward focused spot on with the call of the Gospel in our lives. Like I said, I love it and am so happy to be there. We...

No one ever mentioned to me that being a mother would mean having to master the art of hiding things from my children. And I'm not talking about Christmas gifts or special birthday surprises. I'm talking about plain, ordinary objects that for some reason my children have shown some kind of weird fascination with and either use for purposes not intended or magically touch them and lose them instantly. Case in point: One school morning a couple weeks ago I found a lone razor on the bathroom countertop in my daughters' bathroom.  This was obviously an immediate red flag in my mind. I do have one daughter who has expressed some interest now and then in shaving her legs, but just like all the female population, she quickly figured out it's not nearly as much fun as she'd hoped so she abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Knowing that it was not likely her that had been using the razor, my suspicions were raised all the more. I was soon to find out th...