Green Juice Fast

My husband is on a 15-day juice fast. Last week we watched the first half of “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.” It’s a documentary about a man who juice-fasted his way across the U.S.A. to save his own life, interviewing people about their diets as he went. It affected my husband so much that he is feeding green juice to our kids (who are very excited about this) and... Read More

Learning to Receive

I introduced one of my husband’s younger sisters a week or so ago. We don’t know how long she’ll stay with us, but we’re glad for whatever time we have. One time, shortly after she came, she said, “Debbie, I don’t know how you handle all these little kids without help.” I don’t know, either. She’s really good with our kids,... Read More

Old Scrapbook Layouts

I’ve been clearing space on my computer, which means I’ve run across a lot of old scrapbook layouts. “Old” is a relative term. These were from two or three years ago, when I was getting into digital scrapbooking, experimenting with free trial downloads of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. This was the first layout I put on the blog: (Click here to read more... Read More

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

The smell of whole wheat bread, just out of the oven, is one of my favorite childhood memories. Our family never bought bread from the store. Mom always baked it. I was embarrassed to take the odd, thick slices to school as a sack lunch sandwich, but I was plenty happy to eat it straight out of the oven at home! Warm and smothered with butter and honey, it is a glorious piece of... Read More

On My Mind Today

I was surrounded by young kids (all mine, of course) a couple days ago. They were climbing on me, crowding me, asking me repeated questions, with one request piling on another before I had a chance to respond even to the first one. This wasn’t how I imagined parenting to be. Some days I’m a walking sermon on child spacing. In the middle of this, my husband called. He... Read More

Crocheted Infant Cap

My 19-year-old sister-in-law is staying with us for a while. She watched me write a few posts, and then she asked if I would like to post a picture of a project she just finished. I said YES! This post is written by her. (Click here to read more or leave a comment on Crocheted Infant Cap)  Read More

Grown-Up Chocolate-Dipped Sugar Cookie Variations

Annie came over a few weeks, ago, and we had fun experimenting with sugar cookie flavor variations. She started by making a basic sugar cookie recipe. (Click here for a recipe from Martha Stewart. Don’t forget to leave time to chill the dough.) Then we divided the dough and mixed and matched flavors. (Click here to read more or leave a comment on Grown-Up Chocolate-Dipped... Read More

First Father-Son "Construction" Project

In the aftermath of the Christmas chaos, I found my oldest boy sitting on a chair, cheeks wet with tears. “I wanted Daddy to build something with me,” he moaned. This kid has been mechanically inclined ever since he was a baby at nap time, when he removed most of the screws from his crib. Like a high-energy dog who eats shoes (Click here to read more or leave a comment... Read More

Christmas Tree Decorating Party with the Kids

Our family has borrowed traditions from both sides of the extended family. Each year in my family, my parents have a Christmas tree decorating party, just for the family. There’s spiced fruit tea, popcorn, music, and lots of boxes of ornaments. This borrowed tradition works really well for our little family because we can plan the party any time – no worries about any... Read More

5 Love Languages

Have you ever taken the 5 Love Languages test? Which one was your top language? Do you find these things helpful? My husband and I learned about the five love languages early in our marriage, and we figured we knew each other pretty well. Recently, I ran across the assessment online, and we both took it. Although there wasn’t anything totally unexpected, we were a little surprised... Read More