NO PERMIT REQUIRED

Lord, I want to be like you. I want to have your influence guide all I do. I have been thinking a lot about relationships, and how we interact with one another in this fallen world. Our form of communication is imperfect. We misunderstand one another. We give offense. We take offense. We impose motive and intent on the words spoken to us. We defend the words spoken by us. I want my relationships to be God-like and facilitated by my desire to communicate as perfectly as I can. My prayer: I want to lift people and bring light to their life.   I want my conversations to be honest. I want to speak to people with love and compassion. I want them to be edified and uplifted by my counsel, if they are in need. I want to be kind and charitable. I want to be understood. I want to say what YOU want me to say. I want to say it in a way that they hear YOU in my words I know from experience that I can say things that are interpreted incorrectly. I am then forced to rethi...

In honor of this blog post:  http://pintsizedtreasures.com/games-my-kids-are-not-allowed-to-play/ Here is a list of a few of the things I let (or watched) my kids and their friends do:  -Ride a Yamaha 90 cc dirt bike without shoes or helmets (starting at approx. 12-years old) -Ride a Honda Metropolitan scooter without shoes or helmets (starting at approx. 12-years old) -Play tag around the neighborhood with friends on aforementioned dirt bike and scooter -Stack lawn chairs as high as they can and jump off onto trampoline -Have 10 people on the trampoline at a time (only one rule: big kids can't jump with little kids) -Running jump off elevated retaining wall onto trampoline -Douse tennis balls with gasoline, light them on fire, send them through the pitching machine and hit them with either bats or tennis rackets -Play with balls (all makes and models) in the house -Make soda bottle bombs with dry ice - BTW you need to be 18 years old to buy dry ice -Hold f...

1. Be less superficial in my interactions with people. 2. Be a safe place for others to do the same. I hope I am able to articulate succinctly what is in my head and my heart. I feel strongly about this. I had an epiphany the other day. The names have been changed to protect those who I didn't ask permission to tell their part of the story. It took place kind of like this. I was at school substituting a delightful group of 1st graders for Mrs. Z. It was the end of the day. Carpool. I am standing outside watching parents come and pick up their children. I was standing next to another 1st grade class taught by a teacher who I consider a friend. Our kids have gone to school together for years. We have 3 children the same ages. Despite their growing up, graduation, and different college and career paths, our children are friends. As we stood there, we started chatting about our kids. How are they? How are they liking school? So you have a wedding coming up? Where is so and so no...

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Susannah Cahalan writes this memoir like the journalistic reporter that she is. It lacks the emotional intensity it could have perhaps because of her suffering and memory loss. However, the story is fascinating and frightening at the same time. I was hooked into the medical mystery of it all. Worth the read. View all my reviews

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut My rating: 2 of 5 stars Umm...umm... That's all I could come up with. I read it on a trip where I literally had 3 days to do nothing. Under those circumstances, I found it easy to read, and well-written (Kurt Vonnegut, duh). View all my reviews

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling My rating: 1 of 5 stars I knew this was no Harry Potter. Just how NOT Harry Potter was yet to be determined. It felt like she was trying to prove something. "I can write for adults," says J.K. I suppose she can. If you like that kind of thing. I have proven to myself that my criteria for finishing a book rests largely on how well it is written. J.K. Rowling can write. With her writing, she can entice me to finish a book that is about despicable people, behaving badly*. There is nothing redemptive, uplifting or even rational about the way the characters in this story interacted. There was more hate, back-biting, vindictiveness and ugliness in these people's lives than I have ever seen, nor can I even imagine - and for that I am grateful. *addiction *rape *treachery *self-mutilation *child neglect *child abuse *infidelity and betrayal *personality disorders Reader BEWARE View all my reviews

Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life by Glennon Doyle Melton My rating: 3 of 5 stars Glennon Doyle Melton's "messy, beautiful life" was not the "messy, beautiful life" I was thinking about when I picked this book up at the Book Fair. I was thinking -- "Oh, I'm so disorganized, my house is full and clutter and bugging me. How can I get a handle on all this stuff?" I thought Ms. Melton was going to help me get over my insecurity about the messy (house) life. Not so much. Never heard of Momastery? Me neither. Glennon Doyle Melton is funny, bold, interesting, real, offensive, and inspiring. It's a lot of other things as well, but they will be different for everybody. I have put down more than one personal memoir about "overcoming" a life of addiction and tragedy. The sadness overwhelms me. This wasn't about sadness. It was about living a purposeful life. View all my reviews