A Blurred Reflection

Tag: kids

  • Character

    Character. That foundational piece of you. Yes, YOU. Untouchable by disease.  Unhindered by poverty. Unmistakable when times get hard. It’s the man battling cancer and the man battling heart disease who invest hope into each other instead of speaking of their own pain. It’s the mom with the uncooperative toddler in the grandchildren photoshoot–the mom…

  • In Which I Say a Bad Word

    “!?&#! Hold my hand, baby!” My niece stretched her hand towards me agreeably and I boosted her up the rock slab, farther away from the precipice. She was tilting her face, totally oblivious to my racing heart or my visions of her receiving (not her first) broken bone. “Holy craft? What holy craft?” I tried…

  • Ellen’s Home

    People who speak of lifting houses singlehandedly usually have a ties to spy business, or so I’m told.

  • Mad Hatter, Esq.

    “I do so love your serving spoon for the rice!” the elder child chirped, “Could it be… a cheese slicer? Very clever. I’ve used that to slice cheese before, so I recognize it.” We were having an oriental tea-less party, and voluptuous consumption of perfectly tender sweet and sour chicken, made solely by the hand of the 9-year-old, had catapulted us…

  • The 8 Easiest (& Cheapest) Christmas Presents Ever

    One of the things I’ve learned about Christmas giving is that Christmas is about loving, not making sure the retail value of the presents you give match the retail value of the ones you receive. Come on, that’s just craziness! Here are some of my favorite simple Christmas presents. 1. WRITE A CARD. Adults usually have the…

  • What I learned about Jesus from the Ironman Triathlon

    Think about what it means to be strong in the Lord, and tell me what you see. I always knew better in my mind, but when push came to shove I used to believe that God wanted macho, 6-pack body-builders of the faith. The ones who overcame all odds by pure determination. Somehow, I switched out the word…

  • Jesus was homeless, too.

    I don’t live in the city anymore, but when I did, I never once gave money to sign-holders. I’ve never dropped even so much as a quarter in a Salvation Army bucket. That’s a shame. No, it’s more than that. It’s a complete disgrace. I met a homeless man named Richard LeMieux last week, and if I would have judged…

  • Don’t eat in the shower, kids.

    If you had an awkward week, let me tell you about mine. Maybe it will make you feel better. I had to practice my swimming this week, and this is how it went. I didn’t make my week’s goal. I had to call someone I’d never called before, and I didn’t know his voicemail only lasts…

  • Stick-Hopping {and other winter adventures}

    My adventurous friend and I tented out in the snow last night. We wore fleece, filled our Nalgene waterbottles with hot water and tucked them at our feet, burrowed under our sleepingbags and fell asleep to the sound of Harley’s snoring and the loud whine the neighborhood snowmobilers whizzing through our front yard. My friend…

  • 5 Things That Make People ‘Likeable’

    At work last night, I realized that I’m just going through the motions, so now I’m trying to figure it out. How can I make a big impact in a short amount of time? What makes a person stand out in the crowd, and be the one whose words people remember? People keep quitting at my…