Yesterday I posted about reading Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's children's book GEORGE WASHINGTON with my eight year old son, Caleb.  This morning he read their beautifully illustrated ABRAHAM LINCOLN aloud to me.  In the final pages Caleb put the book down multiple times to ask me about Slavery, Civil War, and why God didn't te...

Dad.  

There's something magical about the name.  The word.  The person.  Dad.  It's true for little girls. Their Daddy is their first boyfriend.  A girl's relationship with him, I believe, affects a young woman's relationships with men for years to come.  However...

We just wrapped up our third Christmas Concert of the Holiday season... only two more to go.   During tonight’s performance I noticed two sisters preparing to go on stage. One was in the wing, stage right, the other stage left. One was joyfully standing by smiling, the other's face held tension and anxiety.  Now I don’t know these girls well, but I have come to expect a consistent joyful disposition from the first sister, and a more stand-offish a...

Flipping through the XM stations in my car yesterday, my three year old let out an enthusiastic "This one! Choose this one!" when we hit the "Classical Pops" station. I pulled my hand back from the dash and looked in the rearview mirror. Asher had closed his eyes and a smile played on his face.

I love Classical music; the strings, winds, and piano all intricately weaving evocative notes together in joyful or in mournful harmonies. But how do you teach your children to love ...

If you've been here more than a couple of times than you know I delight in seeing my children mature in virtue, in character, and in our family's values.

One of those core family values is what we call "Brotherly Love."  In the past three weeks Caleb has absolutely excelled in displaying this specific type of love in our home.  Since he was given his first Baby Brother, when he was just  22 months old, it's been obvious that God specifically crafted him to be ...

I've received many sweet notes of praise concerning my tough-love parenting yesterday.  And since many have asked for an update over how things went in the afternoon... I thought I'd post this picture and the following.

It was raining when I picked Caleb up, but instead of finding my cold, dejected, remorsef...

Do you have a child who keeps EVERYTHING?  Who's just lousy at throwing junk away?  I do.  My big guy clings when it's time to go through his outgrown clothes and discarded toys, and cries when he finds a stack of old school worksheets in the trash.  But I've come to see his issues run deeper than the worn out blue jeans and Little People farm animals I periodically give away.  My first born son is a collector, which is really just a nice way of saying h...

I mentioned in yesterday's blog that this is the first year we have intentionally taught all three boys about character traits that are important to our family.  Here are a couple of pictures of the little ones signing (in Asher's case "scribbling") their name to their Family Values Contract (below).

I've always been a bit of a romantic; a sentimental, dreaming idealist.  When the sun lights atop my children's blonde hair my heart takes flight; when my husband sings I melt; when I read a book of valor and courage I'm inspired to raise my young men to be mighty, bold, good, and kind. 

When I was in high school my romantic tendencies came alive with the help of King Art...

Brody is many marvelous things... creative, deeply feeling and expressive, joyful, quick witted, and tender.  But while all these things may be true of him one moment, the next minute the tide shifts and he becomes emotionally distraught and explosive.  Thankfully I've come to know my son, as I've studied him for nearly 6 years now, and I can practically predict when the pendulum will swing from one extreme...