GoOrdinary is my favorite. Ordinary meals and ordinary clothes and ordinary evenings. I find myself craving ordinary. I think this is why my One Little Word for the year still scares me (even nine and a half months into the year). Even though I strive for ordinary, the mere word — shine — demands being set apart. I keep thinking if I learn to shine in the ordinary, maybe I can still blend in. Doing dishes and sorting laundry and steaming broccoli.Putting gas in the car and answering email and… Read more {ordinary}: Five Minute Friday →
Go I write to celebrate life. It’s Friday night and a whole long week is behind me. It was jammed-packed with opportunities that stem because I write. Speaking, video taping… Read more {write} five minute friday →
Go I have a collection of red shoes. Growing up my dad would moan about red shoes — I wasn’t “allowed” to have them. There were various reasons for this very nonsensical rule. In a passive move of rebellion I chose a red dress for junior prom. Naturally I would also need red shoes. Mom bought them for me. My dad was not impressed. (Today, my daughters clomp around in those old red prom shoes and love them as much as I did.) It was the first step on a… Read more {red}: five minute friday →
Go I’m learning that in order to really shine, then my life — minute to minute — must be about worship. Worship is a lifeline to the Lord. Worship is about loving more and counting gratitudes and living for something beyond the comfort of earth. Worship is a response to the love of a great big God. This response comes in many different forms. Sometimes it’s staying up late to read scripture and sometimes it’s going to bed early to be rested. Worship is speaking out and staying silent. Worship… Read more {worship}: five minute friday →
Go Two weeks of school and summer is a fuzzy memory. The morning is a blur. The coffee is to go. Bites of oatmeal and blueberries happen at stop lights and train tracks. The days are packed and the afternoons slip away with homework and dinner and bath and books. The nights are filled with visits from friends and writing and art are left for last. But on Friday afternoon, after school, we make summer last. They jump into the pool and laugh and jump again and again and again.… Read more {last}: five minute friday →
Go Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. —Matthew 12:42 And Jesus was pleased. It’s not about being big and giving more, but about giving your… Read more {small}: five minute friday →
Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a BraveDog Named Baltic. Monica Carnesi. NancyPaulsen Books, a division of PenguinYoung Readers Group. 2012. Monica Carnesi’s nonfiction picture book quickly worked its… Read more the book stack →
Thanks to Cathy (Reflect and Refine) and Mandy (Enjoy and Embrace Learning) for organizing 10 for 10 Picture Books. Visit their sites to see everyone’s lists.At the Choice Literacy writing retreat, I listened to a… Read more 10 pirate books {#pb10for10} →
Go How long has it been since I’ve been lonely? A decade maybe, or maybe more. I’m not sure. Yet I live in a world filled with lonely people. I step into classrooms filled with lonely people. I walk through the grocery store of lonely people. My digital footsteps walk around lonely people. And I wonder if maybe I even live in a home with lonely people. Lonely can stifle a person. One can be surrounded with beating hearts and bubbling laughter and still feel stark still solitude. Lonely strangles… Read more {Lonely}: five minute friday →
Ruth Ayres Writes 