My daughter plays the piano and I am carried through time. I hear the first chorded cry, after the lifesong of her body broke open my womb and burst forth like a melody. Our voices, separate, but blended as one. The movement of her youth is passed. A lively staccato that made us dance and…
Tag: music
Family Rhythms: Homeschool (Podcast #25)
When Randy and I first started homeschooling, it was because we wanted the flexibility of having our children with us. We imagined traveling, playing music, and bringing our children along… Life shifted as we had more children and we began to restructure our life within the comfort of home. As our children and family size…
Creative Family Advent (25 New Traditions for This Christmas Season)
It is almost Christmastime! I am always looking for ways to savor the season more before it slips away, truly wanting to create lasting memories with my children. If you feel the same, this post is for you. Here you will find 25 new family traditions for a creative Christmas season. These are low stress,…
Storm on the Horizon
We spent a glorious four days at the seashore. We walked, we ran, we swam, we splashed. We saw the water tame and the water wild. We saw the sunrise and sunset. We saw the first sliver of moon over the dark waters. I held my newborn baby in the wind and sun and salty…
Embracing Every Season of Motherhood (Podcast #17)
Sharing Pitter Patter, a song that I wrote when my first babies were small, as well as thoughts about becoming a woman who embraces motherhood at every stage. This photo is my breathtakingly beautiful mother, age 43, holding me, her ninth child. I learned so much from her example. Talking about finding gratitude, praying for…
The Birth Story of Haven McCabe
Our baby’s due date came and went without the first sign of nearing labor. Each following day could have been the perfect beginning of a birth story. The day Randy discovered the song of the wood thrush and absorbed himself in writing a piece of music using the intervals of the bird’s song. There was…
Beauty in the Midst of Darkness
There is so much darkness in this world. It presses in against us. In the middle of the night, it enters into our minds in the quiet spaces and works to leave a shadow that lingers even when the morning comes. We wake to light, but its brilliance is dimmed by the memory of those…
Wake Up and Make Things
It is early morning. I stole away from the nursing baby and am sitting in my little quiet corner of the world, on my back-deck, surrounded by potted plants and birdsong. I am writing and contemplating my messy life. I am a homeschooling mother of seven children. My husband and I have a home business…
Free 3-Week Creative Family Culture Curriculum for At-Home Learning (Easy, Fun, and Adaptable for All Ages)
Wishing you could gather up your family together and do something meaningful with your time at home? Do you love the idea of art and creative play, but don’t know where to begin or how to teach it? Are you looking for something easy, with little-to-no preparation required and no previous experience needed to teach…
Creative Family Advent, 25 New Family Traditions for the Christmas Season
It is Christmastime! I am always looking for ways to savor the season more before it slips away, truly wanting to create lasting memories with my children. If you feel the same, this post is for you. Here you will find 25 new family traditions for a creative Christmas season. These are low stress, nearly-zero-prep,…
Standing in the Hallway of Sorrow, thoughts on losing my Mother
(In honor of my beautiful, selfless Mother who went home to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon, hours after I wrote this post.) I am going to write something that is braver and stronger than I now feel, but I believe it with all my heart. Daddy met Mama on a Sunday morning at a little…
Voices of My Life, an abridged biography
It’s easy to look back over years as a series of big events–the day I was born, schools I attended, graduations, marriage, jobs held, the birthdays of my children… These are the visible rings around my tree, the important details in a brief biography of my life. But when I close my eyes and let…