EDITOR’S NOTE: Carolyn’s reflection on summertime from back in 2016 seems like a good place to return during this strange summer of 2020. I remember loving summer as a child, despite the intense Texas heat. It wasn’t that I didn’t love school. I did. But there was something magical about that long period of freedom […]
What God’s Family Looks Like: A Review of God’s Very Good Idea
Maybe race is something our family has always talked about, however imperfectly, because of who we are. We may be your average white American family, but our extended family is made up of immigrants and the children of immigrants; some of its members are different races and ethnicities. And it’s absolutely beautiful. But even in […]
A Taste for Books
When my third child was a toddler, I let her have a short amount of “crib time” each day while I homeschooled my oldest daughter. I turned on a calming CD, tossed some soft toys and board books in, and slipped off while she was playing. It was a great way for me to get […]
The Power of Story: A Review of Slugs & Bugs Books
Our family has long enjoyed Randall Goodgame’s Slugs & Bugs albums, and even though my older kids have outgrown asking for them, you might still overhear my 14-year old singing “Tractor Tractor” on occasion. What makes those albums so appealing is Goodgame’s ability to draw kids in with his just-right balance of silliness and sincerity, […]
A Light Through the Cave
“Sometimes a story’s the only way back from the darkness” — The Warden and the Wolf King Last summer, on our Epic Family Road Trip, we visited Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived in the evening in time to see the bats swirling out into the twilight. The next morning, we said goodbye to the sun and […]