Parenting is not for the weak-minded, faint of heart, or simple-willed person. Parenting, many days, feels like a war, at least at the current ages and stage of my children. I love them fiercely. I protect them and care for their needs above my own. These days, every morning...

Nothing interrupts the momentum of unpacking and getting settled like a death in the family. For the most part, things are unpacked, but some organizing remains undone. As the day and week come to an end, another Seven Quick Takes provides the opportunity for reflection before going into the weekend. ~1~ My first...

“Grandparents are both our past and our future. In some ways, they are what has gone before, and in others, they are what we will become.”  ~Mr. Rogers When I was five years old, my father preached a sermon in which he talked about his mother dying. Well, this...

I live in the magical land of America in the mystical time. Information is readily available at my fingertips. Any question can be asked of Google (or your favorite search engine) or Siri (sometimes an argument may develop). If I don’t like what one reporter has to say, I...

Our stuff arrived on Monday. We have too much a lot of stuff. This became abundantly clear as they brought things in and asked where to put them and I ran out of thoughts (though that was partially due to the poor labeling system of the movers on the...

Time flies when you’re having fun. There’s never enough time. If only I could make time stand still.   The harsh reality is, we all have the same number of hours in a day. We all get to determine how we spend those hours. What attitude will we choose? Will...

After the movers left, after putting my kids in their beds, I wearily trudged down the stairs thinking to myself (in the voice of Ty Pennington), “Welcome home, Caswell, Family, welcome home.” For seven months, as one little boy in a sermon illustration said, we’ve had “a home without a house to...

Transitions are full of complications. The rescheduling (or unscheduling?) of our original moving plans aside, other things also seem to be working against us. Because the kids are both growing, and both fiercely independent, the power struggles intensify daily. From the moment Madilynn wakes up (lately before 6:30) to...

“Soon, but not soon enough.” Dietrich heard this a few weeks ago on the Disney channel and says it to every “Soon” answer he is given now. We finally have a delivery day for our household goods. “Soon, but not soon enough,” we can begin the business of settling into our new home...