by Lisa-Jo | Oct 9, 2014 | Just plain hard, Motherhood, When your temper scares you
The one thing I’ve struggled with more than anything else in the last nine years of parenting has been temper. My own. Nothing and no one has caused in me the kind of rage that my own children can elicit. It shocks me. It shocks me to find myself nose-to-nose with a...
by Lisa-Jo | Sep 17, 2014 | Book Club, Daughters, Just plain hard, motherless daughter, surprised by motherhood
Our daughters will make the holy journey into womanhood whether we prepare them for it or not. And they will likely lose friends, favorite aunts, fathers and mothers along the way. Whether these core members of their DNA die, are emotionally unavailable, or up and...
by Lisa-Jo | Sep 9, 2014 | (in)courage, Just plain hard, Rabid fear of parenting, Raising Boys
He stares at me from the back seat with eyes hot, red, determined, defiant and desperate to be understood. I stare at him through the rear view mirror with eyes that echo his own blue exactly and match his mood perfectly. I am just as angry as he is. The only...
by Lisa-Jo | Sep 4, 2014 | Book Club, Just plain hard, Motherhood, Rabid fear of parenting, surprised by motherhood
There is nothing you can do, nothing you can say, nothing you can throw up, spit up, shout up that will make me love you less. There is nothing you can do wrong and nothing you can do right that will make me love you more. I love you as is. Period. Full stop. I love...
by Lisa-Jo | Aug 31, 2014 | Cheering for you, Just plain hard
There were two years in South Africa that were both the worst and most wonderful of my life. It made it easy to stay home on Sundays and get lost in a book or a TV show instead of a church service. Because there was always this lingering sense of showing up in a place...
by Lisa-Jo | Aug 19, 2014 | Faith, Just plain hard
Sometimes the world looks so broken I think it’s a wonder we don’t bleed to death through all the cuts we get from its sharp edges. Especially the ones we don’t even know about. Bits of broken lives and jagged people and ugly choices and I just...
