Where is Dr. Hank When I Need Him?
The two boys in my life have had some medical traumas lately. Here’s the run-down: Saturday – We spent a lot of day outside as it was a warm day for November. Around 1:30 PM, my husband noticed a big welt-like thing on Ephraim’s buttcheek (excuse my language, but how else do you say that?) I assumed he had gotten a sting or bug bite outside. I called the on-call doctor, and when she called back and asked if it was only on his bottom, I pulled his pants down and he had these huge welt/hive things all up and down his legs. She said she couldn’t nail down what had caused it, but he was most likely having an allergic reaction to something and to star

Whirlwind Weekend
This past weekend was a very busy but wonderful weekend. Friday – Friday was my mom’s birthday, and we had her over for dinner because taking the kids to restaurants always ends up being stressful: (Ephraim doesn’t want to stay in his seat, Madeleine has to go to the bathroom a bunch of times, the kids fight, etc. I’ve come to prefer staying home, even if it means cooking, although sometimes it means ordering in!) Anyway, I did cook – breakfast for supper. The five of us enjoyed an evening together relaxing. The kids showered Mom with hugs and kisses and enjoyed giving her gifts. Saturday = Mom and I went to the women’s retre

Working Moms: Speak Up!
Almost five years ago, my husband and I started attending an Eastern Orthodox church, and much to our evangelical parents’ chagrin, we eventually converted to Orthodoxy. It has been an astounding, mystical, and life-changing journey. However, there is something in the Orthodox world that bothers me. A lot of Orthodox moms are stay-at-home moms (and many of them homeschool, too). Now don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly NOT knocking staying at home or homeschooling. But when I search for blogs of Orthodox moms, I find tons of great blogs by SAH moms, but not by working moms. I can find Orthodox books on parenting and home organization by SAH moms, but not by work

Public, Private, or Homeschool?
My daughter will start kindergarten next year, and we have started the process of trying to decide which school she will go to (and thus where we will move – hope to sell our house next spring). As we’ve been discussing this, I’ve been thinking alot about the benefits and drawbacks of public, private, and homeschool. Here are my thoughts: Homeschooling – I have several friends who homeschool, and there are some attractive things about it. You can go into more depth with what you’re studying than you could in a school setting. Schools usually have to go for breadth rather than depth. You would not be confined to a particular curriculum. In a

This is Why I’m Not a Stay-at-Home Mom
Today was the last day of our two-week Fall Break. I now need a break from my Fall Break. Not that I’m ready to go back to work, though! The first day of break, Ephraim (my 2-year-old) went to time out 3 times and got spanked 2 times – all before noon. That was the first sign. What followed were two weeks of mostly indoor activities due to incessant, annoying, depression-inducing rain. Depression-inducing for me, that is. Hyperactivity-inducing for the kids. Despite my repeated attempts to do crafts, games, and activities to keep the kids busy, every day eventually led to the kids running wildly through the house, jumping on each other, and yelling at the top of th