uptomytoes

Tag: faith

  • Leaving is Not an Option…This Family is About Staying

    There is something profoundly painful about a child saying they want to leave. It cuts to the core. I know that when my children say things like, “I’ll just go live with Dad,” or “I’ll just go live with insert name” or even “I want a different mommy,” it’s more about being frustrated than actually…

  • Where Did She Go?

    My daughter Elizabeth was complaining the other night at bedtime about a bunch of stuff.  I said, “Let’s pray about it. To which she replied with a wail, “But that never works!  I pray and God doesn’t answer.” Oh dear! I thought. I put my hand gently on her forehead and rubbed her eyebrow with…

  • Do You Welcome Inconvenience?….me neither.

    Sometimes being a single mom is so inconvenient. The other night – a school night – when I should have been rocking little ones to sleep, we were just finding our seats at the varsity basketball game where my oldest daughter was cheering. I love watching my daughter cheer…she rocks at it!  But it’s just no…

  • Lovin’ Mommy and Apple Pie

    “You should like to obey your mommy as much as apple pie.” As I begin writing I’m not sure whether I should focus on the fact that I say the dumbest things sometimes or the spiritual implications that sentence has on my life. Although I’m thinking there will be ample opportunities for me to write…

  • Ranting and Resting

    Dear Friends, I really want to share the following blog with you all not because it is so well-written or anything, but because I believe that it’s where so many of us, particularly single parents, find ourselves sometimes.  It isn’t pretty at first, but God, as usual, used my time typing on these keys to…

  • Stating the Obvious (…well, maybe complaining a bit)

    Shhhh…please don’t tell anyone, but I’m sitting on my bed at 11:38pm eating double stuffed Oreo cookies while I try to figure out what went wrong today.  I think I’ve figured it out and I’m not even through the first cookie.  EVERYTHING went wrong today. I think my mascara left my eyes around 3 pm. …

  • Bedtime Prayers

    Okay.  Seriously when did bedtime go from a sweet time of books, prayers and song…to wailing and gnashing of teeth???  I can’t remember when the change happened this summer, but happen it did.  Summer is just the worst.  Last night my youngest daughters where unwilling to consider bed… “Why is it light outside?  Surely that…

  • Little Boxes…annoying little boxes

    Recently it seems I have had to fill out a ridiculous number of forms that all require me to write down my status…single, married, divorced, widowed…  It’s amazing how much I want to deny my actual status.  Who would have thought I’d ever wish I could check any box but divorced?  Just being honest.  I…

  • Growing My Grassy Garden and Other Things

    I’m a gardener-wannabe.  I have so many friends who have flourishing gardens.  Alas, I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening.  No one truly has believed me until now.  This summer, I have proof.  And it isn’t even the dead cherry tree in the side yard.   My yard is full of clover and…

  • Sticky, Dusty and a Little Bit Crazy

    I’ve always said that the adjective that best describes my house is “sticky” – not the most sought after description I know.  But today, I feel like I might actually be living in the bottom of an old cracker box…full of crumbs and cracker dust.  Seriously, everywhere I look is a preponderance of dust.  Not sure what changed…