more on family life

Happy Mother's Day to all you great moms. I learn so much from all of you. What a blessing to know so many awesomely smart people.

Here is something I do not recommend doing on mother's day: watching the movie Changeling. We were not familiar with this movie or what it was really about. I'm just gonna say that I couldn't sleep afterward. I was lying in bed questioning how thoroughly I have taught Frank about strangers and how to never ever go near them. It was gut-wrenching to me. I have found since having the boys, that any tv show or movie about kids who are hurt, sick or dying just sends me over the edge. I recently started casually watching Grey's Anatomy whenever Michael is at band practice. They have these pitiful side stories of dying children almost every episode. It seems like everytime he comes home and says, "what are you watching?," I am just sitting there - crying. If I see a little kid looking pale in a hospital bed, I'm a goner.

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I do want to take a moment and recommend the "LoveDare" book for all the married people I know. Is it a book written in response to a cheesy Christian movie? Yes it is. But it is good.

Basically, the gist of it is this: In the movie, Fireproof, there is a married couple on the brink of divorce. The dad asks the son to give the marriage 40 days, and gives him this book that has "dares" on how to love his wife for each of the 40 days. As you can guess, the book transforms the son (played by Kirk Cameron). So for example, the first day's dare is to say nothing negative to your spouse. Day 2 is to say nothing negative and do one unexpected act of kindness for your spouse. We missed a few days, but we are basically on day 10 now. Many at our church are doing this with us, and I just wanted to give the whole thing a big thumbs up. Each woman I've talked to who is participating is really grateful for such an easy, good tool to remind us how to love our husbands better. And who can't use a little help in loving their spouse better? Thank you to the Taylors for getting this started.

Okay, I lied, one more thing to say. Have you ever absolutely loved a book so much, that you want to live inside it?

I remember in 5th grade after reading The Secret Garden, I stood up and talked to my class for 10 minutes straight about the book. When I was done, I stared into a sea of vacant, bored faces. I had no idea how long I had gone on. But I was just so into the book, I wanted everyone to love it like I did. My friend, Leigh, posted this book on her Wednesday Words blog. As she is a writer, and I am a big fan of her writing, I asked for it for Christmas. And what a gift.

I see now why Leigh put it on her blog, well... you just can't help it. Some sentences are so beautifully written, it makes you stop reading, so you can think about the beautiful images you have conjured in your mind. It is that good. I feel like you do when you see a good movie, cook a perfect recipe (pioneer woman lasagna), find a perfect cup of coffee - you just can't keep it quiet. I just want you to read it, okay...And here I am, just like in 5th grade.