Buttercups in Bloom

Today I awoke a bit early so that I could sit in the silence of the morning.  Today is a day of celebration!  It may sound silly but we have a tradition in our home that we set aside a day at the end of each summer to mark the beginning of something new.  Every year we take the opportunity to spend an entire day together as a family.  The day is set aside to do one thing, celebrate!! Yes we celebrate the goodness that we've had over the summer but more importantly we celebrate the beginning of another year of school.  The beginning of school is seen as an opportunity to remind us to be open to learning and exploring in ways that we have not experienced before. It's the opportunity to open ourselves to new relationships and take a stand for the things that we hold dear.  It is also a day of celebrating E in all the things that she has accomplished in the past year.  I'm not talking about the 'things or the awards' but who she is becoming. Yes, today...

It hits about this time every year; that the unscheduled days of summer fly by all to quickly.  Two weeks from now our nights will already be filled with homework, preparing for the weekly spelling test as well as the dreaded math facts timed quizzes, getting to bed on time ,trying to get up in the morning to get to the bus on time!  Yes, the unscheduled nights of simply deciding to the pool and not having dinner until 7:30 or so are quickly coming to an end.   I always want to push back on time and claim more days of simply being outside on the back porch trying to catch lighting bugs, playing the wii until we can't jump or dance any longer, and swimming until we are completely water logged . I always want just a bit more.   A bit more of the moments where I can truly enjoy Emma being a child with no worries in the world. Today while I write my sermon, I am torn. I wonder if we have played enough....have we laughed loudly enough....have we danced our hearts o...

When Emma was four and about to begin Pre-K we decided to take a family day trip to Beach Bend Amusement Park to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of a new adventure called school!  Every summer since then we've spent a day at an amusement park riding rides and laughing with one another (often taking close friends with us).  This year we upped the ante taking three days for thrills and adventure at Kings Island.  Emma is tall enough to ride every ride in the park so needless to say we were pumped!  We were ready for the adventure from the moment we walked in the Park.  We immediately jumped on the smaller rides eventually moving to the bigger, more serious rides with twist and turns.  We were laughing, screaming and pushing ourselves to ride in the front car of the rides.  But then it happened, we jumped on a ride and the reality of fear fell upon Emma.  Firehawk is literally unlike any other ride I have ever been on.  You stand...