The neighborhood pool is filled to almost overflowing. Chairs are scrubbed and arranged neatly on the decks; everything is at the ready. It’s nearly summertime. And just as surely as the pool will open on Memorial Day, family schedules and…

My children and I didn’t get to see the pope. It’s been a long winter of illness in my house and we were just recovering. I couldn’t imagine juggling children (some of them still not feeling completely well) and strollers…

"If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven!" - St. John Vianney

What do we do for the world? In the midst of the bustle of every…

Yesterday, in the grip of the flu, I stumbled to my computer to check my mail, only to be greeted by this, chirping from my inbox. In part, a reader writes:

I love your blog, but honestly, reading it makes me want to quit homeschooling…. I can never imagine myself doing what you do. Do you even sleep??… I just feel very small and incompetent next to all the things you have done and do with your kids.

And I really wanted to cry, but I knew it would make my head hurt worse. My feelings weren't hurt. I was just so sad for this lady. Why do women do this to themselves? We all do it. We all compare ourselves to someone and come up short in our own eyes. And then we are discouraged and we kick the dirt around at our feet and figure it's all hopeless because we can't reach some other person's standard. We're not supposed to reach some other person's standard!

It's refrigerator cleaning day today. Every Wednesday, I go through this ritual of cleaning it out, reorganizing, wiping it down. And every Wednesday I find a "surprise," some food worth saving when we first put it in there, but now…

Lent is approaching quickly. We literally just took down the Christmas tree. I'm still finding stray ornaments and ribbons here and there. But soon, it will be time to drape the religious pictures and icons and statues in purple and…

"So it is in the world of souls, the living garden of the Lord. It pleases Him to create great saints, who may be compared with lilies or the rose; but He has also created little ones, who must be…

As I write this column, there are two weeks until Christmas. My list of “to-dos” is very, very long. It’s 5 a.m. and I’m already overwhelmed. But when you read this column, there will be less than a week until…

Every year since she was five, Mary Beth and her friend, Bailey, have had a tea party in the autumn to celebrate Mary Beth's birthday. Sometimes, they've been larger affairs with several friends. Sometimes they've been "tea for two." And…