While Vaughn’s pre-Mass crabbiness is disheartening, there’s a silver lining: it reminds me how important it is for me, as a parent, to help her understand the significance and beauty of Mass.

Sacrifice acts on behalf of another, putting them first, not furthering one’s own cause. It entails interrupting or delaying our own plans, desires, trajectories, goals, and even giving something we may be afraid to lose—our time, money, comfort, power, or prestige—for the sake of another who may or may not be worthy of it.

But, really, people. Girls are easier than boys? Have you spent much time with a 12-year-old girl? Have you spent much time with any woman between, say, puberty and menopause? I look at my three angelic daughters and hear echoing in my head, “The days are coming, sayeth the Lord, when I shall strike the land with doom.” My parenting challenges are only just beginning.

There had to be a dozen mismatched suitcases – big ones – all stuffed to capacity and secured with luggage straps, but the one I noticed first was a small, pink overnight bag with a teddy bear sticking out of…

The subject line on the e-mail in my inbox said, “Moms group question – song lyrics.” The first draft of my reply read: “AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG,” but I thought better of it. E-mail isn’t good for conveying deeply held emotions.
Here was…

Daddy’s Here…. Mommy’s Here!
Our son is teething, which is the adult equivalent of having your skeleton slowly pulled to the outside of your body over a period of months. Needless to say, I’m glad I have no recollection of…

Sometimes when I speak or write about adoption, people approach me and ask me what to do when one half of a couple (usually but not always the husband) isn’t open to raising an adopted or foster child. Usually I…

While waiting in the car for my 19-year-old daughter to get out of work, I was trying hard to entertain her 17-month-old brother. Not finding many toys in the car, I gave him my purse, which he dug into as…

I’ve gotten several e-mails recently asking parenting advice. I don’t know if I’ll ever be comfortable answering those requests. I’m learning as I go and I don’t presume to know enough to comment on someone else’s home situation with an…

A few years ago we took a family trip to the Grand Canyon during a winter vacation.  We spent six months preparing for the journey, studying the history and geography of the Southwest, and carefully making all the travel arrangements. …