When cousins come to town, screen safety, the eclipse, shuffling, and a mini-reunion (7 Quick Takes) August 25, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window My niece and nephew are spending the week with my parents, and with Daniel’s Gotcha Day, soccer practice, and other excitement, the week has been getting away from us without any solid cousin time. So yesterday I took our boys over to play.
Kicking off the soccer season (and looking for my rose-colored glasses) August 23, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window As we prepared for our first practice of the year, I may not have been the most excited member of the family. Soccer is a great sport, but I’m just not a fan of extracurricular activities that throw our lives into a tailspin for months.
Celebrating Gotcha Day six years after meeting our baby boy August 22, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window Having the opportunity to be this little boy’s mother is an amazing blessing. It’s also an astonishing gift for me, especially since I wasn’t sure I would ever be a mother—never mind a mother of two sons who were born on the other side of the world.
Trusting author of our life stories August 22, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Commentary, The Domestic Church We have to accept that even with the suffering and challenges life can bring, God is writing a more wonderful story than we could imagine.
Hosting our first sleepover, holding onto summer, losing power, and an eclipse coincidence (7 Quick Takes) August 18, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window How do you prepare to host your first sleepover? I made sure we had popcorn and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on hand.
Stepping into the ocean and our beach vacation August 17, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window The beach is a place full of wonder. The ocean is magnificent, powerful, and moving with a rhythm all its own.
Reflecting on Charlottesville: Looking for light in the darkness August 14, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window, Uncategorized It forced me to recognize that racism is real, not just under hoods, but in so many large structural ways and in small daily encounters we take for granted. And I realized that I do not know how to respond to racism, even when I am confronted by it.
A trip to the beach, a slip and slide, a peach cake realization, and what we’re reading this summer (7 Quick Takes) August 12, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window We are just back from an amazing trip to the beach, where we saw some beautiful sunsets. You might think I would have more time to write while on vacation, but every night we sort of forgot about putting our children to bed until it was so late that all I wanted to do was fall into bed myself.
When Mama becomes Mom August 9, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window Our older son decided to start calling us Mom and Dad. Part of me isn’t surprised. I knew this would probably come—at least for Mama to transition to Mom.
Squirrels eat mushrooms, Pokemon tournaments are long, and other things I learned this week (7 Quick Takes) August 4, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window Some weeks are both long and short. This was one of those for me. Thank goodness it’s Friday. But I can’t believe it’s already time for quick takes!
An umbrella for the rain August 2, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window It was such a simple act of kindness, just a small moment of thoughtfulness. But witnessing that spark of compassion in our child gave me such hope and joy.
Taste summer in Baltimore with a peach cake recipe July 29, 2017By Rita Buettner Filed Under: Blog, Open Window, Recipes It’s summertime, and Baltimore peach cake is a local tradition. There are many different versions, and I’m not sure how you can go wrong with any combination of peaches and cake.
