Abundant Life In the Making

Thirteen Years Later

aimee — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:01:36 +0000

In the early years we were lumps of clay, not yet formed into anything recognizable. In love, yes, with our rose-colored glasses firmly fixed, we ate, drank, and lived young love. For a couple of months. For the last thirteen years, we’ve been squeezed, rolled, allowed to set in our ways, and then pressed into [...]

Season Of The Three Year Old, Part Two

aimee — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 04:39:03 +0000

Warning: Not everything that you are about to read is true. (A full confession is available at the end of the post.) I may have spoken rashly yesterday about the challenges of a three year old. Not rashly, but, one-sided, maybe? Yesterday, I mentioned that I do not find it easier to train up my [...]

Mama “Me” Time

aimee — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:30:51 +0000

“Squishy, you can’t open your sister’s mints.” “You can’t pour the gallon of milk by yourself.” “Yes, you have to stay buckled in your carseat.” “Don’t hit your 11 year old sister.” “Don’t scream when I tell you ‘no’.” “No you can’t use the computer.” “Your baby did not tell you to play with the [...]

The Lesson For Today

aimee — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:40:04 +0000

Here’s a familiar scene at our house: Daughter works on an art assignment. I hear Daughter slam hands on the table and utter a low, gutteral animal sound that rises into high soprano. I breathe deeply and head into the room. “What’s the problem?” “I can’t do it.” “What’s the exact problem that you’re frustrated [...]

Seriously Silly for Art

aimee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:24:41 +0000

For Mr. Darcy’s 40th birthday I gave him an online drawing class with Carla Sonheim, the author of Drawing Lab. The class is called Silly 5: Drawing Worksheets for Adults and the description included: “Our goal: to get you to just PLAY, just 10 minutes a day, with pen and paper, thoughts and images. (You [...]

When I Am Weak

aimee — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:44:24 +0000

I sit in the bathtub and try not to think. Which means I think about everything that I don’t want to think about. I think about the late hour of the morning when we all woke up and the fighting that ensued seconds later. I think about the groaning over chores and school and the [...]

Maybe All I Have is a Blank Page

aimee — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:23:50 +0000

Flipping through the pages of Drawing Lab, the corner of page 81 caught my eye, a little box with the suggestion to illustrate a quote from a child. Words arrive in such interesting ways when you have a myriad of ages in the house. “My eyes are snowing Mommy,” my daughter exclaimed as the snow passed [...]

Art Books that Make Me Happy: A Review

aimee — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:55:46 +0000

“Honey, I’m so glad that I can create something and enjoy it!” I flop down next to him on the couch with my painting. He continues reading his book. “Not because I think the outcome is so great,” I explain quickly, “but because I can enjoy the process and not be so worried that it’s not [...]

A Golden Thread Through Grief

aimee — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:23:49 +0000

From Wendell Berry’s Hannah Coulter “I began to know my story then. Like everybody’s it was going to be the story of living in the absence of the dead. What is the thread that holds it all together? Grief, I thought for a while. And grief is there sure enough, just about all the [...]

When the World Broke

aimee — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:38:14 +0000

As our family drove home last night we passed the engorged parking lot of Target and it was then that my world cracked wide open. I thought about the men that we’d sat with around the table a few hours earlier. Having no car themselves, these men had been driven in a stranger’s car to [...]