Deliberate Legacies

Be the Buffalo and Ask the Turtle

J Benzakein — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:50:21 +0000

I was reading a magazine the other day…well, reading might be a stretch since most of my reading takes place in the only room I can get a few moments of peace and quiet – the bathroom – but my time in there has to be limited (or else the 5 yr old starts to [...]

Thankful Tuesday – Dinga de Dinga Dong

J Benzakein — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:43:55 +0000

My husband’s birthday was July 1st and while I threw together a very impromptu dinner (“Haystacks”) and bought him a really cute cake (from the clearance rack at Wal-Mart… cute AND 40% off!), I never properly expressed just how thankful I am that he’s a part of my life.

This Is Great, But…

J Benzakein — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:03:48 +0000

Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold. – Maurice Selter We love food in the Benzakein household. Eli will often come and ask me what healthy food he can eat in order to have the junk food that he really wants. There have been times that I’ve made his favorite foods [...]

Random Items In My House

J Benzakein — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:22:01 +0000

I’ve been sitting here for almost an hour trying to come up with something to post. I’ve come up with some really good ideas, but they all required additional thought, soul searching, confessions, organization in general… And so I continued to sit here. While sitting here, thinking of topics, it occurred to me that I hadn’t [...]

We Are Family

J Benzakein — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:04:01 +0000

During difficult times in life, who has supported you, or have you supported? [I tried to write this blog entry last night, but my 4 month old daughter, Brenna, had other ideas – namely that she would stay up way, way past her bedtime and then only sleep so long as I held her and [...]

The Wisdom of Listening

J Benzakein — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 03:35:03 +0000

Wisdom has two parts: 1) Having a lot to say 2) Not saying it. – Church billboard in Vermont There are days when I have the gift of gab. On those days, I am funny. I am quick with the one-liners. I am a source of knowledge and understanding. On those days, I am warm [...]

Help me feed babies in Africa!

J Benzakein — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:57:23 +0000

So, I was on twitter just a few moments ago, and WeAreTHATFamily sent out this tweet: (Caps are my doing) FOR THE NEXT 30 HOURS, WE’LL BE SAVING THE LIVES OF ORPHANED BABIES IN AFRICA. READY. SET. GO. I went to her blog post, and immediately opened up my WordPress dashboard to post this to [...]

Friday Forwards – Video & A Pic

J Benzakein — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 03:56:36 +0000

This one came courtesy of my new Facebook friend, Dasha, who also has a really funny blog: Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo. And now the picture… Note: I am not affiliated with TeddytheDog.com nor do I earn any sort of reward (monitary or otherwise) for listing their website, showing their product, [...]

Bend or Break?

J Benzakein — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:52:43 +0000

Whatever is flexible and flowing will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die. – Tao Te Chang, Lao Tsu’s teachings In my teens, I was quite into country music. I’d listen and sing along for hours after school.. practicing for the day when I’d get to be Wynona Judd’s backup [...]

Tadpoles, Mystery Radio, and Fireflies = Magic!

J Benzakein — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:18:47 +0000

Summer officially began June 21. Tell us the story of a favorite summertime memory! Growing up, we didn’t take family vacations. We didn’t share family meals. We weren’t reminded to brush our teeth before bed or prompted to say our prayers. We walked on eggshells… a lot. Keep quiet and out of site – that [...]