At the start of October, I spent a weekend at the Catholic Imagination Conference hosted by the University of Dallas, and (though it has taken me an unconscionably long time to get started) I suspect it may be the topic of posts for the next several months as I unpack the many, many ideas I […]

It’s rare day in my life that I’m only reading one book at a time. In fact, I’m more likely to be reading a few too many at once. One advantage to this practice, however, is that sometimes books shine a light on each other that wouldn’t be as obvious if I had to remember […]

It’s been awhile…It seems that after a year of posting (almost) every week, I needed a breather. But so much has been going on lately, I think it’s past time for an update. We spent Easter week outside of Asheville, NC with Craig’s family, where we enjoyed hiking, cooking, and yarn-shopping. It was a peaceful […]

Warning: this is another post about tea. And children’s books. And art. So basically the usual. I read a lovely article this week by Amy Baik Lee about Beatrix Potter, china tea cups, and wonder. It was one of those situations that happen to me occasionally: that morning I had been reading The Tale of […]

Christmas is almost here, and with the last week of Advent comes the frantic rush to finish buying and making Christmas gifts. Despite my best efforts, it seems like there are always one or two people (at least) who still have me stumped right into the week before Christmas. Usually, it’s not the kids who […]

I had intentions of writing a grand four week Advent series…but Thanksgiving got the better of me last week, and this has been the week of the Stomach Bug. By the time the clothes, sheets, comforters, floors, and dog were all washed, there wasn’t much time left for writing. So that carefully planned, well-researched series […]

First of all, if you live in Lafayette Parish, please go vote “yes” for the library millage. If you’re wondering why, my own reasons are in this post and this post. Don’t worry – we’ll wait. Now that you’ve done you civic duty, I have a couple of thoughts for you on the topic of […]

Last week, I spent some time exploring the situation our local libraries are in and how we got here. This week, I’d like to continue the discussion by looking at some of the benefits a strong library system brings to our community — in other words, what we risk losing if the millage ultimately fails […]

I think everyone who knows us knows one thing about us: our family loves books. The bookshelves line the walls to the point that there’s no room to hang art. There are stacks by everyone’s desk, on everyone’s nightstand, and (often) in the van. Naturally, something else comes with our love of books: a love […]

It’s long past time I wrote about Kim. First, the background. Craig and I were married the weekend between exams and graduation. That summer, we moved a solid 1,000 miles away from our families. We knew no one; our closest contact was my graduate program director, with whom I had had a couple of phone […]