Amy Writes

In four months, our oldest daughter will start kindergarten. I'm not sure what rip in the space-time continuum caused us to arrive at this point already, but it seems to be an inevitable eventuality. And I don't know how it works for you, but when I am facing a difficult decision, God piles on the options. "It's great to have options," everyone says. "There's no wrong choice," they say. "In theory," I say. See, we had just about decided what we were going to do about school in the fall. Just about. Until... another option arrived in the mail. We'd applied for a magnet program at a nearby public elementary school but were discouraged by the low numbers they promised to accept. It was a lottery. We never win lotteries. So we moved on. Now, we have a decision to make. To public school, or not to public school? We are essentially deciding between the Primary Years Programme magnet at a nearby public school, which feeds into the Internationa

I'm in the ravine. It's my new excuse. Like it? I got it from Pastor this Sunday. He got it from Elijah. Elijah the Prophet was commanded to tell King Ahab that a big drought was coming. Then he was commanded to run for his life, specifically into the Kerith Ravine. There Elijah would be safe, hidden and provided for - by ravens. Pastor likened Elijah's time in the ravine to "training camps," those periods of time where God pulls us out of action and beats us up a bit. Or a lot. He talked about illness, financial difficulty, being a mom of young children... Being a mom of young children?! Training camp? Being hidden away for a time? What if that's what this time really is about - being hidden away while God preps me for service, for whatever service he really has in mind. Elijah's time in the ravine came before he called down fire, before he trained Elisha, before he left in his chariot of fire. So maybe now, instead of saying "no, I can't"

The more I live, the more I am convinced that the key to gliding through life joyfully is this: Managing expectations. Concerning our own expectations: It's tricky to find the balance between optimistic and unrealistic, and contrarily, between realistic and Debbie Downer. It's also tricky to manage the expectations other people have for you. Here, the balance is in selecting those to meet, and those to set right. This is more than tricky. It's just plain exhausting, really. What a breath of fresh air are those friends and family who expect nothing, yet love as if you've exceeded their wildest dreams. God, let me be one of those.

I don't know if I have confessed to this yet, but I'm a weeper. I have certain triggers. They are: 1. The first note of any powerful orchestral movement performed live. 2. Patriotism. 3. Broadway curtain calls. 4. Just about any part of any Broadway show. (all bets are off - it could happen at any time) 5. Underdog stories. 6. The beauty of Grace, manifested in creation, acts of healing, restoration and forgiveness. And, now: 7. Marlee Matlin, dancing deaf on Dancing with the Stars. This fascinates me so greatly. I have always found her stunning and graceful. Now I find her miraculous. Have you seen this? Unable to hear the music she is dancing to, she relies on her partner to "be her music." She is completely reliant on her interpreter for all communication. She seems undaunted by a challenge that seems impossible, performing with confidence, grace and beauty. It is one thing to be able to count out the rhythm, but to perform so musically without being able to actual

Cruising is, quite possibly, the most comprehensively wonderful vacation option available to a person. This was our second annual getaway with this group of friends, and we each have our favorite activities - or our favorite lack of activities. We have readers and gamblers and people watchers and eaters (well, we're all eaters, really). Sightseers and sun-worshipers and beachgoers. We are united in our love of a good time and our genuine desire to just be together. And we are united in our innate need to dominate the competition. Competition, you say? Ohhhhhh yes. MY kind of competition. Full contact, all brains on deck, bring-your-A-game trivia. Like I said, cruising is the perfect vacation, because there are trivia contests like every 3 hours when you're onboard. Last year, we dominated. The six of us left the ship with the spoils of victory: keychains, luggage tags and those little waterproof cases you hang around your neck. We were unbeatable. This year we started out stron

My friends, what you've all been waiting for.

A few weeks back, my friend HipMama boldly posted her family's awesome dream, which involves horses and farming and beds and breakfasts and so much cool stuff that you must go read about it and wait, like us, with bated breath for it to become a reality so you can go enjoy it. It's a daring move to share one's dream. As HipMama points out, what if you don't want the same thing next week? What if, for some reason, it never becomes a reality and you're either just the sad dreamer or the failure? What if no one else on the planet is at all inspired by your dream? In late elementary and early middle school, I wanted to be an astronaut. I reeeeeally wanted to be an astronaut. And I didn't just talk about it, I planned on it. I covered my bedroom walls with pictures of shuttles and planets and spacewalkers. I went to SpaceCamp. Twice. Not the kind of SpaceCamp that you go to with your 4th grade class. I went to the kind in the movie. Sleepaway, intensive, SpaceCamp