Afternoons of Nothing

I have just done my most radical act of parenting so far in my fifteen-year career of raising six children: I have pulled my children out of all extra-curricular activities.
Even piano lessons.
Last year I spent just about every afternoon driving little people to various lessons, games, practices and rehearsals. There were the accompanying [...]

On Names

This morning at the temple initiatory, most of my names were simply surnames and this struck me in a way that it can only strike a sleep deprived and anxiously addled brain that resides in the cranium of a lady still very much postpartum: I just spent almost nine months obsessing over my baby’s name… [...]

Here comes the bride…and cake and flowers

I always love to come to my parents’ house in the summer and look through the stack of wedding announcements that sit in the basket by the desk. Envelopes in cream, white, and ivory, laced with tissue- paper squares, and ribbon embellishments. Sprinkled in are photos of smiling couples—bearing resemblance to those kids I used [...]

Splendid Isolation on Hinchinbrook

Day One
“Welcome to Splendid Isolation,” says the large wooden sign posted over the dock. As our boat slows to a stop, I get my first up-close look at Hinchinbrook, the island just a couple of miles away from the Great Barrier Reef where my husband, our four children, and I will be spending the next [...]

Line Upon Line, Precept on Precept

The lines have become more fluid over the years- sometimes invisible, sometimes deep. But I ask myself, “Should they exist at all?”

What About Your Walls?

I don’t like Greg Olsen.
Well, that’s not true, I’m sure he’s a lovely person, he may even be a gas at dinner parties, but I don’t actually like his art. It’s not my taste. It doesn’t speak to me (in fact, if I’m telling you the most honest thoughts of my heart, sometimes it makes [...]

Behold Your Little Ones

Today’s guest author is Nan. Her three little boys keep her hopping. It is a good thing that she likes camping, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Legos almost as much as they do. Or more. She is always up for an adventure, as long as she remembers to pack plenty of snacks and diapers. Besides doing [...]

Hooray! :-D Boo! :-(

So, our family is getting ready to move. This partially explains my absence from Segullah as of late. I miss you though, my dears!
After six years in NYC we are heading west, to Colorado.

A Divine Eye Roll

You’ve been there. You’re forced to go to a bridal or baby shower long after the stage where they seem fun and exciting (even romantic. I’m gagging. But yes, I thought that, at least about the bridal showers). You play games. You talk about your own wedding. You compare birth stories. You win in [...]

Comments I Did Not Make Yesterday in Church

Sister, I don’t care if your baby is a little noisy, no one else does either, sit down and enjoy the lesson.
I really don’t think that scripture means what you think it means.
Please don’t gloss over that scripture, it’s beautiful and means more than you think it does.
Honey, you’re young and not thinking about this, [...]

How Do We Know?

My husband assigned our four-year-old son Cole the FHE lesson last night. About half hour before FHE on the way home from a playdate he and I got around to planning. It went something like this,
Me-What do you want to do for the lesson tonight?
Cole-I don’t want to do the lesson.
Me-Well, it’s your turn. It [...]

Rock the Boat (don’t tip the boat over…)

You know how you can pinpoint the exact place and time you were when you learned about the events on September 11th? Certain days become frozen in time; indelible impressions that mark a change. On 9-11 I was leaving to shop for a washing machine. My in-laws were visiting. My mother-in-law was upstairs ironing. There [...]

It’s a Miracle…

Miracle Max: Have fun storming the castle!
Valerie: Do you think it will work?
Miracle Max: It would take a miracle…
As a scientist, I’m automatically skeptical of anything with the word “miracle” in it: miracle cure, miracle weight loss, miracle hair restoration, etc. Usually if something claims to be a “miracle” there is some catch – [...]

What the Little Old Lady Said

I was so busy corralling my children down the grocery store aisle that I almost ran into the old woman in front of us. Four children under age five made us quite a spectacle in the big city where we lived. She smiled at us and patted my arm. “Treasure every moment, dear. [...]

Our Children Can’t Have Coats!

Right around the time when I was starting to get into the rhythm of the speaker’s talk, my 2 year old lost it. His brother, having stolen the black crayon, affected a wide-eyed innocent look that I scarcely had time to enjoy before I whisked the 2 year old out of the chapel. We walked [...]

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