Photos of the Week: August 30 – Surprised By Joy
“Be an opener of doors.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson We did some backyard camping this week. It was hot (for Seattle) and like most homes in the city, we don’t have AC. So nature&…| Surprised By Joy
“Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.” – Henri Matisse I’ve often joked that I have a math brain. But have I mentioned how much of a math geek I am? When I was in college, I loved math so much that I … Continue reading How to Share Creativity→| Surprised By Joy
“In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.” – Robert Kiyosaki On a recent afternoon … Continue reading The Mysterious Case of the Barking Dog→| Surprised By Joy
“Be an opener of doors.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson We did some backyard camping this week. It was hot (for Seattle) and like most homes in the city, we don’t have AC. So nature&…| Surprised By Joy
“‘Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Soren Kierkergaard* I learned a powerful lesson about twenty-five years ago when I climbed Mt. Ixtaccihu…| Surprised By Joy
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius This isn’t a story about me falling on my face (although I have plenty of those stories) but a recent incident when my 6-year-old son, Mr. D, fell on his. Although I’m sure I echo the sentiments of … Continue reading When You Fall On Your Face→| Surprised By Joy
“The years teach much which the days never knew.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Our cat has walked with Cooper and me so often that I forget how funny it is until someone makes a comment.…| Surprised By Joy
“When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or the life of another.” – Helen Keller My 86-year-old mother recently bought an Apple watch a…| Surprised By Joy
“Everyone has a talent. What’s rare is to follow it to the dark places where it leads.” – Erica Jong Do you have a solid idea of what you know? Not what your jobs have been …| Surprised By Joy
“Sometimes life is too hard to be alone, and sometimes life is too good to be alone.” – Elizabeth Gilbert When I was climbing mountains, I noticed a funny thing when we roped up o…| Surprised By Joy
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington We are back from vacation! My kids let me pick them up for a picture on the Whidbey Island ferry. It mirrors a picture we did three and a half years ago — but I think this might be the … Continue reading Photos of the Week: August 16→| Surprised By Joy
“Rarely is anyone thanked for the work they did to prevent the disaster that didn’t happen” – Mikko Hypponen A few weeks ago I was carpooling with another family to the kids’ camp for the week. I was responsible for dropping the kids off in the morning. When I got all four kids there on … Continue reading How to Share Passwords→| Surprised By Joy
“Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do.” – Orson Swett Marden Mr. D’s 6th birthday fun The ready position Time to jump…and bloom Coo…| Surprised By Joy
Meditations on Life and Parenting| Surprised By Joy
“Sometimes it’s okay if the only thing you remembered to do today was breathe.” – unknown Long before I learned to meditate, I learned a breath practice while climbing mount…| Surprised By Joy
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop Recently my daughter, nine-year-old Miss O, and I were at our neighborhood grocery store. When we went through t…| Surprised By Joy
