children
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The tooth fairy and a longing for Heaven
The other day, in our evening prayer time, our youngest daughter prayed that the Tooth Fairy is real. She has her first “wiggle tooth”, and she has that beautiful combination of anxiety and joy at something new that children have about… Continue reading
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The Death and Rebirth of Writing
Conversion is never one hundred percent. We always bring something with us when we make a change (or changes are made) to our lives. To put it into even more Christian language, the death and resurrection that we experience in… Continue reading
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Chanting the Psalms with my kids
This year, I’ve taken on the discipline of bringing the Psalms more fully into my personal prayer life. Specifically, I’m making it a point to chant one psalm each day. I do this because, first, the Psalms are so very… Continue reading
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Bilbo Baggins and Baby Jesus
Recently, my kindergartener had an assignment on traditions. She was supposed to choose a family tradition and create a project around it. When we asked her what tradition she wanted to choose, there was a moment when I seriously worried… Continue reading
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Touching Icons
When I first saw an icon, I immediately wanted to touch it. At the time, I was a graduate student at the University of Oregon, studying medieval poetry and, specifically, medieval myths about creativity. There is an art museum on… Continue reading
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Pockets full of candy (or not)
When I was a kid, our advent calendar was full of candy. That was enough for me. The calendar itself was a length of felt. Its color was off-white, something like the background color of this blog. There were rows… Continue reading
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A middle-way for upside-down prayers
My children seem to be most comfortable praying upside-down. Or while crawling on top of one another. Or with their feet in my face. In this, they’re probably similar to most kids. I often hear my parishioners complain about having… Continue reading
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Priest, Daddy, and Artist
I had to celebrate my first Easter Vigil as a priest with my toddler daughter on my lap. I write “had to”, but that evening was one of my favorite memories as a priest and as a daddy. I had… Continue reading
Incense and Crayons 