Writing

Weekend Roundup, September 30, 2017: Birthday Edition

09.30.2017 by Nicole Kristin Twedt //

Happy fall, y’all.

The y’all is a nod to my mom who turned sixty-five on Thursday. (Happy birthday mom!) She may be sixty-five, but she’ll always be a fresh-faced and bright-eyed girl from Wichita, Kansas.

It’s my personal theory that sixty-five is the new forty, anyway. Minus a bum knee, I think she’d agree. We just got back from mom and Dave’s house where we had ourselves a little birthday shindig, complete with pizza and cake. Actually, mom, Dave and Greg had chocolate truffle cake. The kids and I had Olivia Superfree cookie dough cupcakes that are basically free from all the major allergens and flavor. That was a joke. I’ve been abstaining from gluten and dairy for so long that the allergen-free cupcakes are nothing short of divine, even if a little stale. I may have heard angels singing.

I’m rambling. I need to keep this Weekend Roundup short and to the point.

But short and to the point isn’t my specialty. I prefer long and drawn out. It takes at least 1,000 words before I have a sense of where I’m headed, of where I’m going.

Speaking of rambling, in my last Weekend Roundup I got swept away describing my whimsical bird mug that matches Kate’s. So much so that I forgot to link to Kate’s essay. I was only supposed to mention the matchy-matchy bird mugs as a way to introduce Kate’s essay. My bad. I blame ADHD. And the stomach bug.

Here we go again with the essay. Before I get to it, you’ll remember that I stole a screen shot of Kate’s mug from Instagram but decided it wasn’t Kosher to do so. I deleted everything from my photo library because that’s what rule followers do. But in the end Kate made an honest woman out of me. She commented on a Facebook post and gave me permission to use the screenshot of her picture after all.

Photo by Kate Laymon on Instagram. Screenshot by me.

Anyway, let’s talk about Kate’s essay. Kate writes about how she and her husband said goodbye to weekend fights. I wish I’d know Kate when the kids were younger. Greg and I could have used the encouragement found in How My Husband & I Stopped Fighting on the Weekends. Now that the kids are older, weekends are the best. Spoiler: it’s because we don’t have babies, toddler or preschoolers in the house.

But we do have elementary age kiddos, three of them. And one happens to be a highly-sensitive tween who wears her heart on her sleeve. Vanessa Hunt featured a hilarious post on At the Picket Fence about the things no one tells you about parenting teenagers. Swoon! It really is hysterical. We could all use a good laugh these days, don’t you think? Those of you from my old church, you need to know that I’m talking about a different Vanessa Hunt than the one we know. You can read new Vanessa’s work here. If you’re curious, the other Vanessa can be found here. They’re both wonderful.

This next essay will appeal to mamas of littles and bigs alike. As a mama of three, I more than appreciate Anna Burgess’ take on helping kids develop their own faith in God. Because, let’s face it, we can’t do it for them. If you’re a parent, go ahead and check out Anna’s post right about now. I’ll wait for you.

Switching gears.

Please take a moment to read another one of Erin Whitmer’s essays. You’ll remember her from the Weekend Roundup I finally got around to publishing on Monday. I’m probably taking everything out of context; but Erin’s essay reminds me of the verses in 1 Kings 19 about Elijah seeking God on the mountain. Elijah searched for God in the mighty windstorm but God was not in the wind. Next Elijah searched for God in the earthquake. But, you guessed it, that’s not where God showed up. Again, Elijah looked for God in the fire. Surprise, surprise, God wasn’t in the fire. Instead, our loving Father came to Elijiah in a gentle whisper, which leads me back to Erin’s essay. Do you Hide What God Wants to Reveal? is about learning how God reveals wisdom and truth in the everyday. I think it’s easy to miss God when we look for him only in the grand and glorious moments–and he’s certainly there. But if we’re only looking for him in mighty ways, we’ll miss him in the mundane. I don’t mean to sound holier-than-thou but I see God in many places. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, adult ADHD is both a blessing and a curse, but mostly a blessing for it leads me back to him in random moments and random connections.

I’m just going to come out and say it: I’m nervous to share the following words by Caroline Saunders. Caroline was featured on Sadie Robertson’s website in March. I think I’m too old to know about Sadie Robertson, but here you go. Except Sadie’s name sounds familiar. I want to say from an interview on The Happy Hour With Jamie Ivey, but maybe not. By the way, if I ever get bored of Weekend Roundups (again, ADHD), then without a doubt, I’ll end up putting together some sort of Weekly Podcast Roundup. Now that would be fun. How I love me a good podcast;.enough to use poor grammar.

But the following post is from a talk by Caroline Saunders, not Sadie. I’m cringing as I type this because I’m about to share a purity talk for high school and college students. Yep, I’m gonna linky-link to a purity talk. I dare you to read about it here. I’m just going to come out and say it: I think the church gets a bad rap when it comes to purity talks, and rightly so. Telling woman they are damaged goods and such isn’t cool. Yet ignoring what the Bible has to say about sex other than “don’t do it” is also a big no-no in my book. It’s a tricky balance. Certainly, there are repercussions for risky behavior. But here’s the thing, God is in the business of redeeming; it’s what he does best. Also, I appreciate the way Caroline doesn’t shy away from addressing the guys in the crowd. Anyway, in the next few days you’ll probably find me poking around Caroline’s blog at writercaroline.com. Caroline’s voice is unique. She doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to biblical truths; but she’s funny, very very funny.

The next-to-last essay of the last day of September is about steps we can take when anxiety rears its ugly head. I found the bullet points at the end of the article extremely helpful, and I’m not a bullet point kind of girl. It sounds too much like the Bullet Journal, which is most definitely not for me. It’s as if anxiety is the latest buzz word. So many in my close circle are living with it, including myself and my favorite little boy. Gosh, even our dog has anxiety. I’ve heard it said that if you’re in the market for a Ford, then all you’ll see are Fords, Fords, Fords, everywhere you go. I’m a Honda gal through and through, but that’s besides the point. Anyway, go check out Reversing the Anxiety Tornado by J. J. Gutierrez, It’s a must-read for the brave one who struggles with anxiety. Yes, the brave one. You’d better believe you are brave if you’re living life with anxiety. In fact, you are a living, breathing example of someone who is being brave when life is hard. You can find J.J.’s essay, complete with bullet points here.

Ramblings aside, I just can’t stop myself from giving you one final essay. I mean, really, why stop at 1,000 words if you can possibly squeeze in 1,500? No, I promise to stop before then. This time. Anwhoo, Bethany Barendregt wrote a particularly moving piece called For the Late-Blooming Souls. I savored each and every word of this thoughtful reflection. Yes to this! Story of my life, right here! How I love quiet and stillness, how I thrive in slowness. I don’t think my kids got the e-mail.

In just a little less than fifteen minutes it will be the first of October. I can hardly believe it. As I said before, happy fall, y’all!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, especially Sunday. Savor its slowness. Rest up, dear ones. See you soon.

P.S. Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear mom

Happy birthday to you!

Weekend Roundup: Stomach Virus Edition

09.25.2017 by Nicole Kristin Twedt //

I’ve come to appreciate a cup or two of strong coffee each morning. Piping hot and in my favorite stainless double insulated travel mug, the lady boss of all my travel mugs (of which I have many) is how I like it. If a morning is particularly lazy and I have nowhere to be, I will splurge and use the hand-painted Polish mug from my sister-in-law Julea, a birthday present from my early thirties. The mug is actually from T.J. Maxx. But it was hand-painted in Poland so I call it the Polish mug. I love the mug (and Julea) so much that I tracked down its sisters from every T.J. Maxx in a ten mile radius to form a perfect set of six. Or I’ll fill a steaming cup of Tony’s French Royale (or Tony’s Espresso Noir when I’m feeling fancy) to the brim of one of three bird mugs: the turquoise mama bird and her nest of eggs, or the lime green mug with the whimsical bird outlined in white, or it’s fraternal mug-brother in blue.

Speaking of the whimsical bird mug in blue, I recently learned from Instagram that Kate has its identical twin. It’s worth mentioning that Kate’s mug is the more exotic of the two. Her mug is from San Luis Obispo. Mine, I’m sad to say, is from Central Market. But I can imagine it came from a far-off place other than China. I stole a screen shot of Kate’s mug for this blog post, but I have a feeling it isn’t Kosher to do so. Excuse me while I delete the screen shot from my photo library.

Back to morning coffee.

The simple fact that I’d abandoned a tumbler full of Tony’s coffee should have been the first clue that trouble was brewing on Saturday.

I will spare you the details and just come out and say it: there was a reason for my coffee avoidance. And it had nothing to do with a pregnancy. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on which camp you belong to, I am not pregnant (or trying to be). But that’s not what I’m getting at. No, this coffee avoidance had everything to do with The Great Stomach Virus of 2017.

Friends, I’m going to fast forward a few days because no one needs to read about my run-in with the stomach bug.

So here we are on Monday. As Melanie Shankle says, Monday is the new Saturday. I agree. Which is why I’m not feeling the least bit bad about publishing a Weekend Roundup on a weekday.

First off, here’s a lovely essay by Leigh Sain. You can read about it here. I’m not a fan of Walmart but I adore Leigh’s essay about her recent encounter with an elderly saint at Walmart. Leigh’s story pretty much sums up everything I love about grocery shopping. I never love the idea of grocery shopping, but once I get there, the kind of stuff Leigh writes about happens on a regular basis. I’m telling you, the aisles of Fred Meyer, Central Market and Costco is where it’s at. Let’s not forget about Trader Joe’s.

Up next is another one from The Hippo Chronicles. I’m a huge fan of Elli Johnson’s work. In fact, I’ve linked to Elli’s essays in previous Weekend Roundups. Elli is my age (okay, maybe a smidget younger) and writes regularly about life with anxiety. Here ya go. Now drop everything and take in her words like breathing in a giant breath of fresh air.

If you’re more of a type-A check list type of gal or guy, the following post kinda-sorta goes along with Elli’s essay. I still haven’t figured out if I’m type-A or B. Depends on the day, I guess. Or the moment, which probably means B. Anyway, Jill E. McCormick shared a similar message on her blog from a slightly different angle. You can read about it here. It’s about what to do when you’re overwhelmed with responsibilities.

I was intrigued by the title of the next Hope*Writer essay: That time I stalked Lisa Harper by Erin Whitmer. Here it is for your reading enjoyment. I probably shouldn’t tell you why Erin’s plug about her essay caught my attention in the first place. I’ll give you a hint to wet your pallet: My fascination with this essay may, or may not, have everything to do with one dreadfully boring summer between sophomore and junior year of high school. One of my high school besties (who shall remain nameless) and I drove shamelessly through Seattle’s Blue Ridge neighborhood in a fire engine red Subaru wagon fueled by snacks from Safeway in hopes of glimpsing a certain someone at home. We practiced the fine art of stalking on a semi-regular basis that summer, I’m sad to say. Come to think of it, the Subie was more tomato-red than anything. We were too cool to care.

Once again I’m linking to my dear friend, Jody Lee Collins. Jody wrote this essay several years ago for (in)Courage about giving up on “quiet time” with God. Jody is a kindred spirit and her words come from a tender place. I’m linking to the original version here because I’m proud of my friend. Here’s a link to Jody’s website if you want to read more. By the way, Jody has a book releasing soon. You’ll hear about it later. I can’t wait to tell you about her labor of love.

Speaking of friends, my friend Emily, the ring leader of Kindred Mom, featured an essay on her site last week by Tia McNelly. Honestly, Tia’s words grabbed me from the start. I’m not entirely sure if Emily shared this essay with the Hope*Writers. I’m sharing it anyway because it’s that good. Here’s a sample to get you hooked: “In the sunshine of a crisp April morning in the Appalachians, I smoked my last cigarette. I knew it was my last cigarette because I knew I was pregnant and once I took a test, that was it.” You can read more here. You’re welcome.

Andrea Wolloff’s essay is the final essay in this poor excuse of a Weekend Roundup. Andrea shared a truly lovely essay about God, and “how he sets our calling in us when we are little and full of wonder.” Yes to this.

When I was a little girl I adored playing school. There’s no words to describe the joy I got out of creating a daily class schedule, which I’d print in my very best handwriting on the oversize green chalkboard in my bedroom. Or was it a blackboard? All I know is that quite a bit of time was spent coming up with seating arrangements and imaginary class lists, alphabetized of course. Another biggie for me was spending time nurturing baby dolls, especially my ten Cabbage Patch Kids, yes ten. (A wee bit obsessive-compulsive, don’t ya think?) And what about Barbie? My neighbor Sharon and I played for hours and hours with our Barbies on the cold cement floor of the daylight basement of my childhood. We played the day away beneath the staircase where my Barbie house was stored. The really interesting part about my Barbie days is that I invested more time in rearranging Barbie’s furniture and thinking up story lines for her life with Ken than I did actually playing with them. As an adult, my greatest love has been teaching preschool and kindergarten, becoming a wife and mama, and realizing that I’m a writer with a constant story happening in my head. Oh, and I spend quite a bit of time trying to transform our home into a sort of sanctuary from the word. In other words, I’m moving furniture.

Enough about Barbie and me. Back to Andrea. As a writer, Andrea is new to me; but I love what she has to say. I appreciate her essay and look forward to reading more from her in the future. By the way, you can read Andrea’s essay here.

That’s all for now. My little dog is fast asleep by my side. So is my husband. Have a wonderful week. Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful fall day, at least in the Pacific Northwest where I’m from.

P.S. I have a few book reviews in the works. Stay tuned. I haven’t had time to actually write these reviews, not yet, but they’re long overdue and coming your way! Let’s see if I can type-A myself into making it happen.

Weekend Roundup, September 8, 2017

09.08.2017 by Nicole Kristin Twedt //

Here’s a Weekend Roundup that wasn’t pulled together at the last minute or late at night. A real shocker, I know. It has everything to do with the kids being back in school. Hello regular writing time! If I’m being honest, it’s more like semi-regular writing time. Come to think of it, this could be the first thing I’ve thrown together since the start of school. I’ll take what I can get.

Moving on.

Before I dive into sharing the wonderful words of fellow Hope*Writers, I’d like to thank you for praying for Steven and our family as we settled into first, third, and fifth grades. I was greatly encouraged by the comments you left on my Facebook page.

By the way, Steven had a great first week. It’s nothing short of a miracle; and I am thankful, so very thankful. While I was blow-dying my hair on Wednesday morning, Steven came into the master bathroom.

“Mom,” he began, “It took forever for me to fall asleep last night, and I’ve been up since 6 o’ clock!”

“Why were you up late, Buster?” I asked.

“I was sooooo worried about school,” he answered.

Of course he was.

Six o’ clock is a solid hour before Steven’s LEGO Ninjago alarm clock grants him permission to get out of bed. Not a good start for the first day of school, especially for a boy who needs his beauty sleep. But then he zipped off to feed the dog, as happy as can be. Later my friend Dana pointed out that it was a huge step for Steven to articulate his worries in the first place. Actually, it’s a GINORMOUS step in the right direction. Is that even a word?

Steven-in-the-middle went on to have an excellent first day. Our guy adores his teacher (so do I). It doesn’t hurt that he likes several of his classmates and is already comfortable with them. Since the night before the second day of school, he’s been sleeping well and happy each morning. He’s hasn’t been in so much as a bad mood, which is usually the first sign that worry is taking over. If you are wondering what the fuss is about the start of the school year, I have two words for you: childhood anxiety.

I’ve been around the block enough times to know that anxiety is an ongoing hurdle. We’re working through it. There will be battles ahead. For now, however, we get to breathe a sigh of relief and offer up our hands in praise and thanksgiving. He is good to us, so good. And because of his tender care and affection, he’s helping Steven be brave when life is hard.

The girls also had successful first days. Overall, it’s been a good week, and we’re excited for fall. Well, it was a good week minus a few meltdowns from the Tiniest Tiny, and the whole sequin-covered cat ear headband debacle with Emily. Did you know cat ear headbands are even a thing? Apparently so. But this isn’t a tween fashion blog. You’re welcome for that, by the way. Because I could write all about my first experience at the teenybopper store, Justice, otherwise known as Boutique de Rainbow Glitter and Unicorn Vomit.

I opened up a bit about childhood anxiety last week. Here you go, you can read about it here. But if you’ve got an older child, like a high school-er, then I highly recommend Lindsey Hausch’s essay, To the Kid in High School With Social Anxiety. It was featured on The Mighty last week. Honestly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for those struggling with anxiety in late elementary to middle school to give it a read.

I loved this essay by Greer Oharah. It’s about living now and writing later. I really love the name Greer, which has nothing to do with anything. I’m not sure that I’ve heard Greer as a first name. It’s safe to say there will never be a fourth Twedtling. But I love coming up with hypothetical names for another child. Speaking of names, now that the big 4-0 is approaching in the not-so-distant future, I decided it was high time I put away my copy of The Best Baby Name Book in the Whole World. Perhaps I should reconsider. Just this morning I gave our plum-colored BOB Revolution jogging stroller to a family at school. In terms of baby gear, we all know what happens when you give away the good stuff. Anyway, Greer is a lovely name and she wrote a lovely essay for all you writers out there. As someone who’d rather spend time writing before cleaning the toilets and paying the bills, this was a refreshing and encouraging read. And beautifully written. I definitely struggle with balancing writing time and taking care of my family and home, and being a functioning member of society in general. I’d rather just write.

The next essay is titled The Day I Screamed at God: My Messy Awakening to Kindness and it’s by Hannah Savage. It’s about the day Hannah basically screamed at God and learned that her stormy emotions could not shake God from his steadiness. Stormy emotions? Now who does that remind you of? Don’t say it.

It would hardly be a Weekend Roundup without an essay from Dorina Lazo Gilmore, don’t you think? Her essay, Celebrating a Heaveniversary: 10 ways to honor a loved one’s death came at just the right time. I’m usually not one for advice-style essays, but this one is dear to me. You see, earlier in the week I had the guts to finally publish something I wrote after my dad’s 21st heaveniversary back in March. It’s a few blog posts back. I’m not going to link to it because I really want you to read Dorina’s essay. Her words broke my heart and offered hope at the same time. I identified so much with Dorina’s experience. I have to say that I was challenged to look at and approach next year’s heaveniversary a new way. If you’ve lost a loved one, or if you know someone who’s living a new normal without a loved one, please head over to Dorina’s website.

Edited to add: I haven’t checked my email since this morning. Which means I missed out on most of the blog posts I subscribe to via email. Lucky for me, Jody’s essay was also on Instagram. Jody is a champion encourager and an eloquent wordsmith. I have known her less than a year, but Jody is a true friend. And in case you didn’t know it, she’s the midwife of this blog (her words, not mine and, yes, there’s a story behind her claim to fame). I wouldn’t want you to miss this stunning tribute to September Eleventh not 9/11.

Well now, that’s about it. Have a glorious weekend. I hear we might actually get a bit of rain. At least it’s my hope and prayer. I know, I know, how often do you hear a Seattle girl praying for rain? But the wildfires continue to rage in my beloved home state. We really need rain. Please hope and pray along with us. We’re miles and miles from the flames, but it’s heartbreaking all the same.