by Ashley Larkin | Mar 25, 2014 | Family, Just Write, Love, Mothering, Open endings, Sorrow
She pads into our room at dark o’clock and tugs on my shirt. “I had a bad dream, but I don’t want to talk about it,” Lala says blankly, reciting the script as if by memory. Even in the middle of the night, I recognize...
by Ashley Larkin | Jan 28, 2014 | Childhood, Family, Favorite posts, Just Write, Mothering, One Word: Seek, Parenting, Perspective, Surrender, Tell His Story
I write in my basement where puffy cotton clouds dangle from the ceiling along with lines of raindrops cut from paint chips. Through the window, I see the backyard where buckets and rags mingle with sticks jammed into grass and a makeshift drying bench for washed and...
by Ashley Larkin | Dec 10, 2013 | Biblical tales, Celebration, Childhood, Faith, Family, Just Write, Mothering, Parenting
The tree shines so brightly this year. It’s amazing what 800 white bulbs can do to an evergreen. (I’ve been known to overdo the lights a smidge in the past.) Much fills our moments, hours and weeks during December, but, as my sister Lizzy and I talked...
by Ashley Larkin | Dec 4, 2013 | Community, Giving, Grace, Gratitude, Just Write, Mothering, Open endings, Parenting
I try to imagine her expression as she presses black and red markers to the paper plate. Does a faint smile turn up the corners of her mouth as she writes thanks? Does a worry line run deep between her eyebrows? Is her house filled by the roars of boys or hollers of...
by Ashley Larkin | Sep 25, 2013 | Amusings, Celebration, Family, Just Write, Mothering, Parenting
Things already showed signs of looking up and then, hello, candy corn cake. What, never heard of one? Neither had I until the girls and I made it up. Oh no, you won’t be seeing this beauty on Pinterest. At least not one like this, with the finger-smudged...
by Ashley Larkin | Sep 10, 2013 | Childhood, Faith, Family, Imperfect Prose, Just Write, Mothering, One Word: Trust, Perspective, Sorrow, Tell His Story, Trust, Truth-telling
I’m sitting here in the sticky air of my basement in front of the computer while Lala watches a show. It’s giving me a few minutes to write and so I’m choosing to be thankful, rather than guilty. Within the last 24 hours, I’ve read three great...
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