by Ashley Larkin | Sep 12, 2014 | Faith, Family, Five Minute Friday, Grace, Hope, Mothering, Parenting, Surrender
I don’t know that we can be truly ready for the big changes. Even those we gear up for and plan, anticipate or lay awake with in the middle of the night look different when we’ve come upon them, are able to finger their intricacies, behold them in the real...
by Ashley Larkin | Sep 9, 2014 | Childhood, Family, Favorite posts, Love, Mothering, Parenting
She felt afraid. Worried she wouldn’t know enough. Missing how she used to be a baby, she said. Not ready. She felt excited. To meet friends and wear a purple backpack and practice numbers and read books with Ms. Foster. So ready. The day before kindergarten...
by Ashley Larkin | Jul 25, 2014 | Five Minute Friday, Mothering, Parenting, Poetry, Surrender
I couldn’t have imagined when you emerged after that long labor, furrowed brow and heavenly chunks and soft breath against my chest that we’d be here drawing to the end of this chapter, but I see the days fluttering by like pages in the fan’s stream....
by Ashley Larkin | Jul 11, 2014 | Five Minute Friday, Mothering, Parenting, Perspective, Surrender
I want to be one who holds solid, who hangs on for the bumpy, long road. But it’s hot and sticky, and my body hurts from the jostling, and I want the short, quick fix so much more. I want to grab for what I can see. I want what I want, and I don’t want to...
by Ashley Larkin | May 23, 2014 | Five Minute Friday, Love, Parenting
After J presents her group’s painted bridge model, constructed with toothpicks, popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners, and we watch a video of exuberant second grade dancing, Sici leads us to what she’s heard called the henna station. Two older girls sit...
by Ashley Larkin | May 19, 2014 | Community, Mothering, Parenting
I grew up with one younger sister and later stepsisters added to the mix. I babysat gaggles of girls. For three years through my teens, I counseled middle school girls at outdoor school. For three and a half years, I mentored elementary-aged and adolescent girls who I...
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