Breast Cancer How American Idol Cracked Open the Cancer Wound
March 21, 2018 KimHarms

You never know when it’s gonna hit. I haven’t even given cancer much thought recently. I just live and write and buy groceries and do boy mom things and complain about the nine inches of mid-March snow that the weatherman did not forecast.  And it’s good. I like this life God has given me. I’m happy. I’m content. I’m blessed. But this guy named Brandon Elder walked into our living room via the American Idol try-out stage the other night and he opened up wounds I wasn’t prepared to revisit. This sweet 22-year-old guy started talking about his mom while…

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Life Body Parts I Never Imagined Discussing with My Kids (and it has nothing to do with breast cancer)
November 2, 2017 KimHarms

I wrote the following little story several years ago as a guest blogger at Leanne Shirtliffe’s website. I recently started receiving spam comments with advertisements for Cial@s and Viag@a and realized this post was the culprit. I guess if you mention male anatomy multiple times in a post, crazy drug companies will find you eventually. (You’ll notice I added an @ symbol to certain words in the hopes of avoiding more comments from prescription drug companies) 🙂 Reading through the story again made me giggle. I’m reposting it today in the hopes of making you giggle too. My Lewis was five…

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Life Flip Shots – How YouTube is an Answer to a “Mom Prayer”
October 6, 2017 KimHarms

It has long been a prayer of mine that God would make me aware my children’s gifts and talents. And that He would help me to be a dream cheerleader not a dream squasher. I used to watch my friend, Cinnamon, (yes that’s her real name) and think, “She’s got this mom thing figured out. I want to be like that.” When my boys were just toddlers, I watched her let her 15-year-old daughter play in a band. She invited that band to practice (drums and all) in her house. And she supported them when they sought out coffee houses…

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Life The Things My Eyes Can’t See
July 19, 2017 KimHarms 2Comment

I sat on the deck overlooking the Rocky Mountains in the cool of the morning. Coffee in one hand, Kindle in the other. I’d been reading through the New Testament, but for a change of pace I downloaded a little vacation devotional from Amazon for our week in Colorado. On our first morning in Granby, I read this prayer. Heavenly Father, Awaken my spiritual eyes to see you fully, in all your glory. Give me discernment to see beyond what my physical eyes will allow. Amen. The prayer struck me as odd considering I was getting an eyeful of God’s…

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Parenting 10 Things I Hope for My Boys as They Enter High School
June 27, 2017 KimHarms 2Comment

Photo courtesy of Rachel Vespestad Every time I drive past the high school building looming by the cornfields on the outskirts of town, my palms start sweating. Maybe because my high school friends scarred me for life by making me watch Children of the Corn in the 90s. More likely it’s because the sweet six pound baby, whose chest movement I observed closely on a nightly basis to be sure he was not dead, will soon be navigating the gauntlet of secondary education. It freaks me out a little. And it’s gotten me thinking about the things I…

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Parenting 6 Things Every Dad Should Know About His Daughter @ Inspire a Fire
June 17, 2017 KimHarms

Dear Dads, I don’t have a daughter, but I am one. And this list of 6 Things Every Dad Should Know About His Daughter is inspired by my experience. 1. She is paying close attention to you. By the time I was four, I’d seen my dad build and fix a lot of stuff, so I was utterly disappointed when after I had a serious mishap involving a trampoline and a metal tractor toy, he wasn’t able to put my broken arm back together. Sometime over the course of two surgeries, a week in the hospital and four months in a cast,…

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Breast Cancer When I Was Scared by Lewis Harms
May 30, 2017 KimHarms 1Comment

I go through all the boys notebooks at the end of each school year and keep a sampling of what they’ve done. Lewis’ stories often inspire laughter. But this rare gem brought tears. I was scared too, Mr. Lewis.  And what I wanted most in the world was to protect you from the fear I was feeling. I wanted to kick that fear and the cancer right out of our house. But I don’t have that kind of power, and the best I could do was to let you see me take my fear and put it in the hands…

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Parenting The Evolution of Motherhood @ Inspire a Fire
May 20, 2017 KimHarms

My monthly post is up at Inspire a Fire.  Talking about motherhood today. The Evolution of a Mother’s Role “It was sorta okay.” That may not sound like much of a sentence, but when as a mother you hear those four words exit the mouth of a child who has been in the midst of a struggle, they are good words. Good words indeed. From a Tired Body to an Aching Heart My boys used to be babies. You know, the kind that needed fed all the time and changed all the time. The kind that continually spit up on…

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Life Just a Mom Shamelessly Promoting Her Boy’s youtube Channel
March 12, 2017 KimHarms

He’s being creative (albiet crazy) and it makes me happy. This one involves basketball, tabasco sauce, a freezing cold creek and 30 seconds of oh-my-goodness-my-son-has-lost-his-mind at the end. Watch and give Owen a like if you feel so inclined. EXTREME GAME OF PIG CHALLENGE (Flip Shots youtube channel)  

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