My 8-year-old son spends his summers polka-dotted. No joke. His olive skin easily tans, but patches on his arms, legs, neck and sometimes even his face get scaly, itchy and flaky, leaving him spotted. We’ve treated this with a variety of eczema prescriptions and over-the-counter solutions since he was an iddy-biddy guy. At a recent dermatologist visit, I was told he has Tinea Versicolor. So we’ve started some more medications and treatments (results are still pending.) I’ve been making this body cream for Lewis for a couple years, and it’s been great. Primarily because he doesn’t cry out in pain when…
In honor of heading to Chicago for my third Write-to-Publish Conference, I am posting the very first non-newspaper item that I ever had published. It was a children’s devotion called The Rotten Apple, and it was the result of a writing exercise at one of the classes I took at my first Write-to-Publish Conference. Because Terri Kelly (then editor at Devokids) chose to publish it, I started to believe I could do this writing thing. Now several years and many acceptance letters (and many rejection letters) later, I am looking forward to soaking in as much writing knowledge as I can…
The Harms and Skow boys in a rare moment of stillness. My friend (the one I wrote about here) recently reworked some children’s poems for The Des Moines Moms Blog. She is one of the few people in the this world who can make me laugh and cry at the same time, which is just what I did when I read these for the first time the other day. If you are in the mood for a good laugh/cry, read on… “You Are My I Love You” – (Original) Maryann K. Cusimano I am your…
My article, Raising Strong, Christian Boys: 5 Ways I’m Building Up My Sons’ Character, went live at Today’s Christian Woman today. I love it that I am blessed with the opportunity to write for Today’s Christian Woman. Sometimes I can’t believe I get to write my heart, and get paid to do it 🙂 However, every time I write a parenting article, this little voice inside my head says, “Your kids haven’t grown up yet. You still have plenty of time to screw them up.” I silence it with prayer, and the knowledge that God is in control, and I…
I had the honor of being today’s devo writer at The Upper Room. In conjunction with the devo that I actually wrote 2 years ago (the road to publication is not often a speedy one 😉 ) I was asked to provide a post for their blog. Here’s where you’ll find the devo – Counting to Ten Here’s where you’ll find the blog post – The Little Things and The Big Things While preparing the blog post, I was reminded of just how much God loves me personally. If I pay attention, I find so many instances where he takes a simple small act…