words

the weight of what we carry the light

The Weight of What We Carry

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / February 6, 2023

The weight of what we all carry actually takes my breath away sometimes if I think about it too hard. Those things we are struggling with that we carry through all our days and moments. Money problems that wake up at night as we run numbers again and again in our heads or worries about…

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He's the kid who never listens

He’s the Kid Who Never Listens the First Time

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / February 3, 2023

He’s the kid who never listens the first time. Or the second. Or even the tenth. You can pick him up out of the line up in the school hallways.  He’s the one who doesn’t walk in an orderly fashion. He runs or spins or stops in his tracks if something catches his eye. He…

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Parenting Teenagers is a Joy Beyond Measure

Parenting Teenagers is a Joy Beyond Measure

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / January 23, 2023

Parenting teenagers is a joy beyond measure and also the hands-down hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It’s the kind of hard that twists your heart and squeezes out every drop of love and patience you have in you.   I thought having been a teenager myself this gig would be no…

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Life is Hard, Let’s Just Try Our Mediumest

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / January 20, 2023

I tell my kids all the time that I don’t care how they do in life as long as they try their best. But you know what, that’s the absolute wrong thing to say right now. Sometimes trying your best is just too tall an order. I, for one, currently do not have a drop…

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be where your feet are

Be Where Your Feet Are

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / December 10, 2022

Be Where Your Feet Are I watched as the two students noticed I was walking toward them and both stealthily slid their math homework under their writing notebooks and pretended to be totally engaged in thinking of their next writing idea. I, of course, was not fooled. I came up behind them, crouched low and…

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Gift Guide for the Cat Lover and their Cats

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / December 6, 2022

This was one of them most fun gift guides to make! So you have a cat lover in your life? I am clearly here for you. We have four basically wonderful cats and here are all the things we bought for them this year. ENJOY! Cat bowls. These bowls are seriously the cutest thing in…

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stocking stuffer

Stocking Stuffers for the Teen Boys in your life

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / December 2, 2022

Stocking stuffers and gifts in general feel SO much harder for teen boys! But I am here to help…I cast a wide net in finding some things that teen or even tween boy in your life will love to find in his stocking. Some of these I have given before and others I am ordering…

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They Used to Line Up

They Used to Line Up to Watch Me Leave

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / December 1, 2022

They used to line up to watch me leave. Even if I was just running to the store for 10 minutes…5 little faces would be pressed up against the glass. “Don’t forget to beep and wave!” they’d yell, knocking each other over trying to claim their spot by the window. We eventually even had to…

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stocking stuffer

Stocking Stuffers Teen Girls Will Love

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / December 1, 2022

Stocking stuffers are actually one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I loved, loved, loved my stocking growing up and liked to save it for last and found such joy in those little lip balms with the slide off covers and one year even a comb I could put in my back pocket that had…

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book club picks

Our Book Club Picks: Get Reading in the New Year!

By Amy Betters-Midtvedt / November 28, 2022

Our book club has been on a roll this year, so many awesome people and so many awesome books. Enjoy our book club picks along with this list of books which recaps my favorite books read to date. Each of these books was test on many readers so I’m confident each would make a great…

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