Friday, August 21, 2026
Every great work begins with vision. Every beautiful building begins as a blueprint. Every amazing dish with a recipe. In family life, we can do the same. President Nelson said, “Decide what kind of life you want to live forever.” We can determine the portion of life that rests within our power to choose, and decide the kind of family life we want to live.
In educational science, when we design a learning program, we always start with the ideal and move to the real. We imagine the most ideal learning situation for a given outcome—no budget, location or time constraints. There is no technology too cumbersome or far fetched. These realities exist, but starting with the ideal allows for ideas that would have been stifled under a more limited vision.
In The Magic City by Edith Nesbit, Phillip lives with his aunt. They build an island for just the two of them. Everything they could possibly want is there. A castle for Phillip. A modest castle, labeled as a cottage, for his sister. A pond you can skate on, even in the summer, and fruit that flowers and fruits at the same time.
Having the foundation of the ideal allows us to see the world without unnecessary limits. It is a safe and risk-free way to examine desires. It allows the exploration of a multitude of possibilities beyond the scope of probability. It allows teaches us to dream.
Our family vision began, as any number of experts have recommended, with a twenty-year dream. We imagined a Christmas party at our stunning home overlooking the Salt Lake Valley, where our children are visiting to celebrate the day. Each child thought over who they imagined they would be at that time, what their lives would look like, what our family relationships would look like. As Amy says in the Winona Rider film of Little Women, “We’ll all grow up one day, Meg. We might as well know what we want.”
The twenty-year party is a lovely idea, and we still reference it, but somehow the idea has grown to incorporate a whole community of where and who and what our future will include. With it came a lifestyle. We imagined happy interactions between cousins and the adults in their lives.
Though this was not necessarily the original intended purpose, the idea has grown to provide a vision for our individual desired roles in life. Like Teyva’s family in Anatevka, Fiddler on the Roof, they know who they are and what God expect them to be. While still in childhood, our children have envisioned the loving family relationships they desire to have as adults.
That was fifteen years ago. With just five years to go, we’re looking closely at how this is playing out. My daughter recently attended a speech by Elder Patrick Kearon. She shared something I love. Elder Kearon shared, quoting Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, “Above all, trust in the slow work of God. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.”
Life is a careful balance between looking to and planning for the future and at the same time, embracing the reality of real life’s chaos and God’s often unseen vision for us. We often have to acknowledge that our twenty-year dream may need modification. It may even exist only in relationships. But if we could maintain even a portion of the kind of family love we imagine we will have, that is something powerful!
The story of The Magic City continues as the main character actually goes to this magic island with his sister, Helen, and everything is as they imagined it! When Helen marries, and Phillip is faced with sharing his sister, he ends up giving away the imaginary island. To become the hero he needs to become, he chooses to give the dream island away, realizing that although he will now have to share his sister with her new husband and stepsister, it does not mean that his sister loves him any less.
We dream, we pray, we attempt to embrace that sense of suspense and incompleteness. Continuing to dream and work for a vision that constantly shifts takes faith. Accepting the unpredictable requires a massive amount of trust! As valuable as the ideal is, God’s plan for us is even greater, his vision more far reaching. Aligning our vision with God’s is the goal. He always has a great vision for us than we have for ourselves, but he does want us to keep dreaming. He just hopes that we can come to see our dreams become as great as his dreams are for us.
Thursday, August 13, 2026
Happy August! With the school year ramping up and lazy summer days flowing into more structured school rhythms, now is the perfect time to take a step back and see how we’re spending our time and focus. Since moving to the United States and my husband taking a job where he didn’t have to travel, we are taking advantage of the amazing local educational and community opportunities available around us and this time of the year has us eager for new adventures.
The last six months since we moved have required us to find a new balance in life, as things have been in flux. So far it’s working! Our kids just left the house for biking club and my husband noted that it took very little prodding or support from him. They got the bikes, water bottles, snacks, biking clothes, and gear ready with directions to this week’s route and left on time. A huge win for our family!
When we add educational and community events into our family routine, it is essential that we look at things from a Balanced Family Framework. This framework is a measurement I developed that looks at all of the facets of whole family life that support balanced, resilient, and joyful families. When any element is seeking to expand, we need to bulk up or restructure the other elements to support it in a holistic way.
For a quick overview, here they are:
Balanced Family Framework: A Gauge For Joyful Home Life
1. Physical & Economic Stability
Food, shelter, health access, predictable income — foundational.
2. Safety & Predictability in Daily Life
Stable family routines, secure relationships, low environmental stress.
3. Emotional Connection & Family Functioning
Warm relationships, clear communication, cohesion — strong predictors of well-being.
4. Social Support & Belonging
Extended family, friends, community ties — buffer stress and support growth.
5. Developmental Growth & Agency
Opportunities for learning, competence, self-regulation, and future planning.
6. Meaning & Purpose Across Family Members
Shared identity, goals, traditions, values that guide long-term flourishing.
Adding extra-curriculars puts the focus on the element of social support and belonging along with developmental growth and agency. Less inherent, but intentionally cultivated are the emotional connection and family functioning elements which coordinating this activity involves. We need to reinforce the rest of the elements of the family’s foundation so growth can be maintained. This means elements 1, 2, and 6. This has coincided with three things our family has focused on lately that have helped our family stay balanced.
Nothing says I love you like clean underwear in your drawer
Physical stability for us means job time! Extra biking clothes and trips to the pool means more laundry! Who is going to do that extra washing, sorting, folding, and putting away? Activities in the evening means family dinner time must be adjusted. Extra calories need to be consumed to keep those growing bodies strong. Who puts away the biking gear so the home is still a refuge of peace? To keep the burden from falling on any one particular person, we ought to coordinate these and the other tasks of family work. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on this in the weeks ahead.
Family Learning Time
I used to be great about insisting on an entire hour to teach the kids as a whole every morning. As they grew older, some of them had more pressing academic demands with their college courses, so we scaled back. It’s important to be flexible and adjust according to the family’s needs. Now the college kids tell me this family learning time is what they learned the most from in their education.
Currently, we’re bulking it up again and I couldn’t be more thrilled about that. With the college kids back at school, it’s just easier when there is no competing element in the house to draw focus, but we still give our high schoolers the choice to join in or study on their own. Right now, they usually stay! Taking time to learn and share together is huge for building safety and predictability in daily life and emotional connection and family functioning. I mentioned our family learning time briefly in my last newsletter, but it deserves a more detailed study on the website, so we’ll be covering as well.
The Twenty-Year Plan
Fifteen years ago, our family created a vision of how we want our family to be in twenty years. Just five years away from that, we’re seeing things come together. But fifteen years ago, two of the kids currently at home were two-years old and a newborn. The other two weren’t even born. We decided it was time to create a new family twenty-year vision. This is one of my favorite things we’ve done as a family and really is key to creating meaning and purpose across family members. We’d love to share the process, so stay tuned!
For now, I hope this inside peek into our family processes has you thinking about what’s helping you stay afloat when things are fluctuating. Send me an email or share with someone you trust the ways these elements are helping your family navigate life’s moving parts.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Today I have a treat for you: another article by my delightful daughter Meishe. I definitely agree that hobbies as a mother help us find joy in our role. Without further ado, here are Meishe’s thoughts on hobbies and motherhood:
You always hear that it’s difficult to pick up new hobbies as a mom, but I’m happy to report that I’ve picked up quite a few in the nine months since my son, Peter, was born. So here’s a list of some of my new skills that I think are totally super achievable in the first few months postpartum.
* Comedy — it takes a few months, but now I can make this kid laugh until he throws up — literally. My routine includes sticking out my tongue, peekaboo, and poking Pete in the belly.
* Wrestling — keeping him on his back for not just three seconds, but the entirety of a diaper change requires some real skill, and I’d like to see someone inexperienced try this and succeed.
* Getting Poop Out of Everything — including Peter, of course
and the five great Bs
* Breastfeeding while doing my makeup (impressive, right?)
* Breastfeeding while stirring dessert
* Breastfeeding while hiking
* Breastfeeding while showering
* Breastfeeding pretty much anywhere you can imagine
Jokes aside, I’ve picked up some traditional hobbies too. Recently, I expressed a desire to try something new. My husband, Josh, has made a great effort to find me both the supplies and the time. I haven’t been consistent, but I’ve experimented with:
* Sketching
* Painting
* Sewing
* Embroidery
* Reading new genres
* Thrifting (maybe not a new hobby but definitely getting more into it)
* Running
* Doing puzzles
* Exploring museums
* And of course, since here we are, writing
My husband, Josh made this possible. Without him taking the initiative to buy me paints, teach me to sew, and spend some quality time with his son, I’m not sure I ever would have done most of these. I’d be too guilty for “wasting time.” I’m so grateful for him!
I could still have hobbies without his help. I am, after all, a strong, independent young woman with boundless energy on the days Peter sleeps through the night. Technically speaking, I can do anything if I just buckle Peter into his high chair and get him some snacks. I’ve been gifted an easy baby and I’m a stay at home mom, both of which are probably the most ideal situations to start motherhood with. But with a baby (and I imagine it’s even harder with multiple children), your brain is constantly focused on baby’s needs, husband’s needs, and your own. I feel like I rarely even have the brain capacity to want to try anything new, much less take the initiative to actually do it. I’m too busy thinking about the next meal, the next trip to the laundromat, and a strange rash on Peter (how is it that babies always have something funky going on?).
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what makes a life worth living. Obviously I don’t think it’s just hobbies. I think it’s the relationships you build and the work you do. Motherhood is so fulfilling, and there’s nothing I’d rather be doing with my life. But taking the time to sit down and write a poem or go to a museum or read a new kind of book makes life more fun! Learning something new is so invigorating. It makes for a more flexible mom. It makes for a healthier mom. It makes for a mom who wants to do fun stuff.
Having hobbies as a mom does require additional help. Sure, I haven’t been a mom very long, and I really do have the easy version, but I’m so much happier when I get a chance to do something fun and a little irresponsible! And even in my situation, it’s not something I would ever end up doing on my own. Before becoming a mom, I didn’t realize that finding time and motivation to do hobbies outside of mom stuff would require even more support. So if that’s you, get your husband to talk to mine. Josh is full of ideas.
Now that I’m a mom, hobbies are an important part of my life! I have my husband to thank. I’m learning to lose the guilt and to gain a sense of success, whether I sew a drawstring bag or type out this essay. Hobbies and motherhood can and should be more compatible. Get out there and do something. If it helps to start counting daily activities as a hobby, do it. Cooking is a hobby. Gardening is a hobby. Go water those plants, girl. But also sketch your baby while he plays. And take more pride in it than ever before because making room for hobbies as a mom is a huge accomplishment.
— Meishe
Thursday, July 30, 2026
If I had to choose one book that epitomized our time in Europe for me, I would choose the beautiful translation of the book Heidi that I found in a bookstore in Amsterdam. Heidi was originally written in German, of course, so that makes the selection more obvious. The volume itself is lovely! The cover is a mass of tiny, raised, gold embossed white and periwinkle flowers. The beautiful text and illustrations are printed on creamy, gold-gilded art paper. It’s the perfect size for reading. The printing itself is the epitome of joy. But my favorite element of this book is the translation.
I grew up with a lovely paperback volume of Heidi. I purchased a sturdier hardback of another edition for my children. When I found a lovelier printing, I purchased it. The older copy had seen better days, so we donated it. Much to my chagrin. The children soon let me know that this edition of Heidi did not muster as much pleasure as our previous edition. Instead of reading delightful stories of “grandmother,” the pages were marred with the term “granny” and other atrocities. It had not before occurred to me that there was no one, beautiful, standard English translation of the original German text.
I had to shelf finding a new edition for a time, but while in Germany, I renewed my search. We purchased a translation by Eileen Hall, and it restored much of the delight of our original hardback. The illustrations were lovely, but the copy itself was paperback. That would never do for long in our home. I eventually searched until I found our previous copy. It was translated by Louise Windsor Brooks. We didn’t like the translation or printing as well, but it was sturdier, which is important.
When I walked into The English Bookshop in Amsterdam and saw this version of Heidi among Chiltern’s stunning selections, I prayed that the translation would be by Eileen Hall. Fortunately, God loves me even more than that. I was unfamiliar with Elizabeth P. Stork’s translation, but I now consider it the very best. Her husband explains why in the book’s introduction and I agree with every word he says. The Eileen Hall is still lovely, but I love how the Swiss elements bleed through in Stork’s words. They really are such a poetic people!
Do you sense that finding the perfect edition of this children’s book brings me joy? To say that I adore it is a gross understatement. I placed it in my carry-on to hand deliver across the pond when we moved back to the states. I was taking no chances. I keep it in my bedroom on my shelf of treasures, and ordered a second copy for the children. They are not allowed to read my pristine, Amsterdam-acquired copy but may enjoy, finger, and generally muddle it’s replica to their heart’s delight. Every mother must keep a few things sacred for herself to enjoy.
What is in your private hoard lately? Your equivalent of secretly eating dark chocolate in the bathroom while the children are watching their favorite show? What soulful delights are you savoring lately? Send me an email! I’d love to hear all about it!
Thursday, July 23, 2026
I have the most beautiful, blue-velvet couch. I bought it in Germany. It’s the first sectional we’ve ever owned. But I just banished it to the upstairs. In a bedroom. Where no one can see it. And life is better because of that. Why? Space. Space in a home is important. Not having enough space is often the complaint, but how space is utilized is often the true problem. Every homemaker knows this, but I think we can all take advantage of utilizing space to better promote learning in our homes.
Our family just moved the couch upstairs and traded it for a smaller couch and two armchairs. It’s not nearly enough seats for when visitors drop by or our oldest daughter and her family are in town. But we’ve traded the appearance of convenience for true functionality. As we did so, we went from struggling with family focus during devotional time to effortless, engaged learning.
Consider this passage:
“A flock of flying geese maximizes both individual well-being and overall group performance. In the parlance of industrial engineering, a flock of flying geese represents a dynamic, interactive, and collaborative model of ergonomic design, a scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among actors and other elements of a system in order to optimize the performance of each individual and the overall system. At any given time, each goose has a specified role and responsibility, but across the spread of time, roles and responsibilities, including leadership, are constantly rotating. Effort, participation, and contributions are distributed and balanced across time and distance. There is no wasted effort. All geese are engaged at all times, working in parallel toward a shared purpose. Feedback is plentiful, authentic, immediate, and affirmative. The geese are ever mindful of not just who they are, but whose they are!”
This statement is from Henri Lipmanowicz and Arvind Singhal, a couple of learning experts, who use space in the classroom as one of their most important methods for influencing interaction in learning environments. When our homes are learning environments, we can take note of this same principle. For these professionals, open classrooms act as the essential physical canvas, the main building block they use for switching things up so people communicate in more meaningful ways.
I grew up in a home where we rearranged furniture probably every month. I did the same thing when my children were younger. I still move around furniture often. It mixes things up! My mother has lived for over 40 years in the same home, and I’ve noticed my mother moves her furniture less and less these days, but she still moves things around for showers and family gatherings. It changes how we interact.
We used this concept in our home this week, as we swapped out our comfy sectional for a big empty space in the middle of the room. It’s now where kids sit while we’re studying a painting and lounge while reading. Something I’ve noticed about kids that homeschool (at least my kids!) is that they can often be found reading in the most unusual spots. They might be squatting on a stool or draped across several stairs. Opening up the spaces in our homes can be invaluable for opening up our minds and lives to learning.
I invite you to try this. Move some furniture today, stand back, and observe what happens to your home classroom. It might just be the innovation of change that does the magic, but sometimes that’s all we need to signal who and whose our families are. How are we using space in our home right now to facilitate learning and collaborating?
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