Flourishing!

Let me say this first, I am raising a male version of myself. I cannot believe how strong and powerful genes are in the business of family lineage. I know that nature and nurture run neck-in-neck in their ability to shape and mold a child. But this boy is undeniably mine. At first glance, its obvious that Ellington looks a lot like me. We have the same chocolate drop skin, big brown eyes (with long lashes), a laugh that can cause a troll-who-lives-under-the-bridge to smile, compassion for others, and charisma for days. On a much deeper level, Ellington carries my trait of appearing like a fearless extrovert to the masses but holding close to his chest introvert-like tendencies. So it is wild to watch and a roller-coaster ride to parent a smaller, male version of myself. This past week my overly-articulate, eager, polite, nerdy, and high energy kid made the transition from his small group Pre-K class to the daycare’s Summer Camp program. Summer Camp is great in theory....trips to par...

This is the summer of way too much. But like always, I love it! I usually get excited and nervous when I have to do something new, or some variation of a new thing. In my typical Type-A fashion, let’s make a list of all the ways in which this is the summer-of-way-too-much”...(1) I have my first college intern (who’s given ghetto fabulous nickname is “Jo-Jo”), (2) we have five summer interns serving The Philadelphia Project and being a support to MAPC, (3) my male diva BFF/seminarian (who’s given ghetto fabulous nickname is “S-1” for literally being my first seminarian) is moving onto another internship as we are incorporating our fall seminarian into the mix, (4) we are embarking on a joint venture for an 8-week summer children’s ministry program, (5) we are having an changeover in our tenants and (6) I said, YES, to being President of a great civic association in our church’s neighborhood. Wheeeew!!!! This is why I hate seeing my reality in print. Making this list freaks me out eve...