Years ago, after moving to Fort Worth, our friend Chris Wolfe would stop by to visit and ask me, “Hey TJ, what did you do today?”
I gently taught him early on that you don’t ask a stay-at-home mom, “What did you do today?” It’s like asking a pregnant woman how much weight she’s gained. There’s no win-win answer to that question.
Take today, for example.
Theoretically, I have Mondays from 9-2 with all the kids in school. Five hours, right? Five hours to read and watch TV and eat bon bons.
So here’s my day:
9:00 Drop off girls (Corbin took boys at 8 - bless him)
9:15-10:15 Prayer group for boys’ school (a very necessary way to start off my week!)
10:30 Straight to school to pick up boys and take them to orthodontist.
12:15 Drop boys back off at school, head home to pay bills and do paperwork.
1:15 Get call from school office that Bran’s teeth are sore, can I bring meds?
1:30 Leave house, take meds, pick up girls, go by bank, get to boys’ school in time for 3:00 pick up.
Fight the masses of parents at pick up and shuffle all the kids around to the PTA closet at the back of school to check inventory for the Fall Carnival Cake Walk booth. Meantime, Esther has filled her diaper. After sorting through cardboard boxes and felt spiders and year-old posters and plastic pumpkins, I determine the inventory looks acceptable.
Carrying Esther in such a way as to not overflow her diaper in my arms, a friend and fellow carnival mom sees me and explains that she already sorted through the carnival props a few days ago - but thanks for coming.
Hudson cries all the way to the car because his mouth hurts. Mental note - I will never again forget Advil on orthodontist day. We make it to the car - and why does it feel like a hundred degrees on Sept 22nd? We walk to the far end of the playground to get to the car because the playground gate is locked. Get to the car, change Essie’s diaper in the back of the suburban under the watchful eyes of a man mowing the grass right next to our car. The cut grass blows into the back of my suburban and onto Esther’s exposed behind.
Whew.
So it’s now 4:45, and having given up on homework, we’re off to Hudson’s baseball game (if I can convince him to play through the pain of his orthodontic-treated mouth… oh, the drama). He’s supposed to be there in half an hour. And I just realized that I need to get Hudson’s glove from Branson’s baseball coach before getting Hud to the field early for batting practice, as we accidentally left his glove at Bran’s game last week…
Back to the “what did you do today” question. Incidentally, Chris Wolfe’s wife, Sarah, had a baby this morning. Their fifth. Nathan Bademan Wolfe, boy #5 in the Wolfe gang, with the oldest only six years old.
I’m guessing Chris doesn’t ask Sarah “What did you do today?” too often.
Corbin knew better than to pose the question to me tonight. Unless, of course, he wants to hear, “I wrote this blog post, didn’t I?!”

Footnote - In conjunction with my previous “Fully Two” post, watch this. Caught her yesterday in her normal, happy, into-everything antics.

My little boy is growing up. I suppose it’s something I’m going to have to accept. Somehow Hudson has dashed into boyhood right before our eyes. His kindergarten year is coming to an end, and Hudson will move into the ever-ascending numerical grades that promise to pass as quickly as they came. How many people have told me, “Just wait til they’re in school, then the years really speed by.”
Well, I don’t want the years to speed by. I want to capture photographs and memories in my mind’s eye of this little chocolatey-brown-eyed, snuggly, skinny, sensitive six-year-old and keep ever before me the privilege of being his mommy and living in the same home with him. As Corbin often says, Hudson might be too cool a kid to have us as parents.
I’ve always told Hudson he’s my sunshine, singing that well-loved song to him since his infancy. Something about his lovey-touchy nature and sincere grin, he totally lights up my heart.
I love hearing Hudson pray.
I love hearing him say “yes sir” and “yes m’am” every time he responds to Corbin and me (even when we wake him in the middle of the night… “Yes sir, Daddy? I’m sleep walking?”).
I love that nearly every sentence he utters is followed by, “Right, Bran?”
I love that when Basden finds a treasure in the backyard - an especially colorful leaf or a uniquely jagged rock - she runs to show her nature-loving big brother.

What will we remember about his kindergarten year?
- Legos, legos, legos.
- Receiving a sticker for good behavior at school every day. Every day. If there’s an empty day on the calendar in his folder, either he wasn’t at school or Mrs. Tucker didn’t pass out stickers that day.
- Our family cheering from the sidelines at Hud’s soccer, basketball, and baseball games. After school and on weekends he shadowed Branson on skateboards in our driveway. A few months ago he raced me down Angel Fire’s powdery blue slopes - and won - for the second year in a row. I continue to be surprised by Hud’s natural athletic ability and courage.
- Getting to know a great little group of boys at school. Fun to see him initiate and develop friendships. But it warmed my heart a few weeks ago when he told me that he will always have three best friends: Bran, Basden and Essie.
- Breathing treatments.
- Thursday boys and red caps. Hudson was so proud of his red cap that I’ve found him asleep in it.
- Getting braces as a kindergartner. With every visit to the orthodontist, his classmates anxiously await Hud’s return to see if this is the visit where he’ll actually get the braces. So far they’ve been disappointed. Waiting through dental cleanings, spacers, and now an expander (ugh), it’ll be summer before Hud actually gets the brackets. In light of all the work on his mouth, our already picky eater often says “I can’t eat that (insert healthy food) because of my expaanduh.”
- Rushing to Basden and Esther’s cries for help - Hudson usually gets to them before I do, with the bonus of much more sympathy than Mommy offers
- Holds a deep love for animals, especially the small, furry types he can cuddle in his arms.
- Cooks scrambled eggs all by himself, start to finish. Enjoys being in the kitchen and initiates cooking with me.
- We’re continuing to see Hud’s laid-back personality peppered with a competitive drive. This “focus” surfaces in sports, but also in attempting to read Branson’s books.
- Have I mentioned sensitive? One thing we get to work on with Hudson is that as a family we’re all on the same team. That means that even when Corbin or I say something out of frustration or simply correct him, he’s not allowed to run and hide. We’ve found him lying under a lumpy pile of pillows in the sunroom or swirled up like a cinnamon roll in the living room curtains. He is slowly learning that we correct him because we love him. We’re trying to (patiently) teach Hudson that while it’s ok to feel angry with us or a sibling, he needs to express it with words and not running and hiding.
You’re a good man, Hudson James. I see evidence of your growing up all around me. Just yesterday you told me that you really want to visit Jerusalem and Iraq. Okay. That was followed by, “Mom, how will I know who to marry? How do I make her fall in love with me?”
I’ll say again if it’s the right girl you won’t have to make her fall in love with you. And that I’ll be happy to fight off all the others before her.
We love you, Hud, you are a GIFT to us!

If you send your kids to public school, or are considering sending your kids to public school, you must, must, must read this book.

Going Public - Your Child Can Thrive in Public School, by David and Kelli Pritchard

My friend Heather told me about the Pritchards after hearing them speak at the All Staff Young Life conference in Florida this past January. They had just written this book and it was due out in March. I waited on pins and needles for the Amazon cardboard box to arrive at my door. And even with my (hopeful) high expectations, this book is a gem and so encouraging for parents choosing public school.

A few interesting things about the Pritchards:
- they have eight children, all of whom attend/attended public schools
- while they live in a premiere school district in Tacoma, the Pritchards have deliberately sought and gotten a waiver to attend a school with lower test scores and a higher percentage of “economically disadvantaged” families
- their oldest daughter Alyse, 24, graduated with honors from USC; second daughter Krista, 22, attends Hawaii; and son Tavita, 20, currently plays quarterback for Stanford University
- David and Kelli are careful not to criticize private schools or home schools in Going Public, but instead offer a much-needed tool for encouraging public school parents
- David is the Young Life area director in the south suburbs of Tacoma, WA and manages Young Life’s largest summer camp
- Going Public is worth reading even if yours is not a public school family - the solid, practical, Biblical parenting advice transcends all school choices.

Some of my favorite quotes from the first chapter, “You can Do It!” include:

Our approach to difficult people and situations is, We can learn something here. (pg 19)

Starting in the very first classroom, our home, we teach our children to be the influencers rather than the influenced. (pg 20)

We consider ourselves to be our children’s number one educators, and we will never give up that responsibility or privilege - even though they spend 30 hours a week in someone else’s classroom. We instruct our kids every day. We look for the teachable moments that intersect with what they are experiencing outside our home. We draw frames around their encounters and activities, showing how they fit within God’s greater perspective. (pg 21)

We believe… that believing parents can raise kids with strong spiritual roots in the midst of a secular culture. (pg 22)

Other chapters:
Ch 2 - Is Public Education an Evil Plot?
Ch 3 - What the Bible says about Education
Ch 4 - The Most Important Thing to Teach Your Public-School Child
Ch 5 - The Second Most Important Thing
Ch 6 - The Third Most Important Thing
Ch 7 - The Magic of Being Nice
Ch 8 - Submitting to Authority
Ch 9 - Teachable Moments
Ch 10 - Up Close and Personal
Ch 11 - Everybody Should “Homeschool”
Ch 12 - Your Very Best Chance
Ch 13 - For Men Only
Ch 14 - The Nearest Mission Field
Ch 15 - The Moon is Round
Afterword - From our Children

A couple of endorsements sum up what I love about Going Public:

While many Christian families fear the negative influence of public schools, the Pritchards remind us that we don’t have to “take God into the public schools,” because He’s already there! Finally, a positive, practical book that encourages people to work together as a family and impact our schools and communities for Jesus.
Kjel and Leslie Kiilsgaard
Public high school teacher and coach
High school counselor

If you want to find out what marriage and parenting is all about, just watch David and Kelli as they interact with each other and with their children. One of the things that strike me the most is the love and respect their children have for them. If the proof is in the pudding, you only have to watch the Pritchard family to see model of a family that loves each other and the God who created them.
Bill Paige
VP and Special Assistant to the President of Young Life

I wrote on the topic of school choices last month, and what I found was that the comments people left were more interesting than my actual post, Bloom Where You’re Planted. This whole school choice can certainly conjure up some friction. As I mentioned before, I see significant beauty in many private schools and home school families. We are taking this one year at a time. But I am so grateful for David and Kelli’s blood, sweat and tears in crafting this outstanding, valuable resource. This is a book that I anticipate rereading and referencing many times.
You can read more about Going Public, as well as the Pritchards’ family and ministry, at David and Kelli’s website and blog. Enjoy!