My Father's Daughter

There is a story in my head. It's trying to be told. It's the story of where I am and how I got here. It's the story of how I learned Who my God really is. THE story. His story. The story is as old as time. And it is relevant right now. It's a story of love and faith and grace. It's a story of rebellion and consequence. It's a story of returning. I think I'm going to tell this story, how this story relates to me, has been revealed to me. It may take weeks or months. Years maybe. But I'll tell this story here. Because really, there is no other story without this one. *** Right now as I type there is a twist in the current chapter of the story. There is a conflict that has grown more intense than it has in decades. It's over Israel.  This tiny piece of coveted space has been the center of war on and off for thousands of years. It's a conflict that began with Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And it was compounded with Jacob and Es...

Five minute Friday, where lot of beautiful people write for 5 minutes with a prompt. We write because we love to, because we have to, because we can't not. We write without edits or rewrites, just letting the words go... Finish... Go I just read through words I haven't seen in a very long time, words that tremble a little at first. They are my words. It can be so strange to see a date from 8 years ago, to recognize a voice, but it not be the one speaking now, to read about a part of life that has finished. New things begun and then even they have changed, evolved, finished. So many times we think we know, that we have it figured out, but then we understand how we never did. That girl from 8 years ago, the one who just started homeschooling, she's me but not anymore. We grow and we change and we learn. If we're doing it right that never changes. We don't stop the growing and learning until it's finished. Until we are finished. And the One who is doing ...

Five minute Friday (early on a Sunday Morning). A whole bunch of word lovers get together and write for five minutes with a prompt. We don't worry or edit. Just write {and encourage}. This week is Bloom Go All these kids all this week. I've watched many of them grow from babes. They play in the sun. They smile and laugh. A best friend's daughter, seeing glimpses of a woman. Fist fulls of flowers...even if they were just clovers. Seeing tall boys on wheels, small boys with bubbles. Babies with bright eyes and big smiles. A house full more days this week than not. Blooming with life, noise, and a little chaos. Children grow. Friends connect. We laugh and work and rush...and love. Where exactly does the time go? It slips by so quickly. Babies bloom into children and then into these tall creatures on the brink of leaving childhood behind...But right now we play and feed them and send them through the sprinkler. This is just what summer is for. Stop. Join u...

I've heard an interesting fact. About sports. That's not really my thing, but it stuck with me. Coaching football or soccer (and I would assume many other sports) in the first half of the game is different than it is after half-time. The decisions are a little more carefully weighed, even if it's not intentional. The psychology behind it is that there is, relatively speaking, a lot of time left so the part of the brain that makes the decisions takes it's time processing and comparing outcomes of different strategies. In the second half, of course, decisions are still made as carefully as possible. But often in the presence of increased adrenaline, coaching decisions are made quicker and on more gut feeling than statistics. The coaches get to know the players' abilities on that given day, they got to know the opposing team and the weather. The decisions made begin to better reflect the current situation rather than "the plan". The coaches, in a sense, fee...

A couple of  things... 1. I bought an internet domain name. That's very, very advanced for my Internet skills, so it's worth an announcement. It's melindagallone.com, or www.melindagallone.com (see it up there ^^ in the URL bar?!). Pretty exciting, huh? From now on you can find my blog there. This blogger site will point you to my domain so you don't actually have to do anything different. BUT if I ever move off of Blogger you'd need to find me by my name domain. No worries though. I'll announce it if I ever make a change and I'm still pretty far off from designing my own site. 2. Upon looking through my posts I noticed there are several I never published. If you subscribe to my blog, you might get emailed posts that are dated from long ago. Don't panic. I'm just publishing some old work. 3. I'd love to get to know you better, so please feel free to drop a comment anytime. OK. That's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by :)

Writing again...seems like it's time for a reintroduction, a bit more than what's to the right in the A bout Me box. This is my writing space. Welcome. I write mostly for me. I write to untangle the mess of thoughts. I write because I love words. I write because I have a hard time not writing. I write because I am made in the image of God to create, to tell stories, to speak. It is my very first desire in life to honor my Maker in all things: to know Him and make Him known. Everything else that comes after that is just icing, the means in which I have been given to honor Him. I've been married for just about 15 years...and that seems crazy to see in print. Since I still feel 12 there is no way I'm old enough to be married for a decade and a half.  I'm a 30 something homeschooling mom. This takes up a lot of who I am. I teach my own because why wouldn't I?? I want to be the one with the privilege of filling their minds and learning right nex...