Tanara McCauley

Culturally Imagined Stories

Tag: parenting

  • Beautiful

    A woman had a dream. She walked for miles through fields and deserts, grasslands and marshes, following the sun. It warmed her face and shined in her eyes, making her squint as she journeyed. She pushed aside tall stalks of wheat, trudged through wet sand. Her thighs strained up steep mountainsides. In every place the […]

  • The Cookie Jar

    “A cookie jar, though beautiful, will always disappoint if found empty.” My cookie jar is empty. It’s seen a batch or two–maybe–in the months since I returned home from Mount Hermon’s Christian Writers Conference; but for the most part it’s been unoccupied. Relieved of duty. Free of tenants. And for a while I blamed my […]

  • Kids Cook Fridays

    Fridays have always been a population favorite. They end the work and school week, usher in vacations (or holidays, for my European friends), and offer much-needed breaks. Even the most disagreeable chime in on the popular consensus of Friday’s arrival…ahh. In my home, we issue up a hearty “Mmmm” as well. Because that’s when the kids get to cook. And I’m […]

  • Thanks, Mom

    I blog sporadically for Compassion Ministries, an organization that makes it possible for my family to sponsor three children from different countries. In honor of Mother’s Day, this week’s Compassion blogging prompt is to write an open letter to my mom. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to publicly praise her, despite her love for […]

  • Be “Hoo” You Are

    ~My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word~ Psalm 119:148 As a young child I came alive at night, and snoozed each morning till the last possible second. In college I signed up for all the evening classes I could find. The professor of my one morning class once gave […]

  • Soapbox Parenting

    “You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!” ~Syndrome, The Incredibles Parenting has quite a few deja vu moments. You get the distinct feeling you’ve seen, done, or felt a particular something before. Then it hits you. The lecture, the kid with eyes glazed over, the adult droning on and on in an attempt to impale […]

  • A Wrecked Perspective

    “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Recently, on a day like any other, my three kids and I set out for an evening of gymnastics and Kenpo practice, with a potential coffee stop squeezed in. The smell of mint wafted from […]

  • When Mom’s Away…

    As I gear up to head to the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference in St. Louis, I’m tempted to fret over how my family can possibly manage without me. My husband is off work and my father-in-law will be flying in to keep him company, still I’m skeptical of two men being able to […]

  • Unpopular

    My oldest daughter wears glasses…sort of. She has a prescription. And a set of lenses matching that prescription. And a nifty little case to put them in. It’s a fight, however, to get the glasses out of their felt-coated den to perch stylishly upon her pretty little nose. They spend a lot of their time […]

  • Twice the Miracle

    I could tell by the look in the nurse’s eyes she wasn’t sure I understood what she was saying. We stared at each other, she with one brow lifted in question for some sign of comprehension on my end; me drifting inside myself with a host of “what if’s” tumbling through my mind. My twins, […]