Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

Long live the Queen!

On September 9th (this very day!) Queen Elizabeth II will become Britain’s longest reigning monarch, bumping her great-great-grandmother Victoria from that top spot. (Victoria ruled for 64 years until her death in 1901.) The Queen’s has had 12 prime minsters. So far. Her first prime minister was Sir Winston Churchill. She is the most popular… Read more »

workspaces to inspire you

Where do you make art? write? compose? create? When I started out I thought it would be in a library. So I found the perfect one. It was very beautiful. And very silent. And very serious. And all I could think was, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” I kept looking around at everyone writing great… Read more »

the art of simplicity

It’s hard to believe… but Miffy, that adorable white baby bunny, turns 60 this year! In 1955, on a rainy seaside holiday in North Holland, Dick Bruna sketched a little bunny for his young son. The bunny kept hopping about. Each evening he would make stories up about the bunny and… Miffy was born. I… Read more »

Happy Independence Day (from a Brit?)

The independence we are celebrating today is, of course, independence from the likes of me. Brits. (Excuse me but first of all, what is a Brit doing posting on Independence Day? I know. It’s cheeky but there you have it. We are nothing if not cheeky.) When I first came to the States, I visited… Read more »

crossing barriers and boundaries

It’s one thing to hold the book you wrote in your hands. It’s another to see it in the hands of a child you have never met at the opposite ends of earth. Over the years Ann Voskamp has shared my books with children all over the world. This photo is of a boy in… Read more »

a sweet Father’s Day gift idea…

So I have an idea, and a story, and a coupon for you…just in time for Father’s Day. Did you know Father’s Day is coming? Did you know fathers love presents? Do you know the best gift for a dad or grand-dad of little ones? A picture book–which isn’t just a book of course, it’s… Read more »

preparing the ground of our children’s hearts

On my Very Big Adventure where I drove across Canada into the heart of mennonite country, it was so exciting because I had to navigate to a place so remote that even the GPS had never even heard of it. Not the village. Not the road. Of course not the house. After several phone calls… Read more »

how to help someone who is grieving

Sheryl Sandberg recently shared movingly about what she has learned about motherhood through grief. But how do we help someone who is grieving? We don’t know what to say. So, too often, we say nothing. Or worse, avoid. When my family suffered devastating loss years ago, it was our muslim neighbor who came to our… Read more »

happy coronation day

I recently had an audience with the Queen. Well. With Helen Mirren (if we’re being picky) who played the Queen in the spectacular production call The Audience. The most moving part of the whole play for me was at the end of Act 1. The soaring music, the frailty of the woman, the greatness of… Read more »

a thought to make your heart sing this Memorial Day

    MISSING SHOVEL In World War II prisoners of war were building a railroad. After their days work, the shovels were counted. The guard became enraged. One was missing. The prisoners were lined up and ordered to stand there until someone admitted they’d stolen the shovel. No one said it was them. The guard shouted…. Read more »