Papa's Song -- The Story Behind the Story

The Hunsaker Family, Christmas 1993

It was December of 1993 when Papa's Song happened.  I was a junior at the university and life was coming to a bend in the road.  During the Christmas break, I had several touching moments at home with my family.  The most memorable was on Christmas Eve, when Papa rocked me by the tree for the last time, singing a song he had sung to me every Christmas for as long as I could remember.

The Real Pilgrims

It’s November, and I’ve been reading a lot of Pilgrim stories lately. When the kindergarteners come home at lunchtime, we sit by the fire and thumb through a few books before they tuck in for their naps. Squanto, Massasoit, William Bradford and others are coming to life from the pages of beautifully illustrated stories about the First Thanksgiving. Images of golden-orange pumpkins, fat turkeys and a thatch-roofed colony by the sea have sparked our imaginations and our family conversations. The stories have made me reflect again on the Pilgrims. Which Pilgrims? The real ones.

Abundance and Apathy: Remembering the Berlin Wall

Life is easy right now. Most of the people I know have a car (more than one), a phone (more than one), a T.V. (more than one), they often take vacations (more than one) and even own a home (some have more than one). 

I don’t personally know anyone going hungry, and even friends of mine who’ve experienced a “downsizing” in their job status are still able to make ends meet and live comfortably. Some would call our current standard of living “the abundant life.” And it is very abundant. However, we must be very careful that the “abundant” life doesn’t become the “apathetic” life. This week is a good time for a wake-up call.

My wake-up call came when my teenage son excitedly told me one day that he had seen a piece of the Berlin Wall. 

Happy? Halloween

I love holidays. But I must admit that Halloween is a bit scary. Take it from a mother’s point of view: nine children = nine costumes. Crazy! How creative and artistic can one parent be? Not to mention the dreams of my over-zealous 4th grader. “Let’s all be Harry Potter figures this year!” she plans. “Daddy can be Dumbledore, you can be Professor MacGonagal …” I can’t even fathom adding two more people to the dress-up list. However, there are a lot of possibilities with a big family.

CHITTY CHITTY CHILDREN

A friend gave us two tickets to the Hale Center Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Scanning through the online list of 2013 shows, I quickly chose "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as the play I wanted to attend and made reservations.  A few weeks later, my husband and I drove to the theatre and took our seats in the top row.  The stage looked small and round below us.  A simple curtain covered it and as I watched the theatre fill up, I couldn’t help but feel skeptical that one of my favorite movies could be effectively produced in such a small arena.  

Twice Blessed

Note: I originally wrote this article the week after we blessed our twins, in 2009. I'm reposting now in celebration of the twins' 5th birthday, and dedicate this experience to all the great twin moms I know. I've survived the first five years! And you can, too.

I am the mother of twins. Hooray! Hooray! Friends warned me that there would be twice as many diapers, twice as many feedings, and twice as much crying. 


“Never mind,” I thought. “By now I’m twice as good at being a mother.” Besides, one mother told me that the first six children are the hardest, after that it “just gets easier.”  Unfortunately, all I’ve experienced so far has been total chaos.


WELCOME!

Welcome! to my new blog, Nettie's Notes.

I've been blogging for several years at From the Francis Farm, however, I felt that it was time to update my blogging skills and site, so, here it is!  I still have a link on Nettie's Notes to my old blog, as well as to my publishing website, Meadowlark Media, LLC, where readers can find all of my publications.

Welcome to my tabs!

MOMents includes fun Motherhood Moments that I want to share.

Happy Homemaking includes tips from my 17+ years of homemaking (as well as the many years I watched my mother as a homemaker).

Purposeful Parenting includes principles and practices of parenting.

Francis Favorites includes posts and sites which we as a family of 11 people have found especially useful.

Be sure to sign up for email updates whenever I post something new (check the sidebar).

I hope you enjoy this blog!

Nettie