The Mom Weekly

Category: Weekly Newsletter

  • May Our Memory Be a Blessing

    The Mom Weekly, Volume 110: September 16, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    I mentioned to a family member that I was getting “spicy” in my writing over the last week. I realize what I’m writing about this week is controversial, but I also have been very careful in how I have written about this topic.

    I know it may be controversial to some, but I encourage you to truly read what I am saying, and my takeaway: People should want to be a blessing to those who know them.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    May Our Memory Be A Blessing

    There’s an ancient Jewish expression that I have noticed becoming more common in recent years, by both Jewish and increasingly not Jewish people. When someone dies, a person will say, “May her memory be a blessing.”

    Here’s an explanation.

    It comes from Proverbs 10:7: “The memory of the righteous is a blessing.” What I think this means is for those who strive to live a good life, and honor their families and their communities, remembering them will be a blessing to those left behind. 

    So, for instance, remembering my parents is a blessing, despite (and perhaps even a little because of) some of their faults and failings. And when I hear, “May their memory be a blessing” about someone, I confess that I think: I hope some day people will say that about me! I want to be remembered as a blessing, by those who know me.

    “May their memory be a blessing” has been on my mind in the week since Charlie Kirk was assassinated in broad daylight.

    To be honest, before last week, I knew next to nothing about Charlie Kirk. I may have heard of him, but I would have said, if asked, “Isn’t he one of those ultra-conservative manosphere firebrands?”

    Actually, no. He wasn’t.

    A lot of the people who agreed with and supported Kirk (remember, he was 31! A baby!) posted reels and stories that were lovely and talked about his love of family, promotion of living a virtuous life, and “traditional” American values. All well and good.

    But I still didn’t know that much about him.

    So, surprising no one, I listened to multiple hours of his full length podcast, to get a feel for what he was actually like. 

    I also watched many of the video clips going around featuring him. Some of them made me think, “Wow! What an idiot!” (But also remember: he was a baby! I wouldn’t want many of the things I said in my 20s and early 30s to be repeated!) Some make you think, “Wow! What a mature, careful response for someone so young.”

    Mostly, I didn’t care for the podcast. Political discourse in our current heated environment is awfully draining to me, and so I avoid it, preferring to have an influence in my own little family and community.

    I want you to pay attention to what I write next, because this is the center of what I’m trying to say about this topic, especially related to one’s memory being a blessing.

    Here is what I found most curious and also compelling after Kirk’s murder: many people who knew him “personally”  who were “not” conservative, and in fact many who were the opposite of conservative, had good things to say about him. 

    People who have actually met and interacted with Kirk, whether they agree with him or not, all seem to say that he was a decent guy, friendly, willing to talk one on one. And that he was maturing and growing in his political and personal views.

    That’s in sharp contrast to internet writers and commentators who never met him, who are trying either to canonize or to demonize him. I’m staying away from those commentaries, and I encourage you to do so as well.

    I could share more, but know that I really haven’t found much, if anyone, who knew him in any way personally, who had something awful or even neutral to say about him. They all share that he really lived out his values, that he was thoughtful, caring, and empathetic in person, that he showed a willingness to learn, to grow, to be engaged in the world.

    Again, read this carefully: for those who knew him, “may his memory be a blessing” is something many of them can say, and appear to be saying.

    I can’t say it, because I didn’t know him personally. But I find their testimony much more compelling that the swirl of people cherry-picking either great things or awful things he said.

    I’m going to share some of these in the interesting/notable section. And I have more to share, on a related topic, but that will have to wait for next week, as that is getting too long!

    Interesting/notable

    If you have time to listen to a longer podcast/video, you should watch or listen to this episode of Gavin Newsom’s podcast. Charlie Kirk was his first guest. Gavin Newsom! Charlie Kirk! Just the two in the same paragraph is wild, but this conversation ls mostly cordial, intelligent, and friendly. I would highly recommend it, especially if you have had more in your media diet of people condemning who Kirk was and things he said. Listening to or watching this episode may help you understand more of what I am talking about above.

    This video of Ross Douthat with some clips from Charlie Kirk is also well worth watching.

    Ezra Klein: Charlie Kirk was practicing politics the right way: (NY Times gift link)

    You can dislike much of what Kirk believed and the following statement is still true: Kirk was practicing politics in exactly the right way. He was showing up to campuses and talking with anyone who would talk to him. He was one of the era’s most effective practitioners of persuasion. When the left thought its hold on the hearts and minds of college students was nearly absolute, Kirk showed up again and again to break it. Slowly, then all at once, he did.

    David French: If We Keep This Up, Charlie Kirk Will Not Be the Last to Die

    I only met Kirk once, in 2021. We were speaking at the same Christian conference, and a mutual acquaintance introduced us. We’d already had some disagreements, so I was curious about how he’d respond when we met. He was perfectly civil, even friendly and self-deprecating. We talked a bit about our families, talked through a few points of disagreement, and discussed the possibility of debating our differences on campus someday.

    That’s one thing I respected about Charlie — and it’s worth emphasizing because the assassin attacked him as he spoke on campus — he wasn’t afraid of a debate. He was willing to talk to anyone. And when he was shot in the middle of a debate, the assassin didn’t just take aim at a precious human being, created in the image of God, he took aim at the American experiment itself.

    I’m reminded of the famous closing words of Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address. With a national calamity looming, he ended with a plea that subtly captured the danger ahead: “I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”

    Finally, this reel from someone on Instagram—he has a comedy account—is really convicting, as the Evangeicals like to say:

  • Pencil in the Hand

    Pencil in the Hand

    The Mom Weekly Volume 109: September 9, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    This weekly is based on yet another song. I thought for a minute: Hey! I have been sharing a lot of songs in recent months. If you are concerned that The Mom Weekly is turning into a song sharing platform, fear not. I have plenty of things to say! 

    But it’s not he worst thing to share (or overshare) some of the great songs and quotes that give me joy, comfort, and delight. Often, others can say things in song that we find hard to articulate ourselves.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Pencil in the Hand 

    Last Friday was the feast day of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

    At the daily Mass I happened to go to on Friday, the priest (Fr. W!) spoke about St. Teresa and read some of her quotes. He read the one about Mother Teresa saying she was a “pencil in the hand” of God.

    And you may not be surprised to hear that I immediately thought of … the Popple song! (Which, yes, was based on the Mother Teresa quote from this interview).

    I am pretty sure that I can sing parts of any number of Popple songs from memory, including “Middle School Love Song,” “Puppy Dog,” “We’re Getting Loud,” and, of course, “Pencil in the Hand.”

    Popple broke up a long time ago (amicably, I believe, as the two young men were starting families and on to other projects). But thanks to the wonder of Spotify, you, too, can go down memory lane and listen to some of these delightful songs again.

    Listening to this self- described “Catholic acoustic humor folk beard rock duo” reminded me of a story I’ve told many times, about re-listening to some of my college favorites decades after college, and thinking, gosh, some of these songs are really depressing! So I don’t listen to some of them anymore. And that’s one reason that I truly enjoy praise and worship music (like “The Blessing”). Everyone is different in the things that they like and things that give them enjoyment. Popple is one of mine.

    I’m going to print the words to the song as a quote below, but I will also embed the video, because it’s just a few minutes long and really worth a listen!

    I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God

    Writing love to all the world.

    I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God

    Writing love to all the world.

    ++++++

    Oh, you put me on your canvas.

    Oh, you draw me round in circles.

    Oh, I spread across the landscape.

    And what is beautiful, it’s all because of you.

    +++++

    I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God

    Writing love to all of the world.

    +++++

    Oh, all I can do is scribble.

    Oh, but you can make it wonderful.

    Oh, I could never do good things

    Oh, but in your hands, perfect is what I am.

    +++++

    You give me free will

    To do what I want to do.

    You give me free will…

    +++++

    I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God

    Writing love to all the world.

    I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God

    Writing love to all the world.

    Interesting/Notable:

    Unusual suspects: Meet Frassati’s ‘Wise Guys’–The Pillar

    From the subhead: A small Adriatic town is home to one of the most dynamic communal experiences in Italian Catholicism, inspired by the soon-to-be saint Pier Giorgio Frassati.

    I love that the group is named after the name Frassati gave to his group of friends—wise guys, usual subjects.

    This one is fun to share since Pier Giorgio is now St. Pier Giorgio, after the canonization on Sunday. I look forward to hearing all about the canonization! (We were able to watch an English-language translation later that day here, but we can’t wait to hear about what it was like in person.)

  • 100 Books for 100 Volumes—Completed

    100 Books for 100 Volumes—Completed

    The Mom Weekly Volume 108: September 2, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    Happy September! I hope that you have had a good start to the month. This weekly completes the 100 Books for Volume 100 series. It was really fun to do, but I think I will choose something different for Volume 200. 🙂

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    100 Books for Volume 100 List–Completed

    If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling’s whole life would have been entirely different. She would have gone, with the rest of her clan, to Aunt Wellington’s engagement picnic and Dr. Trent would have gone to Montreal. But it did rain and you shall hear what happened to her because of it.

    Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Blue Castle

    Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow,fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrums, and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that is she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the why’s and wherefores thereof.

    Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

    It was a warm, golden-cloudy, loveable afternoon. In the big living room at Ingleside, Susan Baker sat down with a certain grim satisfaction hovering about her like an aura; it was four o’clock and Susan, who had been working incessantly since six that morning, felt that she had fairly earned an hour of repose and gossip.

    Lucy Maud Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside

    The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day—a day to awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste.”

    Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs

    The house was three miles from the station, but before the dusty hired fly had rattled along for five minutes the children began to put their heads out of the carriage window and to say, “Aren’t we nearly there?”

    E. Nesbit, Five Children and It

    One fine summer’s morning the sun peeped over the hills and looked down upon the valley of Silverstream.

    D.E. Stevenson, Miss Buncle’s Book

    Harriet Vane sat at her writing table and stared out into Mecklenburg Square.

    Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night

    Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

    J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

    This is a novel written about dolls in a dolls’ house.

    Rumer Godden, The Doll’s House

    Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids.

    C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

    This a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our world and the land of Narnia first began.

    C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew

    This is the story of adventure that happened in Narnia and Calormen and the lands between, in the Gold Age when Peter was High King in Narnia and his brother and his two sisters were King and Queens under him.

    C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

    Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, and it has been told in another book called The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe how they had a remarkable adventure.

    C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

    There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.

    C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader

    It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.

    C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

    In the last days of Narnia, far up to the West beyond Lantern Waste and close beside the great waterfall, there lived an Ape.

    C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

    I have no intention of explaining how the correspondence which I now offer to the public fell into my hands. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

    C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

    I seemed to be standing in a busy queue by the side of a long, mean street.

    C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

    In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

    J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

    When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a part of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

    J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

    When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.

    Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

    A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today were little boys and little girls or very small babies, or perhaps not even born, Pa and Ma and Mary and Laura and Baby Carrie left their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin.

    Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

    One evening at supper, Pa asked, “How would you like to work in town, Laura?”

    Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie

    Sunday afternoon was clear, and the snow-covered prairie sparkled in the sunshine.

    Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years

    In 1864 Caddie Woodlawn was eleven, and as wild a little tomboy as ever ran the woods of western Wisconsin.

    Carol Ryrie Brink, Caddie Woodlawn
  • “You Love Each Other So Much!”

    “You Love Each Other So Much!”

    The Mom Weekly Volume 107: August 26, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    “You Love Each Other So Much!”

    I don’t know why this cracked me up so much, but at the wedding, someone—not a relative or close friend—exclaimed in a positive way to just me after seeing Dad & I talk about something, “You two just love each other so much!”

    It was a little bit of a “Meet Your Parents, George and Martha Washington” moment, but honestly? I almost laughed in the person’s face.

    We love each other so much? We love each other so much? (Exasperated voice here).

    I guess we love each other so much, if you count getting on each other’s last nerve about 100 times in the past week of last-minute wedding things as “loving each other.” LOL.

    I’m laughing as I write this, and maybe also a little sheepish, to admit that Dad and I are not starry-eyed with each other all the time. We annoy each other! We get into goofy disagreements about things! We often have the same disagreements over and over again! It can be exhausting.

    But this is to say that, yes, Dad & I do love each other so much. We choose to love each other, even when we don’t get along perfectly, and even when we annoy each other. We mostly get along, and we do have fun together, and we’ve gotten better about talking to each other over the decades.

    When I told Dad the story of the person saying, “You two love each other so much!” I almost couldn’t stop laughing. And so now we have this as a little joke—“We love each other so much, haha.” (Well, it’s funny to us, or maybe just me, but Dad is humoring me).

    I hope you can recognize from this: getting annoyed with each other (or getting on someone’s last nerve) is a feature, not a bug, of relationships. That’s not to say that every relationship is healthy in that way. But for people of good will, it happens, and can be worked through, sometimes with outside help. You can still love each other even when you’re not in perfect harmony about one or even many things.

    Remember how much I love you! (Cue laughing),

    Mom

    Interesting/Notable

    The Guy in the Pope’s Jacket—The Pillar

    Such a sweet read! Be sure to get to the end of this one.

  • The Blessing

    The Blessing

    The Mom Weekly Volume 106: August 19, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes: 

    Even though this was scheduled—because I knew I will be tired (and probably still a little emotional) on this particular Tuesday!–I opened up this again to comment a few things.

    What a wonderful family time! I am just in awe of how much fun it is to get together and see family members and friends in person. I am so grateful to have so many relatives and friends that want to share in our joy.

    This particular Mom Weekly is based on the very brief (under 2.5 minutes) remarks that I gave at the rehearsal dinner. I was pretty sure that I might not get through it without crying, but other than a few brief pauses, I got through every word!

    Remember how much I love all of you,

    Mom

    The Blessing

    When I was beginning to look at songs to consider for the mother-son dance at the wedding, I queued up a couple of songs on Spotify. As I drove to and from a haircut, I promptly started crying. Happy tears of course, but there are a lot of emotions that go along with transitions like this . . .  

    A memory came back to me of driving to Matthiessen State Park for hiking with my youngest during his spring break—this was the first spring of the pandemic. 

    It happened to be just the two of us, and he was driving. As a result, I was able to play various songs on Spotify. I recall that I played the worship song The Blessing by Kari Jobe, a relatively new song at the time, probably about 50 times. That is an exaggeration, but not by much! I was slightly obsessed with that song.

    Once I played it in recent weeks, I realized that it wouldn’t work as a dance song for a lot of reasons. It ranges from 7-9 minutes long, depending on the version, making it even more unsuitable as a mother-son dance song. And yet, it’s a wonderful song!

    So I would like to encourage all of you to listen. Even 50 times!

    We all want to bless Clara and Joseph this weekend with our presence, and with God’s presence, and we want to bless all of our extended families and friends who are here with us, and those who cannot be here with us.

    It’s based on Numbers 6:24-26. It is known at the “Priestly Blessing.” I’m going to embed the song in this post, but also the words. I’ve shortened it down a little, because the song repeats the stanzas multiple times, and I will just put them once.

    The Lord bless you and keep you

    Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you

    The Lord turn His face toward you

    And give you peace

    Amen, amen, amen

    May His favor be upon you

    And a thousand generations

    And your family and your children

    And their children, and their children

    May His presence go before you

    And behind you, and beside you

    All around you, and within you

    He is with you, he is with you

    In the morning, in the evening

    In your coming, and your going

    In your weeping, and rejoicing

    He is for you, he is for you

    He is, He is

    Amen, amen, amen

    Here is a version of the song (8 minutes!) live in Bath, England last year, sung in different languages.
  • The Mind is for Having Ideas, Not Holding Them

    The Mind is for Having Ideas, Not Holding Them

    The Mom Weekly Volume 105: August 12, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    The Mind is For Having Ideas, Not Holding Them

    “The mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

    This is a famous quote from productivity guru David Allen. He’s the person behind the Getting Things Done system.  

    The theory behind getting those items out of our mind and into a list, or lists, or some kind of system, is this: If we clutter up our brain with all of our to-dos, there isn’t space for thinking, deep work, and things we really want to accomplish.

    That’s why a regular “mind sweep” or “brain dump” is such a good idea. Here is a podcast episode (but with a transcript, so It’s easy to skim for the good content) of David Allen walking through a mind sweep and how to handle items on them.

    I haven’t done a proper “mind sweep” in some time, so I plan to add this an an action item! But I do have a weekly habit of writing out what’s going on for the next week and a half or so. I do this one page per day, on light blue colored paper, that I keep on a fancy clipboard. I can add things to each day. Like many, I enjoy crossing off the items, and I even add things to the list so that I can cross them off. It truly helps me not to miss events and appointments, even ones that are on my calendar!

    Interesting/Notable: 

    How to de-addict Gen Z 

    I had some reservations about some points of this article, but overall these young men are doing good work.

    Action Item: Do a “Mind Sweep” Ahead of September

    Set a time for 10-15 minutes (or more! Some people recommend a half hour or longer to help you capture a lot of items) and write down all the things you need to do—pay certain bills, check on your grocery list, make plans with friends, plan where you’ll be for Christmas or Thanksgiving, make your annual doctor or dentist appointments. You’ll be really glad that you did.

    I have also done this walking through our house, writing down all the little things that I’d like to accomplish—cleaning off a surface, touching up paint on a wall or doorway, or organizing a closet. It’s great to have such a list, so when you are thinking of something to do, you can check the list and do one of the items. And, best of all, you get to cross off that item!