Once Upon a Child's Heart

The Poisoning of Ivy by Kristen S. Sandoz 2012 By now I am sure you are wondering just what became of the babe that took Pearl’s place.   It is easy to find ourselves drifting toward bitterness when speaking of this little one.   After all, she had no right to take Pearl’s place, and we will come to love Pearl so very much.   However, it is imperative that we remember that Ivy, as she was named by the King and Queen, did not have a choice in the matter.   In a way her new station was forced upon her as it was with Pearl and we cannot harbor hate for an innocent person.   I warn you now to guard your heart from that bitterness no matter what happens to this wee one. With that said, I am sorry to pronounce that Ivy was truly the daughter of a Thief and Lying Beggar.   As she grew her natural disposition was always slightly nasty, prone to lies, selfish and self-serving, keen on casting blame, and never satisfied.   These behaviors continua...

The Priest By Kristen S. Sandoz 2012 Our last Justly Story told us about the day of Pearl’s birth,  w here she was stolen from her royal parents by a Thief and a Lying Beggar.   They in turn got tired of her after one day and promptly left her on the doorstep of the church.   It would be a discredit to the Priest at this fine establishment if I did not mention his part in this whole story so I will give a short account of it now. People were always leaving babies at the church.   This was quite a disturbing problem for the priest in charge there for he was a young bachelor and had no idea what to do with babies.   You can imagine his surprise at finding the bundle on the step.   He at first was overjoyed when he saw the basket.   “Oh, how lovely!” he said.   “Someone has left me a gift!”  P eople were often doing that, too.   “I do hope it is a basket of apples.   I’m dying for a warm, delicious apple pie!”   He ...

If I were one of Christopher Robin's stuffed animals I'm afraid I'd be Rabbit.  He was never my favorite. I liked Pooh, of course, and then Eeyore.  Tigger was fun but a little overwhelming to me.  I was glad he came in small doses.  But I never liked Rabbit.  He was mean, negative, crabby, had no sense of humor, and he yelled a lot. Yep!  That pretty much describes me as a parent.  And that is why I tell my boys stories, because I am a flawed person and I need some concrete way to bond and grow with my boys.  I need some tangible way to heal wounds that are deep and hidden.  I need to connect with my children in a positive way.  So I tell them stories to heal the wounds that I sometimes inflict as well as the wounds they receive from others.  But probably my biggest motivation in telling them stories is that it is one last ditch effort on my part to end the day on a positive note.  I'm hoping that by telling them a story...

I found this quote on the tag of my Yogi tea bag the other day.  Of course I loved it! To learn, read. To know, write. To master, teach. Such true words! Now, go enjoy a well earned cup of tea. Kristen

We have started Advent in our house.  This is always a time filled with a lot of excitement.  I have to remind myself that the Things are only acting up because they are excited and not because they are purposefully trying to exhaust me. I have come to love our Advent season.  We have several key things that make it rich for our family.  It has taken a few years to hammer this out.  We've tried somethings that have failed to jive with us so we just threw them out and have only stuck with the things that work.  Here is a glimps of one of those things. Our Advent Sock Story Garland I think originally I saw this in a Martha Stewart magezine but since then I have definately seen it on Pintrest.  I love it!  I love how fun and festive it looks and I love that it's easy and that I made it. I think it works well with our decorations and it is so versitle. We do not put candy in our garland, although you could, instead we use it to tell the N...