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Two Moms, three Dads, a Boy, and the Miracle on Maple Street
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost This is a story about a boy, two mothers, and three fathers. It’s a story of grief and resilience and dedication. But most of all it is a tale of love. It began at an ending. Though it…
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What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago for my sister-in-law’s wedding. She’s been a widow for several years and has found a good man who had lost his wife and was lonely, too. At our…
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The Humanitarian Coach
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Someone asked me this week what I wanted for Mother’s Day. After considerable thought, I decided what I really wanted was Clarity. I just want reassurance that my life has made sense–that I haven’t wasted all this time…
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The Measure of Humanity
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost A week or two ago, I got a new job. No, I wasn’t looking for employment, but my husband and Daughter #1–out of desperation–were forced to designate me as the family Emergency Substitute Doorstop. It’s an unpaid position that…
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The Wounded Soul
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Two people I love each lost a parent in the same couple of weeks. One was a mother; the other a father. Both were elderly and ill, so their deaths were expected–at least intellectually, but losing someone who is…
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Good Families Are No Accident
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost My younger brother, divorced and with a grown son, called me a couple of years ago. “I’d like to take you up on your offer,” he said. I knew immediately what he meant. Long ago I had told…
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More Than Just an Automobile
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost I bought a new car this week. My old car ran a red light and plowed into a vehicle crossing the intersection from the opposite direction. In my own defense, l was not the driver at…
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A Note Worthy of Attention
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost My husband doesn’t have many delayed-gratification strategies, so for our more than 50-year marriage, when he thinks of something he needs to tell someone, he writes it down. This seemed like a reasonable problem-solving tactic—until it became obvious…
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The Sky is Falling
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost The six-week session of the Utah Legislature opens next week. When I was young, it never occurred to me that my far-from-influential, middle-class voice mattered. All that changed in 1977 when I, along with several thousand other LDS…
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Great Expectations
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost New Year’s Eve at an extended family wedding reception, I was amused to overhear the photographer explaining to the videographer how he got the job taking photos for the wedding. “Well,” he said, “My sister’s husband’s brother’s sister-in-law’s…
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The Light from Heaven
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost This morning I realized I’d forgotten a load of clothes I put in the dryer yesterday. When I dug them out, I laughed as I showed Daughter #1–in that batch were exactly the same number of aprons as…
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The Refugees
For many years I have written a Christmas story to send to friends and family in lieu of cards. Though I wrote this some time ago, it seems particularly appropriate for this moment in history and this season of hope. For the Believers–what might have been by Janice Leavitt Voorhies She was so tired. She…
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Random Words of Encouragement
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost Not too long ago, a friend sent me pictures of her speaking at the annual National League of Cities Conference in Kansas City. The heading at the bottom of her text was, “How the heck did I get…
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The Marriage Glue
Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in Robert Frost I’ve always been a storyteller. When I was in the eighth grade, I recall my teacher explaining the definition of “loquacious” to the class. “Janice is loquacious,” he said. Everyone nodded in complete understanding. At the time I…
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Advocates of the “Common Good”
Home is the place where, when you got there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost One morning this week I was at the Utah State Capitol. During past annual six-week legislative sessions in the early spring every year, I had spent a good deal of time in that building as an elected official…
