Author Archives: Julie Lyles Carr

I have five children who were born before 9-11. I have three children who were born after. My oldest three children remember that day well. We were visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. My ol...

The sky was a crystal blue as I hung from my ankles and wrists. So, so blue. And then my body was swung and I caught a glimpse of the neighbor's fence and I was swung the other way and spotted the bol...

Here in Austin, just a little bit past Cedar Fever, comes End of Schoolitis. Its symptoms include whining, delusions of martyrdom, lost field trip permission slips and generalized malaise. And that's ...

Friend, you and I have a very strange anniversary coming up. It's going to be our one-year anniversary of, wait for it, the pandemic. Whomp whomp whomp. Has time seemed really strange to you over this...

How often do we read the words in Luke or Matthew without really thinking about them? Sure, we know the basic story, but have we ever really looked at how God constructed it. As we reflect on the Chri...

It's a familiar battlefield to parents...bedtime. And we face some worthy opponents...kids who would rather do anything, ANYTHING, than to be tucked in for the night. I have several of these kinds of ...

We have a really fun post-holiday tradition as a family. We try to get started around the end of October and just go all in. It's takes a level of focus and determination to accomplish our post-holida...

So, those who know me in my messy van, chaotic house, crazy busy 'real' life may have just spit their coffee out when they realized that I'm putting up a blog post on pet ownership. Their shock is und...

When I started parenting almost twenty-five years ago, the toy aisle at the store was beginning to boast all manner of chirping, blinking, interactive toys for the toddler set. Most of these items use...

It's a familiar outcry in our home, uttered at various times and in various locations. It's usually used by the younger set of kids now but has been part of the repertoire from early on in our parenti...