To me and Lane, after we got home from our trip: "I'm so glad you came home, guys...'cause I really missed you."

Anna is working really hard on manners. "Can I have some lunch may please?" The syntax isn't there, but the feeling is.

Here's a sticky note Lane found today on the bottom of his shoe, in an unnamed handwriting: "Tornado hit. DO NOT Come in!!!! Enless [sic] Your name is liz or lane." I just wasn't sure if it was meant for my bedroom or hers....

Temper tantrums are not cute even in children; they are despicable in adults, especially adults who are supposed to love each other. We are too easily provoked; we are too inclined to think that our partner meant to hurt us--meant to do us evil, so to speak; and in defensive or jealous response we too often rejoice when we see them make a mistake and find them in a fault. Let's show some discipline on this one. Act a little more maturely. Bite your tongue if you have to. "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (Proverbs 16:32). At least one difference between a tolerable marriage and a great one may be that willingness in the latter to allow some things to pass without comment, without response.

Jeffrey R. Holland, "How Do I Love Thee?"