Why You Should Read This Instead of Goal-Setting! AND 10 Funny Things They Said About Homeschooling, Aging, And Love!

January 1, 2026 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Got time to join us for a laugh, friend? (Put the goal-setting pencil aside for a bit.)

a group of people holding glasses of wine

I’m in extended holiday mode, so I’m not (quite) ready yet to set new goals, that I won’t achieve anyway.

However, stay tuned tomorrow (or soon) for how to start the year at a sprinter’s pace! (Though we will already be a bit behind because we are beginning our energetic goal setting a day too late!). Dang!

The new year has barely started, and you’re already a loser!

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

How to catch up and pass everyone else (Or how to at least stay in the race a bit longer) will be discussed tomorrow (or soon)!

“We’re just happy to be here!”

Said Jen and I, to explain why we didn’t want the number of Devil’s Press (NOTICE the name, anyway?) and other exercises recorded that our team completed at the “Competitive-Partner-Get-Fit-Day” at the gym.

Anyway, I hope you also feel encouraged to start your New Year off with a bang of frenzied activity (That you’ll do soon)!

For now, as clearly and thoroughly elaborated in THIS ARTICLE, here is one of our past holiday newsletters to amuse you, while you look around for your pencil today to enthusiastically write out all of your life goals tomorrow!

Now, most homeschooling moms are looking forward to sitting on the couch with a glass of vodka after Christmas.

No, don’t get me wrong! I MEANT a tiny splash of rum in our Christmas eggnog! I am always misunderstood!

But instead of doing that, I wrote this holiday newsletter!

Anyway, it would have been preferable to have one of those lovely family Christmas photos – You know, where everyone is wearing those matching red hats, but who has time to book a photographer, coordinate ridiculously busy schedules, etc.?

This photo (SEE DISCLAIMER!)1 will have to do. We took it tonight, impromptu. Sure, some of us MAY be in costume attire, but this is what we look like. On reflection, elf suits may have been a slight improvement.

In past years, we included memorable quotes from various family members in our New Year / Holiday letters. This year, we include ten quotes on Homeschooling, Aging, and Love. Enjoy!

On Homeschooling

Kyah: “I’ve had a pretty good day so far!” Time: 7:13 am

Andy: After his shower, “Hey! Where was my soap? I couldn’t find it?!!”

Me: “Oh, sorry! Kyah carved it into a turtle and entered it in the fall fair yesterday!”

I mentioned lunch.

Kyah: “Mmm…lunch!”

What she was doing – eating breakfast!

Kyah was having an in-depth Zoom discussion with budding philosophers about the Easter holiday.

Suddenly, a shrill 10-year-old voice from Pennsylvania emanated from the computer, “Well, I think the Easter bunny should go to hell because . . .” An impassioned speech followed. A lot of great learning and critical thinking is in progress!

(She may need a bit more work on theology.)

On Aging

Me: “Where do you want to be in five years?”

Andy: “Where you are…!!!”

Me: (Oh!!)

Kyah: “And I can help you up the stairs!”

Me, thinking: “Will we functionally be 100-year-olds in just five years?”

Andy: “Next June, I will be 50. We should have a massive party.”

Andy remembered that we had a big 1990s party for him when he turned 30. Andy continued, “We can have another 1990s party! We can wear . . . jeans and . . . all the clothes I wear now…” … “and we can listen to … all the music I still listen to now!”

Esther: “I feel so much older now that I am seventeen. It’s a big difference from being sixteen, or fifteen, or fourteen. I don’t know why. Do you think it’s because seventeen has an extra syllable?”

Esther to me: “Whenever I make my hair look like yours, I get compliments. Whenever I wear your clothes, I get compliments.”

Me thinking: “I’m not completely irrelevant, yet!”

On Love

Andy: “I like it when you talk.”

Me: “What??”…(!)

Andy: “Well, most of the time.”

Kyah: “You are the best Mom.”

Me: “Well, thank you, Kyah, but I don’t think that’s true.”

Kyah: “No one is perfect, but you are the best Mom for me.”

And so we may not be perfect, but we are the best people that God put in our lives for each other.

I know that’s true with your family and friends, too!

Happy New Year!

Oh! And I think professional online writers like me are supposed to encourage you, especially on New Years! And so, as this song sings, “. . . make a list and do not make it brief. Write down every single wish and every little thing that you want” (Seriously2?) – Well, good luck with that!

As for me, today I plan on doing a little more skate skiing, enjoying my favorite soup with friends and family, and trying out some of the new board games we received at Christmas.

(And as you write your exhaustive to-do list for the year, remember to keep one ear open to Holy Spirit. You’ll have more luck pursuing the activities God is ushering you into in your next season.) However, to be safe and ensure we are actively setting goals to be like everyone else, we will soon discuss setting not S.M.A.R.T. goals, but S.T.U.P.I.D. goals, to help you even more!

Stay tuned!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credit – Happy New Year! by Debra Manny Mosley on Unsplash and It’s Us!

1 DISCLAIMER: My family stays mad at me for longer each time I post embarrassing things about them on the internet lately (It’s not like ALL of the five billion people on the internet read every word!). However, to keep them happy, I deleted the photo of my entire family that accompanied this article. They didn’t want the family photo posted SIMPLY because some of them were wearing dress-up clothes, pajamas, or something (I couldn’t keep track of ALL their complaints). Anyway, good thing you like me!

2 My wants (synonymous with needs, in my case) are a giant bucket without a bottom that would completely consume me as well if I focused too much on them! But whatever works for you!

Advice: The Best Thing Is To LAUGH! WHY? Because You’re Ridiculous, Too! Oh! And Happy Christmas, Friend!

December 18, 2025 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Here Is Our Christmas Letter To Update You On Our Family and Our Year!

Please find our annual holiday “Newsletter1” below!

This is where we update you on our family and share some insightful sayings that our family members shared this year to encourage you! And so, “What happened this year?” You ask? I’m glad you asked!

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Well, our youngest child decided to leave home a year earlier than anticipated.

She’s planning to move out this summer, which sent me into a (SLIGHT!) identity spiral:

“Who am I if I am not a mom homeschooling her kids?”

Luckily, I have been researching starting another Master’s Degree (I’m smarter than I let on) or a certificate, or additional schooling of some sort, to try to claw my way into some sort of cultural significance. (Or should I get more counselling instead to work on the neuroses that drive me? Well, I guess we’ll see whether a year of schooling or a year of therapy is cheaper.)

As long as I have enough going on to keep me busy and distracted, that’s my goal!

So, yes, given my new plans, as described above, for when all the kids move out, everything is great!

Now that we’ve got all that sappy and annoying “real” stuff out of the way, not much has really changed around here.

We putter around a bit. Our kids putter around a bit, do their homeschooling, and then they move out and leave us, one after the other. (That’s FINE! Who cares?). Our animals, a dog and a rabbit, putter around a bit, too, as usual.

That’s about it.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some quotes family members said last year. May you have a good laugh (At our expense?! – WAIT! IF you laugh, EVEN ONCE, MAKE SURE you send us some of the stupid stuff YOU said so we can laugh at you, too!)

Why not?

We’re all ridiculous. We might as well admit it! And then let’s laugh together!

Andy to me: “Yes! I DO want you to come to the hockey game with me! Why? Because I’ll have more fun if you’re there! Everything is better with you. You’re like whipped cream.”

Did I mention that we are celebrating twenty-five years of marriage this year? If you’re marriage is on the rocks, copy and paste what Andy said here to your wife! More marriage advice HERE and HERE and below!

Kyah, as she was about to do math – “Oh wait. I have to get my headset so I can listen to classical music so I won’t cry.”

And so, as you can see, not much changes in our homeschooling rhythms, either! “If you have to cry, go ahead and do it!” is what I say when I homeschool my kids! You can find more helpful homeschooling advice HERE and HERE!

Me to a young man from our church, “You’re a good boy.”

Kyah: “Mom! Why do you talk to him like that! That’s the same way you talk to the dog!”

Young man: “She’s trying to embarrass me, but she ends up embarrassing herself.”

Me: (!)

THE POINT is that not much seems to change with me, either, despite my pouring money into (obviously useless) therapy! However, more articles on how to excel relationally and even to have fun with others can be found HERE and HERE!

Significant changes in our home INCLUDE that our predator (dog) and prey (bunny) ARE changing!

A LOT!

Andy to me: “You are like Cesar Millan. You ARE the dog whisperer.” The dog was peacefully lying at my feet during supper2.

Then Andy said, “I NEVER thought I would say THAT about YOU!”

Me, thinking: “WHY did he have to say that last line?”

However, we can now leave our dog and bunny alone together – unattended! Actually, our bunny gently (but manipulatively) nibbled at the dog’s toes once. Our dog is so sweet and good-natured that the bunny now terrifies the dog when she jumps around the house, asserting her dominance.

(I’m sure there’s some great marriage advice in there somewhere, but I’ll need some careful reflection time to extract it from this life situation. So I may require a lot of time for skiing, relaxing in the hot tub, etc., during this Christmas break. However stay tuned and expectantly anticipate more helpful relationship advice this coming year!)

And so, Merry Christmas! We hope you feel caught up on everything that happened in our lives this year! And we pray God overflows your lives with blessings, as you hang fast to the rope as it swings you through life!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Photo Credit – This is us in a choir that we joined this year. (Maybe new things ARE brewing…?) Do you sense a possible change in the weather, too, friend?

Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?

The Message

Don’t you see it, friend?

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

1 News! Hahahahaha!

2 (Because I “dropped” my food.) But why tell everyone that part?

Eyes And Mind More Open To The Surprising, Wonderful Gift Of Remembrance Day / Memorial Day?

November 11, 2025 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

white table and chairs on green grass field during daytime

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, also known as Veterans Day in the USA, and previously referred to as Memorial Day for a similar, earlier holiday.

The best thing about these days (all variations on the same theme) is that they force us to think about . . . wait for it . . . our own individual deaths.

(Sorry for saying it out loud. But good news follows! Keep reading!)

We are the Dead. Short days ago. We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now we lie, in Flanders fields.

Canada’s famous Remembrance Day poem, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

This thought is the one we close our eyes to and try to forget with movies, popcorn, and laughs with friends, and other healthy distractions.

This thought is one of the ones that bolts us awake at night just before we fall asleep with, “Oh yeah! I’m going to die!”

And then we frantically check our email and update our social media profiles to further distance ourselves from this thought.

“Oh! And what time is it?” Time to run off somewhere else and distract ourselves some more! But what if we sat with some tea and really had a good look at this irritating thing called “Death”?

For example:

We are all rolling the dice every day, wondering if today is the day we meet our maker. Let’s add a little statistical reasoning to our end-of-life dice roll. Why not? What can it hurt? Try it HERE.
Alternatively, we can wait until we are eighty-nine and a half years old to give the thought that “I will die someday” a little ponder, but I’m not sure that’s the best approach.
A wise person thinks a lot about death. Why not swallow the fear and give end-of-life a little think-through, friend?

Oh! And I almost forgot to say that there is joy after the fear!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

Jesus Christ – The Guy Almost 1/3 Of The People On Earth Claim To Follow 1

Photo Credit – Me, Too, One Day? Right! I Almost Forgot! by Selena Morar on Unsplash

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

1 The guy might we worth listening to sometimes!

What Happens When You Swap Mindless Eating For A Beautiful Life Adventure?

August 14, 2025 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

So, I found myself mindlessly thinking about lunch right after breakfast and my mid-afternoon sugar snack right after lunch, which, of course, I would NEVER do!

However, I know some of you struggled with this once or twice in your life, perhaps. And how to solve this challenging problem reminds me of a funny story about my dog. THIS is a picture I already showed you of my dog in his Superman costume.

He’s pretty awesome.

Except when we go swimming.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

3 Hidden But Powerful Reasons Why You Love Dragonfly Décor

May 13, 2025 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

So discouraged. Head in hands. I haven’t seen the sun in weeks. It’s just cloudy skies day after day. I feel stuck inside this small room that confines me.

Where is the sunny sky, and how do these skinny arms transform into wings?

When is it my turn to fly?

I sit on the wooden box, my only piece of furniture in this cement box of a room and read.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

The Message

And a glimmer of sun – Is it? Peeking through the clouds?

I go outside, for the first time in weeks, to look up at the sky and get a closer look. I shield my eyes now, for the sun shines with unstoppable radiance through the clouds. The sun reaches EVEN ME.

And I am pierced to the heart with this light that illuminates my chest and then expands upward and downward as I stand, mesmerized, as the sun peaks more and more of its light through the clouds that reluctantly part.

Is that hope I sense on the horizon, too? My heart stirs a little at the sight of something blurry, something I can’t quite bring into focus past the horizon. (Have you looked yet beyond your horizons?)

In your great love revive me . . . I see the limits to everything human, but the horizons can’t contain your commands

The Message

I am warmer now, and I take off my sweater.

The sun’s rays, which are even brighter now, moments later, seem to warm me from the inside out.

Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?

The Message

The clouds part further, making room.

I reach deep, deep into my heart and pull out the weights that hold me to the earth.

I’ll take that, I sense the wind whispering.

Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders

The Message

And I feel an itch, now, and the urge to scratch at my back is almost unbearable . . .

The old skin falls off.

You’ll be changed from the inside out

The Message

And as I rest outside now, in the sun, my wings warming in the spring air, I feel almost enough hope to flap, flap my wings, as they dry here in the sun and then . . .

Do I have the courage to try them out?

Do you?

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar

The Message

One species of dragonfly lives underwater for more than five years.

Yet some dragonfly species live only for a few short weeks on land.

Yet in this short time, dragonflies are a keystone species, meaning they play a crucial role in the health of their ecosystem.

And so, why do you, too, friend, love dragonfly décor?

He is calling, calling you to more. Can you hear Him?
There is a new season for you, too. Can you feel it?
It matters to the ecosystem around you that you make the transition. Do you sense it?

P.S. – For more in-depth Fashion Analysis, check out my other Newsletters HERE, HERE and HERE.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Photo Credits: Parting Clouds by Marieke Verhoeven on Unsplash, Horizon by by Lucas Davies on Unsplash, Dragonfly Alive by Buddha Elemental on Unsplash

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!

Shatter Your Massive Ego – It’s Time To Be Amazing! (Like Me)

April 12, 2025 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

man in black tank top and gray shorts holding black smartphone

I went from being the biggest loser at the gym, doing exercises without ANY weights (Don’t judge me), to finding lighter weights than the lightest weights that they put out for the group class and using those.

But I was using ACTUAL five-pound weights by then!

“The ones who keep coming back are the ones who will get stronger!” I was told.

And I kept coming back.

Until one day, my instructor “had chills” when I did an exercise. This was because I did it with good form. Perhaps her chills were simply chills of relief that she didn’t have to spend five minutes out of every ten minutes re-showing me how to use the equipment in a class full of thirty other students so I wouldn’t hurt myself, her, or others nearby*, but they were chills nonetheless!

“She obviously truly cares about her students,” my husband commented, so he thinks she was surprised I did something right, too.

But I’m improving!

And the thing is that my friend didn’t want to come to the gym because she felt intimidated by all the people around her doing stuff right. That’s the dumbest reason not to go to the gym because EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was once a big loser at the gym, throwing around weights and hurting themselves and others. (Well, maybe some caught on faster than me, but you catch my point!)

Anyway, we often hear people say it’s those who go the gym a lot who have the big egos, right? Like they are the ones who will laugh at us? Wait – maybe they will laugh at us, but if you read this post, you won’t care about that either!

The point is that you are getting stronger.

And that looking like a bit of a loser is not a bad thing!

It means you’re learning.

And similarly, the next time you pray to God, and then open one eye and wonder why the Archangel Gabriel isn’t standing next to you in your bedroom giving you life instructions, maybe take off your head and replace it with a new one. (Replace it with a head with correct thoughts while you’re at it, of course!)

Maybe we’re SUPPOSED to feel like losers when we are in the process of growing spiritually or physically.

For example, every time I woke up early when I was in a season of trying to learn to pray, I felt like I was playing hide and seek with Jesus. “I can’t find you!” I would call out after 1.28 seconds of concerted prayer. But He was there, often (metaphorically) hiding behind a small rosebush in my backyard. The rosebush that hadn’t blossomed yet. He was in plain sight because my rosebush only reached his knees, but He was bent at the waist, laughing.

I was learning that He loves it when we seek Him.

And so, maybe feeling like we’re losers is even good for us sometimes.

It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.

Ancient Text

Realizing we’re losers is often part of the heart transformation we need to be able to run into His arms like a small child when He does reveal Himself to us one day, when we do experience his presence, when we do sense His love for us through the arms of His people who love us because they love Him.

And so all this jibber-jabber about people at the gym, for example, that they have huge egos?

Hogwash.

After all, I go to the gym!

I do subscribe, however, to the philosophy that it is wiser to FLAUNT one’s ego, so maybe the having-a-big-ego thing doesn’t apply to me?

My gym did recently install this mat, however.

I wonder why?

It’s probably because there’s someone at the gym, someone else, who has a big ego.

Whatever.

Anyway, I hope you follow my advice by knowing now, with absolute confidence, because I told you so, that you, like me, are, of course, VERY humble, the opposite of those with a big ego.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Photo credit: Fit guy by Total Shape on Unsplash

*Most days, note that it was only ONE of those three.

Thank you for liking me! I like you too! (Proven HERE, HERE and HERE!) Let’s journey together!

Why Americans Should WANT To Be Losers Sometimes

February 4, 2025 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

I said the one thing that no one thought I would say.

These five words, said quietly, into a rare moment of stillness at the boisterous party quieted every heart in the room.

The silence lasted for a minute, which felt like an eternity in that boisterous room full of shouting and laughter only a second earlier.

Here’s what happened.

They were loudly recounting the tale of the guy* who was poised to win a gold Olympic medal in the sailing competition at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Instead of sailing to glory and sitting atop an Olympic podium with his medal, the guy changed course to help fellow COMPETITORS, who were in an overturned boat for 16 hours and were in imminent danger of dying at sea.

“[Insert name] won that race,” the storyteller at my party continued, taking another swig of beer.

“Yeah, and what was the name of the guy who abandoned first place to help the other guy?”

“Who knows?”

The crowd exploded in laughter.

When it was silent again for that millisecond after the guffaws, I spoke up quietly, “God knows who it was.”

Then, there was silence, continued stillness, and awkward shuffling of feet.

Who speaks next, they wondered?

One person sidled up to me after this party, seeking me out for friendship. I had reminded her of something important, something she knew inherently but had forgotten for a while. Something her soul knew, deep down, it would be important to remember in future.

And that’s how I made a new friend that day.

And it’s good to have another friend who will sail over to help you get out of a bind when you are in a sailing race, for example, so you don’t perish at sea.

And there was the time when I was 8 years old, the 12-year-old said, “Give me all your candy!” And I gave it to him, of course. He was ABLE to win, but SHOULD he still do it? All of us know the answer to this question.

And then this week, in the news he said, “Let’s destroy our friend’s economy, an economy built on the pillar of trust in friendship because if we do it, we can win.” And yes, they CAN do it. And, yes, they CAN win.

But having another friend who will come and find you when you are overturned in a boat and imminent danger of perishing has some sort of value, too.

I hope you aren’t caught feeling ashamed on the day when our souls leave our bodies, and we meet God face to face, stripped of all the earthy medals we’ve won.

I’ve been pondering the trade war, started this week between our friends, The Americans, and us Canadians.

Yup, you CAN win.

But what SHOULD you do?

Is it RIGHT?

Thankfully, I don’t need to know the answer to that question.

(That’s between you and God.)

If you are considering exchanging a trophy or two for the kind that last a bit longer consider pondering this statement:

you let [your goods] go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure

The Message

What is your “real treasure”?

Maybe being an (unconventional) loser sometimes has its perks.

For detailed advice on winning the races that matter and thus learning to grow into an even bigger loser, click HERE, HERE and HERE.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Footnotes

*Canadian Larry Lemieux

Photo credit: Trophy by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Thanks for reading Restoring Life! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Lose Fear With This Simple Life Hack!

November 19, 2024 / Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

I know why you couldn’t sleep last night, tossing and turning.

I know why you are looking at me wide-eyed and wondering how you can live your life authentically.

I didn’t publish a blog post last Friday like I usually do, and THEREFORE, your normal rhythms for coping through life have been disrupted because I didn’t tell you how to live your life this weekend!

But first, I will explain why I didn’t write a blog post.

It was because I was busy. What was I doing? Remember in this blog post when I mentioned that our Pastor is a crazy nutcase because he travels to politically volatile places?

The places he visits for a fun vacation are some of the poorest countries on earth, riddled with civil war, genocide and other stuff we don’t like to think about because we need to get to Walmart and back before the ball game starts and if we think about other stuff, we may forget to buy all the snacks we need for the game. We all have a lot of things going on and to think about already – Thank you very much!

Anyway, while we were busy cleaning out our garage last week, I suddenly thought, “Why not join our Pastor on one of these trips to an unstable country?”

So, that’s why I didn’t write a blog post. Our Pastors had to talk me off the window ledge of my fear to jump into the unknown*. Should we go to the place where the worst day there is EVEN WORSE than my worst day, for example?

person wearing pair of black Nike shoes sitting on metal frame

Photo by Omar Prestwich on Unsplash

When I researched one of these countries, it seemed EVEN MORE DANGEROUS than our family vacation to Disneyland last year!

During that vacation, we got stranded in a shady area of Los Angeles, and no Ubers came because it was the night of the Oscars and they were busy driving celebrities. Luckily, an LA city bus driver held the bus and waited for us for 20 minutes until we could connect with another ride because the bus driver didn’t want us left alone there (How sweet!). So don’t worry, Mom! (She reads this blog.)

And so, what is the simple life hack to losing fear?

Find someone who is doing something stupid, and mindlessly follow them!

Since you are doing something scary, you no longer have to fear your fear!

So, our motto this weekend is:

Do what you fear, and the death of fear is certain!

Another helpful thought for you to mull over as you continue to ponder this topic of losing fear is to consider the second reason why I didn’t write a blog post this weekend. It was because I spent many hours binge-watching a new historical period drama this weekend. So, another motto for this weekend is:

Distract yourself with online entertainment so you don’t have to think about how to live well!

Choose your motto with whichever one fits best, and remember to read every blog post so I can help you live your life more authentically!

P.S. – There’s probably a third motto for how to shake fear and live authentically, but I haven’t figured that one out yet.

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Footnotes

*There is not civil war in that country right now, as there was when these events happened to Chrissy Chapman, so it’s likely not quite as unsafe as I’m pretending it is, but stay with me for the emotional effects of this blogpost that I’m trying to create.

Thanks for reading Restoring Life! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.